The Concubine in the Palace_The Feast of Masks【Complete】(141)

Queen Wei looked distressed and waved to Yao Niang. When she came closer, he took her hand and said: "What a pitiful person. I have also heard from the Holy One about your matter. It was King Jin who wronged you mother and son. Fortunately, the emperor has lived up to his wishes. After all, father and son are reunited." "

Yao Niang lowered her head and looked shy.

"She is quite shy, not a squeamish person, and she is also well-behaved."

Queen Wei said so, and all the princesses naturally wanted to echo her words.

Queen Wei didn't say anything wrong with Princess Jin, either inside or outside her words, but this behavior obviously ruined Princess Jin's face. It was both pitiful and squeamish, and it was not obvious that he dismissed what Princess Jin had said before.

Princess Jin's face was hard to distinguish, with a slight smile on her face, but there was a flash of embarrassment in her eyes. Fortunately, Queen Wei stopped talking and quickly skipped it and talked about today's events.

Today is the birthday of Emperor Hongjing, and it is also a good day for everyone to celebrate. Emperor Hongjing held a banquet in the palace to entertain the princes, nobles, civil and military officials, and many foreign envoys. Naturally, these people couldn't just come by themselves. They must have brought their own women. These women would need to be entertained by the queen.

But there is only one queen, so it is inevitable that there will be some oversights. As the prince's concubine, she naturally has to help deal with it.

There is no need for them to do any work, they just help and look after everything, so as not to make any ridiculous mistakes or other accidents. Every time there is a grand ceremony in the palace, these are common practices, and the princesses are no strangers to them.

As for Yao Niang, she was pregnant with Liujia and could not help much, so she was naturally ignored.

The banquets of the former dynasty were held in the Taihe Hall, Zhonghe Hall and Baohe Hall, while the banquets of the later dynasty were held in the Jiāo Tai Hall and Kunning Palace.

It started at si o'clock and didn't end until nearly dusk.

There was nothing for Yao Niang to do here, she just had to follow the large army. Because she was pregnant with Liujia, Empress Wei specially ordered the maid to prepare a palace room for her to rest temporarily when she was tired.

But after all, she was in the public eye and it was hard to show off too much. She often took Xiaobao to rest for a while and then went out again. Generally speaking, nothing went wrong.

During this period, Yaoniang met someone, the princess of Prince Qing.

For some reason, Princess Qing was particularly warm to Yao Niang and took the initiative to come over to talk to her. Generally speaking, the princess looks for the princess, and the concubine looks for the concubine. There will be no confusion. Princess Keqing, a princess, came to get close to Yao Niang, a concubine.

Later, when Yao Niang heard Princess Qing say that she was very good with Prince Jin when Prince Qing was still in Beijing, she realized that Prince Jin must have specially arranged it. She was probably afraid that no one would pay attention to her and she would be embarrassed.

Princess Qing's surname is Xiao. She is pretty and delicate. She has a three-year-old brother. If nothing happens, this brother will be the eldest son of Prince Qing's palace. Brother Yan is an introverted and shy child. Unlike other children of the same age who always make noises and play around, he sits quietly next to his mother.

Xiaobao is also very quiet.

Putting the two of them together can be fun. Brother Yan takes good care of his little brother and even takes the initiative to give his tumbler to Xiaobao to play with.

"Let me tell you, there are a lot of people here, so he is a little afraid of strangers. If he were in the mansion, he would be very angry." Seeing Yao Niang praising Brother Yan for his obedience, Princess Qing sounded slightly disgusted. But looking at her smiling face, you knew that she didn't mean what she said. Mothers like to hear people praise their children for being well-behaved.

"Xiaobao is the same, he behaves well when surrounded by people. Even in the house, he is very naughty. You don't know, I got a little kitten from nowhere recently, and you bother me every day to ask the girl to make clothes for the kitten..."

It's a pity that Huahua doesn't like to wear the clothes she made, so she can only make toys for Huahua to play with.

"Cat? You can't catch children, can you?"

"That's not true. That cat is very well-behaved. It's still a little kitten. Its teeth and claws haven't fully grown yet. I only let him play with it for a while every day..."

Mothers always have countless things to say when they sit together. The two mothers are talking here, and Brother Yan and Xiaobao are playing with a roly-poly on the couch over there.

In fact, Xiaobao listened carefully to the conversation between Yao Niang and Princess Qing. From time to time, he used his fingers to fiddle with the tumbler to coax Brother Yan.

The two brothers completely misunderstood each other. Brother Yan let his younger brother play, and always pushed the roly-poly back when Xiaobao pushed it. Xiaobao thought that Brother Yan wanted to play with him, so he fiddled with it out of boredom.

Brother Yan was really well-behaved, he didn't make any noise or make a fuss, he just watched Xiaobao play.

He was such a good boy, and he was also handsome. He was completely different from the rugged-looking boy who wielded swords and swords in Prince Qing's Mansion many years later. Xiao Bao, who was obviously still a milk baby, let out a sigh in his heart that was not appropriate for his age.

Seeing that it was almost time, Yao Niang and Princess Qing packed up and planned to go out.

The banquet was held from morning to night. After the banquet, there were entertainment programs, and there were plays on several stages in the palace.

