Chapter 267

Chapter 267

The day after the grand ceremony of Empress Enthronement, officials were given a New Year holiday, and Xiao Zhen slept in late, accompanying Tong Sui.

No one dared to disturb the emperor and empress, and the entire rear palace remained quiet. The little prince in the eastern courtyard had cried a bit but was quickly comforted with fresh clothes.

The bedroom was still adorned with festive decorations. The red bed curtains embroidered with dragons and phoenixes cast a rosy hue on Xiao Zhen's handsome face.

"Are you uncomfortable?" he asked, propping himself up to observe Tong Sui.

Although his aunt had said that Tong Sui had fully recovered, they were still tense last night. At first, Tong Sui struggled to relax, and when she finally did, Xiao Zhen was worried about hurting her. After hesitating, they eventually decided to just cuddle and sleep. In the early morning, they woke up half-asleep and holding each other, and everything naturally fell into place.

Tong Sui shook her head, her thick lashes fluttering slightly as she lowered her head, biting her lip gently, too embarrassed to complain about his slowness.

Xiao Zhen moved slowly, as if he had transformed from a fierce mountain wolf into a gentle, domesticated mule.

When the sweat on his body subsided and his breathing became lighter, Xiao Zhen rubbed her head and said in a hoarse voice, "I feel like I've eaten, but I'm still hungry."

Tong Sui laughed softly.

Xiao Zhen sighed, "Let's wait until after the New Year celebrations and try again on New Year's Eve."

Tong Sui asked, "How are we going to spend this New Year's Eve?"

Xiao Zhen replied, "You decide. I'll follow your lead."

Tong Sui thought for a moment and said while stroking his long and strong arm, "Our large family has all been assigned to new mansions, but only the homes of Second Master and Second Mistress, as well as my uncle and aunt, are lively. Yu Chan and Eldest Sister each live with one child, and Fifth Younger Brother lives alone in the Commandery Prince's mansion, which is even quieter. Why don't we invite everyone to the palace for the New Year's feast? More people will make the meal even more enjoyable."

Xiao Zhen said, "Alright, let's invite your parents and grandparents too, along with the Sun family and Wen family."

Tong Sui asked, "Are Uncle Sun and Aunt Sun arriving soon?"

Xiao Zhen replied, "I asked Sun Dian a few days ago. They might arrive on the twenty-eighth of the twelfth lunar month, a bit late for the reception."

Tong Sui said, "The last time Aunt Sun visited the capital, Uncle Sun insisted she kneel and kowtow to Grandfather. This time he's coming in person, and he'll probably have to do it again."

Xiao Zhen, recalling the past, smiled and said, "Come to think of it, I do miss him a bit."

——

After greeting their relatives, Tong Sui and Xiao Zhen changed into casual clothes and headed to the North Market to purchase New Year goods.

As emperor and empress, they could have simply let the palace servants handle these tasks, but that kind of New Year celebration would be no fun. It was better to do it themselves while they were in the mood.

Silks for new clothes, red paper for writing blessings and couplets, plump new rice harvested that summer, and river fish just fished out after ice-breaking.

As they wandered around, a voice of surprise came from behind, "Second Uncle, Second Aunt!"

Tong Sui and Xiao Zhen turned around to see Mianmian hurrying towards them, holding a string of sugar-coated haws. The little girl wore an apricot-red silk jacket, with willow brows and peach blossom cheeks, standing out like a blooming peach flower in the crowd.

Behind Mianmian were Sun Dian and his eldest son, with the latter holding two sticks of grilled meat, one of which was half-eaten.

Tong Sui looked around and hugged Mianmian, asking, "Just the three of you?"

Mianmian blinked mischievously, "Uncle Sun only invited me to come along. He said he wanted to bring me to the North Market for New Year goods."

Sun Dian and his son had now approached closer. Since there were many people around, Sun Dian greeted Xiao Zhen, "Second Master?"

Xiao Zhen nodded, not allowing him to perform the ritual.

The eldest son offered the intact skewer of roasted meat to Tong Sui. "Would you like to try? It's quite delicious."

