After the imperial examinations, I grew up by farming

Chapter 73 Hundred Flowers Banquet ([-])
In the noisy corner of the imperial garden, the unmarried young sons of the relatives and senior officials were talking and laughing happily.

Today's Hundred Flowers Banquet is not only for the crown prince and Prince An to choose a concubine, but also for matchmaking.

The empress was sympathetic, and in the name of the Hundred Flowers Banquet, she gathered the unmarried young princes who had undergone the crown ceremony and the young ladies of Jiji together to see each other, in order to help older men and women whose marriages were delayed by the war to get married earlier.

But whoever looks at each other's favorite today, after reporting to the parents at home, can ask for a wedding decree from the empress.

Ning Yu, Xu Linpeng and Liu Xin followed Liu Shuangxi to the Imperial Garden, causing a commotion.

The first-class eunuchs next to the empress, the noble ladies and noble sons in Beijing almost all recognized them, and they could let Eunuch Liu lead the way in person.

Just look at these three ladies...

A young daughter who looks like a fierce horse and scorches the sun, walks with strides, and looks majestic. The pomegranate red skirt and peach blossom pink beanie's little daughter's dress makes her wear a neat and unrestrained heroic posture.

Most notable was her stature—

Too high!
Liu Shuangxi's father-in-law is considered a normal man's height, if he stands up straight, he will reach the position of her eyebrows and eyes.

Another lady who was as tall as her was wearing a light blue skirt and a crescent white jacquard gown over it, which looked like she was covered with nine-day silver frost. The one in red is straightforward, but not as shy and reserved as her daughter's.

"There is jade in the pile of stones, and the pines are like emerald green. Lang Yan is unique, and there is no other in the world."

I don't know who praised it, and friends nearby looked at it one after another.

The first impression of a woman is that she is a gentle and modest gentleman.

Weird!Weird!

Just now, the young master who praised Ning Yu knocked the folding fan on his palm, put it away with a beep, and fixed his eyes on Liu Xin.

"It seems as if the moon is covered by light clouds, and the snow flutters like the flowing wind."

He couldn't help asking his companion, "Which family's lady is that?"

The face is like a lotus coming out of water, the waist is like a weak willow supporting the wind, three points are delicate and sick, and it is even more stunning.

"Shi Zhuangxian, the person you are afraid of is here!" Chen Yan gloated and sneered, and walked quickly towards the girl from Xu's family.

Prince An held up the iron certificate of the Dan book to coerce His Majesty to give him a marriage. Which adult in Wangjing City doesn't know?

Naturally, the rich ladies in the city also know about it.

Miss Zhang looked worriedly at Shi Zhuangxian: "Zhuangxian..."

Shi Zhuangxian pretended not to care and looked at Liu Xin, her face was as usual.

She said generously: "It's no wonder that the lord made a fuss in the Golden Luan Palace. The girl from the Xu family is really beautiful. In my opinion, the number one beauty in Wangjing should be the girl from the Xu family."

"It's really pretty." Miss Wang San placed her fan on her forehead and looked at Liu Xin.

The fifth girl, Fang Yirong, was full of contempt.

"Hmph!" Fang Yirong said: "Sister Shi is much more beautiful than her! Look at her, she is so sick, I don't know if she is just pretending!"

As Fang Yirong said, she glanced at Shi Zhuangxian's hand tightly clenched with silk, and sneered in her heart.

Advertise yourself as the most beautiful woman and the most talented woman everywhere, and spread everywhere that you look like the empress when you were young. If you don't choose the princess today, let's see how you will still be pretentious among all the noble women in the future.

If your father hadn't been the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, pointing at your father to help find an official position for the elder brother in the family, I am the daughter of the dignified Houfu, and you are worthy of being friends with me?

Shi Zhuangxian, Fang Yirong, Miss Zhang Er, Miss Wang San...

Everyone thought that Liu Xin, who was as beautiful as a fairy, was the seventh girl of the Xu family, and they all thought that Yan Shi had taken a fancy to the skin of the seventh girl of the Xu family.

Liu Shuangxi led the three sisters to the imperial garden and returned to report to the queen.

At this time, the sun was high, and the sun was dazzling and scorching.

