After listening to the nanny's explanation of the whole story, Wan Jingrong's aunt's pretty face turned dark.
Her eyes were as sharp as knives as she looked at the palace maid who was already frightened to the point of kneeling and kowtowing.
The maid kowtowed while defending herself, "Your Majesty, I saw with my own eyes that Xiao Dengzi gave the sachet to that person. It was definitely not an accidental mix-up."
The implication was that Yu Zizhen must have given the sachet to their master's beloved nephew.
Wan Jingrong's aunt actually knew that this was most likely the case, but her nephew was almost trampled by a horse's hooves, so how could she not vent her anger on the servants?
In particular, the prerequisite for Yu Zizhen to exchange the sachet with Wan Jingrong was that she noticed something was wrong with the sachet.
Wan Jingrong's aunt narrowed her eyes and had already decided the death date for this palace maid and the eunuch named Xiao Dengzi.
She couldn't let Yu Zizhen expose her. Although she dared to harm Yu Zizhen secretly, she didn't dare to confront Yu Zizhen openly.
What Wan Jingrong's aunt didn't know was that Yu Zizhen had no intention of confronting her head-on at all.
Rather than making a big deal out of this matter and arguing with the Wan family in front of the emperor, Yu Zizhen preferred to treat the person in his own way.
Doesn't Wan Jingrong's aunt like to secretly do something bad to her? Then she will also secretly deal with the Wan family in return.
While listening to the system's live broadcast, Yu Zizhen tied the five-colored silk thread to the eldest prince with a smile.
In addition to dragon boat racing and eating rice dumplings, the Dragon Boat Festival customs of Da Qi also include hanging mugwort on the door, fumigating atractylodes in the house, wearing sachets on the body, tying five-colored threads on the wrists, adding Chinese medicinal herbs to hot water when bathing, and other small tricks to prevent diseases, prevent epidemics, and drive away evil spirits and bring good luck.
The emperor could accompany the eldest prince to watch and enjoy the dragon boat race and eat rice dumplings. The palace servants could do everything like hanging mugwort, fumigating atractylodes, making sachets, and preparing medicinal baths. The only thing that needed to be tied by the mother was the five-colored thread on the child's wrist. The eldest prince was unwilling to let his stepmother, Xiao Lu, do it for him.
Of course, Madam Lu was unwilling to tie any five-colored strings to the emperor's eldest son. She even left the care of the second prince, who she had raised under her lap, to the care of the nanny beside her.
This morning, after they met in Xiyuan to watch the dragon boat race, Yu Zizhen noticed that the eldest prince did not have the five-colored thread on his hand. While she sighed in her heart that these people were really stubborn, she made up her mind to tie the five-colored thread on the eldest prince after watching the dragon boat race.
"If my mother doesn't tie it for me, I can tie it myself. No one says I can't tie it myself." While tying the five-colored thread for the eldest prince, Yu Zizhen used her eyes to signal the eldest prince to look at the five-colored thread on her wrist. "As long as there is no law prohibiting it, you can do it. We should not be too stubborn."
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Fang Huaiying and Chen Hushan staring at her and the eldest prince with wide eyes. Yu Zizhen reached into her sleeve and then handed Fang Huaiying and Chen Hushan a five-colored thread each.
"Why don't you tie one too? Regardless of whether it really can ward off evil spirits or not, at least it can bring good luck, right?"
Fang Huaiying and Chen Hushan had complicated expressions. After they exchanged a glance, Chen Hushan said to Yu Zizhen, "You'll be laughed at by others."
Yu Zizhen rolled his eyes without hesitation and said, "Fine, if anyone thinks I shouldn't tie this myself, then I'll just pack up and go back to the North."
Chen Hushan was in the same situation as her. They both had biological mothers in their respective families. If anyone was dissatisfied with her tying herself up, it would be natural for her to go back and ask Princess Zhenbei to tie her up.
As for the eldest prince and Fang Huaiying, "And you two, if anyone dares to laugh at you, just say that I tied the five-colored thread for you. Tell them to come to me and tell me whatever they think."
She said that she wanted others to come and "talk" to her, but her tone and expression clearly revealed that her fists were itching to beat someone up.
The three of them already had some understanding of Yu Zizhen's madness. As soon as she showed this expression, the three of them didn't dare to say anything more.
They didn't want to be beaten by Yu Zizhen just because they were too cautious before others got a chance to be beaten.
You have to know that although Yu Zizhen is not good at studying, his fighting skills are very good. He can fight one against three. Well, okay, the eldest prince should not be counted. That means he can fight one against two. You have to know that it is very easy for Yu Zizhen to deal with them alone.
Chen Hushan timidly took the five-colored thread and obediently helped Fang Huaiying tie it. Fang Huaiying also obediently took the five-colored thread and carefully helped Chen Hushan tie it.
When the eldest prince saw this scene, he rarely raised the corners of his lips.
***
"Your Highness, the three princes, the palace banquet is about to begin." Not long after the five-colored thread was tied, the young eunuch beside the eldest prince calculated the time and reminded everyone that it was time to set off.
The eldest prince had been sitting in his wheelchair without moving. When he heard the eunuch's reminder, he immediately nodded and said, "Let's go."
As a junior, he certainly couldn't arrive later than the Empress Dowager. Empress Lu would definitely arrive with the Empress Dowager, meaning the eldest prince had to rush to the palace banquet with the Emperor before they did.
The four of them, surrounded by a group of palace maids and their subordinates, first went to the Emperor's bedroom next door.
After meeting the emperor who was also ready to go to the palace banquet, everyone went to Jiaxiang Palace in a mighty manner.
Jiaxiang Palace is located between the front court and the harem. Because it was a royal family banquet, except for Yu Zizhen, Chen Hushan and Fang Huaiying, all the people attending the palace banquet were the emperor's close relatives. Therefore, the palace banquet was not divided into two sessions for men and women, but was directly held in the family unit, with several long tables set up in the main hall of Jiaxiang Palace.
When Yu Zizhen and his companions arrived, the seats in the main hall of Jiaxiang Palace were almost all occupied. Only the seats for the Empress Dowager, the Emperor, and the Empress at the innermost part, as well as the seats not far below them, which belonged to the eldest prince, the second prince, the late emperor's youngest son Xiao Shaoke, Yu Zizhen, Chen Hushan, and Fang Huaiying, were left empty.
In fact, according to their ranks, Yu Zizhen and the other two should not have sat next to the eldest prince, the second prince, and Xiao Shaoke, but Da Lu instructed the emperor to let them enter the palace for the banquet with the intention of appeasing and winning them over, so she also had someone give Yu Zizhen and the other two certain preferential treatment in terms of seating.
As for the apparent reason, Da Lu said that Yu Zizhen and the others were of similar age to the eldest prince and Xiao Shaoke, and that sitting together would prevent them from feeling lonely and sad because their loved ones were not around.
Given that all the late emperor's sons except the emperor and Xiao Shaoke had been killed, imprisoned, or exiled to remote places with harsh environments by Madam Lu, other royal relatives in Beijing did not dare to interfere with Madam Lu's decisions. So even if they were not convinced in their hearts, they did not dare to complain publicly about the "youngsters" like Yu Zizhen who had surpassed them.
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