Three days before the Longevity Festival, the streets and alleys of the capital began to be decorated with red and colorful colors.
The day is shrouded in a fiery sea, and the night is no worse than the day. Almost every house has red lanterns hanging in front of it. The government has canceled the night curfew. The Lantern Festival is even more lively.
On this day, it was still dark outside, so Yaoniang was called up.
She was sleeping too much now, and she was still in a daze when she woke up, so she was helped by the maids to wash and dress. King Jin got up earlier than Yaoniang, and was already fully dressed. He looked at her like this helplessly, annoyed and funny.
When everything was ready, Jin Wang said: "Let her sleep for a while, and call her when the outside is ready."
So Hongsi was busy removing all the hairpins from Yaoniang's head, and helped her to the bed. Yaoniang asked what was wrong, and when King Jin said it was still early, she fell into a deep sleep again.
After waking up again, it was already dawn outside, Xiaobao got up early, and had breakfast outside with King Jin. Yaoniang hurriedly asked the girl to redress herself, but fortunately, it was easy to just comb her hair, so she packed up and went to the outside room.
Xiaobao was already full, and King Jin just put down his chopsticks.
Yaoniang was a little embarrassed: "Have you eaten?"
Xiaobao sighed silently in his heart, King Jin ordered the girl to serve Yaoniang a meal, and pulled her to sit next to him: "Use it first, then talk about it."
Yao Niang hurriedly picked up the porridge bowl, ate in small bites, and smiled at Jin Wang as she ate, as if she was sorry for delaying things.
King Jin felt that since she was pregnant, she has become a lot stupider than before, her eyes are not as good as before, she is also more delicate, and she is still clumsy and clumsy. It feels... It feels like he has raised a daughter.
But unexpectedly, he didn't feel impatient, and even felt that this was the real her. Her prudence, humility and wit in the past were actually her last resort for self-protection.
In fact, thinking about it, the daughter of a small family, even though the family is poorer, grew up without restraint. Suddenly, in order to make a living, she wants to enter the mansion as a servant, so she must follow the trend, erase her own nature, and make some changes.
Suddenly her heart softened, thinking that she would have to bear the burden of having a child out of wedlock in only fourteen years, being despised by her family and despised by outsiders, and she didn't know how she survived that time, and how she gave birth to Xiaobao again. Immediately, I felt that it was nothing to spoil her again.
Seeing that she was eating in a hurry, he picked up the silver chopsticks he had put down, picked up a boiled shrimp, and put it on the plate in front of her.
"Eat slowly, don't rush."
"Aren't you rushing to enter the palace?"
"Don't rush this moment."
On the street in front of Prince Jin's Mansion, the full guard of honor belonging to King Jin has been lined up. There are several cars parked in front of the line, the most eye-catching one is the frame of the Prince. Behind them are three gorgeous cars with emerald green covers and pearl tassels. The frame of Princess Jin ranks second, followed by Yaoniang's. The last one is occupied by Consort Xu and Concubine Liu.
It stands to reason that it is best for the side concubines to share a car. But Yaoniang had a big belly and wanted to take Xiaobao, so she added an extra car.
Seeing that the car hadn't moved, Concubine Liu raised the curtain of the car and asked the maid outside.
When I went to the front of the convoy with the cha maid and asked the maid next to the concubine, I realized that the king of Jin hadn't arrived, not only the king of Jin, but also the side concubine Su.
Concubine Xu, who was dressed in a concubine's crown dress, looked at her slender jade painted with Kodan and pointed: "This person is getting bigger and bigger now. Not only the princess is waiting, but we have to wait too. Such a large group of people Waiting for her alone, I don't know if she can bear it."
Concubine Liu didn't want to talk to Concubine Xu at first, but she started to clean up before dawn, and went out to get in the car at dawn. Now that it was already bright, she still couldn't leave, so she felt very impatient.
"If Concubine Xu is dissatisfied, she can tell the concubine, His Royal Highness and the Holy Majesty, who made her the concubine of the Holy Majesty and gave birth to the only son of the palace." The sour taste came out.
They are also side concubines, Xu side concubine and Liu side concubine are the imperial edicts of the empress, but Yaoniang is the imperial edict of Emperor Hongjing, so naturally they must be a little shorter.
"Yeah, who told..."
