On the Mid-Autumn Festival, Beijing is particularly lively. People in the streets and alleys are all smiling. When carriages pass by, you can hear the smoke of fireworks that is more lively than usual.
Tang Ning wore her hair in a dragon's pistil bun. She took off the lotus wood hairpin she usually wore and replaced it with a gilt moon hairpin inlaid with gems. There was a circle of gemstones at the bottom of the bun. A few strands of soft hair fell down on her forehead. The modified face is small, white and tender.
Rong Yue also dressed dignifiedly and elegantly today. Under her bright face, she wore a gorgeous and low-key blue dress, which would not steal the spotlight from the nobles in the palace.
"There are many people entering the palace today." Rongyue said while sitting on the carriage, lifting the curtain.
There is only one road from Beijing to the palace gate, and there are not many carriages going in that direction on this road alone.
Tang Ning was looking through the things on hand when he heard the words and replied: "In previous years, the palace banquet has a fixed number. Only officials of the fourth rank and above in the capital can bring their wives to the palace for the banquet. Your Majesty wants the palace banquet to be lively this year. He also said that he wanted to use the palace banquet to cheer up the Queen Mother, who has been ill for a long time, so I lowered my rank a little."
There are always a lot of officials in Beijing, and the fourth rank is the watershed.
If you go up, you can get one card and eliminate a large number of people. However, Xiao Yan planned a palace banquet this year and directly followed Emperor An's request to make it more lively and lively, so he relaxed the lower limit to Beijing's sixth-rank officials.
Although there are only two more ranks, six levels higher and lower, the number of people who can enter the palace has more than doubled.
It would be weird if it wasn't lively.
Rongyue looked at the approaching palace gate and the increasingly crowded carriages, feeling a little uneasy. When she turned around, she saw Tang Ning holding two sachets to pack things.
"what are you doing?"
"Put some snacks in."
Tang Ning stuffed the last two knuckle-sized red bean cakes into the rather large Yunjin sachet, and then handed one to Rong Yue.
"The banquets in the palace never had much to eat, and with so many people gathering together, people would stare at us if we accidentally moved our chopsticks twice. Uncle Gu was afraid that we would be hungry, so he had some snacks specially prepared. , take it to the palace to eat."
"This snack is not big, one bite is just right, and it is soft and glutinous without leaving any residue. It has the taste we like. My aunt will bring it with her so that she can cushion her hunger when she goes to the palace later."
The etiquette and rules in the palace are strict, and those attending the banquet cannot just start eating right away. Many times, they have to wait outside for a long time.
Those who can enter the palace are courtiers, ladies and girls from aristocratic families with excellent family backgrounds. Everyone is afraid of showing their ugly face in front of the nobles or losing face by clamoring to "pay tribute", so most people will do this before entering the palace. They ate as little as possible and drank as little water as possible. Even during the banquet, they mostly didn't know how to use chopsticks, and they stayed up all the way out of the palace and back home.
Gu Helian knew that there was going to be a lot of trouble in the palace tonight, and she was afraid that it would be uncomfortable, so she had someone prepare snacks for them to bring into the palace early.
Rongyue held the sachet and said, "He knows how to mess with these."
"It's not a bother, uncle cares about you." Tang Ning took a small snack from her sachet and stuffed it into Rong Yue's mouth: "Auntie, try it. It's delicious."
The dim sum with a hint of sweetness is not cloying at all, and has a vague fruity aroma. It is soft and glutinous and easy to eat. It will neither choke you nor make your mouth dry after eating.
A smile flashed across Rongyue's eyes, and she hung the sachet on her waist: "I guess he means it."
After the carriage passed the Jinshui Bridge, it stopped in front of the palace gate one after another. It could not go any further. Everyone got off the car here and walked into the palace.
Tang Ning and Rong Yue were not too special. They got off the carriage and entered the palace together with Da Liu. From time to time, acquaintances greeted Ron Yue on the road. After Rong Yue nodded in response, he whispered to Tang Ning. When the group of people walked through the long palace road for a long time and were led to the Deyu Palace.
The palace servant following Tang Ning suddenly whispered: "Princess Xiangning, the governor asked me to tell you that it is cold in autumn, and it will be even colder in the imperial garden before and after the dinner. You and Mrs. Rongguo If you want to admire the moon, you can go to the Luyuntai nearby to avoid the wind and cold in the imperial garden."
Tang Ning paused and nodded: "I understand."
