Chapter 144: Gather on the birthday banquet
Walking along the gravel path, the green willows are shaded by the lotus pond, the green and round lotus leaves in the pond, and the beautiful lotus flowers are erected out of the water, dancing gently with the breeze, and several pleasure boats are parked by the water pavilion.
Ji Yun frowned slightly and said softly: "Sit in the middle of the pleasure boat, don't pick lotus flowers."
"Mom, I will be careful and not be so ignorant." Song Ruoxi whispered.
Ji Yun smiled.
When they arrived outside the Ouxiang Hall, a palace maid took away the phoenix picture embroidered by Song Ruoxi and asked about her identity. The mother and daughter also wanted to separate, once they entered the main hall and then went to the back hall.
There were already dozens of young girls in the back hall, sitting or standing, smiling and whispering in groups of three or three. The fragrance of rouge and the fragrance of flowers were so greasy that it was intoxicating.
Song Ruoxi glanced at her. Ye Dongyuan and Wei Qingyu had arrived. There were also several girls around them talking and laughing. Zhou Siyi had not arrived yet and was hesitating whether she should walk over to say hello to them. Wei Qingyu had already seen her and waved, "Miss Song, come and sit!"
Song Ruoxi smiled and walked over, "Hello Miss Wei, Hello Miss Ye."
Ye Dongyuan's eyes fell on Song Ruoxi's agate tassel hairpin, "Where did Miss Song buy this hairpin?"
"This hairpin was given to me by my brother." Song Ruoxi stroked the tassel in his ear and chuckled.
Ye Dongyuan curled her lips and smiled, which was unknown.
Wei Qingyu looked at Ye Dongyuan and then looked at the agate tassel hairpin, "Miss Song's hairpin is very beautiful, what's the problem?"
"I said there is something wrong again?" Ye Dongyuan squinted her.
Song Ruoxi was suspicious, with no visible expression on his face. He just wanted to ask Song Lian when he went back.
Some of the other girls didn't know Song Ruoxi, so they introduced themselves with a smile. Song Ruoxi also informed them of their identities. They greeted each other and passed the time with a chat and laughed.
After drinking a cup of tea, Song Ruoxi saw Zhou Siyi floating in. She hadn't seen her for several days. She was so thin that she was as thin as paper, as if the wind could fall down. Even if her blush was applied on her face, she could not hide her haggard face.
"Sister Zhou." Song Ruoxi waved.
Zhou Siyi walked over, pulled the corners of her mouth, nodded to the girls, and sat down next to Song Ruoxi.
Ye Dongyuan's eyes turned and she chuckled, "Before, I looked at a new lyric, it was written so well."
"What word is it?" a girl asked tactfully.
Ye Dongyuan looked at Zhou Siyi, opened her cherry lips and chanted slowly: "The eyebrows are competing for beauty in the spring mountains, but I feel sorry for the long wrinkles. Don't drop the clear tears to the flower branches, afraid that the flowers are as thin as a person. The clear and moist jade flute is idle for a long time, and the soulmate is rare. If you want to know that you are sad every day, just ask for the willows in front of the pavilion."
The lyrics came out and it became cold.
Song Ruoxi and Ye Dongyuan didn't meet each other very often, had no close friends, and were not sure about her character. Other girls who knew her character had their smiles froze on their faces. Ye Dongyuan chanted this word not to persuade Zhou Siyi, but to mock her, mocking Zhou Siyi for not following the rules of the boudoir, missing men, making people thinner than yellow flowers. Although they also mocked Zhou Siyi behind their backs and obeyed the words of their elders to alienate her, they never hurt others in person. This was to care about each other's face and not to do anything to offend the Zhou family too much. Ye Dongyuan's move was not only mean but also stupid.
Zhou Siyi was already ashamed and could not be energetic about anything. If Mrs. Zhou had not forced her to die, she would not have attended today. Not to mention Ye Dongyuan's secretly mocking of her poems, she would not care if she was more blunt.
