On the day when Shen took her daughter Wang Xipei to attend the Spring Banquet, she learned that her eldest daughter Wang Lingyi was poisoned. When she was returning with her younger daughter, she was worried and anxious, and did not notice that the pair of embroidered shoes on Wang Xipei's feet were no longer the same pair she wore when she went out.
The two families agreed to keep Wang Lingyi's poisoning a secret. Wang Xipei was kept in the dark by her family, fearing that she, too young, might accidentally let the news slip.
Now Wang Xipei was feeling very nervous and unsure if she had gotten into trouble. She was thinking about going to her elder sister to talk about it. Although she was essentially under house arrest by her father, she could go find her brother and ask him or his wife to take her to her elder sister's house. That should be all right, right?
Wang Suwen's face darkened when he heard this: "No. Your elder sister is sick and needs to rest. Your sister-in-law has a lot of things to do. Don't bother her. Stay at home and don't go anywhere."
Wang Xipei was anxious and hugged her brother: "Brother, don't you love me anymore?" Wang Suwen was stunned. After a moment, he realized that his sister was trying to set him up again. He reached out and grabbed her and dragged her away: "It's useless to say anything today. Just stay home."
Wang Xipei was restrained by him with one hand, but she took advantage of the situation and hugged her brother's arm. She opened her big eyes like the bright moon, showing grievance: "Brother, if you can't do it, then don't do it. I will be obedient."
Wang Suwen had a headache, knowing that if he didn't leave, he would be tricked by this drama queen again. Look, there was mist in her big eyes, and tears would fall if she blinked a few more times. Wang Suwen quickly pulled his arm away and turned away without saying a word. If he didn't leave, he might as well agree to something with her.
Wang Xipei knew there was no hope today, but she still said aggrievedly, "My little sister will be sad all day." Wang Suwen didn't look back: "A braised duck with eight treasures." Wang Xipei thought about it and thought: "Brother, take care. Come back early. The Dengying beef in that restaurant is also very good."
Wang Xipei actually had a lot of fun at the Spring Banquet. She has always been a carefree and cheerful person. Apart from the greetings at the beginning where she met the various families and paid her respects to Concubine De, and then when Emperor Mingzheng arrived with the Fourth Prince, the Fifth Prince, Prince Qing, and Prince Yu, there was another round of greetings which was a bit nervous, but the rest of the banquet was all fun.
Starting from the Peach Blossom Garden in the Imperial Garden and ending at the Wanshou Mountain Pond, Empress Defei arranged various entertainments along the way, including pitching into a pot; writing couplets; archery, with the arrowheads removed from the soft cloth bags, with the "arrowheads" covered with paint powder; writing poems on limited topics based on the scenery; the newly made snacks in the imperial kitchen were placed there, of various kinds, and as they had not yet been given suitable names, please taste them and leave your names; the palace maids picked various spring flowers in the palace and provided various utensils for the ladies to arrange flowers; lanterns were placed beside the flowing water bridge, and as long as the name of the wish was written on the lantern, a beautiful lotus lantern could be lit; and guessing riddles, like archery and pitching into a pot, had prizes; there were also performances by various female craftsmen, including paper cutting, sugar painting, and clay figurine making... and there was fruit wine and snacks and dried fruits anytime and anywhere.
Following the words of Concubine De, "Don't be restrained, go out and have fun." After getting a nod from their mother, the young ladies from each family found their friends and went out to play together.
All the women who came today were legitimate daughters of their respective families. The only two illegitimate daughters were both quite prominent. One was the niece of the Empress Dowager's family. This mistress of the Empress Dowager's family had given birth to four children, all sons, so how could there be a legitimate daughter? However, the Empress Dowager clearly wanted to fill in the gaps, so she had no choice but to choose one of the illegitimate daughters to bring with her.
The other was the concubine's daughter of Duke Xiang, one of the three dukes. Duke Xiang favored his concubine and neglected his wife, and everyone in the court knew it.
Duke Xiang's first wife, surnamed Huang, had been oppressed and unseen for years, and there were whispers that she lay dying in a secluded backyard residence. This beloved concubine, surnamed Tang, had been brought to a palace banquet by Duke Xiang over a decade earlier, and her favor remained undiminished. At that banquet, everyone was surprised to see Duke Xiang bring a concubine.
Later, it was reported that when Huang arrived, she still wanted to argue, already dressed and boarded the carriage, even humbly suggesting that she and Tang could go together. The Duke of Xiangguo was still hesitant when Tang said, "Then I won't go."
Duke Xiangguo immediately ordered Huang to get out of the carriage. When he helped Tang get in, Tang took a look at the clothes Huang was wearing and said, "This dress is really beautiful."
That was the palace dress of the main wife. Although Tang's makeup and clothes were much better than Huang's, she was not allowed to wear that dress. After hearing what Tang said, Duke Xiangguo ordered people to strip Huang's palace dress on the spot, threw it in her face, and scolded her for acting on her own and speaking inappropriately. He punished her to kneel in the main courtyard and not be allowed to get up unless he said so.
Then, with a look of deep concern, he immediately went to comfort Tang. That day, during the palace banquet, halfway through the singing and dancing, it suddenly began to snow. In high spirits, the masters, with Emperor Mingzheng at the top, donned the cloaks their maids had brought them and went outside to admire the plum blossoms in the snowy gardens. Then, they returned to the warmth of spring indoors, where they drank warm wine, ate roasted deer meat, and enjoyed the music of the qin and flute.
Huang, whose outer clothes had been stripped off, knelt in the snow and ice. When Duke Xiangguo brought Tang back, Huang was almost frozen to death in the yard. Duke Xiangguo did not care much about it. It was the old housekeeper who called the court doctor to see her. Since then, Huang has suffered from a serious leg disease.
For more than a decade, all matters that should have been handled by Huang, the legal wife, were handled by Tang. People talked about it a lot at first, but later it gradually faded.
It was said that because Huang had received imperial edicts at a young age, Duke Xiang had repeatedly come to the palace to ask for a divorce, but the emperor refused. And now, at the Spring Festival Banquet, Duke Xiang's concubine, Tang, had also come with her daughter, Ye Qiu.
Wang Xipei was with the second daughter of the Rong family, the third daughter of the Li family, and the eldest daughter of the Tang family. The four of them were of similar age and had no ambition to stand out and show off. They just joked and laughed along the way.
But the second daughter of the Rong family and the eldest daughter of the Tang family are a pair of bickering lovers. They always quarrel with each other. They started quarreling again over whether a dessert should be called "Linglong Su" or "Qiansi Xue".
But the girl from the Li family was a quiet person. Whenever the two of them quarreled, no matter which one of them asked her whether she was right or wrong, the girl would smile and nod in agreement.
Wang Xipei was clearly a worried person. She tried to persuade the Rong family girl, but was rebuked by Rong. So she went to the dim sum counter to eat a dim sum. Then she tried to persuade the Tang family girl, but was rebuked by Tang again. The good-tempered Wang Xipei went to eat another dim sum. This went back and forth several times until Wang Xipei felt a little embarrassed if she didn't write the names of the dim sum. She picked up her pen and saw a line of words on the counter: "If you name ten different dim sum at once, you can win a box of dim sum."
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