EBE Chapter 427 Rest assured, the banquet your son is hosting will be unforgettable for you.
Chapter 427 Rest assured, the banquet your son is hosting will be unforgettable for you.
Yinzhu said he would take a stroll around twice, and he really didn't take an extra step. As soon as the two laps were over, he immediately pulled his father towards the kang (a heated brick bed) where they had been sitting. He kicked off his shoes, lifted his leg, and quickly climbed onto the kang.
"Hey, didn't you just say you were feeling cramped sitting on the kang? What, did those last two laps really make such a difference? Get down and walk around some more. It's cold outside, you'll regret it if you get indigestion."
Although Yinzhuo didn't think that he, being such a grown man, would still suffer from indigestion like a child, he still gave his father face, got up from the kang (heated brick bed), put his shoes back on, and then, with one hand holding Kangxi and the other pulling Yinreng, the two of them went from a two-person act to a three-person act.
It was a quarter of an hour later when the father and his two sons returned to their seats. As soon as Yinzhuo got on the kang (heated brick bed), he immediately asked Wanquan to pour him a cup of tea. He drank it all in one gulp before reaching out to clench his fists and massage his legs to relax his muscles.
Kangxi and Yinreng had been helping Yinla pull the millstone for a while and were feeling a bit tired. Liang Jiugong, with his keen eye, immediately went over and massaged Kangxi's shoulders.
Kangxi closed his eyes to rest, Yinzhuo massaged his legs, and Yinreng sat in a chair drinking tea. None of the three spoke, and for a moment, apart from their breathing, the West Warm Pavilion was completely silent.
Fortunately, the quiet did not last long. After resting for a while, Kangxi opened his eyes, first glancing at Yinzhuo, who was dozing off again, and then gently waking him up before turning his gaze to Yinreng, who was sitting to the side.
"Yinzuo, you've already slept for so long. If you sleep any longer, you probably won't be able to sleep tonight. Liang Jiugong, go wring out a cold handkerchief to wake up your sixth master. Yinreng, haven't you been busy arranging the New Year's sacrificial rites these past two days? How come you have time to come over today? Is there some problem over there?"
The New Year's sacrifices to Heaven and ancestors are annual traditions. Although this year they were not held in the capital, they were obviously still to be carried out. When Yinreng was the Crown Prince, he had arranged these matters countless times, so it was only natural that Kangxi entrusted him with this task this time as well.
Just as Kangxi said, Yinreng had dealt with such matters countless times before, so how could he easily make a mistake in a task he was so familiar with? Therefore, upon hearing this, he immediately shook his head and said.
"Father, you are overthinking it. I have already made arrangements for the sacrificial ceremony and will ensure that everything goes smoothly. I came here today to ask you whether this year's New Year's Eve family banquet will be held according to the same standards as when we were in the palace?"
Yinzhuo, who was still half asleep waiting for Liang Jiugong to pat his face with a handkerchief, suddenly felt wide awake upon hearing Yinreng's words. He got up, sat down next to Kangxi, and grabbed his father's arm, shaking it.
“Father, you’ve been attending those traditional and boring New Year’s Eve family banquets for decades. Aren’t you tired of them? In the past, we had no choice but to accept it in the palace. But this year we’re in Rehe, and there are no members of the imperial family here. It’s just the few of us, father and son. How about we try something different? I’d like to experience how ordinary families celebrate the New Year.”
Both Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Yinreng were clearly tempted by Yinzuo's suggestion. As Yinzuo said, they were already tired of the traditional New Year's Eve family banquet in the palace, but due to the constraints of ancestral etiquette, they could not easily make changes. Since they were not in the palace this year, it was not unreasonable to change the way they celebrated.
Emperor Kangxi and his son Yinreng exchanged a glance, then looked at Yinzuo, who was sitting on the kang (a heated brick bed), clearly asking him for any good ideas.
“Father, if you trust your son, why not entrust this matter to me? Don’t worry, I will definitely give you a New Year’s Eve family dinner that you will never forget.”
Although Yinzhuo may seem unreliable at times, he has never failed in matters of great importance. Kangxi naturally had no worries about entrusting tasks to him. With New Year's Eve just around the corner, Yinzhuo dared not delay in the slightest and immediately began making arrangements.
There are many suitable places to hold banquets within the Summer Palace. After some investigation, Yinzhuo decided on Yunshan Scenic Area, which is closest to Yanbo Zhishuang Hall. The space there is open, so even if there are many people, they can move around freely.
Now that the location has been decided, all that's left is to properly arrange the venue. With Yinzhuo's current status, he will never lack servants wherever he goes. He only needs to say a word, and his subordinates will naturally run errands for him.
Unlike the solemn and magnificent banquets held in the palace in the past, this time Yinzhuo's main theme was warmth, comfort, joy and peace. Various window decorations and ornaments were arranged, and colorful lanterns and fresh flowers were hung up and displayed.
The old system of treating the emperor and his subjects differently was completely abandoned. Instead, several thick carpets were laid on the floor of the room, along with soft pillows, cushions, and a small table arranged in a circle so that everyone could sit together and appear more intimate.
As for the New Year's Eve family banquet, Yinzhuo also had his own ideas. He mainly wanted a home-style meal. In addition to arranging some dishes that everyone liked, he also had several small charcoal stoves prepared. He planned to place one in front of each person and have someone cut up some different kinds of meat and bring them up so that everyone could pick up what they liked and cook it themselves.
There's a saying that goes, "Every family eats dumplings during the Lunar New Year." Making dumplings is an activity that can promote family relationships, so it must be arranged. Yinzhu specially had the filling prepared in advance, just waiting for the father and sons to sit together and make dumplings on New Year's Eve.
The saying "Imagination is beautiful, reality is cruel" is absolutely true. No matter how much Yinzhuo planned, he did not expect that his pampered family of gentlemen would not know how to make dumplings. However, this was obviously not a difficult task. They could learn things as difficult as riding horses, archery, the Four Books and Five Classics, and governing the country. There was no reason why they could not learn to make dumplings.
Hey, you know what, making dumplings is much harder than what Yinzhuo mentioned above. Take Yinti for example, no matter how fierce the warhorse or how heavy the bow and arrow, he can handle them all with ease. But he has no way of dealing with this little dough. It's no exaggeration to say that his hand holding the dough is as if it's sealed, and he can't bend it at all.
Compared to the bewildered Yinti, Kangxi and Yinreng seemed much calmer. After the initial chaos, they gradually figured things out. Although the dumplings they made weren't very pretty, at least they didn't give themselves away.