This banquet is to welcome Mingshan. The elders will not bring gifts, but people of Mingshan's age will have to bring gifts.
"Princess, quite a few people have arrived, we should head out now."
Ming Shan nodded. Actually, she wasn't really interested in the banquet, but she knew her stepmother's plans. She guessed that her stepmother wanted to choose a wife for her brother. She was just a figurehead. Next year was the year of the general election, so she wanted to choose someone she liked in advance so that she would be more pleasing to the eye.
"Let's go."
Mingshan came out of the inner room, where many people had already arrived. As the host of the banquet, Mingshan was naturally fawned over.
She was Emperor Kangxi's adopted daughter and was tasked with a marriage alliance with the Mongols. At this time, no one was going to be so foolish as to cause her any trouble, so the banquet was quite pleasant.
They were all young ladies from prominent families, and even if they were somewhat unsavory, they wouldn't dare to cause trouble in such a setting, so the scene was quite warm and harmonious for a time.
The banquet was halfway over, the conversation had gone on for a while, and all the gifts had been given. There shouldn't have been any problems, but then a voice that seemed to have no brains suddenly appeared: "I heard that my sister has prepared an extraordinary gift for Princess Mingshan. I wonder what it is? Why don't we all take advantage of this and let her see it for herself?"
"Zhou Suqing, shut up!" Zhou Suyun was furious. This shameful thing didn't even consider the occasion. No matter the outcome, even if she was a child raised by a concubine, people would bring up her mother when they talked about her, saying that her mother hadn't raised the child well. No one would care that it was her concubine who insisted on raising her.
"Sister, don't be angry! I only meant well, just wanted to broaden everyone's horizons."
Zhou Suqing said this because she had found out beforehand that Zhou Suyun's preparations hadn't cost any money. She didn't know exactly what they were, but despite not knowing, Zhou Suqing's goal today was to embarrass Zhou Suyun, and she didn't care about anything else.
At this point, everyone could see that the two sisters were "fighting a lawsuit"! Some people who loved watching the drama couldn't help but chime in: "Sister Zhou, what your younger sister said makes sense. Why don't you let us see for ourselves and witness it?"
One person started to stir things up, and then the others joined in, each adding their own comments.
Hearing the discussions around her, Zhou Suyun wished she could tear Zhou Suqing's mouth apart. If you're going to court death, at least be a little more clever. You've made a fool of the Zhou family for no reason.
At this moment, Zhou Suqing was completely unaware that she was being laughed at. She was still feeling smug and pleased with herself for receiving so much recognition!
"Sister, please take it out quickly!"
Zhou Suyun refused, saying, "The gift has already been given out. There's no reason to take it back and open it for no reason. It's fine if you like to joke around normally, but today, when we're outside, you should be more magnanimous. Father and Mother are kind-hearted and can't bear to see Aunt begging you to be raised by your aunt, but you can't just keep joking around like your aunt."
These words from Zhou Suyun make it clear that Zhou Suqing was raised by her aunt, who begged her to raise her, and it wasn't her mother's fault.
Hearing this, Zhou Suqing became even angrier and more unwilling to let Zhou Suyun go.
"Sister, I'm not joking. Princess Mingshan is the most generous person. It's just opening a gift. It has nothing to do with being generous or not."
These words put Mingshan on a pedestal; if she disagreed, she would be considered ungenerous.
These words immediately displeased Ming Shan, but he didn't say anything.
In the end, the gift was still opened.
Zhou Suyun prepared a table screen with preserved flowers. It was small and exquisite, with flowers blooming everywhere. No one knew how it was made, but it looked exceptionally beautiful. Many princesses fell in love with it at first sight.
Then everyone started praising her one after another. Zhou Suqing looked unhappy. She had tried to steal a chicken but lost the rice instead. Instead, Zhou Suyun had gained the limelight for nothing. She had miscalculated.
Ming Shan looked at Zhou Suqing and, remembering her earlier expression, smiled and said, "Miss Zhou, this gift is very thoughtful. I like it very much. When I go to the Empress Dowager, I will show it to her and make her happy."
These words immediately added an aura to the table screen. Zhou Suqing felt her blood rush to her head; it was infuriating, but she dared not say anything more.
Zhou Suyun was not happy despite the praise. She was already engaged, and she didn't think it was a good thing to show off. Because of Zhou Suqing's brainless behavior, she felt that the Zhou family would inevitably become the subject of gossip, and she also had to consider the opinions of her future in-laws!
The Zhou sisters' lawsuit has been quite complicated, but because of their commotion, the preserved flower has become a hot topic.
The gifts from Yan Yue Ge are the most fashionable items right now, but the quantity is really limited. Anyone who has preserved flowers has more confidence in their claim than others.
Because of the table screen made by Zhou Suyun, derivative products of preserved flowers also began to appear. Preserved flowers are beautiful, so things made with them are naturally not ugly. Gradually, making things with preserved flowers became a fashion trend among wealthy families in the capital.
If a family doesn't have at least two items made from preserved flowers, they'll lose face when they go out.
In April, preserved flowers began arriving from Yunnan, bringing a flurry of activity to the capital and stimulating a new industry: preserved flower handicrafts.
It's true that ladies and young women from wealthy families like new things, but few of them do it themselves like Zhou Suyun. They usually have their servants do it or buy ready-made products from outside.
Youqing thought that since she was going to have someone else do it anyway, she might as well do it herself.
So she opened another workshop and hired some skillful ladies to make these things. Preserved flowers were rare in the eyes of people in the capital, but when Jiang Baiqing heard that Youqing needed them, he sent them over as if they were free.
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