banquet
Madam Liu was a very gentle woman. Seeing Qin Yuyao approaching, she took the initiative to take a few steps forward. She smiled and greeted Qin Yuyao first, then said with a smile: "This is my first time meeting the Princess of Zhen'an. She is truly the most beautiful girl I have ever seen."
Seeing her friendly attitude, Qin Yuyao's nervousness relaxed: "Thank you for the invitation, Madam Liu. I will learn a lot from you at this banquet today."
Hearing this, Madam Liu's expression became more sincere. What she was most proud of was that she was the best at hosting banquets. Every time, she could make all the guests come happily and leave happily.
"Princess Zhen'an, you should take a look around today. The plays on the stage are performed by a specially invited troupe, and the food is prepared by the chief apprentice of the imperial chef in the palace. If there is anything you like, just tell me and I will send it to the Prince Zhen'an Mansion for you." Madam Liu looked at Qin Yuyao with a smile. She was very proud that the princess was willing to come.
Ye Jiajia, who had been silent the entire time, immediately said, "Madam Liu, I've come here so many times, and you haven't given me any food. I'm going to make a fuss."
Madam Liu was already very familiar with Ye Jiajia, and she smiled when she heard her say this deliberately: "If Miss Jiajia likes it, we can send it together when the time comes. However, you have come here so many times and you are not tired of the food. It seems that my family's cook is really good."
As they were talking, Madam Liu's expression suddenly changed. Qin Yuyao quickly noticed this and immediately took Ye Jiajia's hand and tugged at it, "Madam Liu, Jiajia and I are going to the fish pond to take a look. We just saw those koi, they're really pleasing."
"Okay, there are maids guarding the fish pond. If you need fish food, just take it." Madam Liu smiled warmly at Qin Yuyao, her eyes a little kinder than before.
The two walked a few steps toward the fish pond, but didn't actually go to see the koi. Qin Yuyao turned her head quietly and saw Madam Lin, Qin Wenxin, and Madam Liu chatting. She couldn't help but frown slightly.
Her brows relaxed immediately. As a princess, it was normal for her to be flattered. It was also normal for the Right Prime Minister and the Minister of War to interact quite a bit, so it was normal for him to be nicer to the Prime Minister's wife.
Then he thought of what Qin Wenxin had said that day at the rockery, and then he saw that Madam Lin had brought someone with her today. Perhaps she was going to ask Madam Liu to look around for some families, and was she first looking to see if there were any suitable brothers or sisters in her family?
Qin Yuyao was quietly observing that side. Qin Wenxin turned around boredly and looked around. After noticing Qin Yuyao's figure, he immediately looked over.
Qin Yuyao didn't shift her gaze, meeting Qin Wenxin directly. She immediately glared at her, then, somewhat smugly, took Mrs. Lin's hand and stopped looking at her.
Qin Yuyao took in Qin Wenxin's expression and frowned slightly. Her thoughts were quickly distracted by Ye Jiajia who was pulling her sleeve.
"Who did you see?" Ye Jiajia's eyes fell on the round-headed koi fish and she immediately became interested. She grabbed the fish food from the maid beside her and threw a handful in.
At this time, Qin Yuyao could no longer see Mrs. Lin and Qin Wenxin. Seeing this, she did not persist and turned to look at the fish pond.
"Nothing, I just saw my stepmother and Qin Wenxin." She didn't have a very good relationship with her family, and Ye Jiajia knew this, so she was more casual in addressing them.
Upon hearing this, Ye Jiajia immediately frowned, a little disgusted: "Why do I remember asking Yuling at that time, and she said that no invitation had been submitted to Madam Lin."
"Then he came here on short notice." Qin Yuyao said lightly.
"Hmph, I'm afraid she's eager to get married. Before you came, you heard that she..." At this point, Ye Jiajia looked around. The maids were far away, and there were not many people around the fish pond. "She shamelessly said that if Your Majesty wasn't so young, she could enter the palace."
After saying that, Ye Jiajia's expression became more disgusted, and she simply threw all the fish food in her hand in. Seeing a group of golden and red koi scrambling to eat, she suddenly laughed.
Qin Yuyao looked relatively calm at first, but when she heard the last sentence, she frowned. Seeing that there was no one else around, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Don't say this next time. Before in the mansion, Madam Lin said that if I didn't get married, she wouldn't be able to see me. Now I'm free." Qin Yuyao sighed helplessly.
"Miss, the banquet stage is starting to get on. Do you want to go over?" Jin Yu approached and asked. Not far away, Qing Yu was watching the two of them with a vigilant look.
Qin Yuyao looked into the distance and saw that the show had indeed begun. Many people were slowly approaching. It would not be convenient for the two of them to stay in the fish pond until the end of the banquet.
Ye Jiajia was more familiar with the courtyard and walked ahead of Qin Yuyao. However, as the stage was about to open, the maids and servants below were queuing up to deliver meals.
Because the two were some distance away from the ladies and ladies of the main group, the maids did not notice them for a while. Soon, a maid walked quickly towards them.
Maybe the plate was too heavy or the maid didn't hold it firmly, but the soup bowl on the plate slid left and right, and was about to spill onto Ye Jiajia who was sitting in the front. The maid's face became more and more panicked.
