After the two sisters returned home that day, they explained the story to everyone, and Nan ordered the house to prepare: "There may be some edict coming tomorrow."
Early the next morning, the Empress Dowager's decree arrived as expected. Li Si and Pian Liu wrote an article that highly praised the girls of the Sheng family for their outstanding performance, and appointed Sheng Weiqiao as the head of Kangzhao County, Sheng Weirao as the head of Fuchang County, and Sheng Weiwu as the head of Fuchang County. The lord of Huiyi County, Gongsun Yingjiang is the lord of Mingning Township.
This news caused quite a commotion in Chang'an. Although this was not the first time that this dynasty granted a title unique to a clan daughter to a courtier, Huan Yehe, the lord of Jingshu County who was previously granted the title, came from a well-known family, and his grandfather was well known to both the government and the public. The big shot himself was talented and beautiful, had wide contacts, and was well-rounded. He coaxed the Queen Mother from ear to ear... Everyone can understand this situation of sealing off a county lord, but the Sheng family
The girls from this family were the first to come to Chang'an at the end of last year. They have always been inconspicuous these days. It turns out that a full generation of girls in the entire family have all been granted the title of county head, not even mentioning it. The younger generation who does not have the blood of the Sheng family has also been granted the title of village head, which is really surprising and thought-provoking.
However, both the palace and the Xu Sheng family insisted that it was Empress Dowager Meng and Empress Meng who sealed the seal because they saw how cute and cute Sheng Weiqiao and the others were. Although these people were full of doubts, they had no evidence. I had to temporarily stay curious and inquisitive.
On the day they received the order, Sheng Weiqiao and others dressed up and went to the palace to express their gratitude. This time they went to the Xinshou Palace, which they had not seen for a long time. When Empress Dowager Meng saw them, she smiled dignifiedly and spoke gently, but she did not stay too much and gave a few words of encouragement. Just hint to them to resign.
Empress Meng was waiting here specifically to greet the Queen Mother. After seeing this, she accompanied them out of the main hall of Xinshou Palace and explained: "My aunt has been a little tired recently, and we haven't even seen each other for a long time in the past two days."
Sheng Weiqiao knew that the reason why the Queen Mother let them go so quickly was probably because Queen Meng had a dispute with Duke Zheng because of them, which made the Queen Mother feel dissatisfied. This was all human nature, so she tactfully hinted that Queen Meng did not have to worry about people like herself. She was estranged from the Meng family. After all, Queen Meng needed to rely on her natal family to gain a foothold in Wangchun Palace.
The two talked all the way, and the queen personally escorted them out of Xinshou Palace and said goodbye.
After returning to Ningwei Hou's Mansion, the group hurriedly opened their suitcases and makeup boxes to prepare for the flower-viewing banquet, regardless of rest.
Fortunately, the Sheng family is rich, and for the sake of traveling far away, the purchases are particularly complete.
Therefore, although this flower-viewing banquet was rushed and rushed, there was no shortage of decorations.
Sheng Weiqiao specially dug out the powder that Nan sent to Shengzhai years ago. It was the powder that Xu Caikui mentioned was specially made by Fang Xin's family, and used it with Sheng Weirao and Gongsun Yingjiang. Although Sheng Weiwu also received the post, considering that this was a blind date banquet, Mrs. Sheng directly told her not to go and to stay and play with Xu Caifu, so as not to delay the good things of her sister and nieces.
On the day of the flower viewing banquet, Xu Baomo decided to go to the banquet... Originally, according to the common opinions of Mr. Xu, Mrs. Xiahou and Xu Zijing, Xu Baomo was not allowed to participate. The reason was that he was afraid of harming others. girl!
But Mrs. Sheng spoke for him: "This flower appreciation banquet is also called a blind date banquet, but it doesn't mean that you must find a partner after going there! After all, most new scholars will be there, and if he is absent, he will not make people think he is arrogant. You are so domineering that you don’t even pay attention to Her Royal Highness the Princess’s posts, it is just affecting your official career!”
So Xu Baomo thanked Mrs. Sheng with tears in his eyes and went to prepare happily!
A future filled with flowers and plants begins with this flower viewing party!
So early in the morning, the handsome and charming Xu Baomo couldn't wait to wait under the hanging flower door. After a while, the three female family members who were going to the banquet today came out hand in hand. Sheng Weiqiao, Sheng Weirao, Gongsun Yingjiang and Xu Caikui were all dressed up and surrounded by greenery.
When going out, Sheng Weiqiao still thought it was too exaggerated? Don't let others see it then, thinking that they started to tremble just after they sealed the county head and village head, which is very suspicious and shallow of the nouveau riche.
However, when she arrived at Princess Wuyang's mansion and saw the crowds coming and going, she was immediately reassured: Among the people who came to the banquet today, they were dressed much more grandly than they were!
