Banquet seating is generally arranged according to the status of the people attending the banquet.
Su Li is now a princess, so naturally she sits with the royal family, and her seat is at the first among the princesses.
When Pei Mingyue and I arrived at Ningkang Palace, the seats were almost all occupied except for the emperor and his concubines.
When the two of them took their seats separately, Princess Yulun, who had requested to sit at the same table with her, was already sitting there.
When he saw Su Li, he greeted her in a very friendly manner: "Princess An Ning, I have heard a lot about you."
Su Li smiled and nodded: "Princess Yulun."
As soon as she sat down, Princess Yulun took the initiative to talk to her and toast her, and she responded to all of their requests.
After all, this was a banquet to celebrate the establishment of friendly diplomatic relations between the two countries, so she naturally had no reason to be rude, not to mention that the other party had not shown any hostility towards her at the moment.
The two put down their wine glasses, and Princess Yulun spoke again: "Princess An Ning, I want to apologize to you. I was rude yesterday and scared Master Abao."
Su Li raised his eyebrows almost imperceptibly. Finally, they were talking about Abao. It turned out that Princess Yulun came for Abao.
"Princess, you're worrying too much. I heard about this from the maids yesterday. Mistakenly identifying someone is a common occurrence, and it didn't scare Abao. Princess, please don't blame yourself..."
"Excuse me, is Master Abao the princess's child?"
"No, Abao is a child I picked up on the way back to Beijing."
"Oh? Picked up? Yesterday, I saw Abao being taken by a maid from the princess's mansion to buy clothes. And that clothing store is not just any ordinary one. How could the princess treat a found child so well?"
Su Li understood what she meant. Usually, if they picked up a poor person on the road and brought him back to the mansion, they would treat him as a servant and give him food. But she was so special to A Bao that she mistakenly thought that A Bao was the child of the top scholar.
She spoke frankly, "Abao is a good boy. I plan to keep him by my side and raise him well. I also plan to treat him as my own child in the future."
"Treat him as your own child?" Princess Yulun was obviously very surprised and blurted out, "Abao has no family?"
Now it was Su Li's turn to feel strange.
Normally, when people hear that a child was picked up on the street, they would subconsciously think that the child is an orphan, but Princess Yulun was very surprised.
She could clearly see that it was not the kind of surprise that she, a princess, could just pick up a child and treat him as her own, but the kind of surprise that seemed to indicate that she knew that Abao had relatives, but was willing to live in someone else's house.
But this was Abao's first time in Beijing. Although Zhao Xingwen was his biological father, we can see from the original book that he sent people to kill Abao and his biological mother. Zhao Xingwen felt that Abao was as troublesome as his biological mother. In this capital, he would never mention Abao on his own initiative. Who would know Abao? Even if they knew, no one would know what Abao looked like.
And Abao is not the only child named Abao.
In her house, except for a few personal servants, no one knew that Abao was Zhao Xingwen's child. How could Princess Yulun, a princess from a foreign country, know about Abao and know that he had a family in just one day?
Who is this Princess Yulun?
Su Li still spoke the truth, but this time she inadvertently paid close attention to the other person's expression: "Abao still has family, but the person who loves him the most is no longer here. He doesn't want to go back to those who no longer regard him as family..."
Sure enough, several expressions appeared on Princess Yulun's face in an instant, as if she was distressed, surprised, and angry.
She continued, "Abao was locked up at home for more than half a year. After escaping from home, he begged for a living for nearly a year. Half a month ago, he met me on the road, and I brought him back."
As for Abao's desire to avenge his mother and report Zhao Xingwen, she did not say anything. After all, that was Abao's private matter, and she did not know whether Princess Yulun had any relationship with Zhao Xingwen. If she told Zhao Xingwen the purpose of Abao's coming to Beijing, giving Zhao Xingwen time to respond, it would also be a troublesome matter.
"Beg for a living?" Princess Yulun was incredulous, tears streaming down her face. Her tone was filled with deep distress. "How old is he, yet he has fallen to this point? His family is so cruel!"
After saying that, he turned around and glared fiercely at the people on the opposite side, his eyes filled with hatred.
Su Li followed her gaze and saw that opposite her was the family of the Minister of Works, including Zhao Xingwen, who was present as a member of the Minister Zhang's family.
As expected, Princess Yulun knew Abao's life story very well...
"Princess, what's wrong with you..."
The maids around Princess Yulun were frightened when they saw her crying for no reason, and they quickly took a handkerchief to wipe her tears.
Princess Yulun seemed to realize that she had lost her composure and quickly calmed down. She took the handkerchief from the maid and wiped her tears. Then she said to Su Li apologetically, "Abao looks so similar to my sister's child. I feel so sorry for him knowing how pitiful he is. I am sorry to have embarrassed you, Princess."
Su Li smiled: "The princess is kind-hearted and sympathizes with Abao, so how could I make fun of him..."
But, is she so distressed about a strange child simply because Po looks similar to her royal sister's child?
If Princess Yulun and her nephew really have a deep affection for each other, then that makes sense.
But how could she explain the hatred she had shown Zhao Xingwen just now? Was she taking her anger out on A-Bao because she felt sorry for him?
Or was it as she guessed?
"Princess, you are kind-hearted. Otherwise, why would you bring the child back to your residence to raise him? However, I have an unwelcome request. I wonder if Princess could grant it?"
"Oh? Princess Yulun, please feel free to tell me."
"I think the maid in the Princess's mansion told me yesterday that A-Bao looks a lot like my deceased nephew. To be honest, Princess, my nephew and I have a very deep affection for each other. In my heart, I have long regarded him as my own son. Since A-Bao now has a family but refuses to return, he is no different from an orphan. I would like to adopt A-Bao as my adopted son to continue the mother-son relationship between me and my nephew. I wonder if the Princess would agree to this?"
Su Li was stunned and a little surprised. He didn't expect that Princess Yulun would make such a request, and so directly.
She considered and said, "Princess, it's true that I like Po very much, but Po is a very independent child. His stay or departure is not decided by me alone. If Po doesn't want to stay with me, he can leave at any time."
In short, if Abao wanted to recognize Princess Yulun as his mother and go to live with her in Nanli, she had no right to stop him. If he didn't want to, even the Emperor of Nanli couldn't take him away.
Princess Yulun's eyes lit up: "Princess, are you serious?"
"Of course I take it seriously."
"Then after this palace banquet, Ben, I'll go see Abao in person?"
Su Li nodded in response.
As she said, although Abao looks only seven or eight years old, he is actually like this because of long-term malnutrition. In fact, he is almost ten years old now. For a ten-year-old child, especially a child with perseverance and independent thinking like Abao, she naturally would not interfere with his choice.
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