Seeing that Zhou Siyi did not respond, Ye Dongyuan felt a little embarrassed and shook the fan, turning her head to the other side to look for someone to talk.
The shouts of "Princess Rongshu is here" came from the front hall.
The sound of "The Lord of Jiarou is here!" was heard from the back hall.
Concubine Li's mother is noble because of her son. In addition to Princess Sheng Yu's mansion and Princess Qiao, which is still filial, several other princesses, Duke's wife and Hou's mansion all brought their daughters with them.
Seeing Ren Wanqiu walking here, Song Ruoxi felt his scalp numb, but he could only salute her with everyone.
Ren Wanqiu returned the cuss of everyone, left the seat, said a few polite words, and looked at Song Ruoxi with a smile, "On the 19th of this month, I heard that it was a ceremony for Miss Song and the hairpin, and I recommend myself to praise him."
On the evening of April 26, Ren Wanqiu suffered from a heart attack again. Princess Rongshu guarded her for one night, but she was unable to go to the Song family to attend the banquet the next day. In a dozen days, it was Song Ruoxi's wedding ceremony. In order to show her goodwill, Ren Wanqiu took the initiative to attend her wedding ceremony.
"It is the honor of the little girl to be able to attend the little girl's ceremony. It is just a praise person. I have invited Miss Zhou as the one, and I dare not bother the county lord." Song Ruoxi could not refuse Ren Wanqiu's arrival, but tactfully rejecting her as the one who praised her has shown her attitude that they are not friends.
Ren Wanqiu's eyes turned red again, and there was a hint of sadness in his eyes when he looked at Song Ruoxi.
Song Ruoxi could only ignore it cruelly. Not to mention Ren Wanqiu had a heart disease, even if she didn't have a heart disease, she couldn't stand her fragile appearance, which was really not the choice of a good wife.
"When I came, I saw a pleasure boat prepared on the pond. After lunch, I would definitely have to cruise the boat to enjoy the lotus." Wei Qingyu said differently.
The other girls immediately echoed how beautiful the lotus flowers in the pond were. The girls talked about poetry and essays, and talked about jewelry and clothes, and then they mixed the time. It was almost noon when joy sounded, and they heard the shouts of "The Imperial Concubine Arrived" from outside. Mrs. Chengenhou took Li Mengdie with him.
Without the summons, the girls could not go out and still sat in the back hall. The concubine sat under the throne of Huanghuali sandalwood, and several princesses and wives saluted her.
"No gifts, and give them to sit."
When the princess and the ladies sat down, Concubine Li smiled and said, "I heard that the girls from all the palaces presented the embroidered phoenix pictures to celebrate my birthday. Come on, let me appreciate it with all the princesses and ladies."
The palace maids brought the phoenix pictures embroidered by the girls, unfolded them one by one, and first looked at the imperial concubine, and then passed them to several princesses and wives.
From composition to needlework, after careful comments, Concubine Li chose a red satin embroidery embroidery with spreading her wings and flying golden phoenix, "Which girl is this embroidered by?"
"Great Empress, this is embroidered by Lu Linger, the daughter of the Senate of the Secretariat."
Concubine Li stroked the embroidery, the phoenix spread its wings, and the dream came true, and her eyes were as bright as stars, saying, "This picture is very satisfying to me. Please come over and let me see you."
A palace maid went to the back hall to invite Lu Ling'er to go to the front to greet Concubine Li.
Concubine Li generously praised Lu Ling'er for a silver tendril ruby hairpin, and praised Mrs. Lu for teaching her daughter well.
Then the palace maids came to invite Ren Wanqiu, and Jiang Yan'er and several county lords went out. When they greeted Concubine Li, the girls lined up side by side according to their father's ranks, led by the palace maids and entered one after another. Song Sui had only a fourth-rank official, and Song Ruoxi stood in the penultimate row.