It's no wonder when you think about it carefully. This is the first blind date banquet after the Jinke Golden List. The first batch of talented men and women reap the opportunities and are sincerely looking for a good wife and a good son-in-law. Can you not take it seriously
"I don't know about Sheng Suihe... Well, I think the name will be changed back to Rong Qinghou soon. I wonder if he will come over?" Sheng Weiqiao and his party handed the post at the door. After the door was announced, Tu Ruchuan greeted him personally. He came out, led them in, and introduced the scenery and places along the way to them. Sheng Weiqiao was chatting with this uncle while thinking, "Her Royal Highness Princess Wuyang has a wide circle of friends, with the Meng family and the Gaomi family." The rumors about Wang’s relationship are pretty good... 80% of the time she will also post to the Gaomi Prince’s Mansion?”
This question lingered in her mind for a long time, and when she was finally approaching the back hall, she couldn't help but ask in an insinuating way.
But Tu Ruchuan said: "Your Highness did send a message to the young princess and the two young princes of the Gaomi Palace, but the palace's reply was that the Gaomi Princess was in poor health, and the princess and the young princes were all sick, so they couldn't come. .”
Sheng Weiqiao said "Ah" when he heard this. He didn't know whether he was disappointed or relieved.
At this time, the back hall arrived. Princess Wuyang, who was wearing a dark green woven gold-embroidered silk dress and a tulip skirt, sat upright and was smiling and talking to the guests who had arrived first.
The eldest princess dressed up very grandly today. She wore a bun, a phoenix crown inlaid with gold and jade, and a golden hairpin with figures inlaid with silk and precious stones. She carefully painted her crescent eyebrows and applied a thin layer of makeup to create "flying clouds makeup". "In the style of "Golden Beads", the pendant of the figure on the balcony next to the ear moves slightly from time to time with the voice of the speaker, reflecting little golden light.
On the chest is a golden jade mandarin duck folded silk coral gem pendant collar. On the wrist are a pair of gold jade round bracelets and a three-strand hollow twist bracelet. On each little finger is a tortoiseshell jewelery and flower armor, which are lightly intertwined at this moment. Next to the sweet white glaze with golden double sesame, parrot and lychee tea bowl, it becomes even more luxurious and graceful.
"Qiao'er is here?" When Princess Wuyang saw Sheng Weiqiao and his party, her original smile suddenly became a little brighter. She hurriedly waved for them to come forward to talk, and introduced to the people around her, "This is Sheng Nanfeng who was born in the same year as Tu Changshi." My beloved daughter, Sheng Nanfeng, you younger people may not know that she also entered the Hanlin Academy back then. However, this person was purely filial. Not long after she entered the Hanlin Academy, she received a letter from her hometown saying that her old father was seriously ill. I resigned from my post and went back to serve my illness. After that, I took over the family business, and I haven’t recovered yet. I just spend all day watching over my parents.”
The guests who came today are all from the younger generation, and indeed most of them don’t know Sheng Lanci.
After hearing the introduction from Princess Wuyang, someone suddenly said: "With such pure filial piety, it's strange that the Queen Mother would canonize these young ladies from the Sheng family!"
However, she regarded the appointment of the girls of the Sheng family as Empress Dowager Meng's intention to praise Sheng Lanci's filial piety and show her favor to the female members of the family.
Princess Wuyang smiled and did not answer the words. She only raised her hand to let Sheng Weiqiao and others stand down, pointing at the person who said this: "It just so happens that all of you young people know each other. This is the grandson of Duke Lu, whose surname is Cao." , with a single name that has the character '町', because he has not yet reached the crown, so he has not yet taken the title. You have never seen him before, but the Chongxin Bo you have met is no stranger to him!"
After hearing this, Cao Zhu stood up, bowed his head, and said politely: "Hello, ladies!"
Sheng Weiqiao and his entourage hurriedly returned the gift and said hello to him. They had to look at each other secretly. Cao Zhu was about sixteen or seventeen years old. He had a straight and fair appearance. Although he was not the kind of handsome man who would make people shine, he could still be called a handsome man. "Looking majestic".
When he said that before, he was obviously more concerned about the fact that several girls from the Sheng family were canonized.
At this moment, he carefully looked at the girls headed by Sheng Weiqiao, and saw that they were all beauties in their youth. He blushed slightly and said to himself: "The news from the palace is that the Queen Mother fell in love with them at first sight. I thought it was before. Excuse, look at it now, it’s really nice to see these few girls standing in front of you.”
I decided to find an opportunity to have a good chat with Sheng Weiqiao and others later.
After all, he came here today to find a lady as his wife.
But this scene fell into the eyes of the eldest princess Wuyang. The eldest princess raised her eyebrows, but she made up her mind to separate Cao Zhu and Sheng Weiqiao later... What a joke, this is the daughter-in-law she chose for her son. , how can someone stop Hu halfway
Because she was worried that her son would have another love rival, Princess Wuyang continued to introduce other guests to Sheng Weiqiao and his entourage. However, when she met the young masters of various families, she only talked about them briefly and lightly. Instead, she emphasized the names, preferences, and details of the young ladies. Family background.
