On August 15th Mid-Autumn Festival, a grand banquet was held in the palace.
Because it was a moon-viewing feast and the monarch and ministers had fun together, it was set up in the Yaochi waterside pavilion in the imperial garden.
The Yaochi waterside pavilion has a huge area. It is built on top of Bibo Pool. There is an open-air platform made of white marble, which is excellent for holding banquets and watching the moon.
The banquet is divided into two parts, male and female. Emperor Jing and all the princes and ministers are on the left, and the concubines and concubines in the queen's palace are on the right. The middle is separated by potted plants of different shapes and half a person's height, which can be regarded as separate inside and outside.
The feast on this occasion, again held in the evening, was very magnificent. Countless lotus lanterns are lit on the waterside pavilion, and there are songs, dances and music. It is no exaggeration to say that it is a fairyland of Yaochi.
The queen sits in the main seat.
The queen was dressed very brightly today, wearing a bright yellow palace dress and wearing a nine-tailed phoenix hairpin. Under the light, she looked graceful and luxurious, showing the majesty of the mother world.
There are two long rows of seats on the left and right under the main seat. Xiaohua sits on the first seat on the left, Qiao Xianfei is at the bottom, and the women who follow the official order are on the right. The same is true on the right. Arranged, but there are no seats opposite the florets.
On the long table in front of them, there are many melon and fruit desserts, one of which is a plate of various moon cakes, all the size of one bite, which looks quite delicate.
Two children accompany Xiaohua to sit in a seat, one is wearing a small prince's uniform, the other is wearing a small pink palace suit. With the appearance of two baby pink and jade carvings, it is extremely cute. Attracting countless wives in the room to look here, I really feel that this noble concubine is good-looking, and the appearance of this pair of dragon and phoenix twins is also extremely good.
It was the first time for the two children to participate in this kind of occasion, so it was quite novel. Yiyi couldn't bear to blink when she saw Gongling dancing. Ye'er is much better than her, although she also finds it novel, but her face is not obvious. She sits beside her mother concubine, showing a model of a crown prince.
Let Xiaohua, who is a mother, look at it and can't help but laugh.
"Yun'er, aren't you tired of sitting like this?"
"It's a little bit." Ye'er frowned, "But the guest Qian said, Ye'er is still young, so you don't need to learn anything else, but the etiquette must be done, especially in front of outsiders, and you can't lose the royal demeanor."
Qian guests are guests of the prince, and they are in charge of the etiquette of the prince, and he rules out mistakes. Daxi has set up the official office of the East Palace. There are three masters and three young masters to teach the prince, and the Zhan Shifu is responsible for tutoring the daily life of the East Palace. It's just that Luo Ye was young and stayed with Xiao Hua in the Dawn Palace for the time being. Nothing was mentioned in the regulations, but the etiquette that the prince should have must be learned every day.
Xiaohua can predict how hard the child will be in the future, but as Emperor Jing said, one must seek his own government when he is in his position, and the doting of parents will only cause the child to become an unhelpful idiot in the future. And Xiaohua didn't know how to educate a child, especially a prince, so she could only obey Emperor Jing, and then try to love the child as much as possible in her spare time.
"When you're tired, tell your mother-in-law that you're still young, so you don't have to work so hard."
Luo Yan just nodded, but still maintained a correct posture. Xiaohua said so. Seeing that the child insisted, she didn't say anything else.
Compared to Ye'er, Yiyi seems to have no princess model. But the eldest princess is still young, and no one will question it. After watching the song and dance for a while, she got tired of it, and quarreled with Xiaohua that she was hungry.
Thinking that there was no meal at night, the mothers just ate some snacks to cushion them. After they came, they still only had snacks. Xiaohua and Lixiang beside her gave some orders to prepare some food that the two children loved to eat.
Emperor Jing sat on the high platform on the left and could see the situation here. Although he has been holding the wine glass, his face is calm, but his eyes have never left this side.
