Chapter 339 Farewell Banquet
This time, Du Yuanhua mobilized the entire Du family to support the Tiger Soaring Army in their victory. Not only did he exert himself immensely, but he was also discovered by the former emperor's men and even attempted assassination once.
Fortunately, Wen Zhiming had taken precautions and sent a small team of elite soldiers to protect him, which saved him from danger.
The officials and soldiers who supported Hu Xiang Army and helped Wen Zhiming have all been rewarded or promoted. Only Cao Ran and Du Yuanhua, the two people who made the greatest contributions, have not yet been rewarded.
Cao Ran, who plotted to murder Meng Lingge, has been sent back to his hometown by Wen Zhiming and should never return to the capital.
Du Yuanhua was a merchant. Wen Zhiming had already prepared an imperial edict to make the Du family's cloth shop a royal supplier, and was just waiting for Du Yuanhua to come to the capital to meet the emperor to announce this.
After waiting for several days without any news from Du Yuanhua, Meng Lingge couldn't help but worry.
My eldest cousin is the backbone of the entire Du family. If anything were to happen to him, it would be a devastating blow to the Du family.
Wen Zhiming held her hand and comforted her, "The people I sent haven't sent any messages back, so they should be fine. Don't worry, just wait a few more days. I'll send someone to look for them before tonight."
"good."
Meng Lingge closed all the boxes, shut the door, and returned to the main hall.
Qiu Lan was waiting at the door. When she saw the two of them coming, she immediately said, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty the Empress, someone from Jinghua Palace just came and said that the banquet is ready and all the guests have arrived."
After listening, Wen Zhiming said to Meng Lingge, "Master and the others are leaving. I hosted a banquet for them at Jinghua Palace today, but I ended up catching up with the Empress and completely forgot about it."
People in the martial arts world love to be unrestrained. They were invited by Ye Guhong to help Wen Zhiming become emperor. Now that the great thing has been accomplished, they have all made a lot of money and are eager to leave the capital to enjoy themselves elsewhere for a while.
So once the enthronement ceremony was completed, Wen Zhiming prepared a farewell banquet.
Seeing that Wen Zhiming was holding her hand tightly, Meng Lingge knew that he wanted to take her with him, so she took the initiative to say, "It's lunchtime now, so I'll go with Your Majesty now."
"Then I'll have to trouble Your Majesty."
Wen Zhiming got his wish, and the two walked hand in hand, soon arriving at Jinghua Palace.
Five or six tables were set up inside the hall, and they were all filled with people. When the eunuch announced the arrival of the Emperor and Empress, everyone stood up and bowed.
Most of them were entering the palace for the first time and were unfamiliar with palace etiquette, so their greetings were not very proper, and their voices when they greeted the emperor were also disjointed.
The palace maid and the eunuch lowered their heads and pursed their lips, trying their best to hold back their laughter.
Ye Guhong felt utterly humiliated and said to those behind him, "I told you to practice a long time ago, but you wouldn't listen. Now look what you've done, you've brought shame upon yourselves in the palace."
Immediately, someone whispered, "We are all rough men, here to attend the banquet, not to learn etiquette. If His Majesty is offended, then we will take our leave."
Wen Zhiming naturally wouldn't hold a grudge over this matter. Upon hearing this, he quickly told everyone to rise. "You are all my honored guests. There's no need to be so formal. Just eat and drink as you normally would outside. As long as you enjoy your food and drinks, I will not blame you."
The bandits cheered in unison.
The palace maids welcomed Wen Zhiming and Meng Lingge to the main seats and began to serve dishes one after another. The aroma filled the courtyard and laughter never stopped.
Besides Wen Zhiming and Meng Lingge, the main table also included Ye Guhong and several other martial arts figures who had saved the most lives.
The sisters Yue Jiaoman and Yue Jiaoluo sat at the lower end.
When they went to the palace to rescue the civil and military officials, Yue Jiaoluo was recuperating in the Prince of Anshun's mansion, and Yue Jiaoman was exhausted from digging the tunnel. Therefore, the two sisters were the only ones among the martial arts community who did not go to rescue people and did not receive the reward.
After learning about the situation, Meng Lingge took the initiative to give Yue Jiaoman two thousand taels of silver, saying that if she hadn't dug the tunnel to send Wen Zhiming and Ye Guhong into the palace, things wouldn't have gone so smoothly, more soldiers would have been killed or wounded, and the court officials wouldn't have had time to save them.
Therefore, her contribution was the greatest.
It was perfectly reasonable for her to take the money.
Yue Jiaoman didn't want to accept it, but Yue Jiaoluo was too good at causing trouble. The money she earned was never enough to compensate her junior sister. To travel the martial world with dignity, one needs more money. So, although she was embarrassed, she accepted it anyway.
Having received Meng Lingge's reward, Yue Jiaoman completely let go of her grudge against Meng Lingge and repeatedly warned her junior sister that she must never provoke Wen Zhiming and Meng Lingge again.
Yue Jiaoluo had never suffered such a big setback in matters of love, but now that the other party had become the emperor and empress, no matter how angry or resentful she was, she couldn't deal with them.
Unfortunately, her senior sister, who had always doted on her the most, was also won over by Meng Lingge, which truly saddened her.
And he was also very disdainful.
Although she couldn't deal with Meng Lingge for the time being, she would never make peace with someone who had offended her, just like her senior sister did. Today, her senior sister even advised her to apologize to Meng Lingge at the banquet, because she might need Meng Lingge's help in the future.
She doesn't want to.
Seeing that she could see Meng Lingge and Wen Zhiming from this spot, Yue Jiaoluo snorted heavily and walked to the furthest empty seat to sit down.
Yue Jiaoman had no choice but to smile apologetically at Wen Zhiming and Meng Lingge before following them.
Meng Lingge didn't care at all. Even if Yue Jiaoluo had just moved to a table further away from her, Meng Lingge wouldn't have bothered to pay any attention to her, let alone if Yue Jiaoluo had run out of the palace in anger.
Although Yue Jiaoluo looks young and charming, she is actually three years older than her, a young woman in her early twenties. She is unable to distinguish right from wrong and is extremely willful. Even if she is as beautiful as an angel, she really can't like her.
Just because I've seen a few unfaithful men, I no longer believe in true love.
This was originally her own private matter, but because she didn't believe in true love, she went around breaking up other people's relationships, even causing someone's death. That's where she went wrong.
If this continues, it will inevitably lead to even bigger trouble sooner or later.
With the food and drinks served, everyone raised their glasses and enjoyed themselves immensely.
After several rounds of drinks, Ye Guhong's face was flushed. He swayed and pulled Wen Zhiming to compete with other outlaws. Wen Zhiming knew that after today's parting, he didn't know when he would see his master again. He greeted Meng Lingge and then followed Ye Guhong to another table.
Just as Meng Lingge's side became clear, she caught a glimpse of Yue Jiaoluo saying something to Yue Jiaoman before walking straight towards her.
I was just deliberately keeping my distance from her, but now she's eagerly coming up to me again. It's really puzzling.
She was only a few meters away when Qiu Lan stopped her.
"No disrespect is permitted before Her Majesty the Empress."
Qiu Lan recognized Yue Jiaoluo. This crazy woman had caused a scene at the Anshun Prince's Mansion last time and had a considerable personal grudge against her master. Now that she was coming over, it was bound to be bad news.
Yue Jiaoluo frowned, looking very impatient with Qiu Lan.
"I just spoke a few words with her."
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