Chapter 21: The Family Banquet (1)
The butler urged the family to hurry up and put the carriage in place, and looked up at the gloomy sky, as if it wanted to rain.
In the main hall, Lin Song was wearing a navy blue wide-sleeved brocade robe, with a staggered hem, and he was used to wearing armor on weekdays.
When you sit in the Taishi chair, will you step on the hem of your clothes? He didn't want to dress like this, but Miaojing felt that since it was a palace banquet, she should be dressed more solemnly and seriously, so she herself was carefully dressed up today.
Lin Song looked at Miao Jing intently, pinched his throat and learned to sing in a tone and said, "Madame's dress, even the Nine Heavens Xuannu, is beyond the reach of the dust......!" With that, he took a step.
"Thank you, ...... Gong!" Miao Jing replied with the cooperation of Hua Dan, and did not forget to make a squatting ceremony.
"Mother! Daddy! Lin Miaoyin jumped into the main hall, and the steps that the maid had put on her were crooked again.
Miaojing pulled her to her side, took off the step shake on Lin Miaoyin's head, and put it back on for her, "When you enter the palace today, you can't be as stable as you are at home." ”
"Daddy......" Lin Miaoyin ran to Lin Song and lied to her, "Look, my mother said that I ...... again"
Lin Song pulled up his sleeves to block it, quietly pointed at Miao Jing, and whispered: "It's useless for you to look for me, I don't dare to disobey her." ”
"General, madam......" the butler said, "the carriage is ready......
Lin Song's family of three had just left the house, the sound of horses' hooves came slowly from a distance, two brown high-headed horses, mahogany carriages, and light green curtains with dark patterns, wasn't that Taifu's carriage?
"Taifu is not attending the palace banquet today?" Lin Song asked loudly.
Danfu stuck his head out of the car window, "Participate!" No, I was ordered to take the son into the palace! ”
Gu Beicheng also goes? Great, Lin Miaoyin was very happy in her heart, she wanted to ride with Gu Beicheng, so she leaned into Miaojing's ear and asked quietly: "Mother, can I take the Taifu's carriage into the palace?" ”
"Why?" Miao Jing looked at her curiously.
Lin Miaoyin's head turned, "Isn't this afraid that you and your father will be squeezed!" ”
Miao Jing guessed that she wanted to sit in a car with Gu Beicheng, knocked her head with her fingers, and said in a serious whisper: "Nonsense!" ”
"Then Taifu is self-sufficient, Lin is one step ahead!" Lin Song gave up.
Miaojing also bowed slightly politely to Dan Fu, pulled Lin Miaoyin, who was reluctant, into the carriage, and went to the palace first.
Dan Fu picked up Gu Beicheng and just walked to the gate of the imperial garden, when he saw the little eunuch beside the prince standing restlessly by the door, very anxious.
Isn't this little eunuch waiting for him here? Dan Fu secretly slandered himself, it must be that there is something wrong with the prince, anyway, it is definitely not a good thing.
"Taifu, you can count it, let's go and see with the minions, the prince is making trouble again!" The little eunuchs were about to cry.
Gu Beicheng didn't wait for Danfu to speak, he turned around and saluted first, "Beicheng can go by himself, it's still the prince's matter." ”
"What's that...... Okay, okay, then you go to the Ning'an Temple and wait for me first. Dan Fu deliberately made a high-spirited appearance.
"Yes!" Gu Beicheng was very respectful.
The little eunuch pulled up Danfu, "Ouch, hurry up!" ”
"What's wrong with the prince?" Dan Fu followed the little eunuch and trotted all the way.
"The prince said that he would not come to the banquet, and he was still scolding His Royal Highness in the palace! It's hard to persuade anyone! The prince listened to you the most since he was a child, and you went to work! ”
The two of them rushed to the East Palace, one after the other.
