Sir, can you marry me?

Chapter 236

On the afternoon of the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the gates of the imperial palace were opened, and many courtiers brought their families into the palace for a banquet.There is a difference between men and women. The emperor entertained his ministers and boys in the Palace of Preserving Harmony, while the Empress entertained all the wives and young ladies in the Jiaotai Hall of the Harem.

Because Ling Yuxuan needed to be on duty, 12-year-old Xiao Wencong entered the main entrance of the palace with Liu Hanlin, who was the fourth rank, and then gathered in the Jinluan Hall, waiting to meet the emperor, then went to the Baohe Hall for a banquet, and finally went to the Imperial Garden to enjoy the lanterns.Liu Zishu really wanted to enter the palace to open his eyes, but he was 16 years old this year, so he had to watch Xiao Wencong go to the banquet with his father while he stayed at home with his eldest brother and eight-year-old second sister Ziling to celebrate the Lantern Festival.

Xiao Wenqing, her mother-in-law, and third sister-in-law chatted in low voices with the ladies they knew each other in the Jiaotai Hall.The second daughter of their family, Xue Lan, is 13 years old this year. Unfortunately, she is a concubine, so she is not qualified to enter the noble circle of prostitutes.Liu Ziyuan is 12 years old this year, and she is also a daughter-in-law, so Mrs. Liu took her to Jiaotai Hall to meet the young ladies of the family.

Xiao Wenqing found that the number of wives who came to the banquet today was less than one-third of the number of wives who visited the empress on the first and fifteenth day of each month. He thought that the husbands and sons-in-law of the noble ladies who came to the banquet today were all valued or favored by the emperor. Minister.The two wives of the He family, Mrs. He and Mrs. He, did not come.

The fifth-grade pleasant Mrs. He has been grounded by her husband's family in the name of self-cultivation since she spread rumors to offend someone.Mrs. He is not only a pleasant person of five grades, but also the great-granddaughter of Emperor Taizu, who has the status of the county head. She did not expect that she was not qualified to attend the banquet this time. Presumably her husband was demoted. Not only did she order her wife to follow her husband The son-in-law descended and was gradually alienated by the royal family and his original friends.

The He family, the promising one is the second son He from the concubine, the eldest son He was a few years ago because of his father's conspiracy, Xiao Wenqing thinks that according to the current trend, the decline of the He family's direct line and the prosperity of the side branches will only happen in the next few years .The centipede is dead but not stiff, as long as Mrs. He still treats Chunli well, Chunli's life will be the same as before, relying on Mr. He and Mrs. He to have no worries about food and clothing.

"The Empress is here—" the eunuch's shrill voice sounded in the Jiaotai Palace, all the wives lined up according to their ranks, and the little noble girls stood beside their mother nervously.

Surrounded by a group of eunuchs and court ladies, the empress slowly sat on the queen's phoenix chair, swung her wide sleeves and said with a smile: "All wives are exempt from courtesy, and so are daughters of families." The gold hairpin crown, the neck is covered with a golden wreath ring with two phoenixes holding pearls, wearing a bright yellow phoenix with wide sleeves and wide sleeves, and a rare jade pendant for fortune, wealth and longevity on the waist.

"Thank you, empress." All the wives and noble daughters said in unison, and then stood up one after another.

The queen took her seat, and the wives got up one after another,

The queen looked around at the bottom of the jade steps, and smiled kindly: "Today is the Lantern Festival, the emperor wants the emperor and his ministers to have fun together, so don't be too polite, ladies, sit down."

Seats had already been placed on the left and right sides of the Jiaotai Hall, but no one dared to sit down without the Queen's permission.When the queen opened her mouth, all the wives gave way to each other and found their seats to sit down.

The wives who have been entertaining for many years have a picture of who is sitting in what position, and few people exceed the etiquette.In the Daqing Dynasty, the right respected the left and the left was humble, the invited wives sat on the left, and the wives sat on the right.The prime minister was the head of all the officials, so the prime minister's wife sat in the first seat in the first row, and she was seated with another first-class lady.At the second long table in the first row, there are two first-class husbands, and the others are lined up one by one. If you have a daughter or granddaughter, you can sit with the daughter or granddaughter. There is no need to separate the underage girls from the elders. .

Xiao Wenqing sat in the middle of the second row, surrounded by the wife of the Tongzheng Envoy who was of the same rank as her and did not bring a girl; At the same time, Sipin Gongren's sisters sat together in the third row, slightly outside the hall.

After the wives sat down quickly and quietly, the queen smiled and said, "I saw a lot of little girls who look like flower bones in this palace today. Ladies, why don't you introduce them to this palace and other wives?"

"What the empress said is true." All the wives laughed and echoed, turning their eyes to the married woman.Women with inner life are more noble than women with outer life, and you will start from them when you want to introduce girls.

Sure enough, a 50-year-old noblewoman wearing a five-phoenix Chaoyang hanging bead hairpin personally led the girl in light yellow clothes to the middle aisle, bowed to the empress on the jade steps, and said, "Sister-in-law Huang!" , this is Wanyu, the fourth granddaughter of my concubine. Wanyu, please pay your respects to the empress.” She is Princess Mingshan, the eleventh princess of the previous emperor, and her concubine has passed away. The two granddaughters married the emperor's grandson respectively.

The little girl with the twin maid buns immediately said in a delicate voice: "Miss, Wanyu pays homage to the empress, the empress is a thousand years old." Then, she knelt down on both knees to salute the empress.She was a little nervous, but she practiced court etiquette since she was a child, so her saluting posture was smooth and standard.

"Wanyu, get up." The queen said kindly.

"Thank you, empress." The little girl stood up respectfully and stood still with her head bowed slightly.

(End of this chapter)