Chapter 169: Palace Banquet Disturbance

According to the custom in the palace, the four festivals of Cold Food, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Double Ninth Festival are held in Wenyao Palace.

The Wenyao Palace was in the former dynasty, but for the convenience of the concubines, there are special corridors connected to each other, which are usually heavily locked, and are only opened layer by layer during festivals.

The corridor is narrow, long and deep, with high palace walls on both sides. Every ten or so steps, there are a pair of chest-high pottery vats, which are filled with water to prevent fire.

On this day, two pots of osmanthus bonsai were placed beside the water tank to meet the season.

The elegant osmanthus fragrance filled the air, suppressing the incense of all the concubines. It smelled sweet and mixed with a trace of water vapor, which diluted a lot of the cold and oppressive tunnel that had never seen the sun all year round.

When the corridor was exhausted, a door came out, and the outside suddenly opened up, but it was the back court of Wenyao Palace.

In the palaces, especially the palaces of the former dynasty, in order to prevent assassination, vegetation is not allowed to grow near the houses. The guards stood under the corridor, and it was clear at a glance that it was safe.

Therefore, the palace window of Wenyao Palace can already be seen here.

In the vast courtyard, there are many bonsai placed on the floor tiles carved with white marble patterns, mainly osmanthus and chrysanthemums, surrounded by other flowers that bloom at this time. Surrounded by butterflies.

If it weren't for the west wind, it would be as straight as a spring day.

"Our real concubine." The imperial concubine who got off the chariot looked around for a week, raised her eyebrows, and heard Jia Chongyuan, who came up behind her to support her hand, muttered, "You are really good at throwing money! In previous years, the empress The empress presides over the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, and the back court is never moved, and the place where no one comes to the left and right is so extravagant."

After all, this place is exclusively for concubines to get off the chariot, who dares to enter by mistake?

Empress Ji came from a wealthy family, but she doesn't have a penchant for squandering, so she always makes fuss in front of her, and doesn't do anything here.

Now the eye-catching clusters of flowers probably mean Yun Feng Huang.

"You say that now." Concubine Zheng let Jia Chongyuan support her, her eyes were not smiling, but the corners of her mouth were slightly raised, "When I went to visit the sick in Xuanqing Palace, she was very attentive!"

"Your Majesty..." Jia Chongyuan explained awkwardly, "Isn't that... Isn't that just to find out the true concubine's truth?"

At the beginning, Yun Fenghuang suddenly complained of illness in order to play with the emperor. Wei Hengyan took advantage of the misunderstanding to force the empress.

Lu Chongyi, Jia Chongyuan and Xue Jieyu couldn't hold on, and finally followed Wei Hengyan to Xuanqing Palace.

For this reason, Jia Chongyuan has been changing ways to please Concubine Zheng in recent days, hoping that she can be an adult and forget the villain's faults, forgive herself but can't bear the pressure.

It's just that the imperial concubine has been indifferent, neither saying to forgive her, nor saying that she will not forgive, in short, Yiying accepted it graciously, but when Jia Chongyuan was happy, she stabbed a few words abruptly, making her panic again.

Jia Chongyuan was worried for a few days, but now she's getting used to it...

At this moment, seeing the noble concubine's half-smile, she continued to support her arm with a sullen face: "Your Majesty, be careful with your steps."

Compared with the concubine Zheng Guifei who pulled her face down and acted as a court lady, Lu Chongyi was much colder towards Concubine Ying, just walked in the team in a well-regulated manner, and Concubine Ying didn't even wink at her.

It's no wonder that although Jia Chongyuan's father and brother are not low in official positions, they were all promoted by Zheng Ju and belonged to Zheng Ju's direct line. She naturally couldn't straighten her back in front of Zheng Guifei; Lu Chongyi's adoptive father, Qing Pinghou, was the regent Wang's current father-in-law is still higher than Uncle Zhaowu in terms of title, but he doesn't need to be too flattering to Concubine Ying.

She even resented Concubine Ying for not backing her up, so she had no choice but to give in to Concubine Zhen...

A group of concubines walked into the main hall with different thoughts.

