It was August of the fifteenth year of Jingrui, and Ruyi was four years old. During the Mid-Autumn Festival, there is a family banquet in the palace.

This is actually the first time Ruyi has attended a family banquet and met her "brothers and sisters".

The eldest princess Miaofa and the second princess Miaoyin are twin sons, who are sixteen years old this year, and the Son of Heaven is looking for a good husband for them. The eldest prince Vimo was ten years old and opened the palace three years ago. The third princess Liuli is one year old and has just passed her fifth birthday. Xiao Maode, the son of King Wuling, was here.

Among these people, except for Miaofa and Princess Miaoyin, who were raised with their cousin Maode when they were young, and later the queen raised the eldest prince, who were closer and familiar with each other, although the rest were brothers and sisters, they had no contact.

When we meet, in addition to the natural closeness and curiosity, there is always an awkward strangeness in it. Especially between Vimo and Ruri.

But this has nothing to do with Ruyi. It was the first time she had met these people, and she was in the stage of curiosity and wanting to get close, so there was nothing to be embarrassed about.

This night the moon is bright and the wind is clear, there are bright lights like the Milky Way, and the light and shadow are shining near the water, which is gorgeous and clear. There was also a graceful song from the other side, and the tune was ethereal and beautiful, like a heavenly sound. And her brothers and sisters walked calmly and smilingly like fairies, dressed in the wind and wearing dingdong.

As soon as he appeared, he was already the first to take the lead.

Compared with the big sisters, Liuli is still young and unopened, not so slim and elegant, and the temperament is not noble and calm enough. But she was born as white and delicate as a snow ball, probably a little awkward, was reprimanded, and was held in her hand by Concubine Zhang with a bag of tears. Seeing the Son of Heaven, he broke away from Concubine Zhang's hand and pounced on it, a mouthful of Wu Yu was like a glutinous rice cake in his mouth, soft and sweet, but the grievances made people's hearts spent, "Daddy, help me talk about Auntie, she forced me to recite poems again." ”

Although the Son of Heaven tried to sink his face, he accused her, "You like to sue." But he couldn't hold back his face and laugh when he spoke, "Only this once, not the next one." Ruyi looked at it, faintly and a little envious.

Because it is a family banquet, there is naturally a seating order. The Son of Heaven is in the center, Xu Si and Zhang Guifei are on the left and right, and the two princesses of Miaofa Miaoyin, the eldest prince and Xiao Maode, Liuli and Ruyi are in descending order. The second prince was the youngest, and he sat with Xu Si. The rest of the concubines were arranged in order.

Ruyi is next to the eldest prince.

Like Ruri, his skin was as white as snow. It's just that he was born frail, quiet and quiet, and doesn't like to talk much. It is not more lively and lovely than glass powder.

The two princesses loved him very much, and the eldest princess tasted the fruit of the banquet, so she casually brought it to him, and said, "This is delicious, you can taste it." ”

Hearing her coughing, the second princess had already ordered the good people to change him with glutinous rice and light wine, and ordered someone to set up a screen behind each younger sibling.

When the Son of Heaven heard the movement, he asked, "Is it cold next?" ”

The second princess said, "The wind is a little wet, but I don't feel cold." It's just that the younger siblings are young and weak, and I'm afraid it's not good if they blow it for a long time. ”

Tianzi nodded and smiled, "It's good that you can think for your younger brothers and sisters." Then he ordered the dining room to add some food and drink that was suitable for autumn.

Zhang Guifei was in charge of preparing for the banquet on this day, and when she heard this, she smiled and said, "The second princess has always been careful. It was the concubine's negligence that she didn't even think of here. ”

She intended to show goodwill, but the second princess had a light attitude, as if it was none of her business, and only turned back to continue to talk to Xiao Maode.

Even if Ruyi is young, she can see that Zhang Guifei is very embarrassed. She couldn't help but wonder, this fairy-like big sister is rude.

