Shangjing, Yutai Palace.

This palace occupies a wide area, every year the emperors of the Great Zhou Dynasty have to hold a grand ceremony here, the emperor's wedding, the queen, the order to go on the expedition, and even the annual longevity, the Spring Festival, the Mid-Autumn Festival, are here to accept the civil and military officials to congratulate, and to the princes and ministers to give a banquet.

At this time, Emperor Zhengxuan is holding this year's Chinese New Year's Eve family banquet here, and the empress's concubines, princes and princesses, and royal family relatives are all listed, and Zhao Mingxu returns to Beijing every year, and attending this family banquet is the most important thing.

Emperor Zhengxuan insisted that he be present, and he had to act like a brother and a friend during the banquet to show the world: Look, although I have replaced my brother's throne, you can see how good I am to him, and he is also very happy.

Since Emperor Zhengxuan ascended the throne, the Queen Mother has devoted herself to worshipping the Buddha in the name of remembering the first emperor, and then does not ask about the affairs of the harem, and never participates in the palace banquet.

This year, she unexpectedly participated in the Chinese New Year's Eve banquet, and people have to guess what this most noble woman in the world means.

However, Emperor Zhengxuan was obviously very happy with the Queen Mother's attendance, and even poured wine and food for the Queen Mother himself, showing his true character as a filial son.

Zhao Mingxu sat in the middle of a row of princes and grandsons on the left, separated from the queen mother at the top.

He doesn't see his queen mother every year, and even if he does, it's in a hurry, and the royal brother doesn't let them be alone for a long time.

The queen mother is just a woman in the deep palace, the royal brother has been on the throne for many years, and the control of the court has reached a complete level, and the harem is also in the hands of the queen.

After three rounds of drinking, it has passed the link of blessing and toasting to the emperor, and now the dancing girls in the hall are performing songs and dances, and everyone is talking quietly with the people around them in twos and threes.

Zhao Mingxu has a drink without a match, and he is a worry-free mascot.

"I haven't seen King Qingjun for a year, but I'm getting more and more handsome." Suddenly, hearing his name being mentioned, Zhao Mingxu looked in the direction where the voice came from, and saw a very richly dressed woman at the head of the queen above was raising a glass to him with a smile.

——is Emperor Zhengxuan's Qi Guifei, a woman whose status in the palace is second only to the queen.

"Sister-in-law made fun of it." Zhao Mingxu smiled lightly.

"This palace is telling the truth", Qi Guifei seemed to be very interested, "The second brother lingers in the mountains and rivers all day long, and people are becoming more and more chic and handsome, I wonder if there is a beautiful woman in the distance?" ”

Zhao Mingxu was just about to perfunctory the past, when he saw that Emperor Zhengxuan, who was the first to do so, seemed to be interested, and interjected with a smile: "I heard that there is a woman surnamed Song, who is very liked by the second brother, and I don't know who the beauty is?" ”

Emperor Zhengxuan completely looked like a good brother teasing his younger brother, but Zhao Mingxu couldn't help but tighten the strings in his heart, with a look of indifference on his face, and said lightly: "It's just a bit of a posture, which can be eye-catching." ”

"The king of Qingjun is so romantic", and another concubine of Emperor Zhengxuan joked, "If that little lady hears this, she will be sad." ”

"Eh", Qi Guifei, who had provoked the conversation before, showed a look of disapproval, "If you want me to say, our King Qingjun likes that beauty very much, and he will not say this to his face, but he pities the princess, from pregnancy to childbirth, she is alone." After saying that, he giggled first.

However, everyone at the banquet rarely laughed along, from the queen mother to the queen, their faces were not good, and even the emperor frowned slightly.

However, the person concerned didn't feel anything at all, and after laughing, he asked with some doubts: "Speaking of which, why don't you see Princess Qingjun today?" ”

As soon as these words came out, no one answered, and some people who knew the inside story looked at each other, waiting to see this Qi Guifei's joke.

Concubine Qi is extremely beautiful and has a good family, but people are really stupid, and she doesn't know where she got the news, knowing the relationship between Jia Qiaoer and the emperor, she made sarcastic remarks in public at the Chinese New Year's Eve banquet.

"The princess is unwell and stays in the palace." Zhao Mingxu replied lightly.

After that, the audience was silent, just as a song and dance ended, and the atmosphere became awkward for a while, and Qi Guifei realized that she had said the wrong thing.

In fact, Concubine Qi may not know that Jia Qiao'er's child is also the emperor's, but these words hit the queen mother's heart crookedly.

During the New Year's Festival last year, the Queen Mother was happy to learn that Jia Qiaoer was pregnant, she thought that this little daughter-in-law was pregnant with her youngest son's child, and once used this as a reason to persuade the emperor to let Zhao Mingxu come back, but Emperor Zhengxuan naturally refused.

Later, somehow, the Queen Mother knew that Jia Qiaoer was having an affair with Emperor Zhengxuan, and even the child was pregnant with him, and she was furious.

She couldn't punish Emperor Zhengxuan openly, but she asked Jia Qiaoer to enter the palace every day, and punished her to kneel outside the small Buddha hall of Cishou Palace for seven days in the name of worshiping the Buddha.

Others in the palace, such as Concubine Li, clapped their hands behind their backs, and even the queen of the middle palace wisely chose to be silent. In the end, the emperor couldn't stand it, so he went to intercede in person, and the queen mother let the person go.

When Jia Qiaoer went back, she had already gone for half her life, and since then she has not dared to appear in the palace blatantly.

"Since you're not feeling well, don't go out during the New Year, let her take care of it in the house." The Queen Mother lowered her eyes and spoke, and this sentence banned Jia Qiao'er for a month.

"Yes." Zhao Mingxu bowed down and answered, secretly sighing in his heart, it seems that the queen mother knows that the child is not her own, otherwise she would not have found the opportunity to send Jia Qiao'er.

Zhao Mingxu sat down after speaking, and the Queen Mother then said: "I haven't seen Xiao Er for a long time, I will stay and talk to the mourning family for a while." ”

Zhao Mingxu was slightly surprised, he didn't answer immediately, but threw an inquiring look at Emperor Zhengxuan, in front of this imperial brother, he has always behaved deferentially.

"What, the emperor is also coming?" The Empress Dowager also turned to Emperor Zhengxuan.

"Cough ......" Emperor Zhengxuan coughed lightly, and his expression was a little sneering: "No, the queen mother and the second brother should catch up with the old days." ”

Is this promised? Zhao Mingxu was a little surprised, I don't know what kind of secret competition the queen mother and the imperial brother have had since the middle of the year, so that Emperor Zhengxuan has compromised so far.

However, he is still happy to be alone with his mother. Therefore, after the Chinese New Year's Eve banquet ended, Zhao Mingxu directly followed the Empress Dowager into the Cishou Palace.