"Welcome to Your Majesty, long live long live long live long live..."
"The Queen is a thousand years old..."
Everyone who had just stood up had to kneel down again to welcome the arrival of the emperor and empress.
Shen Qiaochen, who had not yet had time to sit down, had no choice but to follow Concubine Shen to greet her.
During the interval of saluting, the queen's bright yellow court uniform flashed past, and Shen Qiaochen suddenly remembered that no wonder she always felt that something was wrong today. It turned out that the queen, Li Shi, had not appeared all day.
"No need to pay tribute."
Emperor Chongming strode over, lifted up Concubine Shen who was about to salute, and climbed up the white jade steps covered with thick carpets hand in hand, leaving the queen behind.
After Emperor Chongming and Concubine Shen bowed to the Queen Mother, the Queen who followed behind walked forward unhurriedly and bowed lightly.
"Greetings to the Queen Mother."
After saying that, before the Queen Mother could speak, she stood up and walked to the phoenix chair next to her and sat down.
Queen Mother Lin frowned, but said nothing. She turned around to talk to the emperor and the noble concubine.
Empress Li was originally just the concubine of Emperor Chongming when he was a prince. Even though the main concubine later died in childbirth, she was not rehabilitated.
After Emperor Chongming ascended the throne, he immediately named Concubine Yuan as his queen. Naturally, this concubine Li could only be a successor forever.
Today, only the old people in the court still remember that Emperor Chongming's empress Yuan had a surname of Shen and her name was Qingyao.
Born in the Shen Mansion in the capital, she is the eldest sister of Concubine Shen.
She is also Shen Qiaochen's eldest aunt.
Over the years, Concubine Shen has been favored by the Sixth Palace. After giving birth to the Ninth Prince, she was promoted to the title of Imperial Concubine, with the same rank as Vice-Queen.
But Shen Qiaochen knew that Emperor Chongming and his eldest aunt who died young were true childhood sweethearts and their love was sincere.
But for some unknown reason, Emperor Chongming seemed to rarely mention Empress Shen after he ascended the throne.
And Shen Qiaochen also learned this from eavesdropping on the conversations between Xiao Li and his staff in his previous life.
Looking at Empress Li's attitude towards Empress Dowager Lin just now, she knew that the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, the most distinguished mother-in-law in the world, was not harmonious.
It is said that the queen is the master of the harem, but Queen Mother Lin is the mother-in-law of the king of the country.
Empress Dowager Lin was able to fight all the way from the late emperor's harem and finally support her youngest son to ascend the throne as emperor. She relied on more than just the late emperor's favor.
At least Shen Qiaochen knew that whether it was scheming or cunning planning, the Empress Li in front of her was far from enough.
But for many years, both Empress Dowager Lin and Concubine Shen seemed to have some concerns about Empress Li.
You must know that this harem is a woman's world after all, not to mention that Emperor Chongming has always been cold towards Empress Li. If he really wants to abolish Empress Li, there are countless ways.
In the deep palace, human life is like grass. It is extremely easy to make a person disappear silently.
Shen Qiao felt this deeply.
Here, Shen Qiao was having doubts, and Concubine Shen, who was sitting at the top, was introducing her niece to the emperor.
After learning Shen Qiaochen's identity, Emperor Chongming raised his eyebrows and said loudly:
"Where is the Shen family's legitimate daughter?"
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone in the hall fell silent. Xu was unfamiliar with the title of 'the direct daughter of the Shen family', and then they all whispered:
"The direct daughter of the Shen family? Which Shen family?"
"In the entire Dajin Dynasty, how many Shen families can there be..."
Shen Qiao Shen had already sat down with Mrs. Shen. When she heard the summons, she immediately stood up and walked to the center of the hall.
"Shen Qiaochen, the daughter of General Jianwei, pays homage to His Majesty."
Then I heard Emperor Chongming continue:
"Shen Qiaochen... I remember you. You are Zicheng's little daughter. I haven't seen you for many years, but you have grown so big."
