In the twelfth year of the empire, on the thirty-first day of the twelfth month of the Western calendar.

Nanjing, Purple Mountain Royal Palace.

In the evening, in the newly decorated Juren Hall, the New Year's Ball, as usual, began the necessary event of the Western Chinese New Year's Eve - the New Year's Ball, because the royal family does not hold a Christmas ball, so for the royal family, this is the biggest ball of the night.

Balls, like those of the late Qing Dynasty, were also extremely common in the Chinese Empire. However, in the early days of the Chinese Empire, the ball and golf were often "practical", whether it was a ball or golf, it was often a place to communicate with the envoys of various countries, and everything has changed in more than ten years.

What began as a practical ball became a gathering of the elite of the upper nobility, as well as golf, can be said to have completely deviated from the original purpose of the emperor to promote them, but the tradition has changed, and even the initiators can only turn a blind eye to it.

Although it is wartime, so everything needs to be simple, but for this New Year's ball, the palace still took out hundreds of thousands of yuan to hold this New Year's ball, in fact, the cost of the royal ball has been very amazing, in previous years, even the most economical ball also needed hundreds of thousands of yuan, at least the grand New Year's ball, often needed to spend more than one million yuan.

For Nanjing's clothing industry and jewelry industry, the month before the annual New Year's Ball is often the peak season for their business, men need to customize the latest dresses, and ladies and ladies, in addition to the need to customize new evening dresses, also need to buy a variety of jewelry, people always like to compare, every year's New Year's Ball has always been a place for ladies and ladies to compete for beauty, and of course it is also an occasion for men to show off their achievements in a year.

As in previous years, the New Year's Ball began at eight o'clock in the evening, and the sound of music sounded in the main hall of the first floor of the newly built Chinese palace in the ninth year of the empire, and the high-ranking officials, nobles, celebrities and envoys of various countries in Beijing had begun to dance on the stage with an area of more than 2,000 square meters.

Unlike the usual ball, the emperor and empress, as the owners of the palace, will not enter until the guests have arrived, but this year's New Year's ball seems to be different from previous years, because this year the emperor will not attend the ball, and the queen and crown prince will preside over the ball.

Dressed in an all-white Guards midshipman uniform, with a silver collar on the stand-up collar, a ribbon on his chest, and a gold thread pattern on his sleeves, Chen Yixuan, who was even more handsome in this way, stood beside the queen mother, but he was the first to step on the red carpet in front of the main entrance.

Ji Li, who accompanied her son into the hall, was wearing a well-made white gauze full-breasted skirt at this time, but at this time, people's eyes were on the crown prince who was wearing a snow-white naval midshipman uniform and was full of freshness and vigor. People know that the emperor's move is undoubtedly a signal that the royal family has begun to prepare to choose a concubine for the crown prince.

This is a tradition that has just been formed in post-imperial China, and the first official attendance of the sons and ladies of each family at the ball often means that they have begun to seek future wives and husbands.

For a time, the high-end clothing stores and jewelry stores in Nanjing were even more chaotic, but as the capital of a large country and a country with a "luxury tradition", in just one hour, those "little ladies" who were about eleven or twelve years old who were not scheduled to attend the ball appeared in the Juren Hall.

However, to their disappointment, the very handsome crown prince did not seem to have much interest in this, and more often than not, he chatted with the army and navy marshals and generals, and if you put aside the fact that he was only twelve years old, these were very suitable for his status, and as a school of the Royal Junior Military School, it was normal for him to like to stay with the generals. …,

However, as his mother, Ji Li needs to meet those little girls, and then write down the names of some of the little girls who have a good impression, the family.

"The emperor only has to worry about military affairs, and this kind of small matter is handed over to the palace."

Since she has said this before, Ji Li naturally has to make all preparations, although she feels that her son is engaged when he is less than twelve years old, which is a little too early, but she is still enthusiastic about choosing a fiancée for her son, who made her a mother.

However, it seems that the emperor has no interest in this, although it was the head that was raised by him, and this year's crown prince presided over the ball, which has already shown the royal attitude to the outside world. According to normal custom, the engagement should not be considered until after the crown ceremony, that is, after the age of fifteen.

However, the minister of the palace seems to have an explanation for this: "The princes are twelve and crowned." If the Son of Heaven is also the same as the princes, twelve crowns", so it is appropriate for him to preside over the New Year's banquet this year. If the crown ceremony is performed at the age of twelve, then after the crown ceremony, the matter of engagement must be considered.

"This is Zhang Wanxuan, the sixth lady of the Nanpi family......"

Looking at the little girl in front of her, Ji Li immediately fell in love with this little girl, but seeing that her son was still chatting with several young officers, she was suddenly deflated, and Yixuan didn't seem to pay much attention to this matter.

This will make her even regret her self-recommendation, thinking about Xianggong's indifference at that time, could it be that he had a plan a long time ago, but at this moment, she saw that her son took the initiative to leave those officers and walked towards a group of girls, seeing her son's actions, it only made Ji Li's heart happy.

This small group of people, all of them were girls of the same age, no more than eleven or twelve, they were all wearing the same light blue or rose dresses, such a group of little girls, at this time shouting and chirping like little birds, most of them were classmates of the girls' school, in the eyes of them who did not understand the world, it seemed to be just a place to gather from friends, and at the same time they looked at the royal ball with curious eyes, looking at those who were familiar or strange.

But among the little girls, there was a girl in a Western-style white gauze dress, but she seemed very lonely, she had no friends here, at first, she did not want to participate in this kind of ball, but curiosity drove her here, but when she stayed with these girls, she did not know what to say.

Just when she was out of nowhere, out of nowhere, a naval officer quietly walked in. The officer bowed his head lightly with his hands bowed politely. The moment she saw him, for some reason, Nasha's heart did not have the past to resist, and the whole person became very docile, only to feel a red cloud creeping up her pink cheeks.

