The emperor's scheming: alluring the world

Chapter 20 The Eldest Princess' Birthday

In a blink of an eye, it was the fourth day of October, the eldest princess's birthday. Early in the morning, Mo Shu called a maid to help Li Meiying change her clothes and make up. Because it was the eldest princess's birthday, her clothes should not be too plain, so she specially wore a yellow peony pattern with a high collar. Waist skirt, with a peony pattern shawl of the same color on the arm.Her jet-black hair was tied into a peach blossom bun, and she didn't wear any hair ornaments on her bun. She only wore a string of yellow diamonds on her forehead. Her whole person was fresh, elegant and charming.

Mo Shu looked him up and down in satisfaction, and after making sure there was nothing wrong, he took the cloak and tied it on Li Meiying, and the master and servant left the Siyu Pavilion together.

The carriage stopped in front of the gate of the eldest princess's mansion. There was a nun waiting at the gate. Seeing Li Meiying's arrival, she enthusiastically stepped forward to lead the way for Li Meiying. The wives and noble ladies hurriedly saluted Li Sister-in-law when they heard the sound of drinking the newspaper.Li Sister-in-law ordered everyone to avoid the ceremony with great demeanor, and then stepped forward to take the eldest princess's hand affectionately and said: "Auntie, happy birthday, this is a gift prepared specially for you by my sister-in-law, I hope Auntie likes it."

While Li Meiying was speaking, Mo Shu had already handed the brocade box in his hand to Aunt Cen, who was standing next to the eldest princess. Aunt Cen hurriedly took the brocade box. Inside the brocade box of red velvet lies a jade carving of the immortal old man carved from high-quality mutton fat jade to celebrate his birthday. It is smooth and natural, and it is a rare treasure. The eldest princess was overjoyed after seeing it, and ordered Aunt Cen to put away the gift, then turned around and said reproachfully, "You girl does this every year, always giving such precious gifts."

Li Meiying let the eldest princess hold her hand, with a soft smile on her face, she said softly: "It's just a piece of jade, it's mainly because the fairy wants to celebrate her birthday, and it's the most suitable gift for my aunt." Even though my sister-in-law said so, she despised the eldest princess for being snobbish and greedy in her heart, and she really deserved it.

In the cool hall of the garden, Yang Xianling was accompanying the ladies' circle. Hearing that Sister Li had come, she said sorry to the noble ladies sitting there, so she hurried to look for Sister Li.

After finding the flower hall, seeing Li Meiying talking and laughing with the eldest princess, Yang Xianling happily stepped forward to take Li Meiying's hand and said, "You're here, I've missed you several times!"

Seeing that the two are on good terms, the eldest princess smiled and said: "You go at your own pace, it should be boring to stay here for a while."

Hearing this, Yang Xianling happily pulled Li Meiying out of the flower hall, and in the flower hall, many wives looked at Li Meiying appreciatively, with more or less admiration in their eyes.

Out of the flower hall, the love on Yang Xianling's face was replaced by disappointment, and she said in a depressed mood: "My son, the prince's cousin hasn't come to the house these days, and he hasn't invited me out to play, you said the prince's cousin Do you not like me anymore?"

Li Sister-in-law pretended to be confused when she heard the words and said, "I don't know about this, but the An Guogong's mansion is not peaceful recently, and the Queen has been bedridden because of An Guogong's affairs. Looking at the Queen's body, I probably won't have time to see you!"

Hearing this, Yang Xianling sighed quietly and said, "Today is my mother's birthday. I sent someone to send invitations a few days ago. I don't know if the prince's cousin can spare time to come over today to celebrate his birthday?"

"My aunt is an elder. Since I sent him an invitation card, he will definitely find time to come to celebrate his birthday in person. You can wait at ease. Brother Huang will come later, so catch up with him!" Li Sister-in-law smiled. , said comfortingly, in fact, I don't know much about Wei Jinyang's coming or not.

Hearing what Li Meiying said, Yang Xianling felt much better, and with a smile on her face again, she dragged Li Meiying to the gazebo where the ladies gathered.

Li Meiying had met many noble ladies as early as at the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, and established a good relationship with them. Now when everyone saw Li Meiying coming, they hurriedly got up and saluted. Xianling took their seats together.

"Princess Yingsu, since the Mid-Autumn Festival, I have seen you seldom go out of the palace. I heard that the Qiangu outside the door of Ximeng Pavilion is definitely the second couplet of the princess. The servant girl has always wanted to ask the princess for advice. I don't know if the princess will show her face." Wenyuan Pavilion Zhang Shijia, the daughter of a scholar, won the top three in the poetry competition last time, and Ye Mingzhu Buyao was the one who won it. At this moment, Li Sister-in-law's clothes, makeup and hair are plain, but they still can't hide the light on her body. She couldn't help but feel moved when she saw it, and when she thought about the young masters passing by outside the pavilion, all of them kept their eyes on Li Sister-in-law, she felt a strange feeling in her heart, and said sour words without thinking.

After hearing this, Li Sister-in-law couldn't hear the jealousy and unwillingness in the other party's tone. She smiled lightly and said in a clear and pleasant voice: "It's my sister-in-law's honor to be admired by Ms. Zhang. I don't dare to ask for advice. It’s about learning from each other.”

What Li Meiying said was modest and reasonable, and left a good impression on the noble ladies present. Li Xueshang, who was on the side, had been watching with cold eyes. After hearing Li Meiying's words, she also smiled and interjected: "Zhang Miss has read poetry and books since she was a child, and she is very eager to learn, but whenever she meets a talented woman, she wants to ask for advice, which makes the princess laugh."

Zhang Shijia heard Li Xueshang's words, a look of uneasiness flashed in his eyes, but he didn't dare to say anything.

Li Sister-in-law had a panoramic view of Zhang Shijia's expression, and said with a calm smile, "It's good to be eager to learn, and the wisdom of our ancestors is accumulated from generation to generation. The lady's modest attitude towards learning is admirable."

As soon as Li Meiying said this, everyone in the room thought that she was of high moral character, while Zhang Shijia's words and deeds seemed too narrow-minded, but everyone saw that Li Meiying was so generous and careless, and they didn't dare to take the opportunity to run on Zhang Shijia.

Yang Xianling on the side, seeing that Li Sister-in-law has won the favor of everyone with just a few words, she is envious and jealous in her heart, but the love of growing up together keeps her rational.

Everyone sat together and chatted for a while. Aunt Cen, who was next to the eldest princess, found the pavilion. She saluted everyone dignifiedly, and then said to Yang Xianling and Li Meiying: "Princess Yingsu, miss, The eldest princess invites you two to the flower hall."

Yang Xianling said a word of impoliteness, and followed Li Sister-in-law out of the gazebo to the reception flower hall.After staying away from the pavilion, Yang Xianling finally couldn't help but said: "Aunt Cen, what is your mother looking for me, but the prince's cousin is here?"

"Miss, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince sent someone to send congratulatory gifts, but I did not come in person. I heard that the second and third princes who came to celebrate the birthday mentioned that the Crown Prince had been suffering from a cold for a long time, and the eldest princess invited the young lady and Princess Yingsu to go over. It's because of the prince's wind and cold!" Cen Momo followed behind Yang Xianling and replied with downcast eyes.

(End of this chapter)