Qingchuan History

Chapter 23 The Night Banquet

In the sixth year of Jinghong, July [-]th, the Daqi Tianchang Festival.

The birthday of the king is naturally celebrated by the whole country.If you look down at Jidu from a high altitude, you will find that the ordinary and elegant buildings are all dotted with layers of bright colors, from the city to the palace.

The people flowing in the criss-crossing streets and alleys are dressed more brightly than usual, and waves and waves rush under the eaves decorated with lights, and a few loud firecrackers will sound at the right time.

There are also more children on the street than usual, and the sound of laughing and fighting is moving through the streets and alleys.Silk and satin shops, pawnshops, restaurants, noodle restaurants, markets in the east and west of the city, and even all the fireworks and willow alleys, all put up signs saying they were closed for the holiday.

Jidu, which is lively all the year round, is like boiling water that was already hot and finally boiled on this day.Jubilant air evaporated from the corners and alleys, covering the entire imperial city like invisible colored smoke.

For the harem, the curtain does not really open until night.And for Gu Xinglang, this was destined to be an exhausting day that started early in the morning.

Because of the noon banquet for the ministers and the family banquet in the evening, these are the old rules that have been passed down through the years.Before the luncheon, he had to accept congratulatory gifts from the ministers and local officials. Even if he cherished words like gold and tried to speak as little as possible, it would take at least an hour.

Before the age of 14, Gu Xinglang didn't dislike New Year's Day, he even liked it.After ascending the throne, year after year, he became less and less interested in various festivals, especially Tianchang Festival, his birthday.

Surrounded by flashy and contentless exchanges all day long, eloquent congratulatory speeches like endorsements, all kinds of bonsai, screen inserts, lacquerware, porcelain, weaving and embroidery flowing water prices rush in, like a solemn Such an incomparable and extremely absurd drama, even the various dishes and soups that I like to eat on weekdays have become bland and tasteless.

After all, he is not a lively person.

At this time, he would think that the third brother would be better at handling these things.

Although everyone, including Diyan, thinks that he is coping well.

Everything in this world seems to be done well as long as he does it.This is of course related to his natural serious and serious character.So that no one ever asked him, do you like this matter, would you like it.Over time, even he himself gradually forgot about such problems.Especially after inheriting the Datong.

Just do it.

When the twilight shows a little bit, the sun falls on the stretching mountains and outlines the golden pink outline, and the clouds are also stained with the light to gradually produce a pink and orange haze, and the banquet begins.

This year's opening ceremony of singing and dancing is as cheerful and lively as in previous years.Dancers in dazzling gold-forged skirts form a huge peony, which is like a bud and blooms again and again. In this way, there are more and more petals, and the flowers are getting bigger and bigger, expanding layer by layer, as if growing endlessly. prosperity.

And then break dance.Qingchuan favors martial arts, and martial dances are often seen at palace banquets.Just as the beautiful and cheerful melody came to an end, suddenly the drums rang loudly, and all the dancers came in one after another, with long hair and high beams, and armored bodies. Sometimes they seemed to be galloping, and sometimes they seemed to be in full swing. The formation of the team was constantly changing. It has the momentum of majestic mountains and rivers.

The evening banquet was a family banquet, in addition to the four wives present, there were of course Gu Xinglang's brothers who had already been enshrined as kings, Princess Chunfeng who had not left the court, and Ji Wanling's sister-in-law, Princess Chunyuechang.

Ji Wanling is wearing a green gauze palace dress, embroidered with large hibiscus flowers with golden silk threads all over her body, elegant yet elegant.

Shangguan concubine wears crimson purple, and Duan Xi moistens smoke powder.The skirts of both of them looked a little complicated, as if there were so many different cuts to create a sense of interlaced lines, the huge wide sleeves, and the embroidery patterns stacked on the skirts, so that when they sat there, the skirts looked quite messy.

But maybe it's beautiful once it moves.It should be specially made for tonight's gift.

It's just that Duan Xirun wants to dance, so it makes sense to wear it this way.Shangguan Concubine only plays musical instruments, but she also needs such a complicated dress?

Ji Wanling took the first seat on the west side, Shangguan Concubine took the second seat on the west side, and the second seat on the east side opposite her was Duan Xirun.As for Duan Xirun's upper seat, Ruan Xueyin was sitting in the first seat on the east side.

Not long after the meeting started, everyone's eyes turned to the first seat on the east side from time to time.And as time went by, the number of rounds of those gazes increased instead of decreasing.

It's not because of dressing up.

Ruan Xueyin wore a very light lake-colored gauze skirt. The skirt was embroidered with some simple flowers, branches and leaves with very thin silver silk threads. Because it was too simple, it was impossible to tell what kind of flowers it was.

Compared with her usual attire, she is actually much more beautiful.But in today's occasion, compared to other women's family's costumes, it still looks too simple.

But simplicity is another kind of conspicuousness for a beauty with white porcelain skin.

In the radiant ocean, she is like a touch of blue and black in the distant mountains.

And this is obviously not the reason for the frequent attention of everyone.

Her skin color, her scars, what about the ugly princess of the Yin Kingdom?

The people at the banquet looked at it over and over again, and each glance was only for a moment, but after several moments were superimposed, they saw everything clearly.Then almost everyone felt a little relieved.

It was indeed her, and her appearance had not changed.But what's going on?

The hot dishes have already started to be served, and the birthday gifts of several princes and princesses have also ended one after another.It was time for the fourth lady to present the gift.

Seeing that everyone was looking at her frequently, Ruan Xueyin sat quietly at the table, calm and relaxed.Unavoidably, the people present were full of doubts, so that the gift was abrupt, Gu Xinglang finally said: "Madam Pei had some problems before, but she just returned to normal recently." He looked at Ruan Xueyin and smiled, "You can tell it yourself."

Ruan Xueyin was of course prepared for this moment.It's just that Duan Xirun and Shangguan Concubine had already met her, and she kept thinking that maybe Chunfeng would be the one to start talking at the banquet; unexpectedly, Gu Xinglang cut to the chase and threw the opportunity out of thin air.

Very good.

She smiled "yes" to the people on the dragon chair, turned to the banquet and said slowly: "Before coming to Jidu, my teacher and I went to the Kubli Desert to find a rare plant and stayed there for three months .Several days of exposure to the sun, coupled with the harsh conditions in the desert, caused some minor injuries to the face. That's why the first two months were like that."

She glanced at Gu Xinglang again, nodded slightly, and turned to everyone at the banquet: "I'm sorry."

Gu Xinglang knew that she would make up something, and was also curious about what kind of story she would make up. At this time, he really heard it and thought it was funny.It is absurd for a woman to go to the desert to live for three months; but she is from Pengxi Mountain, so it is not surprising that she goes out with Ji Ji, even if she sneaks into the ground and lives for three months.

People in the world are always more likely to believe what they don't understand, especially anecdotes.This identity has helped her a lot.

But he still finds it funny.The story is funny, and so is the calm, sincere way she tells it.

He burst out laughing.

Fortunately, it was just a nasal snort, and there was a constant sound of silk and bamboo in the hall. He lowered his head slightly when the corner of his mouth was raised, so no one heard it except Di Yan who was waiting on the side.

Di Yan was shocked.Because he is rare, it can be said that he has almost never seen Jun Shang like this.

It's not that Gu Xinglang can't laugh.It's just that this kind of laughter seems light, even a little lively?I don't know if I can use this word.

What's so funny about this?

(End of this chapter)