Tong Sui smiled. "You eat it yourself."

Sun Dian glanced at the items the guards were holding and said to Xiao Zhen, "Second Master, if you need anything, just say the word, and I'll pick it out for you. There's no need for you and your wife to come and buy it yourselves."

Xiao Zhen replied, "With the Marquis personally purchasing new year goods, are the stewards at home not up to the task?"

Sun Dian: "..."

Xiao Zhen: "You two continue shopping, Mianmian will come with us."

They left the Sun family behind.

Tong Sui held Mianmian's hand and quietly asked, "Did Uncle Sun propose to your mom?"

Mianmian smiled. "Uncle Sun is quite anxious. My mother thinks it's better to wait until after the new year. Surprisingly, just three days after we moved into our new home, another family sent a matchmaker to ask about a potential match. When Uncle Sun found out, he immediately dispatched a matchmaker to cut off the outsider's intentions."

Tong Sui: "Have you set the wedding date?"

Mianmian: "Not yet. We still need to check the compatibility of our birth dates."

Around noon, the three of them had lunch at a local restaurant. After the meal, Tong Sui and her husband saw Mianmian back to the Princess's residence. Xiao Zhen visited his niece's new home while Tong Sui went to the neighboring Grand Princess's residence to keep company with Liu Chu and also met with the servants there.

Liu Chu said helplessly, "I'm really not as easy to push around as you all think, don't worry."

In troubled times, every grain was hard-earned. She ate from the Xiao family, so she was willing to do more work. Now that she was the esteemed Grand Princess, bearing the dignity of the entire Xiao imperial family, how could she allow the servants to have a chance to bully her? Over the past few years, she had learned a lot by observing Tong Sui and Lin Ningfang managing the household.

---

On the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, Sun Xinghai and Du Shi finally arrived in the capital.

Sun Xinghai was anxious to kowtow to the Emperor and Empress. Sun Dian had no choice but to bring his parents to request an audience outside the main gate.

Tong Sui and Xiao Zhen received the elderly couple in the west warm pavilion of the central palace.

The elderly couple wore brand-new, dignified clothes. Having seen the world in the capital once, Du Shi was more composed, but Sun Xinghai, entering the capital and the palace for the first time, was so nervous upon seeing the young Emperor and Empress, now exuding nobility, that he almost tripped over the threshold. After entering, despite Xiao Zhen's "No need for rituals," he knelt down and kowtowed nine times solidly.

After the second kowtow, Xiao Zhen asked Sun Dian to help his father up.

Sun Dian: "Forget it, he practiced how to kneel and kowtow at home with me. He'll feel more at ease if he completes the ritual."

After Sun Xinghai stood up straight, satisfied, Tong Sui looked him over carefully and noticed that the nearly sixty-year-old Sun Xinghai had become plumper than when she had first married into Lingshui Village. His face was a bit fatter, and the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes were less noticeable.

Xiao Zhen offered seats to the family of three.

Sun Xinghai alternated between crying and laughing. He cried because seeing the imperial couple reminded him of the old master who hadn't lived to see this day. He laughed, of course, out of happiness for the Emperor and Empress. "In the twelfth lunar month, when the official document arrived in our Wei County, the county magistrate himself went to Lingshui Village to report the good news. That day, all the villagers knelt in front of the imperial ancestral home, touching the walls and kowtowing, saying they wanted to absorb the imperial family's luck. They were all very happy."

"Soon after, officials, scholars, and wealthy merchants from nearby counties came to pay their respects to the imperial ancestral home. To prevent theft, I arranged for villagers to guard the place around the clock. They refused the wages, saying it was their fortune to guard the imperial old home for the Emperor. They were all very happy."

"Now that the Emperor and Empress have so many precious items around them, I only brought two baskets of sweet potatoes and two baskets of corn from home, grown on that hundred acres of imperial farmland, thinking that the Emperor and Empress might want to taste the flavors of our hometown."

Tong Sui: "You've really thought of everything. The Emperor and I do miss those flavors."

"I'll send a tribute to the palace every year from now on!"

