Chapter 20 Chapter 20 Why is she here?
Seeing that they were about to reach the Qin'an Hall, Li Shuyao hurriedly let go of Qingyao's hand, put away her smile, lowered her eyebrows and walked behind Qingyao, then followed the crowd into the hall.
However, after she officially entered, she couldn't help but raise her head and looked around quickly twice. Her watery black eyes were shining and everything she saw was new and interesting. Judging from her appearance, if she hadn't taken into consideration the presence of the emperor and the concubines, she would have touched the pillar in the next second.
The emperor sat high on the dragon throne on the steps, taking in the reactions of the people below.
When his eyes swept over Li Shuyao and Guo Luoluo Qingyao who were looking around curiously, he paused imperceptibly, and then a faint smile appeared in his eyes, which quickly disappeared.
The concubines lined up together and formally saluted the emperor before finding their own seats and sitting down.
Because Guo Luoluo Qingyao was a government official's daughter, she was seated at the very end of the crowd, with her table almost touching the door.
But there was no trace of inferiority or timidity on her and Li Shuyao's faces. Guo Luoluo Qingyao walked to her seat happily and sat down. She first touched the pieces of silk cloth covering the table, lifted the lids of a few bowls, lowered her head and secretly took a look inside, then turned around excitedly and said a few words to Li Shuyao.
This caused Li Shuyao to laugh as well.
Most of the people in the hall were secretly observing the movements of the master and servant, Guo Luoluo Qingyao and Li Shuyao.
Seeing this scene, I felt a little puzzled. Is this happy now?
Isn’t that a bit too satisfying?
At this moment, Guo Luoluo Qingyao didn't know that someone had already classified her as a "frog in the well".
After each bowl she looked at, she happily turned around and reported to Li Shuyao. At the end, her tone was full of emotion: "They are all delicious! It's so great to be able to celebrate the festival, Shuyao, I really wish every day was Dragon Boat Festival."
Li Shuyao: "..."
She thought carefully about the origin of the Dragon Boat Festival, and then said to Qingyao in a very tactful tone: "Then let's not do it."
Guo Luoluo Qingyao blinked and asked her curiously, "Why? Don't you like holidays?"
Li Shuyao: "I like it, but... does every day have to be Dragon Boat Festival? Is it possible that other festivals are not bad?"
After all, Qu Yuan was not a diving athlete, so how could he jump into the river every day?
Guo Luoluo Qingyao thought about what she said and soon understood her implication. Realizing that she had said the wrong thing, a blush quietly appeared on her fair face. She loosened her grip on the lid and said hesitantly, "I, I didn't mean that..."
"I just wanted to say I really enjoy the holidays."
"Of course I know that." Li Shuyao nodded very understandingly, her eyes curved with a smile, and then quickly added: "You are actually a little stupid, right?"
“…” This time, the person who was speechless was Guo Luoluo Qingyao.
She pursed her lips, puffed out her cheeks, and got angry.
His palms felt a little itchy, and he wanted to pinch the itchy flesh on Li Shuyao's waist. However, considering that this was a formal occasion, he could only reluctantly give up the idea and instead gave Li Shuyao a glare, "You wait until we get back."
Li Shuyao smiled at her gently, muttering in her heart that she didn't live in the back room, so what could Qingyao do to her after she returned?
At most... I just won't let you eat for free.
But she can just go to Yueshu for food, huh!
*
After everyone was seated, palace servants came in and lifted the lids of the bowls for each master, adding a few more snacks or removing some food according to the master's needs.
The emperor sat alone at the top of the steps with Liang Jiugong, and below him, led by Concubine Niuhulu and Concubine Tong, came forward one after another and said a few toasts.
When it was Qingyao's turn, she tidied her hair, picked up the wine glass, stood up gracefully, and recited a poem about the Dragon Boat Festival in a clear voice, which earned her a praising look and a smile from the emperor.
The banquet officially began.
Taking advantage of the fact that no one noticed the corner, Qingyao ate a few bites and then began to feed Li Shuyao continuously.
Li Shuyao had no choice but to bend her knees and squat beside Qingyao's legs, like a beautiful little kitten, meowing and biting her one after another.
Most of the others came to the banquet with other purposes, such as Concubine Nianhulu and Concubine Tong. After taking a few bites of the food, they held their wine glasses and started chatting with the emperor.
While Concubine Nara was watching the emperor's movements out of the corner of her eye, she was also keeping a close eye on the eldest prince who was not far away, showing a very motherly heart.
Some concubines held wine glasses in their hands, looking eagerly at the steps, while some concubines were talking to their left and right.
Although they were in the same hall, there were several isolated circles with different atmospheres.
No one's focus is on eating.
Except for...Guo Luoluo Qingyao and Li Shuyao, who relied on their low status and being a nobody to do whatever they wanted without restraint.
He even sneaked out twice during the trip.
However, there were quite a few people at the scene who needed to change clothes temporarily, so no one noticed anything unusual about them for a while.
…
Li Shuyao squatted beside Qingyao's legs for a while. Her lower limbs gradually became numb, so she simply stood up.
Guo Luoluo Qingyao looked at her in confusion: "Not eating anymore? There's still a lot..."
"My feet are a little numb. Let's stand for a while and eat later." Li Shuyao drooped her delicate little face, waved her left hand towards Qingyao twice, and clenched her right fist to gently hit her lower back. After squatting for a long time, her lower back was a little sore.
"Oh, okay then." Qingyao turned her head and continued eating.
After eating a few bites, she suddenly remembered something and asked Li Shuyao: "How about I ask someone to bring you a small stool?"
