The subsequent ladies played piano, chess, poetry and painting in all kinds of ways, but there were a few that were noteworthy. It was the first time for Xiao Xinyue to come to such an occasion, and she enjoyed watching it. From time to time, she even commented with sister Xie Ruyue.
Xie Ruzhuo saw it funny, but Xie Ruyue treated her like a younger sister. When peeling the shrimps, she would peel them for Xiao Xinyue and put them on the plate.
When it came to Zhang Xiuyan, something went wrong.
She originally prepared a guqin song, but because she was a concubine today, her not-so-skilled guqin made mistakes more and more frequently. In the end, Zhang Xiuyan simply gave up the song, knelt down and said, "My lord, I am not feeling well today, please forgive me."
Concubine Hui usually didn't like the Zhang family. Today was a rare opportunity. She wanted to make fun of her, but she didn't want to be overtaken by others.
Concubine Ye smiled softly and said, "If you feel unwell, just rest. It's okay."
Zhang Xiuyan thanked Concubine Ye, staggered back to her seat, and couldn't help crying silently.
Although her mother had comforted her today, saying that her aunt's recovery was not completely hopeless, and told her to relax. But she just felt sad. Now that she no longer had her aunt, and Xiao Junhan was so perfunctory to her, she was afraid that she would have no chance to marry the man she loved!
The man she has liked for as long as she can remember, this feeling is like a glass of aged wine, lasting longer. But in Xiao Junhan's eyes, it was a bowl of sour rice and he couldn't avoid it.
Without Concubine Xian in the future, what chance would she have to get close to Xiao Junhan, and what confidence would she have to marry him!
Xie Ruzhuo was not far from Zhang Xiuyan's table. He hadn't noticed it before, but now he heard her sobbing and noticed something strange about Zhang Xiuyan.
No matter in the past life or in this life, Zhang Xiuyan's thoughts about Xiao Junhan have never changed. In the previous life, because she was the princess, Zhang Xiuyan often gave her obstacles, but even so, until the time of Xie Ruzhuo's death, Zhang Xiuyan never got her wish to marry Xiao Junhan.
I'm afraid that in this life, this poor and hateful girl will still not be able to get even a look of mercy from that man.
After all, she is just a poor person.
Xie Ruzhuo was reminiscing about the past. It might as well be that the Xie family had already been named for this rich banquet.
Xie Ruyue had been injured when she was hunting in autumn, and she was going to use the injury to deal with it this time, so the first person in the Xie family to perform became Xie Ruzhuo.
She had prepared a guqin, but when she saw Zhang Xiuyan's appearance, she felt a little sad. She took a jade flute and started playing it slowly.
"When you enter my lovesickness gate, you will know that my lovesickness is painful. Long lovesickness makes you remember each other, but short lovesickness makes you infinite. If I had known that it would be such a troubling thing, it would be as if we didn't know each other at the beginning."
A song about longing for lovesickness expresses all the pain of infatuation in the world.
Xie Ruzhuo didn't know why she thought of this song, but she sighed in her heart. She didn't feel bitter about this lovesickness, she was just afraid. I'm afraid of hurting the other party, and I'm even more afraid of not getting what I want.
Maybe after everything is settled, she will have the courage to face her feelings and the courage to join hands with the other person. I just don’t know if she will still have the qualifications and opportunities at that time.
Xiao Junxi had gone to see Emperor Jing to inform him of important matters, but she arrived a little late. When he entered the palace, he heard Xie Ruzhuo playing this Sauvignon Blanc.
He suddenly felt a little uneasy, Zhuo'er, am I the one you miss, or are you regretting our initial acquaintance
However, when he saw the deep love in Xie Ruzhuo's eyes, he immediately calmed down.
I am willing to share weal and woe with you, as long as you are willing.
After Xie Ruzhuo finished playing a song, thanked him and was about to turn back, he ran into Xiao Junxi's eyes.
At that moment, it seemed that the surrounding scene was nothingness, and there were only you and me between heaven and earth. Xie Ruzhuo suddenly felt sore in his eyes, responded with a smile, and returned to his seat.
Next is Xie Rufei. She is quite decent. She composed a poem about a daughter's banquet. Although it is not outstanding, it is rare for a fourteen-year-old girl to achieve such a state. There was the attentive lady present, and she immediately remembered Xie Rufei's name and started to pay attention secretly.
Perhaps last year's performance did not win much favor from the Sacred Heart. This year, Shen Jingci focused on the uniqueness of the dance.
I saw an eunuch carrying two big drums. Shen Jingci was dressed in red clothes like fire. When she danced gracefully, she looked like a phoenix bathing in fire, dazzling everyone's eyes. And every time when the drum beat started, her dancing sleeves would hit the upright drum with great force. Repeatedly, it was particularly eye-catching.
The beauty is so poetic and picturesque that some young men from aristocratic families couldn't help but exclaim.
Xiao Junhan was hidden among the crowd, breathing a little heavily. He had seen Shen Jingci's dance before, but it was not as shocking as it was today. He had already heard about the incident with Concubine Xian today, but Shen Jingci advised him to calm down first and then take action slowly, so he calmed down and came to the Thousand Gold Banquet as if nothing happened.
He was still absent-minded before, but now he finally came back to his senses after watching Shen Jingci's dance. After all, food and sex are the same. Even if there are such big changes, it is difficult to conceal the attraction of men to beauty.
After Shen Jingci finished dancing, she panted slightly and thanked her.
I don’t know who stood up first, but he should have applauded first, mixed with cheers from time to time.
