It's the New Year, after all; one should play and have a good time.
Everyone had a difficult year, so they deserved a chance to let off some steam.
Zhu Ci was never the type of person to follow rules strictly; he generally only followed them if it benefited him, otherwise he simply didn't care.
It was a pity; if only he had a camera. He would have insisted on having people take photos to keep secretly, so that in the future, he could use their scandalous pasts to threaten anyone who dared to be disobedient!
A camera.. how was a camera made again? I think the earliest cameras didn't need electricity, right?
Zhu Ci thought, his head feeling a bit dizzy.
He took a sip of the wine and said, "Huh? Why does this taste so sweet?"
Zhu Ci looked down at his wine cup and discovered that the wine had been replaced with honey water at some unknown time.
He turned his head to look at Wu Xia beside him.
Wu Xia immediately said, "Your Majesty, the Grand Secretary ordered this servant to change it."
She spoke these words with some trepidation; at first, she had been somewhat afraid to do so.
How could the Grand Secretary control the Emperor? At most, he could only offer remonstrance.
"I'll listen to the Grand Secretary," Jiang Xueyan said after she found out.
She and Wu Xia had been getting along quite well lately; because of the prospect of being a female official, Wu Xia discovered there were still many positions available, so she had relaxed her mind.
Therefore, after she finished speaking, she added an explanation: "At that time, His Majesty had intended to grant the Grand Secretary the title of Grand Tutor, but it was abandoned later due to the opposition of the officials."
Grand Tutor!
This meant that the Emperor acknowledged the Grand Secretary as his teacher, so naturally, he could also manage him.
As expected, after the Emperor heard this, he muttered something under his breath, but he did not make trouble for her.
Zhu Ci set down his wine cup and looked toward Fu, only to find himself meeting those pale blue eyes.
He didn't know if it was a coincidence or if Fu had been watching him all along.
He blinked and raised his hand to beckon Fu.
Fu stood up and walked over.
Zhu Ci immediately had someone prepare a seat for him.
Fu originally wanted to say it was against the rules, but looking at the Little Emperor's shimmering eyes and flushed cheeks, he felt it might not be appropriate to say such things to a little drunkard.
After he sat down, Zhu Ci leaned in and asked, "It seems you haven't eaten much. Do you not like it? How about I.. cough, I'll take you to eat something delicious."
Fu heard the first half and was about to deny it, but his heart stirred when he heard the second half.
The dishes at the Little Emperor's place were not extravagant in their ingredients, but the flavors were all quite good.
He especially liked food that was a bit spicy, but unfortunately, the dishes at the grand banquet were all very bland, likely for the sake of the officials' image.
After all, it wouldn't seem appropriate to be making loud huffing and puffing sounds from the spice while eating.
He glanced at the officials who were enjoying themselves and gave a slight nod. "Good."
So the Emperor and the Grand Secretary immediately slipped away in secret.
By this time, whether there was one more person or one less person at the banquet, it wasn't necessarily that anyone would notice.
Unfortunately, the Left Censor noticed it.
He took a sip of wine, his heart grew even more bitter.
Ever since arriving in Nanjing, he felt as though nothing was going smoothly.
He wanted the Prince of Ning to act as a matchmaker, but the Prince of Ning refused. While he was still looking for a matchmaker, one of his subordinates caused trouble and was severely punished after Fu caught him in the act.
Under normal circumstances, his subordinate wouldn't have been punished so severely; Fu's heavy-handedness meant that he was drawing a clear line between himself and his subordinate.
The matter of the political marriage naturally came to nothing.
Immediately after, he discovered that the Emperor was also beginning to distance himself from him; previously, the Little Emperor had treated him and the Grand Secretary with relative equality.
Whether it was for rewards or for discussing state affairs, he would call them both to join him.
Now the Little Emperor only hangs around with the Grand Secretary; I originally thought things would change after the New Year's Seal.
As it turned out, while he could no longer enter the Imperial Palace without official business, Grand Secretary Fu still visited quite frequently.
I heard that just two days ago, the Emperor and the Grand Secretary went to the outskirts to hunt with Birdlock Guns!
Huang Chunyao suddenly felt a sense of crisis.
Hou Dongzeng, a Censor of the Censorate, leaned in and said, "Look, the Grand Secretary is coaxing the Emperor again. His Majesty is too prone to listening to one side and believing it blindly; if this continues, it will not be a good thing."
Huang Chunyao let out a sigh. "And what of it? Grand Secretary Fu is currently highly favored and has committed no wrongdoing, His Majesty is wise and decisive; there is nothing wrong with that."
Hou Dongzeng fell silent for a moment; it was precisely this "nothing wrong with it" that felt like a thorn in one's throat.
If Fu showed even a hint of the traits of a treacherous official, they would have something to impeach him for.
As things stand now, there is nothing to impeach, whether in his official duties or his private life, which makes people feel somewhat uneasy.
Hou Dongzeng said in a low voice, "Even so, we cannot let him monopolize His Majesty's favor; given enough time, he will become another Gao Gong."
