Chapter 15 Banquet Mu Xue was thinking when suddenly Nanny Kang came over...
Mu Xue was just thinking about it when suddenly Nanny Kang came over and seemed to have something to say.
She smiled gently at Guarjia and said, "Thank you for telling me all this. I have learned a lot. Please have fun and enjoy your meal. I will ask the kitchen to prepare some snacks, which will also be great."
After a few words, Mu Xue walked forward. Nanny Kang quickly followed and said softly, "Over in the west courtyard, the prince consort and his friends drank too much and started playing wrestling."
Wrestling? Mu Xue was confused.
In the west courtyard, the men formed a circle and burst into cheers:
"Well done, little prince!"
"Celeng can do it!"
Dorji exerted his strength and stretched out his hand to clamp Celeng's arm, but Celeng reacted very quickly, bending to the right and twisting his waist to avoid it. The two of them fought back and forth, and it was really hard to tell who was the winner.
During the confrontation, Celeng was facing the corridor and inadvertently saw the fourth princess dressed in gorgeous clothes. He was stunned for a moment.
Dorji happened to seize this opportunity. He pushed forward fiercely, causing Celeng to stagger, and then followed with a hug and a throw.
The outcome is decided.
The guests laughed and cheered Dunduobu Dorji's name.
Dorji reached out his hand to Celeng who was lying on the ground and pulled him up: "I haven't seen you for many years, but your skills haven't fallen behind at all, not bad!"
Celeng stood up, dusted himself off, and said with a wry smile, "I can't compare to you. I'll just practice on the battlefield."
Dorji shrugged: "I would rather there was no war."
Celeng smiled bitterly and reminded: "The princess is here."
When everyone heard the voice, they followed Celeng's gaze and for a moment everyone was busy bowing.
Dorji turned around and smiled: "The fourth princess has arrived just in time."
He strode towards Mu Xue, his expression wanton and proud: "Did you see how I won just now?"
childish.
Mu Xue thought so in her heart, but the corners of her mouth curled up for a moment.
Dorji in front of him looked a bit like a proud cock. In order to facilitate wrestling, he took off his outer robe and only wore his inner garment. The outline of his figure could be vaguely seen, with broad shoulders and narrow waist, and even his muscles were still tense from the fight that had just ended. He was a leader among the warriors.
She cleared her throat: "Aren't you cold?"
Dorji smiled and opened his palm to her: "Touch it."
Mu Xue's eyes rolled, and she raised her hand to hit his palm. She hit him, but her hand was clenched tightly.
"Didn't you say you wanted to be a loving couple with me in front of others?" Dorji leaned close to her ear, his voice very soft and teasing.
In front of so many people, Mu Xue really couldn't pull her hand back immediately, so she just glared at him and let him go.
Dorji smiled and pulled her along, walked around for a while, and then began to introduce them to her: "This is Celeng, and that's his brother. They are both from Khalkha. It's been thirty-one years since I came to the capital, and five years have passed in a flash. We finally meet."
The Celeng brothers knelt down and clasped their fists together: "Your servants pay their respects to the Fourth Princess."
Mu Xue felt that Celeng looked familiar. Where had she seen him before? She couldn't remember. Forget it.
She said, "No need to be polite. We are all family. Coming from Khalkha, are you used to it?"
"In reply to the Fourth Princess, with the grace of the master, everything is fine." Celeng replied.
Tsereng's younger brother Gonggelabutan was a man of temperament. He smiled and said, "It's all good. The master has given us a mansion and a title. Grandmother was a little uneasy at first, but later she was completely relieved. The only thing she was worried about was that my brother was still unmarried at his age. But -"
"Gonggelabutan, are you a little drunk?" Celeng stared at him.
"Uh... maybe, I seem to be a little drunk."
Dorji said, "You've only had a few drinks. You need to practice more. There is no Khalkha man who can't drink. Hey, Celeng, I remember you are two or three years older than me. Are you still not married?"
Celeng smiled and said, "Soon."
Gong Ge La Butan said: "My brother finally chose the family that my grandmother picked this time, and he plans to pick an auspicious day after the New Year to get married. If you are free, please come and have a drink at the wedding."
"If I hadn't left Beijing yet, I would definitely go," Dorji said, "but maybe when spring comes and flowers bloom, we will have to go back to Khalkha."
