The emperor claimed that it was just a family banquet, but the banquet hall was still full of people.
Xu Qingmo's family came a little late, and the banquet hall was already full of people. As a marquis, Marquis Ningyuan had made great achievements in checking the salt tax a few days ago, so the seats were arranged further forward.
The queen was considerate and knew that Marquis Yongchang had just passed away, and his wife felt uncomfortable. After knowing that they were scheduled to enter the palace with Marquis Ningyuan, she quickly arranged their positions together.
Xu Qingmo was originally supposed to sit with Mrs. Xu, but Mrs. Xu had to be distracted by taking care of Mrs. Meng, so she asked Xu Qingmo to sit next to Xu Yanquan alone.
It was a rare occasion for Xu Qingmo to sit alone with nothing to worry about.
"The banquet hasn't started yet. Do you want to go talk to the girls?" Hua Ying leaned into Xu Qingmo's ear and whispered.
But Xu Qingmo shook his head: "Look at their appearance, none of them are showing off their newly made clothes and jewelry, just like those coming and going. The clothes and jewelry made by my mother are much more gorgeous. They went. Do you think I went out of my way to show off?"
Xu Qingmo said it very directly, but it was indeed the truth, so Hua Ying didn't say anything else!
"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has arrived!" the official shouted.
People in the banquet hall stood together. Although Xu Qingmo was reluctant, he stood up and saluted obediently.
Xie Suxian is greedy for power, and he likes these respects for face the most, but he has to pretend to be humble on the surface: "No need, no need!"
When Xie Suxian passed by Xu Qingmo, she paused for a moment: "Miss Xu?"
Xu Qingmo kept his head down, just not wanting him to notice him, but it was obvious that this move was of no use.
Xu Qingmo sighed without any trace, and then said calmly: "His Royal Highness, Wan'an!"
Xie Suxian quickly reached out to help him, but fortunately Xu Qingmo reacted quickly and stood up quickly before he could touch her and took two steps back.
Xie Suxian noticed Xu Qingmo's resistance, so she did not continue to get closer. She just looked at Xu Qingmo carefully: "We haven't seen you for a few days. Miss Xu seems to have opened up a little more, and she is even more beautiful than before!"
Xu Yanquan didn't want his precious sister to have any contact with the prince, so he hurried forward: "Your Highness the prince!"
Only then did Xie Suxian see Xu Yanquan. He was the most promising boy among the younger generation. Xie Suxian was naturally polite to him: "Yanquan is here too? This is your sister, right? I remember seeing her when I was a child, she was just a little bit taller at that time, but I didn’t expect that after not seeing her for several years, she would be so slim now.”
Xu Yanquan heard a hint of vigilance in Xie Suxian's words, and then he said: "She is still young, but she has grown faster in the past few years and has grown taller."
Xu Qingmo saw that the two of them started to chat, so he sat back and sat back. She originally didn't like this kind of flattering environment, but now, Xu Yanquan came up to block it for her. Everyone is naturally happy and relaxed.
However, the prince has not yet married, and if he suddenly pays special attention to a woman at the banquet, it will always make some women who want to fly on a branch and become a phoenix look suspiciously.
Even Hua Ying felt a biting chill: "Girl, why do I feel like someone is staring at us?"
Xu Qingmo didn't even raise his head: "We are in the palace now. There are many women in this place. Where there are many women, there is a lot of right and wrong. Is it possible that you still don't understand this?"
Hua Ying heard the general idea and didn't really understand it, but she had some idea. She could only try her best to ignore the cold looks from around her.
After sitting for a while, the emperor and the empress arrived belatedly. The banquet hall fell to their knees and greetings came one after another. Xu Qingmo followed Mrs. Xu, kneeling obediently.
After finally waiting for the emperor to say "exempt", Xu Qingmo just stood up and was called by the queen again: "The girl from the Xu family is called Xu Qingmo, right?"
Xu Qingmo had no choice but to stand up, walk to the middle, and kneel down again: "Your Majesty the Emperor, the Queen, may you be blessed!"
"Get up quickly!" the queen said quickly.
Xu Qingmo stood up slowly, but still lowered his head. It was the queen who spoke first: "It's really a woman's eighteenth transformation. I saw it a few days ago. At that time, she was more rounded. Now that she is taller, she is more and more beautiful. I’m losing weight!”
Xu Qingmo smiled. Although he didn't like it, but he was facing the emperor, so he could only respond bravely: "Back to the queen, my daughter has grown very fast recently and eaten a lot, but she has grown too fast. I’m more or less not keeping up!”
"If I tell you, your mother has treated you badly and failed to prepare delicious food for you!" the queen joked.
Mrs. Xu quickly came out to rescue her at this time: "The queen is blaming me for not being able to take care of my daughter? I remember that when the seventh prince grew up, he was really skinny. Is it possible? No, the Queen has not been able to take good care of the Seventh Prince?"
The Queen looked at Mrs. Xu for a long time, and finally laughed: "You naughty bitch, you really can't even say a word about you, you are so stingy!"
Mrs. Xu also smiled: "My daughter is so precious that I can't bear to get hurt. Naturally, I can't tolerate talking about the child that I take care of so hard!"
"You!" The Queen always doted on Mrs. Xu a lot when she was facing her. She couldn't help but laugh, "Then is your golden daughter about to get haircut soon?"
"It's almost time. One month after the New Year, it's time to have haircuts. From now on, you will be a big girl!" Mrs. Xu looked at Xu Qingmo beside her and said softly.
"Then since she is a grown-up girl, you should also start making arrangements for her marriage. As the saying goes, if a family has a girl, hundreds of families will ask for it. If your daughter is born so beautifully, I am afraid that the threshold of the Ningyuan Marquis Mansion will be closed by then. It's been trampled to pieces, so you have to strengthen the threshold of your home earlier." The emperor suddenly said, "Now, are there any young people you like?"
Ning Yuanhou, who had been silent all the time, suddenly spoke: "Your Majesty, I am not in a hurry. I only have a son and a daughter. I want to be more selfish and let her stay with Wei Chen for two more years. As for this husband-in-law, No matter what, he can’t be any worse than my ridiculous son. At the very least, he can be better than her elder brother in literature or martial arts!”
The emperor raised his eyebrows: "How can I compare to this guy Yanquan? Whether it's literary or martial arts, that's quite difficult. Marquis Ningyuan, your son-in-law is really hard to find!"
