Hu Xiaotian personally went to the Imperial Kitchen. The days around New Year were its busiest days of the year. Not only did the emperor need attending to, but so did all the consorts in the rear palace. Naturally, some demands took precedence over others, and the Imperial Kitchen treated each palace differently according to its standing.
The Purple Orchid Palace clearly counted for little within the Imperial Palace, and Long Xiyue, a princess soon to be married off to a distant land, received no particularly honored treatment. Qiqi, however, was another matter. If the Imperial Kitchen dared neglect her requests and angered this Little Princess, she might well smash its stoves. Besides invoking Qiqi's name, Hu Xiaotian also had his own influence to draw upon.
Naturally, the imperial cooks gave his request priority and special attention.
Hu Xiaotian had not gone empty-handed, either. He rewarded the imperial cook in charge of the stoves with several of the Gold Leaves the Little Princess had just given him.
While at the Imperial Kitchen, he happened to run into the young eunuch Yin Zheng, who had come to arrange the emperor's late-night meal. Spotting Hu Xiaotian, Yin Zheng called out from afar, "Greetings, Eunuch Hu! Greetings, Eunuch Hu!"
Hu Xiaotian smiled and returned the greeting with clasped hands. Since plenty of palace servants were coming and going around them, Yin Zheng did not act too familiar. Had no one else been present, he might already have dropped to his knees and kowtowed.
Hu Xiaotian took his hand and led him away from the crowd, smiling. "Little brother, I was just thinking of you."
Yin Zheng said, "Brother, I wanted to come offer you New Year's greetings first thing this morning, but His Majesty assigned me so much work that I truly couldn't