Chapter 208 Gift
As everyone knelt and saluted, the royal family members entered one after another.
Princess Linyang personally supported the empress dowager and walked in the front, followed by the emperor and empress on both sides, and behind them were the empresses, princes and princesses from various palaces.
The empress dowager smiled and held the hand of Princess Linyang, sat on the main seat, and looked at Emperor Wen of Qi with a smile.
Emperor Wen of Qi smiled and said, "Everyone, please stand up!"
"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Everyone bowed respectfully again, then stood up and sat down!
"Today is the Empress Dowager's sixtieth birthday. I have specially organized this banquet for her. Firstly, I wish her a long and healthy life, and secondly, I wish to pray for peace and prosperity for our Dali Dynasty, and for the well-being of the country and the people."
"Your Majesty's holy words!" After hearing what Emperor Wen of Qi said, everyone stood up again, saluted and congratulated: "I wish the Empress Dowager a long and healthy life, and pray that the Dali period will be peaceful and prosperous, and the country will be at peace and the people will be safe!"
The Queen Mother smiled from ear to ear: "Okay, okay, everyone stand up!"
Emperor Wen of Qi glanced at Eunuch Liu, who immediately understood. He took a wooden box from the eunuch beside him and bent down to present it to the empress dowager.
"Mother!" Emperor Wen of Qi said to the Queen Mother with a smile, "Today is your birthday. I wish you happiness as vast as the East Sea and a long life as long as the Southern Mountains!"
"Your Majesty is so thoughtful!" The empress dowager smiled kindly. Suyin, who was standing behind the empress dowager, hurried forward and took the wooden box from Eunuch Liu's hand.
"Empress Dowager!" Suyin gently opened the wooden box and placed it in front of the Empress Dowager.
The Queen Mother looked at the birthday gift in the wooden box, which turned out to be a white jade Guanyin statue with kind eyes and a cinnabar dot on her forehead made of ruby. The willow branch in the jade bottle was made of emerald gold yarn.
This emerald golden gauze is extremely rare. It is because silkworm farmers feed the silkworms special food in addition to mulberry leaves during the process of raising them. Among a thousand such silkworms, it is considered a good thing if one can turn into a golden and green color. The silk spit out by the color-changing silkworms will be woven into emerald golden gauze. The emerald golden gauze is emerald green in color overall, and if it is exposed to the sun, it will faintly flash with golden light.
With the efforts of the entire Dali Dynasty, only five pieces of such golden gauze could be produced each year. They were directly sent to the imperial palace as tribute and could not be seen on the market outside.
The Queen Mother bowed to the Buddha and, seeing such a birthday gift, naturally smiled heartily: "Your Majesty, I like this birthday gift very much. You are so thoughtful!"
Emperor Wen of Qi said with a smile: "It is a blessing for me to be able to make my mother happy!"
The Queen Mother smiled and nodded.
After the emperor presented his birthday gift, Empress Xuan also presented a birthday gift. It was a bracelet made of agarwood with 108 beads. Each bead was engraved with words in small seal script. It was the Buddhist "Amitabha Sutra", which was truly extremely rare.
The Queen Mother always valued Queen Xuan, and she was full of praise for Queen Xuan's birthday gift. She loved the pearl necklace even more and put it on her wrist immediately.
When it was Concubine Liu's turn, she presented the gift she had prepared—a nine-treasure longevity peach made of pure gold. She smiled and said, "Empress Dowager, I wish you good fortune as vast as the East Sea and a long life as long as the Southern Mountains!"
"Well, that's thoughtful!" The Queen Mother's expression was indifferent, and she raised her chin towards Suyin!
Suyin hurried forward, took the longevity peach, and presented it to the empress dowager.
The Queen Mother looked at the longevity peach and said, "Your Highness, you are so thoughtful! This nine-treasure longevity peach is truly invaluable!"
