Chapter 16 Jealousy

Returning to the palace with mixed emotions, Huiyi was soon summoned to the Zichen Palace by her father.

Huiyi knew that her father must have found out and wanted to question her.

Undeterred, Huiyi washed and dressed herself, then went to her grandfather with her head held high.

Inside the Zichen Palace, the grandfather was playing Liubo with the mother. It seemed that he had lost to the mother again, and his face was dejected.

He caught a glimpse of Huiyi arriving out of the corner of his eye, and now he had a reason to stop this new round of defeats. He pretended to be dignified and said, "Xi Nu, do you know why your father summoned you here today?"

Empress Du saw through her husband's little fear of losing, but she didn't point it out. She just leaned against the cushion and watched the father and daughter talk.

Huiyi was a woman of her word, and guessing that her father must know, she answered frankly, "I know, Father is doing this for that scoundrel Lin Er."

Mentioning this person made Huiyi furious, and her tone was sullen.

Emperor Yongxi shook his head, sighed and smiled, "He is, after all, the son-in-law of Xi Nu who is about to marry. Can't we be a little more lenient with people?"

Huiyi snorted, "Impossible! I get angry just looking at him!"

Emperor Yongxi looked at his little daughter, who was puffed up like a pufferfish, and smiled as he pointed out the absurdity of the day.

"So the rhinoceros slave secretly knocked the person unconscious, tied them up, and wanted to beat them up?"

Huiyi readily admitted, "That's right, that scoundrel Lin Er stole my shadow puppet last time, I won't let him get away with it!"

Upon hearing her words, Emperor Yongxi smiled and pressed on, "How could you be so unforgiving? What did you do to them?"

Emperor Yongxi only got a rough idea from Gu Lun's words, and he was very curious about how exactly the rhinoceros slave tormented people.

This seemed like encouragement, and Huiyi immediately said proudly, "I gave him two good lashes, and Lin Er screamed in pain!"

Is it really true?

Emperor Yongxi found it unbelievable; the Lin family boy in his eyes was not the kind of boy who would howl after being whipped twice.

"nature!"

Huiyi didn't want to lose face in front of her grandfather, so she started to embellish the story.

"Grandpa, you don't know, I beat Lin Er so badly that he cried and begged for mercy on his knees!"

He hadn't really believed his youngest daughter's words to begin with, but after hearing this boast, Emperor Yongxi was now beyond doubt.

As his servant continued his rambling nonsense with great enthusiasm, not only Emperor Yongxi but also Empress Du, who was watching the spectacle, laughed.

"Grandpa, Grandma, what are you laughing at?"

"Don't you believe me?"

Feeling as if her disguise had been exposed, Huiyi became somewhat flustered and said with embarrassment and annoyance.

The couple exchanged a glance, then shook their heads and waved their hands, saying, "No, no, we just found it interesting. It's rare to see someone manage to subdue the Lin family's second son like this. My son is awesome!"

Huiyi was overjoyed that her parents were so kind to her, and the smile on her face never faded.

"However, we rhinoceros slaves shouldn't have suffered any losses, right?"

Huiyi's expression was somewhat unnatural, but only for a moment, which she quickly concealed, and she forced herself to say, "Of course, how could Lin Er let me suffer a loss!"

Having already made the promise, Huiyi could not possibly reveal the embarrassing incident of being tricked by Lin Lanting, so she had no choice but to continue pretending.

His parents smiled and didn't say anything more, only instructing him: "Don't act so recklessly again in the future. You are, after all, the future prince consort. If something happens, who will come to welcome you at the wedding?"

Huiyi remained noncommittal, muttering, "Then let's change the consort."

Emperor Yongxi first sighed, then laughed and scolded, "What nonsense are you talking about? Do you think you can just change your consort whenever you want?"

"Settle down, the wedding date has been set, just relax and wait to get married."

Huiyi frowned, leaned closer to her grandfather, and inquired, "When was it?"

Empress Du placed the marriage certificate in front of Huiyi and said with a smile, "Take a look for yourself."

