Full Moon
Early the next morning, Li Qingping got up and washed and dressed.
Li Qingping is a female member of the prince's harem, a woman outside the imperial clan, and has the same rank as a fourth-rank imperial concubine. If she really dresses up, she will look quite formal.
The Great Qi also had strict regulations regarding the colors of women's formal attire. Clearly, bright yellow and red were the colors only the Empress Dowager and Empress could wear. Even the Princess of Xuan could only wear fragrant and reddish colors. Li Qingping, however, was restricted to purplish colors.
However, the purple color made Li Qingping look even fairer. She actually liked purple-colored clothes, but she mostly preferred pale purples like lilac and carnation purple.
She seldom wore such a bright purple color as her ceremonial attire, and Prince Xuan had rarely seen her, so he was very surprised to see her.
"This color suits you. I remember there are a few pieces of violet brocade in the warehouse. I will send them to you to make clothes later." Prince Xuan made the decision.
Li Qingping was not polite and said with a smile: "Okay, then thank you very much, Your Highness."
It doesn’t matter if you want it or not. There are all kinds of good stuff in Prince Xuan’s warehouse.
After putting on her makeup and having a quick snack, Li Qingping went to the front door to greet the guests. Of course, Prince Su, Prince Yue, and their princesses were greeted by Prince Xuan and his wife at the main entrance. Li Qingping, the mother of the protagonist of today's full moon banquet, only greeted the guests who were also concubines at the side door.
Several concubines who were on good terms with Li Qingping praised his attire when they entered the house: "It's truly a good day! You're so dressed like a flower!"
Soon, people from the Li Mansion also came. In addition to the first wife Cao, there was also the second wife Ma.
Perhaps Prince Xuan thought that Li Qingping hadn't seen her family for a long time, and since she couldn't see her male relatives in the front yard, he wanted her to meet Ma. So the aunt from the front yard brought Ma to Li Qingping, and the stepmother and daughter looked at each other awkwardly.
But in reality, Li Qingping was taken away by her grandmother shortly after Ma entered the family. She only occasionally visited the old lady to pay her respects, and she had no close relationship with her stepmother. Furthermore, when Ma later had her own children, she felt even less need to cultivate a relationship with Li Qingping, the legitimate daughter of the original wife. Honestly, Li Qingping and Ma were probably not as close and familiar as they were with Cao. Even caring words like "How have you been lately?" were too much for her to even acknowledge.
Fortunately, after a few polite words, Yun Su smiled and said, "Master, Aunt Wei is here to pay her respects to you."
Ma was relieved to see this and smiled tactfully, "Since the eldest wife of the Wei family is here, I won't interrupt your conversation."
When Mrs. Wei came in with Yun Lian, she met Ma. They greeted each other before leaving.
Compared to Ma, Wei's aunt An was clearly much closer to Li Qingping. Before Li Qingping married, the Wei family had always taken good care of her, especially during festivals. Unfortunately, after entering the palace, communication had become less convenient. Fortunately, a few years ago, Yu Jin chose their second daughter as his schoolmate, and their relationship had become closer once again.
"Ask my cousin how she's doing." Mrs. An still used the old-fashioned way of addressing Li Qingping. She looked him up and down several times before smiling and saying, "Now that I see my cousin is in good spirits, I'm relieved. Master was still talking about me before he came."
Li Qingping also smiled: "I'm sorry to have worried my uncle and aunt."
An took Li Qingping's hand and handed her the gift she had prepared early in the morning: "I haven't congratulated my cousin and the sixth lady on their happy day yet." As she spoke, tears welled up in her eyes.
An had known Li Qingping and his mother for a long time, even before Li Qingping's mother married. They were close friends. Later, Miss Wei became Li's second wife, and they remained close friends. After Wei's departure, if it weren't for the significant difference in family background, An and his wife would have considered taking their younger sister's only daughter back to the Wei family. Fortunately, the Li family's old lady was kind and sensible, raising her granddaughter herself, otherwise An would have been deeply concerned.
Now seeing her grown-up girl become a mother, how could An hold back her tears?
