Family banquet
It felt like I slept for a long time; my eyes felt sore.
Rong Yan silently watched her from the bedside, with someone kneeling beside him—it was Benben.
Benben had his head down, but when he heard the noise, he finally perked up. He was about to speak when Rong Yan gave him a cold look, and he quickly shrank back.
"How long have I been asleep?" Lin Yueyao sat up, and Rong Yan placed a soft pillow under her lower back, making her feel much more comfortable.
"My senior sister slept all night."
Lin Yueyao pressed her temples, sleeping so soundly that she couldn't understand why Benben was kneeling on the ground.
Her gaze turned to Benben, and she was about to speak when Rong Yan pleaded for him.
"I've already scolded him, so please don't punish him, Senior Sister." Rong Yan glanced at Benben and gave her a gentle smile.
Benben nodded vigorously, looking pitiful. Lin Yueyao was too lazy to meddle, so she waved her hand and told Benben to leave.
Benben wobbled to his feet, rubbing his knees, and slowly left the room.
Lin Yueyao pointed at him, "You go out too."
Rong Yan wanted to argue further, but then he heard a palace maid calling out from outside the courtyard—
"Your Highness, the princess is outside. Come and see her immediately."
Rong Yan's face darkened. "Senior sister, wait for me." He walked out with a gloomy expression.
Only then did the prince consort learn the whole story, and Lin Yueyao felt a headache coming on.
As Rong Yan stepped out, the courtyard was bustling with people. Leading the group was Princess Yu Yi Chan Juan, with a pair of twin crabapple blossoms adorned with tassels at her temples, swaying gracefully as she walked.
The princess was accompanied by Shangguan Zhi, and the two met.
Shangguan Zhi said, "Hearing that Fairy Qingyi coughed up blood, the princess came to visit her and brought a hundred-year-old ginseng as a token of her appreciation."
The palace maid presented the wrapped ginseng.
He didn't react for a long time, so Shangguan Zhi asked again, "Wouldn't the Prince Consort prevent us from seeing him?"
The princess, however, acted first, grabbing Rong Yan's wrist and squeezing it tightly. "Your husband has been taking care of me all night without sleep. You must be exhausted. I have ordered the imperial kitchen to prepare ginseng soup. I will have some after I have met with Fairy Qingyi."
Rong Yan felt like he was sitting on pins and needles, and to make matters worse, the princess looked at him with tender affection and shamelessly moved closer to him.
He could only force a smile and say, "I'm sorry to have worried the princess."
"What are you saying, Prince Consort? You and I are husband and wife, we are one body, this is only natural."
The princess seemed like a completely different person; she was gentle and poised, leaving no room for criticism.
"Well, have you seen the imperial physician yet?"
Rong Yan forced a smile and replied, "No, Senior Sister is fine, Princess, you don't need to worry."
"You foolish prince consort! Fairy Qingyi coughed up blood, how could she be alright? I must see Fairy Qingyi with my own eyes before I can be at ease." She gently pushed Rong Yan away, climbed the steps, and the palace maids behind her followed in a sparse manner.
Rong Yan quickly blocked the doorway. "To be honest, Princess, my senior sister is asleep and it's inconvenient to disturb her. Please come another day."
"No, even if Fairy Qingyi has fallen asleep, I will wait until she wakes up."
The sounds of arguing reached the ears of those inside the room.
As the group argued, the door behind Rong Yan swung open, revealing Lin Yueyao inside.
“I’m fine,” she said.
"That's wonderful." The princess noticed that her face was rosy, but her lips were slightly pale.
Lin Yueyao stared intently at Shangguan Zhi in the courtyard, her gaze suddenly freezing.
"If Fairy Qingyi is unharmed, then our ancestor is unharmed, and I am relieved." The princess turned her head slightly and instructed her servants to stew the century-old ginseng soup into a broth before giving it to Lin Yueyao to drink.
Lin Yueyao did not accept the princess's kindness. She promised Rong Yan that she would let Shangguan Zhi off the hook, but once outside the palace, she would show no mercy.
