Harem for a living

Chapter 22

In the blink of an eye, more than a month passed, and the eldest prince's birthday also followed.The banquets in the palace, as long as they did not involve the previous dynasty, were basically held at night.The eldest prince's birthday banquet was naturally no exception. Chen Manrou ate some snacks at Zhongcui Palace, and then went to Jiaotai Palace with Wei Le and a cup.

Wang Xiuyi and the others had already arrived. When they saw Chen Manrou, they came over to salute one by one.Chen Manrou was the first one above the concubine position to arrive, so she was not in a hurry to salute others. After accepting the salute slowly, she found her own seat and sat down.

Not long after sitting down, Concubine Liu heard a hearty laugh: "My sister came so early, I was wondering if I would be the first to arrive today, but I didn't expect to be taken by my sister." It's a lottery."

"Sister is really good at joking, what's the point of this matter?" Chen Manrou stood up, smiled and stood where she was and gave Concubine Liu a half-gift: "But sister, you are so beautifully dressed today, I saw it from a distance, and thought It's a fairy girl who came over."

"She is a fairy daughter, so what are we?" Before Concubine Liu had time to be polite, another voice came from the side. Chen Manrou turned her head and saw Concubine Cheng walking over holding the hand of a palace maid. , what a gorgeous.

Women in the palace have always been like this, but when they attend a banquet, they always dress up in a beautiful way, so that the emperor attending the banquet can see it, and maybe they will have more opportunities to serve the bed.There is no way, the number of times they can see the emperor is really not much.

The palace is not like outside, for a meal or something, the aunts can still remember to wait for the wife to meet the man.These concubines went to pay their respects early in the morning. Unless the emperor had something to do, he would never go to such an occasion.

In the various greetings for a month, that is, when I go to the Empress Dowager Ci Ning or Empress Ci'an to pay my respects, I see the emperor once or twice.

In addition, whoever wants to see the emperor can only wait for the order of the servant.Encounter in the Royal Garden?Dear, you are thinking too much, the emperor is busy with government affairs, so he doesn't go to the imperial garden easily, even if he does, it's for people to clear the way first.Everyone wants to have a chance encounter with the emperor. If there are too many encounters, will the emperor be happy?
If you want to meet the emperor in the imperial garden, unless you get the escort's will.

"The clothes that Concubine Cheng is wearing today are so pretty." Chen Manrou didn't answer her words, but glanced at Concubine Cheng's body, and said something with a smile.Now she has figured it out clearly, this concubine Cheng is a savage.As for scheming, it really doesn't matter much.

I don't know if Yang Guifei just took a fancy to her.After all, Concubine Yang Gui is pregnant and wants to find someone to help her. If this helper is too smart, she may turn against her at any time.Those who are not too smart are easy to grasp.

"Of course, the pattern of this dress is from Jinyi Pavilion, so I made two pieces, one sky blue and one pink, and my sister and I each got one." Concubine Cheng said with a little pride , with a bit of showing off in his eyes.

It's a pity that if Chen Manrou flaunted it, she would be blinded for nothing.Chen Manrou had just arrived in the capital, so she really didn't know where this Jinyi Pavilion was.However, Concubine Cheng is only sixteen or seventeen years old, she also seems to like bright colors, why didn't she choose the pink one?
Concubine Liu probably saw Chen Manrou's doubts, she approached Chen Manrou with a smile, and said in a low voice, "Concubine Cheng was born to the former wife, and the younger sister was born to the latter wife."

It was only then that Chen Manrou suddenly realized, but she was also a little depressed. How come everyone is so clear about other people's backgrounds?In addition to herself, until the queen is the eldest daughter of the first-class public security government, Concubine Yang is the eldest daughter of the Commanding Mansion of the Guards, Concubine Shu is the second daughter of the Minister of Dali Temple, and Concubine De is the second-law daughter of the third-class British Duke, Concubine Liu is the eldest daughter of Xuanwei envoy Si Tongzhi, but she doesn't even know about it.

"Sister knows a lot." Chen Manrou glanced at Concubine Liu and smiled. Concubine Liu waved her hand: "It's not that I know a lot. You probably just came to Beijing, so you don't know. The imperial concubine came from the family of a general, but It's no secret in the palace that she has the temperament of a talented woman."

Coupled with Concubine Yang being favored, naturally more people want to inquire about the situation of Concubine Yang's family. Don't they know more about Concubine Yang than others?

"This color is not bad, it looks like your complexion is fair." Chen Manrou turned her head and saw that Concubine Cheng's complexion was a little uneasy, and hurried back to the scene, almost throwing this person aside.

Concubine Cheng curled her lips, said that you have good taste, turned around and walked to her seat.Before he took two steps, he heard the palace maid greet Concubine De, whether it was Chen Manrou who was standing, Concubine Liu, or Concubine Cheng who was about to sit down, they all turned to look at the door.

Zhang Wanting is not wearing plain clothes today, but a bright red palace dress, which looks brighter than before.Thinking about it, the eldest prince's birthday is considered a wedding banquet, if she still wears plain clothes, it will really embarrass the queen, and the emperor will probably not be very happy in his heart.

