The concubine is poisonous

Chapter 73

The sound of crackling firecrackers, one after another, resounded through the sky, as if the whole world has been immersed in the sound of cannons and laughter.

Every household was decorated with lanterns and festoons, the adults were smiling and wishing each other friends and relatives in the neighborhood, and the children were jumping up and down in groups looking for the remaining unlit firecrackers on the ground.

Gu Xinning listened to the bursts of gunfire, and her thoughts were brought back to her childhood. The poisonous fairy is not from Zhaoxuan Kingdom, and her thoughts are not so delicate. Since Gu Xinning followed the poisonous fairy, she has never celebrated the New Year, so Gu Xinning is very concerned about the end of the new year. The memory only stays in the short years after remembering things and before the accident with Gu's family.

When I was young, every Spring Festival, no matter how busy Gu Jingzhou was, he would take time out to spend time with his family. Gu Xinning originally had two older brothers, but Gu Jingzhou loved Gu Xinning the most. Drowsy, Gu Xinning hugged her in her arms, let Gu Xinning sit on her lap and waited for the arrival of the New Year, when watching the lanterns on the fifteenth day, Gu Jingzhou let Gu Xinning sit on her shoulders in order to make Gu Xinning look farther away, Or hold Gu Xinning high above her head, persist even if she is tired, and not put Gu Xinning down, just to let Gu Xinning have more fun.

During the years when Xueyu was growing up, Gu Xinning hardly even heard the sound of cannons, let alone New Year's Eve.But Gu Xinning didn't blame the master, after all, Duxian was not from Zhaoxuan Kingdom, and didn't know the festivals and customs of Zhaoxuan Kingdom, but Duxian undoubtedly made up for Gu Xinning's childhood in other ways to a great extent.

Ye Junyan has already made a decree that this year's New Year's Eve banquet will be kept simple, except for the necessary clothing and displays, there will be no extra luxury. It is nothing more than those royal relatives and nobles, three princes and nine ministers, and civil and military officials above the third rank in the court.

Gu Xinning was sitting by the bed, recalling the only remaining memories of her childhood, when suddenly a court lady walked into the room, bowed to Gu Xinning and said, "Your Majesty, the banquet is about to begin, the emperor invites you over."

Gu Xinning withdrew her thoughts, nodded and said, "You go down first, and I'll be there later."

"Yes, the slaves retire."

After watching the maid go out, Gu Xinning got up and put on a red festive gown. Gu Xinning was full of anticipation that she could spend this New Year, which had been unfamiliar to her for a long time, be more enjoyable and memorable.

When Gu Xinning walked to the seat next to Ye Junyan and sat down, the banquet had already begun.

Today is not only the Spring Festival, but also the Empress Dowager's birthday. All the banquet guests have prepared birthday gifts for the Empress Dowager.At the beginning of the banquet, everyone presented a gift to the Empress Dowager.

At this time, an old eunuch stepped forward to think about whether Ye Junyan and the empress dowager had started asking for instructions. After getting the approval of Ye Junyan and the empress dowager, the old eunuch turned around and announced with a wave of his whisk: "The ceremony begins. Here is the 'Mother and Child Luminous Cup' chosen by Concubine Ning and the Emperor together, as a gift!"

When the palace maid presented the Empress Dowager with two jade cups, one large and one small, and exquisite workmanship, all the guests praised them for their exquisiteness and rareness, but the Empress Dowager was not pleased, she just half-closed them He nodded without turning his eyes, and said lightly to the maid serving behind him, "Well, accept it." Hearing what the empress dowager said, the maid behind stepped forward to accept the gift.

Seeing this, Ran Yunmo couldn't help but secretly sneered.But it's no wonder that Ran Yunmo finds it funny, not to mention that the empress dowager doesn't want to see Gu Xinning, she even hates and resents her. All three sons died young, but Ye Junyan, the only one who survived, was against him everywhere, and many people even rumored that it was destined by the heavens, and the empress dowager was destined to have no children, so the empress dowager was heartbroken in this regard. Dare to mention related matters, for fear of offending the empress dowager.

However, Gu Xinning sent such a pair of mother-in-law cups at an inappropriate time. Regardless of whether Gu Xinning has malicious intentions or not, at least it will inevitably remind the empress dowager of the past. Coupled with the resentment of the empress dowager Yuan Bei towards Gu Xinning, I am afraid that Gu Xinning's curse has long been incomplete in her heart. Well, but at this time in public, and as the empress dowager, it's not appropriate to get mad.

At the same time, Ran Yunmo, as the head of the four concubines, was the first to present the gift every time, but this time because Gu Xinning's gift was half of Ye Jun's words, she was ranked behind Gu Xinning. Yun Mo was extremely displeased, so at this time Ran Yun Mo saw that the Empress Dowager was dissatisfied with Gu Xinning's gift, so how could she not be secretly happy, so she smiled secretly while thinking in her heart, "Hmph, it's already like this before the show begins. It's fun, heh heh heh, you'll have to suffer today." If it wasn't for the situation and the need to forcibly suppress the inner emotions, Ran Yunmo could hardly help but want to laugh out loud.

Ran Hai looked at the expression on the empress dowager's face, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and he nodded secretly satisfied.