Especially since they only had this child after almost ten years in the mansion, one can imagine how difficult it must have been for this child to have lived in the mansion all these years. (The opinion of the uncle and aunt of the Wei family)
An instructed again: "We'll look at the gift later. Are you doing well now?... Aunt heard," she hesitated and said: "The fifth and sixth daughters in the mansion don't have names yet, because..." Prince Xuan has too many daughters, and he no longer cares about or likes these two little ones.
Li Qingping understood everything without having to explain it clearly. He was at a loss whether to laugh or cry, and also felt a little unhappy: "Has the news spread like this?"
"Thank you, aunt. I now have the eldest and sixth daughters, and everything is fine." Li Qingping calmed down and explained, "Actually, both children already have names. It's just that the fifth daughter was born with deficiencies, and the prince and the queen were afraid they wouldn't be able to keep her, so they put it on hold. The fifth daughter is the older sister, and it's hard for the sixth daughter to surpass her, so they've been keeping her. Now the fifth daughter is basically being taken care of. The prince just said yesterday that he would submit a memorial to the clan office in the near future to have her included in the imperial edict. Who knows, maybe the prince will explain everything clearly at the banquet later!"
Then Li Qingping whispered the names of the two children to An.
Li Qingping laughed again and said, "And if the prince didn't value Cancan, even if the queen was my sister, she wouldn't dare to hold such a grand full moon banquet today!"
Prince Xuan even wrote a letter on his way back to Beijing requesting a grand full moon banquet.
Thinking of the grand ceremony she had seen earlier, which was comparable to the full moon banquet for a legitimate daughter, An immediately breathed a sigh of relief: "Then I feel relieved."
It was getting late, so Li Qingping had Yuxi brought over and let An cherish her for a while. Then Princess Xuan had someone come and bring Yuxi to the front, indicating that the banquet was about to begin.
At this time, Liang Pei'an came over and said, "Someone from the palace has come to give our sixth young lady a gift. Madam, please go to the front and receive the reward."
Finally I’ve waited for it!
Li Qingping felt relieved. He had been feeling uneasy since Prince Xuan's mansion opened its doors to welcome guests, but he still hadn't received the invitation from the palace. He was afraid that his hopes would be dashed, but now he felt relieved.
An was also very excited: it was actually a reward from the palace! In this palace, apart from Yu Jin and He Yan, the eldest children, only the legitimate son He Lu had received this honor, and now their cousin's daughter would also be included.
It’s a pity that she couldn’t go to the front with him, and could only look at Li Qingping’s back and sigh.
The other guests were also surprised. But no matter what they thought in their hearts, they all smiled and congratulated Prince Xuan and Princess Xuan, saying that it was truly a favor.
Prince Xuan and the other prince simply thanked him, and then went to the front together to welcome the angels from the palace.
Besides the Emperor's gift, the Empress also sent a gift. The Empress Dowager always followed the Emperor's lead, so it seems the Empress Dowager had received the news and felt bad about not sending any.
After the eunuchs finished reading the list of gifts, Prince Xuan, Princess Xuan, and Li Qingping bowed deeply to the imperial palace, giving the eunuchs money. After receiving the refreshing tea and generous money, the eunuchs smiled and said many good things before returning to the palace. Once everyone had left, Prince Xuan's mansion was once again bustling with activity.
Over there, Prince Xuan held his little daughter in his arms and walked around among his brothers. Looking at this fair and tender little niece, all the princes loved her so much.
Especially the Prince of Yue, who wanted a daughter but failed, was so obsessed with it that he almost glued his eyes to it.
"ah."
Perhaps it was because Prince Yue's eyes were too fiery, Yuxi stretched out her little finger and called out to Prince Yue, then giggled.
"Oh, our Yuxi likes Fourth Uncle, doesn't she?" Prince Xuan had just announced his daughter's name, and Prince Yue pronounced it very well. He smiled and said, "Fourth Uncle likes Yuxi too. How about giving Yuxi this koi jade pendant to play with?"
"Ah!" Yuxi laughed again, successfully getting a jade pendant of high quality from her fourth uncle.
The little girl clutched the jade pendant tightly and smiled at her father.
