The low-key prince summons trainees from the Imperial Household Department at the start of the game.

The first day of the first month of the twenty-fourth year of Yonghe.

The snow fell intermittently throughout the night on New Year's Eve.

Before dawn, the square in front of the Qianyuan Hall was already packed with people.

The New Year's Day Grand Court Assembly is the most solemn court assembly of the year.

All officials of the seventh rank and above in the capital were present, and officials from outside the capital who came to the capital to report on their duties also sat outside the palace.

Civil officials lined up on the left side of the steps according to their rank, while military officials lined up on the right. Everyone was dressed in court robes and wore a Liang crown, standing straight in the biting cold wind.

Wang Zheng, the Grand Eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, took half a day's leave due to a relapse of an old illness. The eunuch Zhao Gao, who was in charge of announcing names in his place before the steps, took his place.

Today he wore a brand-new scarlet court robe, with a dark black palace sash around his waist, and held a whisk in his hand. Every name he uttered echoed clearly in the air above the palace square.

The voice was neither too loud nor too soft, neither too fast nor too slow, yet everyone could hear it clearly.

This is not a skill of internal energy cultivation, but rather a sense of proportion that has been mastered to the extreme.

Zhou Xing stood in the line of princes, with several brothers, some older and some younger than him, in front of him, and white marble railings covered in snow behind him.

He was wearing newly made court robes, and the fur collar was slightly damp from his breath.

Standing beside him, Granny Liu watched his retreating figure from afar in the line of palace servants. The scales in her heart had never been set aside since that night at the family banquet.

The elaborate rituals lasted all morning.

The ceremony proceeded step by step, including offering sacrifices to Heaven and ancestors, receiving congratulations from officials, and reading out the New Year's decree. The ceremony was concluded only when the bells and drums rang out at noon.

After the court session ended, the princes walked down the steps in small groups, their conversations and laughter echoing in the snow-covered square.

As usual, Zhou Xing walked at the back, returned to the side hall to change out of his court robes and into a casual cotton robe, and added a scarf.

Chunlan brought over a bowl of piping hot ginger soup. The soup was dark brown, and the spicy ginger aroma hit his nose. He sipped it slowly, and his internal organs felt warm.

"Your Highness, drink slowly, don't burn yourself." Granny Liu hung up his changed court robes for him.

A few more pieces of charcoal were added to the charcoal brazier, making the side hall warm and cozy.

The frost on the window paper was slowly melting, and thin streaks of water dripped down the window frame.

As evening approached, palace lanterns were lit one after another, and the New Year's Eve banquet was held in Fengyi Palace.

This is a family banquet in the inner palace, which is more private than the Qixi Festival banquet. Only the emperor, empress, concubines, princes and princesses from various palaces attend.

Zhou Xing's seat was still placed in an inconspicuous corner, and he ate quietly as usual.

Midway through the banquet, Emperor Wu of Zhou raised his cup and spoke some words of New Year's wishes, his gaze sweeping over the princes.

The gaze lingered on the eldest prince for a moment, then on the second prince for a brief instant.

They didn't stop when they passed by the Ninth Prince.

Standing in the line of palace servants, Granny Liu could see it clearly. She sighed inwardly, but saw His Highness still eating his food in small bites, looking serene.

She suddenly felt that perhaps His Highness didn't need other people's opinions at all.

After staying up all night on New Year's Eve, the new year begins.

On the second day of the Lunar New Year, the various mansions exchanged New Year's gifts. The thresholds of the First Prince's Mansion, the Second Prince's Mansion, the Grand Tutor's Mansion, and the Grand Commandant's Mansion were almost worn down by the people bringing gifts.

The Ninth Prince's side hall was deserted, receiving only a few routine New Year's gifts.

One of them came from Zhao Gao, a eunuch serving in the Directorate of Ceremonial.

