Chapter 21
At the Dragon Boat Festival Palace Banquet, Su Yining took Su Yiru with her after all.
Uncle Zhongqin's Mansion received two posts, one each for Su Che and Su Yining. They brought along mother and daughter Zheng and Su Yiru respectively.
Mrs. Zheng was very thoughtful and always wanted to bring Su Yiru to attend more banquets with princes and nobles, so that her marriage might be settled.
Su Yining was also willing to give her this honor. On the Dragon Boat Festival, she wore very simple clothes, wearing a smoky green skirt with a white jade hairpin, and she didn't even wear any earrings.
It's not that she doesn't have suitable clothes and jewelry, it's just that on such a big day, almost all the ladies dress up to compete in the show, so she doesn't really want to stand out, and she doesn't want to attract attention.
But after all, Su Yiru went out to attend such an important event. She wished that all the eyes of the audience were on her. She piled silk, satin and jade jewelry on her body, dressing up like a peacock.
One of them is simple and the other is ostentatious. When they walk together, Su Yining looks more like Su Yiru's female envoy.
As soon as Su Mansion's carriage landed at the palace gate, it attracted many people's sideways glances. Su Yiru glanced at Su Yining, who was not as well-dressed as before, frowned, and walked forward proudly with her head raised.
Mrs. Zheng reminded her: "Stop talking later and don't eat. Just sit upright. You'll make a lot of mistakes if you do it."
Su Yiru didn't care and said lightly: "I know." After saying that, she stretched her neck and looked into the crowd, as if searching for someone.
"What are you looking around for?" Mrs. Zheng pulled her. Su Yiru ignored it and still stretched her neck to look into the crowd, trying to see if the person she was waiting for had arrived.
Su Yining walked behind the two of them, her steps steady and her hairpin unwavering. Compared with the mother and daughter in front who were looking around and whispering, they were much more dignified and elegant.
After a while, Su Yiru seemed to have found the target. She paused, straightened her skirt, tucked her hair into a bun, pursed her lips, and glanced over there with a shy smile.
"Who are you looking at?" Mrs. Zheng felt alarmed when she saw her looking like a young girl, and quickly asked her, "You didn't come back all night that day. Where did you go?"
Su Yiru still didn't speak, lowered her head slightly, raised her head again and glanced ahead, and quickly looked away again, with a shy posture.
Su Yining followed her gaze and saw several male guests standing in twos and threes not far ahead.
Can't tell who she is looking at.
But the few people over there are all rich or noble. In addition to a few children of the humerus family, there are also the sixth prince and the prince of Qian'an.
She frowned, looked over there again, and stopped.
It is said that to kill a snake, you have to hit the snake seven inches, and you have to control the Zheng family. Starting from her pair of children will undoubtedly get twice the result with half the effort. Looking at Su Yiru's appearance just now, it looked like she had an affair with the man in front of her.
But who is it?
Zheng's mother and daughter gradually walked away, while Su Yining still stood where she was.
Su Yining frowned and looked at the people over there, already thinking about the backgrounds of those men in her mind.
"So fascinated?" A familiar voice sounded from behind her, with a hint of displeasure.
Su Yining turned around in surprise. This is the palace road that must be passed when entering the palace. It is still a stick of incense away from the main hall where the palace banquet is held. Almost everyone who comes to attend the palace banquet will walk through this road.
But Su Yining didn't expect to meet Xie Yu here. He was a member of the royal family, and he used to enter the palace very early to pay his respects to Emperor Longshun first.
"Who are you attracted to again?" Seeing that Su Yining just turned to look at him without saying a word, Xie Yu glanced at the people over there.
His eyes were like cold knives, passing over those people one by one.
"None of them are reliable."
"You really like picking up trash."
If it were before, Su Yining might have retorted aloud, but today she couldn't speak. Just standing in front of him like this, just looking at him and listening to his words, Su Yining couldn't help but think. cry.
She didn't know it was okay before, she thought she was let go by him, she thought he left without leaving any trace, and she only felt regret and resentment in her heart.
After knowing everything, it becomes even harder to meet again.
Just looking at him, Su Yining felt an unbreakable sadness in her heart, so sad that she almost couldn't breathe, like it was stuck in her throat.
"Prince Xie..." She opened her mouth to him and called him, her voice trembling slightly.
Xie Yu didn't notice Su Yining's subtle emotional change, and his tone was still very unhappy: "What, your second brother is not here today?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Yang Shen ran after him from a short distance away, raising his arms and shaking them: "Second sister, wait for me."
He ran so fast that the white jade crown on his head almost came loose. After he stabilized his body, he panted and said, "Second sister, I'm afraid I won't be able to find you after we divide our seats, so I waited for you here specially."
