How can I bow my head and serve the powerful officials?

After the annual banquet, the ministers left the palace with their families.

Xie Zimiao was reluctant to return home and insisted on staying in Chenghuan Palace. Xie Chengze couldn't persuade him, so he simply invited Xie Shoujun to join him, just in time to give him the birthday gift he was owed ten years ago.

As for Shen Yuan, needless to say, except for the three days belonging to Xie Jinyu when he was not allowed to step into Chenghuan Palace, at other times he could come and go freely as if it were his second home.

Just like that time, several people gathered in Xie Chengze's bedroom. Shen Yuan shoveled coal to light the kang and made the bedding flat and warm. Xie Jinyu wanted to ask the kitchen to make a few pots of hot wine and side dishes, but found that Xie Chengze had already given the palace servants in Chenghuan Palace a New Year's holiday. Just as she was about to ask Shen Yuan to prepare, she heard Xie Chengze say to Xie Zimiao, "Xiaomiao, go to the kitchen with your second brother, and your second brother will make dumplings for you."

Xie Jinyu quickly pulled his sleeve and asked, "Do you want to stay in the kitchen to make dumplings?"

"No, go back to the house and pack it."

Xie Chengze patted his head, signaling him to stay calm, and then recited the classic Chinese New Year line in a serious manner, "Let's make dumplings together!"

After he finished speaking, he couldn't help but bend over and laugh. Xie Jinyu didn't know what he was laughing at, but seeing him laughing so happily, she couldn't help but soften her eyebrows, "Well, I'll go with my second brother."

He wanted to eat the reunion dumplings made by his second brother.

After a while, Xie Chengze came back with a bag of pork, a kitchen knife and a handful of green onions. Behind him, Xie Jinyu was holding a plate with bottles and cans in one hand and a bag of flour in the other. Xie Zimiao was carrying a large board for kneading dough and placed the things neatly on the wooden table in the room.

Neither Xie Jinyu nor Xie Zimiao knew how to cook, so Xie Shoujun chopped the meat, Shen Yuan kneaded the dough and rolled the skins, and Xie Chengze mixed the stuffing and made the dumplings.

Xie Chengze also called Wuhen and Wuji in, and the half-baked one taught four people with poor cooking skills how to pinch the folds of dumplings. The panel was full of ugly dumplings made by the five of them.

While the dumplings were cooking, Xie Chengze took out the birthday gift he owed to Xie Shoujun.

Compared to Xie Shoujun, Xie Zimiao seemed more excited, "Brother, open it quickly! See what the second brother gave you?"

Xie Shoujun held down his restless hand and said calmly, "Take your time."

But he was not slow at all in opening the birthday gift.

The first birthday gift was a crossbow of extremely peculiar design. Xie Chengze called it "Invisible Fork Kicked". This kind of crossbow did not require the user to pluck the arrow string laboriously, but instead used the curved hook of the gun handle to shoot the arrow. It was not only very labor-saving, but also had a very long range and could be operated with one hand. Xie Shoujun only tried it once and couldn't let it go.

The second birthday gift was a cold weapon called a lantern shield, which was a combination of an iron hand and a round shield. The diameter of the round shield was less than half a meter. There were two serrated spikes on the gloves, a dagger on the shield, and a sword blade parallel to the arm on the lower inside. It was a weapon that combined offense and defense.

There was also a small hole on the original lantern shield, in which an oil lamp could be placed. When it was turned on during a duel at night, the sudden strong light would temporarily blind the opponent. As the design was somewhat complicated, Xie Chengze and Gu Lao had not figured it out, so they temporarily gave up on this function.

The first two birthday gifts seemed a bit cold, but Xie Shoujun had just joined the battlefield at that time. If Xie Chengze came to deliver the birthday gift, he would certainly hope that he could give a birthday gift that could protect his eldest brother and ensure his safe return.

From the third birthday gift, the gifts started to become warmer. There was a jade pendant that Xie Chengze had spent a long time picking out on the street, a bodhi bracelet that Xie Chengze had strung himself, and mahjong that Xie Chengze had asked a craftsman to make...

When it came to the last birthday gift, Xie Chengze held Xie Shoujun's hand a little embarrassedly and reminded him, "This... is still a semi-finished product, not finished yet."

This aroused the curiosity of everyone present.

"Could it be that the puppet you carved, second brother?" Xie Zimiao still remembered that his second brother liked to carve puppets when he was a child, but because of his clumsy hands, the puppets he carved were too ugly and were eventually thrown into the woodshed to be burned in the firewood room.