"The little girl greets the concubine, and the concubine is lucky to be rich." The high-quality foreign wife saw that the concubine did not need to kneel down, but the girls did not have any rank, regardless of their father's official position. They all had to kneel down. They were shaking the dingdong for a moment and wearing the dingdong for a while.
Concubine Li's beautiful eyes swept across the girls, "Don't give me a gift, I'll be calm."
"Thank you," the girls said in unison.
"Siyi, why are you kneeling behind? Come to my palace quickly." Concubine Li wanted to win over Grand Master Zhou and showed his intention to show kindness to Zhou Siyi.
Zhou Siyi walked forward and stood five steps away from Concubine Li. He saluted: "The little girl has seen Concubine."
"I heard that Siyi is good at music. At the beginning of the year, the song "Autumn Water" at the Peach Blossom Banquet was the best in the world. I wonder if I can play a song in public to help her be happy?" Concubine Li asked with a smile.
"The little girl was trapped by the affairs and had no intention of playing the piano. She asked the Empress to forgive her crime." Zhou Siyi refused directly.
Concubine Li's elegant smile froze on her face. She thought she spoke, no one dared to refuse, but she didn't want Zhou Siyi to be so disrespectful and refused directly.
Mrs. Zhou was shocked and hurriedly walked out and knelt down and said, "Empress Concubine, the little girl is young and ignorant, and she is unrestrained. Please forgive me for her crime."
Concubine Li's eyes turned and she smiled and said, "Mrs. Zhou asked me to do it. You don't have to take any small matters to heart. My daughter's family is meticulous. When Siyi's mood is good, I will invite her to the palace to play the piano for me."
"Thank you for being magnanimous." Mrs. Zhou stood up and took Zhou Siyi down.
"Empress, it's time to enter the banquet." The female official stepped forward to report.
"Let's go to the table." Concubine Li stood up first and everyone followed.
At the birthday party, no one would be rude to make Concubine Li unhappy, and she would sing and laugh. Festive operas were also sung on the small stage, which was very lively.
After the banquet, Concubine Li smiled and said, "It's boring to listen to operas all the time. The weather is good today, so let's take a boat to have a trip."
The pleasure boat was ready long ago, and everyone followed Concubine Li to board the boat, but there were too many people invited, but the pleasure boat was not prepared enough. There was a girl who was unable to get on the boat. Among them were Song Ruoxi who was deliberately lagging behind and Zhou Siyi who was absent-minded.
"Sister Zhou, let's stop taking a boat trip, go to Jiuqu corridor for a walk!" Song Ruoxi pulled Zhou Siyi's sleeve and said.
Zhou Siyi looked at her and nodded slightly.
The two led their maids away from Furong Pool and went to Jiuqu Gallery. Jiuqu Gallery was built along the garden wall for several miles, with exquisite patterns carved on the corridor. Song Ruoxi and Zhou Siyi walked slowly side by side, and the four maids followed each other in a distance.
After walking for a long time, he didn't see Song Ruoxi talking. Zhou Siyi couldn't help asking, "Sister, don't you advise me?"
Song Ruoxi raised his eyebrows and asked, "I advise you, will you listen?"
"I..." Zhou Siyi sighed quietly and looked out the corridor, "I just wish I had the blessing of this life, not just a night of joy, a heart-breaking night, I still remember the deep dream of the boudoir, flowers blooming, drunkenness, I ask you, you will not return! But, what, this love is just a broken fireworks!"
Song Ruoxi stood beside her, reached out to pick a flower placed by the corridor, and said, "Sister knows that there is no hope for this love, why bother me torture myself like this?"
Zhou Siyi smiled bitterly and asked, "What would she do if it were me?"
"If you have feelings, I will stay with you, and if you have no intention, I will stop." Song Ruoxi's words came to the ground with a sound of pride and determination that a woman should have.
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Chapter completed!