Truth cannot be hidden, and despite Concubine Shu's best efforts to conceal it, the emperor eventually heard that Prince Chen had been out in the city for a few days and had not returned.
The emperor was furious: "This traitor! Send more people to find him, and send him directly to the Zongzheng Temple when we find him!"
It would be fine if it happened normally, but today at the Siyan Banquet, the royal family was selecting concubines for the two princes, and Prince Chen didn't even show up. Isn't this embarrassing for the royal family in front of all the high-ranking families in Chang'an
Taiyi hastened to comfort his father: "Father, calm down. Fifth brother Xu must have been delayed by something."
The emperor said coldly: "What happened to him! It would be better if he died outside!"
When Concubine Shu came to plead guilty, she just heard the emperor's harsh words when she arrived in front of the curtain. She was filled with hatred and anger. She hated her son for being so absurd and reckless, and she also hated the emperor for being so heartless. Except for the empress's legitimate daughters, the rest of his flesh and blood were like picked up.
Her Wu Lang was so smart when he was born. He could recite the Thousand Character Classic by pointing at it when he was two years old. Later he grew up to be like that...
Her expression darkened, the empress did not want the concubine prince to be too arrogant, she did not dare to disobey the empress, and could only turn a blind eye, only hoping that he would grow up safely, build a palace and a mansion in the future, so that she and her mother could reunite and live out their days in peace.
But who doesn't want their child to become something useful? If Wulang really grows up to be a good-for-nothing, how could she, as a mother, feel good
Concubine Shu gritted her teeth and walked into the tent. Seeing the gentle and elegant Taishou and the majestic King Qi, she felt infinite sadness in her heart. Her Wulang should have grown up to be like them, a handsome and high-spirited young man...
She calmed herself down and chased away the unnecessary thoughts. What's the point of thinking about these things now? It would be better to find him a virtuous wife as soon as possible so that they can live a good life together.
Fortunately, the queen has entrusted the management of the harem to her, and she can also be a help in her son's marriage proposal.
She knelt down and kowtowed: "Wu Lang is unfilial, and I failed to discipline him properly. Please punish me, Your Majesty."
Concubine Shu was gentle and docile by nature, and now she was in charge of the six palaces on behalf of the empress. She knelt down and kowtowed in front of the emperor, and the emperor could not blame her anymore: "Forget it, forget it, I will teach him a lesson when he comes back."
The concubine thanked the emperor, stood up, wiped her tears with a silk handkerchief, and secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She was afraid that the emperor would get angry and say something like demoting her title. By then, there would be no room for maneuver.
However, the only one who really cared about whether Prince Chen was present was his mother, Concubine Shu.
To many people, the presence of King Chen was nothing more than a spoilsport.
It was just a bonus anyway, and all eyes were on the handsome and elegant King Qi.
The banquet went on as usual. Everyone sat in the tent for a while and then went to stroll by the pond to admire the flowers.
After the curtains were drawn, the male and female guests originally sat on their respective sides, but as time went by they naturally dispersed and gradually mixed together.
From time to time, ladies from high-ranking families would bring their juniors to pay their respects to Concubine Shu, and all of those juniors were young and beautiful girls. Sima Zhao's intentions were known to everyone.
Huan Xuan treated everyone equally, being polite but cold to everyone.
Ruan Yuewei saw that the emperor had met several candidates he liked, so she brought her cousin Ruan Liuniang to pay her respects to the emperor, Concubine Shu, and the queen mother.
Her features were not too similar to Ruan Yuewei's, but their temperaments and expressions were very similar. Perhaps because she grew up in the south of the Yangtze River, she had a gentleness to her beauty.
She wore light makeup today, a dot of cinnabar on her forehead, and wore a thin apricot-colored silk gown, a light silver gauze shawl, and a sixteen-tattered pomegranate skirt. She was as delicate and beautiful as the apricot blossoms on the branches by the pond, and her looks were slightly better than Ruan Yuewei's.
Huan Xuan had seen portraits before, but portraits were far from the lifelike real people.
But he felt nothing in his heart. This woman who looked like Ruan Yuewei was just like any other woman here to him. He didn't even want to look at her a second time.
Everyone knew that this person was one of the main candidates for the Princess of Qi. She was said to be brought here for a visit, but in fact she was brought here to meet the King of Qi.
The queen pointed at Huan Xuan and introduced him, "This is our Sanlang."
Ruan Liuniang glanced at Huan Xuan, then immediately lowered her head, blushing, and bowed: "I am Ruan, a commoner, and I pay my respects to His Majesty the Prince of Qi."
Huan Xuan nodded and said lightly, "No need to be polite."
Taiyi said: "Why are you being so distant? You are Ah Ruan's cousin, so you are also Sanlang's sister. You should call me Third Brother."
Ruan Liuniang's face turned even redder. She fiddled with the silk ribbon that tied the jade pendant around her waist and called out softly, "Third Brother."