After saying that, he smiled and looked at Concubine Liu, with a hint of coldness in his eyes.
Concubine Liu was startled by the coldness in the empress dowager's eyes. At that moment, she was almost certain that the empress dowager knew what she was thinking.
She has always wanted to be on equal footing with Empress Xuan, or even replace her, so she put a lot of effort into this birthday gift.
After hearing from many sources that Empress Xuan's birthday gift was a 108-bead agarwood bracelet, she specially prepared this nine-treasure pure gold longevity peach. The longevity peach was even more valuable than the agarwood bracelet.
She had originally intended to embarrass Empress Xuan, but the Empress Dowager made her feel that her actions were a bit clumsy, like showing off one's skills in front of an expert.
"I thank the Empress Dowager for her praise!" Concubine Liu quickly calmed herself down, put on a proper smile on her face, and saluted the Empress Dowager.
The Queen Mother just nodded, smiled and said nothing.
Afterwards, the concubines of Emperor Wen of Qi presented birthday gifts to the empress dowager, including a Guanyin screen embroidered by herself, clothes sewn by herself, various head ornaments... and so on.
After the emperor and his concubines presented their gifts, it was the turn of the princes and princesses.
Although Emperor Wen of Qi had many concubines in his harem, he did not have many children. He only had three princes and four princesses. Now two of the princesses have married out, so today in this palace there are only three princes and two princesses presenting gifts to the empress dowager.
The eldest prince, Xuanyuan Che, was born to Queen Xuan and is nineteen years old this year.
The second prince, Xuanyuan Xiao, was born to Concubine Liu and is eighteen years old this year.
The little prince Xuanyuan Chun, whose mother was Concubine Huan, died of complications during childbirth. Now Xuanyuan Chun is registered under the name of Empress Xuan. He is ten years old this year.
The eldest princess Xuanyuan Ying and the second princess Xuanyuan Zhi, who have already married, are both daughters of Empress Xuan.
The third princess, Xuanyuan Yun, is fourteen years old this year and is the daughter of Concubine Liu.
The fourth princess, Xuanyuan Luo, is eight years old this year and is the daughter of Concubine Zhao.
Emperor Wen of Qi always attached great importance to offspring, so the status of concubines in the harem was also related to offspring. Although Emperor Wen of Qi now had many concubines in the harem, there were not many concubines with ranks and titles.
Yuan Zitong tried hard to suppress her pounding heart, with a blush on her face that she didn't even realize was there.
She made up her mind today to win the favor of the prince.
As for Huo Xifei, she knew that there was no hope for her ever since her family was separated from the General's Mansion. What's more, that day in the General's Mansion, Yuan Ziyu had told her grandmother everything she was thinking. As a result, even now, her grandmother always looked indifferent when she saw her, and her previous love and favor for her naturally faded a lot.
Although she still liked Huo Xifei in her heart until now, she knew that she had to make some plans for herself. If she could win the prince's favor and marry him, then not only would she be able to prove that Yuan Ziyu's words that day were a false accusation against her, but she would also be able to win back her grandmother's love.
Besides, what does the prince's wife represent?
It represents power!
Even if Yuan Ziyou married Huo Xifei, so what? She would only be the wife of a prince, and at best a marquis' wife in the future!
If a mere marquis' wife met her, the prince's consort, she would have to kneel down and pay her respects.
By that time, wouldn't it be easy to deal with Yuan Ziyu?
Yuan Zitong was making plans in her mind, narrowed her eyes, and secretly glanced at Xuanyuan Che!
He is handsome, gentle as jade, and his appearance is no less than Huo Xifei's, which is enough to make people obsessed with him. What makes people even more obsessed is his identity and his power!
The only son of the current queen, the eldest son of the emperor, and the crown prince of the Dali Dynasty!
If she could get Xuanyuan Che's favor... Yuan Zitong felt like her heart was about to jump out of her chest.
(End of this chapter)
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