Empress Jinghua: The eunuch is nine thousand years old

Chapter 56 Xia Ziqi's Provocation
The days passed day by day, and the New Year atmosphere in the palace set off the last upsurge on the day of Lantern Festival.The Lantern Festival on the [-]th day of the first lunar month is not only the last day of celebrations for the whole palace, but also an annual banquet for the unmarried women of the royal family.

On the Fighting Art Banquet, all unmarried female family members of the royal family will show their most proud talents to compete in the banquet, and the winners of fighting arts will receive generous rewards every year.

And the reward is not the most important thing, what is important is that the title of the leader of Fighting Arts attracts all the noble ladies, whoever can win the leader will be praised by the young princes of various families in the next year, and become the king of the upper capital. The most famous woman in the world.

In fact, it's not just about titles. The noble ladies want to win the leader for the sake of their own marriage. It is very honorable to be able to bring the title of the leader of the Fighting Arts Conference with a family of comparable status. of.

Above the Yueyue Building, the sound of silk and bamboo can be heard endlessly, and the royal relatives and nobles are all in the ranks of the banquet, all dressed in fancy clothes, chatting and laughing with the people around them, and they are all happy.

Ming Shengdi was sitting on the dragon chair, wearing a dragon robe, but he was more energetic than before, stroking his gray beard with his big hand, talking to the queen beside him, nodding and laughing.

Yue Jing'an is still in the lake blue palace dress today, with a large-sleeved shirt embroidered with gold thread neatly tied in front of her body, holding a round and flat hand stove in her hand. It is very similar to Yue Jing's quiet and elegant temperament.

Since the first day of the Lunar New Year, Concubine Lian has almost become a school of her own in the harem. The ten-day grace has never been seen since the opening of the Dalai Dynasty. The concubines saw it in their eyes and were jealous in their hearts. They all hold three points of awe and seven points of hostility towards Concubine Lian, who came from behind.

Concubine Lian, on the other hand, used the pastry in front of her self-consciously, turning a blind eye to the vaguely strange eyes cast from her surroundings.

The sound of bells and drums rang eight times in unison.

"Are all the noble ladies ready?" Ming Shengdi's resonant voice echoed in the palace and reached everyone's ears.

"Go back to Emperor Father, the minister is ready!"

"Go back to the emperor, the courtiers are ready!"

All the noble ladies answered in unison, all of them were full of spirit, full of confidence to show their charm at the Fighting Art Banquet.

Ming Shengdi nodded in satisfaction, raised his hands together and clapped three times, and slowly walked into the banquet room where dozens of maids were holding trays, each with stacks of neatly arranged flowers on the trays. For cakes, there is a piece in front of the corresponding flower cake plate indicating that the flower cake corresponds to the name of a noble lady.

The Fighting Art Conference adopts a rotation system, and the noble ladies show their best skills one by one. After the end, the maid will walk around the banquet with a tray containing the flower cakes made by the noble lady.Thinking that this noble lady is talented, she can take a piece of flower cake from the maid's tray.

After all the noble ladies have finished showing off, whoever has the fewest flower cakes left will be the leader of this year's Fighting Arts.

Xia Zijin only returned to the palace this year, and she was married early in her previous life, and she has never participated in this grand feast of fighting arts.Today she is wearing a smoky powder printed cross-neck skirt, with budding peony flowers embroidered on the tube top, and a velvet long-sleeved shirt with round jade beads inlaid and sewn on the cuffs, which is not unsophisticated .

"Sister Ziqi, last year you were the leader, and this year's Fighting must be sure!"

Xia Zijin picked up a kumquat and put it in his mouth. Xia Zilan, who was at the table, flattered Xia Ziqi. The top of the dress is inlaid with finely polished rubies and moonstones, which have excellent light transmission, but the palace dress on Xia Zilan is inferior to everything else, it is just ordinary red lake stones.It can be seen that the status gap between the two is still very obvious.

Xia Ziqi helped the golden headgear that was full of holes, raised his chin and said, "That's natural, my princess's piano art has reached the seven-stringed upper realm, even the professor Ben The female officer of Princess Qinyi was also very impressed, and an occasion like the Boyi Banquet is naturally guaranteed."

Xia Zijin was listening on the sidelines, but she smiled and said nothing. She had heard Xia Ziqi's piano sound several times in her previous life, and it was indeed good, but it would be a bit exaggerated to say that she was in the Seven Strings Upper Dao Realm.

During the banquet, several noble ladies have already appeared on the stage. Princess Rongyu of Rongwang Mansion performed a frightening dance, which can be described as graceful like a dragon swimming like a frightening flock. The vermilion sleeves were thrown away, and the soft gauze was moving with light. , the figure is both soft and tough, but the dancing sleeves have a bit of strength, graceful and light, attracting everyone to look at the spinning dance steps, praise it.

After Princess Rong danced, the maid walked around between the banquets carrying the flower cakes with Princess Rong's brand, and put both hands into the tray. After the whole circle, there were very few flower cakes left.

