I see You Lian is the ally

Chapter 72
One of them was Li Linlang, the princess of Jing'an, when Huajiao and Yu Taiqing met for the first time, he once looked at her from a distance in Taolin.At this time, she was wearing a plain sarong with no decorations, her whole person was pure and simple, not like a royal concubine, but like a peasant girl in the field.

A lady in a gorgeous dress stood beside her, reached out to take the flower scissors from Princess Jing'an Li Linlang, and cut off the excess flower branches without hesitation.

"Flowers and trees need to be pruned frequently, otherwise, if they are allowed to grow randomly, it will only destroy the beauty of the whole plant." The lady covered her face with a light veil, only revealing a pair of clear eyes. with flowering branches.

Princess Jing'an looked helplessly at the flower branches scattered on the ground, with a look of reluctance: "Aunt Xiao, can I keep this branch? Look at how well this flower blooms."

The noblewoman Xiao's hand holding the flower scissors paused slightly, looked at Princess Jing'an, shook her head and sighed softly, cut off the flower branch to the ground with a pair of scissors, pointed to the peony plant in front of her and said, "His Royal Highness, this new plant is bred from a new variety. Not bad, but the flower branches grow wantonly, and the distribution of flowers is not dense enough, so I will prune them again."

Princess Jing'an Li Linlang hurriedly stopped her and said, "Oh, Aunt Xiao, I like to let the flowers and trees grow wildly, so don't worry about it. Look, the flowers and branches are hanging on your sleeves, you'd better go over there to find them. Let's play chess. Otherwise, you go around and show the prince a few more ladies."

Hua Jiao frowned, and asked Pei Ruji in a low voice: "Who is this person? Why does the princess respect her so much?"

Pei Ruji said in a low voice: "She is Xiao Sujun, the direct daughter of Uncle Ning Ping Xiao Yong. She used to be a female official in the Empress Dowager's Palace, and she is also the Empress Dowager's goddaughter. After leaving the palace, she married the Xue family of Kaibohou Mansion. Minister of the Ministry of War, whose son is Xue Di whom we met just now, and a daughter named Xue Jin. When Xiao Sujun was young, she was accompanied by Princess Wenning and grew up watching Princess Jing'an. Therefore, the princess took her Treat her like a real aunt.”

"She is the Xiao Sujun who disguised herself to play chess at Fengyang Tower, and won all the chess officials, even Emperor Li Cong, who lost a son to her?"

Pei Ru sent a nod and said yes.

When Yinniang, a chess official in Fengyanglou, was killed, Huajiao heard from the onlookers that Yinniang's lifelong wish was to play a game with Xiao Sujun.

Hua Jiao didn't expect to see her at the flower banquet, so he couldn't help but look at her a few more times.

Princess Jing'an Li Linlang finally persuaded Xiao Sujun, took the flower scissors from her hand, handed them to the palace servants who followed her, and led her to walk this way.

Pei Ruji stepped forward slowly, and saluted: "I have seen Her Royal Highness, and I have seen Mrs. Xue."

Mrs. Xue Xiao Sujun nodded with a smile, but Jing'an Princess Li Linlang looked past Pei Ruji and landed on Huajiao's face, and asked curiously: "General Pei, this is..."

Princess Jing'an suddenly thought of something, and she said "Oh" clearly: "You asked me for an invitation card, saying that you want to invite a little lady over, is she right? I have a flower banquet every year in this Palace, and unexpectedly I've never seen her before, I don't know which family's little lady it is?"

Pei Ruji said: "His Royal Highness, she is Jiang Huajiao, the young lady of Zheng Yuan's family who was the former secretary of the Central Committee. She grew up in her grandfather's family and only returned to Lan'an at the beginning of this year. Therefore, His Highness has never seen her before." .”

Princess Jing'an smiled lightly, "So that's how it is."

Hua Jiao also stepped forward and bowed to Princess Jing'an and Mrs. Xue respectively.

Mrs. Xue's eyes fell on Hua Jiao's face, she looked at it for a moment, nodded with satisfaction, and asked with a smile, "How old is Miss Jiang?"

Hua Jiao replied with a smile: "Mrs. Hui, eighteen this year."

Pei Ruji frowned imperceptibly when Mrs. Xue asked Hua Jiao's age.

"Aunt Xiao, this girl was born well, and her age is about the same as that of the eldest son, but I see, she might already be a famous woman." Princess Jing'an glanced at Pei Ruji's face, and said with a smile, " I will be choosing the Five Uniques in a while, remember to come here."

Princess Jing'an said, and went with Mrs. Xue.

Huajiao watched the two walk away, and Fang breathed a sigh of relief. This feeling of being looked at and judged by others was really uncomfortable.

******
On the side of the flower shed, there is the Chongyun Palace where Wujue is selected.

The hall is tall, and there are two moon gates connected to the flower shed, so that it is convenient for everyone to go directly to Chongyun Hall to rest after admiring the flowers.

At this time, the hall was full of tables, tables, and stools, and the palace people shuttled among them, placing pens, ink, paper and inkstones, Yaoqin, pipa and other musical instruments on the tables.

The open space around the main hall is filled with potted peonies, peonies and other flowers.

Hua Jiao found a stool and sat down, Pei Ruji had already been dragged away by a group of young gentlemen, Xue Xiu, who was following far behind, stepped forward to sit with Hua Jiao.

The first competition was poetry and painting. Princess Jing'an drew up the topic "Ask Peony". all in it.

Everyone was afraid of disturbing them, so they spoke softly.

Huajiao looked around and saw people with different expressions, obsessed, nervous, worried, excited, which made Huajiao couldn't help but think of the oiran competition in the Liangge Pavilion.