Finally, he asked Sheng Weiqiao to sit next to him. He clearly valued her, but secretly prevented Cao Zhu and others from making any plans. When he was negligent, he abducted his daughter-in-law-to-be.
After a while, everyone talked about current topics. Guests came one after another outside. Because Sheng Weiqiao didn't know many people in Chang'an, there weren't many who looked familiar at the moment. He only had brother and sister Zhao Li and Fang Xinniang. , Luo Wanhua, Meng Guiyu brother and sister, Meng Shuangyao, Meng Liyi and Meng Liti said hello to them.
Among them, Zhao Yue, Meng Guiyu, and Meng Guihan were men. Although they had a good impression of Sheng Weiqiao, and Meng Guiyu wanted to get closer to Sheng Weiqiao, they were not too enthusiastic in front of everyone, and they all followed the rules.
But the performance of the girls was somewhat mixed: Zhao Taomei, Fang Xinniang, and Luo Wanhua remained enthusiastic when seeing Sheng Weiqiao and his group. Fang Xinniang also recognized that they were using home-made powder and said happily: "You like it? Come back, my mother will follow My sister-in-law and the others have made new ones and will send some to you soon!"
Zhao Taomei behaved politely, greeted politely, and greeted politely, and then went to sit among the people she knew well.
In contrast, the Meng family's aunt and nephew's attitude was much colder. Although Meng Guihuan had a complicated expression, he nodded meaningfully towards Sheng Weiqiao. Meng Shuangyao, Meng Liyi and Meng Liti pretended to talk to each other, but they didn't even look at her.
This reaction is also understandable. First of all, Queen Meng violated the wishes of Zheng Guogong in order to grant the titles of county and village principals to the girls of the Sheng family. The reason why Zheng Guogong wanted to stop this was to vent his anger only secondarily, and mainly because of Considering the layout of King Gaomi, the queen's persistence not only violated her father's orders, but also harmed the interests of the entire Meng family.
So as the daughters of the Meng family who are closely related to the honor and disgrace of the Meng family, Meng Liyi and Meng Liti naturally have no good impressions of the Sheng family;
Secondly, he was jealous.
As nieces and grand-nieces of the Queen Mother, cousins and nieces of the Queen, they don’t even have the title of Country Lord! Sheng Weiqiao and others are both county and village lords... As a daughter of the Meng family, how can we not feel jealous
Therefore, Sheng Weiqiao stopped paying attention to them. After all, in this situation, you can't resolve the grudge in the other person's heart by just saying a few soft words. In front of everyone, she didn't want people to think that the Sheng family was weak, and then wonder if the Sheng family's title of county head and village head was obtained by shamelessly pleasing the queen mother and empress
However, Sheng Weiqiao didn't tell Fang Xinniang and Luo Wanhua that their families were from the King of Gaomi. She remembered Queen Meng's advice. Even though the Queen suppressed Zheng Guogong's anger towards the Sheng family, she still He also advised the Sheng family to keep a distance from the Gaomi Palace from now on.
Fortunately, the four of them came to the banquet together, and they didn't feel lonely even if they didn't talk to anyone else. They chatted with each other for a few words, not to mention that Princess Wuyang cleverly introduced Sheng Weiqiao into everyone's conversation from time to time.
As guests arrived one after another, the number of people gradually increased, and soon the spacious Mingtang was filled to capacity.
Not long after, Huan Yehe, who was always invited on such occasions, also crossed the threshold. She smiled as soon as she came: "I'm late today, please don't blame me, Your Highness!"
"How can you not blame me?" Princess Wuyang said with a smile, "I will have to pour you three cups myself later!"
After joking for a while, Huan Yehe looked at Sheng Weiqiao and said, "Kang Zhao, you guys came early today. Fortunately, I was thinking about calling you at Ningweihou's Mansion on the way, but who knew you guys were here first."
Sheng Weiqiao was stunned for a moment before he realized that "Kang Zhao" was the title he had earned. According to the current customs among nobles, from now on, he would replace his maiden name and given name as his title in public.
She hurriedly said: "We arrived not long ago. When we were on the way, we thought you had already arrived! We also thought that if we were late, we would have to ask you to help us say a few good words."
Huan Ye laughed and said, "Oh, I can't make any excuses. I can only admit that I am lazy and got up late today!"
She came to Chang'an relatively early and was very popular. Everyone laughed at this moment: "It turns out that I got up late and wanted to blame the Kangzhao County Lord? Fortunately, the Kangzhao County Lord was not fooled and did not give you a chance to get through. "
"I don't believe that County Master Jingshu got up late!" At this time, Fang Xinniang and Luo Wanhua quietly bit their ears, suddenly raised their heads, and said in a stern tone, "I think the County Master just spent too much time dressing up. I was late because I was dressing up, and now I am deliberately making excuses to deceive us!"
Luo Wanhua also giggled and said: "That's right! The so-called woman looks good to please herself. I don't know who the county master is for, so she dressed up so carefully and arrived so late?"