Seeing the movement over there, I thought of something with Xiaohua, and whispered a few words to Fushun on the side.
The cloves were very fast, and soon they brought some food. There are sweet porridge, milk cakes, crystal buns, and jujube mud rolls. Yiyi's favorite sweets, she laughed when she saw it, and began to eat it under the service of cloves. Ye Er didn't like sweets, but Xiao Hua took two crystal buns and a jujube paste roll with chopsticks and put them on an empty plate for him to eat.
Luo Yan was also hungry at this time, so he began to eat the food that Xiaohua arranged for him.
After the two children finished eating, a palace servant took the things down.
At this time, a little eunuch came over with a gold-drawing tray on which was placed several golden fat crabs, one the size of a palm and a half, and a pot of wine.
"This is a crab from Xingong. Your Majesty will enjoy it with your maiden. There is also a pot of first-class amber wine."
Xiaohua turned her head to look at the high platform over there, just in the eyes of Emperor Jing.
Although she couldn't see clearly, she could understand what he meant. It must be because she didn't eat dinner at night, and the two children ate at the banquet, no one would pick it up, but she couldn't, and gave her a sweet mouth by watching crabs.
Xiaohua smiled at that place and said, "Tell Your Majesty, I will thank Your Majesty for the reward."
Many people have seen the movement here, including the queen.
Only reward the noble concubine, not the queen, the joy of His Majesty is obvious.
Seeing the empress's stiff face, Jing Concubine gave a rare smile and winked at An Concubine, the same schadenfreude.
Lilac is responsible for removing crabs, and Xiaohua is responsible for enjoying.
Dipped in garlic vinaigrette, it's extra delicious. Even Yiyi ate several mouthfuls, and Ye'er also ate with joy.
"Okay, okay, children can't eat more cold food, it's not good for the body." After saying this to the child, Xiaohua, who should also eat less cold food, has not stopped.
Crabs are cool in nature, but they are just right to be used with amber wine, so Xiaohua drank a few more glasses of amber wine. Amber wine is not spicy, it is very mellow in the mouth, and Xiaohua uses a few more glasses without realizing it.
The breeze brushed slowly across the cheeks, and the top of the head was a bright moon like a disk. The shadow of the moon in the pool, matched with the surrounding pool waves, made people feel like a fairyland in a trance.
Fushun came over, "Mother, Your Majesty asked the old slave to invite His Royal Highness over."
Xiaohua nodded, and Ye'er and Fushun went to Emperor Jing's side.
Halfway through the banquet, the atmosphere at the banquet became more and more casual, and the voices during the banquet gradually increased.
Not only the ministers on Jingdi’s side were drinking with each other, but Xiaohua’s wife also left the table and went to a familiar place to talk. Including the queen, there were also several female relatives who seemed to be relatives and were talking about something.
Concubine Qiao Xian's mother's family, Chengyang Bo's family, was also attended today. Concubine Qiao Xian's mother and sister-in-law came to Concubine Qiao Fang, and several people talked about their affection.
In contrast, Xiaohua is very deserted here.
She is not familiar with the female relatives of various families in Beijing, and she wants to lean on it to gain a good eye in front of the imperial concubine.
At this time, Mrs. Jinyang Hou came over, first bowed to Xiaohua, and then stood in front of her and spoke to her.
"Seeing that there is no one in front of the empress, the concubine will be cheeky. In fact, there are many ladies who want to come to the concubine to have a good eye, but they do not dare to come forward because they do not know the nature of the empress, but the concubines are thick-skinned and thick-skinned. Cai, please don't take offense to the lady."
"Mrs. Jinyang Hou praised it badly."
"This is Your Highness the Princess. She looks like the jade girl in front of the Bodhisattva. She is carved with pink and jade, and it is snow-white and cute..."
Yiyi didn't like this stranger in front of her very much, so she looked at Xiaohua and said, "Mother, Yiyi wants to go and play with my brother."
"Brother is at the father's place."
"Then I'll go find the emperor."