Huang Chunyao lowered his eyes. Gao Gong? He feared that even Gao Gong would not compare.
At the very least, Gao Gong was posthumously honored as Grand Tutor. Although Zhang Juzheng was appointed Grand Tutor during his lifetime, he was already quite old and in poor health at that time.
This man, who has only turned twenty-six after this New Year, was nearly granted the title of Grand Tutor during his youth; throughout all history, he is the only one!
Huang Chunyao had felt a sense of crisis in his heart for a long time, but unfortunately.. what use was it?
The Censorate Censor Zhu Changzuo had been watching the surroundings vigilantly from the side, at this moment, he could not help but say, "If the Left Censor could harden his heart, he could indeed use a strategy of driving away the wolves by chasing the tigers."
“Drive out the tiger to attract the wolf?” Huang Chunyao looked at him. “What is the tiger?”
“Grand Secretary Ma Shiying of the Hongguang Era, Minister of Personnel Gao Hongtu!”
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Author's Note: Zhu Ci: Why are you still policing people's drinking during the New Year? *hiccup* A kitty hugging a wine flask and lying down. jpg
Next update at 6:00 PM~
Chapter 144
While the previous court was plotting in secret, the inner palace was feasting on delicacies.
“Hey, hey, hey, don't eat too much of this. Can your stomach even handle it?” Zhu Ci watched Fu eat a bite of spicy diced chicken without changing his expression—the kind coated in chili peppers—and he was so startled he almost choked on his wine.
Perhaps because of the spiciness, Fu's lips were bright red at this moment, which actually added a touch of color to his originally somewhat cold face.
Fu said with pleasure in his eyes, "This dish tastes quite good."
Zhu Ci leaned in, tilting her head as she looked at him suspiciously: "Are you really alright?"
Fu couldn't help but laugh. "I am truly fine; it is not as if I have no sense of propriety."
Zhu Ci muttered, "You act like someone from the Huguang and Sichuan regions."
He remembered that people from the Jiangnan, Jiangxi, Sichuan regions in later generations were all very good at eating spicy food, but he did not know what it was like now.
Fu said somewhat absentmindedly, "Your servant did indeed survive in Jiangxi during his youth."
Zhu Ci's ears twitched, keenly perceiving that the other party had used the words "survival."
These two words only made him think that the other party was struggling to survive.
Considering Fu's situation, it didn't seem impossible.
He had no interest in picking at someone's scars, so he decisively changed the subject and said, "No wonder you can eat so much spicy food, but the way they eat spicy food over there is different from this, isn't it?"
Fu replied, "Yes, but over there, they always use cornus to season dishes; I never imagined that chili peppers could be used in cooking as well."
Heh, there are many varieties of this thing in our place—some are very spicy, some are less spicy, some are used to add aroma and color. This one's flavor is average; it'll do.
Chili peppers are actually just chili peppers; this thing has only just been introduced to the Land of Flowers, but they are mostly used as ornamental plants, even in the south, they don't even have the slightest trace of being used as ornamental plants.
It was still unknown where Fu obtained them, but he thought they were novel and sent them to the Little Emperor to play with.
He never expected that, upon turning around, the Little Emperor would have them picked, dried, turned into a dish—and that they would taste quite good, too.
Fu heard Zhu Ci's words and said, "If Your Majesty likes them, I shall have people plant more."
Zhu Ci nodded frantically, "Good, good, good. I have also kept some chili seeds."
Since chili peppers were being spread as ornamental plants, there shouldn't have been many of them originally, so Zhu Ci specifically kept some chili seeds for propagation.
As for the taste.. don't push it too hard. We'll see about that later; as long as there is a market, someone will certainly research it.
Fu picked up another piece of fried dried chili pepper and tasted it; the flavor was indeed quite stimulating, but he liked it very much.
Because he had eaten another meal, Zhu Ci naturally drank a few more cups of wine as well.
After these two cups of wine went down, he was truly a bit drunk.
At first, Fu did not notice, but after a while, he felt that it had become somewhat quiet around him. He turned his head and saw that the Little Emperor was staring blankly at the moon in the sky, motionless.
Quite cute.
Fu paused at this thought, feeling that he might have also had too much to drink.
The word "cute" never seemed to suit Zhu Ci.
He was sharp, intelligent, powerful, bearing no resemblance to anything weak or cute.
It was just that.. Fu looked at the Little Emperor twice.
At this moment, Zhu Ci's cheeks were flushed with a brilliant color; sitting there wrapped in a furry sable coat and looking up at the moon, he truly looked like a little animal.
Zhu Ci finally noticed Fu's gaze and slowly looked at him, asking, "What is it?"
Mm, his voice was also soft, but it seemed to carry a slight nasal quality.
He immediately put down his chopsticks and said, "The weather is cold; Your Majesty should return to the hall first."
Zhu Ci sniffled and stood up obediently.
Hmm, the Little Emperor has decent drinking habits; even when he's had too much, he doesn't cry or make a fuss, doing whatever he is told, which makes him even more adorable.