Concubine Ye Guifei was also a little shocked, and sighed slightly, "The daughters of the Shen family really live up to the reputation of twin sisters, with exquisite minds, even this dance is amazing!"
As soon as Concubine Ye said these words, all the ladies in the family knew who should take the top spot in this golden feast.
Only Xie Ruzhuo sat in silence.
In her previous life, she had seen Shen Jingci perform this dance, but at that time Shen Jingci was celebrating Emperor Jing's birthday. After she danced, a banner of longevity fell from the sky.
Comparing her appearance at that time, Shen Jingci was countless times better than her. Even the Emperor Jing at the time said, "A daughter from the Shen family can be a role model for women from aristocratic families."
Later, after Xiao Junhan gained power, he used this sentence as a reason to not only delay establishing a queen, but even refused to let her set foot in the palace!
But in this life, Shen Jingci moved this dance to the present in order to restore her declining reputation. On the surface, Shen Jingci looks great, but Xie Ruzhuo knows that she has no choice but to do it.
Shen Jingci, by attracting the limelight like this, you have stepped from behind the scenes to the front of the stage. With such an honor, it will not be that easy if you want to quietly sneak in among the ladies from the famous families to find out information.
Just wait, I can force you out, I can knock you down from the heights into the abyss!
This year's daughter's banquet has undoubtedly become Shen Jingci's limelight banquet. With this dance of hers, all the ladies from aristocratic families who performed later were overshadowed by it.
Xiao Xinyue on the side sighed in a low voice, "Miss Shen is really powerful. That dance just now requires someone with inner strength to hit that big drum."
Xie Ruzhuo had known that Shen Jingci was not bad at martial arts, so he didn't take it to heart. Xie Ruyue didn't know, so she asked softly, "Are you saying that Shen Jingci can actually do martial arts?"
Seeing Xiao Xinyue nodding, Xie Ruyue murmured in confusion, "The Shen family is from a civil service background, and the family is not well-off. How can they teach a daughter to practice martial arts?"
Xie Ruzhuo smiled calmly and said, "It's useless for you to think so much about other people's affairs. Come, eat the shrimp." After she said this, she fed the shrimp that Xie Ruyue had peeled before into her mouth.
However, this stopped the words on his lips, but it could not stop the suspicion in his heart.
Although Xiao Xinyue's voice just now was not loud, but the people in the banquet hall were not far away, so a few people heard it. The woman has always been very jealous, so after hearing these words, they all started discussing in low voices.
When they were having tea and chatting, Concubine Ye smiled first and said, "This year's daughter's banquet is an eye-opener for me. The ladies from all the families are the best among people. It can be said that the waves behind the scenes push the waves ahead."
Concubine Hui on the side also laughed and said, "Isn't it true? I think back then we were all little girls sitting at this daughter's banquet. Now, decades have passed and I have become an old woman."
Concubine Ye immediately smiled and said, "Sister Hui Concubine is not old, but from now on, it will really be their young people's world."
Seeing that the two concubines deliberately brought the topic to the young girl, those who were smart knew that they were talking about the princes' concubines in disguise.
At that moment, the married women started the conversation first and said with a smile, "Isn't that right? My wife has reached the age of taking care of my grandchildren. When my daughter gets married, this half-life wish will be fulfilled."
As soon as she opened her mouth, other ladies also talked about parenting.
Concubine Ye looked around the whole place calmly, and saw that Xie Ruzhuo still had a calm face, as if the matter had nothing to do with her. She nodded secretly in her heart, thinking that this girl is quite dignified and steady.
Just as she was about to invite Xie Ruzhuo to come and talk, she stopped talking when she saw the chamberlain filing in with plates of snacks.
But who would have thought that just as Concubine Xian withdrew her eyes from Xie Ruzhuo's table, she heard screams coming from the female family members.
"ah-"
The first person to make a sound was Xie Ruyue.
Everyone looked around and saw that there were several dark spiders on the table that originally contained fruits and vegetables for refreshments! And the source of the spider was the golden vessel that was supposed to hold the tea!
The spider had obviously been locked in the container for a long time. When it came out, it immediately climbed up aimlessly towards the table.
Xie Ruyue was so frightened that she hugged Xie Ruzhuo beside her and kept shivering. She had been afraid of these snakes, insects, rats, and ants since she was a child. Now that she saw them appearing in front of her eyes, her whole scalp was numb.
The little eunuch who was serving tea was also frightened. He screamed, knelt on the ground and said, "My dear, please forgive me, I don't know anything!"
And those ladies from aristocratic families who were close were already so frightened that their branches were trembling, and they kept retreating back.
There was chaos in the small hall for a while, but it was Concubine Ye who reacted first and said, "What are you doing in a daze? Get that spider away quickly!"
However, the spider is poisonous, so who would dare to catch it? The chamberlains immediately waved their fly whisks and cautiously hit the spiders.
After this back and forth, some spiders were knocked down to the ground and became motionless, but more of them were crawling aimlessly on the table.
Xie Ruyue held Xie Ruzhuo's hand tightly and closed her eyes tightly. A spider might as well have been swept away by the whisk and jumped onto Xie Ruzhuo's clothes in an instant!
Xie Ruzhuo only comforted Xie Ruyue and was unprepared for a moment. She only heard another scream. She looked back and saw Xiao Xinyue looking at her with a look of horror on her face. She pointed at Xie Ruzhuo with a trembling finger, " Xie Ruzhuo, you, there are spiders on your clothes!"