Chapter 38: New Year's greetings at the palace on the first day of the new year
On the first day of the new year, Yun Xiangye woke up at the hour of Mao.
As soon as he opened his eyes, Yun Xiangye hurriedly checked the 30,000 taels of silver bills under the pillow. He counted them two or three times and felt relieved only after making sure that no bills were missing.
Gu Yan chuckled at the side, "You've been counting the banknotes early in the morning, are you afraid that I'll steal your banknotes?"
Yun Xiangye ignored Gu Yan. After making sure that the amount of silver was not missing, she locked the banknotes in a small wooden box beside her and hung the key to the small lock next to the jade buckle she wore around her neck to ensure that the key would not be lost.
"Mother."
Yun Xiangye saw Xiao Nuonuo coming in from the door, and hugged Xiao Nuonuo, who was wearing new clothes, in her arms, "Good boy Nuonuo."
Nanny Cao, who was following behind Nuonuo, handed three red envelopes to Yun Xiangye with both hands and said, "Princess, these are the red envelopes that Her Royal Highness the Princess, Princess Jingyu, and Madam Gu gave to Miss yesterday as New Year's gifts."
Yun Xiangye took the red envelope from Nanny Cao. She opened it and saw that the red envelopes that Madam Gu and Jingyu gave to Nuonuo contained eight hundred taels of silver notes.
The princess gave another red envelope of 10,000 taels...
Yun Xiangye looked at Gu Yan and said, "The red envelope that mother gave to Nuonuo was also 10,000 taels. Now mother gave 40,000 taels at once. It's too much. Should we give some back?"
Gu Yan said: "Mother has plenty of money, just keep it well."
Yun Xiangye put Nuonuo's red envelope into a wooden box and hid it. This red envelope for the New Year would be given to Nuonuo as a dowry in the future.
Yun Xiangye spent nearly an hour dressing up.
The palace maids were excellent at combing their hair and applying makeup.
After Yun Xiangye put on the crabapple red feather satin sable lining cloak, she felt a little strange looking at herself in the bronze mirror. She finally understood the saying "clothes make the man".
"Beautiful." Xiao Nuonuo climbed onto Yun Xiangye's legs, "Mom, it's beautiful."
Yun Xiangye chuckled and touched her daughter's head, "Nuonuo is also very beautiful."
Gu Yan urged from outside the door: "Are you ready? We can't miss the time to go to the palace to pay New Year's greetings."
Yun Xiangye carried Nuonuo and went out the door, "I'm here."
When Gu Yan saw Yun Xiangye who had carefully done her makeup, his eyes narrowed and his brows furrowed slightly.
Yun Xiangye saw Gu Yan's expression and asked, "Why are you looking at me like that?"
Gu Yan whispered, "You knew you were going to the palace to see Zhao Jing today, so why did you dress up so beautifully?"
Yun Xiangye snorted softly: "Why do I have to dress so exquisitely? It's because your good sisters think that I am wronging you by being your wife."
Gu Yan frowned slightly and said, "Don't be jealous and have wild thoughts."
"Who is jealous? It was obviously you who mentioned Zhao Jing first."
Yun Xiangye took a deep breath and said, "Forget it. It's the first day of the first lunar month. I won't argue with you."
After Yun Xiangye finished speaking, she took Nuonuo's little hand and walked out of the princess's mansion.
At the door, Her Royal Highness the Princess was already waiting in the carriage holding little Jingru.
Yun Xiangye greeted the princess and said, "Mother, Happy New Year."
Xie Zhixuan chuckled and said, "Happy New Year! Get on the carriage quickly."
Yun Xiangye carried Nuonuo and got on a carriage at the back, which slowly went towards the palace.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, many court officials and ladies came to the palace to pay New Year's greetings to the emperor and empress, and outside the palace gate were parked BMWs and sedan chairs.
After entering the palace, Gu Yan, as a court official, had to go to Taiji Palace to pay New Year's greetings. Yun Xiangye and Gu Jingyu followed Xie Zhixuan to Fengyi Palace to pay New Year's greetings to the Queen.
When they arrived at Fengyi Palace, it was already full of ladies who had come to pay New Year's greetings.
Hearing the news that Princess Sheng Zhao and Princess Jingyu, the wife of Prince Ning, wanted to see the prince, all the ladies in the palace looked outside the door. Those who had never seen Yun Xiangye were very curious.
Princess Chu, who was sitting below the Queen, smiled faintly and said, "Yan'er's wife has been back in Chang'an for many days, and I have never seen her. Today I finally get to meet her."
The Princess of Chu also looked towards the door along with everyone else, and saw Xiao Jingru who had run into the palace first.
