Chapter 522 How could you be a county lord!
“Oh my God!”
"What?!"
"Le... Princess Le'an is here too?"
Everyone covered their mouths with a look of disbelief.
When Song Yuntang saw that the emperor had revealed her identity in front of everyone, she felt helpless and immediately stepped forward to pay her respects.
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your praise, Le An."
The Queen was surprised, but she understood in her heart that His Majesty had specifically asked her to invite Madam Xu to the palace banquet because of Madam Xu's identity as the Princess of Le'an County.
She turned out to be the Princess of Le'an County who had great medical skills!
No wonder!
No wonder even the imperial physician said that Madam Yan’s illness was beyond recovery some time ago, but she was cured by the young lady of the Xu family who had just arrived in Beijing.
Now that I know she is the county princess, everything makes sense.
But I didn't expect that the female physician whose medical skills were better than those of the imperial physician was such a young woman who was less than 20 years old.
Princess Le'an has done a lot for the people in the past few years. Now that she has come to the capital and is the wife of a court official, she should be invited to the palace when a palace banquet is held.
After a flash of surprise appeared on Concubine Rong's face, she looked straight in the direction of Song Yuntang.
Upon closer inspection, I felt that the appearance and temperament of the woman in front of me were not inferior to those of the noble ladies in Beijing.
It is very different from the image of an ordinary peasant woman.
A few days ago, she discussed this with her personal nanny. She and the queen entered the palace at the same time. Now the queen has a son and a daughter, but she can never get pregnant. She hopes to find an excuse to leave the palace and go to the Xinglin Medical Clinic in the south city to meet the famous Princess Le'an.
But I didn't expect that Princess Le'an would appear before me in such a beautiful way.
And she knew nothing about it.
If I had known that she was the Princess of Le'an, I should have invited her into the palace when I held the flower-viewing banquet a few days ago.
The ladies who had targeted Song Yuntang before were all surprised and shrank back.
In the past, when ministers in the court impeached each other and the circumstances were not serious, His Majesty would only mention it during the morning court session and let them go back to deal with their family affairs.
But he seemed to take the fact that Mrs. Xu was bullied particularly seriously.
Now that I think about it, Princess Le'an has done a lot for the people, which is equivalent to sharing the worries of His Majesty. She also has outstanding abilities, so she should be taken seriously.
Zhuang Zihan raised his eyebrows and looked in Song Yuntang's direction with surprise.
"You are actually the Princess of Le'an County? How is this possible!"
She had previously relied on her status as the daughter of the prime minister to make things difficult for her many times, but she had never revealed her identity as a county lady.
Now it seems that I was probably just a clown in her eyes at that time.
The emperor's eyes swept over Zhuang Zihan, his expression calm.
"Why? Miss Zhuang, do you think that the county lady who was conferred the title by me personally can be fake?"
The emperor's majesty is not something that Zhuang Zihan can violate, even though she has now been conferred a noble title.
She knelt down in panic.
"It was Zi Han who was rude. I hope Your Majesty will forgive me."
Prime Minister Zhuang hurried forward to help.
"My daughter is young and ignorant, and her words are out of control. Your Majesty, please don't blame me."
Since Prime Minister Zhuang came forward, the emperor had to give him some face.
"I'm not going to compete with a woman. Get up."
Only then did Zhuang Zihan get up from the ground.
The Queen smiled and said, "I heard that Princess Le'an and Miss Zhuang are of similar age, but their temperaments are completely different."
The emperor nodded in agreement and looked in the direction of Song Yuntang.
The woman was dressed in a blue dress, with her jet-black hair all tied up on top of her head. She wore unobtrusive jewelry, and looked neat and tidy. There was a hint of coldness in her bright eyes. She did not stand out among the beautiful girls in the imperial garden, but her freshness and beauty were eye-catching.
Especially when he saw her exquisite face, his eyes flickered slightly.
When the queen saw his expression, she came up with a plan.
Your Majesty has indeed never seen her before.
"Speaking of which, when I first met Princess Le'an, I always felt that she looked like an old friend."
The emperor reacted, nodded, and quickly looked away.
"It does look like it. I almost went into a trance."
Chen Yanhua smiled and told the eunuch beside him to bring in Zhuang Zihan's peony painting and place it side by side with Song Yuntang's.
"Today, I am offering a basin of peach blossoms as a prize to the most talented female member of the family. I was just trying to compare these two paintings with you ladies. Now that your majesty and the ministers are here, you must give us some advice."
The emperor did not comment, but only asked the ministers behind him.
"My dear ministers, which of these two paintings do you think is better?"
If Song Yuntang was just from an ordinary farming family, these people would more or less be biased towards Zhuang Zihan for the sake of the Prime Minister's Mansion.
But she is not only the wife of a minister valued by the emperor, she also has the identity of a county princess and has extraordinary abilities.
Judging from the opinions of the emperor and the empress, they seem to be biased towards her.
But due to the face of the Prime Minister's Mansion, they could only give the most objective judgment.
"From the artistic conception alone, the painting on the left is really good, with its clusters of flowers and magnificent appearance. However, in terms of painting skills and techniques, the one on the right is more sophisticated and novel, with a single branch blooming, and a sense of purity, aloofness and coldness. It can be said that each has its own merits."
"Miss Zhuang's painting is not bad, and it is no different from the stereotyped peony paintings. I think the painting technique pioneered by the county lady is worth learning from."
The emperor nodded and looked in the direction of his personal eunuch.
"The painters in the palace have not made any progress in their painting skills for decades. I will ask them to discuss their experience with the county lady."
The chief eunuch Fan Chihai quickly responded, "Yes, Your Majesty."
The emperor looked at the queen again.
"I guess the Queen should have made a decision now?"
Today is the Queen's birthday. The talent contest is a game among the female members of the family. Since the rules are set by the Queen, she should be the one to make the decision.
This is the most basic respect that a husband can give to his wife.
The queen smiled.
"Come here, move Jade Face Peach Blossom onto the Xu Mansion's carriage." He turned to look at the women, "Do the ladies have any objections to my decision?"
At this time, the rest of the people naturally dare not stand up.
But Zhuang Zihan was not convinced.
She took a step forward and spoke neither humbly nor arrogantly.
"I refuse to accept!"
She bowed to the emperor and empress.
"Since Your Majesty has set this as a talent contest, let's take painting for example. Both painting skills and artistic conception are indispensable. I do not deny that Princess Le'an is a great painter, but a painting without artistic conception is like a puppet without a soul. It lacks depth and connotation. How can it surpass my painting of peonies?"
The queen's expression remained calm as she turned to look at Song Yuntang.
"I wonder what the county lady was thinking when she painted this picture?"
Song Yuntang opened his lips and almost blurted it out.
"Beautiful, noble, and lonely."
These three simple words seemed to have touched the queen's heart.
Since entering the harem, isn't her situation just like that of this peony?
Although it is noble and beautiful, it is also lonely. It is trapped on this piece of paper, blooming alone and admiring itself.
"Will the county lady give this painting to me? I will exchange it with you for something else later?"
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