Every word the little princess said was for Tianqi's sake. In the eyes of these ladies, Jiang Qingqing was just a well-behaved and cute little girl.

The ladies were all cheering and laughing. Jiang Qingqing was also used to speaking in a way that suited the people. Whenever she saw someone teasing her, she would pick out the most exquisite parts of the other person and praise them. After a while, even the cold and aloof ladies could not help but curl their eyes and tease Jiang Qingqing when they saw her.

About half an hour later, Empress Xu's procession was lined up in the courtyard, and all the ladies stood up to welcome her arrival.

Empress Xu could tell that she had just accompanied the Emperor to deal with matters of the previous dynasty, so she immediately went to Huaning Palace. She saw Jiang Qingqing surrounded by a group of ladies who were usually stern and indifferent, and she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the atmosphere was not as awkward as she had imagined.

In the previous dynasty, in addition to ministers from the capital who came to the palace to present gifts, neighboring countries also sent envoys to come and celebrate under the pretext of friendly communication.

When Jiang Qingqing heard the word neighboring country, her first reaction was that damn Li State.

"Mother, Qingqing has a question." Jiang Qingqing sat next to the queen. She pulled Queen Xu's gorgeous palace dress and spoke in a low voice.

The Queen bowed her head and nodded, motioning for her to ask.

"If the envoys from the Li Kingdom come here, will the two protons of the Li Kingdom be released?"

The queen looked at Jiang Qingqing's face carefully, while fixing her slightly messy hair, she explained softly: "According to the rules, it should be like this, but Princess Han of Li State made a mistake a few days ago, so we are not allowed to meet her. Unless the envoy of Li State takes the initiative to ask to meet their princess, we will not take the initiative to ask."

When Jiang Qingqing heard this, the heaviness in her heart did not ease at all.

The middle-aged woman just now was the wife of Grand Tutor Xu, a first-rank imperial lady with a high status. When Madam Xu saw that there was only a little girl like Jiang Qingqing in the palace, she suddenly remembered the scene in the palace a few years ago and couldn't help but sigh.

"If Princess Qi Yang were still in Kyoto, the palace would surely be more lively today." Mrs. Xu's sudden recollection made everyone's faces look more or less a little unpleasant.

Jiang Qingqing quickly put aside the heaviness in her heart.

Princess Qiyang? Who is that?

She was confused in her heart, but soon another lady with an imperial title answered her question.

"Princess Qiyang has volunteered to guard the emperor's tomb for three years. Now it should be almost time for her to reach marriage. If she doesn't return to the capital, how can we discuss marriage?"

Jiang Qingqing's original memory of other times was very vague. She only vaguely remembered that there was a character named Sister Qi Yang. As for why she left Kyoto and what kind of temperament this person had, it was extremely vague.

Empress Xu sat in the main seat. When she heard the words "Imperial Mausoleum", her eyes darkened slightly. She looked at the two imperial ladies with a warning and said carefully, "Your Highness' birthday should always be considered."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Mrs. Xu quickly lowered her voice and stopped talking about this matter.

The atmosphere in the palace dropped to freezing point for a moment, but the silence was soon broken by the scene of the imperial concubine outside.

There was only one imperial concubine in the palace, and that was Zhao. When Jiang Qingqing mentioned Imperial Concubine Zhao, she thought of the incident a few days ago when Jiang Chen fell into the water and the Second Prince was pushed out by Han Qiming to be the scapegoat. When she heard that the Second Prince had fainted after kneeling in the Qiankun Palace for less than half a day, Imperial Concubine Zhao showed her motherly love and fainted from crying.

In short, the adopted mother and son suffered a lot of grievances, and Concubine Zhao didn't go out for several days.

This was the last time he saw Concubine Zhao since Jiang Chen fell into the water.

On the grand day, Concubine Zhao was still dressed brightly and beautifully, with lots of jewels. Jiang Qingqing noticed the golden crown on Concubine Zhao's high bun at first sight, and sighed in her heart that the daughters of the Zhao family were different, and their dowry was so generous.

Today, Concubine Zhao did not look tired or haggard at all. Her carefully retouched makeup added a touch of gentleness to her temperament. However, the golden glow all over her body still looked a little strange.

Concubine Zhao walked in and saw the ladies of honor. Her eyes quickly fell on the woman next to Madam Xu.

After just a glance, Concubine Zhao calmly withdrew her gaze, looked at everyone again with a smile on her face, and sat happily in another seat at the bottom.

"It's so lively, what were you talking about earlier?"

Empress Xu calmly took over her topic, as if the previous topic had never happened, "They all asked about Qingqing's birthday gift and wanted the idea of ​​benefiting the family and the country, and praised our Qingqing for her effective study in the Imperial College."

Concubine Zhao let out a sigh of understanding. She looked at the tiny Jiang Qingqing, smiled and said gently, "Speaking of birthday gifts, I did bring a gift. I wonder if Your Highness likes it."

As she spoke, Concubine Zhao raised her hands and clapped, and the palace maid waiting outside the door hurried in, holding a ball of white fluff.

When Jiang Qingqing saw it for the first time, she thought it was some kind of fur, but when she took a closer look, she realized that it was actually a cuddly little kitten that was not even one year old!

Cat!

As a cat lover who has a great affection for cats, Jiang Qingqing's eyes brightened up.

Cats and dogs are allowed in Tianqi's harem, and no one is averse to these small animals, so there will always be one or two cats in some palaces.

"I don't know if Your Highness likes it or not. I found this cat in the Imperial Garden a few days ago. Because it looked so young, I couldn't bear to let it wander around the palace, so I just kept it. If Your Highness likes this cat, why don't you keep it?"

When Empress Xu saw the white, long-haired kitten, although she did not show much resistance, she still took the initiative to stop the palace maid from showing the kitten to Jiang Qingqing.

"This cat is not easy to tame. Your Highness is still young, and it is not easy to tame this kind of cat. If something unexpected happens, it will be bad. It is better to keep it in the Imperial Concubine's Palace first, and wait until its temperament stabilizes and Your Highness is older before raising it."

Having said that, he asked someone to take the cat away.

This was a secret contest between the Queen and the Imperial Concubine. Jiang Qingqing was originally curious about the cat, but in a moment she restrained her emotions and tried to be an invisible person.

Concubine Zhao always looked kind. She just smiled and took a step back calmly. "If that's the case, it won't be too late to give the cat to Your Highness after I've trained it well."

The comparison without the flash of the knife soon disappeared.

At this moment, it was time for the birthday banquet to be held in the front hall. All the women in Huaning Palace walked towards the front hall, and they all surrounded Jiang Qingqing.

Jiang Qingqing quickly put aside what happened in Huaning Palace. After all, the truly lively place was not Huaning Palace, but the Great Hall of the Former Tianqi Dynasty, the venue for today's banquet.

What she was more curious about was the envoy from the State of Li.