Xiaohua thought for a while and said, "Mother concubine asks Aunt Dinglan to take you there, don't be naughty, don't run around, just stay at the father's place."
Seeing that Xiaohua agreed, Yiyi dragged Ding Lan and asked her to take her there. Ding Lan led her, followed by a few palace servants and two eunuchs, and a large group of people went to the left around Yiyi.
Xiaohua looked back to see Mrs. Jinyang Hou still standing there, and said, "Don't take offense, Mrs. I wonder what you said just now?"
Mrs. Jinyang Hou's smile froze for a moment, "The concubine praised Her Royal Highness the eldest princess for being smart and cute, it seems that the concubine still has some vision, Her Royal Highness the eldest princess is so smart at such a young age, and she will definitely be a model for my Daxi princesses in the future. "
Xiaohua smiled dryly, this person is really flattering without blinking his eyelids. But don't say it, listening to people say that about their children is still full of joy.
Just because the flattering person made Xiaohua feel a little bit uneasy, and she didn't know what to say to her, so she just smiled and didn't speak.
Xiaohua felt that her performance was appropriate, but to some people it was not so good.
In particular, Tian Shi admitted that he had caught the imperial concubine. At this time, this imperial concubine Yuan should have been quite ingratiating to her, but she did not expect to be repeatedly treated like this. This made Tian Shi a little annoyed, and his eyes were burning at Xiao Hua.
"The concubine looks familiar to the lady, like someone I saw a few years ago."
With this look and the words, Xiaohua didn't know what Mrs. Jinyang Hou meant, and she lived for so long in vain.
She pursed her lips and smiled reservedly, with an indifferent expression, "Really? Madam will not admit her mistake, right? Ben Gong is not from the capital."
"It turns out that this is the case. Could it be that the concubine admitted it was wrong..."
"Madam admits that she was wrong."
"But not only the concubine has seen that person alone, but there are several others. There is also an old concubine called Mrs. Wang in the concubine's house..."
The following words were restrained by a sudden gaze that could penetrate into the heart. His eyes were cold and gleaming, and it seemed to be filled with countless swords, guns, and arrows.
Knowing the origin of Concubine Yuan Gui, Tian's original awe had long been replaced by contempt. Including those who came to speak before, no one dared to come to the ladies of so many countries, but she was the only one who came.
Why, nothing more than I feel that I have caught the handle of the imperial concubine!
This kind of mentality is like a lowly pariah who suddenly finds some private secrets of the nobles who are high and high, and suddenly feels like he has caught the other party's weakness, and wants the nobles to do whatever they want to give him supreme honor. with power.
Mrs. Jinyang Hou was right, that kind of bad things really shouldn't be known to people, even if the truth is not like that, but everything is based on people's opinions. Status will also be ruined.
What's more, Xiaohua is not only alone, but also has three children behind her, a prince, a princess, and a second prince. The reputation of the mother and concubine is bad, and it is very likely that several children will be affected.
But, again, this weakness cannot be shown.
Xiaohua understands the mentality of this kind of person too well. She is greedy and dissatisfied. Once she is caught up, it may be endless. Not only will she face endless greed, but several children will also be implicated by her.
"Mrs Jinyang Hou, I think you should understand what you can say and what you can't say. Keep your mouth shut and don't implicate the whole family..."
Xiaohua's performance is confident, because she knows that Emperor Jing will believe her. Of course, how to solve this Mrs. Jinyang Hou is also a headache. Emperor Jing didn't worry about it, he was afraid that it would spread...
There was a sudden noise in the distance, there were many people around, and some people shouted: "The eldest princess has fallen into the water..."
Xiaohua's body suddenly softened, and quickly got up with the help of Lilac, and ran over there.
Behind her, Mrs. Jinyang Hou stood where she was, with a look of fear and a hint of hideousness on her face.
A voice suddenly sounded behind her, "Madam, why are you standing here?"
Mrs. Jinyang Hou was stunned for a moment, and then saluted, "I have seen Concubine Xian."