Just when everyone in Yanzhou was waiting to see the Yun family's double happiness, another big event happened.
Somehow, the news about Yanbei's Thousand Gold Banquet had also reached the capital, and it had also aroused the interest of the current empress dowager. So this year, the empress dowager planned to send ten ladies to participate in Yanbei's Thousand Gold Banquet to compete with the ladies from Yanbei in terms of talent.
When this news came out, everyone in Yanbei, from the wealthy nobles to the common people, was surprised. They wondered if the Queen Mother was too idle this time.
Yanbei's Thousand Gold Banquet. It's essentially a wedding banquet for the wealthy and noble families of Yanbei to find wives. Why are you sending people from the court to interfere? Even if your daughters from the south are all beautiful and talented, the aristocratic families of Yanbei won't marry them into their families!
No one understood the Queen Mother's intentions behind this move. However, throughout Yanbei, from teahouses and taverns to the inner and back courtyards, the topic of conversation revolved around the Thousand Gold Banquet. Speculations about the Queen Mother's intentions were varied, and most were driven by conspiracy theories.
In fact, the people of Yanbei were overthinking it this time. The reason why the Queen Mother sent people to attend the Thousand Gold Banquet was just because of a rumor.
It was said that Prince Xian's granddaughter bore a striking resemblance to the late Concubine Wan. She was so beautiful that even the second son of the Xiao family was captivated by her beauty and refused to marry anyone but her. That's why he flatly refused the Queen Mother's arranged marriage, as he disdained the eldest daughter of the Yan family.
You should know that Empress Dowager Yan has said in front of others more than once that the eldest daughter of the Yan family has the charm of herself when she was young. As a result, the eldest daughter of the Yan family was hailed as the most beautiful woman in Kyoto. Now, some people say that the eldest daughter of the Yan family is not as good-looking as Ren Yaoqi, who looks like Concubine Wan. Isn't this obviously saying that the Empress Dowager is not as beautiful as Concubine Wan?
The person the Empress Dowager hated and despised the most in her life was Concubine Wan, no one else.
When Concubine Wan was still alive, despite not being as high-born as Empress Dowager Yan and not even as young as her, she always outshone her. Whenever Concubine Wan was around, the late emperor's gaze would never fall on any other concubine. But Concubine Wan was so clever that even if the women in the entire harem united, they couldn't defeat her alone. Catching her was impossible and would only lead to a bad ending. Who allowed the emperor to focus his attention on her alone?
So in the end, all the concubines in the harem could only rely on her for support. Even Empress Dowager Yan had to be humble and subservient to Concubine Wan for a while. It was a pity that Concubine Wan was good in everything except her fate. She started from a low position and had no foundation. Everything she had in her hands was planned bit by bit by her own ability. If the late emperor could live another three to five years, when she had established a solid foundation, with her ability and scheming, it would not be difficult for her to secure a vast territory for her son. Unfortunately, the late emperor died at the wrong time.
Empress Dowager Yan's hatred for Concubine Wan was mixed with jealousy, inferiority, resentment, contempt, envy and other complicated, obscure and dark thoughts. As a result, she could not even remember the appearance of the late emperor after more than ten years, but she could still clearly remember the subtle curve of Concubine Wan's little finger when she drank tea. She learned it exactly and made it a habit for herself when drinking tea.
Therefore, whenever Concubine Wan was involved in anything, Empress Dowager Yan would become restless. This had been the case for many years. She was afraid that when she was buried, she would crawl out of the imperial mausoleum directly if anyone said a few good words about Concubine Wan in front of her grave.
When Ren Yaoqi learned that Empress Dowager Yan would send ladies from the capital to attend the Thousand Gold Banquet, she couldn't help but think of the time when she heard Miss Meng Er and others talking about the Thousand Gold Banquet.
This banquet was initiated by Yun Qiuchen, the eldest daughter of the Yun family. I wonder what role Yun Qiuchen played in this matter. Was it a conspiracy, or was it pure coincidence?
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