She looked at Xu Si, who was concentrating on feeding Erlang. Although Erlang was still sitting in her arms obediently, he was obviously a little absent-minded, and when he saw Ruyi looking over, a pair of black eyes were clear. The fish also twisted, and was about to break free from Xu Si's arms. However, Xu Si only said, "Eat first." And he settled down again.

Just chewing immediately became stronger, obviously intending to finish as much as possible so that Xu Si could let go of him.

Ruyi couldn't help but want to laugh a little - although she didn't understand what it meant to be out of place, she also realized that it was inappropriate to laugh out loud at such a quiet banquet, and she hurriedly endured it.

She began to feel that this banquet was actually not as lively and interesting as having dinner with her aunt and brother.

She was thinking about it, when she suddenly heard the first glass say, "I don't want a screen." ”

Her voice is sweet and glutinous, with some coquettish connotations, but her expression is too vivid, and that dissatisfaction is all written on her face.

The Son of Heaven frowned and looked over, she shrank back, and then became more reasonable, "I'm not cold, and I still want to see the scenery~" The tail tone was delicate, and it turned into a slightly proud coquette.

The second princess only smiled, still ignoring people, "Then don't set a screen for the third sister." ”

She then asked Ruyi, "Do you want the fourth sister?" If not, simply remove them altogether. ”

The topic suddenly smashed over, and even Xu Si couldn't help but stop, looking at Ruyi with some concern.

Ruyi felt that something was not quite right in the atmosphere, which made her a little nervous. But it's easy to think about it.

In the end, she replied frankly, "Yes." Everyone looked at her, and she felt that she had to say something more. After thinking for a moment, he felt that this was also a very appropriate thing, so he said, "Actually, I still want a small spoon......"

The others are tense, and she is still eating seriously here - you can't say that she did something wrong, but it is somewhat laughable.

However, she was indeed too young, not yet four years old, and she was not much taller than a few cases in total. Because of her generous demeanor, the people at the table didn't even notice that her little fat hands were holding long wooden chopsticks, and they were very clumsy.

As soon as she said this, there was a brief subtle silence in the banquet.

Then the eldest prince smiled and said, "Quickly get a spoon for the fourth sister." ”

But the dark tide between the daughter and the mother-in-law has already ruined the mood of the Son of Heaven to enjoy the moon. Whichever one he blames at the moment will only intensify the conflict, and when he heard Ruyi speak, he lowered his face and said, "Who serves Siniang for dinner?" I don't have any eyes at all, I need Siniang to speak in person, what do you want! ”

One person and one seat were arranged above, and the people sitting in the banquet were either the concubines of the Son of Heaven or the princess and the prince, and the atmosphere was like this, who dared to make a sound among the maids? As a result, it is inevitable that innocents will be implicated. Busy all fell silent and knelt on the ground.

If they were punished and anxious, but they didn't understand which sentence was wrong, so they had to open their mouths to defend themselves, and the eldest prince had raised his hand and gently pressed her, signaling that she was not in a hurry.

Sure enough, I heard Xu Si laugh and said, "This is not to blame them, Ruyi is learning to use chopsticks, so I let them not have to feed her, and she slowly tries to eat by herself." ”

The eldest prince also smiled, "Although the fourth sister is clumsy, she is decent, and she eats hard and is fun." But my son was reluctant to give her a spoon. ”

After a word, the audience couldn't help laughing.

He replied, and the eldest princess finally smiled and said, "The fourth sister works so hard, Daddy shouldn't be angry." ”

Even if so many people spoke for her, Ruyi didn't understand why the Son of Heaven lost his temper with her for no reason and how he was angry.

After all, she is too young to know what anger is and what scapegoating is.

Everyone was happy, but she couldn't rejoice with it for some reason. It was as if there was an invisible chasm separating her from the crowd.

However, when she looked at Xu Si and Erlang again, she felt that she was not alone. Settle down.

