Chapter 114 The Life of the Disliked Emperor (2)

Today is a family dinner. The number of people is not too many, but not too few either. In addition to Princess Kangle's family, there are the princes and princesses in the palace, and their mothers.

But there are many children nowadays, so it seems that quite a few people come here.

The Star-Picking Pavilion is not a big place and was usually only used for climbing up and looking far into the distance. I don’t know what the emperor was thinking this year, as he wanted to hold a banquet here.

It's not a big place, but there are just four round tables placed very closely together. If a fat person comes, I'm afraid there won't be enough room for them.

The Star-Picking Pavilion is the highest point in the palace, so the wind is very strong. Because the emperor was going to have a banquet there, the Ministry of Internal Affairs hurriedly made some wind-blocking curtains to block the surroundings overnight, trying to make it look beautiful but not to freeze the emperor.

"The Queen said it's too cold up here, but I think this is great. It won't be cold if there are more people."

Princess Kangle clearly saw that when the emperor was speaking, the queen rolled her eyes while drinking tea.

Princess Kangle felt that such a harem was much more interesting than the previous one full of fighting and quarreling.

"Don't stand anymore, take a seat." The emperor lifted his robe and sat down.

The rest of the people were hesitant and didn't know where to sit.

According to the old rules, the emperor would naturally sit side by side with the empress, but at that time there were no separate tables, just one long table. After the emperor and empress sat side by side, the others sat on both sides according to their seniority.

But today was different. There were four tables at once, leaving everyone at a loss as to where to sit.

"Why aren't you moving? Just sit wherever you want. We don't need to follow any rules today. Just treat it as a normal family dinner. Sit wherever you want."

As soon as the emperor finished speaking, the empress walked to the seat farthest from the emperor and sat down.

After she sat down, Concubine Xian Guifei felt a little regretful, as that seat was originally her favorite, but it was given to the Empress. She simply walked over and sat next to the Empress.

The Queen glanced at Consort Xian Guifei and asked, "What are you doing? The two seats next to me are reserved for Kang Le and Zhao Yang."

"The adults sit with the adults, the children sit with the children, and the princess sits on the other side."

"Kangle, come and sit here with me. Xuan'er, you and your sisters can sit here too."

The Queen waved to Princess Kangle and told her daughter to let her and the other princesses sit at the table next to her.

Upon seeing this, the remaining concubines came over one after another to sit with the Empress and Consort Xiangui. Those who had no room would rather ask for more stools than sit somewhere else.

After Princess Kangle sat down, she couldn't help but glance at the emperor's expression to see if he could tell that he was being disliked by his concubines.

However, the emperor seemed very happy at this time. He didn't seem to be rejected at all. He even praised Concubine Xiangui for her good idea.

"Adults sit with adults, and children sit with children. This is just right. The eldest, the second, the third, the fifth, the sixth, the seventh, and the eighth, you are adults now, come and sit with daddy. You too, sit with uncle."

Not counting those who are still in the arms and feeding, there are eleven princes here today. Except for the one the emperor just mentioned, starting from the ninth prince, the rest are still sixteen years old, so the emperor naturally regards them as children.

Although twenty is the age of coming of age, even in ordinary families, when a child reaches the age of fifteen or sixteen, the family members feel that the child has grown up and has become a little adult, let alone a child born in the royal family.

Xie Yuan was quite self-aware. He knew that the emperor had never liked him, so he did not move forward and consciously planned to go to the children's table.

"Boyuan, don't leave. Let's have a few drinks today. We are the only two adults here today."

Xie Yuan didn't dare to say it. In fact, he was a few months younger than the princess, so the two oldest people here were not really them.

When they sat down, the second prince insisted on leaving the seat next to the emperor for the third prince, but the third prince thought that they should be seated according to seniority. In the end, the two of them argued for a long time, and the second prince regretfully lost and sat next to the emperor.

The emperor was quite happy to see them like this, "That's what brothers should be like, humble and harmonious."

Princess Kangle finally understood why the Queen rolled her eyes at the Emperor, because she wanted to do that too.

"Everyone is seated, let's start the meal."

As soon as the emperor finished speaking, Deqing beside him lifted the curtain, walked out, and clapped his hands.

After a short while, the prepared dishes were served one by one.

In fact, the dishes in the palace banquet were all prepared in advance and kept warm, and if they came from the kitchen, they only needed to be heated up downstairs. The Ministry of Internal Affairs also made some renovations under the Zhaixing Pavilion and built several stoves.

If not for this, in this kind of weather, the dishes would have been frozen into lumps of ice when they were brought here from the kitchen.

The emperor drank two cups and felt much happier when he saw that his empress was getting along well with his concubines, his sons were friendly and respectful to each other, and his daughters were well-behaved and lovely.

"Eldest, second, and third brother, you will be married soon. When you are married, you will truly become adults. You will leave the palace and start your own household. You must live a good life."

"Yes, I will follow my father's teachings."

The three princes stood up and saluted.

"Sit down, sit down. I told you that family dinners don't focus on these things. When you get married in the future, you must love your wives and live in harmony with each other."

“——Snap!”

"Your Majesty, please forgive me. I dropped my chopsticks." The queen said forgiveness, but there was a sarcastic expression on her face as she lowered her head.

Why did she want to laugh so much when she heard the emperor talk about loving his wife and living in harmony with her?

"If the chopsticks fall, just replace them. By the way, Deqing, for tonight's feast, have someone prepare a few more tables and send them to the Ye and Liu residences. Lord Ye and Lord Liu are both my father-in-law and my relatives. Logically, we are all family members and should sit together to have a reunion dinner..."

“Pah—!”

The emperor was a little unhappy after being interrupted twice in a row.

"Empress, did you drop your chopsticks again?"

Concubine Xian Gui stood up and apologized with an embarrassed look on her face. "Please forgive me, Your Majesty. This time it was my chopsticks that were too slippery."

"Forget it, forget it. It's New Year's Day and it doesn't matter what. And second brother, I haven't forgotten your Yue family. I'll send a table to Fu Yushi's house as well."

"Thank you, Father/Emperor!"

Concubine Xia and the Second Prince, mother and son, thanked the Emperor sincerely, which made the Emperor feel better.

Don't think he can't see it! The Queen and Consort Xian are deliberately making faces at him.

Deqing received the order and was about to go out, but as soon as he walked out, he was stopped and asked to wait a little longer.

"We can't forget the Shen family either. Give them a table as well."

Just as Xie Hui was about to stand up and say that this was inappropriate, he heard his mother speak.

"What are you doing, my brother? It's enough for you to reward your own Yue family, not the Shen family."