He actually wanted to ask Celeng, "Do you want to go back to your hometown?" However, when his eyes met Celeng's, Celeng shook his head slightly.
Dorji understood.
With so many high-ranking officials from the Qing court, he didn't feel comfortable saying much, so he just patted Celeng's shoulder in silence.
Gonggelabutan, on the other hand, was somewhat disappointed: "The grass in Khalkha will be green again by then."
But they couldn't go back. Before coming to the banquet, his brother had reminded him seriously.
"If the prince consort mentions whether or not to return to Khalkha, you must not say you want to go back."
"Why? Isn't Galdan defeated now?"
Celeng warned: "Why? Because the emperor's grace is great. We are indebted to the master. Wherever the master is, we, as servants, should be there."
Gongge Labutan was still a little confused, but he understood one thing: he could never go back to his hometown.
Suddenly, the sound of a pipa was heard. It turned out that the opera troupe had seen the wrestling match over, so they started playing music again. An actor dressed as Wu Song came on stage and sang a scene of Wu Song fighting the tiger.
Everyone's attention was also drawn to it.
Seeing that nothing serious had happened, Mu Xue thought it was not appropriate for her to stay here for long. She reminded them not to get drunk, said some polite words like "have fun", and then turned around and went back.
Haishan Beile of Prince Gong's Mansion patted Dorji on the shoulder and said with emotion: "You have a really good relationship with the Fourth Princess."
"Of course," Dorji said with great joy, "She loves me deeply, but she is too shy to speak out."
"Such a match made in heaven, why not have a few more drinks."
"Okay, I won't go home until I'm drunk!"
"cheers!"
The banquet was a great success, and everyone said that the Fourth Princess and her husband were very affectionate. A few days later, when Mu Xue entered the palace to attend the banquet, Concubine Yi smiled and said to her, "Your husband is very courageous and straightforward. In front of so many people, he even held your hand and refused to let go."
Mu Xue felt her face getting hot: "He is just a little crazy."
"Don't talk about your husband like that. Give him some face," said Concubine Yi. "If you can organize this banquet properly, I will feel more at ease."
"Isn't my aunt worried before?"
"Of course," Concubine Yi moved a plate of milk cakes on the table towards her, "You were always quiet before, and I was really worried that you would open your own house and lead a messy life."
Mu Xue laughed: "That's not the case."
She picked up a milk cake, broke it in half, and handed it to Concubine Yi to eat: "It's just that you don't know how expensive firewood, rice, oil and salt are until you run a household. Now I understand it too."
The banquet cost 110 taels of silver, including the food and wine and the cost of hiring the opera troupe, which was basically equivalent to her monthly salary. And this was the cost that Madam Wu was staring at like a black chicken with an abacus.
At this rate of expenditure, which far outstrips income, the 10,000 taels of silver she received as a dowry when she got married would have been spent in three to five years.
Concubine Yi looked outside and said, "You didn't bring your wet nurse with you today."
"Today is the Little New Year, I asked her to go home to celebrate the festival."
Concubine Yi said, "You, the wet nurse, are good in all other aspects, but you are a little too frugal. When you were still young, you quarreled with someone over a tael of silver for tea and snacks."
"Is there anything else?"
"Yes," recalling the situation at that time, Concubine Yi wanted to laugh a little, "She came to me and cried with snot and tears, and she also argued that Concubine Guo was gone, but we princesses can't let anyone bully us. Let alone one or two taels of silver, even if it's a hundred coins or a penny, it's what belongs to us princesses and we can't let them fool us."
Hearing Concubine Yi imitating Nanny Wu's tone so vividly, Muxue couldn't help but smile.
The two laughed for a while, and Concubine Yi said, "But you are a princess, you can't learn to be so frugal, you must have the necessary occasions."
She said with concern: "I heard that your family still has the same people as before, so you should add some more, otherwise it will lose its dignity when you really go to Khalkha."
"Yes, I remember." Mu Xue agreed.
Concubine Yi looked at her and asked, "Is there any good news?"
"Uh, how can it be that fast?" Mu Xue was a little embarrassed.
Concubine Yi sighed, "That's right."
She looked out the window, the red wall reflected the white snow. "Then after this New Year, you will leave me and go to Khalkha."
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