"Do you have anything else to do?" She was about to meditate and needed to quiet her mind, so she kept nagging and wouldn't mind throwing them all out.
"Since Fairy Qingyi has other matters to attend to, I will not disturb her any longer. My consort, let's go home together." Ziru took Rong Yan's arm, displaying their intimate relationship.
Lin Yueyao remained completely still throughout the entire process.
Benben is dragging people along the way.
The prince was dragged along so much that he could barely see the road; his long robe was caught in his shoes, and his silk skirt was stained. Even though he was now in the body of the prince, he still couldn't get used to wearing such heavy, ornate clothes.
"Hurry up!" Benben urged him.
"There's no use in you being anxious," the Crown Prince said helplessly.
"How is it useless? Your sister wants to marry the master, and you want to marry the Moon Fairy. This is simply not allowed."
"Why not?" The crown prince found it strange, not as a question, but as a doubt.
"Anyway, it's not allowed, because I think Fairy Moon and Master are a perfect match, and you can't separate them." As soon as he stepped out of the courtyard, he saw the princess leading a large group of people into Fairy Moon's courtyard. His intuition told him that the princess was definitely there to give Fairy Moon a hard time.
The princess was of noble birth, and the only one who could keep her in check was the crown prince.
Benben looks silly and dull, but he's actually quite clever despite his small, slow head.
Dragging people along, they rushed to the palace, just as the princess was chatting and laughing with someone in the courtyard.
Hmph, Fairy Moon must have been wronged, otherwise why would she be standing there so blankly?
So he gave the prince a push, pushing him into the courtyard, and said, "Go and apologize to Fairy Moon."
The prince was pushed inside, lost his balance, and fell to the ground.
The palace maid automatically took half a step back, and it took the crown prince a long time to get up from the ground.
Why didn't anyone help him up?
Yin Lanxin's spiritual power controlled the palace maid's five senses, making it impossible for her to make the fastest judgment in the first instance.
"Why does Your Majesty have time to come here today?" The princess looked pained, a glimmer of consciousness appearing before vanishing. She then explained, "It's because I forgot that Your Majesty and Fairy Qingyi will be getting married soon. It's my fault for not being considerate to have the time to see you now."
Having said that, he was about to leave with his men.
The Crown Prince caught a glimpse of Lin Yueyao's cold gaze, and with Benben's menacing presence at the door, he was caught in a dilemma.
He had a sudden inspiration and agreed, saying, "Your Highness is right. Actually, I've come to invite everyone to dine in the Imperial Kitchen."
"So it's a family banquet. Since Your Majesty has said so, how could I not go?" With a smile, she pulled Rong Yan even closer.
"Fairy Qingyi, you should go too," the princess said to Lin Yueyao with a smile.
Lin Yueyao was indeed a little hungry after sleeping since yesterday.
No one would refuse a meal, and besides, the imperial chefs in the palace came from all over the country, so Lin Yueyao wanted to try the palace's cooking.
The group changed course, boarded the imperial carriage, and drove to the imperial kitchen.
Upon receiving the news, the Imperial Kitchen immediately began preparations. The head eunuch had no idea what was to be done, and the junior eunuch who delivered the imperial decree only said it was a family banquet.
The family banquet was nothing more than serving some trendy dishes, but upon hearing that it was the Crown Prince, the Princess, Wenwei Jun, and Qinglian Fairy, one would know that the four of them were about to become a family.
So he instructed his cooks to prepare some home-style dishes with auspicious meanings.
The group arrived at the imperial kitchen, where dishes were served one by one.
The head eunuch stood solemnly by the table, serving dishes to the crown prince.
"Your Highness, please look, this dish is called A Perfect Match."
To outsiders, it was just dough shaped into the form of a phoenix and a dragon.
The prince didn't understand those abstract concepts, so he could only nod knowingly and then ask, "What about this dish?"
"This dish is called 'Flying Together Wing to Wing'."
