When Shen Nian sat back down, Xia Tian glanced at her embarrassedly, and Shen Nian raised his hand and patted her hand.
She adjusted her mood, sat up straight and continued to appreciate the gifts from others.
Fortunately, Mr. Xuanying’s paintings did not appear again later, otherwise I really felt that this vest was at risk of being exposed at any time today.
Xia Tian breathed a sigh of relief.
After the tribute ceremony, the emperor gave a banquet to entertain everyone who attended today.
The delicious dishes that kept being served at the banquet made Xia Tian enjoy the meal very much.
Everyone enjoyed delicious food and watched the singing and dancing performances.
She had never seen such a large-scale scene in this dynasty. This was a rare opportunity, so she watched it with great interest.
Princess Yunying, who had been paying attention to them, felt a surge of contempt when she saw Xia Tian's naive look.
I also saw Chen Nian, who was sitting next to Xia Tian, not only whispering with the wild girl from time to time, but also picking up food for her personally.
Yun Ying was so angry that she wanted to step forward and separate the two of them immediately. Unfortunately, today's situation did not allow her to lose her temper, otherwise she would definitely teach that wild girl a lesson on the spot.
Yunying was so angry that she kept glaring at the two of them, but unfortunately the two of them were completely oblivious and continued to eat and drink, happily enjoying the wonderful performance.
After the fixed performance program ended, it was time for personal performances to celebrate the birthday.
Most of the performers in this segment are unmarried sons and daughters from the families of princes and ministers.
Celebrating the emperor's birthday is one aspect, and another aspect may be to use this excuse to let the young men and women in the family show off their talents, so that they can get to know each other better and better arrange marriages in the future.
It's fun to watch in the summer.
The first person to come up was Wen Jin's fiancé, Xu Shuyu, the eldest son of Prime Minister Xu.
As expected, he was handsome, and his posture was as straight as a pine tree when he stood in the middle of the field. Before playing the flute, he glanced at Wen Jin intentionally or unintentionally.
Xia Tian immediately looked at Wen Jin with burning eyes, and Wen Jin happened to be looking over here as well.
Seeing Xia Tian’s playful smile, her face turned slightly red, she lowered her head embarrassedly, and picked up the teacup to hide her shyness.
Shen Nian watched Xia Tian staring at Xu Shuyu and grinning foolishly. She coughed lightly in displeasure, and secretly took Xia Tian's hand on her leg and squeezed it hard.
Xia Tian retracted his gaze and smiled at Chen Nian embarrassedly. He accidentally caught a glimpse of Princess Yunying's eyes and grinned.
Princess Yunying became even angrier, thinking that Xia Tian was provoking her. She glared at Xia Tian fiercely and turned her head away, no longer looking at her.
Xia Tian suddenly became even happier and grinned for a long time.
Seeing that she was happy, Shen Nian held her hand and didn't let go.
When the young men and young ladies who were waiting to show their talents had almost finished their performances, Princess Yunying actually stood up and played a pipa piece on the spot, which won high praise from the emperor, the queen and others.
Although Xia Tian didn't know much about pipa, Princess Yunying's pipa playing today was indeed very good. Compared with the pipa played by the previous lady, it sounded even better.
I sighed in my heart, although Princess Yunying is arrogant and domineering, her talent is indeed impeccable. The young ladies trained by big families are indeed extraordinary.
Just as she was admiring Princess Yunying's extraordinary talent in her heart, she didn't expect to hear her name from Princess Yunying's mouth.
Xia Tian was a little dazed just now, and when she heard someone calling her, she didn't react for a while.
It wasn’t until Shen Nian gently squeezed her hand that she came back to her senses and realized that everyone else was looking at her.
Shen Nian whispered in her ear what had just happened. Xia Tian quickly stood up, looked at the emperor, empress, and queen mother on the stage, and replied, "This humble servant comes from the countryside and cannot play the piano."
"Mrs. Shen, don't be so modest. If you can't play the piano, you must have other talents. Otherwise, why would Prince Shen marry you?" Yun Ying said with a sweet smile.
When the others heard this, they also looked like they were watching the fun.
"Princess Yunying, you are too kind to me." Xia Tian replied seriously.
"Empress Dowager, Madam Shen is just being modest. Yun'er has heard for a long time that Madam Shen is very talented." Yun Ying said coquettishly to the Empress Dowager.
The Queen Mother looked at Princess Yunying lovingly, then smiled at Chen Nian, "Chu Xuan, since Yun'er has said so, don't let your wife hide her shortcomings. Today is the Emperor's birthday, so just treat it as a birthday celebration for the Emperor."
Before Shen Nian could speak, the emperor spoke first, "Mother, I think we can just forget about it today."
The Queen Mother continued to smile as she spoke to the Emperor, "It's alright. The last time Chu Xuan brought his wife here, I could tell he was intelligent and steady. He will definitely not let me down."
Xia Tian was irritated in his heart, thinking, "I guess you didn't even see what I looked like last time, and now you're talking nonsense."
But she also realized that if she didn't appear in today's performance, it would not be possible.
Just as Shen Nian was about to refuse, Xia Tian whispered, "Promise it."
The words that Shen Nian was about to say to refuse turned into, "I will obey the Queen Mother's order."
After Shen Nian finished speaking, Xia Tian stood up and respectfully saluted the Empress Dowager and the Emperor before saying in a crisp voice, "Since the Empress Dowager is praising me, I will perform my humble performance. If I don't play well later, please don't blame me, Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager, and the Empress."
The Queen Mother smiled and scolded, "Don't worry, I, the Emperor, and the Empress won't blame you. If you play well, I will reward you handsomely."
Xia Tian smiled and thanked him, "Thank you, Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager, and the Empress."
After saying that, she looked at the Queen again and said, "I need an erhu. Your Majesty, could you lend it to me?"
The queen nodded and ordered the maid beside her to bring her an erhu. Xia Tian took it after thanking her.
A maid brought a stool and placed it in the middle of the venue.
Xiatian sat down and checked the erhu. There was nothing wrong with it. He then adjusted the strings and tried the pitch.
Everything was ready and they were about to begin when Princess Yunying cried out in surprise, "Madam Shen, today is the Emperor's birthday. You're actually going to perform on such an unlucky instrument as the erhu. Isn't that inappropriate?"
"Unlucky?" Xia Tian was surprised. "Are there still high and low rankings for musical instruments?"
When Shen Nian heard Yun Ying say this, his expression turned cold, "Princess Yun Ying, be careful with your words."
"Am I wrong? Ask everyone, is the erhu only played at some funerals?" Princess Yunying looked at Shen Nian innocently.
"Princess Yunying may have misunderstood. The erhu isn't restricted to funerals, but it's more appropriate there," Xia Tian explained patiently. "As for what song is played, it has nothing to do with the instrument, but with the person playing it."
This must be made clear. She must not be led astray by Princess Yunying. If the Emperor and others believe what Yunying says, then she will be really finished.
She had also noticed just now that during the song and dance performance, there was indeed no one playing the erhu in the band.
Regardless of whether Princess Yunying is deliberately leading the trend or the erhu really only appears at funerals in the Dagan Dynasty, others cannot be influenced by Princess Yunying's words.
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