This imperial garden is indeed magnificent, Gu Beicheng looked around, all of them were verdant trees, flowers, no matter which angle he looked at, he could see a painting, or birds singing and flowers, or green mountains and clear water, occasionally there were busy palace people dotted in the meantime, not only did not violate the harmony, but added a lot of aura, every place in this garden, is like Yaotai fairyland.
Here the garden in the road criss-crossed, the surrounding corridors extend in all directions, you can't see the end at a glance, walk from this road, zigzag, somehow, go around again, from that road forward, turn around and enter the new garden.
Gu Beicheng is also here for the first time, although he has not found the Ning'an Palace, but he is not panicked at all, it is also comfortable to walk around in this garden, and besides, he has no expectations for the Ning'an Palace, and even a little repulsive, if he has a choice, he will definitely not come here today.
"The movements are all neat, be careful, there can't be any mistakes at the banquet today, otherwise none of you will want to live!" The one who spoke looked like the chief eunuch of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Hearing the sound, Gu Beicheng hid behind the grass and looked at them, this should be the dining room, that is to say, it is very close to the Ning'an Palace?
A palace maid accidentally slipped off the tray in her hand, and with a "bang", she quickly knelt down, and the father-in-law twisted her, and reprimanded at the corner of his mouth: "You can't do anything, clumsy, turn around and surprise the lord inside, just wait for you to die!" ”
The palace maid buckled her head vigorously and begged for mercy: "Father-in-law spares his life, father-in-law spares his life!" ”
As he was talking, more than 20 palace maids came, they lined up neatly, each holding enamel porcelain in their hands, Gu Beicheng took a closer look, it turned out that it was all tableware, and they sent the porcelain into the hall behind their father-in-law.
This hall must be a dining room, it can't be seen clearly, but the appearance looks very luxurious, the fragrance of the food wafts along the wind, Gu Beicheng is a little hungry, he gets up and prepares to go to the Ning An Palace in the direction of the dining room.
"How's the business done to you?" It's a woman's voice that sounds like it's standing for a year.
Gu Beicheng heard the sound of talking behind him, and hurriedly squatted down and hid.
A eunuch's voice said: "The medicine powder given by my aunt yesterday is small, and it will be handed over to the villain for food in a while, which is absolutely reliable." ”
"This is an errand for the queen's mother, you will naturally be rewarded if you do it well!" The woman said.
"Auntie, don't worry, it's wrapped up in the villain!"
After speaking, the woman turned around and left, and after a while, the eunuch who had just spoken walked by the grass where Gu Beicheng was hiding.
Empress? Powder? This is...... Is this to prepare for poisoning? Gu Beicheng was very worried, could it be that he was coming at him? I didn't expect the people of the Southern Jin Dynasty to be so insidious and despicable!
Gu Beicheng watched secretly, and when the woman walked away, he immediately followed the direction where the eunuch went, fortunately, there was a road here, with flower beds on both sides, and there was no other fork in the road.
As I walked deeper and deeper, more and more secluded, weeds gradually began to grow in the flower beds on both sides, and further on, the flower beds had obviously not been taken care of for a long time.
He followed him from a distance, and followed cautiously, and the eunuch came to a somewhat shabby and dilapidated room, the door was closed, and the man looked around in a sneaky manner, and then opened the door and went in, and then turned and looked out cautiously, and then closed the door.
Gu Beicheng slipped under the window, poked a hole in the paper in the corner of the window with a hairpin, and looked into it from the hole, there were firewood piled up around the house, and there was actually a person inside, it was a palace maid, the two stood in front of the firewood face to face, this woman must be the food he said.
The eunuch took out a red porcelain vase with peonies from his sleeve, "This, put it in the wine." After the eunuch finished speaking, he handed the porcelain vase to the palace maid.
The palace maid turned sideways to Gu Beicheng, he couldn't see the whole appearance, only saw the woman nodded, reached out to pick it up, and there was a cyan birthmark the size of a fingernail on the back of her hand, "Don't worry, I'll take it when the wine is served in a while." ”
Gu Beicheng chuckled in his heart, mixed with a little fear and anger hit his heart, and suddenly a cat ran out of nowhere, took away a piece of broken tiles on the edge of the flower bed, and made a crisp sound of landing, he looked at it, oh no!