Just as she was talking, there was movement outside, Concubine Xu raised the curtain of the car and saw two people coming out from the main entrance.
One of them is the King of Jin, dressed in the standard prince's crown uniform, indescribably handsome and majestic, and the other is Yaoniang, who is dressed in the usual uniform of a side concubine.
I saw her wearing a jacket with red sura embroidered with hundreds of flowers and blessings on the breast, and a royal blue embroidered luan pattern with a horse-faced skirt underneath. Wearing a golden silk bun on the head, a red gold hairpin inlaid with a phoenix, a phoenix, and a peony is inserted on it, and red gold silk tassels are inserted on the temples to cover the temples. She is clearly pregnant, but she does not conceal her coquettishness, she is as red as white, and at first glance she is a typical example of a healthy complexion.
Yaoniang was helped onto the carriage, and King Jin got into his carriage. Not long after, the honor guard of the convoy moved forward slowly, heading towards the palace.
At the same time, there are countless long dragons from all over the capital also heading towards the imperial palace.
If it was really late, the convoy was forced to stop when it reached Daganmen.
Looking forward, there are countless cars in front of us, and there is a long queue.
Fortunately, there were guards stationed today. A general arrived after receiving the news, and began to direct his subordinates to give way to the vehicles in front, leaving an empty lane in the middle of the road, so that the people of Prince Jin's Mansion could continue to move forward.
As far as Donghua Gate, there were all kinds of treasure cars parked in the square in front of the gate. King An and King Dai had already entered. At this time, it was King Yong who was going in. King Jin came late because he was ranked fifth. In the end, he jumped in line to the front. King Lu got out of the carriage, flicked the whip in his hand angrily, and then went back into the carriage.
When getting out of the car, King Jin stopped, and waited for Princess Jin and others to walk behind him, then turned around and said, "She is pregnant, you should take care of her."
This was said to Princess Jin, Princess Jin nodded respectfully, but the hand under the sleeve clenched into a fist.
No matter how stupid Yao Niang is, she still feels that it is inappropriate for King Jin to say this. She is not a child, and there are many people in the palace today. happy.
But she would definitely not speak on such an occasion, so she could only keep silent.
King Jin glanced at her, then at Yuchan, and a man dressed as an eunuch who was following Yuchan, and then went to the main entrance of Donghua Gate with a clean face and a solemn face.
Jin Wang can go through the central doorway, but Jin Wangfei and others can only go through the side door. According to the usual practice, Donghuamen is for the crown prince, prince and elders to enter and exit, but today is different from the past, women's relatives can also leave.
After leaving Donghua Gate, King Jin was nowhere to be seen, and Yaoniang silently followed Princess Jin all the way. She was followed by Yuchan and a little eunuch who was holding Xiaobao in his arms.
As for not far behind her, they followed Concubine Xu and Concubine Liu.
Concubine Jin walked in a hurry, as if she was in a hurry to go somewhere, Yaoniang could only support her stomach with one hand, and followed her closely. It was very strenuous to walk, but it was not uncomfortable. Fortunately, she didn't wear a crown dress today, otherwise she would have fallen down with such heavy clothes on her body.
Hurrying all the way, finally came to the gate of Kunning Palace.
Concubine Jin just stopped, and said to Yao Niang with apologetic face: "I'm afraid Concubine Su is tired, we are already late, if it is later, I am afraid that the Empress will be displeased."
For some reason, Yaoniang thought of the fact that all the concubines had arrived, but she and King Jin were long overdue.
The concubine is saying that even if you feel uncomfortable, you can bear it, whoever told you to come late, you have to suffer on your own.
Obviously the princess's demeanor and words were not expressing this meaning, but Yaoniang read it differently. Probably because in the previous life, I had seen too many insincere words from the concubine, but in this life, I recalled it many times, and I always had more unusual feelings.
Yaoniang was already out of breath, her face was flushed, but she shook her head: "I'm fine, the business is important."
There was a barely detectable sneer behind him, but it was Concubine Xu who laughed for some reason. Yaoniang turned a deaf ear and lowered her head, Princess Jin smiled, but her brows frowned almost imperceptibly.
After being notified and entering the palace, all the people who should have arrived have arrived.
