Xia Zhengqi took the opportunity to persuade her, "Mother, today is your fiftieth birthday. Please stop bothering with the Seventh Brother and his wife. There are still so many other members of the royal family waiting behind you."
The Queen echoed, "Yes, Mother, after we have finished paying our respects to you, there will still be time for conversation."
The Empress Dowager looked up at the long queue of people waiting to celebrate her birthday, then she calmed down her anger and said, "Come on, Prince Jin, Princess Jin, please stand up."
The Prince of Jin and his wife hurriedly stood up and secretly cast a grateful look at the Emperor and Empress.
The boring ceremony of offering gifts and celebrating the birthday lasted for an hour and a half. By the end, Xia Miaoyuan had fallen asleep in his chair.
"Miao'er, wake up. The birthday celebration is over." The queen called softly.
"Great!" Xia Miaoyuan rubbed his eyes and jumped up from the chair.
She looked around and found that, sure enough, the long queue outside the hall had dispersed, and the guests, divided by gender, had taken their seats, ready to begin the banquet.
"Go out and play!" Xia Miaoyuan pulled the Queen's sleeve and begged.
"Okay, cousin Wanyin is here too, you can go play with her for a while." The queen looked at Xia Miaoyuan lovingly and instructed.
"Miaomiao, let's go!"
A milky sound came into my ears.
Xia Miaoyuan turned around and saw that it was indeed his cousin Wanyin who was jumping towards him.
She slid down from the chair, took Xiao Wanyin's hand and walked out.
At this point, the boring birthday celebration session was finally over. Not only were the children happy, but all the adults also breathed a sigh of relief.
The guests were divided into men and women, gathered in groups of three or four, chatting in low voices.
In the open space outside the temple, children gathered in groups of three or five to play together.
Some were squatting on the ground playing ceramic balls, some were playing shuttlecock, and some were playing Cuju.
Xia Miaoyuan and Xiao Wanyin looked here and there.
When the little brothers and sisters who were playing saw that it was the favored Princess Anguo Xia Miaoyuan, they all enthusiastically pulled them to join in and wanted them to play together.
However, the two cousins were not good at any of these games, so they had to wave their hands and refuse.
Xia Miaoyuan pouted, "Hmph, no! It's not fun!" and pulled Wanyin away.
Xiao Wanyin bit her finger and glanced at the sycamore tree in the yard. Her eyes lit up instantly: "Miaomiao, sister will teach you how to fight grass! Okay?"
"Fighting with grass?" Xia Miaoyuan was a little confused.
"What is Doucao?"
Xiao Wanyin happily pulled Xia Miaoyuan under the sycamore tree. The leaves had almost all fallen off, and the ground beneath the tree was covered with dry leaves that rustled when stepped on.
Xiao Wanyin squatted down and searched among the leaves of the sycamore tree, picked up the neat and large ones, and then handed a leaf to Xia Miaoyuan.
"It's very simple. Just hold it here with your hand." Xiao Wanyin demonstrated to Xia Miaoyuan seriously.
Xiao Wanyin was seen holding the long petiole of the sycamore leaf with her two chubby little hands.
[Isn't this just lappigouer?! It turns out that kids in ancient times called this doucao (fighting grass)!]
Xia Miaoyuan suddenly understood.
The two little sisters squatted under the sycamore tree and started playing attentively.
Xia Miaoyuan is not very strong, and Xiao Wanyin often plays grass fighting, so she is more skilled. Nine times out of ten, she will pull Xia Miaoyuan's leaf stalks apart.
Xia Miaoyuan was neither angry nor annoyed. He stood up and went to search.
"Wait a minute, I'll find a better one." Xia Miaoyuan said.
The babyish voice, coupled with the serious tone, is particularly funny.
Sang Qi stood a few meters away and couldn't help laughing at Xia Miaoyuan's funny look.
"Oh no!" Xia Miaoyuan picked up a large leaf, but found that the petiole was not long. He pouted and threw the leaf away.
"Hmph, this is not good either!" She picked up another large leaf, but the petiole was so dry and cracked that it was obviously not strong.
Xia Miaoyuan bent over and searched carefully, moving as he searched. Before he knew it, he had walked more than 20 meters along the row of sycamore trees.
Seeing that she was getting farther and farther away from her, Xiao Wanyin hurried over to find her.
"Wait for me! You're so far away!" Xiao Wanyin shouted at the top of her voice.
"Sister Feng's makeup is really something I envy."
"Yes, yes, even the concubines' makeup can't compare to Sister Feng's fashion."
Xia Miaoyuan, who was concentrating on searching for leaves, suddenly heard the voice of a young girl.
Several girls were complimenting this "Sister Feng".
Xia Miaoyuan loves to listen to gossip. In his previous life, when he was busy with work, he used eating melons and listening to gossip as a way to relieve stress.
As soon as she heard the voices of several young girls, she immediately became interested.
When I stood up and looked around, I realized that I had unknowingly walked to the outside of a side hall.
Because there were so many guests attending the Empress Dowager's birthday banquet today, the huge main hall could not accommodate all of them, so all the side halls had to be used.
This side hall is occupied by young ladies from noble families.
Xia Miaoyuan didn't even bother picking up leaves. He stood up and listened with his ears perked up.
After a burst of intense and concentrated flattery, a spoiled and arrogant female voice spoke.
"That's right. Grandpa has always loved me the most. Every year he would send people to Jiangnan to buy rouge, clothes, and jewelry for me."
"Even the Empress Dowager thinks of me whenever she gets something good. My treasury is almost overflowing with so many gifts."
[Empress Dowager grandmother?] Xia Miaoyuan shuddered when she heard these words.
She quietly walked to the door and looked inside, only to see that the person who was talking with her neck tilted back was Feng Panpan.
[It really is her, the seductive Feng Panpan. Looks like her nose has healed.]
"Puchichi..." Xia Miaoyuan couldn't help laughing when he remembered the last time Feng Panpan slipped on a hazelnut and fell flat on her face in Shoukang Palace.
On that occasion, Feng Panpan was originally arranged by the Empress Dowager to meet the Crown Prince in disguise.
But Feng Panpan never expected that a fall would ruin the entire dating plan.
Moreover, the fall was quite severe, her nose was broken, and she had to stay at home for several months to recover.
Her family found her various good medicines to promote her recovery, which enabled her to recover from her injuries before the Empress Dowager's birthday banquet.
She absolutely couldn't miss such a great opportunity to show off at the Empress Dowager's birthday banquet.
After all, there are not many opportunities to meet the prince by chance, so every opportunity must be taken seriously.
Early this morning, she dressed up beautifully, wearing a shimmering brocade palace dress embroidered with pearls and gems, and a jeweled crown.
She had a seductive face, and she even hired a lady from the Jiaofang Bureau who was good at makeup to do her makeup.
So among all the noble ladies attending the banquet, Feng Panpan's outfit can be said to be the top-notch.
"Miao Miao, what are you doing?" Xiao Wanyin came over and looked at Xia Miaoyuan who was lying by the door in confusion.
"Don't make a sound." Xia Miaoyuan made a gesture to her to keep quiet, and Xiao Wanyin nodded in tacit understanding.
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