When the eunuch heard the movement, he hurriedly opened the door and came out to check, but it was empty outside, only a cat was squatting on the broken tiles, licking his paws, "Go!" The eunuch scolded, and the cat ran into the flower bed with a "meow".
The palace maid and the eunuch left the room one after another, and when he was far away and made sure that there were no others around, Gu Beicheng jumped lightly from the roof.
He hurried back the way he came, and collided with a little eunuch who was running wildly with an axe.
Gu Beicheng reprimanded angrily: "Presumptuous! ”
"Damn it! Damn the minions! The little eunuch knelt on the ground in fright and kept kowtowing.
Gu Beicheng snorted coldly, brushed his sleeves away, and waited for him to walk away before the little eunuch came back to his senses, who was that little boy just now? Scratching his head in confusion.
After passing a hurdle, Gu Beicheng took a deep breath, he had to quickly find Ning Andian and inform Dan Fu of the matter.
He walked back to the dining room, and the palace maids brought out the food from it and hurried away in one direction, which must have been the way to the Ning'an Palace.
Gu Beicheng followed the palace maid to the Ning'an Palace, which is a circular hall, built on a square platform of white marble, taking the meaning of the round place, the four directions of the southeast and northwest are the trestle bridges carved by white marble, and under the bridge is a pool of blue waves.
On the opposite side of the temple gate is the throne of the Son of Heaven, and the other seats are divided into two by the red carpet that spreads from the entrance all the way to the dragon chair, and are distributed in a semicircle on both sides.
Lin Song's family had already sat down, Dan Fu saw Gu Beicheng coming in, and beckoned to him, after all, it was the prince, the seat was at the front, next to Miaojing on the right, Dan Fu on the left, Princess Changle on the left of Dan Fu, and Lin Miaoyin behind Miaojing.
Gu Beicheng walked over, nodded slightly at Miaojing, turned to Dan Fu and bowed his hand, Lin Miaoyin leaned down and waved his hand to Gu Beicheng.
He is just a proton, there are many people here, if she gets too close to Lin Miaoyin, she will definitely be gossiped about, so she only glanced at her lightly and sat down.
Lin Songnai is a general, and his seat is opposite Danfu, the prime minister and the third highness are on the left and right sides, and the seats of the prince and the queen are on the left and right sides of the dragon chair.
Gu Beicheng looked around the hall, the concubines, some hand-picked ministers, and ministers' relatives had arrived, some were talking and laughing, some were sitting quietly with their hearts in their minds, and some were looking forward to the arrival of the Son of Heaven.
In the crowd, he saw a familiar figure, Dali Temple Qing Tang rushed forward, and Lord Tang also saw Gu Beicheng, still with contempt, arrogance and disdain.
In the face of Lord Tang's contempt, Gu Beicheng was not angry at all, and when the palace maid brought the wine later, she must give Lord Tang a glass, even if she died, she had to pull him on his back.
"Shhh...... Hiss...... Gu Beicheng ......" Lin Miaoyin called him in a low voice, and after a while, he didn't react, "Gu Beicheng!" She shouted again.
The voice in the hall was noisy, Gu Beicheng sat calmly, hesitating in his heart whether to tell Dan Fu about this matter, there were too many people, he had to wait, he had to wait for a suitable time......
Gu Beicheng was preoccupied, he didn't hear Lin Miaoyin call him at all, Lin Miaoyin was a little unhappy, just now he was cold to her, and now I don't know why he ignored her?
Lin Miaoyin picked up a chopstick and poked it vigorously on the table, gritting her teeth, as if the table was Gu Beicheng, and she couldn't wait to poke a hole.
"The emperor has arrived in ......! The ministers bow down ......! ”
Everyone stood up and bowed, "Long live my emperor, long live, long live...... ”