Chapter 141 The Princess is Mighty and Defeats the Invincible
The Queen sat in the main seat and looked at the Imperial Concubine sitting at the side and said, "Are you sure this... this person is the princess of the Zhu Kingdom? Not a woman from our Southern Dynasty?"
"Is there anything wrong with that? These are all names passed down by the eunuch over there! I dare not believe them! But at least the four behind are ours. It seems they are not uneducated or unskilled."
The imperial concubine was very satisfied with the result. After all, she had never thought that there was such a woman in her family! She was no less charming than she was back then!
Then he pointed out a woman who had performed well at the banquet that day, who was one of the four women, and chose her as the marriage partner for a man of the same age in her family.
She wasn't just pointing fingers randomly. The boy had already set his eyes on this girl and was waiting for the marriage to be arranged.
I had originally planned to whisper something in the emperor's ear in a few days, but I didn't expect this opportunity to come. It just so happened that I took this opportunity to point out the name and surname, so that the queen would not be able to interfere.
And she only wanted this one person, and left three for the queen, which just gave the queen enough face!
The queen listened to her words, glanced at the names on the list, and saw that there was someone she wanted, so she said nothing more... and ordered the eunuch to do it. Let the twenty women return to the palace.
The next day.
It was exactly three quarters past three in the morning when the empress and the imperial concubine got up to prepare for the day's affairs. They did not stay in the imperial garden, but went to the Taihu Lake in the palace.
There is a pavilion right next to the lake, which is a great place to play the piano.
Just at sunrise, the Empress arrived, followed by the Imperial Concubine. Due to her high rank and title, the Imperial Concubine's carriage was no different from the Empress's, which was also permitted by the Emperor.
However, his son was only a wise king and did not have much power in the court, so he was inevitably suppressed by the queen.
The imperial concubine felt very proud. She didn't want to be stared at all the time. In fact, it was good to be able to live in peace in this position... There was no need to fight or compete for anything.
The twenty ladies of high officials and nobles had been waiting here for the two men to appear, including the princess of course.
She naturally knew that she had won first place, so she was particularly happy. Standing by the lake and looking at the artificially dug lake, she felt that it was a waste of manpower and resources. With these people, it would be better to grow more food to improve the lives of those people who could not afford to eat.
She thought so...
The sound of the arrival of the Queen and the Imperial Concubine rang in her ears. She knelt on the ground with the other women. When she heard the word "level", they all stood up.
The palace maids began to set up the scene. There was only one song on the Qixuanqin's score... and everyone played that one song.
Everyone sat down in the order of their names... The palace maids placed the zither and stool in front of the high screen, and every palace maid whose name was not called went forward.
The first one to go up performed poorly because she was nervous.
The second one was slightly better, but some notes were out of tune. I finally found them, but it still didn't meet the standard.
The third one finally gave everyone a face, there were no mistakes, but the song lacked emotion.
It was not until the last person in the morning went up to play a song that the Queen and the Imperial Concubine nodded slightly. At the end, the Imperial Concubine played a song... The sound of the piano was sonorous and powerful, and majestic.
The Queen raised her eyebrows... She had never known that this Imperial Concubine could play the piano, and played so well. She must have practiced diligently in the palace. Why didn't her palace servants inform her?
On the contrary, it is only in this kind of occasion that I hear this piano music. No wonder the emperor likes the past! And he likes the imperial concubine. Not only is she good-looking, but her face has not changed in all these years... It's like she is immortal.
She likes him because he is beautiful and talented.
The song is over!
The princess was stunned by what she heard. She thought she was very good at playing the zither, but compared to the imperial concubine, she was just a child! No wonder the old emperor just said she was a child, fooling around.
She found such a large group of women to accompany her. It turned out that there were hidden dragons and crouching tigers who would not be let out.
The princess understood the rules of the Southern Dynasty, but there was one thing she didn't know, that is, the emperor would only allow the imperial concubine and other concubines to play music during family banquets.
However, the emperor really liked the imperial concubine so much that even the empress didn’t know for so many years that the imperial concubine was good at playing the piano, let alone those ministers!
So, she didn't know this!
She thought the old emperor had done it on purpose to humiliate her, and she was furious! She decided not to hide her edge anymore, but to reach all the women here and make her name known to the people in this Southern Dynasty capital.
Her revenge has just begun. How dare you underestimate her!
Let’s wait and see!
In the next few days, she won all of them without exception. It seemed that only the Imperial Concubine could compete with her, but the Imperial Concubine was already a member of the royal family.
You can’t show up in public anymore!
Prince Rui became anxious and knelt in the court, "Father, I am useless. The princess of Zhu country seems to know everything and can get first place in every subject. I can't do anything about it. The girls from those noble families are all no match for her..."
When the emperor saw Prince Rui like this, he knew that he had no other choice.
He thought the matter was handled alright... but the work was a bit too strong. So the only other option was to try... to get Prince Rui to take over.
"How about this! Tomorrow we'll hold another palace banquet... entertain all officials of the fifth rank and above who have daughters. Just say we're looking for a playmate for the princess in Kyoto. So, we need a daughter of a minister with an official position."
It was only done in private before, but now it is filmed in public.
Tomorrow it will depend on whether the princess will give face to the Southern Dynasty. Even if she doesn't, the emperor has a way to deal with it.
The banquet started directly at noon on the second day.
The princess sat below the queen, opposite her was the imperial concubine, below them were the crown prince and the prince, and below them were the first-rank officials and the prime minister.
Gu Rongyu didn't even accept the marriage proposal, so he was not here. He missed Chang Xixi too much and started drinking at home.
The princess stood up first, picked up her wine glass, and said to the emperor, "Your Majesty, you are so kind! You allow me to act so recklessly, and you worry that I will be lonely, so you find me a companion."
"This is all part of our Southern Dynasty's hospitality. Since you're seeking a marriage alliance with our country, we must find a husband that the princess will be satisfied with. That will take some time... Feel free to stay in Kyoto for a while."
"Thank you very much for your hospitality, Your Majesty."
"This time, the princess herself set the questions... and asked the women to answer them. The answers varied... Some required knowledge of herbs, while others required simple scholarship."
Only one person answered three questions, and that was Mr. Lu’s daughter, Miss Lu!
She was able to answer these questions thanks to Chang Xixi who wrote to her from time to time and taught her some logic and thinking skills.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
