Winter Solstice, Panshan Yunquan Palace.
"My lord, it has been cloudy for several days now. I'm afraid it will snow soon. Please wear more clothes and be careful not to freeze yourself and catch a cold like His Majesty did."
Song Yi tied the cloak on her while chattering.
"My dear Songyi, there are hot springs everywhere in Yunquan Palace. It is much warmer than the capital. Look at what you have given me to wear. If you keep on wearing this, I will be wrapped up like a ball!"
Ning Xihua looked at her tightly wrapped body with a look of helplessness.
Soon after the beginning of winter, Emperor Shao Yuan fell ill due to a cold.
After several treatments, the cold was cured, but after all, he was old, and when winter came, Emperor Shao Yuan felt cold and weak, and suffered from minor illnesses and pains all the time.
The imperial physician suggested that he take good care of himself, so Emperor Shao Yuan took a group of ministers and palace ladies to spend the winter in Yunquan Palace on Panshan Mountain, dozens of miles away from the capital.
Panshan has many hot springs, so the royal family of the previous dynasty built the Tangquan Palace here. After the establishment of the Dali Dynasty, the Tangquan Palace was renovated and expanded, and renamed Yunquan Palace for exclusive use by the royal family.
Today is the winter solstice, also known as the Winter Festival in Dali. According to custom, Emperor Shao Yuan hosted a banquet for his officials in the main hall of Yunquan Palace and held a "winter congratulations" ceremony to comfort the officials for their hard work throughout the year.
It was not early when Ning Xihua arrived, and the huge banquet hall was already mostly occupied.
She found King Ning's seat and sat down next to him.
"I say, you came so late just to dress up like a ball for the party?"
Prince Ning looked his daughter up and down and was amused.
Ning Xihua wore a thick cotton coat inside and a quilted coat outside. She also wore a cape over the coat and a rabbit fur collar around her neck.
The clothes were too thick, making the girl's slender figure disappear. From a distance, she really looked like a furry ball. Fortunately, the head exposed above the ball had lively eyebrows and bright face, and her appearance was still online.
Ning Xihua ignored the merciless complaints from her father and took off her cloak and fur collar with great difficulty.
After she got rid of the weight on her body, she felt relaxed and said to Prince Ning, "Even if it's a ball, your daughter is the cutest one!"
Prince Ning shook his head and smiled, and stopped teasing her. After all, he couldn't stand this girl's narcissism.
Ning Xihua finally had the mood to look around after she had tidied up, but she saw Lin Mengli sitting next to the Fourth Princess and below her.
When did these two become so close?
Logically speaking, Lin Mengli was not qualified to come to Yunquan Palace, but the Fourth Princess squeezed a seat for the little white flower in the name of reading companion and let her go to Panshan.
Ning Xihua sighed.
Sure enough, the heroine is always everywhere. No matter whether she can come to the occasion or not, she will always find various reasonable reasons to show up in the end.
She turned around subconsciously to look for Su Bi, but happened to meet Su Bi's gaze.
Ning Xihua looked away inexplicably shy, as if she was caught peeking.
After thinking about it, I felt that it was not right. Why should she be so shy?
So she looked back again openly, and smiled sweetly at Su Bi's eyes that were fixed on her.
Su Bi's expression remained unchanged, but a smile appeared in her eyes.
Prince Ning touched the goose bumps on his arms and took a sip from his wine glass.
Oh, the sour smell of love.
Emperor Shao Yuan appeared soon after, and Ning Xihua found that his health was indeed much worse than before winter. Not only was his face pale, but even his back seemed to be slightly hunched, and he looked much older.
Concubine Sun Guifei was still as radiant as ever and always accompanied him.
As usual, Emperor Shao Yuan asked the eunuchs to read out a personally written congratulatory message, praying for good weather, peace and prosperity in the coming year, and praising the hard work and great contributions of his ministers over the past year as a reward.
After the "Winter Congratulations" ceremony, there was a joyful dinner for the emperor and his ministers, and the princes also bowed and toasted to Emperor Shao Yuan in turn.
Perhaps it is because people tend to think a lot when they are sick. Looking at the young and strong princes, Emperor Shao Yuan suddenly felt emotional.
"They are all so old, but none of them are married yet. After the New Year, the crown prince will be crowned, and the third and fifth brothers are not young anymore. I am still waiting to become a grandfather."
After these words were spoken, all the ministers looked at each other in bewilderment.
Your Majesty is finally going to put the marriages of several princes on the agenda.
Concubine Sun Gui's mind came to life, and she immediately responded, "Your Majesty is right. I also want to have a grandson. But Xu'er just won't open up. I don't know if Xinyi has a crush on a girl."
Although she said this, Concubine Sun Gui looked straight in the direction of Ning Xihua, with a hint of meaning.
The smart people understood what Concubine Sun meant, and their eyes followed her to Ning Xihua. It seemed that the Third Prince had his eyes on Princess Yue Xi.
Ning Xihua secretly rolled her eyes and pretended not to know. After all, Concubine Sun Guifei didn't mention anyone by name.
Lin Mengli, however, directed her gaze towards Su Xu. Seeing Su Xu lowering his eyes with an expression of acquiescence on his face, her heart tightened and her hands in her sleeves scratched the seat so hard that she almost wanted to tear it.
When Prince Ning saw Concubine Sun Gui and Su Xu's mother and son behaving like this, he frowned and looked unhappy.
Su Xu even dared to plant spies in his Ning family army. If there was evidence, he would have reported him to the emperor long ago.
Is he crazy enough to just deliver himself to someone's door and marry him?
Emperor Shao Yuan had originally considered betrothing Ning Xihua to Su Xu. After all, the Sun family had little foundation and all their prosperity and favor were due to the emperor's grace. He was not afraid of a strong alliance between the Ning Palace and the Sun family after the marriage.
In addition, Su Xu was his most promising son, so naturally he wanted to marry him to a woman with an excellent family background and appearance.
But seeing the dissatisfaction on King Ning's face, he temporarily suppressed the thought and prepared to discuss it in detail with King Ning later.
So Emperor Shao Yuan skipped the marriages of the princes and asked about the marriage of the fourth princess instead, "The fourth princess has also reached the age of marriage, and her marriage cannot be delayed."
Concubine Sun Gui also knew that Su Xu's marriage could not be settled in a few words, so she was not disappointed. She followed the words of Emperor Shao Yuan and said, "I have a candidate in mind who can be a good son-in-law for Yue'er, but I don't know whether Your Majesty agrees or not."
Emperor Shao Yuan was somewhat curious, "Oh? Tell me about it?"
Concubine Sun Gui smiled coquettishly, "It's General Qin Songfeng from Huaihua."
Emperor Shao Yuan was somewhat surprised when he heard this. He looked at Concubine Sun Gui meaningfully, but in the end he didn't say anything.
Ning Xihua couldn't help but ask the King of Ning in a low voice, "Old man, is General Huaihua the commander of the Yulin Army?"
Prince Ning also gossiped to her in a low voice, "It's him, a third-rank general, the commander of the Yulin Army, and the most important thing is, he's a widower."
Widow? Concubine Sun wants the fourth princess to be her successor? Is this so exciting?
Concubine Sun Gui felt a little uneasy when Emperor Shao Yuan looked at her. She smiled awkwardly, but before she could say anything else, the Fourth Princess below exploded.
"I won't marry!"