There was a hint of Wu accent in her Mandarin, with the ending syllable slightly drawn out. Because she was shy, her voice became even more tender, like the chirping of an oriole. Even the queen, who was listening nearby, felt her ears go numb.
Huan Xuan still had that cold look on his face, and did not call her "Sixth Sister" but said, "Madam, there is no need to be polite."
With the cover of the brother-sister relationship, the guard between men and women can be relaxed a little.
The queen mother said: "Sanlang, this call of Third Brother is not in vain."
The emperor was obviously quite satisfied with the candidate for the princess. Although she was not on good terms with the dowager concubine's family, her father came from a noble family and had a good reputation as an official. He was also far away from the center of power and would not encourage unnecessary ambitions. In addition, the woman's character and appearance were worthy of the three emperors.
He nodded and said, "Liu Niang is new here, San Lang must do his best to be a good host. Let's go to Liubei Pavilion to put out the wine cups, and you can take Liu Niang to sit by the winding stream."
With the cover of the brother-sister relationship, it is not so important for men and women to keep in touch.
The emperor had spoken, and Huan Xuan naturally did not want to disobey in public, so he said to Ruan Liuniang, "Lady, please come in."
Ruan Liuniang said: "Thank you, Third Brother..."
The two walked along the poolside. Concubine Shu looked at their backs and said, "What a perfect couple, just like in a painting."
The wife said to her wife, "If this marriage is completed, you sisters can always be together."
Ruan Yue smiled reluctantly: "Okay, it would be great if you can succeed." But she couldn't say anything more.
Huan Xuan and Ruan Liuniang walked through the apricot blossom forest beside the pond.
Ruan Liuniang would steal a glance at Prince Qi from time to time, and the blush on her cheeks would deepen.
Originally, she was not happy to be invited to the banquet by her family. Although she was far away in the south of the Yangtze River, she knew the story between the King of Qi and her cousin. Among the cousins, her third cousin and she were the most picky. The two of them had been compared by many people since they were young. Later, when she went to the south of the Yangtze River and occasionally returned to Chang'an, the two of them would always compete secretly, from poetry, songs, calligraphy and painting to clothes and jewelry.
The third cousin is the eldest daughter of the royal family, so she is slightly inferior in status. Now she has become the queen dowager of the dynasty. Not only can her marriage not go through her, but she also has to choose the husband left by her. It's really depressing.
But at the first sight of the King of Qi, all these thoughts disappeared.
She suddenly felt fortunate that her third cousin coveted power and chose the Queen Mother over the King of Qi.
The girl's delicate face was more charming than apricot blossoms, but the King of Qi could not see it. He said nothing and did not look away, his eyes only fixed on the Liubei Pool in front of him.
Seeing that the pavilion in the pond was not far away and the carved patterns on the vermilion railings were clearly visible, Ruan Liuniang had to take the initiative to talk: "When I was in Jiangnan, I often heard of Third Brother's heroic name..."
Huan Xuan called her "Third Brother" and frowned, saying, "My lady, you are too kind."
Ruan Liuniang thought he would follow up on her and ask what she had said, but he didn't. She just kept trying to find something to say: "My cousin said that Third Brother is very good at playing chess. I wonder when I can ask him for advice."
Whenever Huan Xuan thought of playing chess, he couldn't help but think of the heartless village girl in Shanchiyuan. Strangely enough, even though she was a newcomer, he would always let her beat him every time. However, he enjoyed playing chess with her and occasionally even had the illusion that he had met his worthy opponent.
Seeing that he was absent-minded, Ruan Liuniang whispered, "Third brother?"
Huan Xuan came back to his senses and said, "My chess skills are just so-so. The Dowager Consort is good at chess. You can ask her for advice, Princess."
Ruan Liuniang was unsure whether he was naturally cold-hearted, and she also thought she talked too much. She was afraid that she would make more mistakes if she said more, so she stopped talking.
After a while, they arrived at Liubei Pool.
Liubei Pool is a winding stream diverted from Qujiang Pool. The trickling water meanders through the flower forest and is used specifically for the purification ceremony. Pavilions and tents are built by the water, with desks for writing and writing in the tents.
At that time, there were already many people by the Qushui River. As soon as Huan Xuan and Ruan Liuniang appeared, they attracted everyone's attention.
Soon, the emperor and his concubine arrived at Liubei Pavilion.
The guests were seated at random along the banks of the winding stream. The emperor, the empress and others placed wine cups into the water in the Liubei Pavilion. The cups would float with the water, and whoever the cups came in front of was required to drink up the wine in the cup and compose a poem.
Huan Xuan and Ruan Liuniang sat down by the pool, they sat at separate tables quite far apart from each other, but there were so many girls attending the banquet and only Ruan Liuniang got to keep him company. Everyone thought to themselves that perhaps good things were about to happen to the Ruan family.
Those families that did not get along with the Ruan family would secretly look down on them.