She was quietly concentrating on eating. But the nurses were so frightened that they were all trembling, and the slightest hint of wind and grass could make them tense when they served her.

There are many flying insects at the water's edge, and they can still be seen in mid-autumn. When feeding Ruyi to drink the soup, the nurse suddenly saw a flying insect in the soup spoon, and she couldn't keep it away, and watched the flying insect fall into the soup. She was afraid of angering the Son of Heaven again, so she didn't dare to splash it, and she hesitated for a moment and was stunned on the spot.

Ruyi opened her mouth to wait for feeding, and when she saw her, her eyes also drooped, and she saw a little black in the milky white fish soup.

She couldn't help but look at the nurse. The nurse's hands trembled a little, but Ruyi actually controlled her expression. As if she didn't notice, she stepped forward a little and drank the soup from the silver spoon. The nurse's eyes were red, but she also breathed a long sigh of relief, and her voice trembled slightly when she spoke, but the tone was soft and reassuring, "What else do you want to eat?" I'll clip it for you. ”

Xiao Huaiyou watched from the sidelines.

The first queen died early, and it was actually Shen Guiren, the sister of the first queen, who really raised him. After gradually becoming sensible, he also understood that although Shen Guiren treated him very well, it was only on the face. When it comes to what she loves, I'm afraid even the tanuki cat in the temple is ahead of him. But after all, he has been Shen Guiren his mother since he was a child, and he is still close to her in his heart.

When he was six years old, because Ruyi was hit by a wild cat from nowhere, the Son of Heaven wanted to chase the cat with great fanfare.

He actually didn't like the cats in Shen Guiren's hall - she liked cats too much, and the courtyard in Hanrun Hall was full of cat food bowls, and when it was time to eat, more than a dozen wild cats gathered over. The whole yard is gloomy. At night, the cat barks like a baby and howls so badly that he can't sleep.

But when Shen Guiren wanted to keep the tanuki cat in the palace, he still opened his mouth to help her intercede.

As a result, the Son of Heaven was even more angry, and said to Shen Guiren that either the cat would go, or Shen Guiren would go with the cat.

Shen Guiren has a long-standing grudge against the Son of Heaven, and when he heard the rumors, he really went with the cat. Although the Shen family sent her back afterwards, the Son of Heaven was already disgusted with her and refused to let her raise her children anymore.

So Xiao Huaiyou grew up to be seven years old and was finally sent back to his biological mother.

Not only did he feel at a loss for his birth mother, but even his birth mother was at a loss. It was as if he was just a temporary guest, waiting cautiously, while still looking for a way to send him back to the Shen family.

But he really didn't stay by his biological mother's side for long.

Not long after, Xu Si gave birth to the second prince. The court played the voice of asking the Son of Heaven to establish the crown prince, and the Son of Heaven simply made the two sons kings to show that he was not in a hurry. probably saw that he had a hard time getting along with the Zhang family, and soon gave him an official and ordered him to leave the palace to open the palace and select staff.

Before meeting Xu Si and Ruyi, Xiao Huaiyou was hostile to them.

But Ruyi was very different from what he imagined.

He imagines that Ruyi is similar to Liuli, delicate and lovely, and a little smart, but the main purpose is to be spoiled, and his behavior is willful and arrogant, and he can hold his parents' hands and replace his mistakes with coquettishness when he makes any mistake. And if their parents dote on them, they will really forgive them for it.

But in fact, although Ruyi is young, she is already very advanced. She knows etiquette, is calm and generous, and is not afraid of the scene. Able to respond frankly, neither pretentious and pompous, nor cowering to peek at the faces of adults. Even though it was only a face-to-face effort, he had already realized that he had a good upbringing, which was rare at her age.

This is all a family education, but it may not be related to people's good and evil nature, and it can't touch him.

But just now, she saw the flying insects in the soup, but she still drank them immediately to help the maid eliminate the evidence of the crime and avoid punishment, which was clearly compassionate.

Such an "enemy" inevitably makes people feel close.

