Chapter 51 Painting

In fact, Shen Yuan's previous guess about the purpose of the Queen's holding of the Lotus Viewing Banquet today was indeed a lucky coincidence.

Previously, the Empress was afraid that the daughter of the Duke Jing’s Mansion would be betrothed to the son of Consort Xian Guifei, and her own son would suffer the loss.

Until a while ago, she tentatively mentioned the matter of arranged marriage to the emperor, but was directly rejected by the emperor. Although the emperor said that the eldest prince and the second prince, as the elder brothers, had not yet married, it was not the younger brother's turn for the time being.

However, as they had been married for many years, the Empress could see that the Emperor was actually unhappy with this marriage.

In her opinion, since her son was born to the empress, his status was naturally noble, and her wife had to be a girl from the best family. The only girl of the right age in the capital was Qin Ruyue, the legitimate daughter of Duke Jing.

Afterwards, the empress wrote a letter and asked someone to take it out of the palace to her father, explaining the emperor's attitude and wanting to ask for her family's opinion.

On the Dragon Boat Festival, the Queen went out of the palace to watch the dragon boat race. Before the race started, she met with her mother, who conveyed her father's intentions to her.

The Empress and the Third Prince had to keep a low profile, including in the matter of selecting a concubine. The fact that the Duke Jing's family was too high was secondary. The most important thing was that the Duke Jing's eldest son had military power, and the girl from his family was not suitable for the Third Prince.

The Queen was a little disappointed to know that this marriage could not be completed, but she felt much more relieved when she learned that Consort Xian Gui's son was the same.

Since the Qin family is not good enough, there are still so many girls of the right age in the capital, it can't be that all of them are not good enough.

The Queen's action today was, on the one hand, because she already had several girls as candidates in mind, and on the other hand, she also knew that after seeing her actions today, Concubine Xiangui would naturally be unable to sit still.

What she wanted was for Consort Xiangui to become restless. Once the eldest prince's marriage was settled, she could naturally ask the emperor to arrange a marriage for the third prince.

As for the second prince, his biological mother is of humble status, so she will take the opportunity to mention it to the emperor and ask him to pick a suitable girl and arrange a marriage for him together.

The Queen sat at the top, looking at the girls below. She actually already had several suitable candidates in her mind, with good family background, talent and appearance. Today she was going to choose one, and for this purpose she even specially called Princess Kangle to come over to take a look together.

The queen signaled to the people around her, and immediately two palace maids came forward and unfolded a painting in front of everyone.

"Your Majesty, is this Ji Lan's painting of lotus flowers in the rain?"

"Not bad." The Queen looked at her niece with admiration, and then said to everyone, "This painting of lotus in the rain was given to me by the Emperor when the lotus was in full bloom last year. It would be a pity to just look at such beautiful lotus today. If I paint it, I can enjoy it for a long time, just like the lotus in the rain painted by Master Ji."

As soon as the queen finished speaking, a palace maid came over with a lot of paper and pens.

There were also many eunuchs behind them, carrying desks and placing them beside the lotus pond.

"Today, I will use this painting of lotus in the rain as a prize. Whoever has the best painting will get it. I will have to trouble the princess and the ladies to be the judges with me."

This means that the young ladies who come today will compete in painting skills.

Shen Yuan also followed the crowd, walked to the lotus pond, and chose a desk to stand at.

After all, it is a "compulsory course for noble ladies", so Shen Yuan naturally also studied calligraphy and painting. When she first started learning painting, her teacher said that her paintings were very spiritual and talented.

Fortunately, her father immediately spent a lot of money to find a famous teacher to teach her. After studying for a few years, her painting skills seemed to stagnate and she did not make any progress for a long time. She herself was a little discouraged. She remembered that the teacher said that her paintings had more spirit but less substance.

Later, this husband retired and returned to his hometown, and she did not ask her father to find a new husband for her.

I have seldom painted in the past two years, and my skills have become much less sophisticated.

But no matter what, it was enough to deal with occasions like today, and she didn't ask for the first prize, so after thinking for a while, she picked up the pen.

While everyone was painting, the queen did not just sit there, but walked over to look at everyone's paintings.

When the queen saw her niece's paintings, she felt sorry for them. Her niece was both beautiful and talented, and she was smart and clever. She had been taught by famous masters in music, chess, calligraphy and painting since she was young, but the emperor would never agree to her family having a second queen, or even just a second prince's consort.

When Shen Yuan noticed someone was looking at his painting, he paused for a moment and then continued painting.

The queen looked at Shen Yuan's painting, then looked up at her face, and then walked away.

He was a very good painter, but his family was too low and his mother had passed away, so he was not among the empress's choices from the beginning.

Then, the queen walked to Lu Shuyan's desk, stayed there for a long time, and nodded secretly.

After the paintings were finished, palace maids came forward to take them away. After everyone stopped painting, the paintings were unfolded one by one to be evaluated by the empress, princesses and ladies of various families.

The Queen looked at Princess Kang Le and asked, "Kang Le, tell me first, which one do you like?"

"My favorite is this one of a fox playing with fish. It's so cute."

The painting that Princess Kangle was talking about was of an orange cat standing by a lotus pond, using its claws to hook the lotus leaves by the pond. If you look closely, you can see a carp under the lotus leaves.

"I knew you would like this one. The emperor said you have loved cats since you were a child."

Princess Kang Le nodded and smiled, "I wonder which girl painted this picture?"

Shen Yuan never expected that the princess' favorite was actually his paintings.

Shen Yuan immediately stood up and saluted and replied, "Your Majesty, Princess, this painting was made by me."

"I like this painting very much. Would you be willing to give it to me?"

"Of course, it is my blessing that the princess likes my paintings."

Shen Yuan was even a little surprised. This was just a casual painting she made, and she didn't think it was very good. She didn't expect that the princess actually wanted this painting.

The Queen also laughed and teased Princess Kang Le: "I asked you to judge, but you got a painting first."

Princess Kangle naturally had her reasons, but now was not the time for her to say them.

"Your Majesty, please tell me which painting is your favorite?"

The queen seemed to have already made her choice, and said to everyone, "My favorite is this painting of boating in a lotus pond. I wonder which girl painted this?"

"Your Majesty, this painting was created by me."

This painting of boating in a lotus pond was painted by Lu Shuyan. There is a small boat in the lotus pond, and a girl in pink is lying on the bow, reaching out her hand to lightly touch the lotus flowers.

Originally, we wanted to let all the ladies who came today to judge which painting was the best, but the Queen said it first, so are the rest of you going to go against the Queen?

Therefore, many people began to speak highly of the painting, using all kinds of praise, no two words were the same.

Finally, the painting of rain lotus that the Empress took out was naturally given to Lu Shuyan.

Ever since the Queen proposed that everyone should draw, the people below had guessed what the Queen's purpose was today. Now everyone looked at Lu Shuyan differently.

Everyone is wondering if the Lu family is going to have a prince consort?