Crossing the Palace Fighting Fox Harem

Chapter 111 Birthday Party

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid there is no one in the concubine's palace today. Shall we go back first?" Hua Rong said to Ji Anni while picking up the debris on the ground.

Ji Anni put the remaining exorcism incense back into the cupboard.

"My queen, aren't you going to take all these demon-removing incense back with you?" Hua Rong asked curiously.

Ji Anni shook her head and said, "Forget it. I don't like the smell of this fragrance anyway. I get dizzy every time I smell it."

Although this was a gift from Yun Zhen, it was not worth keeping. At first, she would feel dizzy after lighting the incense, but now it has developed to the point where she would feel dizzy and nauseous as soon as she smelled the incense, regardless of whether it was lit or not. She didn't know what was going on.

Die'er, who was standing by, noticed that Ji Anni looked unwell and hurried forward to support her.

"Thank you, Die'er." Although Die'er couldn't speak, every one of her careful movements made Ji Anni feel warm.

After cleaning up the debris on the floor, the three of them left the room.

Huarong closed the door again.

Since Ji Anni moved out, the room has been empty, even the sheets and quilts have been removed, leaving only a few pieces of furniture such as tables, chairs and benches and four empty walls. So usually the room is not locked, so that the maids can clean it easily.

There are fifty rooms in the East Concubine Palace, which can accommodate fifty concubines. But this time, only fifteen concubines live in the East Concubine Palace, which means that there are thirty-five empty rooms left. After Ji Anni moved out, there were thirty-six empty rooms. These thirty-six empty rooms were not locked, except for one - the room where Yizhen lived at first, which was also the room where Sister Shui Furong lived three years ago.

That room was very ominous, so it was locked and no one was allowed to enter.

But on the night when the emperor held a banquet for all the concubines, Ji Anni saw Shui Furong coming out of that room. Perhaps Shui Furong was inside to investigate the clues of her sister's death? Ji Anni didn't have much good feelings for Shui Furong, but she admired her courage very much for sneaking into the harem alone to investigate the cause of her sister's death. Although she was unruly and unreasonable, she dared to think and act, and Ji Anni admired her for this.

"My queen, let's go back?" Hua Rong said as she helped Ji Anni walk towards the door.

But Ji Anni didn't give up and knocked on Yizhen's door. After a long time, there was no response. She thought Yizhen must have gone out today. Just when she was disappointed, she suddenly saw a small purse hanging outside Yizhen's door. The purse was about the size of a palm, with a red background and several circles of patterns embroidered with gold thread. It was a very simple design, but it showed a bit of exquisiteness in its simplicity.

Ji Anni asked curiously, "What is this?"

Huarong walked forward, took a look, and replied, "My Lady, this is a blessing bag."

"Lucky bag?" Ji Anni didn't quite understand.

Hua Rong continued, "This seems to be a folk custom in Nanhu County. When a daughter's birthday comes, a blessing bag is hung outside the door to pray for peace, longevity, and to ward off evil spirits and disasters. I guess today is Concubine Su Cong's birthday, so she hung a blessing bag outside the door to pray for blessings."

"Today is Yizhen's birthday?" Ji Anni really didn't expect it. She had never heard Yizhen mention it.

"Your Majesty, do you want to prepare any gift for Concubine Su Congfei?" Hua Rong quickly noticed Ji Anni's thoughts and asked before Ji Anni asked.

Ji Anni touched her chin, stared at the small lucky bag for a long time, and a faint smile appeared at the corner of her mouth.

Although I don't know what this blessing bag in Nanhu County is, it feels like it's similar to the socks hung on Christmas. Unfortunately, the gift that Ji Anni brought today was a few sets of clothes, which were too big to fit into this small blessing bag.

She was seen touching her head and body for a while, and her hands finally stopped at a necklace around her neck. The necklace was new, and Ji Anni had only worn it for less than half a day.

The necklace is made of colorful wooden beads, with large and small wooden beads densely arranged, which not only does not look messy, but brings a sense of beauty without rules. Although this wooden bead necklace is not as dazzling as gemstones, its style is simple and natural, and it has a very ethnic style. It must be very beautiful for Yizhen to wear it. So Ji Anni took off the necklace and put it in the blessing bag, and gave it to Yizhen as a gift.

"Your Majesty, Concubine Su Congfei will be frightened if you do this." Hua Rong whispered.

"It's a surprise to be surprised." Ji Anni hung the lucky bag with the necklace back on the door. If there is no surprise, the birthday gift is worthless.

Looking at the bulging lucky bag, Ji Anni wondered what Yizhen’s expression would be when she found this necklace?

"By the way, Huarong, how else does Nanhu County celebrate birthdays besides hanging up blessing envelopes?" Ji Anni wanted to celebrate Yizhen's birthday according to the custom of Nanhu County. Otherwise, it would be too pitiful for Yizhen to spend her birthday alone in Concubine Palace.

Hua Rong said: "I am not from Nanhu County, so I don't know either."

"Oh, right, why don't we just have a birthday party?" Ji Anni decided to imitate the emperor's night banquet for the concubines and have a night banquet for her good sister. It just so happened that she had just been promoted to imperial concubine and had her own courtyard. The courtyard on the right side was full of fragrant flowers and plants, and the scenery was picturesque. It was definitely a good place to hold a banquet.

"Your Majesty." Although Hua Rong didn't want to spoil Ji Annie's fun, she had to state the actual situation. "Your Majesty's idea of ​​holding a banquet is good, but even if we start preparing now, the time is too short. I'm afraid it's too late. Why don't you think of other ways?"

"Other methods?" Should I make a birthday cake? That would be impossible given the current conditions.

This really stumped Ji Annie. She rubbed her chin and thought hard for a while. Finally, an idea came to her mind. "Right, why don't we hold a barbecue party? This is simple and easy to prepare. All you need is ingredients, seasonings, charcoal, bamboo sticks and a brush. Even if you don't have a barbecue grill, it doesn't matter. You just need to use stones to make a long, flat circle on the ground."

"Barbecue?" Hua Rong asked doubtfully, "Madam, do you want roast chicken or lamb?"

Probably what appeared in Huarong's mind at this moment was an image of roasted suckling pig.

"Instead of roasting chicken or lamb, we roast meat skewers. We can roast chicken, lamb, or pork. We also roast chicken wings and spare ribs. But I'm not good at roasting chicken wings. I can only roast them half-cooked every time. But I'm best at roasting sausages... Oh, by the way, there probably isn't any sausage here, but it doesn't matter. We can also roast lentils, eggplants, green peppers, lotus root slices, konjac, dried tofu, and steamed buns. We can roast anything that's edible."