The maid failed to hold it in the end. The soup bowl slid left and right several times and then suddenly overturned several times. However, when it was about to fall, Qin Yuyao reached out and held it halfway.
The commotion here quickly attracted the attention of many people. The maid hurriedly picked up the plate and quickly knelt down.
"I deserve to die, please forgive me, sir." The maid's voice was so panicked that it attracted everyone around her.
After the incident, Ye Jiajia's face became a little serious: "Sister Yuyao, are you okay?" Just now, she saw Qin Yuyao actually reached out to catch the plate. Although most of the soup in the bowl remained in the tray, a lot of it was still spilled.
It was unknown whether Madam Liu was at the opera troupe at the moment. The first person to come out was Yang Yuling: "Sister Yuyao! Is your hand okay?"
As they spoke, several maids came forward to remove all the spilled things. Qingyu had come over after the incident and was relieved to see that Qin Yuyao had only gotten some soup on her clothes.
"Miss Yang, my princess is not burned, it's just that her clothes are a little dirty." Jin Yuhu stood aside, looking a little nervous.
Upon hearing this, Ye Jiajia and Yang Yuling's expressions relaxed a bit. The former knew that if Qin Yuyao hadn't held herself back, she would have been the worst offender. The latter, as the host, would be hard-pressed to escape blame if something happened to a guest at her banquet.
Seeing that the Princess of Zhen'an looked calm and not angry, Yang Yuling showed a hint of gratitude on her face: "Sister Yuyao, I have a few sets of new clothes in my bedroom that I have never worn. I will send someone to take you there right away."
Ye Jiajia immediately stepped forward and said, "Sister Yuyao, I'll go with you. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have reached out to take it."
Seeing Ye Jiajia speak, Yang Yuling felt even more apologetic. Although she didn't know how the incident just happened, she was lucky that only one person was affected.
"It's better to have Jia Jia accompany you. I was thinking of going with you. Jia Jia is very familiar with this place. I'll feel more at ease knowing that you two can go together." After saying that, Yang Yuling waved her hand, and the maid who was still kneeling and trembling on the ground was pulled down.
Although the ladies near the stage could not see this side clearly, they could vaguely guess something.
Qin Wenxin said sarcastically in the crowd, "It seems that my sister was too anxious. She rarely comes to this kind of event, so it's normal for something to go wrong."
It seemed to be comforting, but in fact it was a subtle criticism of Qin Yuyao's lack of experience. This was why she got into trouble at the critical moment and her mentality was not stable enough.
Some young ladies frowned. Although they did not really dislike the Princess of Zhen'an, they still felt a little bad about her.
The sensible ones remained silent. This kind of thing happened quite often at banquets. There was no need to make such a fuss, and their eyes remained on the stage.
"The Princess of Zhen'an should have been the second most honorable person at the banquet, but she had to change her clothes before the party even started. What bad luck. It's a pity that she won't be able to catch the first act. I wonder how regretful Madam Liu must be." A guest who was familiar with the host family quickly spoke up and drew everyone's attention back to the stage.
Qin Wenxin, who was sitting in the corner, curled the corners of his mouth secretly. He was watching the show on the stage now, and there would be a show off the stage later.
Ye Jiajia didn't care about the soup on Qin Yuyao at all and stayed very close to her. The maid in front quickly took the two of them to Yang Yuling's courtyard, but before they entered, they saw a nanny waiting on the side.
"My two nobles, I was just sent by Madam Liu. Although Miss Yuling's bedroom is nice, it involves the girl's private belongings. I will take you to the courtyard next door to Miss Yuling. Please follow me." The nanny spoke in a gentle tone and with a normal expression, making it impossible to tell what was wrong.
She had originally thought of asking the maid in front, but she saw that she looked normal. Seeing this, Qin Yuyao whispered to Ye Jiajia, "Is this Yuling's courtyard in front?" Seeing their close relationship, they must have been to each other's quarters before.
Hearing this, Ye Jiajia looked up at the yard not far away, then nodded affirmatively: "Yes, Yuling's yard is over there. It's just that this nanny seems to have seen her before, but she seems a little unfamiliar."
Since it is indeed right, then it is easy to say. Qin Yuyao nodded slightly: "Please lead the way, Madam. This dress is stained with soup, it is not good to keep it for too long."
The nanny smiled kindly and said, "It's right next door. Please go this way."
It was indeed next door, only ten steps away. Looking at the courtyard that was almost the same as the one next door, Qin Yuyao relaxed a little.
"I will be guarding outside. Please come in with the two nobles and the maids. The clothes are inside." The nanny nodded and stood outside.
Seeing this, Qin Yuyao walked in first, and Ye Jiajia followed closely beside her. Her face was a little serious at this time. She knew more or less about the things going on in the inner house.
After the two of them went in, seeing that there was indeed nothing suspicious, Ye Jiajia finally breathed a sigh of relief: "Sister Yuyao, you go inside and change. I'll sit here for a while, Qingyu and Jinyu will go in with you."
Hearing her say this, Qin Yuyao shook her head and whispered, "Jinyu and you can stay outside. Qingyu and I will go in."
As he spoke, he nodded to Jin Yu and walked into the wing room behind the flower hall. As the wing room opened, Qing Yu took the lead and walked in, looking around.
"Miss, there is no one inside." Qingyu's expression relaxed and he nodded towards Qin Yuyao.
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