"Tang Ning?" Seeing the palace man leaving, Rongyue couldn't help but ask in a low voice, "What's wrong?"
Tang Ning lowered her voice: "Don't go to the Royal Garden tonight."
Rongyue's expression changed, and just as he was about to speak, he heard a voice coming from the hall.
"Ayue."
"Tang Ning!"
She hurriedly swallowed back the words that were on her lips. She looked up and saw Madam Wenxinhou and the Qian family's mother and daughter coming towards them. Next to them stood the smiling Mrs. Fu.
When Rong Yue and Tang Ning saw them, they couldn't help but smile.
After greeting a few people, Qian Qiyue came directly to Tang Ning, held her arm and said, "Tang Ning, why are you and your aunt here so late? I thought you wouldn't enter the palace today."
"What an aunt, she has no rules." Mrs. Qian scolded her in a moderate tone, feeling helpless to her daughter: "Don't mind Mrs. Rongguo, she is just so unobtrusive."
Rongyue said with a smile: "She is getting close to us. Tang Ning and I have no relatives. It's too late to be happy that we can get a niece for free."
"That's right, my aunt loves me." Qian Qiyue hugged Tang Ning's arm and turned her head to make a face in disbelief at Mrs. Qian.
Mrs. Qian patted her on the head angrily: "I think you are just a monkey climbing up the pole."
Qian Qiyue screamed: "Mom, it hurts!"
Several people couldn't help laughing.
After saying a few words, many people in the palace saw Rong Yue and came to greet her. Mrs. Wen Xinhou and the others talked to others together with Rong Yue. Qian Qiyue took Tang Ning and a little girl from the Fu family to the side.
"This is Fu Jinrou, the sister of the Fu family over in Lingnan. Jinrou, this is Tang Ning."
This was the first time for Tang Ning to meet the Fu family girl, but she had heard from Qian Qiyue earlier.
Fu Laiqing's biological sister, the eldest daughter of the Fu family, had left the imperial court a long time ago, and the second daughter of a concubine had also gotten married. There was also an unmarried daughter living in the Fu family, who was the daughter of the second grandfather of the Fu Laiqing clan.
She was of marriageable age, but due to some reasons her marriage in Lingnan was not going well, so she was sent to the capital to temporarily live with the Fu family. She also wanted Mrs. Fu's help in finding a suitable marriage in the capital. .
Fu Jinrou lives up to her name, with a beautiful appearance, and she speaks in a gentle and gentle voice: "Jinrou has met the princess."
Tang Ning smiled and said, "No need to be polite, get up quickly."
After Fu Jinrou got up, she said softly: "I heard my cousin talk about the princess many times earlier. Every time he mentioned the princess, he was full of praise. Even my uncle and aunt also praised the princess very much. Today we are destined to You see, the princess is indeed extraordinary, no wonder she was able to establish Rongsheng Academy."
Tang Ning smiled and said, "Ms. Fu is overly praised."
Fu Jinrou said: "I haven't been in Beijing for a long time, and Sister Qian and Sister Zhou often take me around. I wanted to go when the academy opened, but who knows, I happened to be sick. It’s a pity that we didn’t see the grand scene of erecting the Wende Monument.”
"Sister Qian said that the academy's library is extremely impressive. If there is a chance, I wonder if Jinrou will be lucky enough to go inside and take a look?"
Her eyes were full of longing, and she looked a little embarrassed.
Tang Ning looked at the shy look on her face and saw that she looked affectionate when she mentioned Qian Qiyue and Zhou Yuchang, so she just smiled lightly.
"If you want to go, just say hello to the academy and ask Fu Langjun to take you there. However, the academy's books cannot be copied or borrowed. Just don't disturb the teaching in the academy."
Fu Jinrou was immediately happy: "Great, then I will discuss it with my cousin when I get back."
Fu Jinrou is about the same age as Tang Ning. When she is purely happy, her eyebrows are raised and her face is filled with a smile that cannot be concealed.
Madam Fu didn't know who she saw over there, but she suddenly greeted them, and Fu Jinrou quickly confessed to them and turned around.
Qian Qiyue waved her hand: "Tang Ning, what are you looking at?"
Tang Ning looked away from Fu Jinrou: "It's nothing."
When Fu Jinrou mentioned that Fu Laiqing was full of praise for her, she always felt weird, but Fu Jinrou did seem to say it casually, so she was probably overthinking it.
