Chapter 193 Returning home

Half an hour later, the female officer beside the Queen came in accompanied by an imperial doctor.

Seeing Jiang Changning sitting in the hall, he saluted and said, "Princess Jin."

"The situation of Princess Yu doesn't look too good." Jiang Changning was so noisy by the exclamations that he couldn't sleep, so he simply sat in the hall.

The female officer quickly led the imperial doctor into the right room to treat Zhao Xifang.

By the time Zhao Xifang took the medicine, it was already late.

Jiang Changning, who was used to going to bed early, was so sleepy that he could hardly keep his eyes open. He fell on the bed and fell asleep soon after.

The next day is the ninth day of the first lunar month.

Early in the morning, the queen sent someone to take Zhao Xifang back to Prince Yu's Mansion.

The other ladies put on Taoist robes, held Taoist buns, and went to the main hall of the Zhai Palace.

The important events of the country are enshrined in one of them.

Heaven and earth, sun, moon, stars, mountains, rivers, and forests are all worshiped to gods.

Ceremonies to offer sacrifices to the heavens are held nine times a year, with the winter solstice offering to the heavens being the most grand. Offerings to the heavens are meant to repay heaven, so the winter solstice offering to the heavens is also called "repaying heaven".

When it comes to offering sacrifices to heaven, the emperor always leads the civil and military officials, and the female family members rarely participate.

This time, the sacrifices to God were mainly made by female relatives. Of course, the queen could not wear sacrificial robes embroidered with the sun, moon and stars like the emperor.

The sacrificial robe she wore was embroidered with auspicious clouds holding the moon and flying phoenixes in the sky.

The sun is Yang, representing the emperor.

The moon is yin, representing the emperor and empress.

The ladies followed the queen and the concubines to the Circular Qiu Altar. The Circular Qiu is a clear and translucent blue glazed round platform with three floors.

There are nine steps on all four sides of each floor. The center of the uppermost floor is a round stone, and nine circles of fan-shaped stones are paved outside, extending outward in multiples of nine.

The railings and pillars are also made of nine or multiples of nine, symbolizing the number of "heaven".

The queen is in the middle, the noble concubine is on her left, and the virtuous concubine is on her right.

The other concubines were divided into left and right stations according to their positions.

After the concubines, there are the princesses like Jiang Changning and the crown prince concubines, and then there are the ladies of each house and the crown prince’s wife.

Queen Suyan led everyone to the Circular Mound Altar and heard people say: "Kneel down."

Except for the queen who had a futon, everyone else just knelt on the rocks. Jiang Changning was glad that the clothes he wore were thick enough at this time.

"Welcome the Emperor God." The voice sounded again, "Kowtow once, kowtow again, kowtow three times, and get up."

When everyone stood up, he said again: "Kneel down, kowtow once, and then kowtow again."

After three bows and nine kowtows, the man said again: "Lay jade and silk."

White jade silk woven with longevity patterns was passed up.

The process of offering sacrifices to heaven is lengthy and the etiquette is complicated.

Jiang Changning was almost numb from the cold when he heard the man say: "Wang Liao."

This is the last step of offering sacrifices to heaven. Ten thousand pieces of paper, ten thousand ingots of gold and silver foil, and prayers copied by the female relatives are burned.

About a quarter of an hour later, the man said: "The ceremony is over."

The female family members, led by the Queen, returned to the inner main hall of the Zhai Palace.

They took off their Taoist robes, put on their secular clothes, left the Temple of Heaven, and returned home.

Returning to the palace, Jiang Changning first went to the Liuxuan Courtyard to pay his respects to the concubine.

Yan Yinyao was accompanying the concubine. The aunt and nephew were talking. Seeing Jiang Changning come in, Yan Yinyao smiled and said, "My cousin is back. You can ask the cook to cook the snow clams."

"Girl, since you are thinking about this bite, you asked the cook to cook it for you yesterday, but you refused." The concubine said with a smile.

"Snow clams are rare. Of course I have to wait for my cousin to come back and eat them together. People who eat alone tend to gain weight." Yan Yinyao said seriously.

