Under the suspicious gazes of Jiang Changning and Prince De's wife, Zhao Xifang had to keep raising the price and finally bought the third item donated by the Queen Mother for 165,000 taels of silver.
The phoenix-shaped hairpin is inlaid with 19 red and blue diamonds. The entire hairpin is made of hammered gold leaves. It has a flame crown on top, a flower-shaped tail, and knife-shaped wing feathers.
The phoenix was holding a pink diamond the size of a pigeon egg in its mouth, emitting a dazzling light.
Although this phoenix hairpin was exquisite and symbolized good luck, it cost more than 160,000 yuan, which was too expensive. Zhao Xifang's heart was bleeding.
The wife of the Crown Prince of Sui was sighing. None of the three pieces of jewelry donated by the Empress had been auctioned. Now the only ones left were those donated by the Empress Dowager, and they had to be bought.
Otherwise, she would not be able to explain to her parents-in-law when she returned home.
Many noble ladies had the same idea as her, so the bidding for the third item was one after another and the competition was very fierce.
Jiang Changning and others who already have auction items in hand can now sit on the mountain and watch the fight between the two tigers.
"One hundred thousand taels."
"One hundred and three thousand taels."
"One hundred and ten thousand."
The prices keep rising, and the increase is huge, which seems to be a sign of not treating money as money.
After a round of bidding, the wife of the Prince of Sui bought the set of six top-quality jade headpieces for 220,000 taels of silver.
After the auction, Prince Ding's wife invited everyone to move to the banquet hall for dinner.
At the banquet, the women were in perfect harmony, perhaps because they were tired of the verbal battles during the auction.
As for the male guests, after a few drinks, Prince Ding pointed at the group of dancers in the hall and asked with a smile, "Brothers, what do you think of these beauties?"
"She is very beautiful." Prince Yu said with a smile.
Prince Qing said: "Charming and moving."
Prince Jin and Prince De both smiled without saying anything, but Prince Ding's eyes flickered slightly. He wanted to give the beauty to these two.
Prince Ding smiled persistently and asked, "Cousins, do you think these beauties are not worthy of your attention?"
King Jin smiled faintly and said, "They are just some toys. What's so special about them?"
"They are a bunch of vulgar women, and only my cousin treats them as a treasure." Prince De sneered.
Prince Ding smiled and said, "That's right, they can't compare to the beauties in my two cousins' families."
The Prince of De and the Prince of Jin both looked gloomy, and one of them asked sternly, "Helian Kai, after drinking a few cups of yellow wine, you can't control your mouth?"
One of them sneered, "People say that there are no rules in Ding Wang Mansion. I thought the rumor was false, but today I know it is true. The father is not a father, the son is not a son, the mother-in-law is not a mother-in-law, and the daughter-in-law is not a daughter-in-law."
Seeing the two men getting angry and speaking very harshly, Prince Yu and Prince Qing hurried to smooth things over, "It was just a joke, don't take it seriously."
"That's right, brothers just chat and laugh and have fun."
The Prince of Jin and the Prince of De were not persuaded by these words, but became even angrier.
Brothers can joke and talk about women, but they cannot involve their wives.
No matter how much a man dislikes his wife, he still has to protect his wife's face outside.
A wife is equal to her husband; to humiliate her is to humiliate oneself.
What's more, both of them love their wives, so how could they allow others to use their wives as a topic for fun
The King of Jin said, "As the saying goes, a red man becomes redder if he keeps company with a red man, and a black man becomes blacker if he keeps company with a black man. The King of Yu married a talented woman, so it's no wonder that he speaks sourly."
This is an implicit criticism that Prince Yu's words sound like farts.
Prince De said, "In the Qing Palace, even my aunt's cousin can be a concubine. I think they can take anything for fun. No wonder cousin Guoyao doesn't go to Piaoxiang Pavilion anymore."
It's just like calling it Prince Qing's Mansion, it's just like a brothel.
Prince Ding knew that he was too impatient. Now he hadn't given the beauty away yet and had offended someone. He followed the way the King of Runan had given him and said, "Don't be angry, brothers. You know I'm not good at talking. I hope you don't mind if I've offended you. I'll drink three cups as punishment."
As he said this, he drank three glasses of wine.
Prince Yu and Prince Qing gave him face and picked up their cups.
"Since the banquet is not good, there is no need to drink the wine. Goodbye." Prince Jin and Prince De stood up and walked out.
The sound of music in the hall made people at other tables not notice the verbal dispute between the few people. However, the actions of Prince Jin and Prince De made them look over.
What happened
This caused the Prince of Jin and the Prince of De to leave early.
Prince Ding had never expected that the two would really leave, so he hurriedly chased after them and said, "Brothers, isn't it okay for me to apologize to you here?"
"No need for that. I'm afraid I'll choke if I eat it." Prince De said sarcastically.
The King of Jin walked to the door and told Chang Youzhong, "Go and ask the princess to come out, and tell her that she has something to do and needs to go back."
"You go with them and ask the Crown Princess to come out." Prince De also instructed his personal eunuch.
The women in the family did not drink alcohol, so they had cleared away the remaining table space, set out tea and snacks, and were drinking tea and listening to the opera.
On the stage, the actors were singing: "After the wedding, I didn't feel that time flies. I still have youthful looks. I took my darling daughter and rode in the carriage to travel through the long streets."
Chang Youzhong came in, glanced around, found the person, and hurried over, "Princess, the prince has something to go back to the palace."
The personal eunuch of Prince De also said the same thing to the Princess Consort.
Jiang Changning and Prince De's wife looked at each other. How could it be such a coincidence that both of them had something to do at the same time and had to return home early
The two of them didn't ask any more questions. They greeted Princess Ding, got on the sedan chair arranged by the Princess of Ding, and headed forward.
When they arrived at the Yimen Gate, they found that not only the Prince of Jin and the Prince of De were there, but also the Prince of Ding.
The Prince of Ding had a bitter look on his face, while the Princes of Jin and De looked indifferent.
Jiang Changning and the Princess of Dewang exchanged glances, smiled appropriately, and called their respective men, "Prince."
"Prince."
Seeing the two people, Prince Jin and Prince De's expressions relaxed and smiled.
"My brother has taken note of the hospitality offered by Prince Ding's Mansion today." Prince Jin said this and went forward to greet his little princess.
"It's already what you wished for, so why bother pretending?" Prince De waved his hand and went to welcome his own princess.
Prince Ding pursed his lips and squinted his eyes as he watched them get off the carriage and drive away. He sneered, "You don't know how to behave."
Sending a beautiful woman as a gift is both a test and a way to win over someone.
The Prince of Jin and the Prince of De did not accept it, which meant they clearly rejected his good intentions.
In the carriage, Jiang Changning asked King Jin, "What happened?"
"Don't worry, nothing happened."
"If nothing happened, why did you leave early and go home?" Jiang Changning asked incisively.
"You mean this." King Jin smiled, "It was just a vicious dog trying to bite someone, but was beaten back."
"Is there no problem with this being so open and aboveboard?"
"The vicious dog is coming with such force that we can no longer retreat." King Jin stretched out his hands and hugged the man, "Don't be afraid, I can protect you."
Jiang Changning smiled and said, "I'm not afraid. Tell me about it and I'll be on guard too."