Chen Ping'an brought back two baskets of wedding candy from Youyi Peak, mostly osmanthus sweets. He had Rong Yu distribute them to the more than sixty Secretary Officials at the National Teacher's Manor, two bags apiece, to share in the joyous luck. The exquisitely cloud-patterned, gold-embroidered pouches bore woven auspicious phrases, and the Secretary Officials all knew their goods. They were certainly keeping the pouches.
Because he had missed the morning court, Chen Ping'an had taken the initiative to discuss it with the Emperor and specifically made up for it with an Imperial Study Minor Court Assembly. Those attending to deliberate were all high-ranking Mountain and Water Spirits granted Imperial Enfeoffment. They had gathered to discuss water diversion across various regions, preventing major droughts and floods in the local prefectures and commanderies.
Chen Ping'an had also brought two bags of wedding candy for the Emperor.
Song He untied an embroidered pouch, drew out a handful of osmanthus sweets, and tossed them one by one to Jin Qing, Yang Hua, and the others.
The Emperor doted on his youngest child. He intended to save the other bag of wedding candy for his daughter, waiting only for her return from her travels.
As they ate the wedding candy, they discussed the imperial court's official book-compilation project. The atmosphere in the Imperial Study remained quite relaxed.
Chen Ping'an said that he had successfully invited Chen Chunhua. The old gentleman had agreed to set aside three months to give the Great Li historians specialized lectures on the methods and paths of historiography.
Cao Yong, Marquis of the Great Canal, praised, "This is the refined scholar Chen Clan's family learning, which ought to have been kept strictly secret. A fine thing, truly a fine thing. When the time comes, I too will attend Chen Chunhua's