Chapter 42: The Betrothal
"This princess never smokes incense, this is a strange fragrance made by mixing mandala and unique spices used by the royal family of Mobei, called Illusion Dream. If the princess likes it, I'll give you some, but you can't usually use it more, and the smell will last a long time if you stick it a little. Zhu En really took out Fang Cai's small green sachet, opened it, took a little powder from it, put it in another sachet, and asked the palace maid to hand it to Fang Yan.
Although this is the secret fragrance of the Mobei royal family, Zhu En does not hide it, not to mention that this purebred mandala is only grown in the Mobei Palace, and the spice formula in it is even more secret, even she only has the right to use it, and she is not afraid of others copying it at all. It couldn't be more cost-effective to please the princess of a country with a little spice.
Taking advantage of the time when Princess Zhuen finished her performance, rows of palace maids presented today's main course. Mu Ruqing brought a seafood hot pot prepared by everyone with a taste of incense, as well as a variety of ingredients, which were placed in front of everyone, and the prince and princess of Mobei were a little puzzled, and even some of the noble ladies present had never eaten hot pot.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is a seafood hot pot developed by Boss Mu of Yipin Xiang Restaurant, the ingredients used are live seafood transported from the sea, the prince and princess are from Mobei, I must have never tasted this delicious food, why not give it a try." As soon as the emperor said this, the eyes of everyone present were focused on Mu Ruqing beside Jiang Xinyue.
I saw that he was not proud at all, his eyebrows and eyes were plump, his expression was flying, and he smiled faintly. In fact, he has attracted a lot of attention, and the lord of Jingshu, who has not yet married, is sitting at the same table with a man, and it is inevitable that he will carefully guess some of the things that he has not, but this is also what Jiang Xinyue meant, in front of the emperor and these nobles, taking Mu Ruqing with him also saves the emperor from messing around with the mandarin duck spectrum, and those self-righteous sons and brothers rarely come to hang out in front of them.
It's just that I didn't expect the emperor to smile heartily: "Boss Mu is young and promising, the lord of Jingshu County is peerless, I selfishly think that the two of them are very compatible, so it is better to take advantage of today's opportunity to engage the two of them." ”
Jiang Xinyue and Mu Ruqing looked up in a daze, not knowing what the emperor was thinking. If the royal daughter wants to marry, there must be a very cumbersome and solemn process, even if she is not the royal biological, she can't just refer to a person to marry, the royal woman has always been to marry the king outside, and marry the humerus inside, everyone has to play a role.
Originally, she and Mu Ruqing were ready to drag it out for a long time, but now that the emperor has done things for them first, they are still a little flattered. The two of them stood up hand in hand and saluted to thank him, this salute was real, and the two were more than grateful to the emperor.
When Mu Ruqing got up and returned to his seat, his eyes glanced at the prince of Mobei in front of him, and found that he was looking at this side, and there seemed to be something strange in his eyes, and he suddenly understood something.
If it is said that this marriage is given, it is really not a whim of the emperor. In previous years, Mobei's mission was led by ministers, but now two members of the royal family have been sent at a time, and they are all marriageable age, and anyone with a discerning eye can see what Mobei's idea is.
Since there has long been news that Princess Zhuen and His Royal Highness the King of England are married, it seems that it is indeed more suitable for Jiang Xinyue to marry Prince Meng.
Jiang Xinyue and King Ying are not of royal blood and have royal status, if Jiang Xinyue marries a princess to Mobei, it is naturally the best courtesy. It's just that the emperor publicly promised Jiang Xinyue to get engaged before Mobei opened his mouth, and those who are good at figuring out the emperor's mind have already guessed that the emperor loves Jiang Xinyue so much that he doesn't want her to marry thousands of miles away.
In this way, almost everyone present glanced at this Jingshu County Lord, but not everyone had a good impression of her, and Liu Xi'er, who was beside King Qi, was faintly gritting her teeth, and her hands were almost bruised under the table.
Why does Mu Ruqing like such a fierce and pungent crazy woman? Why can they be blessed by everyone? Liu Xi'er's heart was twisted, but her face became more and more restrained, she didn't have time to pay attention to this pair of men and women now, and she had more important problems that needed to be solved immediately.
After the marriage episode passed, there were other noble ladies who came forward to perform, piano, chess, calligraphy and painting are common, and even a granddaughter of the national family performed an equestrian and sword dance, heroic and sassy with the demeanor of a female general, which attracted a round of applause and pushed the atmosphere to a climax.
The ladies performed wonderfully, the people sitting on the seats were not idle, this seafood hot pot was very novel, and the taste of eating in the mouth was incomparable to the ordinary delicacies of the mountains and seas, and the fresh and thick soup made people flutter like immortals, and the lips and teeth were fragrant, which was really amazing.
Princess Zhuen grew up in Mobei since she was a child, there is no sea in Mobei, and the whole country lives inland, she has never tasted the animals in the sea, driven by curiosity, she is even more expectant to this seafood soup, but she has no way to start, looking at these shells or lobsters bigger than her hand, a little embarrassed.
