Hidden golden branches

Emperor Xiao Xuan of the Wei Dynasty was majestic yet gentle: "Everyone who loves you is exempt from courtesy. Stay safe."

Xiao Xuan is wearing a moon-white dragon robe tonight, and a crown with two dragons holding pearls and wings. There are no ornaments on the clothes, only intricate sun, moon and star patterns embroidered with dark gold. Under the clear moonlight, it looks like there are The flowing light is floating, showing elegance and purity.

The imperial concubine Chen Wanru was wearing a peony red ruffled gold double-layered Cantonese damask long-tailed robe. The skirt was spread out and fluttered in the breeze. The woman's figure is graceful and graceful, just like a delicate and blooming peony flower.

Xiao Xuan and Chen Wanru stood on the temporary high-level stairs, really looking like an eye-catching couple of gods.

Following behind were the concubine Jiang Mengzhu, the concubine Jiang Mengzhu, the concubine Wang Yurong, the noble concubine Jiang Rong, and the concubine Jiang Rong, as well as Zhaoyi Sun Fei, who was wearing a lavender coat with gold sleeves, a red gold hairpin with red rubies and bird feathers, and gold diamonds and precious flowers. .

They are all about ten years older than Chen Wanru, and almost all of the princes they gave birth to left the palace and went to their respective princely residences.

However, today, except for the prince Xiao Jinchen who was following the second prince Xiao Jinwei at the border, the others were all here and following their mother and concubine.

The eldest prince Xiao Jinyu, who turned 20 this year, was named Prince Ning. Last year, he married Yu Hongxia, the granddaughter of Yu Youren, the master of the Hanlin Academy, as his royal concubine. At the same time, he also welcomed the eldest queen of Wang Jue, the Minister of Civil Affairs. Xianjing and the second daughter of Sun An, Zhanshifu of Zhanshi Mansion, were the concubines.

It is conceivable that the eldest prince's level of marrying a concubine is quite high.

However, it seems that the princess and the concubines have good family backgrounds.

However, any attentive courtier would know that the foreign influence of the eldest son of the emperor was superficially glamorous but was actually of no use.

It's impossible to help him.

First of all, Yu's family, the imperial concubine's natal family, is a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy. Yu Youren, who has passed his sixtieth year, is old and frail and is about to reach officialdom.

And Yu Youren's eldest son, the father of the prince and his wife, died young.

Among the Yu family, only one concubine was born in the imperial examination. In order to become the young minister of Honglu Temple from the fifth rank, the other concubines were not of much use. They donated money to be inspected in the Hanlin Academy or to discuss the eighth-rank pen and post in various ministries. It is an official position of seventh or eighth grade. Wang Jue, the Minister of Civil Affairs, was quite capable, but he was a pure minister, someone who was only loyal to the emperor.

Besides, in Zhan Shi Mansion, Sun An's family, except for one hopeless bastard, is full of daughters. His mother's uncle, Zhong Yinghou, General Secretary Jiang Bacheng, is quite powerful, but Jiang Bacheng is a clear-minded person who is used to assessing the situation and cannot do it for his grandson. Taking risks at the expense of a century-old family.

Needless to say, Xiao Jingyu, the eldest son of the emperor, cannot afford to make waves in all aspects.

The nineteen-year-old second prince Xiao Jingchi has also been given the title of Prince of Liang and is now guarding the border at Jialing Pass.

Emperor Xiao Xuan had also arranged a marriage for him long ago. The candidate for the prince's concubine was Cui Ning, the eldest daughter of Cui Wei, the third-grade general who returned to Germany.

Cui Wei, the general of Guide, was the queen's distant cousin. Cui Wei was a brave and warlike general in the Wei Dynasty.

He has been staying in northern Xinjiang for more than 20 years. He only returned to Beijing for a month or two when he changed defenses three years ago, and then went to the border with Qichen. He is Xiao Xuan's most capable general.

The other two princes are the fifteen-year-old third prince Xiao Jinqin and the twelve-year-old fourth prince Xiao Jinwei. The two princes are currently living in the palace.

