Aftermath (A series of ELOD one-shots)

XI. Dihou Duties

A/N: A bit of fluff, I hope you enjoy reading, as much as I did writing it.

Gorgeous artwork not mine, merely borrowing for reference purposes.  Credit goes to the artist and rightful owner.

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When Fengjiu took position as the Dihou, and collaterally, Mistress of Taichen Palace, she assumed that it was more of an honorary post, considering that she was married to a retired emperor with no real duties, except to conserve his energy for rare matters of universal significance.

She was right, at least for the first several years. Then Tianjun's anniversary banquet happened, and just like that, there were several proposals sent to Taichen Palace, all addressed to Her Majesty Fengjiu Dihou.

A letter requesting her inputs on the conduct of a conferment ceremony for a certain member of the royal family. Several invitations to birthdays and wedding celebrations, and the coming-of-age ceremony of a prince from faraway western kingdom. Also, a rambling, overly formal note from one of Tianjun's consorts, politely soliciting contributions for a surprise birthday banquet for the Heavenly Queen.

Fengjiu blinked at all the scrolls spread on her desk and looked at both Zhonglin and Dai, who were patiently waiting for her orders. She raised a hand to her temples to rub away the brewing headache there. "Before I came, how do you usually handle these kinds of requests, Zhonglin?"

"Aside from the honorary invitations, I can't remember receiving requests like these, Your Majesty. Also, Dijun very rarely ever attends events so..."

Fengjiu nodded understandably. Somehow, her recent appearance in Tianjun's ascension anniversary seemed to have reminded all the realms that there is a living, breathing Dihou hidden in Taichen Palace, and she is far more approachable and agreeable than the legendary god in reclusion there. In addition, Donghua had more or less given her free reign over Taichen Palace's domestic affairs, which is why Zhonglin is now deferring to her.

Fengjiu isn't sure if this is necessarily a good thing.

In the end, the three of them worked to narrow down the invitations to the most crucial ones in terms of distance, importance, and relations to Taichen and Qingqiu. She relegated to Dai the task of proposing inputs to the conferment ceremony, and asked Zhonglin to inquire with other palaces as to what they will be contributing to the Heavenly Queen's banquet, for comparison purposes.

Her Aunt nearly died laughing when Fengjiu came over that afternoon to pick Gungun up from his playdate with Ah Li and to complain about the situation. "Well, who asked you to show off during Tianjun's ascension banquet?" Bai Qian hiccuped, wiping tears from the corners of her eyes. "Now you have to walk the talk and prove that your hide is big enough to cover the throne you are sitting on."

"How come you aren't similarly bothered?" Fengjiu asked, after spending the next few minutes pouting and grimacing at her aunt's merciless taunting. "As the Crown Princess, aren't you supposed to be up to your ears with these royal duties?"

"Who says I'm not? I just so happen to have a husband whose already on top of these things, so I'm not worried."