However, soon a few palace maids came to salute and began to serve her for dinner, which was the meaning of Lan Guifei, who was sitting next to the emperor, she was immersed in the palace all the year round, and her mind was delicate and dexterous, and she saw at a glance that Princess Zhuen was a little eager to try but had no way to start, so she quietly called the palace maid to serve. Such a flexible mind is also a major reason why she has been in a high position for many years.
Zhu En glanced at Concubine Lan with some gratitude, and then watched the palace maids in front of him kneel at the table, pick up the prawns and skillfully remove the head and shell to go down the line, and put the white shrimp meat into the hot pot. The shrimp meat turned bright orange-red after a while, and the palace maid picked it up with special chopsticks and sent it to Zhu En's dishes.
Zhu En can't take care of a lot of manners, she has long been greedy for these foods she has never seen, although Mobei is also powerful, but in addition to barbecue is barbecue, even grain and white noodles have to be bought at a high price with the Central Plains mutual market. In terms of food richness, Mobei and the Central Plains cannot be compared.
Zhu En picked up the shrimp that the palace maid had just scooped up and stuffed it into her mouth, and exclaimed hotly, but the taste and texture were really fragrant and tender, and she was reluctant to spit it out, so she had to chew it a few times quickly and swallowed it, and hurriedly took a big sip of the water cup, and her face was a little better.
Zhu En was eating here, but the King of England was observing this side unintentionally, and Zhu En, who was eating, lost the charm that came with his appearance, but looked cute and cute, Lu Gui squinted and looked at it, and felt that this food was a little familiar, and after thinking about it, the corners of his mouth unconsciously curled.
Zhu En, who was stuffing scallop meat into his mouth, seemed to notice something, looked up and looked here, and looked at him with the eyes of Lu Gui, the king of Shangying, who was looking at him gently, thinking about his appearance, and smiled at him a little shyly, and the two of them actually gave birth to a trace of harmony.
Over there, Princess Zhuen and King Ying exchanged feelings in the air, and Ruan Mianmian was not idle here. She has always eaten in a measured manner, so no matter how delicious things are, she will not lose control and eat too much, but she is busy with cooking for Fang Dacang.
At this time, the singing and dancing came to an end, and many people left the table to toast and chat with each other, but those who came to their side were all blessed by Mu Ruqing and Jiang Xinyue, the two celebrities, but she and Fang Dacang were happy. Liu Xin'er didn't know anyone from Anyang Hou's side, so she also took this opportunity to sneak to Ruan Mianmian's table to eat with her.
"Miss Ruan, it's been a few months since you said goodbye last time, I don't know if it's always good?" A somewhat familiar greeting reached Ruan Mianmian's ears, and both she and Fang Cannon raised their heads and looked at the person in front of them. This person is Liu Xi'er, the eldest lady of the Hou Mansion of Anyang, who murdered Ruan Mianmian and planted the blame for the mischief, and she should be called Mrs. Liu now, and she is walking with a wine glass at this time.
"Hello Mrs. Liu, is there anything wrong?" Ruan Mianmian was silent, and she didn't even want to show a point for her with a smile, while Fang Dacang and Liu Xin'er stared at her with a wary face.
Liu Xi'er greeted her, but did not approach Ruan Mianmian's side, but walked two meters away from Ruan Mianmian and stood still. Liu Xi'er didn't get close to her, naturally because she was afraid that the smell on her body would be smelled by her and grab the handle, and in Ruan Mianmian's opinion, she also disdained to get close to the enemy.
"Look at what you said, it's just that I care about you, and since I'm not welcome, I'll go somewhere else." Liu Xi'er shook a shot, and she was about to leave as soon as she came to speak, which made Ruan Mianmian a little confused, but she never cared about other people's opinions, she just took care of herself.
"It's good to go, don't send it." Ruan Mianmian said lightly.
Touching a nail here in Ruan Mianmian, Liu Xi'er felt a little bored, but when she thought of what happened next, she cheered in her heart, as if she had seen Ruan Mianmian and Jiang Xinyue being pressed to the ground and tortured, and couldn't help but smile and walked towards her original seat.
She was sitting opposite, and when she went back to pass a row of tables, she passed by Princess Fangyan's seat, but it happened that her feet were unstable, and the wine glass in her hand flickered, and the clear wine was wrapped in her sinful desires and poured all the way to Princess Fangyan's delicate bun.
Because she was behind Princess Fangyan, Fangyan didn't even have time to hide, she only felt a chill above her head, and she was not easy to get along with after all these years of pampering in the palace, so she immediately turned her head and glared angrily.
Seeing that it was Liu Xi'er, she showed a look of disdain: "It's really unfortunate that the hair of this princess has been defiled by a despicable person like you!" ”
Liu Xi'er seemed to be very weak, and knelt down a little timidly and said: "The princess forgives her sins, Xi'er didn't mean to, but she was unsteady on her feet for a while, that's why..."
"Phew! What are you! Do such pickled and dirty things, and dare to follow the imperial uncle into the palace, you are thick-skinned, if it were someone else, you would have been hanged with a hemp rope a long time ago. As soon as Princess Fangyan's hot temper came up, no matter what the occasion, she directly scolded her for those things, plus Princess Fangyan's voice was not small, and many people were already looking at this side, pointing and not knowing what they were talking about.