However, the third prince Xiao Jinqin will not stay in the palace for long. Xiao Xuan will let him live in his prince's mansion as soon as his sixteenth birthday is over.

Besides, as soon as the emperor arrived, the palace people immediately brought the dishes that had been prepared long ago on huanghuali wood trays.

The food served by the ministers below was also very fast.

The little prince Xiao Jinyan kept looking towards the banquet below with his sparkling black eyes, eh? Finally I saw cousin Jiajia’s table.

Chen Rong was sitting near the front, and the seats were originally arranged according to the official positions of his father and brother in the family.

Chen Youyu is the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and as a pavilion elder, the seats of his family members must be not far from the chief seat.

The dinner party hosted by the emperor was very humane, with the whole family sharing a seat.

Therefore, today Chen Rong sat with his mother and elder brother to have a meal.

Ji Yuxian simply came over and sat next to Chen Zhao, opposite Jiarong Chen. When Chen Zhao saw Ji Yuxian coming, he quickly poured him a cup of Qiu Lubai.

Ji Yuxian said politely: "Thank you, brother."

Yun Man raised her eyes and glanced at Ji Yuxian. This prospective son-in-law had a good character.

You can get a glimpse of his character from small things.

He is obviously one year older than Chen Zhao, so he calls him "big brother" after Chen Rong.

Chen Rong's attention was on the high platform at this time. The little prince, who was held by the imperial concubine, didn't care whether Chen Jia saw him or not. He grinned happily at Chen Rong from a distance, showing his white teeth.

Chen Rongyi felt something. She raised her head and looked towards the high platform. Naturally, she saw the brightly lit high platform. The little prince looked in his direction with a smile. He couldn't help but stand up and wave to him. Sure enough, the little prince saw Chen Jia waving to him. , he also imitated her in waving his little arms.

Chen Rong's heart suddenly softened into a puddle of water.

A nun beside the little prince led him over and sat next to the imperial concubine.

Although today's dinner was a palace banquet held when I was not in the palace, the dishes were sumptuous, but they were all appetizing dishes.

Such as roasted lamb legs that are salty, crispy and oily, a whole turtle stewed with pigeon eggs, a cup of ham and salted bird's nest for each person, and half a braised goose.

What kind of dish is not exciting?

Now is the time for crabs to come out. Everyone gets a big female crab, which is as big as half a plate with its legs tied on.

Chen Rong doesn't usually like to eat meat, but today's roasted lamb leg is really delicious.

The roasted lamb leg was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, sometimes spicy and refreshing with the condiments, and Chen Jia couldn't help but eat two more pieces.

After drinking the bird's nest, she began to open her own crab.

Before she could take action, the crab in front of her was brought to her.

Chen Jia looked up and saw Ji Yuxian. He smiled slightly and said, "I'll take it apart for you. Don't get your hands dirty."

In the past, when I ate crabs at home, I used eight crab tools to dismantle them.

Chen Rongzheng was worried because he didn't have the tools to remove the crabs today, for fear of breaking the skin on the tips of his little fingers.

My mouth is greedy and I can't bear to give up eating.

Besides, today’s hairy crabs are all tribute crabs.

They're all big, fat, and full of crab roe.

Now it's good, someone will remove the crab for you.

In fact, even without Ji Yuxian, Chen Zhao would have opened the crabs for her, but he was not as fast as Ji Yuxian. When Chen Zhao was reaching out, Ji Yuxian had already taken the crabs from Chen Jia's plate.

Chen Zhao paused, turned around, took the crabs from Yun Man's plate, and silently tore them apart.

Chen Zhao also knew that whenever crabs were eaten at home, his mother never opened the crabs. His father always opened the crabs for his mother.

As Ji Yuxian spoke, he stretched out his big white palms, first removed the legs one by one, took out the crab meat and put it on the plate. Opening the lid of the crab, you can immediately see the golden and oily crab roe. ,

Chen Rong: It’s better for Brother Ji to open the crab for me.

Chen Zhao: White-eyed wolf, as long as Brother Wei is here, how can you eat crabs without Brother Wei taking care of you?

Ji Yuxian: I didn’t say anything and just opened the crabs silently.