On New Year's Eve, the Capital City grew lively from early morning. The palace walls were hung with newly made red silk lanterns, one every three paces, stretching all the way along the palace path to the entrance of the Xuanzheng Hall. The pillars under the corridors were pasted with gold-foiled blessing characters, and the palace attendants had changed into newly tailored winter clothing, their collars and sleeve edges trimmed with a circle of rabbit fur, carrying New Year gifts as they shuttled between the various palaces. In the Imperial Kitchen, steamer baskets were piled higher than a person, the head chef's apron was covered in glutinous rice flour, and the fragrance of sweet fermented rice wine drifted out from the stove rooms, mixing with the oily aroma of preserved meat stews, so that the entire palace path could smell it.
The banquet of the Taihe Hall was set at dusk. Palace lanterns hung high inside the hall, and bright gold longevity characters were suspended on the inner pillars. The officials sat in order of rank, and the long tables before them were filled with delicacies and fine foods. The skin of the roasted suckling pig shone with crispness, the steamed sea bass was poured with scalding hot scallion oil, and the sweet fermented rice wine dumplings with osmanthus bubbled with white steam in porcelain bowls. Tribute offerings from various regions were piled into small hills at the sides of the hall-lychee honey from Lingnan, brocades from Jiangnan, sable pelts from the Northern Border, and Hotan jade from the Western Regions. Each piece was tied with red silk, and the officials' names and auspicious phrases were written on the ribbons.
Qi Yu sat in the very last position of the imperial princes' row, the dishes laid out before him being