"Thank you cousin for thinking of me. I ate vegetarian food for three days without snacks or snacks. I feel like I've lost weight." Jiang Changning deliberately frowned and touched his face.

"No, my cousin's chin is pointed." Yan Yinyao agreed.

The concubine squinted her eyes to look at her daughter-in-law. There was indeed no meat on her palm-sized face, "Hurry up and ask the cook to cook more dishes. You don't like to eat vegetarian food. It will be difficult for you in the past three days."

"My mother still loves me." Jiang Changning said with a smile.

"My cousin is so kind, who can help but feel pain, right, aunt?" Yan Yinyao asked with a smile.

The concubine smiled, "Yes."

Jiang Changning's eyebrows moved slightly. Although she didn't quite understand what the two of them were singing, it didn't stop her from smiling and cooperating.

But until lunch, the concubine and Yan Yinyao didn't make any excessive demands.

Jiang Changning relaxed a little. It would be best to live in harmony with each other.

At noon that day, each of the three of us had a bowl of snow clam stewed with egg custard.

Princess Kangren and Zeng Mi had nothing to do with each other. The concubine even said specifically: "This is a nourishing food. You children cannot eat it."

After dinner, after chatting with the concubine and Yan Yinyao for a while, Jiang Changning returned to Rujing Courtyard. When he entered the courtyard, he asked: "Is the hot water ready?"

Bathing was inconvenient in the Temple of Heaven. She hadn't bathed in three days. Although it was cold and she didn't sweat, she still felt very uncomfortable.

"It's ready." Xiulan smiled.

Jiang Changning went into the bathroom and washed the gel with warm water.

While she was enjoying herself in the water, Prince Jin, who missed his wife so much, came back from the Yamen ahead of schedule.

Entering Nuan Pavilion, he didn't see Jiang Changning. The smile on King Jin's face faded, "Where is the princess?"

"To tell you what the prince said, the princess is taking a bath." Xiulan replied.

King Jin knew that Jiang Changning did not want anyone to wait inside when he was bathing. A wicked smile appeared on his lips, "The sun is just right today. I want to give the princess a surprise. Please step aside."

With that said, he strode to the bathroom.

Jiang Changning, who was soaking in the water and humming a song, was not even aware that Prince Jin would come back so early, nor did she expect that he would give her such a "surprise".

King Jin quietly entered the bathroom, and heard the people inside singing in a rough voice: "Oh, little lady, don't worry, when spring comes and the building is full of snow, as long as heaven and earth last, you and I will grow old."

King Jin pinched his throat and said, "Why is the little lady so happy?"

Jiang Changning didn't expect that a man would come in at this time. In panic, he didn't think much and ran to the other side in fear, screaming, "Ah! Pervert!"

She was so panicked that her hand touched the bathtub.

When King Jin saw this, he wondered why he was teasing him. He quickly said, "Ning Ning, it's me, it's me."

Jiang Changning, who was holding his chest, took a closer look and said, "Yong Zhou, you want to scare me to death!"

"No, I want to give you a surprise, but you know there is only surprise, not joy." King Jin said with a bitter smile.

Jiang Changning also calmed down at this time. She was in Rujingyuan. There were so many servants guarding the outside. How could any strange disciple come in so boldly?

However, in order to prevent Prince Jin from causing any other "surprises", it is better to speak clearly, "Your Majesty, in the future, you should do less things that are only surprises but no joy."

"I know, there won't be a next time." King Jin said solemnly.

"Your Majesty, please go out."

"I'll wash Ning Ning." King Jin smiled, "Just think of it as apology for scaring Ning Ning."

"No, it's cold. Please don't make trouble, Your Majesty. I don't want to drink bitter medicine again." Jiang Changning refused.

"Okay, when the weather gets hot, I'll help Ning Ning wash her." Prince Jin didn't want to make Jiang Changning sick, so he could only regretfully give up on this sexy thing and walked out of the bathroom.

Sorry for the late update.

After taking the medicine recommended by everyone, my cough stopped for a few days, but it started to relapse yesterday.

My throat was congested due to coughing, and my mouth was filled with the smell of blood. I was a little scared, so I went to the hospital.
Chapter completed!