Two bolts of brocade, a box of Huzhou brushes, and a case of new tea were included, along with a note that simply read "Happy New Year," written in even strokes, neither humble nor arrogant.

Chunlan took the invitation and asked His Highness if he wanted to return the favor.

Zhou Xing picked up the invitation and glanced at it, saying to put away the pen and ink, give the brocade to Granny Liu and the others to make new clothes, and also to return a box of osmanthus cake.

Another New Year's gift came from Heshengyuan.

It wasn't sent to a side hall, but rather transferred in through Lu Changfeng's channels.

Several bolts of fine brocade, several boxes of precious medicinal herbs, a box of newly made silver ingots, and a secret letter tucked inside the gift list.

After reading the secret letter, Zhou Xing burned it, and the ashes fell into a copper plate. Then he picked up a pen and wrote a few lines on a piece of paper.

"Have Yidun donate a batch of grain and medicinal herbs to several disaster-stricken villages in the suburbs of Beijing in the name of Heshengyuan."

"A major epidemic is bound to follow the snow disaster; Zhang Zhongjing has already reported it."

Zhou Xing will be ten years old after the New Year.

He grew another half inch taller, and when Chunlan measured his height, she carved a fourth mark on the door frame.

It's a full finger's width higher than the third one.

His cultivation level has steadily improved from the third rank, and he has mastered all thirty forms of the Five Animal Frolics.

The Shaoyang Peiyuan Decoction was still administered every other day, and the Qi vortex in the Dantian became increasingly solid, faintly showing signs of the peak of the third grade.

However, he still used the "Hidden Edge Technique" to suppress his true intentions, and to outsiders, he remained an ordinary first-rank prince.

On the seventh day of the first lunar month, the Ministry of Personnel took the lead in launching the spring selection process.

The Spring Selection was the main way for the Great Zhou Dynasty to select lower-ranking officials, running parallel to the Imperial Examination.

The imperial examination selected Jinshi (successful candidates in the highest level of the imperial examination) to enter the Hanlin Academy, while the spring selection filled vacancies for Langguan (officials in various ministries, academies, temples, and supervisory offices).

A new structure is slowly taking shape in the court following the imperial examinations.

Yao Guangxiao quietly compiled the national history at the Hanlin Academy and never took the initiative to express his political views.

But every time he spoke, he accurately hit the nail on the head, and his colleagues' evaluation of him quietly changed from "the top scholar" to "Yao the compiler".

Wang Anshi, along with Pei Du, investigated several long-standing cases at the Censorate.

Wherever he went, he would first go through the files. His colleagues laughed at him for being out of touch with human relationships, but after he found solid evidence to bring down several corrupt officials, no one dared to laugh anymore.

Su Shi thrived in the Hanlin Academy, where his poetry and lyrics became increasingly unrestrained and expansive.

The new work "Jiang Cheng Zi: Hunting in Mizhou" has already spread outside the palace, and even Wang Mazi, who sells sesame cakes on the street, can hum a few lines of "I can draw my bow like a full moon".

Huo Qubing and Li Wenzhong also gained a foothold in the Ministry of War.

Although the two men were temporarily retained by the Ministry of War to await further orders, war could break out again in the northern border at any time, and their appointments were only a matter of time.

Huo Qubing couldn't stay idle at the Ministry of War's drill ground. Every day, he would drag Li Wenzhong to practice riding and archery. The two of their warhorses trampled the soil on the drill ground flat.

Chen Qingzhi was engrossed in organizing maps of the northern border at the Ministry of War's Department of Military Affairs. He revised the set of hand-drawn maps he had brought back from Shuozhou, which Sima Lie happened to see and praised highly.

Zhou Xing filed all the information sent back from various parties, then opened the self-made booklet and wrote a word on a new page.

"wait".

The ten-year-old stood by the window and looked out. Several new buds had sprouted on the branches of the old locust tree, their tender green color almost transparent under the clear sky after the snow.

Winter is almost over.