Chapter 518: The girl from the Xiangfu family is just so so
Song Yuntang wore a green dress that she had picked out long ago. Her makeup was delicate and elegant, fresh and refined, which especially matched her temperament.
In order to avoid any unexpected changes during the banquet, she also brought another goose yellow dress.
After getting dressed, washing, and putting on makeup, it was already Yinzheng.
He ate a quick breakfast. In order to avoid the same situation as last time at the Prime Minister's Residence, he wrapped a few pieces of candy in oil paper and took a carriage to the palace.
At the beginning, the carriage had to move forward with the lights on. As it moved towards the imperial palace, the sky gradually brightened. By the time it was halfway there, it was possible to turn off the lanterns and move forward. Song Yuntang couldn't help but imagine in his mind the scenes of Xu Qingye going to court on weekdays.
The path she walked today was the path Xu Qingye walked every day when he was in the capital.
That is to say, the weather is getting warmer now. If it were cold, it might not be bright by the time Xu Qingye entered the palace.
There were already quite a few carriages parked at the palace gate, some carrying officials going to court, as well as ladies from various mansions coming to attend the palace banquet.
In the power center of the Great Xia Dynasty, everyone was pious and serious, no longer as relaxed as they usually were when attending palace banquets.
With the help of Jinshu, Song Yuntang got off the carriage and led her and Xia Ning to the palace.
After presenting the invitation, she was led by the palace maid to the Yongning Palace where the Queen Mother lived to pay her respects.
At this moment, the main hall of Yongning Palace was already quite lively.
The Queen Mother sat on the main seat, wearing a gorgeous court robe with intricate patterns embroidered on the golden brocade, highlighting the glory and dignity of the royal family.
In her hand she held a string of sandalwood Buddhist beads, which had been rubbed shiny by the oil from playing with the beads.
Although she has reached the age of fifty, there is no sign of aging on her face, and her condition is comparable to that of a country woman in her thirties.
Even the complexion is slightly better.
Perhaps because the person in front of him was the one with the highest status in the harem, the atmosphere in Yongning Palace was a bit serious.
It was Song Yuntang's first time in such a place, and he didn't dare to breathe. He followed the crowd and paid his respects to the Queen Mother with the other ladies. Then he wanted to find a seat in the corner and wait for the next process.
I thought I could just be an invisible person and finish today's process.
But some people don't want to fulfill her wish.
"Oh! Madam Xu is here too."
Zhuang Zihan, who was about to become a palace concubine, saw that Song Yuntang wanted to hide away, so she deliberately smiled and spoke. Her voice was neither loud nor soft, and everyone in the palace happened to hear it.
She had gone to find Song Yuntang before and asked her to demote herself to a concubine and persuade Xu Qingye to take her in. In the future, when Xu Qingye would move to a higher position with the support of the Prime Minister's Mansion, she would not be intolerant of Song Yuntang, and would even raise her child under her own name as her legitimate son.
But she didn't even listen to me finish my words and got up and left.
She wanted to stop him, but Song Yuntang seemed to be secretly protected by a powerful person, and the guard was injured by a hidden weapon before he could even make a move.
She didn't know the depth of the person in the dark, so she asked the guards to stop and let her go.
The Queen Mother suddenly heard Zhuang Zihan's voice and looked at the ladies below.
"Mrs. Xu?"
On the side, Mrs. Zhuang explained to her with a smile.
"Replying to the Empress Dowager, Madam Xu is a new face in the capital. She is the first wife of the former number one scholar, Lord Xu. She has not been to the palace banquet before, so it is normal that the Empress Dowager does not recognize her."
The Queen Mother had a look of relief on her face.
"Although Ai's family is in the harem, they have heard that Lord Xu is a man of great talent and good looks. His wife must also be a beautiful, intelligent, demure and elegant person. I wonder who she is?"
Zhuang Zihan had a look of gloating on his face.
She saw it clearly just now. The bitch kept hiding behind everyone. She must have been terrified when seeing such a scene.
