Chapter 24 Birthday Banquet
Lotus pond.
The Crown Princess' 20th birthday banquet was only held on a small scale. After all, His Majesty is currently in poor health and the palace has banned the holding of large banquets.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs arranged the venue in a pavilion next to the lotus pond outside the East Palace. The pavilion was very spacious, with beautiful surrounding scenery and the lotus pond not far away.
The lotus flowers in the pond are in full bloom, the breeze blows gently, and the fragrance of the lotus flowers is refreshing, making people feel happy and relaxed.
Dining in a place like this is truly a wonderful experience.
Only the masters of the Eastern Palace were invited to the Crown Princess' birthday banquet, that is, all of the Crown Prince's wives and concubines as well as the Crown Prince himself, a total of eight people, and only one banquet table was set up.
However, the prince specifically ordered that all the fresh flowers of the season be placed outside the pavilion, and also carefully prepared Kongming lanterns.
What's more, your prince also sent a lot of gold, silver, silk and satin to Qiluan Palace. Every detail makes people truly feel the prince's attention and favor for the princess.
Su Jingyao came to the pavilion early today and sat down. At this time, except for the Crown Prince, the Crown Princess and An Jinyan, everyone else had arrived.
Today, An Jinyan is wearing a palace skirt embroidered with peony patterns. The peony flowers are as gorgeous as blooming peonies, but they always make people feel that she is stealing the show.
An Jinyan has been extremely proud since she was a child. She never thinks that she will be inferior to others. Her husband is the most powerful man in the world.
And she would naturally become the man's most beloved woman.
In her eyes, the Crown Princess was undoubtedly a glaring stumbling block in her way.
An Jinyan's Xiyun Hall and the Crown Princess's Qiluan Hall are both very close to the Crown Prince's Yude Hall.
She sent people to closely monitor the Crown Princess' every move, waiting for her to set out for the lotus pond.
After the Crown Princess left, An Jinyan followed closely.
When she arrived at the lotus pond, she quietly walked out from another path and happened to meet the Crown Princess.
Su Jingyao was sitting in the pavilion, and saw from afar An Jinyan stopping the Crown Princess by the lotus pond. An indescribable smile unconsciously appeared on the corner of her mouth.
Ling Yue was suddenly stopped by An Jinyan. She looked confused and had no idea what An Jinyan meant by this action.
"I pay my respects to the Crown Princess."
An Jinyan bowed slightly and saluted.
"Get up. It's such a coincidence that we run into An Liangdi here." There was some doubt in Ling Yue's tone.
"Yes, I came here specially to wish you a happy birthday. You are already twenty years old this year." An Jinyan said slowly with a smile on her face.
Then, she suddenly raised her hand to cover her mouth and said in surprise, "Oh, my sister doesn't look old at all."
When Ling Yue heard this, she immediately frowned. Although she was simple-minded and had no scheming intentions, she could still clearly distinguish the sarcasm in other people's words.
"An Liangdi, do you know what you are saying?" Ling Yue's voice was filled with anger.
"Sister, His Highness stayed in Xiyun Palace last night. I knew it was your birthday today, so I specifically asked Your Highness your age. I was afraid I might have offended you, and I really didn't mean any other harm."
An Jinyan pretended to be innocent while explaining, but her eyes flickered.
Ling Yue's voice became colder and colder: "The friendship between me and Your Highness when we were young cannot be compared with the favor you, An Liang Di, have shown me in those few days!"
An Jinyan always had a smile on her face. She quietly approached Ling Yue and spoke in a low voice in her ear.
"Sister, I cannot compare to the youthful friendship between you and Your Highness, but I, your sister, can give birth. I wonder if the children I and Your Highness have in the future can compare to the youthful friendship between you and Your Highness."
Ling Yue was so angry that her chest heaved violently when she heard this. She glared at him and gritted her teeth as she said, "How dare you!"
After saying that, Ling Yue raised his arm and made a gesture as if to slap him.
At this time, Su Jingyao had already seen enough of this good show in the pavilion.
Then she pretended to be worried and said, "My dear sisters, I wonder what happened to the Crown Princess and Sister An. They haven't come for a long time. It seems that Sister An has made you angry. I'll go take a look."
"Today is a great day, I hope nothing goes wrong."
After saying that, Su Jingyao took Miaoyun and walked towards them slowly.
As for Ling Yue, she raised her hand and was about to wave it towards An Jinyan.
An Jinyan was naturally no pushover either. When Ling Yue slapped her, she first closed her eyes and endured the slap head-on, and then began to push and shove Ling Yue.
"An Liang Di, I am the Crown Princess, you are so brave!"
"Sister Crown Princess, I just said that His Highness stayed in Xiyun Palace yesterday. Why are you so angry and scolding me? Wuwu..."
Today, all of their masters only brought one personal maid out. When Ling Yue's personal maid Meixiang saw that An Liangdi was committing treason, her eyes widened and her face showed anger.
She didn't care about anything else and immediately rushed over to pull An Jinyan away.
But Bai Zhi beside An Jinyan was no pushover either. She quickly stretched out her arm to block Mei Xiang's way, and the two of them were instantly stuck there.
During this pushing and shoving, An Jinyan actually fell directly into the lotus pond.
At the moment before falling into the water, she used all her strength to push Ling Yue hard, with a hint of viciousness in her eyes.