Prince Xuan tapped her nose helplessly: "Are you showing off to your father about this good thing? Huh?"
Prince Yue was touched by her cuteness: "Yuxi! There are still many jade pendants in Fourth Uncle's house!"
Prince Xuan said to his daughter, "Why don't you thank your fourth uncle?"
"ah!"
"Send it! When we get back, Fourth Uncle will open the warehouse!"
Prince Xuan laughed and said that his fourth brother had spent a lot of money. Seeing that his daughter was a little sleepy, he asked the wet nurse to send the child back.
The prince then laughed and said, "No wonder Fourth Brother dotes on Eleventh. It turns out he likes girls. If Fourth Brother had a daughter himself, he would surely spoil her to the heavens!"
Prince Yue sighed, "It's a pity that my brother's fate with a daughter seems to be over. I just hope that today I can enjoy more of Big Brother and Yuxi's happiness, so that I can have a lovely daughter in the future."
At the women's banquet, Princess Yue had naturally heard what had happened to her foolish son. She said helplessly to Princess Xuan, "After I gave birth to my second child, my master insisted that I have another. But I haven't recovered well, and now I'm just hoping one of the concubines can have a daughter to fulfill his dream. He's so fond of everyone's daughter now that he'll definitely open the treasury to buy more gifts later. Tell Qingping not to misunderstand."
Princess Xuan smiled and said, "I remember that. But as for my daughter, everything that's meant to happen will happen. Who knows, maybe the next one will be fate."
Princess Yue also smiled and said, "Then I'll borrow your good words from my sister-in-law."
When the banquet was almost over, the Princess of Yue went to Li Qingping and told him what had just happened: "There are so many fine things in those lords' storehouses. My wife is a big collector of jade pendants, and nine out of ten of them are top-notch. Please don't be shy and accept them all. After all, they are gifts from your uncle out of his love for his niece."
Li Qingping laughed so hard: "I know, the prince and the queen just sent someone to tell me."
"Speaking of your daughter's name..." Princess Yue pondered for a moment, "She is truly beloved. When my eldest brother told us the name, no one spoke, but we were all shocked."
The safety of the fifth daughter was not mentioned. The girl was indeed frail and weak, and it was understandable for a father to want his daughter to be safe. However, the name Yuxi was indeed a precious and favored one. The royal family had many rules, and unless there were special circumstances, the name was based on the generation name.
It can be seen that the Sixth Miss’s status in Prince Xuan’s heart is indeed different.
"This child came at the right time." Li Qingping himself couldn't explain it clearly, he just smiled and said vaguely.
After the banquet officially ended, Prince Xuan came to Li Qingping's courtyard with a strong smell of alcohol.
"My younger brothers have indeed grown up and now dare to drink from me," Prince Xuan said with a clear smile after drinking the hangover soup he had prepared long ago. In the past, the younger ones would never dare to do that, for fear that he would check the students' homework on behalf of the teacher.
Prince Xuan was obviously talking to himself, so without Li Qingping's response, she just silently took off his shoes and socks and said, "Go take a bath first, then come and talk to me."
"Are you disgusted by my smell?" Prince Xuan sniffed. Well, he himself disliked it, so he didn't usually drink much. So he got up and went to bathe.
When Prince Xuan returned to the inner room, Li Qingping had already untied her hair and was waiting for him on the couch.
The two of them first hugged each other and talked.
"I never imagined that the rumors would become so outrageous because I hadn't registered my two children in the Imperial Book of Documents." Prince Xuan was also amused when he talked about this. He had just returned to the capital when the full moon banquet was held, and he hadn't had time to hear the rumors. Fortunately, he heard the news today.
Li Qingping said, "I just heard about it today."
Prince Xuan frowned and said, "It shouldn't have been long since it was spread, but it's still not pleasant."
"Whether it was spread by someone with ulterior motives or not, I will investigate thoroughly." Prince Xuan closed his eyes, then touched Li Qingping's shoulder and said with a smile, "They are just trivial matters. They just spread rumors about other people's houses when they have nothing better to do. Now, it's time for us to go to bed."
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