On the Difficulties of Escape in Ancient Times

Chapter 405 Birthday Banquet
In fact, the crown prince had not yet been named the crown prince. It was just that the emperor had said during the grand court session that the eldest prince was not only the legitimate son, but also the most like him, so he asked the Imperial Astronomical Observatory to choose an auspicious day to name the crown prince.

Therefore, even though the crown prince had not been officially named, the people below had already respectfully called them the crown prince and the crown princess.

Madam Li and Xiao Xiao first paid their respects to the Crown Princess in a proper manner, and then wished the Princess a happy birthday.

In public, the Crown Princess would definitely not have a cold face, and she said gently, "Madam Li, there is no need to be polite."

He smiled at Xiao Xiao again: "Grandma Li is pregnant. She looks good. I guess it's because Madam has taken good care of her."

Madam Li also knew that the Crown Princess was not someone to be trifled with, so she was very frugal with her words: "You are so kind, Crown Princess."

Xiao Xiao couldn't play dumb since she was named by the Crown Princess. "What the Crown Princess said is true. It's the mother's kindness."

Princess Chun'an saw that the Crown Princess wanted to talk, so she interrupted with a smile: "Is this Li Dalang's new wife? She is really good-looking."

"Yes." Madam Li smiled and said, "This is Xiao."

The Crown Princess smiled and said, "Madam Li should also take her eldest daughter-in-law out for walks more often, otherwise there will be too many people who don't know her."

Madam Li said dryly, "Yes, I will definitely take Xiao out more often in the future."

She had thought that the Crown Princess would be more restrained in public, but she didn't expect her to be so persistent. It was really abominable.

Princess Chun'an winked at her daughter-in-law.

Prince Chun'an had already reminded her that he was the emperor's biological brother and his power and status had already reached the pinnacle.

No matter what the Queen and the Crown Prince do, they will not get involved and will firmly follow the Emperor's steps.

Although it was the old lady of the Wen family who took all the blame before, it was like covering one's ears and stealing the bell, and no one would believe what she said.

The emperor simply wanted to protect his legitimate son, so they believed it.

But she would never allow the Crown Princess to find fault at her birthday party.

It’s not that the princess favors the Li family’s mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, but she is dissatisfied with the Crown Princess showing off her power in her own territory.

The Crown Prince's Consort of Chun'an Palace understood her mother-in-law's thoughts very well. She immediately stepped forward to support Xiao Xiao and said with a smile, "It just so happens that my cousin is also pregnant. I'm sure you two will have something to talk about if you sit together."

Although she no longer remembered the name of that distant cousin, she still remembered that she came to her house with a big belly.

Finally she found an excuse.

Of course, even if this cousin didn't exist, she could create one out of nothing.

Xiao Xiao thanked him shyly, then knelt down and bowed to the women in the hall before leaving with the Crown Prince's wife.

The Crown Prince's Consort had nothing good to say about Xiao Xiao. Their family backgrounds were very different. She felt that Xiao was only lucky to be alive today.

So he just took her outside to find his cousin who lived 3,000 miles away, said a few polite words to her, and then went back to the hall to do his work.

The Crown Princess's distant cousin was also a shrewd person: "Why did you come here with my cousin? Whose grandmother is this?"

Xiao Xiao lowered her head and said in a weak voice: "I am from the Li family, and this is my first time meeting the Crown Prince's Consort."

Seeing her nervous look, the cousin instantly realized that this lady was not from a noble family. She had no interest in talking to her and squeezed into the circle of others to talk.

Xiao Xiao just pretended to be well-behaved on purpose.

There are too many women here, and she doesn't know many of them. She is afraid of being assassinated again, so she wants to pretend to be a harmless quail, hoping that today will go smoothly.

A female relative came over and greeted her gracefully: "Grandma Li, it's rare to see you out."

Xiao Xiao recognized that she was the second wife of General Sheng's mansion, and she stood up to greet her: "Hello, Second Wife Sheng." She didn't know many people, and she knew that most of the female relatives were unwilling to interact with her.

The second wife of the Sheng family is a very kind person. She even advised me not to take gossip to heart.

Therefore, Xiao Xiao was happy to see her, thinking that she could kill time by hanging out with her.

When people come to celebrate a birthday, they not only have lunch, but also take away dinner.

Xiao Xiao was bored sitting alone, so it would be nice to have someone to talk to.

They came to the palace as guests, and all the maids and servants stayed outside.

She thought to herself: having a companion, even if a maid wants to pour tea on her 'accidentally', there will be someone to accompany her to change clothes.

Second Madam Sheng also sat down and started chatting with her: "A few days ago, I went to the Zhou Mansion with my mother to visit the old lady. I originally wanted to talk to you, but who would have thought that you and your brother and sister-in-law didn't go."

Hearing her say this, Xiao Xiao vaguely remembered that Second Madam Sheng's mother-in-law seemed to be a relative of Old Madam Zhou.

However, most of these noble families can be related by some means.

Xiao Xiao lied calmly: "It's not that she's pregnant, both of them are suffering from morning sickness, so it's inconvenient for them to come out."

For example, Xiao Zhou, although she did not have an imperial decree, if she wanted to come, it would be fine for her to follow Madam Li.

Just like Second Madam Sheng, who did not have an imperial decree, could naturally come to the palace under the pretext of serving her mother-in-law.

"Morning sickness is really uncomfortable." Second Madam Sheng had already given birth to children, so it was natural for her to talk to her about it: "When I was pregnant with my eldest brother, I especially liked to eat sour food. Everyone said that sour children would have spicy children."

"I didn't believe it at first, but I didn't expect that I actually gave birth to a son."

"When I had a daughter, I still liked sour food. I thought I was going to have a boy, but who would have thought that the child turned out to be a girl..."

Although Xiao Xiao was listening to her, she was always paying attention to the movements around her.

So when she heard the footsteps coming, she took the opportunity to cover her face with a handkerchief and smiled, and glanced to the side.

It is now the end of July. Although the weather is cooler, the sun near noon is still too strong for the women.

So they were all arranged to sit in the pavilion.

The pavilion is built next to a small lake. There is also a pavilion in the middle of the lake, and there are even more pavilions by the lake.

Of course, this is where the younger generation sits. The old lady and Madam Li are still sitting in the main hall.

The pavilion was quite large. In addition to Xiao Xiao and Second Madam Sheng, there was also a maid guarding outside the pavilion. Now hearing someone coming, Xiao Xiao took a quick look and indeed, two young and beautiful women were coming over.

Seeing Xiao Xiao's absent-minded look, Second Madam Sheng also looked over and whispered, "The one in front is a girl from the Yao residence, and now she is with the prince."

Xiao Xiao still has some impression of this Miss Yao.

After all, the Yao and Li families live next to each other, and the old lady of the Yao family likes to collect beautiful girls from the clan relatives and distant relatives and raise them by her side.

After raising them for a few years, they would marry these girls off to families that the Yao family wanted to make friends with.

Moreover, few of them got married, and most of them became concubines.

And this one is the distant niece of Old Lady Yao’s mother’s family.

Xiao Xiao could remember it so clearly because, at the beginning, Old Madam Yao said that Miss Lian was a well-behaved person and wanted to give her to Li Yan as a concubine.