The ladies nearby were unaware of this. One of them seemed to be warm-hearted. She came over and said, "I don't know how Miss Chen offended Princess Yongjia. She has to listen to your lesson here."
An Ning looked at the lady who was speaking, smiled, and said, "It's no big deal. It's just that Miss Zhang's carriage almost hit my carriage last time, and then Miss Zhang's maid took advantage of her power and wanted to smash my carriage."
Zhang Wenhua wanted to stop An Ning, but An Ning spoke very quickly. By the time she reacted, An Ning had already finished. The young lady didn't know what was going on. Her face turned red instantly. She didn't know whether to leave or stay. A young lady who was with her came over and stopped her, saying, "Let's go quickly. The flower viewing banquet will start soon."
As they talked, the two left. An Ning ignored Zhang Wenhuai, whose face was turning blue and purple, and turned to the place where the flower viewing banquet was held.
Zhang Wenhui looked at An Ning's figure walking away, gritting her teeth and thinking: I'll let you be arrogant for a while, and then you won't be able to cry even if you want to.
An Ning first went to pay her respects to the eldest princess. The eldest princess was the elder sister of the current emperor. Because she helped the emperor when he ascended the throne, the emperor respected her quite a bit.
An Ning bowed to the princess and said, "Yongjia pays respects to the princess."
The princess quickly asked the nanny beside her to help An Ning up. She looked at An Ning and said with a smile, "It's true that hearing about you is worse than meeting you in person. I've heard the queen mention you a long time ago, but I didn't expect you to be such a pretty girl."
An Ning smiled and said, "Thank you for the compliment, Princess. This is the perfume I made. I hope you don't mind it." Then she presented the perfume she brought with both hands.
The princess motioned to the nanny to take the perfume, and then asked, "What is this thing called perfume?"
An Ning explained: "If you put perfume on your wrists, it will emit a fragrance that lasts longer. And with perfume, you don't have to fumigate your clothes."
The princess became interested and asked An Ning to show her how to do it. An Ning took the perfume from the nanny, took out some, and evenly applied it on the princess' wrist. Immediately, a unique lily fragrance emanated.
The princess couldn't let it go and said, "This perfume is so good." Then she smelled An Ning's scent and said, "You smell good too, like the scent of peach blossoms."
An Ning nodded and said, "Yes, I am wearing peach blossom scented perfume today."
The princess and An Ning hit it off right away and started talking. The other ladies also read her expressions and saw that the princess liked An Ning, so they gradually became friendly with her. After they talked for a while, the nanny beside the princess said, "Princess, everyone is here."
The princess looked around and said, "Now that everyone is here, let's get started!"
The flower-viewing banquet was attended not only by young ladies but also young masters. It was called a flower-viewing banquet, but in fact it was a large-scale blind date. Logically, An Ning had been granted marriage and was about to get married, so she did not need to attend such a flower-viewing banquet. However, because An Ning had just arrived, the eldest princess also wanted to take this opportunity to meet An Ning.
The flower viewing banquet began. An Ning followed the princess to the garden, which had been decorated with a variety of flowers in full bloom. There was an artificial stream between the flowers, and the male and female guests sat on both sides. When the banquet started, the servants placed dishes and wine glasses on the stream, which was called Qushui Liushang.
Games are indispensable at banquets. A servant puts a wine glass on a stream. The glass floats downstream. Whoever the glass stops in front of has to perform a show.
For a while, the banquet was filled with laughter. An Ning had no intention of participating in the game, so she just sat there and watched. Some ladies and gentlemen recited poems and painted, while others played the piano and danced. It was so lively. Zhang Wenhua was sitting not far from An Ning. At this time, the wine glass just floated in front of her. She stood up calmly, bowed, and said, "I have prepared a piano performance. Sorry for my poor performance." The servants put the piano in place, and Zhang Wenhua sat down gracefully and began to play.
Although An Ning didn't like Zhang Wenhuai, she couldn't deny that she played the piano quite well. After a while, the song ended, and Zhang Wenhuai bowed again and sat down. As soon as Zhang Wenhuai sat down, a new round of games began.
This time, the wine glass slowly stopped in front of An Ning. When An Ning was about to say that she didn't know how to do it, Zhang Wenying spoke up. She said, "I've heard that Princess Yongjia is a very talented person. Don't hide your shortcomings this time!"
An Ning was not a coward. Although he could not recite other poems, he could recite quite a few ancient poems. Moreover, in this imaginary era, An Ning was not worried about being exposed. So An Ning stood up and said, "I will recite a poem. I am sorry for my awful performance." Then he pretended to think for a moment and said, "On a fine day, I went to the bank of the Si River to look for flowers. The boundless scenery was new for a moment. I could easily recognize the face of the east wind. The spring is always full of flowers in all colors." As soon as he finished speaking, he was greeted with cheers.
Zhang Wenhuai didn't expect that An Ning could actually write poetry. Her expression looked a little unhappy, but she tried hard to maintain a smile.
There were many talented people at the banquet, and they all applauded An Ning's poem. Even the eldest princess said, "Great! I didn't expect Yongjia to be so talented. I declare that the first prize today belongs to Yongjia."
An Ning quickly stood up and thanked him. The eldest princess nodded and said, "Let's end today's game here. The scenery in my garden is beautiful. You can enjoy it at will." After that, she stood up and went to the flower hall.
After the princess left, all the young ladies stood up and went to visit. An Ning was surrounded by many young ladies who loved poetry, and they pestered her to write down the poem she had just written. After two years of hard practice, An Ning's handwriting had improved a lot. Although it was not as good as that of a master, it was still presentable. So she took the pen and ink prepared by the maid and wrote it down.
One of the round-faced girls said, "Princess Yongjia, can you give me this poem? I love it so much."
An Ning nodded without hesitation and said, "Okay, I'll give it to you then!"
The round-faced girl said happily, "Thank you, Princess. My name is Song Tangxi, and my father is the Grand Tutor. You can come to my house to play with me when you have time."
An Ning nodded and said, "Okay, I'll come to visit you when I have time." Song Tangxi was a lively person. She became familiar with An Ning in a short time and they treated each other as sisters.
An Ning was talking to Song Tangxi when a maidservant carrying tea accidentally spilled the tea on An Ning's clothes. Fortunately, the tea was not hot, otherwise, the spring clothes were so thin that she might get burned.
The little maid was so scared that she immediately knelt down and kowtowed to beg for mercy. An Ning did not pursue the matter and only said, "It's okay, get up quickly! Clean up the broken pieces and don't hurt anyone." The little maid thanked him repeatedly.
In fact, this little maid was also very innocent. She was just walking normally, and someone pushed her. The tray in her hand was unstable and she fell to the ground, and the tea in the teapot spilled all over An Ning's body.
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