The bright red marriage certificate, lacquered in gold, was unfolded, and Huiyi's gaze fell upon the few black characters.

June 1st.

"So fast?"

Two months from now, she'll be living with that annoying guy, Lin Er. Just thinking about it makes her feel irritated.

"It's getting late. Your mother and I have been preparing for Xi Nu's wedding for a long time, and we've been waiting for this day."

Emperor Yongxi and Empress Du smiled broadly, as if they had truly found her a perfect husband.

"knew."

Huiyi answered sullenly, looking dejected, like a bullied little quail.

Emperor Yongxi stroked his youngest daughter's head and comforted her, "Don't be so unhappy. It's your own life, and only by living it yourself can you know whether a person is good or not."

"Grandpa believes that as long as that Lin boy isn't blind, he'll know that our Xinu is a good girl."

After being praised by her grandfather, Huiyi felt a little better and smiled as she agreed, "Of course, I'm just afraid he's blind."

Emperor Yongxi peeled a loquat and handed it to his wife, saying with a smile, "That shouldn't be the case. That boy has always been sharp-eyed and quick-witted."

"These loquats are great, they're ripe and sweet right now, everyone come and have a taste."

Empress Du took a bite of the loquat and smiled.

Upon hearing this, the father and daughter both happily tasted the loquat, and then their voices praising the loquat echoed through the Zichen Palace.

...

The wedding of a daughter in the imperial family is different from that of ordinary men and women. In the six rites, the steps that were originally the responsibility of the groom's family, such as betrothal, asking the name, accepting auspicious gifts, presenting betrothal gifts, and setting the wedding date, are all performed by the bride's family.

In other words, apart from the welcoming ceremony, the man doesn't need to do anything else.

On the Lin family's side, as early as the time of betrothal, after the ancestral temple divination yielded an auspicious omen, the imperial envoy arrived at the Lin family with dark and crimson silk to announce the establishment of the marriage agreement. During the betrothal ceremony, the eunuchs presented the betrothal gifts, including jade discs, bundles of silk, nine tripods and eight sacrificial vessels, five hundred taels of gold, and three thousand bolts of silk...

At that time, the scene in front of the Lin residence was quite impressive, attracting many people to stop and watch this unusual spectacle.

It is quite rare for the imperial family to formally betroth their children.

Upon learning that the wedding date was set for the first day of the sixth lunar month, the Lin family respectfully accepted the order, but Lin Lanting, who was to become the prince consort, looked displeased upon seeing the pile of betrothal gifts.

A perfectly good young man is about to be betrothed by the woman's family.

Really...

How shameful!

But this was the custom of the imperial family when their daughters married, and he was ultimately a subject, unable to act arrogantly or presumptuously in front of the emperor.

The six rites were tormenting him like this; it wasn't like he was marrying a wife, it was like he was marrying an ancestor.

He's been arrogant and domineering for eighteen years, but now his marriage is about to suffer a major setback. He's really unlucky.

But now that things have come to this, he can only be fish on the chopping board.

Even so, he still wanted the hardest piece!

He's just a bit unreasonable; at least we'll be husband and wife in the future, so he won't eat me alive.

After giving herself a lot of psychological comfort, Lin Lanting accepted a pile of betrothal gifts with a smile under her grandfather's approving gaze.

Once the wedding date was set, both families began preparing for the wedding in earnest. Two months is neither a fast nor a slow time; as long as they did their best, there wouldn't be any delays.

However, in the last few days of April, an envoy from the Bohai Kingdom arrived, adding another lively scene to Chang'an.

Unlike other small border states, Balhae was particularly special to the imperial court because, strictly speaking, Balhae was both a subordinate prefecture and a vassal state.

The current ruler of Balhae Kingdom has a connection with his grandfather. When Balhae suffered hardship and was stranded in Chang'an, his grandfather, who was then the crown prince, protected him and sent him back to Balhae Kingdom. Balhae eventually ascended the throne of Balhae King.

It is currently the vassal state that is closest to our dynasty.