As he spoke, Yang Shen took out a small porcelain bottle from his arms as if there was no one around, and handed it to Su Yining: "This is the secret medicine passed down from our family, which can cure hangover. I heard that my second sister is not good at drinking, so she only drinks one cup. , specially sent here, hoping to help you."
Yang Shen was affectionate and upright. Seeing that Su Yining hesitated and did not reach out, he put the small porcelain bottle on the stone slab aside, took a step back, bowed and said: "I'll put the medicine here, the second sister can handle it by herself, grandma If you are still waiting for me, I won’t disturb the second sister.”
After saying that, Yang Shen turned around and left without even looking at Xie Yu.
Xie Yu felt uncomfortable. He looked at the small porcelain bottle on the ground, gritted his teeth, and looked condescendingly at Su Yining: "Your second brother is really concerned about you."
I don’t know what caused him to have such a fit today. Su Yining felt like there was a huge boulder in her heart, which was depressing and dull. She didn’t really want to talk to Xie Yu anymore, and her voice was dull: “Second brother is naturally good.”
Xie Yu watched as Su Yining bent down, picked up the medicine bottle that Yang Shen had just put down, put it carefully and properly into his sleeve, then saluted him and turned to leave.
He stood behind Su Yining, expressionless, and murmured in a low voice: "Second brother..."
Su Yining, who had already walked away, subconsciously turned around and met Xie Yu's deep eyes. The eyelids of his beautiful peach blossom eyes were raised slightly, and the bottom of his eyes was bottomless ink, with a scorching color. of enthusiasm.
It seemed like he was going to burn a hole in Su Yining.
Su Yining turned around quickly and walked away as if running away.
The Dragon Boat Festival Banquet is held every year. This year is the first time that the imperial concubine hosts it, so it is extra grand, and there are many more people in attendance than in previous years.
Su Yining's position was originally at the front, but she thought about it and gave that position to Su Yiru. In this way, she reached the end and was almost outside the main hall.
But she didn't expect that Yang Shen would be so far back and face to face with her.
She was not good at drinking, but the fruit wine prepared for the female guests at the palace banquet was good-tasting fruit wine, but not that intoxicating. In addition, Yang Shen gave her the secret medicine. After drinking a few glasses of fruit wine, she took one pill and it continued to pour. Not even half drunk.
The singing and dancing at the banquet changed one after another, and gradually came to an end.
At some point, when Su Yining looked up again, the person sitting opposite her was replaced by Xie Yu, and Yang Shen didn't know where he had gone.
Xie Yu sat opposite her and didn't speak. He just looked at her and lowered his head to take a sip of wine from time to time.
I don't know whether it was the secret medicine that had miraculous effects, or whether the fruit wine at today's banquet was not intoxicating. Until the banquet was over, Su Yining was conscious and not even a little drunk.
She was about to follow Zheng to the palace gate, but was stopped by a palace maid.
"Miss Su Er, the imperial concubine would like to invite you to sit in her palace and have a conversation."
Since it was the imperial concubine's invitation, she had no reason to refuse, so she followed the palace maid in the other direction. Mrs. Zheng happily took Su Yiru on the carriage back home.
Dusk was falling now, bright palace lanterns were hung on the palace road, and the summer night wind blew Su Yining's body, but she didn't feel cold.
On the contrary, the further we walked, the hotter it became.
Her consciousness, which had been sober just a moment ago, suddenly became confused and even a little sleepy. She didn't think much about it and just thought it was because she was tired.
"Sir, how long will it take to arrive?"
The palace maid leading the way didn't say anything, she just lowered her head and walked forward.
The palace lanterns in front are getting thinner and thinner, and the palace passage is getting darker and darker.
Some doubts suddenly arose in her heart. Logically speaking, the imperial concubine should not live in such a remote place, and she would not even be willing to light a few more palace lanterns.
The strangeness of her body also made her more and more frightened.
Her body began to feel weak, and now she was a little more irritable and uneasy than the heat just now.
She didn't want to go any further and stood still.
"This is not the way to the imperial concubine's palace. Where are you taking me?"
The palace maid leading the way turned around and took Su Yining's hand, trying to force her forward.
"My lord, it's just ahead. You'll be there in a few more steps."
Su Yining's hands and feet suddenly became weak and she lost her strength. She almost fell down when she pulled her like this, and he staggered forward a few steps following her pace.
She struggled to shake off the palace maid's hand, but she couldn't.
Seeing that she couldn't fight with all her strength, Su Yining thought of a plan and fell to the ground. When the palace maid came to help her, she suddenly raised her head and hit the little palace maid's head with her head with all her strength.
Taking advantage of her dizziness and pain, Su Yining quickly got up and ran towards the darkness like a headless fly.
