Chapter 587 The Prince's Handwriting
The atmosphere in the palace was already very different due to the arrival of Crown Prince Wei Shiqing. Now it became even more subtle due to Wei Shiqing's familiarity with Xing Xing and his undisguised love for her.
One young lady bit her lip, looked at her mother, then stood up from her seat and said that she wanted to dance for the Crown Princess' birthday.
Mu Rujun smiled and nodded, agreeing.
This lady has a waist as slender as a willow and she dances really beautifully.
After the dance, she panted slightly, her face flushed, and looked at the Crown Prince Wei Shiqing expectantly.
As a result, Wei Shiqing was talking to Mu Rujun with his head turned, and didn't even look at her.
The dancing lady's face suddenly turned pale, with tears in her eyes, and she returned to her seat unwillingly.
However, since the dancing lady set this precedent, many other ladies came forward to present birthday gifts to the Crown Princess.
Of course, everyone knew what these young ladies were thinking. The ladies sitting below knew it, and so did the Crown Princess sitting in the main seat.
Prince Wei Shiqing naturally knew about it.
The ladies were having a blast. You danced while I played the piano. You painted while I recited poems. It was a scene of competition and beauty, with a hundred flowers blooming at the same time.
Xingxing was overwhelmed by the sight and thought that the young ladies in the capital were all amazing!
At this moment, Pang Xinyue also stood up, walked forward, and said with a smile: "Your Highness, Crown Princess, Xinyue had the honor of copying the calligraphy of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. As it is your birthday, Xinyue specially wrote a picture of a hundred years of longevity in the handwriting of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to celebrate your birthday."
As soon as these words were spoken, the hall fell into an eerie silence.
On the surface, there is nothing wrong with Pang Xinyue's behavior, but the key point is that Prime Minister Pang is currently vigorously encouraging the Eastern Palace to accept the emperor's favor, and Pang Xinyue used the prince's handwriting to congratulate the Crown Princess on her birthday. No matter how you look at it, it seems like she has ulterior motives and is deliberately trying to irritate people!
Everyone in the hall looked at the Crown Princess with some uneasiness.
Crown Princess Mu Rujun was not angry, but smiled and said, "Present it."
Pang Xinyue smiled, opened the centenary painting with both hands and presented it to the Crown Princess.
One hundred characters of "Shou" in various shapes and fonts appear in the painting, forming a huge "Shou" character.
To be fair, this is a very thoughtful congratulatory picture.
When Crown Princess Mu Rujun saw the Hundred-Year-Old Picture, the faint smile on her face deepened a little, and she even glanced at the Crown Prince with a provocative smile.
The prince smiled.
The eye contact between the two was just enough and nothing out of the ordinary, but in the eyes of Pang Xinyue, who had been paying close attention to the Crown Princess's expression, it seemed like deliberate provocation.
Pang Xinyue was beautiful and charming, more beautiful than flowers. Like Nie Yuke, she felt that if she had not been too young when the crown prince got married, there would have been no chance for an orphan like Mu Rujun to become the crown prince's consort!
Pang Xinyue immediately spoke up and asked in a sweet voice, "My Lady Crown Princess, do you think the name of this minister looks like it?"
The hall became quiet again.
The smile no longer appeared on the prince's face.
Everyone was secretly looking at Mu Rujun's expression.
In the end, Mu Rujun was not angry at all, and even smiled: "To be honest, it doesn't look like your handwriting."
Before Pang Xinyue could wait for the Crown Princess to change her expression, her own expression changed first.
She forced a smile and said, "Your Majesty really loves to joke. This word is exactly the same as the one my father asked the Crown Prince for for me."
After a pause, Pang Xinyue said jokingly, "Your Highness the Crown Prince is also here. Please help Xinyue to see if what I copied is similar or not."
Mu Rujun openly asked the palace maid to present it to the prince.
Pang Xinyue stared closely at the prince's expression.
As a result, the prince just laughed lightly.
Just this one sound made countless young ladies in the palace feel nervous.
It must be said that it was very exciting when those young ladies were competing with each other for beauty just now, but the prince seemed to have no expression the whole time. When Pang Xinyue's Hundred Longevity Picture came out, at least the prince laughed!
Even though it seemed a little strange to be laughing, it was still a laugh no matter what!
His Highness' ladies who were sitting upright could hardly hide their excitement!
Pang Xinyue was also a little dizzy and turned around, full of joy. Just as she was about to say something, she heard the prince speak seriously: "This is a misunderstanding."
Pang Xinyue was stunned.
The prince's eyes were clear, and he said calmly, "That day, Prime Minister Pang came to my study and saw a travel note I had copied on my desk. He praised my handwriting for being very good. He said that my daughter was good at everything except her handwriting, which worried him a lot, so he wanted to ask me to give her a travel note so she could copy it at home. Prime Minister Pang was an old man who had served two dynasties, and I really didn't want to offend him, so I gave him the travel note."
Pang Xinyue said impatiently, "Your Highness is right. After my father brought the travelogue home, I copied it every day, fearing that it would be a little bit different. My father also said that my copy was very similar...but the Crown Princess said it was not similar."
Pang Xinyue's tone was filled with aggrievedness.
In fact, Pang Xinyue was a bit presumptuous. After all, she interrupted the prince before he had even finished speaking, which was really poor manners.
The smile on Mrs. Pang's face seemed a little forced.
Pang Xinyue is still too anxious!
Didn’t you see that the prince just glanced over here indifferently?
The look in her eyes seemed to blame her for not raising her daughter well——
But Mrs. Pang also felt aggrieved.
She was a stepmother. Pang Xinyue was the daughter of the original wife who had given birth to her after great efforts. She died within two years of giving birth. Prime Minister Pang regarded this little daughter as the apple of his eye!
What else can she do as a stepmother?
The handkerchief in Mrs. Pang's hand was almost torn.
Wei Shiqing's expression became even more disheartened: "How dare you!"
The word "outrageous" frightened Mrs. Pang so much that she shuddered.
It even frightened the ladies in the palace so much that they dared not even breathe.
Pang Xinyue shuddered all over and her face turned pale.
“Your Highness…”
Wei Shiqing said coldly, "Is it because the Crown Princess is too gentle that you forget your duty as a subject? Do you still want to say bad things about the Crown Princess in front of me?"
Pang Xinyue's face turned pale and she knelt down: "Your servant, I dare not!"
Mrs. Pang also stood up quickly, walked over and knelt down: "Your Highness, please calm down."
Wei Shiqing's voice was still very cold: "The small regular script of the travel notes that Pang Xiang asked me to leave that day was indeed written by me, but it was the handwriting of the Crown Princess I was in. I saw that Pang Xiang praised it highly, so I thought he should not mind whose handwriting it was."
Having said that, the matter is obviously very clear.
The handwriting of the Crown Prince that Pang Xinyue has been so proud of is actually the pleasure of someone else's concubine. The Crown Prince is copying the Crown Princess' handwriting!
No wonder the Crown Princess said she doesn’t look like him!
Pang Xinyue now recalled the half-smile on Mu Rujun's face when he looked at the Hundred-Year-Old Painting she presented, and she felt as if she had been slapped in the face!