The emperor's scheming: alluring the world

Chapter 45
In two days' time, it will be New Year's Eve. This is the first time Li Sister-in-law has celebrated the Spring Festival without Lu Qian since she built her mansion.In the afternoon of this day, she was leaning on the beauty's couch, although she had a book in her hand, she didn't pay attention to a word, she just stared at the red plums in the vase by the window and lost her mind.

Time flies so fast, and it is the Spring Festival in a blink of an eye, and the new year is coming. In the new year, what kind of harvest will she have? Will she successfully restore the country, take revenge, or continue to fight wits with the wolves around her? Bravery?

"Princess, the Prince's Mansion has sent someone to send some snacks, would you like to try some?" Mo Shu entered the room with a food box and said helplessly.

After waking up, Li Meiying put down the book in her hand, her beautiful eyes glanced casually at the food box, and said lightly, "Put it on the table, I'll taste some when I'm hungry."

Hearing this, Mo Shu took out the snacks in the food box and placed them on the table next to the beauty's bed one by one, then quietly backed out.

Looking at the snacks on the side table, Li Sister-in-law's expression was flat and without any emotion. Since she recovered from illness, Wei Jinyang sent people to bring snacks every day. They were all her favorites on weekdays. She didn't know him How did he learn about her preferences, but I have to say that he is really caring. The snacks in Yipinzhai are sold in limited quantities every day, and many high-ranking officials and dignitaries send their servants to line up early in the morning. , Sometimes it may not be possible to buy.

Sister Li’s favorite is the dim sum in Yipinzhai. She also sent people to line up early to buy it, but she couldn’t buy it every day. Later, she felt that sending people there was too much trouble, so she stopped mentioning Yipin Fast food.

It has to be said that Wei Jinyang was very successful in doing what he liked, at least Li Sister-in kept the dim sum every time he delivered.

Wei Jinyang was also very happy with this small progress. Thinking that it will be New Year's Eve in two days, all members of the royal family will participate in the Hegong Banquet, and Li Sister-in-law will also participate this year, so he is looking forward to the New Year's Eve in his heart Arriving, since the last time she went into the water to save someone, he hasn't seen her for a long time, and he misses her very much.

On New Year's Eve, when it was getting dark in the evening, Li Sister-in-law took Mo Shu to the palace in a carriage. In fact, she didn't want to attend the palace banquet, but she had to suppress the overwhelming hatred in her heart to attend the palace banquet. .

In Daxin, the Hegong Night Banquet is also called the Reunion Banquet. Members of the royal family gather together for a New Year’s Eve dinner, which also symbolizes the prosperity of the country. It’s just that the fourth prince was away studying abroad and failed to return to Xindu, while the fifth prince was rushing back On the way to Xindu, Li Meiying got the news that the fifth prince would rush back to the palace before the banquet in the palace, and because of this, there was an extra layer of bullying in her heart.

The fifth prince is the second son of Empress Wu, who holds a military power of [-] in his hands. When he was young, he attacked the frontier with a solid army and guarded the western border all the year round.But these are not what Li Sister-in-law is most interested in. What Li Sister-in-law is most interested in is that she hears that Empress Wu dislikes her second son and is extremely indifferent to him, and the fifth prince is also not close to Empress Wu because of this.

The Hegong Banquet was held in the Chengfu Hall, the largest in the imperial palace. When Li Meizhen arrived at the Chengfu Hall, there were already many members of the royal family in the hall. She calmly bowed to the elders of the royal family one by one. Only then did he go forward and untie the red fox fur cloak embroidered with the word Wanfu for her.

Wei Jinyang sat on his seat. As early as when Li Meiying entered the palace, his eyes were fixed on her and he could not move away. In the past, Li Meiying was often seen wearing elegant clothes, but he had never seen her wearing brightly colored clothes. , Today may be New Year's Eve, and there is a strong sense of festiveness. She is wearing a Sichuan brocade padded jacket with engraved gold silk buttons and peony patterns, with a pleated ruyi moon skirt underneath.She was already beautiful, and her plain attire in the past could not conceal her outstanding elegance, but now that she was wearing brighter colored clothes, the brilliance emitted by her body was instantly invincible.

There are several princesses in the royal family, and the princesses of the palaces are also there. Although they are all brightly dressed and well-dressed, they are all reduced to a foil when compared with Li Sister-in-law. The modified faces of the princesses and princesses are Compared with Li Meiying's natural magnificence without makeup, the brilliance is lost.

At this time, the servant serving the banquet in the palace stepped forward to courteously and bowed to Li Meiying: "Greetings to Princess Yingsu, best wishes to the princess."

"Excuse me!" Li Sister-in-law said in a soft tone, with a light smile on her face, which made people feel kind.

"This is the first time for the princess to attend the night banquet of the palace. The emperor specially arranged a seat for the princess, and the servant led the princess to the table." The servant concealed his excitement and said as calmly as possible.

Li Meiying nodded, and followed the servant to the seat. When the servant brought her to the seat next to Wei Jinyang, Li Meiying frowned unconsciously: "Is it a mistake?" That's right, this position should be the second prince."

The servant seemed to have expected that Li Meiying would ask such a question, so he answered naturally: "Princess, this seat was appointed by the emperor himself. Even if this servant borrows courage from the sky, he dare not make such a joke. The emperor said, The princess has an honorable status, so she should be seated first."

Hearing the words, Li Meizhen subconsciously looked at Wei Jinyang, but seeing that Wei Jinyang had just recovered from the shock, she guessed that he didn't know about the seat, and wanted to use the seat to hint to everyone that Chengdi wanted to come to Chengdi. In his heart, although she, Sister Li, was not his own daughter, he valued her more than his own daughter, so he couldn't underestimate her.

There was a bitter smile on the corner of her lips, she didn't try to argue any more, she entered the table calmly, immediately a court lady stepped forward to offer hot tea to Li Sister-in-law.

The night banquet in the palace is about to start, but the fifth prince is still not seen, Li Sister can't help but wonder, is there a mistake in her news?
After sitting for another quarter of an hour, the empress arrived, and everyone stood up and greeted each other.

Emperor Cheng ordered everyone to avoid courtesy and flatten their bodies. Empress Wu beside him saw that Li Meiying's seat was second only to Wei Jinyang, a cold light flashed in her seemingly soft eyes.

At this time, a small servant quietly entered the hall from the side door, whispered a few words beside Eunuch Zhang, and then retreated. Eunuch Zhang looked at the seats, and then leaned over and whispered a few words in Emperor Cheng's ear. After hearing this, a look of disappointment flashed in his eyes, and then he looked at everyone and smiled: "Just now, the news came back that the fifth child was delayed on the road, and he might not be able to make it back to the palace to attend the banquet at the palace, so we don't have to wait for him. Let the party begin!"

After Emperor Cheng finished speaking, Eunuch Zhang winked at the servant next to him, and the servant hurriedly retreated outside the hall, announcing Emperor Cheng's will, and soon the chief manager of the imperial kitchen brought the servants from the imperial kitchen to present dishes in person .

Since it was a New Year's Eve dinner, the names of the dishes were naturally festive and auspicious. Li Meiying frowned when she saw that all the meat was served at her table.

(End of this chapter)