Chapter 213: The Imperial Concubine and the Lady
However, except for the Imperial Concubine, all other concubines came. Even the biological mother of Prince Xiang, Concubine Li, who was sick all year round and never left the palace, traveled a long distance today to accompany the prince. At this time, she hid behind the excited concubines and quietly acted as an invisible person.
[Emperor Gan De had not many concubines, only nine including the Imperial Concubine. Five of them gave birth to princes. Except for Prince Xiang born to Concubine Li, the rest were born to the four concubines Gui, Shu, De and Xian. Therefore, Concubine Li was also considered a leader among the concubines.
Her father was just a small prefect, but she was known as the most talented woman in Jiangnan because of her outstanding talent. She was sent to the Eastern Palace during the prince's selection of concubines. In order to show that he treated lower-ranking ministers equally, she was given the title of Liangyuan. Four years later, she gave birth to Li Yunjin. After that, she was injured and had to recuperate in the palace, rarely showing up. 】
While the ladies of honor were paying their respects, the system began to eat melons.
[However, there is another big news about Concubine Li being favored by the emperor.]
Although Concubine Li was extremely talented, her appearance was not outstanding, she could only be considered pretty, so she had never served the emperor in the bedchamber since she entered the palace.
Originally, the emperor, who was still the crown prince that day, was going to go to the imperial concubine's courtyard, but on the way he suddenly saw a woman walking slowly, reciting a poem every ten steps, and going all the way back to her own courtyard.
The emperor listened to her reciting poems and unknowingly followed her into the courtyard. He stayed in Concubine Li's room that night. Soon Concubine Li became pregnant and gave birth to Li Yunjin nine months later. 】
The women of the Qin family looked as if they had suddenly understood something, and all looked at Concubine Li. Even if she tried her best to hide it, she could not escape the sharp eyes of the onlookers.
Su Qianqian was enjoying her melon. Her eyes accidentally turned to the third old lady and she noticed that she was looking at her with an evasive expression.
【Um? What bad things did Third Aunt do? 】 Su Qianqian became alert.
[Hmph, what else do you have to feel guilty about? It's just that, like you, the Third Old Lady had to sleep in the same room with the Third Old Master last night.
However, the Third Master knew how to seize the opportunity. He took advantage of the opportunity to grab the Third Old Lady's hand and beg for mercy. He was also kicked in the heart by the Third Old Lady. The Third Master endured the pain, grabbed the Third Old Lady's ankle, and followed her to the bed. 】
The third old lady's face turned almost red by this time. She wished she could hide under the floor tiles in front of her. She only regretted that she did not hold on and now she had lost face in front of the whole family.
Madam Qin and Mrs. Du and Mrs. Liu exchanged glances, held back their laughter and bowed, then everyone followed the sedan chairs of the empress and the ladies and princesses to the square in front of the palace gate.
The huge group of ladies seemed to be holding their breath. They walked in complete silence, with only the rustling sound of their skirts rubbing against each other.
In addition to He who insisted on staying in the mansion to look after the three children, even the eleven-year-old sixth lady Qin Yuqing came along. The little girls were very excited and everything was new to them. They secretly looked around within the range of their heads.
[These ladies are also very pitiful. In order to avoid making a fool of themselves, many of them dare not even eat breakfast. They have been waiting with empty stomachs for the whole morning, and now their legs are shaking when they walk. 】
The system sighed with pity, but Su Qianqian clearly heard suppressed laughter.
[The wife of the Minister of Personnel, the mother of Yin Yue Niang's ex-sister-in-law, was carsick and vomited all the way. She could not even get up this morning and she dared not eat breakfast for fear of having diarrhea and vomiting. Just wait and see, one, two, three, she will fall! 】
As the system counted down, the wife of the Minister of Personnel sat on the ground very appropriately.
The experienced Nanny Gong walked over in a well-trained manner, skillfully carried the wife of the Minister of Personnel, placed her on the pole prepared nearby, lifted her up and continued to move forward.