He smiled at Ruyi and said, "I've eaten it too." Ruyi was confused, so he pointed to the spoon.

- He did do something similar to Ruyi.

Seeing Ruyi's aftertaste, he said, "You can eat it, it's delicious." ”

Ruyi really showed a surprised expression, and it seemed that a big stone in her heart fell to the ground, "Really? ”

- When she saw that the nurse's hands were shaking, she subconsciously knew that she couldn't eat this thing. In fact, I was still a little scared.

"Really." Xiao Huaiyou smiled and said, he saw that she reacted interestingly, and couldn't help but tease, and said, "In the south of Jiangzhou, there are many insects, and the local people choose fat insects to fry into dishes. ”

Ruyi seems to understand whether he understands or not, and he doesn't know how to feel it. Xiao Huaiyou saw that she liked to listen to it, so he said, "There is also a hundred insect feast in the south of Ningzhou, where its people fry ant eggs, bamboo insects, scorpions, centipedes, and dragonflies to serve as a delicacy for guests. ”

This time, Ruyi at least understood that those insects could eat, and couldn't help smacking her lips - although she was past the age when she first learned to walk, she grabbed everything and filled it into her mouth, but she was also ignorant and fearless, and she was striding to explore the world with her eyes on its shape, its sound, and its taste, and she would want to taste whatever you told her was delicious.

Xiao Huaiyou couldn't stop for a while, "The people of Qingzhou and Laizhou are good at eating cicadas", "In the year of locusts, the people also hunt more locusts for food", "Sandworms are seafood treasures"......

In the end, it was full of insects that he didn't know, and Xiao Huaiyou also said that he was interested, so he described in detail what the shape and color of a certain property were, how it was cooked, how it was eaten, and how it tasted. And Xiao Huaiyou is also worthy of his reputation as smart and good-natured, and what he said is full of fun, and even the eldest princess next to him and the maids who are close to him listen to it with relish.

Ruyi listened to many place names and asked where those place names were referring exactly. She didn't have an intuitive feeling of the distance, and she heard him say that there were thousands of miles away from Jianye in all directions, and she only felt that the world was vast and boundless, which made people full of ambition. And this brother who knows everything and eats everything immediately became one of the big heroes in Ruyi's heart.

She couldn't help but ask, "Have you eaten them all?" There are so many things, it will take a few years to taste them. ”

Xiao Huaiyou also sighed with a smile, "I don't know, I have almost never eaten these." Having said so much, he was a little reluctant to break the image he had just established in Ruyi's heart. But he still frankly admitted, "Yangzhou assassin Gu Gongnan has been fighting in the north for many years, and he often talks to me about interesting things outside when he enters Beijing to report on his work. These things were heard from his mouth. He looked at the youngest sister softly, and said, "By the way, he has a son who is the same age as you." The next time he enters Beijing, I'll take you to him to listen to the story. ”

Ruyi's eyebrows curled, and he nodded vigorously, "Okay, we've decided." ”

They were elated, but two of them felt aggrieved.

One is Liuli who sits opposite Ruyi, she is Xiao Huaiyou's half-sister. Although she was not raised with Xiao Huaiyou, Zhang often mentioned her brother, and she was quite proud of her conversation. Liuli is full of ears and eyes, and her heart is also full of longing for her brother.

What's more, Xiao Huaiyou is indeed worthy of his sister to be complacent for him, he is the eldest son of the Son of Heaven, beautiful and good-looking, good at speech, he can belong to literature at the age of six, open the mansion at the age of seven, and all the scholars in the world will return to him. At the age of ten, he is already unique in the world, and no one of his peers can compare with him.

Obviously, she and Xiao Huaiyou are the only ones in the palace who are from the same mother, and Xiao Huaiyou once took back to Zhang Guifei, but he doesn't like Liuli, but he has a lot of respect for his two half-sisters.

