Chapter 48 Eating Lychees
The Snow Horse is pure white without a single strand of mixed-color hair. It is extremely rare and worth a fortune.
Murong Wan immediately smiled:
"That's more like it. If Father forgets, I will ignore him this year."
Murong Xun and his daughter went to the stable in the backyard together, where a servant was leading a snow-white horse out.
"Let's call it Snowball." Murong Wan was picked up by Murong Xun and reached out to touch the horse's head.
Murong Xun: "Wan'er, why don't you try riding it?"
Murong Wan was unwilling and frowned:
"If I ride a horse now, my hair and skirt will get messed up."
She liked the Xuerong horse only because it was rare and beautiful, and she had no interest in riding it.
Murong Wan was unwilling, so Murong Xun gave in to his daughter.
"Father, where is my birthday gift? Why is it that only Wan'er has it?" Murong Ming ran over.
Murong Xun touched his son's head and said, "You, of course, won't be left out. Let's go have breakfast first."
He Yan, who had dressed up carefully, also came out.
A family of four having dinner together.
Today's breakfast was also rich, with more than 20 different kinds of snacks and porridges.
But He Yan and Murong Wan put down their chopsticks after only taking a few bites, fearing that they would feel like going to the bathroom after eating too much.
The palace is very lively today, with guests coming in an endless stream at the door.
Princess Hengyang Murong Wan and Prince Gong's son Murong Ming are celebrating their birthdays today, and the palace has already sent invitations to many families.
Many people came with gifts for the two little birthday boys, repeating auspicious words:
"Your Highness and Princess are so blessed to have such a pair of children."
"The prince is smart and clever, just like a prince."
"The princess is sensible and polite, she is really enviable."
“…”
Their words were very nice, but their eyes only glanced briefly at Murong Wan and her brother.
Murong Wan and her parents welcomed the guests together, and she felt that her face was about to freeze from smiling.
She got up early this morning to dress up, and spent more than an hour combing her hair and changing her clothes. The pearl flowers on her head were so heavy that they made her neck sore.
But she still had to stand beside her mother and greet the elders who came to the house from time to time.
Murong Ming, who was also the birthday boy, only stood there for a while and then ran off to play somewhere unknown.
Murong Wan also wanted to leave, but her mother whispered in her ear:
"If you don't want to waste all your dressing up today, just stand here and hold on."
Murong Wan hesitated.
She had put a lot of thought into preparing her clothes and hairstyle for today, so that she could appear beautifully in front of everyone on her birthday.
So Murong Wan continued to force a smile on her stiff face.
Her posture was graceful and her skirt remained motionless.
Seventh Prince Murong Xun felt a little sorry for his daughter.
Among everyone in this mansion, the person he loves the most is Murong Wan.
He was lost in thought as he watched Murong Wan's smiling face, and for some reason he would think of -
If Xuan'er had given birth to their child back then, the child would have been this big now.
She will also be such a smart and lovely princess.
Murong Xun reached out to touch his daughter's head, but just as he was about to touch her, Murong Wan dodged sideways.
Murong Wan said, "Father, please don't mess up Wan'er's pearl flowers."
Murong Xun laughed: "Okay, okay, father knows."
Princess Ning'an and the Crown Prince also came.
Having the prince and princess come to celebrate birthdays is a rare honor for ordinary people, but deep down Murong Wan doesn't really want this honor.
As soon as they arrived, they stole the spotlight. All the guests saluted in unison, praising the two princes' graceful demeanor.
Murong Wan's mouth corners sank.
He Yan pinched her daughter's earlobe, with a warning in her eyes.
Murong Wan could only raise the corner of her lips again:
"Wan'er pays homage to the Crown Prince and Princess."
When the prince and princess arrived, they naturally brought some rare pearls, jade and treasures from outside the palace as gifts.
In addition, Princess Ning'an also asked the palace maid behind her to hold a glass plate covered with silk, which looked mysterious.
"Wan'er, guess what this is?"
Murong Wan saw the semicircular shape raised under the silk and was at a loss for a moment.
Princess Ning'an smiled as if her plan had succeeded, and asked the palace maid to lift the silk to reveal two lychees.
"These are fresh lychees sent from Lingnan over a thousand miles. This princess will give you two as a reward."
Murong Wan's gaze fell on the plate again.
The two lychees were very small, and their shells were not red, but green in color.
"Thank you for the reward, Princess." Murong Wan looked at Lizhi curiously.
She couldn't remember whether she had eaten it last year, but she definitely hadn't eaten it this year.
