"Your Excellency, is your tongue damaged? This is clearly top-quality plum wine, and it tastes fantastic." A Daqing official retorted loudly.
The Nanchu envoy raised his eyebrows and looked at Shen Wei, who was sitting at the main seat, with a half-smile: "That's really strange. It just so happens that my cup is sour and smelly. It seems that Concubine Daqing's actions are not perfect."
Shen Wei raised her eyebrows slightly.
I couldn't help but look at this envoy from Southern Chu who was in his early thirties. He had an ordinary appearance, was very tall, and had a strong build. He has an ordinary appearance, but every word he says is full of thorns.
It was obviously aimed at Shen Wei on purpose.
Generally speaking, the best way to deal with this kind of sudden crisis is to give the critical envoy from Nanchu a pot of wine.
But if Shen Wei sent someone to change the wine, it would indirectly mean that there was something wrong with this pot of wine. At the same time, in a verbal battle between Nanchu and Qing, Qing was at a disadvantage, which damaged the national prestige.
Li Yuanjing frowned slightly, and just as he was about to speak, Shen Wei quietly held Li Yuanjing's hand.
Their eyes met.
Li Yuanjing smiled, he knew that Shen Wei had a way to deal with the little friction in front of him.
"Master, do you need to change a pot of wine for that foreign minister?" Cai Lian asked in a low voice.
Shen Wei shook her head.
Chen Wei put down the teacup in her hand and asked Liu Ruyan casually, "Princess Mei, this foreign official from Nanchu said that plum wine tastes like swill. What do you think?"
Liu Ruyan is a senior lover of plum blossoms.
She liked to wear clothes of the same color as white plum blossoms, wear plum blossom hairpins, use plum blossom paper, draw plum blossom pictures, and also liked to drink plum blossom wine. Unfortunately, she couldn't drink much and got drunk after one or two drinks.
Hearing Shen Wei's question at this time, Liu Ruyan pressed her brows and grasped the key words in Shen Wei's words in her chaotic consciousness - the foreign minister said that plum blossom wine is like swill.
Liu Ruyan immediately sneered. She raised her clear eyes and looked at the envoy from Nanchu as if she was looking at some inferior person.
Liu Ruyan smiled slightly and said, "Plum wine is made from white plums that bloom on branches in the cold winter. It takes three years to ferment one jar. There are no winter plums in southern Chu. You came from a poor and remote place and actually slandered this rare and good wine."
Tsinghua Hall suddenly became quiet.
No one expected that Concubine Mei would actually mock the envoy from Southern Chu for not knowing the value of things.
However, it feels good to curse.
The Southern Chu envoy held up his chin, a smile appeared on his lips, "But the wine I drank was really sour and smelly--"
Liu Ruyan was already drunk. She couldn't bear to hear others mocking her favorite plum wine, so she refuted coldly: "The reeds on the wall are top-heavy and shallow-rooted; the bamboo shoots in the mountains have sharp mouths, thick skins and hollow bellies. Toads and rats occasionally drink fine wine and deliberately comment on it, but they don't know its depth."
Envoy from Southern Chu: ...
Liu Ruyan looked at the mediocre face of the Southern Chu envoy again: "The mouse has skin, but the man has no manners. In my opinion, the wine is sweet, but you have a foul mouth, so you taste the good wine sour."
Envoy from Southern Chu: ...
Zhang Miaoyu, who was sitting in the female seat, couldn't help but burst out laughing.
The envoys from Southern Chu who were watching the fun all looked unhappy. Shen Wei spoke appropriately: "Princess Mei is drunk. Drunk people always like to tell the truth, which is really inappropriate. Come, take Concubine Mei back to Yuxiu Palace to sober up."
The palace maid stepped forward and helped the drunk Liu Ruyan away.
Liu Ruyan was obviously drunk, but she still told Chen Wei: Concubine Chen, plum wine is precious, you'd better not give it to outsiders who don't know its value, otherwise it will be a waste of resources. ”
Shen Wei covered her mouth with a handkerchief and pretended to be serious: "Take Meipin away."