Xie Chengze shook his head.

Xie Jinyu pondered for a moment and guessed, "That's the letter my second brother wrote? A handwritten letter from ten years ago?"

Xie Chengze, who had no such thoughts and no such delicate mind, said: "...Not really."

Wuhen and Wuji also joined the guessing game, "Ice sculpture? Or is it the portrait of Prince Gong?"

Seeing Xie Chengze still shaking his head, everyone couldn't help but turn their eyes to Shen Yuan.

Shen Yuan stared at the box containing the birthday gift, then looked at Xie Chengze, who had an expression you would never guess. After a long while, he said in a serious tone, "...Could it be that this is the underwear that His Highness personally sewed?"

There was a subtle silence in the room.

The next moment, Xie Chengze blushed and yelled, "No way! Who would give this as a birthday gift?"

Xie Zimiao clicked his tongue twice, revealing a look of slight disdain, "I didn't expect you to be this kind of Lord Shen."

Shen Yuan: ...It's because Xie Chengze never plays by the rules, that's why he -

Finally, Xie Shoujun opened the box.

All I saw inside was... an orange.

An orange covered with green hair.

Xie Zimiao poked his head out, a little confused, "Second brother, did you take the wrong one?"

Why is the birthday gift a hairy bad orange?

"You got it right." Xie Chengze patted the box and said proudly, "This is what my second brother is developing - penicillin."

He explained to the group, "This is an anti-infective drug. When soldiers are injured on the battlefield, many of them suffer from festering wounds, and may even die from it. Penicillin can reduce the infection and help soldiers recover their combat effectiveness faster."

Xie Zimiao's eyes suddenly widened. He knew that most of the soldiers in the army died because their wounds became inflamed and festered and they could not get effective treatment.

Although gunpowder can effectively deter enemy troops on the border, there are always people who are not afraid of death, and there are always times when the two armies need to engage in close combat, and soldiers will still be injured.

But if the penicillin that my second brother gave me is really that powerful, one can imagine how many soldiers who were chopped off could have survived because of it, and how many civilians would not have lost their loved ones!

"Second brother!" Xie Zimiao's eyes lit up, "You are really amazing, how do you know these things?"

How could ordinary people possibly imagine that hairy oranges can be used to make anti-inflammatory medicine!

"Because my second brother is a lucky star." Xie Chengze couldn't help but rub his head with a smile, "God has told me in my dreams!"

Xie Jinyu, who was standing by, frowned slightly when he heard this, looked at the birthday gifts, and drank the hot wine in the glass in one gulp.

"It seems that Second Brother has spent a lot of time and energy preparing these birthday gifts recently." His tone was a little harsh, "I think all the energy you regained from Shen Yuan has been used on this."

Xie Chengze immediately lowered his head guiltily and poured him some hot wine, "Just this once."

He did take advantage of the time he was preparing a birthday gift for Xie Shoujun to secretly research some things that would benefit the people.

Xie Zimiao glanced at Xie Jinyu in confusion, thinking that Xie Jinyu was just being sarcastic because he was jealous of his elder brother having so many birthday gifts, and he didn't take it to heart.

The dumplings were cooked by then, and several people started eating while trying to play the mahjong set made by Xie Chengze. They became addicted to the game and forgot to eat the dumplings. They took turns to sit at the table and play enthusiastically.

Xie Chengze couldn't stay up late, so he went to bed early. The rest of the people were playing mahjong quietly. Xie Shoujun and the others were more dignified and steady, unlike Xie Zimiao and Wu Ji, who were swinging their arms and playing mahjong silently, as if they were performing a wonderful pantomime.

I don’t know how much time has passed.

Xie Chengze woke up in a daze and felt as if there was a sound beside the bed. He opened his eyes slightly and saw Shen Yuan standing in front of the bed, holding something huge in his hand.

"Shen Yuan?" The young man's voice was hoarse, and his throat was a little dry from being burned by the kang.

Hearing the noise, Shen Yuan turned around. The candlelight in the room had already gone out. In the night, he met Xie Chengze's confused eyes and spoke in a much softer tone, "I'm here."

"What are you doing?" Xie Chengze patted the pillow and invited, "Come and sleep."

Shen Yuan paused, loosened the giant in his hand, and pushed it away. His eyes seemed to be warning something, until the giant went away with a grumble. Then he sat down beside the bed and held the young man's hand, "Your Highness, go to sleep first."

This time, he would stay by the bed to see which shameless person dared to mess around while Xie Chengze was sleeping!!!