And the fifth princess Xia Zixun also played the pipa majesticly with one hand, and the impassioned "Ambush from Ten Sides" with the other hand was a kind of shock and enjoyment to everyone's ears, with a beautiful and magnificent melody layered, and the touch of slender fingertips and strings , Gently gather, slowly twist, wipe and pick again, making people intoxicated in the soul-stirring sound of the pipa.

The other noble ladies are a little less impressive. The sword dance of Princess Qi, the ink painting of the eighth princess, and the fighting skills of the noble ladies, everyone is already in high spirits. Head and feet.

A noble lady saluted and left the stage, and Xiao Xiazi turned over the golden book and looked at the next person to enter the stage in sequence.

"Next! Fourth Princess Xia Ziqi!"

Xia Ziqi responded, and Shi Shiran lifted the hem of her skirt, and the palace servants arranged the piano stand and a high-quality sandalwood piano for her. A light incense stick was lit on the piano stand, and the white smoke drifted away.

"Zi Qi was the leader of our Dalai Boyi last year, and today I think about it, I'm well-prepared, and it will open my father's eyes!" Ming Shengdi smiled while supporting his knees.

"Father is ashamed to praise his daughter, and he will play with all his heart today, so that he and the royal family will not be disappointed!" Xia Ziqi said with a blessing.

Ming Shengdi nodded and raised his hand to signal Xia Ziqi to sit down and play.

Xia Ziqi sat with her skirts up, placed a pair of slender hands on the strings, closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then raised her bright wrists and hooked the strings with her fingertips.At first it was just a few leisurely trills. The thick and melodious tones of the Guqin are different from those of the Pipa.

Xia Zijin is sipping the fine wine in the jade cup, and what is ringing in his ears is "Guangling San" by Xia Ziqi, who is gradually getting better. This song was composed by Nie Zheng in the Eastern Han Dynasty. It's just that Xia Ziqi's piano skills are good, but he's still a bit off the mark. The whole piece is like an ornament with a gorgeous appearance but an empty heart.

However, even if there was the slightest lack, there was nothing wrong with it in everyone's ears. After Xia Ziqi finished playing the piano, everyone applauded and applauded.

"Zi Qi is really a good player in the piano, this song Guang Ling San is magnificent, I really enjoy listening to it!"

Ming Shengdi Fuxu let out a loud laugh, the love in his eyes was beyond words.

Xia Ziqi raised her skirt and stood up, put her hands in front of her body, slightly bent her knees and bowed to Ming Shengdi: "I thank my father for your praise!"

The maid walked slowly through the banquet with Xia Ziqi's flower cakes in her hand, and the cakes piled up as high as a small mountain tower were taken away one by one by the crowd. Seeing the maid walk to the last person in the last row of the banquet, the dish There is exactly one flower cake in it.

The noble ladies all sighed and sighed. Princess Rong Wang and the fifth princess who had the best results in the front also had three and six flower cakes left, but these four princesses won a grand slam. It seems that this year's Bo Yi leader has already It's clear, no one will be able to compare with Xia Ziqi in the future.

Seeing her outstanding record, Xia Ziqi was naturally overjoyed. She rolled her eyes and looked at Xia Zijin, who was sitting on the side drinking with her head bowed. She took two steps forward, raised her head and said, "I heard Sister Zijin used to be a qin player in the Yiqing Building, and she is also very skilled at playing the piano. Since it is a big feast of fighting arts, she is not stingy to ask for advice. ?”

When everyone heard this, they all looked at Xia Zijin in unison. They all heard that Princess Mingzhu was born in a brothel. It was clear that the relationship between the two must be tense, and the contemptuous eyes of the four princesses were more provocative than trying to compete with Princess Mingzhu.

Ming Shengdi frowned slightly, and secretly blamed Xia Ziqi for not knowing the severity in his heart, how could he casually talk about Xia Zijin's previous background in the hall.But the words have been said, and there is no need to hide them. Ming Shengdi saw that everyone was waiting and waiting, so he couldn't help hesitating.

"What do you think of Zijin?" Ming Shengdi said.

Xia Zijin looked at Xia Ziqi with hostile and contemptuous eyes, as if waiting to see her good show.She chuckled lightly, and felt that Xia Ziqi's appearance was very funny, and that look of eagerness to see herself make a fool of herself was really uncomfortable.

"Since the fourth sister invites you kindly, it's not easy for Zijin to disappoint my sister, is it?" Xia Zijin chuckled while covering her handkerchief, and happily got up to accept Xia Ziqi's invitation to "discuss".

Her indifferent expression made Shengdi Ming and everyone breathe a sigh of relief. If she didn't know the seriousness, because she couldn't hear Xia Ziqi's thorny words, it would be unpleasant to make a noise in this hall.

"Then let Zijin choose a song to play." Ming Shengdi was generally very satisfied with Xia Zijin's knowledge, nodded and said.

Xia Zijin blessed her body to Emperor Ming, and then dragged her skirt to the side of the Guqin. Most of the curling incense sticks had been burned, and the gray powder was blown by the breeze and fell on the table profusely.

(End of this chapter)