Li Shuyao hesitated after hearing this: "Is this okay?"
Qingyao said, "What's wrong with this?" She put down her chopsticks and waved to a little palace maid who was pouring wine for a concubine not far away.
The young maid saw her gesture, quickly put away the wine jug, walked over with her head lowered, and asked in a low voice, "My lady, what is the matter?"
Guo Luoluo Qingyao said, "Could you please bring me a small stool? Or a small embroidery cushion will do."
The maid thought for a moment and nodded, "Okay, please wait a moment, my lady."
After saying that, he bowed to Guo Luoluo Qingyao, then turned and left.
The moment she turned around, her head was slightly raised, allowing Li Shuyao to vaguely see half of her profile.
Li Shuyao was stunned for a moment. How could it be Song Fuwen?
She quickly stopped beating her lower back, took three or two steps closer to Qingyao, and whispered her doubts to her.
Qingyao frowned suddenly and asked Li Shuyao, "You said she was the Song Fuwen who had a bad relationship with you in the tea room and instigated others to isolate you?"
Li Shuyao nodded frantically, "It's her, it must be her!"
"Why is she here?"
As a tea-serving palace maid in the tea room of the Qianqing Palace, Song Fuwen did not dare to order the people under Eunuch Liang around even if the Imperial Household Department was short of staff.
Another thing is that before Li Shuyao fell asleep last night, she heard a palace maid in the courtyard talking to Song Fuwen. The two of them had agreed to embroider something together today.
Logically speaking, she shouldn't have time to go out.
Therefore, now that Song Fuwen suddenly appeared in the Qin'an Palace, and was careful to maintain a timid appearance, with her head lowered and not daring to see anyone, it was very worthy of people's suspicion of her purpose.
Li Shuyao frowned and thought for a long time, muttering, "Is she here to harm me?"
At this moment, the palace fighting plot in the original novel kept appearing in her mind.
Guo Luoluo Qingyao, however, remained calm and tried to console her: "Think positively. Perhaps she's here to seduce the Emperor."
The emperor attended two Dragon Boat Festival banquets in a row throughout the day and drank a lot of wine. Even if he can drink a lot, his consciousness is probably hazy now.
You never know when someone will attack you.
Those concubines, one by one, came forward to talk with wine glasses in their hands. Wasn't that their purpose?
Li Shuyao was still fidgeting here, while Song Fuwen had already returned with a small stool.
She didn't realize she had been recognized by Li Shuyao yet, and continued to apologize to Guo Luoluo Qingyao in a low voice, "I'm sorry, young lady. No one has been here in Qin'an Palace for a long time, and many things haven't been replaced in time. I searched for a long time before I found this bench, and one of the legs is shorter, so you need to be careful when you sit on it."
As soon as she finished speaking, she lowered her head and walked to Li Shuyao's side and handed her the bench in her hand.
This means that she already knew that Qingyao had asked someone for the bench for her.
Li Shuyao pursed her lips nervously and carefully took the small stool as if she were catching a bomb.
After seeing her take it, Song Fuwen slowly let go.
Li Shuyao stood there, blinking. Huh? Nothing happened, no explosion.
It shouldn't be.
"You go down."
"yes."
Guo Luoluo Qingyao dismissed the other person with a single word, then took the stool from Li Shuyao's hand and carefully examined it from top to bottom. "It seems like one of the legs is just a little crooked, but it shouldn't be a big problem, right?"
But Li Shuyao was still afraid. She would rather squat on her two legs than use the small stool that Song Fuwen found.
Knowing that Song Fuwen was also in Qin'an Palace, and before figuring out her purpose, Li Shuyao made up her mind not to leave Qingyao even for a moment!
Seeing the nervous expression on her face, Qingyao couldn't help but find it a little funny. She took Li Shuyao's hand and asked curiously, "Why are you so afraid of her?"
Li Shuyao licked her dry lips and said stubbornly, "No, I'm not afraid. Who said I'm afraid of her?"
"I'm just afraid of the unknown."
When describing this plot in the novel, there was no mention of what role Song Fuwen played in this palace fight.
——It is now known that the theme of this palace fight is called "Theft", the leader is Concubine Tong, and the suspects are Wu Yalianchu and another palace maid named Ruoxiang.
Concubine Tong was targeting people who were friendly with Qingyao. So now that Wu Yalianchu was not around, she was the one who was moving the plot.
The time, place and characters all matched, but suddenly a person outside the plot appeared, and this person had a grudge against her in real life.
How could Li Shuyao not be worried?
Her eyes followed Song Fuwen's movements closely, and when she saw her walking towards Concubine Tong with a wine jug in her hand, her heart suddenly tightened.
However, within just two breaths, she relaxed again.
Because Song Fuwen only poured a glass of wine for Concubine Nara who was beside Concubine Tong, and then when he saw that the glasses of the people around him were not empty, he took the wine pot and walked out of the hall step by step.
It seems that she was really too nervous.
At this time, Qingyao tugged at her sleeve and asked in a low voice: "If you are really worried about her, how about I find a few people to lock her up first?"
"There are many empty rooms in the Imperial Garden. We can lock her in first and put two plates of food for her."
"The banquet here will be over in an hour at most. It's only an hour, nothing serious will happen. What do you think?"
Li Shuyao felt a little moved and began to seriously consider the feasibility of this plan.
Suddenly, her fingers tucked into her sleeves and touched something strange and soft.
Li Shuyao hesitated for a moment, feeling like she was about to cry but unable to, and said to Qingyao in a tearful voice, "Maybe it's too late..."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