Nanny Lin took two lychees, carefully peeled them and removed the cores, then cut the lychee flesh into several pieces before serving them.
Murong Ming appeared at this time and reached out to take the lychees:
"Thank you, Princess, for the reward! Let me try it."
Murong Ming ate several petals in one bite.
Murong Wan only ate a small piece.
Neither of them could taste anything and wanted to eat more.
But Ning An is gone too.
Crown Prince Murong Zhen smiled and said, "In a few days, the palace will hold a lychee banquet, inviting officials and their families to the palace to share the lychees. You will be able to taste them then."
Murong Ming was excited: "Okay, I'll have to taste it when the time comes."
Murong Wan lost interest.
Even if you can eat it at the palace banquet, there will probably only be one or two, so it’s better not to eat it.
…
Imperial city.
Lingnan paid tribute to the government with a lot of lychees this year.
When they were delivered to the palace, some were green, some were yellow, some were red, and some were already rotten.
The big red ones were sent to the emperor, empress and queen mother.
The rest was reserved for a lychee banquet, and part was sent to the palaces of the favorite concubines so that they could also taste it.
Rare tributes like this usually don't belong to Myeonghye Palace.
But not long ago, the emperor became angry and personally ordered the replacement of the palace maids in Minghui Palace.
Everyone in the palace would ponder the emperor's mind.
So Myeonghye Palace also got a few lychees.
Murong Di and Pei Shu sat at the table, facing a small plate of lychees.
The serving palace maid peeled the lychees and placed them on a plate.
Murong Di stuffed the lychee into his mouth, chewed it, and then spat it out with the juice and flesh.
“It’s not tasty! It’s not tasty!”
"Go get me some tea to rinse my mouth."
Murong Di ordered the new palace maid Dongyue around.
Dongyue brought tea, and Murong Di took a sip and spit it out again.
He shook his head: "I need sugar, go add sugar for me."
Dongyue then went out with the tea.
When I reached the door, I caught a glimpse of Hui Jieyu stuffing a peeled lychee into the cat in her arms.
Dongyue felt pained just looking at it, because those were lychees given by the emperor, it would be better to give them to her.
But Dongyue just thought about it in her heart and didn't dare to show it on her face.
She was the new maid who was assigned to serve in Myeonghye Palace.
Before coming here, the nanny who brought her here had told her many times:
"The previous servant of Myeonghye Palace was lazy and was beaten so hard that he couldn't get out of bed. He also had his salary docked for three years. If you want to come out unscathed, you better be careful."
Fortunately, Concubine Hui and the Third Prince don’t make any excessive demands and don’t talk much.
Both mother and son were very good-looking. Dongyue was almost stunned when she saw her new master for the first time.
But later Dongyue discovered that both mother and son were a little strange.
I often sit under the locust tree in a daze for the whole day.
The Third Prince was a bit silly. When he was in the palace, he would always hold a book and read it very seriously, but he would even hold the book upside down...
inside the house.
Pei Shu looked at her son with a smile in her eyes:
"Can you taste the lychee flavor this time?"
Murong Di honestly admitted: "Mother, I have tasted it. After tasting it, I no longer think about it."
He shouldn't have put anything in his mouth that wasn't poisonous.
But he was only a ten-year-old child and really wanted to try it, so he put it in his mouth, chewed it a few times, and then spit it out.
"Would mother like to try it?"
Pei Shu calmly stroked the black cat in her arms:
"Mother has eaten it before, but I don't want to eat it now."
A midsummer heat wave swept through Chang'an.
Everyone inside and outside the palace changed into summer clothes.
Pei Shu was wearing a newly made summer dress, the color was very dull, gray with a hint of white.
When I got the fabric, it was really unremarkable. It was obvious that it was leftover from other people's shopping.
But when it was made into clothes and worn by Pei Shu, it reminded people of the white in the sky at dawn.
As tranquil as water, with an ethereal air.
Coupled with her fair skin and the black cat in her arms, standing under the dead branches of the locust tree, she looks like a landscape ink painting.
Pei Shu looked up under the tree.
The branches of the old locust trees cut the sky into pieces.
She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, the scene before her eyes had changed drastically.
The branches of the locust tree were instantly covered with lush green leaves, and clusters of dense locust flowers fell down.
A young man with a light blue headband stood on a tree branch, with dappled sunlight and light and shadow flowing across his forehead.
He bent down and stretched out his hand towards the tree:
"Pei Jiaojiao! Come up, I'll pull you up."
"Don't be a coward, you won't fall."
"If you fall, I'll take your place..."
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