The crown prince and the female relatives of King An's mansion are all there, and the formation is even bigger than when Yaoniang entered the palace last time.
"I thought you were delayed by something." The crown princess smiled.
Princess Jin stepped forward and apologized first, and then explained. Although Yao Niang was not mentioned inside or outside the words. But when she was speaking, she subconsciously glanced at Yaoniang, everyone present was smart, so they naturally understood what she meant.
It turned out that it was because the favored concubine of King Jin was putting on airs with her stomach, so the female family members of Prince Jin's mansion came late.
Empress Wei pretended she didn't hear the meaning, and looked at Yaoniang with a smile: "What's wrong with Concubine Su? Look at you panting like this."
Concubine Jin also looked back at Yaoniang: "Concubine Su, are you okay, I was the one who rushed to Kunning Palace in a hurry, but I didn't care about your pregnancy."
Concubine Jin's face was worried, but there was a hint of darkness in her eyes.
In the past, she planted the hidden clue of Yaoniang's arrogance and arrogance. If Yaoniang is sensible, it's okay, but if she doesn't know how to complain, she must leave a reputation of being domineering. She made up her mind to make Yaoniang feel uncomfortable and complain about her suffering.
A flash of anger flashed in Xiaobao's eyes, and just as he was about to say something, he heard his mother say, "Thank you, Empress, for your concern, Yaoniang is fine, Yaoniang was originally born in a humble family, and when she was pregnant with Xiaobao, she was still able to pick her up." Cooking rice with water and doing laundry are just two quick steps, and nothing to do with it.”
On the surface, Yaoniang is belittling herself, but there are many meanings in these words. Being pregnant with her first child and being able to cook and wash clothes, she must not be a squeamish person. Naturally, there is no hidden arrogance from Princess Jin. It also pointed out that Princess Jin deliberately made things difficult for her, a big belly woman, and asked her to chase after her.
It's not uncommon for a big woman to make things difficult for a young woman openly and secretly, and there is no such thing in any family. But this is the Kunning Palace, a place for the royal family, where respectability is important, and today is the Longevity Day, no matter how small things like this should not come here. Especially the royal family pays attention to children, even if Empress Wei doesn't value the child in Yaoniang's womb in her heart, she must not show it like this on the surface.
Empress Wei waved to Yaoniang with a heartbroken look. When she came closer, he took her hand and said: "What a pity, I have heard about your matter from the Holy Majesty, it was King Jin who treated your mother and son badly, fortunately the emperor paid off, and after all, father and son are reunited .”
Yaoniang lowered her head in a shy gesture.
"It's a shy one, and it doesn't seem to be a delicate temperament, and he is also well-behaved."
Empress Wei said so, and all the concubines naturally wanted to respond.
Empress Wei didn't say anything wrong with Princess Jin, but this performance obviously discredited Princess Jin. It's pitiful, but also not squeamish, so it's not like she clearly dismissed all the words that Princess Jin said before.
Princess Jin's complexion was difficult to distinguish, with a slight smile on her face, but embarrassment flashed in her eyes. Fortunately, Empress Wei stopped short, so she quickly skipped this and talked about today's events.
Today is Emperor Hongjing's birthday, and it is also a good day for the whole world to celebrate. Emperor Hongjing hosted 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 female relatives, and these female relatives needed the queen to come forward to entertain them.
But the queen is only one person, so it is inevitable that there will be some omissions. As the prince and concubine, she naturally has to help to deal with it.
It's not necessary for them to do any work, just help and look around, so as not to make any ridiculous mistakes or other accidents. Every time there is a grand ceremony in the palace, these are the usual practices, and the princesses are no strangers to it.
As for Yaoniang, she was pregnant with Liujia, so she couldn't help much, so she was naturally ignored.
The banquets of the former dynasty were held in the Hall of Supreme Harmony, the Hall of Central Harmony and the Hall of Preserving Harmony, while the banquets of the later court were held in the Hall of Jiaotai and Kunning Palace.
It starts at Si time and continues until dusk.
There is nothing wrong with Yaoniang here, she just needs to follow the main force, because she is sympathetic to her pregnancy, Empress Wei specially ordered the maid to prepare a palace for her to rest temporarily when she was tired.
But after all, it's not easy to show too much under the watchful eyes of the public. She often takes Xiaobao to rest for a while, and then goes out again. Generally speaking, nothing goes wrong.
