Chapter 104: Banquet of Flowers
After seeing off Mo Qiao, the brothers An Yunqing and An Yunshen also returned to the barracks.
Before leaving, An Yunxi specifically told the two to pay more attention to safety and be more vigilant of the people around them.
Although Mo Qiao and Mo Qing are no longer in the barracks, there is no guarantee that there will not be other people who have been bribed to kill them.
Anyway, it doesn't hurt to be more careful.
The sun is shining brightly in May, the wind is warm, and spring is gone and summer is coming.
In the palace, the queen personally held a banquet of flowers and invited the noble ladies in the capital to enter the palace to appreciate the flowers.
An Yunxi was naturally among the invited.
In particular, the queen once told her that she would ask her decision today, whether to reconcile with the prince It's
really ridiculous.
The Zhishui Palace where the Hundred Flowers Banquet was held today was extremely lively. An Yunxi and Mrs. Du had just entered it when she saw many familiar faces.
Those noble ladies brought their daughters from their families and gathered in groups of three or five to chat and laugh.
As soon as An Yunxi and her mother came, someone came out to greet them.
"Miss An, my princess wants to see you." The
one who came to invite An Yunxi was a little maid from the Loyal and Brave Marquis's Mansion.
She immediately said to her mother, "Mom, I'll go see Princess Lingrou."
Mrs. Du chuckled. She also had her own friends to see: "Okay, go ahead."
An Yunxi followed the little maid into the room. Wen Lingrou had been waiting for a long time.
She glanced around and pulled An Yunxi to sit opposite her table.
"Yunxi, have you heard any news?"
An Yunxi raised her eyebrows slightly, looked at Wen Lingrou's rather gossipy eyes, and immediately chuckled and asked.
"What news?"
Seeing that An Yunxi seemed to be really unaware, Wen Lingrou's tone became even more mysterious.
She moved closer and spoke in her ear.
"I heard that the Crown Prince took a concubine during his confinement, and that concubine seemed to be pregnant and was very much favored by the Crown Prince."
An Yunxi's eyes flickered slightly.
"Concubine?"
And she was pregnant
. She almost instantly thought of the identity of this person.
When An Ruxue was rescued, it also exposed a hidden spy of the other party.
It was a heavy loss, equivalent to the complete disappearance of the eyes and ears hidden in the palace.
As a result, it has not been long since then, and the Crown Prince has a concubine. I really don't know whether to say that An Ruxue's ability to seduce people is strong enough, or that these two are in true love
. Wen Lingrou nodded.
"I heard the rumor from my father. Fortunately, you didn't become the Crown Princess. Otherwise, you would have to help others raise a child. It's confirmed that she's pregnant in just a few days, which means they've had a relationship for a long time."
An Yunxi was puzzled.
An Ruxue was so seriously injured before, but she was able to keep the child?
This doesn't make sense at all
. If Wen Lingrou hadn't told her, An Yunxi really wouldn't have paid much attention.
Because she was not idle during this period.
In just two months, the Regent Ling Feng was punishing corrupt officials and had gone crazy.
Moreover, no matter how deeply the evidence of those people's crimes was hidden, it was all dug up and seen by the light of day. Many people died with their eyes wide open. All the officials in the capital felt their calves cramping when they saw Ling Fengxun.
They couldn't help but want to kneel.
The execution ground was a river of blood. The cancer that was originally buried in the court of Beiling Kingdom was eradicated.
At present, except for those who have too deep a foundation, the group of powerful people, all the useful people under Ling Fengxun were killed by Ling Fengxun, which is equivalent to completely cutting off their hands and feet. For a while, there is no one to use to do anything.
And for this Hundred Flowers Banquet, An Yunxi also prepared gifts for several people in advance.
She prepared for so long, if she didn't give these people a good surprise, it would be a waste of her efforts.
After a while, all the ladies at the banquet quieted down.
An Yunxi and Wen Lingrou also looked towards the door.
They saw the empress appear in a graceful and elegant robe, with heavy makeup on her face, which made her look quite imposing.
She had a smile on her face, and many concubines followed behind her.
Especially the noble concubine, who was only half a step behind her. She had a gentle and charming face, and looked like she was ten years younger than the empress who was the same age as her.
As these figures entered, everyone stood up and saluted.
"Greetings to the empress, noble concubine"
The voices of the group were a little chaotic, but the empress didn't care.
She smiled slightly and waved her hand, asking everyone to take a seat.
"There's no need to be so formal today. I invited you all here just to make the palace lively and to put the emperor in a better mood."
When everyone heard this, they became nervous instantly, knowing that the emperor would definitely come to the banquet in a while.
An Yunxi's eyes lit up.
If the emperor came, Ling Fengxun, the regent, would also most likely come. Although
the two had met at night not long ago, they rarely ran into each other during the day.
An Yunxi felt a little bit of anticipation in her heart.
Suddenly, Wen Lingrou pulled her sleeve.
"Yunxi, look over there."
As the queen entered, figures came in from behind. They were all young noble ladies, led by a woman in pink who was dressed extremely charmingly.
An Yunxi narrowed her eyes and recognized the person.
She was the Queen's only daughter, Princess Changning, who was two years younger than the Crown Prince.
Behind Princess Changning, there were several people, including
Chu Wanran, the leader.
Lu Xuan'er walked at the end of the crowd with her head down, like a little follower. When this group of people appeared, many daughters of officials turned pale.
When the queen saw her daughter, her face immediately showed a doting look.
"Changning, come sit next to your mother."
Ling Changning heard the words, smiled, and rushed over, regardless of how many people were around, and hugged her mother's waist.
An Yunxi watched this scene quietly.
Half a year later, Wen Lingrou was forced to marry far away, and the one who replaced her was Princess Ling Changning.
The queen was reluctant to let her daughter leave her and suffer somewhere else, so she picked Wen Lingrou, who had excellent appearance and temperament, as a substitute.
The queen touched her daughter's head.
"Be good, mother still has to host the banquet, I will accompany you after returning to the palace."
"Don't work too hard, mother, Changning will feel bad."
Ling Changning was very sweet, which made the queen smile immediately.
The other concubines also rushed to praise her.
"Princess Changning is really talking more and more, look at her sweet mouth, with such a daughter, the queen will be ten years younger."
"Don't talk nonsense, the queen is not old."
After a round of flattery, the ears of the listeners were pierced. The queen didn't care what others said. After letting her daughter stand up, she began to order people to move the various precious flowers prepared in advance.
Most of these flowers come from all over the world, and each one is a priceless unique piece that is hard to find in the world.
There are even some particularly skilled gardeners who cultivate them alone, and there may be only one in the world.
The fragrance of the flowers spread, and people couldn't help but want to breathe in a few more breaths of this fragrant breath.
But suddenly, one of the palace maids who was carrying the flowers sprained her ankle, lost her balance, and fell to the ground holding the flowerpot in her hand.
The flowerpot broke into pieces, and the soil inside flew out, staining the skirt of Princess Changning who was standing not far away and watching the flowers.