Early that morning, Qiu Yilan and the others got up and urged their servants to wash themselves up.
"Since it's just a small banquet with peers, it can't be too grand. It will look too dull and look down on them!" Zhuang Man thought hard in front of the bronze mirror, "If it's just an understatement, it won't be powerful enough... You have to control it well!"
"This degree is up to the two of us." Xin Fubing said while concentrating on selecting beads and flowers from the makeup package, "Nineteenth Cousin Sister-in-law is enough to make a scene even if she goes out in Jingchai's cloth skirt. She can dress up in any way she wants!"
Qiu Yilan didn't intend to dress up carefully - mainly because today's protagonist is Xin Fubing. She had no intention of stealing the limelight from her own. She smiled when she heard this and said, "This is for fear that I won't be able to do my best for a while, so I have to work hard before I go out." Praise me?"
"It would be best if my sister-in-law settles them down by herself, and we can just go there and have a meal and drink." Zhuang Man said with a smile, "Oh, what if they asked us to do something about it? It would probably be enough to get more than ten or twenty of them. Not enough for my sister-in-law."
"More than ten or twenty? Like Gu Wegna?" Xin Fubing handed the selected pearl flower to the maid, fiddled with her temples and said, "You really underestimate my sister-in-law! I said hundreds of them came together, and my sister-in-law - "
Qiu Yilan interrupted: "Hundreds of princesses came together, and each one of them pulled out a hairpin and threw it at me. It was enough to make me jump like a mouse!"
Xin Fubing and Zhuang Man imagined the scene where countless hairpins were thrown, and they both laughed.
Amidst the laughter, the three of them packed up their appearance, had breakfast together, and went to greet the queen first - but they met the emperor on the way to the queen's chamber.
The three of them were a little surprised. The relationship between the emperor and the empress was not harmonious. This was no secret among the government and the public. After all, it is hard to imagine that Empress Jiang is as strong and fierce as she would love the weak Emperor from the bottom of her heart. And the Emperor who was controlled by the Empress Dowager and did not dare to speak loudly probably could not appreciate the Empress's domineering power... So if there is nothing wrong, it is not ancestral. It was stipulated that on days when the emperor and his queen slept together, the emperor would stay with his concubines in the harem.
The ancestral day has not come in the past two days. Seeing that the emperor's car is going to see the queen, it is natural that something is going on.
Although the emperor was just a decoration in this dynasty, the etiquette on the scene still had to be observed, so the three of them knelt down by the roadside as soon as they saw the emperor driving.
After a while, the emperor's chariot passed by. In the chariot, the emperor whispered a few words to the servants, and a father-in-law who looked like a steward stopped and asked them to get up in a good voice: "Your Majesty has something to discuss with the Queen. If there is nothing urgent, you three can also Please take a rest in the side hall.”
"I have nothing urgent to do." Qiu Yilan said with a smile, "Thank you for reminding me, father-in-law. We will go to the side hall now."
In the previous dynasty, the steward would not even dare to look down upon the queen or the prince, but this dynasty's emperor was a puppet, so he did not dare to be arrogant. He exchanged a few pleasantries with a smile on his face, then shook his fly whisk and left. Go after the imperial chariot that has stopped in front of the palace gate.
The three of them walked slowly to the entrance of the palace, and the palace guard also led them to sit and wait in the side hall. After entering the side hall, Zhuang Man couldn't hold himself back and guessed in a low voice: "Why is Your Majesty here now? Is there another person?" The concubine you particularly like wants to be promoted to the Jin Dynasty? "
"This is more difficult." Xin Fubing looked around and saw that all the people in the palace were far away, and those who were close were all their confidants, so she whispered, "Although I don't care about His Majesty lingering in the harem, I don't like His Majesty. Ask them for status and rewards..."
Empress Jiang usually does not take care of the harem herself, but leaves it to Miss Lin. However, when it came to things like the promotion or demotion of concubines, she had to nod her head, and the queen never nodded often. Although the four noble concubines below the queen are now present, except for Concubine Gu, all three concubines are hugging the queen's lap.