During this period, Yaoniang met someone who was King Qing's concubine.
For some reason, Princess Qing treated Yaoniang very warmly, and she took the initiative to talk to her. Generally speaking, the concubine looks for the concubine, and the concubine looks for the concubine, so there is no confusion. Princess Keqing is a princess, and she came to find Yaoniang, a side concubine, to get close to her.
Later, Yaoniang heard that Princess Qing said that King Qing was very good with King Jin when he was still in Beijing, and she knew that it must have been specially arranged by King Jin, probably because she was afraid that no one would pay attention to her and she would be embarrassed.
Concubine Qing's surname is Xiao, she was born delicate and exquisite, and has a three-year-old brother, who will be the eldest son of Prince Qing's mansion if there is no accident. Brother Yan is an introverted and shy child. Unlike children of the same age who always play around, he sits quietly beside his mother.
Xiaobao is also very quiet.
Put the two together, but you can also play. Brother Yan took good care of his little brother, and even took the initiative to give Xiaobao his tumbler to play with.
"Let me tell you, there are so many people here, so he is a little shy. If he was in the mansion, he would have been overwhelmed." Seeing Yaoniang boasting that Brother Yan is obedient, Princess Qing's tone was slightly disgusted. But looking at her smiling face, she knew that what she said was insincere. Mothers like to hear people praise their children for being well-behaved.
"Xiaobao is the same, if there are many people, he will be good. If he is in the mansion, he is also very skinny. You don't know, I got a kitten from somewhere recently, and it's annoying 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 them for Huahua to play with.
"Cat? Can't catch a child?"
"That's not true. That cat is very good. It's still a kitten. Its teeth and claws haven't fully grown yet. I only let him play for a while every day..."
When the mother sits in one place, there are always countless things to say, the two mothers are talking here, and brother Yan and Xiaobao are playing with a tumbler on the couch over there.
In fact, Xiaobao listened to Yaoniang and Princess Qing talking with his ears upright, and poked the tumbler with his fingers to coax brother Yan from time to time.
The two brothers completely misunderstood each other's meaning. Brother Yan let his younger brother play, and always pushed back the tumbler that Xiaobao pushed over. Xiaobao thought that Brother Yan wanted to play for him by himself, so he fiddled with it boredly.
Brother Yan is also really well-behaved, he doesn't make any noise, and just watches Xiaobao play.
He is really a good boy, and he is also handsome, completely different from the rough-looking hairy boy who wielded knives and swords in Prince Qing's Mansion many years later. Xiao Bao, who was obviously still a baby, let out a sigh in his heart that was not what he should have at his age.
Seeing that it was almost time, Yaoniang and Princess Qing cleaned up and planned to go out.
The banquet was held from morning to night, after eating, there were sideshows, and several theaters in the palace were open.
According to their identities, Princess Qing and Yaoniang should go to Changyin Pavilion, because Changyin Pavilion is some distance away from Jiaotai Hall, when the two arrived, the Yueshi Building and surrounding buildings 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 quietly went up to the second floor.
Concubine Qing is a concubine, and it is up to Prince Qing's mansion if she comes early or late. But Yao Niang is different, Princess Jin has been here for a while, and Concubine Xu and Concubine Liu have also arrived earlier.
Princess Jin glanced at Yao Niang and said, "Sit down quickly, I'll be waiting for you."
Yao Niang blushed and was about to say something, Princess Qing smiled and said to Princess Jin, "Sister-in-law Wu, please don't blame me, it's because I dragged sister-in-law Wu to delay."
This made Princess Jin very difficult to answer. She didn't intend to do anything to Yaoniang, but it was just a subconscious sentence. Unexpectedly, this Su Yaoniang is also capable, but after a while, she can become so familiar with Princess Qing.
Still young sister-in-law!
Princess Jin exchanged greetings with Princess Qing with a smile, and that's all.
Yaoniang sat down on the armchair next to her, and also gave Xiaobao a separate seat, beside her, Yuchan and the little eunuch stood beside her.
"Four Seas Rise to Peace" is being played on the stage, Yaoniang has never seen this kind of play, she just thinks it looks dazzling.
While watching, there was a commotion on the second floor of the main building in the north named 'Yueshi Building'.