The same competition of skills, except that the prostitutes were replaced by noble girls, and the competition for the position of oiran was replaced by five masters.

A lady next to the painting corner put her hands together and prayed nervously: "My little girl must be the first in poetry writing."

Hua Jiao raised his eyebrows and asked, "What's the benefit of winning the top spot?"

The lady glanced at the corner of the painting in surprise, and said in a low voice: "Everyone in the world knows that marriage is a woman's second reincarnation. If you marry well, your life will be smooth. If you marry poorly, this life will be over. But everyone If you won the first prize at the peony flower feast, you will be able to be chosen by the rich and powerful in Lan'an City when you marry in the future. Maybe you can even enter the palace, do you think this is a good thing?"

Huajiao said "oh", not knowing what to say for a while, a trace of deep boredom flashed in his clear eyes.

The poems and paintings of the noble ladies have been completed, and the maids line up, holding paintings and poems in their hands. These paintings and poems have not been signed, and the best ones will be selected by the crowd, and then several famous poets and painters in this dynasty will be selected. Choose the final winner.

In the silence of the hall, someone from the palace shouted loudly: "His Royal Highness King Kang has arrived."

"King Liu'an is here."

"The Tianshu Division is in charge."

Everyone turned their heads one after another, only to see a palace servant holding a whisk in his hand, leading a group of people walking slowly.

The leader, King Kang Li Ye, looked like he was four years old, dressed in fine clothes and a golden crown on his head, and walked slowly.Walking side by side with him is the younger brother of the current saint, the uncle of Li Ye, the king of Kang, and Li Cong, the king of Liu'an.He walked slowly in a light robe and plain shoes, with a gentle smile on his lips.

Mrs. Yu was dressed in splendid and splendid clothes, walking at the end, a bowl-sized peony was blooming wantonly beside him, with thousands of petals, the beauty was graceful, dignified and thrilling, but it couldn't take away any of his beauty.

Hua Jiao hurriedly lowered his head, deeply feeling that he was dizzy.

Yu Taiqing is not only the superintendent of the Tianshu Division, but also the nephew of the current saint and the cousin of King Kang. How could such a grand event be without him.

If he was allowed to see himself this time, his true identity would be revealed.Thinking about it again, she will eventually go to him to heal Qiongqi's hostility. At that time, he will definitely know that he is not a demon but a human, so he can no longer hide his identity.

Thinking of this, Hua Jiao felt relieved.

King Kang, King Liu'an, and Yu Taiqing sat on the main seats under the guidance of the palace people. Several poets and painters selected some outstanding ones and handed them over to the three of them.

King Liu'an is well versed in the way of playing chess, and he is also quite accomplished in poetry and painting. After a glance, he selected an ink painting "Nine Questions on Peony" and a poem "Ode on Peony", and handed them to Mrs. Yu Qing and Kang Wang.

The two glanced at each other to express their agreement, and Princess Jing'an didn't have any objections, so she ordered the palace servants to come forward and announce.

Cui Lanshu and Kong Yu won the prizes of Painting and Poetry respectively.

King Kang asked Yu Taiqing in a low voice: "Ms. Cui has won the painting, but you regret it a little? When the emperor said to give you a marriage, you should agree."

King Liu'an seemed to have never heard of this, and raised his eyebrows in surprise: "The sage wants to marry Ah Qing?"

King Liu'an was not yet 40 years old, but his temples were covered with frost, and his expression was haggard.But he looks handsome, with a romantic charm that makes people forget the vulgarity.

Kang Wang said regretfully, "He has already pushed me."

King Liu'an nodded, but did not say another word.

At this time, the second round of competition began, and this time the competition was about singing and chess.

Interestingly, Xue Jin, the daughter of the Xue family in Kaibohou Mansion, participated in the two competitions of singing and chess. Her mother is Xiao Sujun, who is very skilled in chess. Everyone thought that she would win chess, but she only played one game He was defeated in the game, but because of his sweet singing voice, he won the best song.

Qi Jue was obtained by Xiao Sujun's niece of her natal family, Xiao Qiukui, the prostitute daughter of Uncle Ning Ping's Xiao family.

The last round is a competition of piano skills, and they can only take turns on stage.

The palace people placed the Guqin properly, and a young lady stepped forward, saluted everyone, and then sat in front of the Guqin and began to play.

The last one to come to the stage was Huajiao’s cousin Zheng Min. She was dressed in fancy dress and strolled to the high platform. Her eyes were as beautiful as a spot of lacquer, and she looked forward and affectionately. She pressed her bare hands on the strings and began to play.

Zheng Min has practiced piano skills since he was a child, while Hua Jiao studied pipa at his grandfather's house. The two had a competition when they were children, and they never came out victorious.

I saw her five fingers lightly clasped together and slowly twirled, and the sound of the piano flowing like clouds and flowing water flowed in the hall.

After so many years, Zheng Min's piano skills have been perfected, it seems that the title of the best piano is about to fall on Zheng Min's head.Grandma should be happy, but it has nothing to do with her.

At the end of the song, Zheng Min stood up and saluted, his wide sleeves brushing over the strings.

Everyone praised her, but just when the palace people wanted to announce that the qin was definitely her, Zheng Min suddenly said, "Actually, there is someone who plays the pipa very well, but she has never been on stage."

There was an ominous premonition in Hua Jiao's heart.

She knew Zheng Min's temperament, she was arrogant and always wanted to win her.But most of the songs that Huajiao learned later were from Fu Yao, so he didn't bother to compete with her again.

Zheng Min didn't want to take advantage of this occasion to compete with her, did he?

Huajiao felt like sitting on pins and needles, is there still time to leave now?
(End of this chapter)