Xiao Zhen said with a smile, "Don't just talk about our Lingshui Village, do you have any updates from Taohuagou?"

Sun Xinghai replied, "Yes, yes, I've been there twice. The county magistrate rebuilt the road to Taohuagou two years ago because so many people went to see the peach blossoms. A tea house even opened by the roadside. After the Emperor ascended the throne, the county magistrate announced plans to build a temple on the mountain in Taohuagou and pave stone paths to make it easier for villagers to pray for the Emperor and Empress."

Just by listening, Tong Sui could already picture the perfect hill for the temple.

If there were tourists and worshippers, it would benefit not only the villagers of Taohuagou but the entire Wei County. But where would the money for such construction come from?

Sun Xinghai said, "Don't worry about that, Empress. As soon as the county magistrate announced the plan, the wealthy families in our county began donating money. The villagers have been living better in recent years and also voluntarily donated five or ten wen. All the money received and spent is accounted for to ensure there's no embezzlement."

The old village headman became more and more excited, talking non-stop. He alternated between discussing official matters and chatting about village life. He even mentioned the matchmaker who arranged the marriage for the Emperor and Empress. He said that the matchmaker, who used to boast and deceive people with words, had now declared that she would become the most honest matchmaker under heaven, never misrepresenting a good girl or exaggerating the qualities of a lazy man.

Tong Sui listened like she was at a storytelling session, her smile never fading. She glanced at Xiao Zhen and saw that he was also enjoying himself.

In the end, it was Sun Dian who, fearing that his father was keeping the Emperor and Empress for too long, found an excuse to leave.

Xiao Zhen picked two sweet potatoes from the baskets Sun Xinghai had brought and buried them in the charcoal brazier.

The sweet aroma soon filled the western warm pavilion.

Xiao Zhen sat in front of the brazier, staring at the charcoal fire in a daze.

Tong Sui sat next to him and teased, "Are you really that hungry?"

Xiao Zhen laughed and hugged her. "Just like you, I'm homesick."

Tong Sui leaned on his shoulder and also looked at the fire. "Will we ever have a chance to return home?"

Xiao Zhen said, "As long as you don't mind the trouble, there will be plenty of opportunities."

Even at seventy, Grandpa could still travel from Wei County to the capital. We're still so young; it won't be hard to return in glory.

---

Before they knew it, it was New Year's Eve.

In the afternoon, relatives started arriving at the palace one by one. Xiao Zhen set up the banquet in the main hall of the Qianyuan Hall. Since it was a family gathering, there was no separate seating for men and women.

Qiao Changshun was the only one who didn't come; even his wife and daughter attended.

With the little ones like Huai Zu and Cheng Zu around, the older children, especially Tong Shan, became more steady. By calculation, Tong Shan was the elder of Mianmian, Qi Yao, and Zhang Chao.

After the banquet began, Xiao Ye asked Xiao Zhen, "Second Brother, since you said tonight is just a family banquet without the distinction of sovereign and minister, can we have a drinking contest?"

Xiao Zhen replied, "You can compete, but don't get crazy."

Xiao Ye said, "Not at all. After all, we all have families now."

Xiao Yan rolled his eyes.

The female relatives all turned to look at Yan Mingxiu, who immediately blushed deeply, glaring angrily at Xiao Ye.

Sun Dian looked at each of the brothers and finally focused on Xiao She. "Now, only the fifth brother remains childless."

Xiao She: "If there isn't one, I don't care."

Madam He: "You might not care, but I sure do. I’ve already talked to your second and third sisters-in-law about finding you a good match."

Xiao She: "No rush, we’ll deal with that after we take care of the Ling Kingdom and Liang Kingdom."

Madam He glared, "That will have to wait..."

Qiao Changan: "It won’t take long. With what our second brother and sister-in-law can do, we’ll have both of them wrapped up in a year, right?"

"Yes!"

Tong Sui looked around at the familiar faces, soaking in the usual lively atmosphere, and felt a deep sense of contentment and security.

What a great year this is for her—her twenty-third, peaceful and secure, just the way she likes it.