After saying that, he waved to Shen Qiaochen to stand closer again. He looked at her for a moment, seemed to be in a trance for a moment, and then smiled and said:
"I still remember that when you entered the palace on Wanshou Day that year, you were still a shy little girl, but now you are also a big girl."
After a pause, he finally added: "She is somewhat similar to your aunt."
Hearing this, Shen Qiaochen's heart skipped a beat, but her face didn't change at all.
He blinked and replied softly: "The imperial concubine is so beautiful and graceful, but my daughter is not as good as my aunt."
Shen Qiaochen's eyes were pure, her tone was soft but sincere, and her determination made Emperor Chongming find it very interesting, so he laughed out loud, turned to Concubine Shen and said:
"You are this precious niece, but you are nothing like her father who is a soldier and a ruffian."
Concubine Shen glanced sideways at Emperor Chongming and said with a hint of a smile:
"If I hear His Majesty say that, I don't know how long I will be angry. If I don't come back at the end of the year, there will be no one to drink with Your Majesty. Your Majesty has secretly hidden Lihuabai, and I don't know who will get the advantage in the end."
As he spoke, he turned his head and curled his lips slyly at Shen Qiao.
"You woman, I and Zicheng are brothers and sisters. How could he be so stingy? In last month's good news, he even brought a letter saying that he would return to Beijing later and would definitely bring several carts of good wine from South Vietnam."
The Shen family has been responsible for guarding the southern border for generations, and South Vietnamese wine is famous all over the world. Shen Congyan and his son have been at war with the South Vietnamese for several years, so they are naturally very clear about it.
When I return to Beijing every year to report on my work, among the trophies I bring back, there will definitely be good wine from South Vietnam.
Seeing the emperor and the imperial concubine bickering like an ordinary couple. Even if others could not hear the specific content of the conversation between the two, they could still see that Emperor Chongming was very affectionate towards Concubine Shen.
As a result, the people present had a deeper understanding of the Shen family's honor and favor.
In an instant, the gazes cast on the three Shen brothers and sisters became even more intense.
The most eye-catching one was Shen Qiaochen, who had just been given the opportunity to sit next to Concubine Shen by the emperor.
Because of this palace banquet, it was stipulated that only officials of third rank or above were allowed to attend with their legitimate children.
Therefore, there were not many people in the hall, and most of them were seated in family units.
Mrs. Shen took two brothers, Shen Qiaoqi and Shen Qiaoran, to sit near the front of the hall.
There were no other concubines present today, so Shen Qiaochen sat under Concubine Shen, that is, sitting with the princesses of Emperor Chongming.
As soon as Shen Qiaochen sat down, a figure came close to her.
Turning around, I saw that it was Xiao Mingwei, the sixth princess born of Concubine Shen.
Emperor Chongming attached great importance to the education of his children and did not pay too much attention to the princes. He was also very concerned about the talents, learning and conduct of the princesses.
Even if there is a palace banquet today, these young princes and princesses still have to go to school.
So this was the first time for the Sixth Princess to see her cousin, whom her mother and concubine often talked about.
Her Royal Highness, who is only ten years old, is very curious about her cousin who is said to be like a jar of traditional Chinese medicine.
Looking at the little man in front of him who was almost hanging on him, Shen Qiaochen felt very helpless.
In her previous life, she had almost no experience in dealing with children.
She is the youngest child in the family and the only girl. She has always been the most favored one.
Because of her frail body and introverted and withdrawn personality, children almost never come close to her.
Shen Qiaochen's forehead jumped, and then he broke into a gentle smile and tried to separate the young pendant from his body.
But no matter how hard she tried, the sixth princess still held on to Shen Qiaochen's sleeve tightly and looked at her with her big round eyes.
In public, the other party was a princess. In the end, Shen Qiaochen had no choice but to stare at the little cousin who was hanging on her.
This scene made the princesses sitting around burst into laughter.
"Are you the Shen family's medicine jar?"
…
