Chapter 22: Arrogance

Qian Hongzuo had already observed the hoopoe man many times with his spare eyes, seeing that she was always full of frost and did not smile, although the other ladies did not dare to make a loud noise, but the other ladies and ladies they were familiar with either smiled frequently, or raised a glass and said nothing, but the hoopoe man ignored it. The palace maid beside her went out three or four times, and when she came back, she whispered to her, and she didn't pay much attention to the programs offered by the other ladies or servants at the table.

Empress Dowager Xu said to the palace maid beside her: "Go find someone to replace the palace maid who served the hoopoe male lady of Marshal Dai's mansion, and ask what happened?" Miss Dai seemed very unhappy. ”

The palace maid beside him took the order and left.

Empress Dowager Xu turned to the people at the banquet: "Ladies and misses, let's play a guessing game, the female officials in the palace have come up with ten puzzles, and the mourning family wants to see which smart young lady can guess." Xiaoqing, you will preside over the guessing fan. ”

Sitting under the seat of the Queen Mother, the female official in the palace called Xiaoqing immediately stood up and began to preside over the riddle, and everyone's attention was attracted.

After a while, the palace maid who was sent by the Empress Dowager Xu to inquire about the situation of the hoopoe man returned to the Empress Dowager Xu and said in a low voice: "Miss Dai asked the palace maid who served her to find the owner of the Fangli Villa, and asked him to arrange for the two servants who had just performed the first show to go to Dai's Mansion tomorrow to perform." The owner of the village refused and said that the servant who admired the flowers in the saint, called Xie Cunxiang, did not agree, and Miss Dai was displeased. "The palace maid next to the Queen Mother, although she was clever, she misremembered Xie Xiangcun's name in a hurry.

Qian Hongzuo asked: "Isn't Xiao Xie already gone?" ”

The palace maid said: "They imitate the servants of Lishan Villa, and they come and go together." The guards guarding the palace gate should count the number of people, how many people come in, and when they go out, the number of people should match. There is still a show in the villa that has not been finished, and he can't leave alone. ”

Qian Hongzuo said decisively: "Queen Mother, Xiao Xie was originally going to be a guard with a knife, let him start working as an errand today." Behind this curtain, isn't it the place where the guards with knives should be? ”

Behind Empress Dowager Xu and Qian Hongzuo, there was a wide curtain with guards with knives hidden inside. The door for them to enter and exit was not the front door of the Flower Hall, but the back door covered by a curtain.

Today, because of the banquet for the female dependents, the Empress Dowager Xu was unwilling to make a crowd of guards, and a slaughter, which affected the atmosphere of the birthday banquet, but she was also afraid that people would mix with assassins, so she let the guards with knives hide behind the curtain and be on guard. Since the assassination of Qian Hongzuo, the vigilance of the inner court has not dared to relax at any time.

Empress Dowager Xu said to the palace maid: "You go and pass on Xie Xiangcun." There is no need to say more to the owner of Fangli Mountain Villa, just say that the saint has another errand sent to Xie Xiangcun. Then, through the back door, take him to meet the sword-laden guard behind the curtain, and let him stay there. Save Miss Dai from going to him again, which leads to a quarrel. ”

The palace maid took the order and left.

Empress Dowager Xu said to Qian Hongzuo: "Marshal Dai likes handsome men, this hoopoe man is not ashamed, but does what he likes, and he really ......" Empress Dowager Xu suddenly realized that it was not suitable to say bad things about hoopoe men to Qian Hongzuo, and replied: "Maybe she doesn't know the truth, thinking that his father just likes singing and dancing." ”

Qian Hongzuo asked: "You once said that Qu Liuyu was injured and disabled by Dai Yun. What happened back then, why did Dai Yun hurt Qu Liuqing? ”

Empress Dowager Xu didn't answer positively, and said: "I hope that the hoopoe man is just a whim, and then he forgets about letting Xiao Xie enter the mansion to perform." ”

The mother and son have not finished speaking, and the guessing game is over. The merchant manager ordered a snack. The dim sum of the Wuyue King's Palace is very exquisite, and it has already taken the prototype of the Jiangnan fine point that was famous all over the world in later generations. Dim sum is the last batch of food to be served, indicating that the birthday feast is coming to an end.

Another young lady waved on the spot and wrote a huge longevity word, Empress Dowager Xu praised it again, and Qian Hongzuo also picked a flower to reward the other party.