Looking at the docile girl in front of him, a smile appeared on Chen Yixuan's face, and then said clearly:

"Miss, can you enjoy the light and dance?"

Should he be rejected?

If it was before today, she might have rejected this guy who was always serious and like a little adult, but today, on this occasion, for some reason, she was unwilling to refuse him, she nodded, and accepted Chen Yixuan's invitation under the attention of everyone.

Soon, Nasha and Chen Yixuan stepped on the beat of "Blue Danube" and danced a waltz. As a cadet of the junior military academy, Chen Yixuan's face had already been tanned by the scorching sun, but this made him look a little more handsome, Nasha put her hand on the left shoulder of the dance partner's military uniform, she was very close to him, so they cooperated very tacitly, and the two of them walked easily in the crowd.

"Little girl, why are you so well-behaved today!"

After half a curl, I felt that the girl's mood seemed to be better than usual today, so Chen Yijiao asked with a smile.

The words with the thorn did not make Nasha feel disgusted, she just said softly and semi-defiantly. …,

"In front of others, you have to give your crown prince a little face!"

But as she spoke, she looked around the ballroom from time to time. In addition to the small national flags, on the purple crepe curtains, printed with the royal insignia, that is the toothy and clawed dragon, China's royal coat of arms may be the most fierce in the world, the dragon does not have a trace of "cuteness", but this seems to be exactly what China needs. And under the curtains and flags, bottles of chrysanthemums, in the undulating sea of people, sometimes reveal bright silver, and then reveal a deep gold.

However, the undulating sea of people here is as jubilant as champagne, and the temptation of the magnificent German orchestral music is dazzling and dazzling. At this moment, she met the eyes of a girl who was dancing, and in the midst of her hurry, she still felt the hostility of the other party, and at this moment, she seemed to feel that she seemed to have become the focus, and she was greeted not only by attention, but even by some hostility.

After accepting the crown prince's invitation, she knew that after she accepted the invitation, all eyes here would be on her, and everyone would pay attention to her every move. This means that a foreigner who does not know anything about China will attract everyone's attention from now on.

But when I think about them, I have such and such questions. Nasha felt amused and proud. So, although the spotlight didn't make her nervous, she just skated and danced more and more briskly on the smooth floor.

But soon, Chen Moran felt that this girl was tired, so he stared at her face with pity and asked:

"Do you want to keep jumping?"

"Let's take a break"

After dancing two songs in a row, Nasha, who was already a little tired, replied frankly while gasping.

So, while continuing to waltz the steps, Chen Yixuan took her through the flow of lace and flowers that rotated back and forth, left and right, and calmly leaned against the bottles of chrysanthemums placed along the wall. After the last turn, he settled her beautifully in a chair, straightened his chest under his military uniform, and then was as respectful as before.

Later, they jumped over the polka and the mazurka again. Then, she took the crown prince in her arms, passed through the white, yellow, and pale red three-story chrysanthemum hedge, and walked towards the hall downstairs.

Here, tuxedos and bare pink shoulders come and go, and mountains of meat and truffles pile up on large tables filled with silverware and glassware; There are tower-like sandwiches and ice cream; There are pyramid-like pomegranates and figs. On one side of the room, in particular, on the wall that has not yet been buried by chrysanthemums, there is a beautiful golden shelf, on which the green artificial vines are cleverly entangled. In front of the golden shelf, Akiko met the Russian ambassador with a slight look at the top, with a cigar in his mouth, standing with a group of gentlemen of similar age. When the Russian ambassador saw her, he saw the young officer beside her with a look of surprise on his face, but then he turned to his companion and smoked his cigar again.

After the two of them walked downstairs, in the garden, looking at Chen Yixuan, who seemed to be thoughtful, she said with a deliberate sigh:

"I didn't expect that there would be such a grand dance in China!".

Hearing this, Chen Yixuan shook his head seriously.

"To be honest, I don't like prom ......"

"Why?"

Nasha was intrigued, and in her memory, royalty and aristocrats were always associated with all kinds of balls, and in Russia it was like this, a nobleman's dinner party might cost hundreds of thousands or even millions of rubles, but they still enjoyed it, and her mother was like that, she always liked to hold all kinds of balls, and if it weren't for her mother's agency of many Chinese products, maybe her father wouldn't have been able to afford those balls. …,

At this time, she was very sensitive, and she could feel that Chen Yixuan was full of dissatisfaction in her tone when she said this, and she remained silent while stirring the spoon of ice cream.

"Actually, all the balls are the same here."

As he spoke, Chen Yixuan glanced at the surrounding crowds and chrysanthemums, and suddenly a sneering smile appeared in his eyes, and he stopped stirring the spoon of ice cream.

"It's not just China, the ball, it's the same everywhere."

He added half-to himself, and then he was helpless again.

"All balls, in the end, are just extravagant performances and huge expenses for the upper echelons, and the annual expenses of balls like this can at least build a capital ship!"

Boys always love guns and battleships!

His words reminded Nasha of the boys at Tsarskoye School, and if you put aside the color of their skin, it seemed that they were no different.

"Perhaps, though, it would be more appropriate to start an almshouse!"

Suddenly, another sentence came out of Chen Yixuan's mouth, Nasha looked at the boy in front of her in surprise, as if she was extremely puzzled by his idea, but in the end she asked quietly.

"So ......"

Looking at this "little boy" who has returned to his somewhat annoying little adult appearance, for some reason Nasha has lost her previous disgust.

"So would you rather build a capital ship or run a almshouse?"

Silence, the girl's question made Chen Yijiao slightly stunned, and he thought for a moment before answering.

"My father would rather build a capital ship!"