The Sixth Princess sneered, "Isn't she the Empress yet? When the late Empress was here, she valued the princesses very much. Not only did she invite officials from the previous dynasty to the palace to teach the princesses, she also carefully selected several female officials from the harem to teach the princesses various skills and cultivate their sentiments."
"So of course the eldest and second princesses are well-educated and well-mannered. After the previous queen passed away, the queen entered the palace. Initially, things remained the same, but within two years, she found an excuse, saying that it was against the rules for civil officials to enter and leave the harem and teach the princesses, and she removed them."
"Later, the female officials gradually dispersed, leaving only the teaching nanny to teach the princesses etiquette and manners."
The Sixth Princess is now sixteen years old. Judging from her age, the school in the palace was closed down not long after she was born. The fact that she can read and write is naturally because she was taught by Concubine Li herself.
The Eighth Princess, the Ninth Princess and others, their mothers were of humble origins and had limited knowledge. In addition, their upbringing was different from that of the daughters of wealthy families, so naturally their perspectives were also different.
What they can teach their children is even more limited.
Qin Wan frowned and said, "What is the Queen trying to achieve? The competition between the Crown Prince and the Sixth Prince is one thing, but why should the princesses get in her way? As a princess of a country, if she goes out and doesn't follow the same path as others, wouldn't that be a disgrace to her as the Queen?"
The Sixth Princess pointed at the Seventh Princess and said with a smile, "Our brothers are getting in her way. If she could teach us well, wouldn't that be a help to our brothers?"
The Seventh Princess exclaimed, "Oh!" "So you know all this?"
"I'm not a fool." The Sixth Princess rolled her eyes.
Seeing that the two were about to quarrel again, Qin Wan hurriedly said, "After the New Year, I will select female officials in the palace to continue teaching you to read and write. Where did you learn before?"
The Seventh Princess said quickly, "We princesses all live in the West Six Palaces. For convenience, we all attend classes in Yuhua Pavilion."
Qin Wan said, "Then stay in Yuhua Pavilion. Reading and accounting are the basics. You don't need to be very good at them, but you must be able to learn them. As for music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, I see you like them. You are princesses, so you can learn them for fun and not necessarily to master them. After all, you don't need to please anyone."
Qin Wan was planning their courses, and asked several younger princesses to go back to school with her son these days, so that they wouldn't have to follow them here every day and waste their time bored.
Xie Qing received the money from the charity performance for disaster relief handed over by the Fourth Prince. He arranged for people to carve a stele and used the money to prepare new clothes for the victims so that they could have a good New Year.
The couple were busy with their own things, and a few days passed like this until New Year's Eve.
This year, the Imperial Astronomical Observatory chose this day to offer sacrifices to heaven, so Qin Wan could only let Concubine Min take charge of today's palace banquet.
Fortunately, everything has been arranged some time ago, and today I just need to make sure nothing goes wrong.
Fortunately, the snow stopped a few days ago, and it was sunny today. Although it was still cold, it was warm with the sun shining and no wind.
Qin Wan was dressed in formal attire and followed Xie Qing to participate in the ceremony of offering sacrifices to heaven.
As the crown prince, Xie Qing offered sacrifices to heaven on behalf of the emperor. The ceremony was very grand because it was not only his first time to offer sacrifices to heaven, but also a prayer for the emperor and the people.
As soon as the imperial carriage left the palace, the people lined the streets to cheer and watch.
Some rumors also spread among the crowd.
"The Crown Prince used to be a playboy, and the country was peaceful. But since he took power, trouble has been brewing everywhere. What's going on?"
"Is it possible that the prince has a bad fate?"
"The Fourth Prince is truly a benevolent ruler. He hosted a grand charity performance and even paid out of his own pocket to cook dumplings for everyone outside the city today."
The people were talking about it, but it was not just the common people who were watching, there were also officials' families. Their eyes flickered, and when they looked at the prince and princess in the imperial carriage, they couldn't help but think of some rumors.
It is said that the marriage between the Crown Princess and the Crown Prince seems not so clean?
They all frowned, then looked at the handsome Fourth Prince, who rode a horse behind the imperial carriage. They recalled his recent reputation as a gentle and modest man with a righteous demeanor, good character, and a capable and intelligent person...
Their minds couldn't help but wander. Now that His Majesty is in poor health, is the Great Zhou really going to be handed over to the hands of someone like the Crown Prince?
The Fourth Prince had organized a charity performance and raised money for the disaster victims, but His Majesty immediately took it and handed it to the Crown Prince. Wasn't this the Crown Prince's doing? He stole the credit from the Fourth Prince.
In this case, isn't the kind-hearted Fourth Prince, who cares about the world, more suitable than the Crown Prince?
It seemed as if someone was speaking in their ears, or as if they were thinking on their own. Some thoughts just entered their hearts and took root.
No matter how much people outside were talking, it couldn't reach Qin Wan's ears. The two of them were whispering about the itinerary for the upcoming sacrifice to the sky. It was their first time, so there couldn't be any mistakes.
Arriving at the place for offering sacrifices to heaven, Qin Wan and Xie Qing stepped down from the carriage hand in hand, and at the command of the ceremonial officer, they went up to the altar hand in hand.
Xie Qing unfolded the sacrificial speech and prayed to the sky. After finishing the lengthy sacrificial speech, he unfolded the emperor's edict of repentance and read it aloud.
Disasters have occurred one after another in various places this year. As an emperor, it is natural for him to issue an edict of repentance to apologize to God, ask for forgiveness from God, and pray for good weather in the coming year.
After Xie Qing finished reading the emperor's edict of repentance, he, the crown prince, also read one. Naturally, his edict of repentance was not as flowery as the emperor's, but sincere in words so as not to overshadow the main topic.
Finally, Xie Qing prayed to God and his ancestors to protect the Great Zhou, so that there would be good weather in the coming year and no more wars on the border.
After the sacrifice to heaven, Qin Wan and Xie Qing returned to the palace hand in hand.
It was only noon at this time. All the civil and military officials dispersed and went home to make some preparations before entering the palace to attend the banquet.
Qin Wan and Xie Qing were also allowed back into the palace for dinner.
Xie Qing was able to rest, but Qin Wan was busy with trivial matters and could not even have a peaceful meal. She was constantly meeting with female officials, eunuchs in charge and others in various parts of the palace.
After lunch, Qin Wan went to the Hall of Supreme Harmony to meet Concubine Min, asked her to have lunch, and she continued to take care of the palace banquet.
The place has been almost decorated. Since it is a New Year's Eve palace banquet, a day for family reunion, naturally the seats cannot be separated by gender, but rather by family.
For example, in the Mansion of Marquis Xuanwu, in previous years, there was no crown prince in the mansion, so Marquis Xuanwu Qin Zhan would sit alone, or with other nobles who did not come with their families.
This year, Qin Sheng was named the Crown Prince, Qin Xie received an imperial edict, and Qin Wan entered the palace as the Crown Princess. The Qin family's status soared.
Not only can Qin Zhan bring his son Qin Sheng to attend the palace banquet, but Qin Xie can also bring her eldest son and daughter-in-law to attend the palace banquet.
Their seats were also moved from behind the Marquis' row to the front, right next to the royal table.
Now the tables and chairs are properly arranged, and the dishes are also laid out.
Qin Wan checked the spices used in the hall again. There were many female relatives coming tonight, and it was inevitable that some of them were pregnant, or some were sensitive to certain spices and felt uncomfortable, so special attention needed to be paid to the spices.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