The table was piled high with dishes, and Benben swallowed hard, wondering when the fat eunuch would finish speaking.
After hearing some of this, everyone's interest was waning, so the princess sent someone to check on the rewards.
The chief eunuch accepted the reward with a beaming smile, nodding vigorously and expressing his gratitude for the emperor's boundless grace.
There was no need for formalities at the family banquet. After everyone else had left, the princess relaxed considerably and thoughtfully served Rong Yan some Four Happiness Meatballs.
The meatballs are coated in sauce, and there are four of them, symbolizing four blessings coming together.
She picked up a piece of food and gave it to Rong Yan, but he didn't want to eat it. She then picked it up with her chopsticks and gave it to Lin Yueyao instead.
"Senior sister, you can eat."
Lin Yueyao found it disgusting and unabashedly threw it to the Crown Prince.
The meatballs were placed in the prince's bowl. The prince hesitated. It seemed inappropriate to return them to the princess, but it would be more dangerous to give them to Lin Yueyao.
As he ate, it felt like several pairs of eyes were watching him. After a moment's thought, the prince quickly picked up a piece of food and gave it to Benben.
Benben's eyes widened, and with a "Wow!" he lowered his head and began to devour his food.
The men's real intentions were not what they seemed. Seeing that Rong Yan hadn't eaten much, the princess assumed he had a poor appetite and added some side dishes to his bowl to help cut the greasiness.
The Crown Prince glanced at Lin Yueyao, pondering whether he should do the same. He tentatively picked up a plump, fresh shrimp, peeled it himself, and offered it to Lin Yueyao's mouth.
Lin Yueyao ate it without even lifting her eyelids.
Unlike Rong Yan, who resisted wholeheartedly, she ate everything the Crown Prince offered her without hesitation.
"My brother and sister-in-law are very close," the princess sighed with relief, her gaze falling on Rong Yan, her expression dimming involuntarily.
The prince was clearly terrified. This female demon had once killed him with a sword, and he had suffered at her hands.
He only prayed that he could serve this tyrant well and not anger her.
The crown prince wiped the fine sweat from his forehead, smiled, and remained silent.
Rong Yan glanced at her and saw that she was eating with a clear conscience, and he couldn't help but feel a little angry. He knew that she had no feelings for the Crown Prince, so why could she accept his advances?
Was it to spite him?
We agreed on this, so why is she...?
Out of spite, Rong Yan took his anger out on the food in his bowl, eating half of it in one go, but also ate all the food that the princess had put on his plate.
Seeing that he had a hearty appetite, the princess assumed that he had come to his senses and smiled as well.
The brother and sister sat in the middle, served by the prince and princess on their left and right, respectively, enjoying themselves immensely.
Seeing that she liked meat, the prince fed her meat exclusively.
Lin Yueyao rinsed her mouth and washed her hands, indicating that she was full. She slumped in her chair and watched Benben eat across the table.
All four of them stopped eating, except for Benben, who was still eating and drinking heartily.
Watching Benben eat is like watching an elder watch their own child eat.
Benben munched on the chicken leg, slurping down the soup, his cheeks bulging, his belly round from eating.
The four watched him eat for a while. After Benben finished the last sip of soup, he finally wiped his mouth with satisfaction.
"What's his name?" the princess asked suddenly, resting her chin on her elbow.
"Silly," Rong Yan replied.
"Benben? What a strange name." The princess sighed, leaning slightly closer to Benben. "I wonder what it would be like to keep him as a pet."
Despite being controlled by spiritual power, the princess couldn't shake the urge to take any handsome young man she saw as a male concubine. Upon hearing this, Rong Yan felt a chill and hurriedly got up and left.
This time, Lin Yueyao turned her attention to the princess. From the moment she entered the palace, the princess had always been outspoken and never held back.
Only today does it feel strange, as if it has changed its nature.
Only now do I realize that the princess hasn't changed.
Lin Yueyao couldn't find anything for the time being and thought it was just her imagination.
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