Chapter 113: Prince
Nangong Yue was not angry, but the Fifth Prince was. However, although he was young, he knew that today was not an ordinary day, and if he made trouble, it would only cause trouble for Nangong Yue.
The fifth prince turned his head and ignored Qu Jiayue, and deliberately took Nangong Yue's hand and walked a few steps to the side.
This scene was seen by many female relatives, and there were a few sneers from the crowd that seemed to be uncontrollable... Qu Jiayue's face was extremely ugly, and she glanced around, but she didn't find out who was laughing.
She could only suppress the anger in her heart and stop for the time being. If it were usual, she would have lost her temper a long time ago. But this was a royal palace banquet, and the people invited to the banquet were not necessarily people she could afford to offend.
Qu Jiyue turned her head to look at the culprit, but found that Nangong Yue and the Fifth Prince had already disappeared. She had never thought that the Fifth Prince had already dragged Nangong Yue to the Imperial Garden.
“Your Highness the Fifth Prince, where are you taking Chen nu?” Nangong Yue could not hide the laughter in her voice.
The fifth prince had a chubby face and turned back seriously and said, "Sister Yue, don't be naughty, follow me carefully!"
Nangong Yue was trying not to laugh, but she couldn't show it, so she could only let the fifth prince pull her forward.
Four palace maids and a nanny followed them from a distance, and these palace maids naturally didn't dare to let the fifth prince out of their sight.
After a while, the Fifth Prince brought her to the foot of a rockery in the imperial garden. It looked quite secluded, and the palace servants were guarding outside and did not dare to come in.
"This is my secret base! How is it?" The fifth prince looked at her with a proud expression, with obvious boasting.
"Wow!Very good!"Nangong Yue looked surprised, her eyes full of smiles.
The Fifth Prince was obviously very pleased with the compliment. He narrowed his eyes and said, "Of course! The place that this Prince found must be very good! But you are too stupid!"
Nangong Yue was totally confused. Did she do something that a child of a few years old would consider stupid?
"You can't get so close to Qu Jiayue!" The Fifth Prince looked at her seriously, "Qu Jiayue is not a good person! She will hurt you!"
Nangong Yue was shocked. Why did the Fifth Prince think that Princess Mingyue was not a good person? Because there were only the two of them here, she thought about it and asked.
"I'm only telling you. Don't tell anyone else." The Fifth Prince seemed to recall something bad, with a hint of disgust and fear in his big eyes. "Once when she came to the palace, a maid serving tea accidentally spilled tea on her, so she dragged the maid out and beat her with more than a dozen boards. I was hiding under the table at the time. Fortunately, she didn't see me, otherwise I would have been in trouble."
Nangong Yue was a little helpless, thinking: No matter how bold Qu Jiayue is, she would not dare to hurt the prince in the palace. ...But a mere County princess dared to beat the palace maids at will in the palace, it seems that she is indeed favoured by the emperor!
“His Royal Highness the Fifth Prince, thank you for your reminder."Nangong Yue said with a smile, and took out a purse from her arms, from which she took out a pine nut candy the size of a little finger, “This is the pine nut candy made by Chen nu. Does Your Highness want to eat it?”
“Sister Yue made it herself?” The Fifth Prince's eyes instantly lit up and he said excitedly, “Of course I want to eat it!” He couldn't wait to take the pine nut candies and stuffed them into his rosy little mouth, his big eyes squinting in intoxication, the corners of his mouth curving. “So sweet and fragrant! Sister Yue's craftsmanship is so good!”
A flash of complexity flashed through Nangong Yue's eyes as she smiled without saying a word.
The Fifth Prince pulled Nangong Yue smiling and talking, when a sweet female voice said respectfully outside, “Your Highness the Fifth Prince, It's almost time. The Palace Banquet is about to begin.”
The Fifth Prince couldn't help but frown slightly and said with a bitter bun face, “Coming, coming, coming!” He pretended to be old-fashioned and sighed, “Sister Yue, it's your first time attending a palace banquet, you don't know that that palace banquet is really boring ......”
The two of them talked all the way back to Fengluan Palace, just in time for the ladies to get up and head to the Hall of Imperial Harmony.
“Yue Jie Er, what took you so long?”Lin Shi's heart secretly sighed in relief when she saw that her daughter had returned unharmed.
Nangong Yue smiled and comforted her mother: "The Fifth prince wants to take me for a walk in the imperial garden."
When Su Shi on the side heard Nangong Yue's answer, she squinted her eyes, and a ray of unhappiness in her eyes dissipated.
After being seated in the Hall of Imperial Harmony, Nangong Yue immediately felt a line of sight fall on her.
She turned her head slightly to look and found that the Zhennan King's sitting place was diagonally opposite the Nangong Mansion. And beside King Zhennan, Xiao Yi was winking at her.
Nangong Yue glanced calmly. On the left side of Xiao Yi sat a little boy of eight or nine years old, dressed elegantly and mature beyond his years. He looked similar to the King of Zhennan, but was a little thin. He must be Xiao Yi's half-brother. In his previous life, he died at the hands of Xiao Yi.
When Nangong Yue looked away, Su Shi was chatting with a woman at the next table. The woman had an ordinary face, but there was a trace of heroism on her facial features. Although the woman was talking to Su Shi politely, she didn't seem to be very enthusiastic.
Nangong Yue recognised this woman, she was none other than Marquis Wei Yang's wife - Madam Yan, and was also considered one of the protagonists of this banquet.
