Second-hand lady

Chapter 21

At Xu time, the dinner was held as scheduled.

The emperor wearing a bright yellow dragon robe sat at the head, and on the left and right were the empress dowager and empress in splendid attire, and the empress came down with several favored concubines.

After the Empress Dowager expressed her joy to everyone who came to congratulate her on her birthday, on the platform in the middle of the imperial garden, people from the palace music workshop began to perform songs and dances, and the music flowed throughout the imperial garden.

Although people watched the singing and dancing, their minds were not on the singing and dancing, and their eyes frequently looked to the top position.

Tonight, it can be said that the most eye-catching thing is the eldest princess who helped the queen mother out and was later allowed to sit next to her by the queen mother. The meaning of grace is self-evident.The eldest princess was just at the age of youth, with a beautiful complexion, wearing a cherry-colored palace dress, sitting there dignifiedly, receiving scrutiny from all directions at the banquet, and calmly watching the singing and dancing performance on the stage not far away, The majesty of a royal princess.

The eldest princess has reached the age of marriage. I heard that the empress dowager favored Wen Liang, the son of Duke Zhen, and wanted the emperor to marry him to the eldest princess. But in the end, things took a dramatic turn. The eldest princess's marriage was still in the air in the end up.Although everyone didn't know what the inside story was like, but now that they saw the eldest princess, some unmarried family members present hoped to marry the eldest princess. Wen Liang, a maid with no background and no power, expressed contempt for his vision.

The majestic royal princess married a woman who was born as a maid instead of marrying. Only a man with water in his head would do such a thing.

In addition, those officials and female relatives who were not interested in the Eldest Princess moved back and forth between the seats where the Eldest Princess and Wen Liang were sitting, trying to see something tricky.

Wen Liang smiled slightly, turning a blind eye to those scrutinizing gazes, and was busy peeling apples for his wife.

Seeing this scene, the eyes of the female family members present dimmed. Compared with their husband who was sitting beside him drinking and watching singing and dancing, they were really more popular than others. Sure enough, whether the child is a good man of their own family or someone else's, I once again felt a certain feeling in my heart. The bastard became envious and jealous.How could a girl who was born as a maid get such a handsome and considerate man?

And the eldest princess who everyone was paying attention to obviously also noticed the following scene, her eyes dimmed slightly, but she didn't show the feeling of loss and sadness in front of others, only she could know the pain in her heart.The empress dowager, the emperor, and others naturally also noticed that Wen Liang was not shy about peeling apples for his wife. They glanced at the eldest princess calmly, and couldn't help being satisfied when they saw that she was still sitting dignifiedly enjoying the singing and dancing.

The empress dowager patted the eldest princess's hand, and said lovingly: "Yao'er, Wen Zixiu is not the only good man in this world. Look below, there are many promising young talents in Beijing. Take a closer look. If the emperor's grandmother is your master."

Hearing that the eldest princess lowered her eyelashes, she acted like a shy little girl, and said coquettishly: "Grandmother, Yao'er is still young and wants to spend a few more years with Grandmother..."

The queen mother was amused by her acting coquettishly and foolishly, and then looked at the two people who were eye-catching below, only to see that the handsome man was handing the peeled apple to the woman beside him, and the woman smiled and said After saying something, he took a small fruit knife and cut the apple in half, then took a bamboo stick and inserted half of the apple and handed it back to him.

What a blinding show of affection, everyone who saw this scene cursed them for being unhappy for the rest of their lives.

Miss Rucui gnawed on an apple, and said to Wen Liang: "Master Wen, I think they seem to be looking at us all the time. Are we prettier than the singing and dancing on stage?" As she spoke, she accidentally took a big bite of an apple, followed by Zhang's pretty face immediately changed shape, with a bump on her cheeks, which looked extremely funny.

The people who were still looking at the two of them were stunned when they saw someone eating apples in such a bold way.

What a cruel eating face!

Wen Liang glanced at the surroundings indifferently, and then also saw someone's ferocious movements, and said weakly: "It's really better than singing and dancing."

"Eh?"

Miss Rucui obviously also noticed her unrefined actions now, she quickly raised her sleeves to cover half of her face, and after finally swallowing that bite of apple, Miss Rucui solemnly assured her speechless husband: "Just now Be careful, I will pay attention to it in the future."

Wen Liang smiled and didn't pay much attention to it. When the maid serving behind him was about to pour wine for him, Wen Liang stopped him with a smile.Although the wine is good, but it is not in his own territory, he usually does not touch alcohol, so as not to cause trouble by drinking.

The court lady subconsciously looked at Rucui who was eating grapes, Rucui looked back at her inexplicably, saw her eyes staring at her, raised her eyebrows, and asked: "Your eyes are staring like watermelons, a little Ugly, is it uncomfortable?"

