concubines are respected

Chapter 136
The Empress Dowager's birthday banquet was held in the Longevity Hall. On this day, all the senior ministers and officials in Beijing entered the palace to congratulate.

The palace maids and servants shuttled busily, presenting delicious food, melons, fruits and cakes, and the hall was full of wine and wine, and laughter continued.

The emperor is wearing a purple gold dragon robe and sits high on the dragon seat, the queen mother is wearing a high bun with a cloud, and on the slightly silver hair bun is a hairpin with five phoenixes hanging from the rising sun. Significantly graceful and luxurious.On the slightly wrinkled cheeks, there was a kind smile, and the phoenix eyes flickered slightly, staring at the courtiers celebrating the birthday and the concubines in the hall.

Around the time of the unitary hour, the people from the palace outside the Wanshou Palace passed on, "Master Lin Mocheng, the former magistrate of Kangzhou, and his daughter Lin Suxian have an audience!"

As soon as the call came out, all the officials in the hall looked at each other in surprise, and looked out of the hall in unison.

It's no wonder that everyone's face is strange.It was only because the palace people passed on the audience that the former magistrate of Kangzhou was the one who had seen the audience.Calculated according to the rank, the magistrate is only the fifth rank.Most of the official ranks present at the banquet were Beijing officials and close ministers above the third rank.And Lin Mocheng, as a local official in Kangzhou, and only a fifth rank, was not eligible to enter the palace to attend banquets according to the rules, let alone bring his daughter along with him.

When the emperor heard the announcement, he also glanced at the queen mother in surprise, and asked in a low voice, "Queen mother, as far as I know, this Lin Mocheng is at home due to illness and has not been in office. The queen mother invited him to a banquet, but what can you say? ?”

The queen mother smiled lightly, and said softly, "There is no explanation, and it is only the first time I have seen this person mourning the family. But now Mr. Zhang Enyuan has made great contributions to the country, and Lin Mocheng, as the only in-law of the Zhang family and Qian'er's father, mourns the family. He loves the house and loves Wu, so he was specially allowed to attend the birthday banquet. Anyway, the emperor did feel ashamed of the Zhang family back then..."

"Mother, today is the joy of your birthday, so let's not mention the past." Hearing this, the emperor interrupted the Queen Mother's words slowly.

What happened to the Zhang family back then was really a thorn in the emperor's heart. Over the years, the emperor has often secretly reflected that there may have been a wrong judgment back then. Mistakes ruined the loyalty of the whole family.Therefore, when the Empress Dowager mentioned this matter at this time, although the emperor was not worried, he bypassed the topic due to filial piety.

Seeing that the emperor was slightly displeased, the queen mother knew that her casual words had touched the emperor's heart knot, so she stopped talking and looked at the group of people who were walking towards the hall.

"The humble minister Lin Mocheng sees the Emperor and the Empress Dowager." Although Lin Mocheng has a rank at the moment, he has no official position for the time being, so he does not wear official uniforms, only wearing brocade and satin gowns to attend the banquet.

Today, Suxian put on extra make-up, changed her usual plain makeup, specially put a little powder on her cheeks, and a smear of vermilion on her small cherry lips, making her whole person more radiant and charming.

The emperor smiled lightly and replied, "Lin Aiqing doesn't need to be too polite, just sit down when you are seated."

The seats in the main hall are all determined according to the order of grade. The person present must be Lin Mocheng who has the lowest grade. Therefore, according to some rules, Lin Mocheng should sit at the end, near the gate of the hall.

Just as the palace servants led Lin Mocheng to the seat at the end, the queen mother said with a smile, "It's windy at the gate of the palace. Lin Aiqing is just recovering from a serious illness. It's better to sit down nearby."

Saying that, he raised his hand casually and pointed to the second table on the right side of the emperor.

Lin Mo was overwhelmed by the flattery, and responded, "I am loved by the queen mother, but my humble minister is disrespectful." Then, he entered the table with a little panic and sat down.

"Come on, Qian'er, come to Ai's house." The queen mother waved to Suxian, motioned for Suxian to sit down on the small table at the bottom left of the Fengzuo, and said warmly, "Since I returned to the palace from Boyuan, Ai's family I haven't seen Xian'er for quite a while, but I really miss her very much."

