Chapter 773: Close Relationship
The so-called reprimand was a lecture given by the eunuchs in the palace on behalf of the emperor.
This time, the person who reprimanded Prince Jing on behalf of the emperor was Cao Nuo.
He first politely bowed to Prince Jing, then straightened his back and began to lecture with a stern face.
Because Cao Nuo was representing the emperor at the time, Prince Jing could only kneel on the ground, lower his head, and listen to the instructions obediently.
He felt extremely humiliated and clenched his hands into fists, his nails almost digging into his flesh.
After scolding for an entire hour, Cao Nuo finally stopped. His throat was a little hoarse, but he didn't even drink a sip of tea. He bowed and said goodbye and left.
Prince Jing stood up with the help of others.
He looked at the imperial edict on the table, and recalled the scene where he was scolded in public by a lowly eunuch. The anger in his heart could not be suppressed and rushed to his head in an instant.
He rushed forward, grabbed the imperial edict, and wanted to tear it into pieces.
The housekeeper hurriedly grabbed him and screamed.
"No! You absolutely can't do that!"
Prince Jing finally retained the last bit of his sanity and did not tear up the imperial edict.
He threw the imperial edict to the ground fiercely.
The butler knelt down hurriedly, picked up the imperial edict with trembling hands, carefully brushed off the dust on it, put it back on the table, and whispered to comfort the prince, hoping that the prince would calm down.
But Prince Jing was full of resentment, how could he listen to other people's advice?
After hearing a few words, he became impatient and told the butler to get out.
The butler had no choice but to shut up and retreated angrily.
Prince Jing became angrier and angrier as he thought about it. He called over his two most trusted aides and started scolding them.
"I asked you to find out the whereabouts of Xiao Lingfeng. You swore to me that Xiao Lingfeng had been killed by bandits. But what happened? Not only did he not die, he came back alive and well!"
"We didn't get any supplies, and all the robbers were arrested. We were treated like monkeys and played around!"
"Tell me, what's the point of me keeping a bunch of you useless people?!"
The two aides knelt on the ground, trembling and not daring to say a word.
When Prince Jing's anger had almost flared up, one of his aides spoke cautiously.
"Prince, we did miscalculate this matter, but the most urgent task right now is not to find out who is responsible, but to get rid of those robbers as soon as possible."
Prince Jing paused for a moment.
He calmed down a little and asked in a deep voice.
"Hasn't the person who was in charge of contacting those robbers been dealt with? This matter shouldn't be traced back to me."
The staff said: "The person in charge of the call is indeed dead, but the money we gave to the robbers was all from the government. This is a hidden danger and we must be on guard against it early."
In the next two days, the court carried out another round of official transfers. This time, not only the middle and low-level officials, but also high-ranking officials above the second rank saw changes.
Every official in the court was worried about their safety and was extremely cautious in doing things, fearing that there would be any mistake.
In this tense atmosphere, the emperor's 21st birthday arrived.
On the evening of the Wanshou Festival, a birthday banquet was held in the palace, and all officials above the fourth rank in the court were invited.
They wore official uniforms and brought their families into the palace for a banquet to celebrate the emperor's birthday.
Countless gifts were sent to the Shaofu like a stream.
As a noble concubine, Xiao Xixi sat next to the emperor.
The Empress Dowager sat on the other side of the Emperor. She always had a kind smile on her face and looked no different from before.
Her gaze swept across the many female relatives present, and finally stopped on Princess Jiaoyang.
Princess Jiaoyang is named Xia Yuran, the daughter of Princess Hua'an. According to seniority, she is the granddaughter of the Empress Dowager and the cousin of the current emperor.
Princess Hua'an was very thoughtful. She noticed that the Empress Dowager was looking over here, so she immediately took Princess Jiaoyang to her side.
"Your son pays respects to your mother."
"Granddaughter pays respects to grandmother."
The Empress Dowager looked at Princess Jiaoyang with a smile and asked a few questions in a gentle voice.
Princess Jiaoyang would occasionally accompany her mother to the palace to meet the Empress Dowager. She was quite familiar with her grandmother, so she was very confident and not at all shy when dealing with her.
The Queen Mother was very satisfied with her performance.
In fact, the Empress Dowager had thought of appointing Princess Jiaoyang as the Queen. Princess Jiaoyang was worthy of the position of Queen in terms of her family background, appearance and conversation.
The two are cousins, which makes them even closer, and it is indeed a wonderful story.
But the emperor was unwilling, and Princess Jiaoyang seemed to have someone in her heart. Neither of them had any thoughts about that, and forcing them to be together would only increase resentment. The Empress Dowager did not want to make herself unhappy, so she had to give up the idea.
Looking at the graceful and elegant Princess Jiaoyang at this moment, the Empress Dowager could only sigh in her heart, what a pity!
In fact, it was not just the Empress Dowager. Princess Hua'an also thought about letting her daughter become the Queen. However, as soon as she expressed this intention, she was sternly rejected by her daughter.
Although marriage is decided by parents and matchmakers, it also requires mutual consent.
Princess Hua'an didn't want to force her daughter, so she had to give up in the end.
At tonight's birthday banquet, the emperor, as the protagonist, is naturally the focus of everyone's attention.
Apart from him, the most eye-catching ones are the newly promoted Earl of Yong'an and Li Qingyan, who had just been promoted to Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel.
These two people were new nobles who had just been promoted by the emperor, and many people were secretly envious and jealous of them.
After three rounds of drinks, the Empress Dowager left early on the pretext of being exhausted.
The atmosphere at the banquet became increasingly lively.
Many people stood up under the influence of alcohol and came to Yong'an Bo and Li Qingyan, toasting them and congratulating them on their promotion.
Xiao Lingfeng was a military general, and those who toasted and congratulated him were also military generals.
The communication between the generals is very direct. No more nonsense, just drink!
Xiao Lingfeng was happy, and since he could drink a lot, he accepted almost every drink, one glass after another, which made all the generals cheer for him.
In comparison, the atmosphere on Li Qingyan's side was much more awkward.
Those who toasted Li Qingyan were all civil officials. Civil officials were best at talking. They surrounded Li Qingyan, saying nice things to him one after another and praising him highly.
As the saying goes, there is no first in literature and no second in martial arts. This excessive praise is of no benefit to Li Qingyan, but will instead bring him more jealousy.
No matter how eloquent Li Qingyan was, the other side had so many people that he couldn't handle it all by himself and could only drink one cup after another.
Soon he was drunk, his cheeks flushed and his mind became a little confused.
He shook his head to indicate that he really couldn't do it anymore.
The emperor was still sitting there, so the civil officials didn't dare to make too much noise. Seeing that Li Qingyan was really drunk, they had no choice but to disperse.
The fish soup tonight was particularly delicious, and Xiao Xixi drank bowl after bowl.
Soon the whole pot of fish soup was empty.
She had drunk a lot of milk tea in the afternoon, and now with such a big bowl of fish soup, her stomach was full of water, and she couldn't help but want to go to the bathroom.
(End of this chapter)
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