The imperial palace is located in the Plum Garden.
There is a banquet in the palace today, and the Queen has invited many ladies from aristocratic families in the capital to come to the palace with their daughters to enjoy the plum blossoms. In the Youth Hall, a series of mica screens spread out to block the cold air outside. Only wisps of plum fragrance slowly spread out under the baking of silver carbon.
In the hall, noble ladies from various families gathered together in twos and threes, painting or drinking tea, which was very pleasant. However, a scene in the corner destroyed such quiet beauty. Ling Qi, the daughter of the general of the auxiliary state, and Chi Weiyan, the lord of Rongde County, the daughter of the eldest princess of Ruyang, sneered at a young girl.
"Little Ji'er, do you think this can cover up your aura of poverty and poverty? You are said to be the daughter of the Lu family in Fanyang, but in fact you are just the daughter of a fifth-grade official. Do you really think that with the surname Lu, you can rely on the daughter of the aristocratic family? Your reputation is so much higher than ours? You can’t even wear the gold-woven satin that the Queen Mother praised highly, but you still have the nerve to come to the palace for a banquet. Do you think you can go anywhere with just your face?"
Several girls around him covered their mouths and sneered when they heard this, obviously they all agreed with this. Naturally, they did not dare to offend the daughter of the Fan Yanglu clan leader. But this daughter of a fifth-rank official from the same clan as Fan Yang and Lu actually had such an elegant, fresh and clean appearance, and even had unique painting skills, which made all the ladies present silently compare to her.
How can they, who claim to be the leading ladies in the capital, accept this? Now they have to ridicule her, so as to make them feel bad that their appearance, calligraphy and painting are all compared to hers.
The person they laughed at was Lu Bingzhen, who had just returned to Beijing from Jiangnan. She was used to the graceful and beautiful Jiangnan style, and her clothes were decorated with fine embroidery, not the gold-woven satin that was currently fashionable in Beijing. It was precisely because of this that this group of noble ladies who were not familiar with her mistakenly thought she belonged to a poor family and came to the palace for a banquet wearing unfashionable Jiangnan embroidery.
Lu Bingzhen was not annoyed when she heard this. Instead, she said gently and gently, "Sisters, what do you mean by this? The Queen is hosting a banquet here today. Why are my sisters causing trouble?" She then glanced at the Queen who was in a high position not far away. With many concubines, the noble lady smiled slightly and said, "Perhaps it is a lie that the Queen Empress summoned us to the palace today to paint and fight for tea. It is true that everyone's every move is in the eyes of the nobles?"
After hearing this, Ling Qi and Chi Weiyan, who were headed by this, both remembered the purpose of attending the banquet today. Before leaving, my mother gave her many instructions at home, saying that the prince was already sixteen this year, and that at this palace banquet, he would have to choose a concubine and two concubines for the prince.
Prince Xiao Min is the dream man of countless girls in the capital. He is handsome and has a good appearance. With her eyebrows flying into her temples and her eyes as bright as stars, it is not an exaggeration to say that the orchids and jade trees are unique. However, he seemed a little distant, which reminded people of the vast moonlight on the snow, and was heartbreaking to see him.
Thinking of the prince's position in the East Palace and handsome appearance, both Ling Qi and Chi Weiyan hesitated. What this woman said does have some truth to it. If a little daughter of a fifth-rank official leaves a bad impression in the eyes of the nobles and misses the position of the future mother of the country, wouldn't it be worth the loss?
Ling Qi gritted her teeth, said "good luck to you today" and walked away. Seeing that Ling Qi, the tallest family member, was gone, all the noble ladies around her headed by her also dispersed.
Cai Bing, who had been squeezed on the outside, finally had time to come in, surrounded Lu Bingzhen and said worriedly, "Ninth lady, you must hold back, they are not just for sex, no matter how annoying they are, they can't just hit people." Recalling the scene in Lingzhou where his young lady convinced people with her virtue, Cai Bing couldn't help but start to worry about other noble ladies.
In Cai Bing's mind, the way his nine wives persuade people with virtue is of course to convince them with martial virtue. When Lu Bingzhen was in Lingzhou, he once beat a group of paihuazi who kidnapped and trafficked children until they cried for their fathers.
When the incident in Lingzhou happened, Lu Bingzhen was still young. On the way to worship Buddha, he got separated from his mother Li and met Paihuazi. At first, Paihuazi wanted to coax Lu Bingzhen to go with him, but later found that the child was indifferent no matter what he said, so he carried her on his shoulders like a sack.
Lu Bingzhen, who was still young at the time, didn't understand what this man was doing until he was locked in a room. That room was full of abducted children, some were groggy and some were crying. Only then did Lu Bingzhen realize that she met Paihuazi. She wanted to go home to find her mother, so she went directly to open the door.
The other children wanted to tell her that the door was locked and could not be opened at all, but they saw that the door, which looked like an iron wall to them, collapsed under the little girl's seemingly light push. Then they saw the little girl walking out calmly, and asked them strangely, "Aren't you leaving?" A group of children hurriedly followed Lu Bingzhen out of the door.
Naturally, the gatekeeper Paihuazi also came to stop him, but none of the visitors could withstand Lu Bingzhen's punch on his leg. The guard man howled and then curled up and fell to the ground. Other men who heard the sound came out to stop him. Lu Bingzhen followed suit, knocking down one person with one punch, and even raised a large water tank in the yard to hit one person who could barely run before leaving.