Seeing Liu Xin wiping her sweat frequently, Ning Yu seemed uncomfortable, so she asked concerned, "Sixth sister, did you take your medicine today?"

Liu Xin said: "I'm in a hurry to go out, it's okay."

Xu Linpeng looked around, looked over at them one by one, and looked at a gazebo on a rockery, "There are few people there, let's go to have a rest."

The three sisters walked side by side to the gazebo, and bumped into Chen Yan who had just come out of the Huxin Pavilion.

"Lin Peng!" Chen Yan was very excited to see Xu Linpeng.

"Yan'er!" Xu Linpeng went up to meet him, and pulled Chen Yan back to Ning Yu and Liu Xin, "This is the seventh girl of Chen Guogong's family, and Chen Yan is the first one in the east of Shangpin Lane."

"Yan'er, this is my sixth younger sister, Liu Xin."

After introducing Liu Xin, Xu Linpeng looked at Ning Yu again, "This is my seventh sister, Xu Ningyu."

Chen Yan was slightly surprised.

She thought that Liu Xin, whom I saw pity, was Miss Xu Qi, the sweetheart of her elder brother Zizhou.

After greeting each other, Chen Yan lowered her chin with a round fan, circled around Ning Yu, and said sincerely: "Although she is not as beautiful as your sixth sister, she is not bad. It seems that brother Zizhou is not blind."

At least it doesn't look obnoxious.

The two ladies sitting in the gazebo on the rockery saw Chen Guogong's Xiaoba Dynasty gazebo coming, they looked at each other, and they thought they were unlucky and got up to let the gazebo out.

The palace maid quickly removed the used tea, drinks, snacks, and fruits, and replaced them with new ones.

Ning Yu asked the palace maid for a cup of warm water for Liu Xin, and when Liu Xin looked better, they began to talk.

"How did Fifth Sister know Miss Chen Qi?" Ning Yu asked curiously.

After the questioning, the palace maid brought over the newly made milky drink from the imperial dining room.

After drinking a whole glass, Xu Linpeng said: "That day, the day my grandmother took us to make snacks, I went out shopping and taught a few apprentices who molested girls from good families, and that's how I met Yan'er."

Speaking of this, Chen Yan looked proud, put the round fan on the round stone table, got up and described the experience of that day vividly with all hands and feet.

"Your Fifth Sister and I don't know each other. You don't believe me when I tell you. That little lady who was bullied didn't know what to think. She helped those who molested her to slander Lin Peng, saying that she was good at kung fu. At first I really believed it..."

After Chen Yan had said the same thing, Xu Linpeng concluded: "Thanks to Yan'er moving out of Chen Guogong, Miss Wu dared to tell the truth."

In the end, several disciples were turned over to the government.

"That's right!" Chen Yan sat back on the stone bench.

Not long after, the palace servants brought the girls from various prefectures to the side hall of Kunde Palace.

The graceful and luxurious empress sat at the head, her phoenix eyes glanced at the delicate and beautiful girls like flowers, and there was a kind yet majestic smile on her suffocatingly beautiful face.

"Okay, it's really a hundred flowers blooming, people are more beautiful than flowers, the palace hasn't been this lively for a long time...

"In another three months, it will be the Empress Dowager's birthday. The Empress Dowager eats vegetarian food and recites Buddhism before she is alive. She is the most kind-hearted. This palace wants to give the Empress Dowager a picture of a hundred years, but the embroiderer in the palace has embroidery skills, but calligraphy is not. Difficult to see.

"You girls are all ladies from famous families. They are all proficient in the six arts of piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and female celebrities. I want to choose one of you to complete this hundred-year-old picture. Why don't we take advantage of this day, and our outstanding young masters in Wangjing City will also be able to complete this picture. It's also good to help Bengong pick and choose together.

"It's limited to half an hour, and you girls can play as you like."

There are more than 30 noble ladies in the hall.

The three girls from the Xu family are at the end.

Liu Xin is in the middle, Xu Linpeng is on the left, and Ning Yu is on the right.

The maidservant set up a sand clock set for half an hour, and the dense fine sand leaked down, and the noble ladies began to thread needles with slender hands.