Liuli doesn't like the two half-sisters, they look at her and her aunt like the slaves of two villains. Liuli inexplicably knew that they looked down on her aunt and didn't want to get close to her. But since these people look down on their mother and daughter, why do they have to support her brother!

Ruri couldn't be convinced.

She tried her best to snatch her brother back. But the closer she got to him and protected him in front of others, the more Xiao Huaiyou didn't say anything to him. He is like a weak woman who was forced into the corner by a strong beam, and his face was full of words, you will leave quickly after grabbing something, I am reluctant to follow you.

But why is he able to laugh with Yan Yuese's wishes? Could it be that she is not as good as a "wild seed" who doesn't know who her father is?

Liuli was not happy, so she shook her hand and got up, and went to the upper seat to find the Son of Heaven and Zhang Guifei.

But this time, the Son of Heaven didn't have time to make decisions for her. Because, after waiting for two years, his youngest son finally spoke!

Jiro, of course, is the second person who feels aggrieved.

- It was difficult for him to go far once, still on the waterfront, and there were so many new faces that he had never seen, and he was about to run around with a girl, but as soon as he entered the table, he was grabbed by Xu Si's waist, and he was trapped all night on the small seat two feet square.

also asked Ruyi to sit separately from him, so far away, he couldn't reach out to Ruyi for help.

And he obviously had other things to do in a hurry, but Xu Si fed it endlessly. He dodged left and right, and Xu Si could accurately stuff food into his mouth. He struggled left and right, and Xu Si could use his strength to remove his strength.

Erlang's ability is useless.

But Ruyi's gaze gradually disappeared, he was in dire straits, and she actually laughed with others, obviously leaving him behind.

Children are a little exclusive, but their own things have been robbed by others, how can they bear this, of course, they have to desperately snatch it back.

Erlang could only let Xu Si feed Cheng Dù in a hurry until she felt that he was full, and finally saw the gap, and suddenly exerted his strength and broke free from Xu Si's arms.

He was about to go to Ruyi, but he was grabbed by the Son of Heaven.

Jiro was simply sad and indignant.

The Son of Heaven grabbed him, smiled and asked, "Where are you going?" ”

Erlang raised his hand to Ruyi, but the Son of Heaven did not raise his head, but teased him slowly, "If you don't say it, how can Daddy understand." ”

Jiro: ......

Erlang has a good memory, he still remembers the first time he opened his mouth to call Daddy under the pressure of adults-he obviously called many times, and it was difficult to correct his leaky pronunciation, but after these adults entertained him, they actually laughed, completely forgetting his efforts.

Probably not realizing that he could understand, they didn't shy away from speaking to his face. But Erlang is very smart, he can actually understand, and if he doesn't understand, he knows whether he is being teased or teased again.

And he is extremely lazy, so when he can, he tries not to speak. Even if he didn't say it, they understood that when he said it, they entertained him.

But if he didn't open his mouth this time, he would inevitably have to spend a lot of useless work.

"Spicy Whip ......"

So he finally said.

Unsurprisingly, another burst of laughter was caused. The Son of Heaven said to Xu Si, "What did I say to you?" He can talk, just bully you and don't bother to say. ”

Jiro: Let me go!

The Son of Heaven hugged him on his knees again, pointed at Xiao Huaiyou and said, "After I pass, I will salute your brother." Will you call your brother? ”

"Yes!"

"Call and listen."

"Cluck, cluck." Erlang perfunctory and protested, and finally broke free from his father's laughter and ran in the direction of his brothers and sisters.

Approaching, regardless of Ruyi and Xiao Huaiyou's surprised looks, he sat down between them first, grabbed Ruyi's fingers, and then raised his head and said to Xiao Huaiyou, "Brother......"

Obviously, he looked at himself with those dark, quiet, and delicate black eyes, and called "brother" in a young voice that was a little weak because of his unskillfulness, but Xiao Huaiyou inexplicably felt that his little brother seemed to be, probably, maybe announcing something to him......