Chapter 192 Uninvited Guests
This year, the palace banquet did not have the dazzling, gorgeous Concubine Li, but only Concubine Li, whose seat was a million miles away from the throne.
Without her gorgeous clothes and jewelry, she looked dull when people looked at her.
It was strange, how could anyone think that Concubine Xian was her substitute and that their beauty was comparable? They
were clearly far apart.
All the guests had arrived, and the Emperor and Empress were sitting in the main seats, but Concubine Xian was nowhere to be seen.
Concubine Yu was under house arrest, and without her gloomy aura, the atmosphere of the entire banquet seemed particularly harmonious.
"The Sixth Prince has arrived..."
It was the Sixth Prince who had arrived, not Consort Zhenxian. It seemed that Wang Dequan had brought out the protagonist of the night.
Behind Wang Dequan followed a solemn old nanny, who was holding a baby wrapped in a bright yellow swaddling cloth in her arms. She slowly stepped forward and knelt down: "This old servant pays respects to the Emperor and the Empress."
Emperor Xuanwu stood up and walked down the steps. He skillfully moved the Sixth Prince into his arms, and tucked the swaddling cloth that had been blown open by the wind back into the little boy's armpit, with a gentle and loving expression.
"This is the Sixth Prince! He is so white, and looks just like the Emperor."
"Yes, yes! Look at his nose and eyes, they are just like the Emperor."
"Congratulations, Your Majesty, congratulations, the Sixth Prince has a dragon-like appearance and a phoenix-like figure, and he is a very lucky person."
Empress Zhu looked at the officials around her and lied with their eyes closed, keeping a decent smile on her face.
In her heart, she secretly cursed: a bunch of old flatterers, I was so close and I only saw the tip of the Sixth Prince's nose, how did you see his eyes and nose?
But it was obvious that Emperor Xuanwu didn't think so. The emperor beside him smiled so much that wrinkles appeared at the corners of his eyes, and he seemed to be in a very good mood.
Because her father and brother were employed in the court, Jiang Yuan was now a noble lady of the fourth rank.
But what's the point of rising in rank?
She lost her youth and beauty in the cold palace. She is a few years younger than the empress, but looks more than ten years older.
If she hadn't been framed by the empress for poisoning Concubine Zhenxian and was sent to the cold palace by the emperor, she wouldn't be like this today.
In the spring of next year, new concubines will enter the palace. Now the emperor doesn't even remember her. Even if her father and brother need her next year, there will be nothing for her.
Because her half-sister is on the candidate list for next year.
"The Empress Dowager has arrived--"
With the eunuch's announcement, Empress Dowager Wu walked in gracefully.
Whispering voices were heard in the hall: "Why is the Empress Dowager back? Wasn't she said to be in the Jiangnan Palace?"
"She chose to come back after the ceremony of conferring Concubine Xian and the full-month banquet of the Sixth Prince. Isn't she deliberately making things difficult for Concubine Xian?"
"As expected of the Empress Dowager, she knows how to choose the right time."
"What will Concubine Xian
's expression be when she sees the Empress Dowager back?" Someone also noticed Pei Wu who was following the Empress Dowager's procession, and lowered their voices and asked: "Isn't that the granddaughter of the Minister of the Central Secretariat? Why is she with the Empress Dowager?"
"Now that you mention it, it seems like we haven't seen her for a long time. I didn't expect that she got on board the Empress Dowager."
"It's not a good ship either. We can all see clearly the Emperor's attitude towards the Empress Dowager. If she tries to get close to the Empress Dowager, the Emperor will dislike her."
"There is nothing we can do. I see that the Emperor is devoted to Consort Xian, and we don't know what the selection will be like next year."
The Emperor at the top frowned when he saw Empress Dowager Wu, and tightened his hand around the Sixth Prince.
He could have handed the Sixth Prince over to Nanny Xiang to take him away, so that Empress Dowager Wu wouldn't go crazy again and hurt him.
But...
on what basis?
Today is a lucky day calculated by Qin Tianjian. The Sixth Prince will be one month old on May 12. For this auspicious day, he postponed Yue'er and Xiao Tuanzi's good days for three days and set them on May 15.
He wanted them to be glorious and not have to retreat because of the arrival of the Empress Dowager.
"Emperor, why didn't you send someone to Jiangnan to inform me of my grandson's full-month banquet? I came here uninvited, you won't blame me, right?" She
was looking for trouble right away, her words were full of blame.
Emperor Xuanwu smiled and stretched out a hand to help her: "What are you talking about, mother? Jiangnan has a pleasant scenery. I was thinking that you are old, and it will be the hot summer in June soon. It's better to stay there after the midsummer and then go to pick you up to avoid you running around and getting tired."
When you are old, don't bother yourself.
The Empress Dowager Wu heard the hidden meaning in his words and snorted coldly: "My grandson is one month old, I will not be absent no matter what."
She lowered her head to look at the little ball in Emperor Xuanwu's arms, frowned and said: "Is this the sixth prince? Has he been named?"
"Yes, he is called Shen Mingye."
The word "Ye" implies his bright future.
It seems that the emperor has high expectations for this little thing and is full of love.
The Empress Dowager Wu did not react, her eyes fell on the seat on the left side of the emperor, and she sat down without saying a word.
"Empress Zhenxian is here--"
Some coincidences in this world are really beyond human control.
Who knew that Jiang Xinyue controlled the time so well, and her figure appeared in front of everyone almost as soon as the Empress Dowager sat down.
She was wearing the court dress of the head of the Four Concubines. The color scheme was no longer the fresh pink and white. The blue collar wrapped around her snow-white neck. She wore a dark-patterned large-sleeved shirt inside, an apricot-colored undershirt embroidered with flying birds and flowers, and a nearly bright red ankle-length gown in the middle. The gown was embroidered with auspicious patterns. On the outside, she wore a black long-sleeved armor with blue-green sleeves.
The further in, the longer the sleeves, the shortest on the outside, revealing the circles of patterns on the cuffs. She looked low-key and luxurious, full of the majesty and elegance of the years.
The crane pattern on the chest was the finishing touch, making the whole outfit lively.
Jiang Xinyue's skin was snow-white, and she wore two pearl necklaces of different lengths around her neck. The pearls glowed with dazzling brilliance even without being illuminated by strong light, making her look like a fairy from the sky, brilliant and charming.
The golden crown on her head made a crisp clinking sound, and the green leaves and red flowers embroidered on the snow-white feather fan in her hand trembled as she waved her bare hands, as if the flowers and birds, the flowers and branches all came alive and surrounded her, giving her a sacred feeling of hundreds of birds paying homage to the phoenix.
She also saw that someone had already sat down in her seat.
When she got closer, she realized that there was an uninvited guest sitting in her seat.
"Your servant pays homage to the Emperor, the Empress Dowager, the Empress Dowager..."
She was not less polite, but after the Emperor called her, she walked to Empress Dowager Wu without giving in, and her attitude could be said to be tough: "Empress Dowager, this is my servant's seat."