Ning Yu fiddled with the embroidery thread in the embroidery basket twice, flicked the embroidery stand in front of her, feeling embarrassed.

Xu Linpeng was also in a dilemma.

Liu Xin glanced at her elder sister with a sad face, then at her younger sister with a sad face, handed the first needle to Xu Linpeng, put another needle on for Ning Yu, and winked at them.

Liu Xin concentrates on embroidery.

Ning Yu was about to get up and tell the queen that she couldn't embroider, when she saw a benevolent old woman approaching with a pen and ink.

"Miss Xu Qi, you can just write on the embroidered cloth."

The old mother put down the cinnabar ink and the wolf hair, and returned to stand beside the queen.

The queen looked at the last row, and seeing that Xu Linpeng didn't know how to embroider, she said to Nanny Wang, "Go, give the five girls of the Xu family a set of pens and ink as well."

After embroidering the characters, the queen tested the ladies' tea art, flower art, and poetry.

Finally, cooking.

Each noble lady is followed by a palace maid, one is to help the noble ladies, and the other is to ensure that there are no false hands.

The aristocrats were busy in the separate small kitchens, and the empress sent embroidery, flower arrangements and small poems to the gazebo in the imperial garden, and let all the little princes walk around and taste them.

"Everyone, come and see, there are noble girls who can't embroider, and they wrote a word in cinnabar instead."

"Although I don't know how to embroider, my brushwork is vigorous and handsome, and my calligraphy is good!"

The young master who boasted good words threw the red flower in his hand into the ceramic jar, causing his companion to question, "This is an embroidery work, this girl obviously doesn't know how to be a female celebrity, it would be unfair for Brother Shi to vote for her."

"Brother Fang's words are wrong!" The Fourth Young Master Shi disagreed, "Today we are picking a lifelong partner, not an embroidered lady. This girl's words moved me, and I gave her red flowers because I was looking forward to seeing you again." to this girl."

The handwriting is so good, presumably the literary talent must be outstanding.

The Fourth Young Master Shi stepped out of the gazebo, walked to the area where the poems and Fu were hung, and went straight to the one with the largest number of onlookers.

Since it was a feast of flowers, the queen took "flowers" as the theme and asked the noble ladies to compose a poem.

The Fourth Young Master Shi walked outside the gazebo, and he heard people chant loudly: "Picking flowers is not as difficult as growing flowers, and it takes a few days to fade. The best thing is that you can't keep good flowers, so it's better to just grow cauliflower."

"Hahaha! She must be a very interesting girl. Others write about how delicate flowers are and how different they are. They are either peonies or peonies or orchids or chrysanthemums. She writes about planting flowers, but also wild flowers and miscellaneous flowers."

The young master who recited the poem laughed loudly.

"Still a whiny little lady who hates people ruining her flowers." Another person echoed, "Interesting! Interesting!"

"It's not a complaint, it's clearly cherishing flowers and loving flowers, and this handwriting is no less than that of Shiro from Shi Shangshu's family."

"It's worse than Brother Shi..."

The young man who was talking turned his head and saw Shi Zhaoyun, the fourth son of Shi, and hurriedly called him over, "Brother Shi came just in time. Brother Liu said that this little lady's calligraphy is comparable to Brother Shi's Cang Jin style. I don't think so. Brother Shi Come and comment."

Fourth Young Master Shi stepped forward to take a look, and was immediately pleasantly surprised.

It really is the word of the girl who can't embroider. This poem is quite heartwarming.

Fearing that the young masters would be cautious, Yan Shi and Yan Jin came late on purpose.

Traveling through the pavilions not far away, Yan Shi found Ning Yu's poems and "embroideries", and threw red flowers into the ceramic jar without hesitation.

When he saw two flower arrangements that were equally disorderly, he couldn't decide which was Ning Yu's. After thinking about it, he voted for the uglier one, which didn't even have a single vote.

Although the other has no votes!

It's approaching evening.

The noble ladies who have been busy in the kitchen all afternoon are finally ready.

The afterglow of the setting sun was falling, and the curtain was drawn on the temporary high platform in the imperial garden. Dozens of young masters sat in front of the table with short legs and long legs, waiting to taste the craftsmanship of the noble ladies.

