The concubine excitedly pulled Huo Jinqian aside and asked him about his life, including his childhood and whether his adoptive parents were kind to him.
Huo Jinqian answered each question, saying that his adoptive parents treated him very well, treating him like their own son. Even his grandparents treated him like their own grandson. His family was poor, so they supported him to study alone, which gave him the opportunity to go to Beijing and take the imperial examination.
After hearing this, the concubine was very grateful to the Huo family. She thought that after the banquet, she would give some rewards to his adoptive parents as a token of gratitude for their kindness in raising her grandson.
Until Aunt Tian said to the Concubine Dowager: "Your Highness, the banquet is about to begin!"
"You go first, I'll go later."
The Concubine Dowager said to the Queen and others.
The Queen took the Prince and others to bid farewell to the Queen Mother and returned to Jingren Palace.
The Crown Prince and the Crown Princess took Huo Jinqian and Gao Zhijun out of Jingren Palace and returned to the Crown Prince's Mansion.
When Huo Jin, Zhang Chan and Zhuang Die saw the prince and his companions return, they respectfully saluted the prince and princess.
Because the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess had to accompany the Emperor, Gao Zhijun and Huo Jinqian took the Sun and Huo families and went ahead.
The banquet was held in Baohedian, where the banquet is held every Mid-Autumn Festival and New Year's Eve.
Many ministers and their families came and sat on both sides.
The banquet was divided into two sides, men on the left and women on the right, with a screen in the middle.
Huo Jinqian took the men from the Sun family and the Huo family, followed Mulang and Polang to the left, and sat down in their seats.
The positions for Huo Jinqian and the others were arranged by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince at the request of Gulang. They were behind him, which was the best position.
The first row is for the crown prince and the princes; the second row is for the prime minister and the dukes; the third row is for the marquises and earls, followed by the six ministers, and below that are the ministers.
The same was true for the women. Sitting in the first row were the Crown Princesses and princesses; sitting in the second row were the wives of the ministers on the left.
Gao Zhijun was sitting in the first row, on the right side of the Crown Princess, next to her. Her status was higher than that of the other princesses because this banquet was held for her.
Zhuang Die, Zhang Chan and others sat together with Gao Zhijun. This was also arranged by the prince. He was afraid that the Sun family and the Huo family would enter the palace for the first time and cause unnecessary trouble, which would bring shame to Gao Zhijun.
Gao Zhijun sat down, and the women below began to talk.
"Who is that? Why is she sitting in the first row? Only princesses and princesses can sit there. She's sitting right next to the Crown Princess. What's her background?"
"I don't know, I haven't seen it. It should be that blind person sitting there. There will be a good show to watch soon."
"Let's just wait and see. That position belongs to the Second Princess. She's not someone to be trifled with. She relies on her in-laws' influence to embarrass us."
"Stop talking, she's looking over here!"
When the wife of the Minister of Rites saw Gao Zhijun looking at her, she hurriedly reminded the women around her.
Of course Gao Zhijun heard their discussion, but she didn't say anything. She just turned around and looked back.
She was dropped here by chance, so high-profile, it would be strange if there was no discussion. As long as no one was deliberately insulting her maliciously, she would turn a blind eye.
Zhang Chan, Zhuang Die, and Huo Jinxiu were so angry that they clenched their fists and wanted to go up to argue with them, but were pulled back by Gao Zhijun.
Hong Qiujue knew that this was how the officialdom was. The eldest daughters of officials felt that they were superior to others and never looked down on the women of lower rank or the eldest daughters of small families.
"Princess, the first person to speak was the wife of the Minister of War. She is a troublemaker and arrogant person."
"The second person to speak was the wife of the Minister of Justice. This person is arrogant and relies on her position as a minister to bully the women of lower ranks. Therefore, her reputation is not very good."
"The third person who spoke was the wife of the Minister of Works. She loves gossip and enjoys watching plays and finding fault with others."
"If these three ladies get together, they'll be like a dam, driving the other ladies to tears. So when the wives of the ministers in the court see them, they turn around and run away, not daring to associate with them."
Hongyue secretly told Gao Zhijun the personalities of the three wives of the ministers.
Gao Zhijun couldn't help but sigh. No matter which dynasty, gossip was a woman's nature.
Zhuang Die and Zhang Chan were so angry that their faces flushed red, and at the same time, they were also a little panicked. They had no backers, while these ladies all had backers and support, and they didn't dare to bully them casually.
Although Zhijun was adopted as the emperor's goddaughter and given the title of Princess Xiangyun, she was not his biological daughter. If she quarreled with those ladies, the emperor might not necessarily help Zhijun.
Therefore, they cannot act rashly and cannot cause trouble for Zhijun.
Gao Zhijun didn't think so: she wasn't afraid of trouble, but she didn't want to cause it. Because if she did, she would have to spend time and energy dealing with it, and she was too lazy to deal with it.
When the wife of the Minister of Revenue heard what they said, she was so angry that she stood up and started cursing.
"Who are you? How dare you criticize Princess Xiangyun? Who is Princess Xiangyun? She's our Daliang's benefactor. Without her plague cure, you'd probably all be dead. Is that how you treat your benefactor? Furthermore, her powerful weapons defeated the Tatars, forcing them to flee, and enabled us to live a stable life. Her high-yield crops and agricultural tools benefited the people, but none of them deserve our respect. She's also my granddaughter, the daughter of the Prince of Zhenbei, and the Emperor's goddaughter. Is that a status you can criticize?"
The wife of the Minister of Revenue showed no mercy and ruthlessly attacked the three ladies in front of all the female relatives.
The three ladies were so ashamed that they dared not say anything. Their faces turned as red as pig livers, which was very ugly.
They didn't know that that was Princess Xiangyun. If they had known, they would never have dared to say anything, let alone be presumptuous.
The elders in their family said that they wanted their son (grandson) to marry Princess Xiangyun. If they knew that they had just committed a crime against Princess Xiangyun, their future lives would probably be difficult.
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