Although the New Year has passed, the cold in the capital is far from over.
Early on the third day of the Lunar New Year, before dawn, Yan Nangui was woken up.
Today, the Crown Prince is hosting a banquet for guests at his residence.
Those coming include relatives of the same generation and younger generations, as well as some families from the imperial court, including some in-laws such as the Ning and Ye families.
Of course, the elders won't come, but the younger generation will.
As Yan Nangui changed her clothes, she listened to Jiang Xiang's explanation: "Generally speaking, the Ye family shouldn't come, but since they are close relatives, they will still come."
"Tsk." Yan Nangui shook his head. Why bother?
The Ye family, having been humbled before the Ning family for no reason, proved they could be both yielding and assertive.
“Liangyuan is absolutely right. The Ye family is indeed very composed.”
However, even the usually composed Ye family was momentarily surprised when the Crown Princess announced her pregnancy during the banquet.
The atmosphere froze for a moment, then eased again.
Everyone congratulated the Crown Princess and the Crown Prince, and Shu Chengfeng was also very happy: "Why didn't you say so sooner, Crown Princess? You've worked so hard all this time."
"I wasn't sure before either, but now that we're planning a New Year's banquet at our residence, it would be a joyous occasion," the Crown Princess said shyly.
She was quite composed. When she returned to the Ning family before, she only brought up Ning Chenghui's pregnancy.
The atmosphere at the banquet became even more lively due to the Crown Princess's pregnancy.
Those loyal to the crown prince were naturally pleased.
Having a legitimate son is a very important matter.
The second and third princes who came with me today offered their congratulations, but what they really thought was anyone's guess.
Although they all have legitimate sons, their status is still inferior to that of the crown prince.
Especially the second prince.
He had his own schemes running through his mind, and for a moment, he didn't say anything unpleasant.
As for Consort Ye, she was stunned ever since she heard that the Crown Princess was pregnant. She glared at the Crown Princess several times, but she understood that she couldn't speak carelessly in this situation.
When the song and dance performance began, the Second Prince said with a smile, "Your Highness, come and have a drink."
"Second Brother, you're too kind. Please, Second Brother. Third Brother, please." Shu Chengfeng raised his glass.
The Third Prince has always been humble and polite in his dealings with outsiders.
Compared to the Second Prince's carefree attitude, he possessed a more restrained brilliance.
After finishing his drink, he smiled and said, "Let's drink less, brothers. This is about enough. We've had quite a bit of alcohol these past few days. How about we switch to tea?"
"Third brother, you're such a spoilsport again. When are you going to get rid of this habit of urging people to drink tea at banquets?" The second prince shook his head, looking quite helpless.
"This habit is hard to break, but Second Brother, don't you know that drinking is bad for your health?" the Third Prince laughed.
"This time I'm afraid I'll have to listen to my third brother. My brother-in-law can really drink. I drank way too much at my father-in-law's house yesterday." Shu Chengfeng laughed as well.
The Crown Princess pursed her lips and said, "It's all my brother's fault. He was just happy and drank too much."
"That's too formal. The Crown Princess and the Crown Prince are a loving couple, so it's only natural that her brother-in-law would get her drunk," the Third Prince said with a smile.
"Your Highness, what are you saying? Then why did you also offer tea to people when you went to my family home?" Third Prince's Consort Li said with a smile.
Everyone laughed again.
The second prince slapped the table and laughed: "Look at you, even your sister-in-law is disgusted with you."
"Second Brother, don't talk nonsense. My wife doesn't dislike me at all. We're very close," the Third Prince said.
This made Li blush deeply.
This also made the atmosphere at the table even better.
Changing the tea is out of the question; it's still alcohol, and everyone's drunk quite a bit.
However, the wine served at the banquet was all low-alcohol, as if it had been diluted with a lot of water.
Drinking was very common during the Dayan Dynasty, with various kinds of wine available to the common people.
Distilleries and breweries were common; basically, one out of every few households knew how to brew wine.
This is because people in various regions were prone to illness from drinking untreated water, and in previous dynasties, there was no effective solution.
Therefore, there are liquors with very low alcohol content that can be consumed directly for daily drinking.
Initially, it was business people who started drinking it, since people who traveled all over the country didn't have the means to boil water.
In the past, drinking hot water was not a common practice among ordinary people.
It only started to change gradually from the previous dynasty, but the people got used to it.
Therefore, winemaking is still highly regarded today, and the use of wine instead of water remains very popular among the people.
Anyway, low-alcohol and regular wines aren't expensive.
However, the wine that the royals drank was certainly not that bad; it was just that the alcohol content was still very low.
Yan Nangui drank the wine in front of him, his mind wandering.
She tried to keep a low profile, but since there were fewer people in the mansion than in the palace, she still attracted attention.
The Second Prince's wife, Madam Song, smiled and said, "This Lady Yan is indeed exceptionally beautiful. The girls of the Yan family are truly beautiful."
Yan Nangui smiled and said, "Thank you for the compliment, Second Prince's Consort. I am unworthy of it."
“Oh, how can you not accept that? Your third sister, we used to see her often, she was truly beautiful. But we haven’t seen her this year. It’s strange, we never saw you before, but we never see her now.” Madam Song said with a laugh.
The Third Prince's wife smiled as well.
That's a really disgusting thing to say.
But we can't blame them.
The way the Yan family handled things... wasn't exactly admirable.
In the past, Yan Nangui was not qualified enough to marry into the Meng family and could not enter the palace.
Now that she's entered the Crown Prince's harem, it seems Yan Jinsi is no longer qualified...
"I have no talent or learning, but perhaps this is what they call the impermanence of life? I've heard that the Meng family's daughter is also of good age. It seems she's also a good family's daughter this year?"
Yan Nangui didn't actually know much about the Meng family's intention to send their daughter to the Second Prince's residence; she had only heard about it when she sent someone to deliver a letter to them.
To be precise, she didn't know who the Meng family had prepared it for.
However, Meng's daughter can forget about becoming the principal wife.
As expected, the Second Prince's wife's expression softened, and she smiled, "The Meng family is indeed quite audacious. It's probably because they've married the legitimate daughters of two great generals one after another."
That's quite a blunt way of putting it.
However, Yan Nangui didn't pay any attention to it.
The Crown Princess smiled and said, "Second Sister-in-law, have some tea. This tea is excellent."
These words were meant to help Yan Nangui out of his predicament.
Yan Nan Gui knew she had to be sensible, so she smiled at the Crown Princess.
Shu Chengfeng and the other men didn't respond to what was being said.
But what one really thinks... well...
Late at night, after the banquet ended, the Crown Prince sent a group of singing and dancing girls to the Second Prince's residence.
It is said that the second brother is the most musically gifted, and these people would have no use for his talents if they didn't give him a chance to shine.
The second prince laughed and accepted it.
Whether we'll use it after we take it back is another matter.
However, Shu Chengfeng wouldn't actually make any arrangements for this person. He wouldn't go that far.
If you really want to make arrangements, there are plenty of ways to do it.
Back at Jiyue Pavilion, Yan Nangui changed his clothes and said, "Go and get me some midnight snacks. I need to eat my fill before I can sleep."
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