On the third day of April, spring comes and flowers bloom.
Outside the vermilion gate of Prime Minister Liu's mansion, peonies and roses were in full bloom, and the housekeeper at the door was busy greeting guests.
Today is the first day of the poetry banquet held in Liu Mansion. There are many guests visiting, and many of them bring their own collections and calligraphy works.
Every year, the Liu Mansion held a poetry banquet on the old Prime Minister's birthday to attract talented and ambitious scholars. At the poetry banquet, whether young ladies or gentlemen, women or children, young and old, everyone could express their opinions and showcase their talents.
The Liu family is a very prestigious family in Yong'an City. There are three officials in four generations of the family. The three sons of the old prime minister all serve as officials of the third rank or above.
There are also many talented people among the younger generation. There is Liu Zhang, a genius boy who solved a robbery of government silver at the age of fourteen, and is currently serving as the Minister of the Dali Temple; there is also Liu Yan, who became a painting saint at the age of ten, and his painting skills are unmatched. His paintings are often priceless.
The Prime Minister has disciples all over the court and the country. If he coughs, the entire court will be shaken.
For this reason, many guests came to visit.
The biological mother of the third prince Murong Yao, Concubine Liu, is the legitimate daughter of the old prime minister. Murong Yao was influenced by this scholarly family since he was a child, and he developed the image of a talented poet and a handsome young man.
Ye Wanqing had also participated several times and had admired the third prince Murong Yao very much in the past.
Even after he broke off the engagement, for a long time I thought there was something wrong with me.
However, famous and powerful families like the Liu family pride themselves on having the arrogance and sourness of scholars. They look down on military officers and officials, and also look down on merchants and craftsmen. They are quite arrogant.
He was very at odds with Ling Guojiu, the official in charge of finances for Crown Prince Murong Yan, and the Shen Xu family, a military family engaged in business and warfare. They often argued with each other in the court and impeached each other at every turn.
The six civil and military ministries often exchanged polite remarks, and the court was filled with harmony.
Therefore, Murong Yan and Shen Xu never participated in such gatherings before, and were often ridiculed and slandered behind their backs by the pretentious young men and women.
"Prince, we will be laughed at if we take these things to the poetry meeting, right?" A Rao was holding a box of Xiling Snow Swallow, which contained six complete pieces.
Two days ago, Ye Wanqing received a reply letter from Miss Lin from the Northwest, saying that she liked the gift sent to her by Prince Shen very much, and was especially grateful for her sending her scented powder and silk skirt every now and then, saying that she had never been able to use such good things in the Northwest.
So, Miss Lin sent her some specialties from the Northwest - the best cliff snow swallows from Xiling.
You should know that only about a hundred pieces of high-quality snow swallows are tributed to the royal family every year, and high-ranking concubines only get dozens of them every year, while low-ranking concubines don't even get any.
The wives of ministers and dukes and nobles could only receive rare rewards if they had made great contributions. On weekdays, they could only buy inferior ones on the market. For example, Ye Wanqing's second mother could only buy bird's nest fragments, and Ye Wanqing herself had never seen one.
But Miss Lin sent her more than 20 complete top-grade Snow Swallows. That was all money! You couldn't buy one with hundreds of taels outside, but she stuffed a full box and sent it over.
It's really a case of drought killing people and flooding killing people.
When Ye Wanqing heard Ye Xueruo's tone before, she was still wondering why Miss Lin was so stingy. She accepted so many gifts from Chen Xu, but didn't respond at all. She was a little ungrateful.
And now——being friends with rich lady Lin is so sweet~
Miss Lin even said in the letter that life in the Northwest was particularly hard, she had never seen any good things, and had no precious gifts to give back to Shen Xu, so she just sent some local specialties, hoping that he would not dislike it.
If you continue to dislike this, you will be struck by lightning!
Ye Wanqing thought that it would be difficult for her two best friends to enjoy such a good thing, so she packed six lamps and presented them to Prime Minister Liu as a gift.
"Oh, Master Shen is here to attend the poetry meeting too? What a rare guest." The person who came to chat was Liu Chun, the young master of the Liu family. He had a chubby face and looked arrogant and domineering, but in fact he was a fool and a follower, often following behind Liu Zhang and Murong Yao.
A Rao's face was gloomy, and it was obvious that she disliked this person very much. She took out the invitation from the bottom of the box and reminded him, "Prince, the invitation."
Ye Wanqing understood and picked up the invitation, ignoring him and handed it to the housekeeper of the Liu Mansion.
"This..." The housekeeper of the Liu Mansion hesitated for a moment, carefully confirmed the gift given by Ye Wanqing, and then reported the gift she sent as if he was reporting other people's gifts.
"Prince Shen, six of the best Xiling Cliff Snow Swallows."
As expected, the butler's loud voice attracted the attention of the guests. There was an uproar at the scene. Everyone turned to look at Ye Wanqing and started talking in a low voice.
"Wow, Master Shen is really generous. Did you hear that? He gave away six of the best snow swallows at once. The Marquis Shen's Mansion is indeed wealthy!"
"Are you kidding me? A gift of Xueyan to the poetry gathering. Hahahaha, Prince Shen is really ignorant."
"Yes, yes. It's a pity that Lord Shen's brilliant life was ruined by a money-grubbing merchant woman. Even the son he gave birth to reeks of money. The Liu family has always been honest and upright. This Prince Shen sent such an expensive gift. I'm afraid he is here to ruin the party!"
"Everyone knows he's a member of the Prince's faction. The two families have always been at odds. They never came to the Liu Mansion's gatherings before. They might be trying to tarnish the Prime Minister's reputation with money."
Standing at the door to greet the guests was Liu Xiaoru, the head of the Liu family and the Minister of Rites. Upon hearing this, his face was somewhat displeased, but he still smiled very politely, cupped his hands, and made a gesture of invitation: "Thank you, Prince Shen. Please come in."
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