After everyone had stayed at the Yuanmingyuan for a few days, Lanqin's birthday arrived. Starting yesterday, Cui Niang began to decorate the Yuanmingyuan. Originally, Lanqin wanted to decorate it herself, but Fourth Master was afraid of tiring Lanqin out, since it was Lanqin's birthday and it was inconvenient to let her work too hard.
So Consort Song, Consort Wu, and Lady Geng volunteered to set up the Yuanmingyuan. After living there for half a year, Consort Cui became more familiar with it, so Lanqin asked Consort Cui to assist the ladies.
At this moment, the Yuanmingyuan Garden was filled with joy, especially the Jiuzhou Qingyan banquet. For convenience, the Fourth Prince ordered the banquet to be held at the Jiuzhou Qingyan venue.
As dusk approached, the Jiuzhou Qingyan banquet hall was adorned with red lanterns, and pink lotus blossoms dotted the sides of the banquet. As night fell, the lanterns lit up the night sky, and the guests who had arrived early gathered together to chat.
Everyone took their seats according to their relationship to the family. Lanqin had never celebrated her birthday like this in all the years she had been married.
Before long, Fourth Master and Lanqin arrived hand in hand, with Cui Niang and Su Peisheng following behind them. When everyone saw Fourth Master and Lanqin arrive, they all stopped and bowed to the two of them.
"Alright, everyone, please take your seats. Today is a family banquet, so there's no need to be so formal. Just enjoy yourselves." Fourth Master waved his hand, signaling them to stand up and take their seats.
After everyone took their seats, Hongli and Mingyu, who were sitting at the same table as the Fourth Prince and Lanqin, stood up. Hongli took the congratulatory gift from his personal servant and said to Lanqin with a smile, "Empress Mother, today is your birthday. Your son didn't know what to prepare, so Mingyu embroidered a picture of Guanyin for you."
Standing beside Hongli, Mingyu continued, "Empress Dowager is just like Guanyin, so this gift is most suitable for her. I hope Empress Dowager likes it."
"I like it very much, Mingyue, your embroidery skills are even better." Lanqin looked at the embroidery and nodded with satisfaction.
Following closely behind Hongli was Wuxiha, who had Sasar present Lanqin with a pair of magnificent Dayuan headdresses as a birthday gift.
Holding the pair of Dayuan headdresses, Sasar said in a childish voice, "Sasar wishes His Majesty a long life and boundless happiness. I hope His Majesty likes these headdresses."
Upon hearing Sasar's words, everyone present burst into laughter. Lan Qin covered her mouth and said, "Then the Emperor will thank Sasar. The Emperor is very pleased."
Bechuk quickly stepped forward and said, "Your subject also personally made a set of the character '寿' (longevity) from all of Wang Xizhi's works for Your Majesty. This was copied by your subject and Qin Mo together."
Sitting next to Lanqin, Fourth Master looked at the scroll full of the character "寿" (longevity) and praised it with great satisfaction, saying, "Your birthday gift is very original, and the calligraphy is quite good."
Upon hearing the Fourth Prince's praise, Bechuk smiled and said, "This was the idea of the Prince Consort; I, your son, do not have that ability."
Lanqin accepted them all with a smile. Then came the other gifts, which were all rare treasures, valuable paintings and calligraphy, and jewelry, nothing particularly special.
After a while, it was Hongzhou's turn. Hongzhou got up from his seat, walked up to Lanqin and said, "Your Majesty, I have prepared a white jade Guanyin statue for you. I specially asked the abbot of Huangjue Temple to consecrate it."
Lanqin nodded and said, "Hongzhou, you're very thoughtful. I like it very much."
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