Seeing that the palace maid who went to summon Xie Xiangcun returned, she wordlessly pointed to the wide curtain, Qian Hongzuo relieved his heart, knowing that Xie Xiangcun was already hidden behind the curtain.

Empress Dowager Xu finally turned to the hoopoe man, the character with the meaning of the finale, and said, "Miss Dai, I don't know what you have learned?" Would you like to show it? The daughter of my generalissimo Wu Yue must be talented and admirable. ”

Mrs. Dai and the hoopoe man left the table and got up, and came to the front of the Empress Dowager Xu and Qian Hongzuo to celebrate the Empress Dowager's birthday. Mrs. Dai said a birthday greeting, and she spoke very fluently, as if she had not memorized the endorsement yet. This Mrs. Dai is a house-filler from a maid, and it is inevitable to be nervous to attend this kind of scene. The hoopoe man just followed Shi Li, and did not say anything to congratulate him, but squinted at Mrs. Dai impatiently, and only after she finished speaking, did he say: "Sheng Nan has been practicing martial arts since he was a child, and he has nothing else to do. I think that since the beginning of my ancestors, my Dai family has relied on family martial arts, galloped across the field, and fought bloodily, so that we have today's glory. Nowadays, the world is in chaos, soldiers are everywhere, and if you want to expand your territory or resist foreign enemies, you are afraid that piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, singing and dancing will not come in handy, so Katsuo never wastes time on these idle things! ”

Qian Hongzuo listened to the words of the hoopoe man and was dissatisfied. The other ladies all call themselves courtiers, while the hoopoe man calls himself by his real name, which is quite arrogant. And the talents that other ladies just presented were all belittled by her as a waste of time. She boasted a few words about her diligent study of martial arts, and it was too much to ridicule her.

Empress Dowager Xu said: "Miss Dai is quite a father, and she is really a tiger girl. ”

I don't know if this sentence is a compliment, or sarcasm, everyone is confused, the door tiger is a compliment, and the tiger girl is rarely used to praise girls.

Qian Hongzuo said: "It is good for Miss Dai to have a good martial arts, but the ministers of the court are divided into civil and military affairs, and the folk industries are different. Far from it, take Miss Zhen's painting as an example, which was chosen as a tributary gift. For me Wu Yue, it is quite helpful to repair the Central Plains Imperial Court. And repairing it to the imperial court is of great significance. How can it be said that there is such an act in the boudoir, how can it be said that it is a waste of time? ”

Seeing that Qian Hongzuo was quite reprimanded, Empress Dowager Xu hurriedly replied: "It is very good to learn literature and martial arts, but it is even more difficult for girls to learn martial arts. Miss Dai has lofty ambitions, and he may become the Mulan of my Wu Yue Kingdom one day, and it is unknown that she will go on the expedition on behalf of her father. ”

The hoopoe man was robbed by Qian Hongzuo, and he was angry, she was strong by nature and refused to suffer, even if the other party was the king, she was still unconvinced, and saw Qian Hongzuo's demeanor, not very like martial arts, so he asked provocatively: "I don't know if the saint will do martial arts?" ”

Qian Hongzuo said modestly: "I have learned a little. ”

The hoopoe man said: "Then you and I will have a discussion, and it will be regarded as a program for the Queen Mother's birthday." I don't know what kind of blade the saint is good at? ”

Everyone was stunned, Qian Hongzuo was the monarch, and the hoopoe man was just the daughter of the minister, and she challenged so casually, which was almost equivalent to contempt for the royal power.

Qian Hongzuo has been practicing martial arts for many years, and he did not take the so-called martial arts of the hoopoe man in his eyes, and glanced at the Empress Dowager Xu. As long as Empress Dowager Xu allowed it, she decided to give the hoopoe man some colors to see.

Empress Dowager Xu shook her head at him, first, she didn't know how the hoopoe male martial arts were, if her son lost, losing to a female streamer would inevitably damage her reputation; Second, it is not good for the son to win, and if the two really start to do it, there is no way to talk about the matter of electing a queen. Then he said: "Today's birthday of the mourning family, fighting and fighting, it is very unlucky, there is no need to learn martial arts." As far as I know, the saint practiced riding and archery on weekdays, using a hard bow, called the Fengming bow, if Miss Dai can pull this bow, it means that she is on a par with the saint and like-minded, and it can also let us all appreciate the martial arts of the Dai family. ”

Empress Dowager Xu turned her head to the general manager of Shang: "Order someone to bring the holy Fengming bow." ”

In a moment, two chamberlains carried a bow frame with a large iron bow horizontally, and walked into the flower hall.