"Queen Mother, Qian'er also misses you. It's your birthday today. Qian'er was so excited that she couldn't fall asleep last night. She only looks forward to visiting the Queen Mother in the palace earlier." False, nervousness is true, it is true that he could not sleep last night, but the saying that he could not fall asleep because of seeing the queen mother... is because of another important matter.

"Haha, good boy." The Empress Dowager laughed loudly without doubting him, "Okay, don't just talk, let's start the banquet."

Immediately, silk and bamboo lingered in the hall, and music sang in unison. Several dancers with long sleeves came in from both sides of the palace gate, dancing with the melodious music.

The queen mother looked at the colorful sleeves flying in the hall with great interest, but Suxian became more and more nervous, with a decent smile on her face all the time, but her eyes were searching among the courtiers.

The uncle sat in the second seat on the right side, and the other princes sat in the first seat on the left side. Among them, Murong Haotian was alone. Needless to say, he was planning to prepare for major events outside the palace as planned.

When everyone was immersed in the atmosphere of singing and dancing, a palace official quietly came to the third prince and whispered something.The third prince nodded invisibly, and from the corner of his eye, he looked at the fifth prince who was on the side.

The fifth prince was staring intently at the beautiful dancer in the hall with a pair of eyes. Looking at that appearance, he must have moved his heart again.

Suxian curled her lips contemptuously, such a miserable person, how can he be a king, thinking about what happened today, it can be regarded as a first contribution to the people of Da'an.

After a while, the rhythm of the music speeded up, and the dancer's beautiful posture also became much faster. The long water sleeves fluttered up and down, dazzling the people around them.At this time, a dancer dancing in the center suddenly drew a shining soft sword from her waist, and stabbed straight at the emperor.

It was too late and then too fast, only to hear someone shout urgently, "There are assassins, escort!"

The hall suddenly became chaotic, all the concubines screamed and left the table and retreated. Most of the Beijing officials present were civil servants. How could they have seen such a situation? Seeing someone assassinate the emperor, they all shouted for escort, but very few Some people dared to rush forward, and those who were a little bit bold took a few steps forward, but were startled back by the assassin's raging arrows.

Fearing that the Queen Mother would be frightened, Suxian got up and ran towards the Queen Mother with big strides, blocking her way.

The third prince was quick to wit, and raised the silver lamp in his hand to attack the assassin. The silver lamp accurately hit the assassin's wrist, and the soft sword fell in response.

Thinking that he had lost his weapon, the assassin panicked, and without caring about assassinating the emperor, he turned around and rushed towards the third prince.At this moment, Lin Mocheng, who was sitting at the second table on the right, quickly ran to the hall, picked up the soft sword dropped by the assassin, shouted for escort, and stabbed straight at the assassin's back.

Seeing this, Suxian was sweating profusely and shouted loudly, "Father, be careful!"

But because the scene in the hall was too chaotic, Suxian's voice was quickly drowned out.

Lin Mocheng didn't have any martial arts skills, so what he did at this time was really an eagerness to protect him.The assassin felt the roaring sword energy behind him, turned over and dodged, then clasped Lin Mocheng's wrist, and shouted in a dark voice, "Stop, I don't intend to hurt the innocent!"

Lin Mocheng was not willing to listen, and he clasped the assassin's wrist with the other hand, and roared, "How can I let you hurt the emperor!"

In the nick of time, the third prince flew forward, and the assassin, in a hurry, raised his hand and hit Lin Mocheng's chest heavily, dodging the third prince's moves, and ran out of the hall carelessly, taking advantage of the night. Disappeared outside the Longevity Hall.

After hearing the news, the Royal Forest Army hurriedly chased them out.

Lin Mocheng only felt a heat in his throat, and a mouthful of blood spewed out.

Suxian turned pale with fright, she did not expect that her father would fight the assassin so desperately, forcing the assassin to attack him in desperation, and accidentally injured her father... Yes, it was indeed a mistake...
"Father, are you okay!" Suxian ran up in panic.

At the same time, someone from the palace rushed into the palace, and the face changed slightly, but he still sat firmly on the golden seat. The emperor reported to the undiminished dragon, "My majesty, there are thousands of troops gathered outside the palace to attack the palace and protect the palace." The city army is retreating steadily, presumably they are already rushing into the city!"

(End of this chapter)