Ye Junyan also tilted his face slightly, scanning the empress dowager's expression obliquely from the corner of his eye, with a cold expression on his face, not knowing what was going on in his mind.

And this time the most innocent person is Gu Xinning. Originally, Ye Junyan asked Gu Xinning to prepare a gift. But she said that the Empress Dowager had received a jade crown the year before last, and she wanted to give something new this time, so she told Gu Xinning that he would take care of the gift, so she didn't have to worry about it.

If Gu Xinning didn't have a deep understanding of the relationship between the emperor and the empress dowager, it would be understandable to give the wrong gift, but Ye Junyan said that it is impossible for him not to know, but to send this gift, in a certain sense It was tantamount to making it clear that he deliberately wanted to displease the empress dowager.

Gu Xinning, who knew nothing about it, became Ye Junyan's pawn again. Although Gu Xinning felt that the empress dowager was unhappy, she thought that the empress dowager had a deep prejudice against her, so she didn't think much about it, so she pretended Sitting there as if nothing had happened.But the more Gu Xinning acted as if nothing had happened, the more resentful she became in the eyes of the Empress Dowager, which was exactly what the Ran family father and daughter were happy to see.

After the palace maid put the luminous cup on the table, the old eunuch continued: "Now I present the 'Eight Treasures Linglong Pagoda' prepared by Concubine Yun for the Empress Dowager, as a gift!"

As the voice of the old eunuch fell, a court lady walked out holding a dazzling glazed pagoda with colored glaze as its bones and inlaid with precious stones all over its body.Wherever he went, he showed his sharpness, which aroused a burst of admiration from the surroundings, and the Empress Dowager's eyes seemed to be locked on this Linglong Pagoda.

The Linglong Pagoda is about one foot high and has seven floors. The gate of each floor is inlaid with a gemstone. The color of each gemstone is different. From bottom to top, they are red, blue, white, yellow, green, and purple. , Qing, except for the different colors, their shapes are even the same, obviously polished by skilled craftsmen.

On the top of the tower, inlaid is a crystal clear and round South China Sea night pearl. Although it is only the size of a thumb, it can emit dazzling brilliance. When placed in a dark environment, its brilliance is better than ordinary candle lights.

Amid the praises from everyone, the Empress Dowager nodded her head in satisfaction, and smiled from ear to ear, and said: "Concubine Yun really has a heart, and it is really rare, rare, quick, go get it Come over to Ai's house to have a look."

Hearing this, the servant girl beside the Empress Dowager hurried forward to take the Babao Linglong Pagoda, held it in both hands respectfully and handed it to the Empress Dowager for the Empress Dowager to watch.

"Okay, okay, okay." The empress dowager said a few good times in a row, and Ran Yunmo was extremely happy when she heard the empress dowager's constant praise. She was happy and did not forget to look sideways at Gu Xinning's face, Seeing Gu Xinning's nonchalant look, she snorted coldly in her heart and said to herself, "Hmph, just pretend, let's see how long you can pretend."

While thinking about it, Ran Yunmo stood up and bowed to the Empress Dowager: "I wish my mother a happy life and a healthy life, and the sun and the moon will be bright. Although this Linglong Pagoda is not easy to come by, if I can win the smile of my mother, my heart will be at ease."

The empress dowager asked the palace maid to put the Linglong Pagoda away, and praised Ran Yunmo repeatedly with a smile: "Okay, Concubine Yun has such a heart, the Ai family is very pleased, it's rare that I finally received a decent gift today. "

So far, there are only two gifts in total, one is Gu Xinning and Ye Junyan's Mother-in-Child Luminous Cup, and the other is the Eight Treasures Linglong Pagoda.

The Empress Dowager knew this, but deliberately said, "Finally received a decent gift". Everyone present, as long as they are not stupid, can naturally hear the meaning of these words.

Although the mother-child luminous cup is far less valuable than the Eight Treasures Linglong Pagoda, it is also the only treasure in the world. I don’t know how many people who like to collect famous utensils, dream but can’t ask for it, but they are said to be indecent gifts by the empress dowager , although the meaning of "son and mother" violated the empress dowager's taboo, it was not so displeased in the first place.

At the same time, the empress dowager has lived in the deep palace for a long time, and she has seen more than tens of thousands of treasures in the city. No matter how precious the Babao Linglong Pagoda is, as the empress dowager, she should not be so ecstatic, so it is not difficult to see that the empress dowager looks nothing more than It is for people to see, and as for who it is for, just look at another gift to understand.

Now even those courtiers who knew nothing about the harem had listened carefully, and everyone understood that it was not the gift that really made the empress dowager gnash her teeth, but the gift giver.

For Ye Junyan, this was expected, so there was no expression on his face, no displeasure, embarrassment, or anger. Except for the normal blinking, Ye Junyan's expression was always calm like Like a calm lake, it is almost still.

By this time, Gu Xinning basically understood that she had been tricked by Ye Junyan again, but to Gu Xinning, it didn't matter, she never expected the empress dowager to be pleasing to her eyes.On the contrary, for her, the empress dowager is a great hindrance. If she can really piss off this old woman, then the aunt's injustice will not be in vain. '

Gu Xinning was thinking so silently in her heart, but she didn't notice the imminent danger at all.

The old eunuch continued to report the names of the congratulatory gifts presented to the empress dowager by other guests one by one.

(End of this chapter)