The last time an envoy from the Bohai Kingdom came was five years ago to celebrate the emperor's ascension to the throne. This is the second time they have sent an envoy.

Huiyi was still young at the time. When she first arrived, she went out to fly kites with her cousin Li Xiuyun. She fell and injured her leg while trying to climb the tree to retrieve the kite for Li Xiuyun, so she was unable to attend the banquet.

I've heard that the Bohai Kingdom has always imitated the Central Plains, closely following Chang'an in everything from clothing and etiquette to culture and customs.

Huiyi was very curious at the time and wanted to see if it was true, but unfortunately she missed the opportunity.

But now it's good, she can see it with her own eyes again.

It was still the Linde Hall, where banquets were held in the palace. As night fell, it was brightly lit with glass palace lanterns, shining brilliantly from afar.

Huiyi wore a tulip dress tonight, a bright yellow dress dyed with the precious spice tulip, which was fragrant.

She wore a light blue shirt with a bright red half-sleeved outer garment and a bright yellow tulip skirt. Under the moonlight, her whole body seemed to radiate a graceful and luxurious glow.

To match this tulip dress, Huiyi styled her hair in a double-loop bun, with lotus-shaped gold hairpins adorning her temples, a rose-shaped hairpin in the center, a double-loop hairpin with a gold butterfly hairpin that could tremble and flutter with her movements, and finally a peony and peony hairpin at her temples.

On important occasions, Huiyi always dresses in formal attire.

The amazement the palace servants showed her along the way also pleased Huiyi greatly.

It was precisely because of this attire that Huiyi arrived later than her father, and when she reached the Linde Hall, it was already bustling with noise.

Upon entering the hall, the atmosphere became noticeably quiet for a moment.

That bright yellow was so pure and dazzling that it stunned everyone.

The Bohai delegation, especially those seated in the VIP section, stared wide-eyed and, speaking fluent Chang'an dialect, inquired about the identity of the woman in the tulip dress from the palace servants around them.

Upon learning that she was Princess Chang Le, the apple of the eye of the Emperor of Chang'an, they couldn't help but show some anticipation and longing.

The banquet was for foreign delegations, and civil and military officials were naturally among them. Lin Lanting sat with her father at the table and had noticed the flamboyant figure long ago.

Just as she was silently cursing her for being vain, she saw the eldest prince of the Bohai Kingdom delegation staring at the spoiled princess like a fool, his eyes glued to her.

Lin Lanting was initially annoyed, but he restrained himself and muttered to himself.

Strange, what's he upset about?

So what if he wants to look? So many people are watching, what's so strange about the eldest prince of Bohai Kingdom glancing at him?

With this in mind, Lin Lanting calmed herself down and drank a glass of wine.

As the icy liquor went down his throat, he could still see the eldest prince of Bohai staring at him in the corner of his eye, so blatantly and openly disregarding him, the future prince consort.

That's right. Even if he didn't want to marry the princess, the engagement was already made, and he would soon be welcoming this unruly princess into his family. After all, the title was there.

Isn't the eldest prince of Bohai's actions a slap in the face to him?

Slapping him in the face is slapping the face of the Lin family, and this cannot be tolerated.

Especially at that moment, Lin Lanting saw it clearly: the willful princess returned a sweet smile to the eldest prince of Bohai.

This is tantamount to attracting unwanted attention.

Lin Lanting immediately wanted to rush up and question her, asking if she remembered that she was currently engaged.

Otherwise, how could she be so frivolous and sweet towards a young man who was staring at her infatuated?

With a slightly fiery temper, Lin Lanting's brows furrowed deeply. He abandoned his previous lazy and relaxed posture, standing upright with his back straight like a sharp sword.

The hall was neat and clean. Lin Lanting couldn't find any suitable stones for a moment. After a moment of impatience, her gaze fell on the grapes on the table in front of her, and she smiled.

He picked up a large, round grape, put it in his mouth, chewed for a moment, and spat out a few tiny grape seeds.

A note from the author:

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Next chapter will be updated on Wednesday. [heart emoji]