Before Zhang Wanting could exchange greetings, Concubine Shu came over.Now, Maggie Cheung has no chance to greet her.He could only bite his lip, followed behind Shufen, said something indifferent, and then returned to his seat.

Not long after Concubine Yang arrived, the emperor, empress and two queen mothers came together.The emperor supported Empress Dowager Ci Ning, and Empress Dowager Ci Ning held a five or six-year-old boy by her hand.The Empress supported the Empress Dowager Ci'an, and held a three or four-year-old girl with the other hand, and a two or three-year-old boy on the other side of the Empress Dowager Ci'an.

The two groups of people entered the door one behind the other, and Chen Manrou subconsciously looked at the face of the Empress Dowager Ci'an behind, and sure enough, she saw a trace of fear flashing across the face of the Empress Dowager Ci'an when she entered the door, but then she returned to that smiling look up.

In front of the throne, the emperor let go of his hand, and took the lead to step up the steps and sat down. The queen quickly led her son and daughter out, and stood below to salute the emperor: "Greetings to the emperor, long live my emperor, long live, long live!"

"Zitong, get up quickly." The emperor said, his eyes swept over Empress Dowager Ci Ning, anger flashed across Empress Dowager Ci Ning's tense face, and then he stretched out his hand and pushed the boy beside him: "Xiao Jiu, go Greetings to your fourth brother."

The little boy looked up at Empress Dowager Ci Ning, then walked slowly to the bottom of the steps, lifted the hem of his clothes and knelt down to pay his respects: "Xiao Jiu pays respects to Brother Huang, long live my emperor, long live, long live."

The emperor's expression became more relaxed, and he raised his hand and said, "Ninth brother, get up quickly, and Zitong will also carry Hongwen and Yi'an down. Today is a family banquet, so don't make too much of it. We can't do the national ceremony." .”

"What the emperor said is that we don't care about national rituals today." The son let out a sigh of relief for himself, and Empress Dowager Ci'an's face burst into a smile, and she quickly stepped forward, standing side by side with Empress Dowager Ci'an Standing: "Everyone, sit down quickly, there is no need to be polite."

Now it's all right, everyone originally knelt down when the emperor came in, but now Empress Dowager Ci'an, in order to have the same status as Empress Dowager Ci Ning, has been exempted from the subsequent ceremony, so it's good if they don't kneel back and forth.However, Empress Dowager Ci Ning has a high status, and this high status person hasn't spoken yet.Are we going to follow the words of you, a person with a backer, or do we ignore it and pay respects to Empress Dowager Ci Ning before we talk about it?Everyone looked at me and I looked at you for a while, but no one knew what to do.

Luckily, there was someone who had a higher status than Empress Dowager Ci Ning. The emperor waved his hands and said with a smile: "Since the empress mother has said so, you should all sit down. Today is Hongwen's birthday, so don't be too formal." moment."

Come on, the big boss has spoken, so we don't have to worry about it.Concubine Yang stood up first, and then all the concubines got up and sat down.

"Today is His Majesty's birthday, and I haven't prepared any good things, just a few gadgets. I hope His Majesty will not dislike you." Concubine Yang turned to the little boy sitting next to the queen and waved her hand to let the big maid next to her Send the box in your hand over.

Although the eldest prince is only four years old and looks white and tender, he is still a child in the palace and the queen's favorite baby. He is not negligent in education at all, and he is very polite. Stand up and treat Concubine Yang. A half salute: "Thank you, the imperial concubine."

With this beginning, the rest of the people also hurriedly sent their own gifts.The eldest prince didn't even look at it, he was just accepted, thanked all the concubines from the second rank and above one by one, and the rest just nodded.

"The younger sisters are all interested." The queen said with a smile, and then turned to look at the emperor: "Your Majesty, I heard that the Tai Le Department has just composed a new dance, why don't you call it up and enjoy it?"

The emperor nodded, and the queen gave orders.Not long after, I heard the sound of drum music from the next room, and then five or six girls in bright yellow pleated skirts came in from the left and right respectively, all wearing flying buns, with light green satin hanging on their arms, looking at the Just very active.

Chen Manrou's family is relatively simple, or the kind with strict upbringing. I haven't seen this kind of large-scale dance twice. There is a banquet at home, and at most it is to accompany the elders to listen to the opera or something, so at the moment I am also very happy to see it.

From time to time, she turned her head and talked to Concubine Liu: "Sister, look at that one, the second one from the left, she was half a beat faster than the others just now." She changed people with a smile: "The first one on the right, sister, look at the waist , I'm so envious."

Concubine Liu was stunned for a moment before, and immediately started discussing with Chen Manrou enthusiastically.The two of them didn't care about others, they just got together to point and point secretly, and they were talking cheerfully, when they suddenly heard a crisp sound coming from the side, and then they heard someone shout: "Ma'am, what's wrong with you?"

(End of this chapter)