Ling Yue didn't expect her to be so bold. She was standing right next to the stones beside the lotus pond.
If this falls down, it will be terrible and the face will be disfigured.
Ling Yue was caught off guard and was about to fall down.
At this critical moment, Su Jingyao, who had rushed over, was quick-witted and quickly reached out to grab Ling Yue.
However, Ling Yue's body was still leaning forward due to the pull just now. She used the force to pull Su Jingyao to the ground, but she herself was fine.
Su Jingyao was caught off guard and fell directly onto the stones. There was a violent friction between her body and the stones, and her ankle made a "crunching" sound.
The moment she fell into the water, An Jinyan saw Su Jingyao saving Ling Yue, and her heart was filled with regret and anger.
She never imagined that all her careful planning would leave Ling Yue unharmed!
Her original plan was to injure Ling Yue's face. Even if she couldn't disfigure her, she would at least make her too ugly to face His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, so that she could spend more time with His Royal Highness.
After all, after entering the East Palace, the place His Highness visited most often was the Qiluan Palace. He had little time to pamper them, let alone spend time with His Highness.
What's more, the Crown Princess is jealous. When Your Highness does not go to Qiluan Palace, the Crown Princess will send someone to invite Your Highness over.
This was totally unacceptable to An Jinyan.
So today she directed and acted out such a drama herself. She fell into the water and made herself the victim. She was even slapped by the Crown Princess. In this way, the Crown Princess's injury naturally had little to do with her.
Moreover, even if the Crown Prince protects such a jealous and intolerant Crown Princess, the Empress will not let her go if the situation gets out of hand.
But she never expected that such a fool as Su Jingyao would appear. She had already entered the East Palace, but she was still playing the sisterly love game.
Her kindness will kill her sooner or later!
Although Su Jingyao was prepared to get hurt, she didn't want to be hurt too badly, especially since she was pregnant now.
The moment she landed, she quickly adjusted her posture, even though she might have sprained her ankle, and changed her landing direction to a relatively safer one.
After Su Jingyao fell to the ground, Ling Yue finally realized that it was because of her exertion that Su Jingyao fell.
She suddenly felt a little guilty and self-blame, but more of it was shock. She never expected that Su Jingyao would risk her own safety to save her!
After all, she had ridiculed her before, did she really not care at all?
As the Crown Princess, Ling Yue had come to the lotus pond to attend the banquet on time, and Jun Zechen also happened to arrive at this time.
However, as soon as he came over, he watched helplessly as the little woman was dragged by Ling Yue and fell straight to the ground.
Jun Zechen's expression instantly turned extremely ugly, his eyes full of anxiety and worry, and even at this tense moment, he couldn't help but call out "Yaoyao".
When Ling Yue heard the shout, her heart sank. She stared at Jun Zechen blankly, her heart filled with shock and disbelief.
Are he and Su Jingyao already so close?
There was a hint of resentment in Ling Yue's eyes.
At this time, Su Jingyao's face turned as pale as paper, completely bloodless, and her lips also lost their original redness and turned extremely pale.
She sprained her ankle, and the pain made her frown and beads of sweat appeared on her forehead.
She was petite and frail to begin with, and such a sprain was an unbearable pain for her, causing her to break out in cold sweats.
Moreover, in order to avoid hurting her stomach, her calves and thighs fell on the stones. She could clearly feel the stinging pain of her skin being scratched by the stones.
The pain came over her like a tide, almost making her faint.
Jun Zechen rushed to her at an extremely fast speed, his eyes full of anxiety and heartache. He quickly bent down and hugged her.
His movements were gentle and careful, as if he was holding a precious treasure in his arms.
Jun Zechen shouted angrily: "Anshun, call the imperial physician!" His voice was filled with anger and anxiety.
Afterwards, he held her in his arms and walked quickly towards Xiyan Palace without looking back.
Ling Yue followed him with disappointment, watching her husband being so attentive to another woman.
Then, looking at his anxious back as he carried Su Jingyao and hurried to Xiyan Palace, she felt sad, bitter, painful and entangled.
She didn't understand why Su Jingyao was so kind and beautiful!
She wanted to be jealous, but Su Jingyao was the one who saved her. How could she still be jealous of Su Jingyao at this time?
Ling Yue realized for the first time that she was such a selfish person...
On the way to Xiyan Palace, Jun Zechen frowned, his eyes full of concern and anxiety. He lowered his head slightly and asked softly.
"Yaoyao, what's wrong? Where does it hurt?"
Su Jingyao tightly wrapped her arms around the man's neck and said in a weak and painful voice, "My legs hurt."
Jun Zechen's eyes fell on her legs. The places scratched by stones had begun to bleed, and the scars seemed to be piercing his heart.
The specific condition of the sprained ankle could not be seen because it was covered by the skirt, but he could imagine that it must be swollen and painful.
Suddenly, Su Jingyao's body began to tremble slightly, and her face turned frighteningly pale, as bloodless as a piece of white paper.
Jun Zechen's heart suddenly tightened, and he looked at her with heartache, and said with a hint of panic in his voice: "Yaoyao, what's wrong? Don't scare me."
Su Jingyao held her stomach tightly with a painful expression on her face, and her voice was full of pain and helplessness.
"Your Highness, my stomach hurts so much, wuwu..."
Her brows were tightly wrinkled together, beads of sweat kept rolling down her forehead, and her painful look made Jun Zechen feel heartbroken.