Nangong Yue lowered her head and hid the mockery in her eyes. Marquis Wei Yang was a military officer, while the Nangong family were civil officials. The civil and military officials had seldom interacted with each other…Now that Marquis Wei Yang had gained the emperor's favour, her grandmother had disregarded the difference between the civil and military officials and insisted on having a conversation with them.
Nangong Yue didn't want to listen to their conversation, but because they were close, their conversation still reached Nangong Yue's ears intermittently.
"Madam Weiyang, this time the Marquis Weiyang has really made a great contribution!" Su Shi rarely showed a gentle smile. In her heart, she had already given the other party a great deal of face. Su shi naturally had her own calculations in her mind, and her eyes quickly glanced at the girl next to Madam Weiyang. I heard that Madam Yan had a daughter who was one year younger than the eldest grandson Nangong Sheng. Now it seems that they are a good match.
Although her grandson Nangong Sheng had a verbal engagement with the Liu family, the Liu family had fallen into decline. Su Shi was very dissatisfied with this marriage. She once tried to break off the engagement, but was opposed by the eldest son Nangong Qin! However, the Liu family had not been heard from for many years, and it was possible that the girl from the Liu family had already married someone else out of shame...
Madam Yan glanced at Su Shi in surprise. Don't the literati despise military officals the most? But despite thinking so in her heart, she still said politely and courteously: “His Majesty will judge the merits and demerits, it's not good for us womenfolk to discuss dynastic politics.”
Su Shi had been the head of the family for many years and had always been used to being flattered. At this moment, she was choked by Madam Yan's answer and her face changed. If it were normal, she would have been too proud to pay attention to the ungrateful wife of Marquis Weiyang. But thinking of her own intentions, she suppressed her anger and persisted in talking to Madam Yan: "This must be your daughter, right? She is indeed dignified and beautiful!" She deliberately brought the topic to Madam Yan's daughter.
Speaking of her lovely daughter, Madam Yan showed a smile on her face, glanced at the girl next to her, nodded and said, “Exactly."Then he introduced his daughter again, “ Xian Jie Er, this is Madam Su from Nangong Mansion."”
The girl named Zhang Yuxuan nodded slightly to Su Shi generously: "Hello, Madam Su!"
"Good kid! Really a good kid!" Su Shi was very pleased with Miss Zhang, so she naturally thought everything was good. She smiled and asked, "How old are you this year?"
“Thirteen.” Madam Yan said with both joy and emotion. Thirteen years old was also the age to look for marriage partners.
“One year older than my Heng Jie Er. They are of similar age, so I think they will be able to get along, why don't we ask your daughter to move around more with the girls of our Nangong family.” Su Shi mentioned this as if she was not thinking, but in her heart, she was thinking: as long as you move around more, Miss Zhang will always be able to see Sheng Ge Er in the backyard!
Sheng Ge Er's talent and appearance are both top-notch in the royal capital, so I don't believe that a little girl who always stays in the inner house won't be tempted. As for whether the wife of Marquis Weiyang would disagree with this marriage, Su shi felt that she was already very tolerant as she did not despise Marquis Weiyang because he was a military commander.
Su Shi thought her idea was good, but she didn't see a strange light flashing in Madam Yan's eyes. How can a girl from a civil official family and a girl from a military general family get along? It is feared that neither one of them will be able to understand the other! My family Xian Jie Er, who is a straightforward person from a military General's family, can't play with the twists and turns of their civil ministers' families!
Nangong Yue was a clear spectator, and she understood that this was an elaborate deception to hide malicious intention*. Perhaps she had taken a fancy to Miss Zhang and wanted to be betrothed to the cousin. It's a pity... Nangong Yue felt more and more ironic. Others didn't know it, but she knew it. In her previous life, her cousin-in-law was not Marquis Weiyang's daughter.……
TL note: *项庄舞剑，意在沛公* lit. Xiang Zhuang performs the sword dance, but his mind is set on Liu Bang 刘邦 .
From the Records of the Grand Historian. In 206 BC, late Qin dynasty warlord Xiang Yu invited his rival Liu Bang to a feast at Hongmen. During this feast, Xiang Yu's cousin, Xiang Zhuang, tried to assassinate Liu Bang (also known as the Duke of Pei) by pretending to offer to perform a sword dance.
Men and women did not sit at the same table. Nangong Qin, who was sitting on the other side of the table, also noticed Su Shi's movements at this time, and couldn't help but have a headache.No one knows a mother better than her son... Nangong Qin looked at Su Shi's current actions, and even without listening to their conversation, he guessed Su Shi's intention.
Not to mention, men don't have to be as anxious as women to look for someone else. Let's just say that Sheng Ge Er had already fixed a marriage when he was young, and even though the woman's family had not heard any news for many years, he could not ruin the marriage at will.
But Su Shi was his mother, and the present occasion was even less suitable for Nangong Qin to go over and say something, so he could only helplessly pour himself a glass of wine and drink it in one gulp.
The conversation of his colleagues came from his ears... Nangong Qin was absent-minded. After returning today, he really wanted to have a good talk with his mother.
Su Shi was not like Nangong Yue, who understood the future end of Marquis Weiyang; nor was she like Nangong Qin, who was well versed in the affairs of the court.
What Su Shi saw now was that Marquis Wei Yang was the only one favoured by the emperor. She felt that if Sheng Ge Er could marry the daughter of Marquis Wei Yang, it would be a great help to himself and the Nangong Mansion.
For the sake of Sheng Ge Er and the Nangong Mansion, she must establish a good relationship with this woman whom she looked down upon in the past and still looks down upon now.
Thinking of this, Su Shi's smile deepened and he talked to Madam Yan more affectionately.
