The next day, another frost wrapped the earth, ice clouds swallowed the warm sun of the biting day, last night the north wind wrapped in sparse ice rain and blew tightly for a night, the last few lingering leaves on the branches of the tree could not be kept after all, fell to the ground, and were frozen under the frost, early in the morning and then all the palace people shook their brooms to the roots of the tree, rotten into the spring mud of the next year.

The ground wet by the light rain at night has not yet dried, and on the floor tiles in the yard, there are some water marks left on the uneven places of the carved Ruyi lotus totem, all of which have formed frost, burying and sealing the lotus flower into invisibility, and completely announcing that the three seasons of this year's colorful season have left, leaving only a white and snowy number nine cold winter is coming.

After the autumn, the days are getting shorter and the cold nights are longer, today is especially reflected, as soon as the time comes, the sky is still as dark as late at night, even so, the candle flame of the Son of Heaven Hall has to be lit, and the bell that chimes the time will ring as usual, this is the rule set by the ancestors of the Chu family since the beginning of the dynasty, and no one has dared to break the rules for many years.

The purpose of the ancestors' perseverance for generations was to remind the king, who had slept peacefully in the warm hall, not only to stay on the soft pillows of the high bed and the warm fragrance of nephrite, but to get up early and work diligently to seek livelihood and well-being for all the people of the world, so that he could pass on the qualification of having the glory and pleasure of the world for generations to come.

The spring festival is often entangled, few people can taste it, will not indulge in it, and no one loves to abandon the quilt early in the morning to suffer from the cold, so the people of the palace of the Son of Heaven in all dynasties feel the most embarrassed, is this cold winter wax moon.

The king is supreme, after all, he is also an ordinary person, and he was born in the nest of glory since he was a child, and he is used to pampering and enjoying himself, and the palace people don't know whether to call him up according to the rules, or let him continue to sleep well.

They were afraid that their reckless actions would make him angry and provoke Long Yan's anger, but they were also afraid that if he did not fulfill his responsibilities, he would delay the court's business and bear the charge even more. It is common to be in a dilemma, and it is common to be reprimanded for all your efforts, so the palace people are so distressed by the arrival of the winter that inspires people's will.

Fortunately, the incumbent Chu Zikai's diligent practice has never been supervised and worried, since he came out of his mother's womb, he is not a sleepy and playful person, and he has a loss to give birth to such a character, and he is talented in his inner life and works hard to cultivate the ability and responsibility that can match the supreme position.

Now that he has inherited the great cause, Chu Zikai distinguishes between right and wrong, and his heart is becoming more and more determined, he can resist the temptation of glory and pleasure that can make people fall into comfort and mediocrity, keep in mind his own responsibilities, and every day he is used to opening his eyes at the moment before the bell rings early.

is used to being independent, and there is no need to wait for the palace people to come in to serve, after Chu Zikai often gets up, he quickly gets better dressed and cleansed, and takes care of everything vigorously, so that the palace people who serve early can not find a job. Then he withdrew from the temple like the wind, waved his big hand and ordered people to follow, and when he was in the morning, he could drink a hot tea to warm his stomach, and he would never be a second later than the ministers.

Today's day is so cold and freezes bones, the palace people thought it would be an exception, they didn't want the biting cold to freeze the palace people so that they wiped their hands and stomped their feet and their teeth trembled, but they couldn't invade the king's heart for the people, the little chamberlain who rang the bell stared wide-eyed in the wind, just looked at the hour, pushed the bell down, and before he hit it, he heard someone scolding loudly:

"You don't have to ring the bell, it's free today, Your Majesty has already gotten up, and you don't have to make a noise for no reason!"

It was still like a dark night, the little chamberlain heard the sound, rubbed his eyes that had not eased up in the morning, looked around, and couldn't find who the person who shouted was, and was wondering if it was his companion who was naughty and wanted to play tricks on himself, but he saw that the door of the Son of Heaven Palace was wide open in the next moment, and the royal car hurriedly set off, and a group of people surrounded Chu Zikai, carrying lanterns against the cold wind and going to the direction of the court.

The chamberlain recognized the situation, and hurriedly listened to the order and turned around and sulked the bell hammer, for fear that he would accidentally make a noise and make noise to the noble people's dreams, and after kneeling down and leaning over to send the royal car away, he couldn't help but look up at the back of the group of people who were hurrying, and then turned his head to look at the quiet and quiet in the hall at this time, and couldn't help but sigh secretly in his heart.

Even if it is an emperor who is above 10,000 people, it is difficult to have absolute comfort and comfort, and in the winter, he has to brave the wind and frost to go to the world, and the people who are truly blessed to enjoy the glory in peace and glory are in addition to the emperor's favorite in the world, I am afraid that I will not be able to find the second place......

The sky gradually brightened, the clouds dispersed, and finally a ray of sunshine shone down, but it was also blown away by the wind without a trace of temperature, although the sky was so cold that people hated to shrink into a ball, but today the stoves in the small kitchens of the palaces and halls were busy coming and going, and the smoke that floated out in the early morning, like fog, shrouded the entire palace in a hazy way.

It is because of the customs of Great Chu, the cold day has to eat and make up for the body, but yesterday Chu Zikai and Yu Zhao did not show up, and the courtesy of the concubines failed to be offered.

The imperial hospital and dining room were empty as soon as the treasury was emptied, and the concubines tried their best to collect all kinds of precious medicinal materials and supplements and bring them back to their palaces, and did their best to study the recipes, make fresh dishes with color, aroma, taste and tonic effects, put them in the food box, and went out at the right time, wanting to have a chance encounter with Chu Zikai on the way down to the court.

It is said that when the cold weather was affected before, the local officials mismanaged the situation, allowing the cult crooks to take advantage of the loopholes and fool tens of millions of people into abandoning the five grains to practice divine skills, resulting in no one planting the crops in the fields.

However, when winter came, no one practiced the magic skill that is said to be able to cure all diseases without eating grains and survive by true qi, and the people were so hungry that they stuck to their chests and backs before they realized that they had been deceived. If you want to go to the crops to find food, you can see the yellow grass and withered poplars as far as the eye can see, where can you find something to satisfy your hunger.

No matter how ignorant the people are, it is also the foundation of the country, Chu Zikai knows this truth very well, seeing that they have suffered from hunger, although he is angry, but he can't ignore it, and immediately takes this time as a top priority and discusses countermeasures with the ministers in the court, so he has not returned for a long time.

Pity the delicate and expensive concubines, standing in the tuyere with the hard-working medicinal food, looking at the eyes and waiting for a long time, full of resentment but not daring to show it, the carefully boiled soup in the food box is almost cold, but there is no figure of Chu Zikai, and he is anxious.