According to their status, Princess Qing and Yao Niang should go to Changyin Pavilion, because Changyin Pavilion is some distance from Jiāo Tai Palace. When they arrived, the Yueshi Tower and the surrounding towers were already full of people.

On the second floor of the building on the east side, seats were reserved for the family members of several princes, and the two of them quietly went up to the second floor.

Princess Qing is a princess, and whether she comes early or late is the business of Prince Qing's palace. But Yao Niang was different. Princess Jin had been here for a while, and Concubine Xu and Concubine Liu had also arrived long ago.

Princess Jin glanced at Yaoniang and said, "Sit down quickly, I'm waiting for you."

Yao Niang blushed and was about to say something. Princess Qing next to her smiled and said to Princess Jin: "Don't blame Fifth Sister-in-law. It was all me who delayed Fifth Sister-in-law."

Princess Jin was very embarrassed to say this. She had no intention of doing anything to Yao Niang, but it was just a subconscious comment. I didn't expect that Su Yaoniang was also capable. It only took a while for her to become so familiar with Princess Qing.

Still the fifth sister-in-law!

Princess Jin exchanged greetings with Princess Qing with a smile, and let the matter be settled.

Yao Niang sat down on the armchair next to her and gave Xiao Baodan a separate seat. Next to her, Yu Chan and the little eunuch stood on one side.

"Peace of the Four Seas" was being played on the stage. Yao Niang had never seen such a play before, but she only thought it looked dazzling.

Just as he was watching, there was a movement on the second floor of the main building to the north named 'Yueshi Building'.

Chapter 113

Emperor Hongjing is very happy today.

During his thirty-two years in office, the rivers were clear and the sea was clean, and the country was peaceful and the people were safe. Although there were frequent wars at the border in the early years, in recent years the Tatars have been beaten to the point of dying and are barely surviving, so there is nothing to fear.

Today is his sixtieth birthday. Every sixty years is one period, and there are several periods in life. On this day, the whole country rejoiced, and all nations came to the court to celebrate his birthday.

Emperor Hongjing was indeed very happy, especially when the emperor's grandson collected ninety-nine people from all over the country who were over seventy years old and came to the palace to wish him a birthday. This surprised Emperor Hongjing and made him very happy.

On this Wanshou Festival, there are countless birthday gifts presented as tribute, including all kinds of precious treasures. Among them, there are those who are ingenious and laborious, but none of them can satisfy Emperor Hongjing so much.

When people reach their old age, they will inevitably worry about the end of their lifespan. Otherwise, Emperor Hongjing would not waste time and money on hosting this birthday banquet. The emperor's grandson's actions undoubtedly told Emperor Hongjing that although seventy years of life were rare, it was not impossible. He will definitely be able to live a long life like these long-lived people.

Emperor Hongjing couldn't hide his excitement and praised the emperor's grandson on the spot for his ingenuity and the utmost filial piety. He also invited him to join the banquet, and he received countless looks.

There have been many rumors in the court in recent years that the prince may only be the prince for a lifetime, and the emperor's grandson is the next successor. Now Emperor Hongjing's move undoubtedly once again affirmed the status of the emperor's grandson.

The prince sitting in the lower left seat looked unhappy, just lowered his head and drank heavily. King An, King Dai, King Yong, King Jin and others at the table with him had different expressions. King Lu, in particular, looked aggrieved. The birthday gift he had put so much effort into preparing was not as good as the few people the young boy had brought.

If it were his usual character, he would have made a big fuss a long time ago. Unfortunately, today there are countless courtiers, feudal officials and envoys from foreign countries gathered in the Hall of Supreme Harmony. If he dares to make trouble, Emperor Hongjing can skin him.

He poured himself a few drinks, turned his eyes to the prince, stood up and walked over.

"Come on, come on, brother, I respect you. Our eldest nephew is really amazing. Not only does he steal the limelight from us uncles, but even you, the father, have to take a step back."

"Drink, just drink, where did all this nonsense come from!"

King Lu smiled and started drinking wine with the prince.

Halfway through the banquet, the scene was very lively. It was different from the previous restraint. Because of Emperor Hongjing's temporary departure, many courtiers left the banquet and went to other banquets to toast.

During this period, some people came to propose a toast to the prince, but more people came to propose a toast to the emperor's grandson. The emperor's grandson made the prince and the kings look dim, which really made some ministers who saw it in their hearts sigh. Incessantly.

The prince seemed to have drunk too much. He blushed and pushed away King Lu, who was still pestering him for a drink. "I won't drink with you anymore. I have to go to the toilet."

Seeing this, King Lu smiled drunkenly, but he didn't stay long.

After leaving the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the prince's face dropped.

He walked hastily and fast, and his personal eunuch Deng Cheng could only trot behind him, wanting to scream but not daring to scream, pitifully.

When passing by Yanxi Palace, there was a man in palace clothes waving to the prince at the corner.

The prince was already drunk, but after taking a closer look, he noticed his interest, and immediately followed the woman in palace attire. Avoiding people and turning left and right, we arrived at a deserted garden. The garden was surrounded by strange rocks and shaded by green trees, making it very secluded.

This place is located behind an uninhabited palace courtyard on the east side of Yanxi Palace. Because there is a well, several palace ladies died in the well, and it is often said to be haunted. Normal palace ladies and eunuchs do not like to come here, so it gradually became abandoned. .