"aunt."
Queen Wei smiled and looked at Xiao Jingru, "You are finally here in the palace. Your aunt hasn't seen you for a long time."
Little Jingru threw herself into Queen Wei's arms and said in a baby voice: "I miss my aunt, too."
Queen Wei chuckled and touched Xiao Jingru's head.
Yun Xiangye held Xiao Nuonuo's hand, lowered her eyes, and followed Xie Zhixuan into Fengyi Palace.
Yun Xiangye imitated Gu Jingyu's movements and bowed with her, "Greetings to Her Majesty the Queen, and I wish Her Majesty a happy new year."
Queen Wei said, "No need to be polite. Stand up."
The eyes of all the noble ladies were on Yun Xiangye. After seeing Yun Xiangye's appearance, they all smiled meaningfully.
When Old Madam Fu and Second Madam Fu saw Yun Xiangye's appearance, they looked at each other and both felt sorry for their own Fu Anran.
Fu Qianran, who was sitting next to Old Madam Fu, looked at Yun Xiangye's appearance, tapped the hot water bottle in her hand with her fingers, and smiled faintly. Yun Xiangye was undoubtedly beautiful, but not so beautiful that she made the second daughter of the Fu family, who was as beautiful as a fairy, lose.
Only the Princess of Chu looked extremely shocked. She dropped the teacup in her hand and asked in a shocked tone, "Xiang Ye?"
Xie Zhixuan saw the Princess of Chu calling Yun Xiangye's name and said, "Yuxiu, do you know my Xiangye? Xiangye, this is your second aunt."
Yun Xiangye walked up to the Princess of Chu, bowed and said, "Second aunt."
Princess Chu looked at Yun Xiangye in disbelief, then looked at Nuonuo beside her. In the end, she didn't say much, but just nodded lightly: "No need to be polite."
Xie Zhixuan raised her eyebrows and looked at the Princess of Chu. Considering the large number of people present, the Princess of Chu just shook her head at Xie Zhixuan. As they had been friends for many years, they understood what she meant and did not mention the matter of Yun Xiangye again.
Queen Wei chuckled and said, "You all can take your seats."
Yun Xiangye sat next to Xie Zhixuan. She saw that most of the ladies here were standing, and she felt very uncomfortable sitting there.
Especially the look that the Princess Chu opposite her gave her from time to time, which made Yun Xiangye dare only lower her head and occasionally wipe Nuonuo's little hands and tidy up the loose hair on her forehead.
Yun Xiangye did not listen carefully to what Queen Wei talked about with those court ladies.
At the moment, she was thinking about going to see her sister after the palace banquet at noon.
Today's palace banquet is held in Yuhua Hall.
Before noon, everyone went from Fengyi Palace to Yuhua Palace.
Xie Zhixuan said to Gu Jingyu: "Jingyu, take your sister-in-law to Yuhua Palace first."
Gu Jingyu nodded and replied, "Yes, mother."
As Yun Xiangye followed Gu Jingyu out of Fengyi Palace and walked towards Yuhua Palace, she could clearly feel the intentional or unintentional stares of those ladies passing by her.
"Jingyu, Crown Princess."
Yun Xiangye saw the beautiful woman coming towards him. She was wearing a cloud brocade dress with wide sleeves. She looked extremely graceful and dignified. The woman in front of him had an elegant and dignified temperament, which showed that she was not an ordinary person.
"Cousin."
Gu Jingyu smiled faintly at Fu Qianran in front of her.
Fu Qianran held the hot water bottle in her hand and said with a hint of shyness in her voice: "Jingyu, please don't scream. I'm not your cousin's wife yet."
Gu Jingyu smiled and said, "The palace has announced to the world that you will marry your cousin the Crown Prince in April and become the Crown Princess. Now it is not wrong for me to call you cousin-in-law."
When Yun Xiangye heard the word "Crown Princess", she looked up at Fu Qianran carefully. She couldn't help but tighten her hand holding Xiao Nuonuo...
In Fengyi Palace.
Xie Zhixuan looked at Princess Chu and asked, "How come you know my Xiangye?"
Queen Wei also looked at Princess Chu.
Princess Chu frowned slightly and said, "I thought she was a good person. I felt it was not easy for her to take on the family business at such a young age. I didn't care about her low status and allowed Jing'er to marry her. I didn't expect that she would disregard the oath she made and marry Yan'er."
Xie Zhixuan raised her eyebrows and said, "You said that the woman Jing'er would marry is Yun Xiangye?"
"It's her." Princess Chu said, "I'm afraid Jing'er doesn't know about this yet..."
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