Transmigration: From Farmer To Empress-Chapter 1951 - 1958: Longevity Festival (Part 4)

After the dance, he drew his sword and bowed to the stage, and the applause from the audience was like thunder, with endless praise.

Lady Du was proud to see her son thus honored; she couldn’t stop smiling while Cai Wei nodded and laughed, saying, "Good, at least he didn’t let His Majesty and my hopes down...."

At night, the Shangsi Festival Banquet had already dispersed, and the three steamed buns had also gone to sleep. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Nangong Yi returned from the royal study and said to Cai Wei, "Wei’er, accompany me for a few drinks." His mood was evidently excellent, with a slight smile in his eyes, though it was unclear why he was so happy.

"Okay!" Cai Wei smiled slightly. Although today’s Shangsi Festival Banquet was exhausting, it was a rare occasion for the man to be in such high spirits, and she didn’t want to disappoint him, so she nodded lightly. She ordered the servants to set up tables and chairs in the courtyard, preparing melons, fruits, dim sum, and a few small dishes, along with a multi-colored dragon and phoenix-patterned wine jug, and a pair of multi-colored dragon and phoenix-patterned wine cups.

The palace lamps hung high, and the soft light spread into the courtyard of Shouxian Palace, with a touch of coolness amidst the warmth.

Nangong Yi waved his hand, and Chun Ying and Chun Li came forward carrying garments.

He personally unfolded a wide light gold patterned shawl and draped it over Cai Wei, then waved his hand to dismiss the palace servants.

"You shouldn’t always care for me only; you need to watch your own health too." Cai Wei wrapped the shawl around herself, stood up, and unfolded his light white gold dragon-embroidered cloak to drape over him. It was quite cold at night with significant temperature differences.

Nangong Yi laughed and said, "It’s alright, this wine has been warmed; drinking it will warm us up." Despite saying this, he did not remove the cloak from his body.

The man sent the servants away and personally poured a glass of wine for each of them. Raising his wine cup, he said to Cai Wei, "Wei’er, I want to toast you. If it weren’t for you, neither I nor my subjects could have recovered so quickly from the earthquake incident."

After speaking, he downed his drink in one go.

Cai Wei also raised her wine cup, took a sip, and said, "That was last year; why bring it up now? At the moment, a great drought is coming. It’s important to encourage the people to widely plant corn, potatoes, pumpkins, and sweet potatoes, and storing food is also crucial."

Nangong Yi then said, "What I want to tell you is related to food storage. You once advised me to send people to various nations for trade and obtain food supplies. I sent Cao Jinpeng, the head eunuch from the Department of Internal Affairs, to the Xianbei Empire. Today, we received a border report saying that Cao Jinpeng has already exchanged for over a million dans of grain in Xianbei and is escorting it back to our Great Jin Dynasty."

Cao Jinpeng was one of the eunuchs who grew up with Nangong Yi and had studied in the inner study.

Initially, the Department of Internal Affairs had significant authority, only under the Ceremony Supervisor, primarily managing palace staff, overseeing the supply of wood, stone, tiles, earth, scaffolding, east and west travels, painting, weddings, firework production, and storage of rice and salt, construction depots, imperial altars, among other state construction, including copper and tin makeup kits, and other equipment, similar to the Department of Public Works.

Nangong Yi trusted Cao Jinpeng not only because of their shared history but also because of his excellent character, intelligence, agility, and extensive knowledge, being well-versed in the geography, history, culture, and religion of various nations, and his physical strength made him the ideal candidate.

Upon hearing this, Cai Wei was also very happy and couldn’t help but laugh, saying, "This is indeed something to celebrate. Then I shall congratulate Your Majesty first; for the sake of this over a million dans of grain, I’ll toast Your Majesty."

After saying this, she also drank all the wine in her cup.

Even now, Cai Wei’s drinking capacity hadn’t increased much from before. After one cup of wine, her cheeks immediately blushed, the chill brought by the spring breeze dissipated slightly, and a warmth seemed to spread from her abdomen, dispersing to her limbs and bones, making her feel much warmer overall.