Wenyao Palace was built differently from other palaces because it was specially used for banquets. It followed the pattern of the ancient times: the upper part is a high platform with a roof on it, supported by four pillars; The second corridor, which is said to be a corridor, is actually a place for guests to sit; facing the middle of the high platform, it is an open space. A place where people perform vaudeville or something.

On the south side, the corridor connecting the east and west corridors is the place where the palace people and the accompanying servants of the officials who enter the palace for the banquet are waiting for orders.

Because of this festival, the elders of the clan had to attend the meeting, and the east and west corridors were very wide apart, and there were probably tricksters in the middle to block the view.

When the imperial concubine led the concubines and walked into the corridor on the right to take their seats, there were already many officials sitting in the opposite corridor. Judging from their positions, they should not have high official positions—otherwise they should be waiting for the regent at the gate of the palace. People like Zheng Gu and Cui Wan arrived around them.

"The ones at the bottom?" Concubine Zheng was not interested in these officials, but looked at the seats near the south corridor, raised her chin, and asked in a low voice, "Can you find out clearly? They are both talented and beautiful and have never been married. of?"

Nodding left and right: "The family specially arranged for someone to look at it. The worst thing is that the eyebrows and eyes are correct. Although he is a little short, that person is a talented person in Sichuan, and he is even called 'Xiaolingshan'."

Mr. Lingshan Wei Changkong, no matter how the world evaluates his behavior of abandoning Xiaozong, this person's talent and learning are worth mentioning.

He is also from the middle of Sichuan, and he was nicknamed "Xiaolingshan", which shows that he is talented.

The imperial concubine said "hmm": "Xiao Lingshan? It seems that the person who gave him this nickname is not just jealous of him, but he really has the ability."

Everyone knows the emperor's purpose of opening Enke. At this time, there is a scholar who is called Xiao Lingshan. Hearing this, Chunjia thinks of Wei Changkong. If there is any taboo, the future of this scholar can be imagined!

It's clear that they are afraid of other people's talents, and deliberately use this method to cut off their future.

Concubine Zheng Gui smiled lightly, didn't ask any more questions, and just picked up the tea and sipped it slowly.

She was quite angry at the moment, the reason why she brought all the concubines here at this moment was according to the time given by Yun Fenghuang - originally thought that Yun Fenghuang didn't come to Yanlan Palace like the others, so she should be there Greet her personally here and accompany her to the table.

Only in this way can we show the high and low status, high and low.

In the end, they came, but the real concubine was nowhere to be seen? !

Concubine Zheng didn't wake up until she arrived at the main hall. Yun Fenghuang did it on purpose: she hosted the Mid-Autumn Festival banquet, and Empress Ji had already slapped her in the face, but Concubine Zhen was still not satisfied, so she arranged for Concubine to arrive early, and she probably Go to Queen Mother Yuan or simply follow the emperor, and come back later.

In this way, everyone in the palace could see that the responsibilities and power originally belonged to the empress were handed over to the real concubine, and even the noble concubine had to be there in advance, waiting for the real concubine!

...Even if the imperial concubine is waiting for the empress dowager and Chunjia, anyone with a heart will understand that even the empresses and concubines are no match for the rise of the real concubine, but the wind direction in the Six Palaces is about to change.

Since Chunjia ascended the throne, the tacit understanding that family background determines status will be replaced by emperor's favorite.

This means the victory of imperial power.

During this period, Concubine Zheng Gui was stumbled by Yun Fenghuang and Mingli not once or twice, so much so that she regretted that she found Yunfenghuang to form an alliance at the beginning—although her pregnancy could not be guaranteed, she had already decided to take advantage of this opportunity. Pull a high-ranking concubine into the water one by one, but if Concubine Shu was not selected at the beginning, if Concubine Shu was there, even if Empress Dowager Yuan and Chunjia wanted to support trusted concubines, how could it be Yun Fenghuang's turn?

After all, it should be Concubine Shu!

Although Concubine Shu is not a fuel-efficient lamp, she is used to being virtuous and virtuous, and her actions are always gentler than Yun Fenghuang's ruthless attitude.

She had mixed feelings in her heart, and she didn't know how long she was in a daze, she was pushed left and right, and then she left the table and bowed down with everyone in the hall to welcome the loving mother, the Empress Dowager and Emperor Chunjia.