The young masters each have a bamboo stick in their hands.

The number is equivalent to the number of ladies.

The maid served the food, tasted or looked at it, and thought it was good, so she cast a lot on the plate and the maid brought it down.

One after another of delicious food is presented like running water, the amount is pitifully small, the soup is only half a bowl, each dish is basically one or two bites, and each pastry is one or half a piece. It seems that there are more than 30 dishes, but it is far from full. The last two dishes arrived.

Both dishes were served at the same time.

A large plate of scrambled eggs with tomatoes.

Another, two unpeeled hard-boiled eggs on an empty plate.

As soon as the two dishes were served, there was a brief silence at first, and then a roar of laughter broke out.

Yan Shi sat closest to the high platform, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

He was about to crack open an egg, when he saw the fourth son of Shi opposite him was covered with an undercooked egg, and his hand was covered with glistening egg liquid.

Thinking that Ning Yu would ask him if it was good, he gritted his teeth, picked up the chopsticks, and tasted scrambled eggs with tomatoes.

It was surprisingly delicious!

Taste the perfect food, and finally enjoy the ladies playing the piano and dancing.

Shi Zhuangxian played a piece of music, and was greeted with compliments.

Xu Linpeng used a tree branch as a sword, and danced vigorously with fists and kicks. The young masters had never seen such a sharp and unruly young lady, and the applause even surpassed that of Wangjing's most talented woman, Shi Zhuangxian.

What made Shi Zhuangxian even more ashamed was that Liu Xin also played a piece and got one more vote than her.

As for Ning Yu, the queen did not let her appear.

Embroidery, tea art, flower art, poetry, singing and dancing, cooking...

After finishing all the comparisons, when the night came, the palace was brightly lit, the trees were filled with fire and silver flowers, and the empress gave a banquet to the Chonghua Palace. Since it was a matchmaker's banquet, the ladies and young princes were invited to eat together.

The queen, the prince, and Prince An sat at the head.

In the audience, men are on the left and women are on the right.

After the dance of the palace lady, who was flying like a butterfly, Ning Yu put down her chopsticks and got up to salute, "Empress, today's banquet is for the girls to be married and the sons to be married to choose each other. The talents of the girls have been seen. We have yet to see the demeanor."

As soon as these words came out, the girls looked forward to the Queen with a look of expectation.

The queen glanced at the second son whose eyes were on the seventh girl of the Xu family, and said to herself, "No prospect".

However, after a day passed, she was very satisfied with Liu Xin, and by the way, she felt that Ning Yu was also okay, so she said: "Since that's the case, then you young gentlemen, get ready and come out one by one... to add to the fun."

in turn...

That is to say, everyone has to show their strengths on stage.

Ning Yu sat down without looking sideways, and concentrated on eating.

While eating, I enjoyed the hard-working performances of the princes of Wangjing.

Although it is not as versatile as the girls, but because the good and the bad are mixed, there are always unexpected laughs popping up.

Forgetting the words when reciting poems, forgetting the score for playing the qin and blowing the flute, tripping yourself with empty-handed punches...

Ning Yuquan was supposed to watch the fun, but the other noble girls watched carefully, whoever had poetry and books, who was ignorant, and who didn't show up for an excuse, the girls kept it in their hearts.

After the little princes finished their performances and the meal was almost finished, the queen announced the results of today's talent competition.

Embroidery, singing and dancing, and cooking, Liu Xin won three first prizes by herself, and she was rewarded: two pairs of pearl heads, a pair of jade Ruyi, four pairs of dragon and phoenix bracelets, eight pieces of jade pendants, and a golden bowl, which can be described as quite generous.

In the tea ceremony, Miss Zhang Er from Zuo Shilang's family won the first prize, and she was rewarded with a pair of pearls, six pieces of jade pendants, and five bolts of silk and satin.

The leader of the flower art is the eldest girl of the military doctor's family, and she is rewarded: the same as the second girl Zhang.

As for writing poems, Ning Yu won with an absolute advantage and was rewarded with a set of calligraphy and a set of four treasures of the study.

But Shi Zhuangxian, who has always regarded herself as the number one talented woman in Wangjing, has not achieved anything.

(End of this chapter)