[She fainted but still managed to get around. This Shangshu’s wife must be pretending. 】
Su Qianqian is not afraid of walking, she just doesn't like walking. Now when she has free time, she will go to the gym in the space to exercise. Even if she doesn't dare to use the Sanda she practiced before when there are many people around, it will come in handy when necessary.
[The wife of the Minister of Personnel is not pretending, the one over there is pretending...]
Following the sound of the system, Su Qianqian quietly turned her head and saw Zhu Jiayi also lying slowly on the ground.
But her luck was not very good. The person walking behind her was Zhou Jinxi. He walked with big strides and stepped on Zhu Jiayi's hand. She was in so much pain that she was about to scream out, but her mother pounced on her and covered her mouth tightly.
[Hahaha, Zhu Jiayi is such a great actor, she is really good at adding drama! If she screamed and frightened the Empress, the wife of Duke Xuan and her daughter would never be able to enter the palace again. 】
The system laughed heartily, and the Qin family members pursed their lips tightly, their cheeks sore from trying so hard to hold back their laughter.
[Your stepmother and Su Miaomiao are here too. They really learned their lesson this time and didn’t bother you along the way...
Haha, it turns out that your father has warned her that if she does anything bad to you again, she will be imprisoned in the yard until she dies! Your father is worthy of being your father, what a ruthless man! ……】
[Ji Bingwen is so miserable. She just arrived at the palace last night and she already upset Lu Min. She knelt down to serve Lu Min for most of the night and dared not make a sound even when Lu Min tormented her. Today she still has to serve the princess early in the morning. You... should not learn this spirit of tenaciously fighting against fate...]
The system was chattering away, and before he knew it, he had arrived at the square at the palace gate. The emperor, the crown prince, and his close ministers also came out of the front hall and joined the female relatives and ladies led by the queen.
It turned out that Concubine Xiao was here, standing next to Emperor Gan De. Her face, as beautiful as a peach, was serious and she had changed into the appearance of an icy beauty. Her eyes fell on the face of Madam Xiao in the team of ladies. She stared for a moment and slowly looked away.
The Empress got off the sedan chair, walked up the steps and stood shoulder to shoulder with the Emperor. Imperial Concubine Xiao should have stepped back and stayed with the other concubines, but she seemed to have forgotten the rules and stood there without moving.
"Although the Great Qi governs the world with civil virtues, we must not forget our military preparations. The military has made contributions to the victory over the enemy many times, and even civil officials should not forget this. From today on, there will be seven days of hunting, and the number of animals and birds hunted will be the basis for competition. The winners will receive rewards. The Queen and I will also add prizes for fun."
Emperor Gan De gave a brief opening speech, and the grand autumn hunt kicked off.
The Vice Minister of Works and the Junior Secretary of the Imperial Household Department personally explained the distribution of hunting grounds, classified the dangerousness by the color of the flags, and reminded the female family members and the children of civil officials not to enter the hunting grounds for wild beasts. Each hunting ground was separated by fences to prevent those who were not good at hunting from being attacked by wild beasts.
There are some casualties every year, which is common in hunting. It is this hidden danger that stimulates the men to compete and never get tired of it.
Su Qianqian finally waited for the order to act, and quietly took the weak Xin and Wang to hide aside.
Looking at the flags waving everywhere, the military generals, the civil officials who were good at hunting, and the women from the military generals' families excitedly checked the horses and prepared to gallop to the hunting grounds.
"Let's just watch the fun, bring back the prey and eat and drink with them. Protecting ourselves is the greatest help to them."
Su Qianqian took out a handful of salt-fried peanuts from her arms, gave some to each of her two sisters-in-law, and found a place sheltered from the wind to sit down and eat the peanuts.
She was wearing a riding suit because it was convenient for walking in the mountains and because it looked good, not because she was going to hunt.
"Madam Wuning, you can neither ride a horse nor shoot an arrow. Wearing such clothes will really bring shame to the Wuning Marquisate!"
A dark shadow blocked Su Qianqian's sight. As expected, she couldn't hide from it even if she wanted to.
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