Zhao Xin Fubing revealed in a low voice that it was very easy for a concubine who hugged the queen's thigh to take the throne. Empress Jiang aspired to the former dynasty and did not take her position in the harem very seriously. She coaxed her to be happy and initiated the concubine's position generously and generously - The Second Concubine of Xiande That's how it came about.
"In other words, if you are a concubine from the Queen's party, you don't have to ask the emperor to take the throne?" Qiu Yilan understood, "And those who need the emperor's intercession to take the throne are probably either the emperor's favorites or the ones who are favored by the emperor himself. Since it has something to do with the Queen Mother, the Queen will naturally not agree easily. "
She thought of the concubine who had hooked up with Jiang Yadan. "It is said that the emperor and the empress spent four months begging for her concubine position, but she got together with Jiang Ba... but they don't know who she is. origin?"
Because of Xin Fubing's explanation, Qiu Yilan thought about the deceased, but Zhuang Man thought about the current person: "What if His Majesty really came to beg for a concubine, but you don't know who it is? I haven't heard of the palace recently. Are there new people here?”
"Isn't it just the summer vacation?" Qiu Yilan reminded her, "This year's summer vacation is arranged by the King of Zhou. Can't we arrange a few flowers and jade among the palace people just so that His Majesty can see it?"
"People arranged by King Zhou? Want the Queen to agree to officially canonize them? How is that possible!" Zhuang Man was delighted, "But what's the use of King Zhou doing this? How can Your Majesty defeat the Queen?"
Their guess was indeed correct. After a while, there was a noise outside. Seeing that the palace servants did not stop them, the maids cleverly went to the door to watch for a while and came back to report: "Several palace servants in colorful clothes were brought in." In the main hall, they are all young and beautiful.”
"I guess it's hard for us to greet the queen. It's almost time for the banquet - I'm afraid it won't be over in the main hall for a while." Seeing this, Qiu Yilan looked at the copper leak in the corner of the room and stood up.
"See if Ms. Lin is outside? If so, tell her?" Zhuang Man also stood up and said.
"Ms. Lin takes care of the harem on behalf of the Queen. How can she be idle outside?" Xin Fubing teased.
Qiu Yilan waved to a palace servant and told her to tell the queen on behalf of the three of them, and then said, "It's almost time? Shall we go to the garden?"
Gu Wanna's birthday banquet was held in the garden. This was mainly because as a minister, even if she was granted the title of princess, she was not a real person. She occasionally stayed in the palace for a while and celebrated her birthday in the palace. It would be too formal to hold it. .
Because it was a luncheon, when Qiu Yilan and the others arrived, everyone from Gu Wannafang was already there—Princess Changping and Tang Xinqiong among the three were already expected, but the third one was not Tang Xinyao, who had become Princess Yan. It was the Tang family, the wife of the Prince of Guangyang, who had a cold expression.
... Mrs. Tang was almost stripped naked and beaten by Qiu Yilan in the Xihe Palace, so that she was unwilling to meet Qiu Yilan for the past two years. I don’t know why she appears here instead of Princess Yan this time, but her eyes always look evil when looking at Qiu Yilan!
Even after the hypocritical politeness between the two parties, Tang's expression remained ugly.
But she didn't bring it up, so Qiu Yilan pretended not to notice. Anyway, she wasn't the one who suffered the loss back then... If Tang didn't show off his face now, she would almost forget what happened.
After the guests and hosts were seated, Gu Wanna, as the host, spoke first: "Thank you all for coming. The drinks are simple, but I hope Haihan will do it."
As for Qiu Yilan, she is the sister-in-law in terms of elder and younger, so she should be the one to speak.
But everyone knew that the protagonists of today's birthday banquet were Gu Wanna and Xin Fubing, so she just smiled and remained silent.
Xin Fubing took over the conversation knowingly: "It doesn't matter, we're not here to eat anyway."