Chunjia specially went to the Spring Palace to accompany Mrs. Yuan, and Yun Fenghuang used the excuse of helping the Queen Mother's staff to dress up in the Spring Palace early in the morning, so of course she came with her now.

Everyone worshiped the queen mother and the emperor, although she was two steps behind, but the one who moved slower actually knelt down even her.

Not to mention the feelings of these people, Chunjia honored the Empress Dowager Yuan to sit on the high platform, and ordered in a low voice to add a seat for Yun Fenghuang under him, and someone below asked in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, the Holy Mother, the Empress Dowager and the Empress?" Why hasn't the empress come here yet?"

"Uncle Lao, see and ask." Chunjia glanced at the person who asked, and said calmly, "Mother Qu has been resting for a long time, and she doesn't like to make noise, so I sent someone to tell Queen Mother Yuan this morning, and I won't be here today. ;As for the empress, her old illness relapsed two days ago, so that this festive banquet was hosted by Concubine Zhen and Kunze. Naturally, she couldn't be there today."

The regent said: "Princess Kunze has also grown up, and is able to share the worries of His Majesty."

Without mentioning Yun Fenghuang's credit, he continued, "Beside the Emperor's Seat, there has always been only..."

"My lord." Before finishing speaking, the Queen Mother Yuan suddenly said with a smile, pointed at Yun Fenghuang, and said softly, "The Ai family is not doing well these days, and this child has always been serving it. Today is a festival feast, Ai's family I am so happy that Tete came here, so I want this child to wait on me..."

"Since it is the empress dowager's intention, I have nothing to say." The regent frowned, he didn't want Yun Fenghuang to replace the empress and sit beside the emperor's throne.

This was not only because he learned that Yun Fenghuang was bullying Concubine Ying and Lu Chongyi quite a lot in the palace, but also because he had decided before that he wanted to take advantage of this festival to beat Chunjia.

Of course, given that Chunjia is not a soft persimmon now, the regent does not want to do things too badly, lest the relationship between the two parties become stagnant and there is no room for mediation. At that time, the cheap ones will not be outsiders?

So I decided to start with Yun Fenghuang, the real concubine who has been very popular recently, and let her take the seat under the corridor. Originally, if Chunjia refuted, he would have prepared a lot of words, but I didn't expect that Queen Mother Yuan would intervene and mention If she is in poor health, she needs to be taken care of by the concubine who has been serving her all the time.

The regent knows the status of Empress Dowager Yuan in Chunjia's heart, so it's hard for him to say anything.

After all, Chunjia is his nephew in terms of seniority, so it's fine if he relies on his elders to sell him a little bit; the Queen Mother Yuan is his peer, and she is still a female family member. It is really inappropriate for him to argue with the Queen Mother repeatedly under the eyes of everyone.

It is also easy to be hated by Chunjia.

Therefore, the regent can only silence the drums.

Yun Fenghuang glanced at him and sat back, twitched the corner of his mouth, sat down on the seat quickly added by the palace people, turned his head and smiled sweetly at Queen Mother Yuan.

...Actually, she didn't intend to sit on the high platform before.

The main reason is that during this period of time, the Empress Dowager and the Emperor have been praised enough, and the momentum has already been established. Today, they even designed to step on the imperial concubine, so there is no need to continue to spread hatred.

With the empress still alive, she took the position that an empress can only sit in, and she might be rumored in the direction of a traitor concubine.

It's just that Chunjia didn't expect Chunjia to take the initiative to ask someone to set up a table for her. Empress Dowager Yuan even helped her out.

Yun Fenghuang, who sat down, showed gratitude on his face, but he didn't have much joy in his heart. Instead, he wondered if Chunjia and his wife had some kind of conspiracy in doing this?

Just as he was thinking about it, the regent finally sat down. Before the other courtiers could open their mouths, they calmed down the somewhat cold atmosphere. When they approached the gate, a figure who could not be seen clearly on the high platform got up and left the seat, walked to the middle and bowed down. He bowed down and said loudly: "The students think that what the regent said is very reasonable! The real concubine has a flawed background and a bad family style, so she can't be a concubine, let alone accompany her around?!"

The whole hall was silent for a while, and almost everyone looked at the regent.

The regent looked blank, and immediately, he thought of something, and glared at Zheng Gu and Cui Wan who were bowing down.