After a pause, Shen Wei looked at the insulted Nanchu envoy with a smile: "Princess Mei is not good at drinking. Nanchu is a country of etiquette. This Nanchu foreign minister must be a broad-minded person. He should not care about a woman in the harem."
The Southern Chu envoy looked deeply at Shen Wei.
This is a clever statement. If Nan Chu and Meipin were to argue with it, it would make the envoy of Nan Chu appear petty.
He curled his lips, his plain face showed no emotion, he just put down the wine glass and said, "I am an outsider with poor taste and cannot drink good wine. I wrongly blamed the Imperial Concubine of Qing. I apologize to the Imperial Concubine."
He cupped his hands in apology.
The small disturbance subsided, the delicacies were served one after another, and there was singing and dancing. After three rounds of drinking, Li Yuanjing clapped his hands and two tiger guards in iron armor entered the hall.
A target was set up in the center of the hall. Two tiger guards, one holding a modified musket and the other holding a modified crossbow, performed a hundred-step-above-the-arrow attack for the envoys from Southern Chu.
The Southern Chu envoys looked unhappy, knowing that this was Emperor Qing promoting Daqing's military power, and warned the Southern Chu delegation not to act rashly.
At a dinner party, everyone has their own thoughts.
At the men's table, the Nanchu envoy who was mocked by Liu Ruyan was drinking and eating as if nothing had happened. He held the exquisite white jade wine glass in his hand, and while he raised his head to drink, his eyes swept towards Li Yuanjing and Shen Wei behind the pearl curtain of the main seat.
The Daqing Emperor was dressed in black and gold court robes, majestic and handsome;
The Imperial Concubine Daqing was dressed in a golden and red auspicious dress, gorgeous and noble;
The two of them had a very good relationship. Occasionally, they would put their heads close together and whisper things that only the two of them could hear.
Everyone in Qing Kingdom knows that Emperor Li Yuanjing now favors Consort Shen. This Imperial Concubine Chen was born in poverty, but she did not become arrogant despite her high position. She cared about the people's livelihood and was sympathetic to the concubines in the harem. She was a well-known virtuous concubine.
The Southern Chu envoy drank a cup of mellow plum wine and sighed: "This wine is really sour."
...
...
The welcoming banquet was over, and Shen Wei had no choice but to drink two more glasses of plum wine at the banquet. She has never been a good drinker, and even though she was tipsy, she was still conscious.
Finally, the banquet was over, and the ministers stood up, bowed, and left one after another. Li Yuanjing asked the palace servants to send Shen Wei back to Yongning Palace, and he summoned officials from the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of War to confirm the placement of the Nanchu delegation again.
The spring night was cool, and palace lanterns were lit on both sides of the palace road. Shen Wei sat on the slightly swaying sedan chair. The sedan chair was shaking, and Shen Wei felt nauseous like carsickness. She asked the sedan chair to stop and planned to walk back to the palace.
After taking just two steps, Shen Wei's nausea intensified, and she walked to the flower bed and vomited. Cai Lian was startled and patted Shen Wei's back gently: "Master, Jixiang has already run back to get the hangover soup, please wait a moment."
Shen Wei said: "I'm fine - A-choo -"
The fragrance of the flowers planted in the flowerbed was so fragrant that Shen Wei couldn't help but sneeze a few more times. My eyes and nose are itchy, and tears are welling up in the corners of my eyes.
I keep sneezing and it's really uncomfortable.
Shen Wei really wanted to pluck all the flowers in the harem.
Chen Wei wiped the tears that flowed from her sneezing, and felt the cool spring breeze from the garden, which helped to dissipate some of her drunkenness.
"Hey, what's wrong with the imperial concubine? She's vomiting and crying, so pitiful." A slightly curious voice sounded.
Shen Wei turned around.
See that plain-looking foreign official from Southern Chu.
He walked out from among the blooming flowers, his wide crimson robe fluttering in the wind and the moonlight shining down, like a strange ghost walking out of the dark abyss.
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