There was clearly a thorn in these words, but Gu Weina smiled calmly: "I have asked you to congratulate me on my little birthday. It's really..." One sentence turned embarrassment into gratitude.
"It's true that I'm here to congratulate you, but what you said is wrong. How can your birthday be a small one? If you don't miss yourself, you have to miss the pain your grandson suffered back then, right?" Seeing that she was going to take the graceful and generous route, Xin Fubing immediately changed her mind. With a pleasant look on his face, he talked eloquently, "Father's affairs are no small matter, are they?"
"Miss Xin's filial piety is commendable, but I am not as good as..." Gu Wanna said with a smile, "But I heard that your great-uncle Qin Guogong has not been well these past two days? I originally thought that neither the young lady nor Mrs. Qiu had time to come to the banquet!"
When Qiu Yilan saw that the topic turned to Duke Qin, she said, "Grandpa just drank a few too many drinks at the family banquet and got drunk. When he woke up, he told us to do things as usual. Naturally, we listened to his words." Qin Guogong. What a big deal is his safety? She has been in the palace for the past two days, but she has been asking about it.
According to the latest news sent by Jiang Yashuang last night, although Qin Guogong is still unable to get up, he is completely awake. He will be able to act as usual after another ten days and a half of recuperation. That's why the Jiang family insisted that he was drunk to cover up.
After all, given the extent of Qin Guogong's current influence on the situation, news of his illness, no matter how serious it is, would not be a good thing for the Queen's Party.
Naturally, if you can deny it, then you won’t.
Therefore, after Qiu Yilan denied it, she did not forget to ridicule her, "I think the wife of the Prince of Guangyang does not look very good. Is the wife of the Prince of Guangyang sick? If so, don't hold on, it is better to go back to rest and seek medical treatment as soon as possible. That’s great!”
Tang said expressionlessly: "Princess Laoqiu is thinking about me, I am very well! Miss Xin, on the other hand, looks so pale. I wonder if she feels uncomfortable?"
"A good birthday banquet would either mention the elder's poor health, or put on a coffin face, and then say that the greeting guest looked pale." Zhuang Man looked surprised, "Are you trying to ruin your own situation?"
I know that she speaks outright and her words are always unscrupulous. Gu Wanna and others exchanged glances, ignored her, and still said to Qiu Yilan and Xin Fubing: "We are not deliberately picking on you, but the last time we saw Miss Xin, she was as pretty as a flower. Why are you so haggard after not seeing each other for a few days? If you have something on your mind, even if it’s not convenient to talk to us, you should talk to your family. You should be a beautiful young lady and don’t ruin your health. alright."
Qiu Yilan had preconceived ideas and thought that they just wanted to fight today. These words were all harsh. At that moment, Xin Fubing sneered and said: "Didn't I say that I want to celebrate your birthday today? Why are you staring at me and talking about it?" I was really not feeling well in the past two days, but I have recovered now. Otherwise, why would you dare to come into the palace? "
Zhuang Man was afraid that the world would be in chaos and added jealousy: "I see that the prince's wife is not looking good. You are suspicious of Cousin Xin, and we are also suspicious of the prince's wife! You invited us here, are you just inviting us to quarrel?!"
She began to roll up her sleeves and said with great interest, "If we quarrel, we will quarrel. Are you afraid that we won't make it?"
"This is really a misunderstanding. We are really surprised. After all, we have never met Miss Xin before. I know that you have always been in good health, but your complexion will suddenly turn bad. You will be surprised and you will not say such caring words." Gu Graceful and Princess Changping looked at each other and said with a smile, "This is all our fault. How about I punish myself with a drink to make amends to you...?"
As she spoke, Gu Wegna poured herself a glass of wine, drank it all in one gulp, and flashed the bottom of the glass at Xin Fubing.
She suddenly backed down, but Qiu Yilan and the others became even more vigilant - they clearly didn't want to quarrel or break up on bad terms, but they wanted to keep them here
"But what can you do in broad daylight?" The three of them were wary, but they were not very worried. "I want to see what kind of medicine you are selling in your gourd!"