"...No." The maid gritted her teeth and forced a smile.

The two officials who were sitting next to each other on the left and right were drinking, and when they heard her words spit out with a puff, they hurriedly covered their mouths with their sleeves and coughed.The lady sitting next to them anxiously patted their chests, and asked someone to pour tea again. It was such a fuss that everyone around looked over.

The two officials were so embarrassed that they could only smile awkwardly at the crowd, and carefully moved their bodies aside, for fear that they would lose control when they heard Mrs. Wen's words again.However, since today is the Empress Dowager's birthday, almost all high-ranking officials have come, and the banquet is over a hundred, and they can't move far away if they want to. They obviously don't want to hear it, but their ears are perked up like cheap.

"What happened to those two adults?" Miss Rucui asked in surprise.

Wen Liang said calmly: "They just accidentally choked on drinking."

Miss Rucui glanced at them, and understood: "Sure enough, it was a mistake to drink. Look, your face is as red as a watermelon... Well, Mrs. Wen eats watermelon." She picked up a piece of watermelon and put it in front of Wen Liang.

The corners of Wen Liang's eyes twitched, what does she mean by this?
The two officials who were rated as "blushing like watermelons" also twitched at the same time, their bodies trembling a little, and they didn't know how to react for a while.On the contrary, their respective wives glanced at each other, then covered their mouths and laughed, thinking that Mrs. Wen was very interesting.

Miss Rucui looked up at the singing and dancing performance on the stage again, and she met a pair of cold, noble, contemptuous and mocking eyes. These eyes have been staring at her since the dinner party. She wanted to pretend she couldn't see it, but she The seat was right across from them, and it was difficult to pretend not to see it.

"Girl, that's Mrs. Zuo Shilang." Wen Liang said, "She's been looking at you all night, did you accidentally cause trouble for her?"

"I know!" Miss Rucui said calmly, "She must still be concerned about the accidental fall in the Chonghua Palace earlier, she is such a weak lady. She stepped on my skirt, and I didn't even fall Instead, she fell down by herself, what a pity."

"What's going on?" Wen Liang was surprised.

Then Miss Rucui told him what happened when she went to Chonghua Palace to visit the Queen Mother. After hearing this, Wen Liang was thoughtful, knowing that things were naturally not as simple as Rucui said, and he was afraid that someone had intended to let her She made a big embarrassment in front of her wife, but it's a pity that Miss Rucui reacted too quickly, instead of knocking her down, she made a big embarrassment herself.

"It's really not your fault, just ignore her!" Wen Liang comforted her, feeling a little distressed.

Miss Rucui grinned and nodded vigorously: "Well, I ignored her, and I didn't care about irrelevant people. Mr. Wen, I have a big stomach."

Wen Liang laughed, the girl is good at this, and the entangled things will not be taken to heart for too long.

Then, the couple chatted and ate while admiring the singing and dancing in the palace, unintentionally showing their affection, which blinded the eyes of others.As for some of the drunken conversations between the two, one can tell from the unpredictable expressions of the officials and wives in the seats next door to the left and right that they are actually not feeling well.

The dinner party ended in a lively atmosphere.

After all, the Empress Dowager was getting old, and when the dinner was coming to an end, she was supported by the Eldest Princess and the Empress to leave the Imperial Garden and go back to Chonghua Palace to rest. The Emperor just sat down for a while before announcing the end of the dinner.

The dinner was over, and all the officials and their wives left the Imperial Garden to go back to their residences to rest.

Not long after Wen Liang and Ru Cui left the imperial garden, they were stopped by the little eunuch next to the eldest prince.

"Lord Wen, please take a moment of your time. Our First Prince invites you to the Xiang'an Hall." The eunuch said respectfully.

Wen Liang said in surprise: "It's very late, I don't know what's the eldest prince's business?" Looking at the sky, there is still more than an hour before the key of the palace will be released.

The little eunuch shook his head and didn't know.

After thinking for a while, Wen Liang turned around and said to Ru Cui: "Girl, you wait for me in the car first, I will go back with you after I see the eldest prince." Xiangqing hall.

Seeing them leaving, the eunuch leading the way hurriedly said: "Mrs. Wen, please go this way, and the servant will take you out of the palace."

Ru Cui said "I'm sorry", and left with Tsing Yi and the little eunuch.

The moonlight was hazy, and the palace lanterns hanging under the high eaves on both sides of the palace corridor emitted a faint light. The flowers and trees along the way were not as beautiful as they were during the day, but looked a little eerie.

Rucui always felt that the road was getting quieter and quieter, and even the guards on guard were gone, so she couldn't help but stop.

"Hey, little eunuch, did you go the wrong way?" Ru Cui called out and stopped.

Unexpectedly, the eunuch leading the way walked forward with his head buried, and his figure disappeared at the corner in front of him after a while.

(End of this chapter)