Chapter 132 Fighting Grass
Xia Zhengqi took the opportunity to persuade: "Mother, today is your 50th birthday, you should stop bothering the seventh brother and his wife, there are still so many royal family members waiting behind."
The Queen echoed: "Yes, mother, after paying respects to the birthday, there is still time to talk."
The Queen Mother looked up at the long queue of people waiting to pay respects to the birthday, then she suppressed her anger and said: "Come on, Prince Jin, Princess Jin, you can get up."
The Prince Jin and his wife hurriedly got up and secretly cast a grateful look at the Emperor and Empress.
The boring ceremony of offering tributes and birthday celebrations lasted for an hour and a half. When Xia Miaoyuan arrived, he had already fallen asleep in the chair.
"Miao'er, wake up. The birthday celebration is over." The queen called softly.
"Great!" Xia Miaoyuan rubbed her eyes and climbed up from the chair.
She looked around and saw that the long queue outside the palace had dispersed. The guests were divided into men and women and were ready to start the banquet.
"Go out and play!" Xia Miaoyuan pulled the sleeve of the queen mother and begged.
"Okay, it just so happens that my cousin Wanyin is here too. You can go play with her for a while." The queen looked at Xia Miaoyuan lovingly and instructed.
"Miaomiao, let's go!"
A baby voice came into her ears.
Xia Miaoyuan turned her head and saw that it was indeed her cousin Wanyin who was jumping over.
She slid down from the chair, took Xiao Wanyin's hand and walked out.
At this time, the boring birthday-worshiping ceremony was finally over. Not only were the children happy, but all the adults also breathed a sigh of relief.
The guests were divided into men and women, gathered in groups of three or four, and chatted in low voices.
In the open space outside the palace, children also gathered in groups of three or five to play together.
Some squatted on the ground and played ceramic balls, some played shuttlecock, and some played Cuju.
Xia Miaoyuan and Xiao Wanyin looked here and there. When
the little brothers and sisters who were playing saw that it was the favored Princess Anguo Xia Miaoyuan, they all enthusiastically pulled them to join and wanted them to play together.
However, these games were not good at the two cousins, so they had to wave their hands and refuse.
Xia Miaoyuan pouted: "Huh, no! It's not fun!" and pulled Wanyin away.
Xiao Wanyin bit her finger and glanced at the sycamore tree in the yard. Her eyes lit up instantly: "Miaomiao, sister will teach you how to weed! Okay?"
"Weed?" Xia Miaoyuan was a little confused.
"What is weed?"
Xiao Wanyin happily pulled Xia Miaoyuan to the sycamore tree. At this time, the leaves of the sycamore tree had almost fallen off. The ground under the tree was full of dry sycamore leaves, which rustled when stepped on.
Xiao Wanyin squatted down and searched among the sycamore leaves, picked up those neat and large ones, and then handed a leaf to Xia Miaoyuan.
"It's very simple, just hold here with your hand." Xiao Wanyin demonstrated to Xia Miaoyuan with a serious look on her face.
Xiao Wanyin used her two chubby hands to hold the long petiole of the sycamore leaf.
[Isn't this a pimping hook? It turns out that children in ancient times called this a doucao!]
Xia Miaoyuan suddenly realized.
The two sisters squatted under the sycamore tree and concentrated on playing.
Xia Miaoyuan was weak, and Xiao Wanyin often played doucao, so she was more skilled. Nine times out of ten, she would break Xia Miaoyuan's leaf stalk.
Xia Miaoyuan was not angry or annoyed, and stood up to search.
"Wait a minute, I'll find a good one." Xia Miaoyuan said.
The childish voice, coupled with the serious tone, was particularly funny.
Sang Qi stood a few meters away, looking at Xia Miaoyuan's funny look and couldn't help laughing.
"Not good!" Xia Miaoyuan picked up a large leaf, but found that the petiole was not long, and threw the leaf away with a pout.
"Hmph, this is not good either!" She picked up another big leaf, but the petiole was so dry and cracked that it was obviously not strong.
Xia Miaoyuan bent down and searched carefully. She moved while searching and unknowingly walked more than 20 meters along the row of sycamore trees.
Xiao Wanyin saw that she was getting farther and farther away from her, so she ran over to find her.
"Wait for me! You are so far away!" Xiao Wanyin shouted at the top of her voice.
"Sister Feng's makeup is really enviable."
"Yes, yes, even the makeup of those concubines can't compare to Sister Feng's fashion."
Xia Miaoyuan, who was concentrating on searching for leaves, suddenly heard the voice of a young girl.
Several girls were complimenting this "Sister Feng".
Xia Miaoyuan loved to listen to gossip. In her previous life, when she was busy with work, she used gossip as a way to relieve stress.
When she heard the voices of several young girls, she immediately became interested. She
stood up and looked around, only to find that she had unknowingly walked to the outside of a side hall.
Because there were too many guests attending the Empress Dowager's birthday banquet today, a large main hall could not accommodate these guests, so all the side halls had to be used.
And this side hall was occupied by young ladies from noble families.
Xia Miaoyuan didn't care about picking leaves anymore, so she stood up and listened with her ears tilted.
After a burst of intense flattery, a spoiled and arrogant female voice spoke.
"That's right, Grandpa has always loved me the most. Every year he would send people to Jiangnan to buy rouge, clothes, and jewelry for me."
"Empress Dowager Grandmother is even more so. Whenever she gets something good, she would think of me. My treasury can hardly hold all the rewards."
[Empress Dowager Grandmother?] Xia Miaoyuan was startled when she heard these words.
She quietly walked to the door and looked inside. She saw that the one who was talking with her neck tilted back was Feng Panpan.
[It's really her, the foxy Feng Panpan. It seems that her nose has been healed.]
"Puchichi..." Xia Miaoyuan couldn't help laughing when she remembered the last time Feng Panpan slipped and fell down in Shoukang Palace after stepping on a hazelnut.
On that occasion, Feng Panpan was originally arranged by the Empress Dowager to meet the Crown Prince in disguise.
But she never expected that Feng Panpan would fall and ruin the whole plan.
And the fall was really severe, her nose was broken, and she had to stay at home for several months before it healed.
Her family found her various good medicines to promote recovery, so that she could recover before the Empress Dowager's birthday banquet.
She couldn't miss such a good opportunity to show herself at the Empress Dowager's birthday banquet.
After all, there are not many chances to meet the prince, and every opportunity must be taken seriously.
Early this morning, she dressed up, wearing a set of brocade palace dress embroidered with pearls and gems, and a jeweled crown.
With a charming face, she even invited a lady from the Jiaofang Bureau who is good at makeup to do her makeup.
So among all the noble ladies attending the banquet, Feng Panpan's outfit was the best.
"Miao Miao, what are you doing?" Xiao Wanyin came over and looked at Xia Miaoyuan, who was lying by the door, in confusion.
"Don't make a sound." Xia Miaoyuan made a silent gesture to her, and Xiao Wanyin nodded in tacit understanding.