Well, as a country woman born in the countryside, with no elders at home to teach her etiquette, she would naturally be intimidated when she saw the Empress Dowager when she entered the palace for the first time. If she behaved inappropriately and was punished by the Empress Dowager, she would probably no longer be eligible to attend any palace banquets in the future.
However, what she didn't know was.
After the banquet at the Prime Minister's Residence, Song Yuntang, under the introduction of Chen Yin, the wife of Lord Fan, the Junior Secretary of the Dali Temple, invited the old nanny who had worked in the palace into his home to teach him the rules and regulations.
Recently, Mrs. Tang learned that the Queen had sent an invitation to Song Yuntang, and she sent the nanny who had taken care of the late Queen to Xu's Mansion to tell her about the taboos and things that need to be paid attention to by the masters in the palace.
Therefore, Song Yuntang was not completely unaware of everything that happened in the palace.
She sneered in her heart.
Zhuang Zihan had made an appointment with her in the first month of the year, asking her to persuade Xu Qingye to demote his wife to a concubine and marry her.
Without thinking, she rejected her proposal and took Xia Ning and Jin Shu away.
She was not at all surprised that Zhuang Zihan would find every opportunity to target her.
How could a woman who covets someone else's husband and makes such outrageous demands in front of her, the legal wife, be a respectable person?
The girl from the prime minister's family is nothing special.
There was no way to avoid it now, so Song Yuntang had to step forward and bowed to the Queen Mother properly with a calm expression, neither humble nor arrogant.
"I pay my respects to the Queen Mother. I wish her good health and eternal beauty."
The Queen Mother looked at Song Yuntang, and a familiar feeling flashed across her face, but this look was fleeting, and she smiled and said, "I have always said that Lord Xu's wife must be a wonderful person, and she really has the demeanor of a noble family."
Unlike what the rumors said, she was not an illiterate country woman who did not know etiquette.
Sure enough, hearing about someone is worse than meeting them in person.
How can the wife of the top scholar be a common person?
Song Yuntang nodded, "Your Highness, you are so kind."
The Queen Mother raised her hand.
"Get up."
"yes."
Song Yuntang stood up and stepped aside.
The whole process was flawless.
When Zhuang Zihan saw that Song Yuntang was so tight-lipped, a look of unwillingness flashed across her face.
Didn’t you all shrink back in fear at the beginning? Why are you suddenly not afraid anymore?
Was she just pretending?
If this is true, then he is truly scheming.
Now that she had already dodged, although Zhuang Zihan was unwilling, she couldn't say anything more.
The Empress Dowager Fourteen had been with the late Emperor since she was a child, from the palace to the harem, over the past thirty or forty years, she had seen many different kinds of people.
Although Zhuang Zihan didn't say what the purpose of her action just now was, she knew it clearly in her heart.
She smiled at everyone.
"Today is the Queen's birthday. She has already ordered the palace servants to prepare wine, snacks, and dance music in the Imperial Garden for everyone to enjoy. There is no need for you to stay here with an old woman like me. When the dinner is ready, I will go to Jiaotai Hall to celebrate with everyone."
…
It was already 9:00 p.m. when we came out of the Empress Dowager's Yongning Palace.
Fortunately, I had breakfast at home before going out, otherwise I would have been starving.
The palace banquet was held at night. It was a sunny and windy day in March and April, and the flowers in the imperial garden were in full bloom.
The Queen prepared tea and snacks in the Imperial Garden and invited all the ladies to appreciate the flowers, write poetry, drink and have fun in a pavilion in the Imperial Garden.
On his way to the Imperial Garden, Song Yuntang happened to meet Chen Yin, the wife of Mr. Fan, the Shaoqing of the Dali Temple.
The two were extremely happy to meet each other.
It just so happened that Chen Yin was not a person who liked to make a fuss. After taking Song Yuntang to pay her respects and birthday wishes to the Queen, she and several other ladies she knew invited each other to sit at a stone table and chairs next to a cluster of peonies.
In early April, the peonies are in full bloom.
The flowers are big, red, pink, yellow and green. Perhaps because they are grown in the imperial garden, they look extremely noble.
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