A lady of a duke, who was covered in jewels, sneered in a low voice: "He is greedy and wants to swallow an elephant. He relies on the fact that he has many daughters. I'm afraid he will not stop until he has taken all the imperial concubines."
"It would be better if we can buy all of them," her companion said, "Hurry up and buy them from Prince Chen. Just now, Concubine Shu was staring at our Qi Niang, and it made me feel uneasy..."
They both stood up.
Ruan Yuewei saw those noble ladies whispering to each other in Liubei Pavilion, and she guessed that they were framing her again, so she clenched her teeth.
She looked in the direction of Huan Xuan and her cousin on the other side of the river again, and saw the man was as handsome as a jade, and the woman was as pretty as a peach. They lowered their brows and smiled slightly, their cherry lips moving slightly, and she couldn't tell what they were saying.
A gurgling sense of bitterness flows from my heart and I can't stop it.
"It's time to put down the wine cup." Taixun's voice suddenly sounded in my ears.
Ruan Yuewei's heart skipped a beat, and she quickly gathered herself, picked up a cup and put it into the pool. Because it was a flower-viewing banquet, the cups were all painted with various flowers to suit the occasion, and the person who received the cup had to compose a poem based on the flowers in the cup.
Everyone knew that she loved crabapple flowers, so the one with the picture of a broken crabapple branch was left to her.
The cups of the emperor, concubine and princesses had all been put into the water. Ruan Yuewei stared at the cup she had put in, secretly hoping that this cup would stop in front of Huan Xuan, as if that would prove something.
Perhaps heaven had heard her prayer, for her wine cup had already floated past Huanxuan, but it unexpectedly bumped into the other princess's peony wine cup in the water, turned a corner, and floated slowly in front of Huanxuan again.
Ruan Yuewei's eyes lit up, and her heart felt as if a bird was flapping its wings.
Huan Xuan lowered his head and glanced at the Yu Shang.
Ruan Yuewei's heart beat up his throat. He must have noticed the crabapple flowers behind him.
Huan Xuan had indeed seen it. As soon as he saw the broken crabapple branches in the cup, he knew who had put them there.
Ruan Liuniang also saw clearly: "Third cousin loves crabapple flowers the most. This one must have been placed by her. I wonder what reward she has prepared."
Huan Xuan said, "You will know after you take it, my lady."
Ruan Liuniang had originally been interested, but she said this deliberately to test whether he still had feelings for Ruan Yuewei.
Seeing that he had no intention of taking Ruan Yuewei's cup, Ruan Liuniang felt relieved. She leaned over, stretched out her arms, scooped the wine from the water, and took it out from the wine cup.
Ruan Yuewei was watching from the pavilion and saw that Huan Xuan was reluctant to take it. In the end, Ruan Liuniang took it. She then poured a basin of cold water over her head.
Princess Xiao just kept bringing up the topic: "Ah Ruan, it seems your sixth sister picked up your cup. What a coincidence."
Ruan Yue felt a little bitter, but had to put on a cheerful face: "We are a family, and we are destined to be together."
The princess continued, "It is said that your sixth sister is a master of both poetry and painting. It is a great treat for us to see her."
Princess Wuxing said: "Just look at the Dowager Consort and you will know that the Sixth Lady of the Ruan family must also be a talented writer."
Then he pointed at the two people by the water and said, "Sister, look, these two people sitting together, don't they look like a golden boy and a jade girl?"
Princess Wu didn't really appreciate Ruan Yuewei, and naturally she didn't appreciate Ruan Liuniang who looked like her, so she just said perfunctorily, "Really."
After a while, the eunuch presented a scroll of poems, which was written by Ruan Liuniang.
She was not the first one to take the cup, but she was the fastest to come up with a poem, almost finishing it as soon as she picked up the pen. This quickness alone was enough to impress people. When the emperor saw the poem again, he could not help but praise it twice in succession.
The poem scroll was circulated in the pavilion, and people discovered that Ruan Liuniang not only wrote a beautiful poem about the crabapple tree, but also painted a crabapple tree. Her brushwork was free and elegant, with a lot of romantic charm.
Princess Wu was always straightforward and said what she meant. She smiled to Ruan Yue, "Ah Ruan, your Sixth Lady is really not an ordinary person. I'm afraid she even outshines you."
Others also praised it with great enthusiasm.
Ruan Yuewei was unable to say a word. She perfunctorily answered for a while, asked someone to give out the prepared crabapple jade pendants and gold ingots as rewards, then excused herself to everyone and went to the back with her maids Shuzhu and Yinglan to change clothes.
She stayed in the bathroom for a while, until her mood calmed down a little, and then she came back to life.
Just as I was about to go back to the pavilion, I took two steps and suddenly heard a familiar voice behind me: "Cousin, please stay."
Ruan Yuewei immediately recognized the voice of her cousin, Zhao Qinghui, the son of the Duke of Wu'an, and her heart skipped a beat.