Chapter 464 Tea Party

The weather is getting warmer, and people's hearts are getting restless.

The status of the big Buddha in the palace is too noble, and its strength is too strong. It temporarily suppressed the thoughts of the court officials, but the thoughts of the ladies of the imperial capital's noble families could not be suppressed.

The eldest princess was busy from the New Year to the New Year. Almost every day, noble ladies came to disturb her, either drinking tea or chatting - of course, this chat was not ordinary.

After the New Year, Princess Jing also became busy.

Chu Hongyi stayed in the palace to take care of her pregnancy. She didn't show up many times during the New Year. Xuanyuan Qi also stayed in the palace to accompany his newlywed wife, so he didn't know that people outside had already become restless.

There is a habit of going around to pay New Year's greetings for a few days on the first day of the first lunar month. During this period, many ladies secretly stared at the position of the concubine of the prince of Jing's mansion - it's not that these ladies of noble families are eager to make their daughters concubines, but the Jing's mansion is now the most popular mansion in front of the empress, and being a concubine to Prince Qi is better than being the wife of an ordinary family.

Moreover, most of those who have such thoughts are from families much lower than the Prince Jing’s, or from families of equal status who want to marry a concubine’s daughter in order to establish a nepotism relationship with the Prince Jing.

After all, for many officials, the value of a daughter’s existence is to pave the way for their fathers and brothers’ careers through marriage, and this is even more true for concubines’ daughters.

Therefore, Princess Jing has not been able to have a quiet time for more than half a month. There are always people encouraging her: "Now that the Crown Prince's wife is pregnant and has many physical discomforts, shouldn't we take a concubine to take care of the Crown Prince's daily life?"

"My daughter Fu'er has been kind since she was a child, knows how to be considerate and take care of others, and is also born with a good appearance. If she can come to the mansion, she will definitely be obedient and serve the Crown Prince and the Crown Prince's wife well, and will never do anything beyond her status."

"The princess should indeed consider taking a concubine for the Crown Prince. First, General Chu is pregnant and it is inconvenient for him to serve the Crown Prince; second, General Chu is a military general. Even if the child is born in the future, he will definitely not be able to serve him like an ordinary wife. My husband, the prince is still a little lonely without someone who knows how to serve him. What do you think, princess? "

"My daughter Jiaojiao is well-educated, thoughtful and gentle. After she gets married, she will serve the prince and his wife attentively and will never think of competing for favor. I just hope that the princess can consider it. "

The above are all suggestions made by the mistress of the house while drinking tea and chatting. Of course, there are some implicit ones that she is embarrassed to speak up, so she will ask reliable people to speak well of her daughter in front of Princess Jing, and only praise her daughter for being proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and being so beautiful that fish sink to the bottom of the water and geese fall to the ground, and the moon hides the flowers... But without exception, they are all gentle and considerate, non-competitive, humble and gentle little girls.

The meaning is very simple, that is, after entering the palace, she must be absolutely law-abiding, virtuous, respectful to the prince and the princess, and obedient in front of the prince and the prince's wife, and will never do anything to compete for favors and annoy the princess.

Princess Jing just laughed it off at first, but after hearing it many times, she got annoyed.

Although after the empress ascended the throne, many daughters of marriageable age in the imperial families were eager to arrange marriages, but there were also many men of marriageable age in the families. Why were they all staring at the Prince Jing's mansion?

She had finally eased the relationship with her son, so couldn't she be left alone for a while?

After thinking it over, Princess Jing told Xuanyuan Qi about it and was determined that she had no intention of giving him a concubine. First, to avoid misunderstandings from her son, and second, to see what Xuanyuan Qi thought about it.

Xuanyuan Qi didn't react after hearing this. He only told Chu Hongyi about this matter before going to bed at night. Chu Hongyi said, "I'll take care of this matter."

"You?" Xuanyuan Qi was surprised, and then asked curiously, "How do you want to deal with it?"

Chu Hongyi said, "The weather has been good these two days, and the flower tea party can be held."

Xuanyuan Qi smiled lightly: "You want to hold a flower tea party in the palace?"

Chu Hongyi nodded and stroked her abdomen gently: "The child is more than three months old. It shouldn't have any effect if we use force appropriately."

Xuanyuan Qi, who knows his wife better than her husband, understood her meaning almost instantly, and unconditionally supported any decision of his wife. The next day, he told the matter to Princess Jing. Although Princess Jing didn't know what her wife was up to, she followed Xuanyuan Qi's words and sent invitations to all the girls from noble families who wanted to be Xuanyuan Qi's concubines, inviting them to come to the flower tea party in Prince Jing's palace two days later.

The ladies who received the invitation were secretly delighted, thinking that the matter could be accomplished. They repeatedly told them to behave well in front of Princess Jing and Prince Qi, especially not to conflict with the Prince's wife, and to be as humble as possible and be as respectful as possible.

Two days later, elegant and exquisite carriages drove to the gate of Prince Jing's mansion.

Various petite, gentle and pretty, bright-looking legitimate or concubine daughters of noble families got off the carriages, wearing various elegant or brightly colored clothes. When their eyes met, sparks flew secretly. The atmosphere was comparable to the emperor's selection of talents, with swords drawn and secret competition.

However, this atmosphere could not last long. After entering the palace, the girls were led to the garden where tea and snacks were prepared early. After they sat down one after another, they heard the servants in the palace shouting: "The Crown Prince's Consort has arrived--"

The girls in the garden stood up to greet her and quietly looked up at Chu Hongyi, wondering what the scene was today and what attitude General Chu had towards her husband marrying a concubine.

They originally thought that the tea party was organized by Princess Jing, but they didn't expect that the person who came would be Chu Hongyi.

And Chu Hongyi came alone.

Men and women are not allowed to touch each other, so Xuanyuan Qi was not convenient to meet these girls who were waiting to be married, so he arranged two maids who knew martial arts to follow her from a distance.

As soon as she stepped into the garden, Chu Hongyi casually glanced at the girls in front of her, some of whom she had seen before and some of whom she had not seen before. She was not interested in getting to know them one by one, so she went straight to the point and said, "I am fully responsible for Prince Qi's concubines. This general is pregnant, and it is indeed inconvenient recently, so I want to give Prince Qi two concubines."

Without waiting for the girls to speak, he slowly untied a long black whip from his waist and quietly placed it on the table: "This is the precious whip awarded by Her Majesty the Queen."

After the voice fell, the faces of the girls changed, and they all knelt down.

"This general doesn't like delicate little flowers, they can't stand being beaten." Chu Hongyi said indifferently, "Whoever can be whipped more than fifty times by this general today will be immediately arranged to enter the palace and live in Prince Qi's courtyard tonight."

The women were shocked and their faces turned pale.

Fifty?

They looked up at the whip on the long table and thought to themselves that with the strength of Chu Hongyi, twenty whips would be enough to send them to hell. How could they survive after fifty whips?