Naturally, the follow-up was that his father, Lu Qi, as the governor of Lingzhou, settled the matter and only said that his daughter escaped by luck. From then on, Lu Qi and the Li family began to allow Lu Bingzhen to practice martial arts, but they would never allow her to take action at will. This is why Cai Bing's first reaction was to stop Lu Bingzhen from taking action.
Seeing Lu Bingzhen's nonchalant expression, Cai Bing became even more nervous, "Little lady, do you really want to teach them a lesson? If you really want to, let's wait until we are on the way out of the palace before we start." Cai Bing thought to himself, if the little lady really wants to teach them a lesson? If he wants to take action, he must help the young lady to clear up all the troubles, and never let them affect the young lady's reputation as a model of a noble daughter from a family.
Seeing that the more she spoke, the more outrageous she said, Lu Bingzhen laughed, stretched out his hand and pinched her lips, causing the rest of the words to be lost between his lips and teeth. "Okay, I don't plan to take action. They were all choked by me. I guess the queen knew this scene well, and she can't be the princess. What else do I have to worry about." Cai Bing muttered a few words and stopped talking. What.
Looking at the group of noble ladies huffing and puffing away, Lu Bingzhen couldn't help but sigh in his heart, "The palace walls are deep, why bother longing for it? No matter how handsome and graceful the Crown Prince is, he can't resist the many calculations in this deep palace." and sinister.”
Lu Bingzhen glanced at the fifth cousin who was following his mother not far away, and thought to herself, "It seems that these noble ladies regard me as the fifth cousin. No wonder the fifth cousin was so attentive to my mother when she went out today. The palace banquet They are never far away from us." Just as he was thinking about it, his fifth cousin Lu Binghui looked towards this side as if he was aware of it.
After touching Lu Bingzhen's all-seeing gaze, she unnaturally dodged her eyes for a moment, then took a deep breath and returned to her calm, smiling face.
Lu Binghui had been planning for many days to have such an opportunity. She is already sixteen years old this year, but because her biological father died young, no decent family has come to propose marriage. She must closely follow her aunt Li today to make people think that she is the daughter of the wife of the next patriarch of the Fanyang Lu family, so that she can find a good marriage for herself.
As for whether her cousin would be ignored because of this matter, and whether she would be punished for this matter, Lu Binghui completely forgot about it.
As the next wife of the clan leader of the Fanyang Lu family, a century-old family, the Li family would naturally not be ignored by the empress. Halfway through the palace banquet, the palace maid Xiuxin invited all the ladies to go and talk to the empress. Naturally, Li was among them, and Lu Binghui quickly wanted to follow her.
However, when meeting Li's eyes that seemed to be smiling but not smiling, Lu Binghui felt as if she had fallen into an ice cave, and she was instantly frozen in place. When she came to her senses, Li had already left with Xiu Xinmoan. Many people around her were secretly observing her, and when they saw Mrs. Li abandoning her without hesitation, those who had previously thought Lu Binghui was Lu Bingzhen and had flattered her all looked at her with disdain. Seeing this, Lu Binghui wanted to hit him directly to death.
At the first seat at the palace banquet, the empress looked friendly and asked with a smile, "Why don't you bring the little lady at home to talk to me? I see that the little lady beside you is so generous and decent. It really makes my heart happy." After that, the queen The empress took off a mutton-fat white jade bracelet from her wrist and pretended to give it out.
Li Shi also answered with a smile, "Returning to your Majesty, although Wu Niang grew up in the capital, she rarely entered the palace, and the courtiers were afraid that her unruly behavior would stain the eyes of the Empress. Today, I have to go to the banquet to appreciate the plum blossoms. It’s an honor, how dare you ask for your concubine’s things.”
The identity of Lu Binghui was revealed in just one sentence, Wuniang, which shocked everyone. The ladies present may not be familiar with the family of the next patriarch of the Lu family, Fan Yang, who has just returned to Beijing, but they definitely know that the daughter of the Li family is the ninth in the family.
The eldest princess of Huyang is a straightforward person, and there is no daughter in the family who wants to be a princess. She came to the banquet today just to watch the excitement and choose a wife for her son. Upon hearing this, the eldest princess of Huyang said immediately, "It turns out that the little lady next to you is not your Jiuniang. Seeing her following you every step of the way, I thought she was Jiuniang."
Mrs. Li could not tolerate Wu Niang's behavior of pretending to be Jiu Niang, but she still had to protect Fan Yanglu's reputation outside, gritting her teeth and smiling brightly, "Princess, please don't make fun of me. Wu Niang came to the palace banquet for the first time, and she had concerns." She just follows the elders in the family. Jiuniang has a quiet temperament, but she likes to paint in the corner."
The eyes of the empress and all the ladies and ladies suddenly turned to Lu Bingzhen in the corner, and they were all surprised. "This...this...it turns out that this is the Ninth Lady." After seeing Lu Bingzhen's appearance and attire clearly, everyone was frightened by her appearance, and they hesitated for a while before speaking.
Of course the eldest princess Ruyang knew that her daughter had failed to mock the "Fifth Mother of the Lu Family" in public. The now inconspicuous "Fifth Mother of the Lu Family" had become the ninth daughter of the Lu Family, the leader of noble ladies in the aristocratic family. This matter changed from insignificance to something serious. Don't be careless. The eldest princess of Ruyang dug out her daughter's eyes with hatred. She only hated why she wanted to provoke the Lu family. After provoking someone, she was forced to retreat with just one word. Now it has become a joke.
The empress signaled to Xiuxin to invite Lu Bingzhen to come over and talk. When Lu Bingzhen walked up to him, everyone present took a deep breath.