After the chamberlain put the bow on the ground and stabilized it, Empress Dowager Xu said, "Miss Dai, please." ”

The hoopoe man walked over to the bow stand and plucked the bowstring with his hand, which was so hard that it was a little cut. The hoopoe man sneered: "On weekdays, can you really practice with this kind of hard bow?" ”

Qian Hongzuo couldn't bear it anymore, stood up and walked to the bow stand, lifted the longbow with one hand, put the bowstring in his hand, squatted down with one leg, and put on a posture of shooting the sky. The longbow was instantly pulled into the shape of a full moon by him, and he paused for a moment before closing the bow and putting it back on the bow stand.

Many young girls immediately applauded, and a gentle and elegant young monarch suddenly showed a heroic attitude, which made him even more attractive.

Qian Hongzuo walked back to his original position and sat down, got up and pulled his bow until he returned to his seat, he didn't even look at the hoopoe man.

For a while, mocking eyes were cast at the hoopoe man from all seats. Everyone thought that after the hoopoe man tried the bowstring just now, he felt that he couldn't pull it away, so he deliberately squeezed Qian Hongzuo, if this bow, Qian Hongzuo couldn't pull it, she didn't have to try again, but she didn't expect Qian Hongzuo to open the bow without saying a word.

After Qian Hongzuo sat down and the hoopoe became the focus of attention, the hoopoe man picked up the longbow in a hurry, and with a coquettish shout, he pulled the iron bow flat in front of him, like a full moon. He turned around and turned around before lowering his longbow.

No one applauded, because everyone was a little surprised. At this time, everyone knew that the hoopoe man was not unable to pull this hard bow, she just didn't believe that Qian Hongzuo could pull it away. Her martial arts are far better than everyone thinks.

When the Empress Dowager Xu admired, everyone came to their senses, and the Empress Dowager Xu said: "Miss Dai doesn't let her eyebrows!" My Wu Yueguo is really full of talents, even my daughter's family is so good! After saying that, he waved his hand to beckon the palace man who was holding the reward brocade box, and just wanted to take out the Huadian reward from it. Hoopoe Nan stopped: "Qi Yu Empress Dowager, Sheng Nan doesn't wear flowers on weekdays, only wears men's clothes, today because of the Queen Mother's birthday, this is specially changed into women's clothes." These jewelry on my head belong to my mother, I just temporarily bring them, and when the banquet is over, I will return them to my mother. As for this Hua Tian, my mother is long past the age of wearing Hua Tian. ”

It was too obvious a reason to refuse the reward, and Qian Hongzuo and everyone at the table were shocked by the arrogance of the hoopoe man. The queen mother's personal reward is a great honor for others, but the hoopoe man doesn't care. Empress Dowager Xu remained silent and said, "That's what I said." Since you love to practice martial arts on weekdays, and you can pull the Fengming bow commonly used by the saints, I will reward you with this bow. ”

The hoopoe man said arrogantly: "This phoenix bow does have some weight. But there are quite a few hard bows like Dai Fu. I also hope that the Queen Mother will see my father's exploits and reward me with more valuable blades. ”

Qian Hongzuo was so angry that his heart was pounding, he never expected that the hoopoe man would not only contradict his mother in front of everyone, but also inch in, and he didn't take the royal family in his eyes at all. Qian Hongzuo just wanted to have a seizure, but Empress Dowager Xu stopped him with her eyes. Still asked with a pleasant face: "What does Miss Dai want, you might as well say it directly, the mourning family who can be rewarded will not be stingy." ”

Hoopoe man said: "I heard that there is a seven-star sword in the palace, which was rewarded by the Tang Emperor when he canonized me as the founding monarch of Wu Yue Kingdom, I wonder if the Queen Mother can give it to her courtiers?" ”

Everyone saw the arrogance of the hoopoe man, but no one thought that she would be so arrogant, the emperor's canonization of the royal family, which is one of the tokens of royal power, and she dared to ask for it. What do her words mean? Whether it contains the deep meaning that the Dai family wants royal power, many people have thought of this. So far, the Queen Mother's originally peaceful birthday banquet has become an aggressive stage for the Dai family.