The eldest grandson and little lady followed Li Xiuning's gaze, and hummed softly in her mouth, and the two quickly turned around and walked towards the main seat of the banquet table. Empress Xiao is the daughter of Emperor Liang Ming of the Southern Dynasty, she has been famous since she was a child, and her temperament is also first-class and good, although she is now forty and six, she looks like a woman of about thirty.

But seeing her long eyebrows and phoenix eyes, her skin is like congealed fat, she is wearing a bright yellow phoenix robe embroidered with a golden phoenix, and there are two phoenix hairpins with the same color as the phoenix robe in her hair bun. Among the ladies who attended the palace banquet tonight, many of them were outstanding, but under the background of the queen, they all lost their color.

This is the first time that the eldest grandson and little lady have seen the appearance of Queen Xiao, and she can't help but secretly praise in her heart: No wonder it has always been rumored that the queen is beautiful, and it is really a beautiful country, and the elegance is peerless!

"I've seen the Queen Mother." When Empress Xiao stepped onto the rostrum, all the ladies bowed to her.

"Get up, you are all dependents of His Majesty's Honggu Minister, and you are not outsiders, so you don't need to be polite." Empress Xiao's gaze gently swept over everyone, and she said with a gentle face.

The guest and host greeted a few polite words, and soon sat down, and after a while, the palace banquet began, the palace banquet was held by Emperor Yang of Sui in order to celebrate his victory in the Eastern Expedition, all of them are particularly exquisite, whether it is the environment of the palace banquet, or the delicacies, or the kabuki that helps the fun, everything is the best of the best, and the songs and dances set at the men's and women's banquets today are all "Goryeo Tricks", one of the nine tricks appointed by Emperor Yang of Sui.

"Goryeo Dance" is a fourteen kinds of musical instruments, played by 18 dancers and musicians, the dancers wear purple hats, decorated with bird feathers, yellow sleeves, purple belts, hakama, red leather boots, five-color silk ropes, four of them are the main dancers, and the other 14 people each hold different instruments to accompany the dance, which is a kind of large-scale maiko that is very rich in national colors, and can render the atmosphere and arouse the enthusiasm of the audience.

Tonight is the celebration banquet of the great victory of the Eastern Crusade, and Emperor Yang of Sui ordered this song, and his intention could not be more obvious. The dancers who performed "Goryeo Dance" in the palace were all the best among their peers. Soon after the beginning of "Goryeo Dance", the mood of the reserved ladies was quickly aroused, and everyone forgot their restraint for a while, and their emotions jumped up and down as the dance music progressed.

Everyone either high-fived or whispered to each other with a smile on their faces, and when the dance music reached its climax, the queen's young daughter, Princess Ruyi, laughed even more, slid into the dance circle, and swirled happily with the four dancers.

If it is someone else, no matter how moved her heart is, she will not dare to go up, but Ruyi is different, she grew up under the favor of Emperor Yang of Sui and Empress Xiao, and has always acted freely, plus she is in the palace, her move looks a little out of line at first glance, but in fact it is not a big deal, if others run over at this time, it is called not knowing the rules and not respecting herself, but when this person is a princess, it will only appear that she is honest and close to the people.

Of course, Ruyi's dance is really good, and she is wearing a big red palace costume that rotates with her body at great speed, just like a colorful butterfly dancing among the flowers, which makes people can't take their eyes off it.

At the end of the song, Ruyi's forehead has jumped out of beads of sweat, her breath is slightly short, a small face is covered with pink glow, and the whole person is as vivid as a sun-chrysanthemum, so that the people who look at her can't help but fly up.

"It's going to be a time soon, and it's so naughty." Empress Xiao looked at her daughter who ran to her side out of breath, and couldn't help but nod her head and spit lightly, scolding in her mouth, and the palace people had already been ordered to wipe her sweat with a handkerchief.

"Mother, I'm fine, my father won't let me go out these days, so that my bones are about to rust, and I danced a game, but I feel that the whole person is much more relaxed, about the Keju game and polo match in a month, you should announce it." Ruyi pushed away the palace maid who was wiping her sweat and stuck out her tongue at her mother. (Note: The polo game is also called the Ju match, which only started in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, and the Sui Dynasty should not have it, but this is a novel, not a history, so it should not be too much to add such a plot.) ）

Empress Xiao glared at her daughter helplessly, and in front of the ministers' dependents, it was not easy to educate her much. After a few words of gossip with everyone, it was made public a month later about the Keju Tournament and the polo match, in the past, this kind of activity was organized by the nobles who had not been out of the cabinet, entertaining themselves, and today the queen personally announced that she would preside over it, and encouraged anyone who likes this activity, whether it is married, or a woman in the boudoir, can come and sign up.

Some of the young and married ladies of the family heard about it, and they couldn't help but show a little eagerness to try, when the court was not too strict with women, many noble women would ride and shoot a little, not to mention Keju. It's just that after getting married, they can't act as arbitrarily as when they were girls, and now it's rare to have such an opportunity, and they naturally don't want to miss it.

After Empress Xiao announced this, she summoned Li Xiuning over, and Li Xiu came to the queen and saluted her in a proper manner: "The Li family of Gongchai Mansion in Lujun County is the queen mother." ”

"Get up, get up, time flies so fast, I think when you were not married, you often went to the palace to talk to me, and now in a flash, you have children, and I haven't seen you for several years." Empress Xiao stretched out her hand and helped her, and said with some emotion, for Li Xiuning, Empress Xiao really likes it.

"Lao Niangniang is worried, Xiuning is grateful." Li Xiuning thanked him again, and then got up and stood up.

"Xiuning, not long after you gave birth, has your body recovered?" Empress Xiao waved her hand and asked kindly.

"The courtiers have been practicing martial arts since childhood, and their bodies are stronger than ordinary people, and they have recovered almost completely." Li Xiuning replied.

"Now that your body has recovered, I want to ask you to be the referee of this polo match, would you like to?" Empress Xiao asked again with a relieved smile on her face.

"Since it is the will of the queen's mother, Xiuning does not dare to disobey it." Li Xiuning hurriedly spoke.

"It's good if you are willing to take on the role of referee, anyway, I really didn't want to hold this polo match at first, our noble girls in the Eastern Capital, although they will all point to ride and shoot, but this kung fu is mostly fist embroidered legs, if you really want to bow immediately, I don't know if it will be successful, if it accidentally becomes a joke, I, the queen, will really have no face to see."

"But Ruyi, this girl has been clamoring to play polo, I think she is about to get married, as a mother, I really don't want to go against her such a not too excessive request, and at the same time, I also think that after our woman gets married, there are too many rules and regulations, and there is no half of freedom, so I just take the opportunity to hold a ball game, so that everyone has the opportunity to breathe."

"Since you have decided to hold this event, you must play it well, there is still a little time to leave the competition, Xiuning, you will organize the participants during this period to train well, don't let Your Majesty and the Lang Jun of the Eastern Capital look down on our women." Empress Xiao said with some emotion.

Li Xiuning was slightly stunned when she heard this, in her memory, Empress Xiao has always been a very gentle and virtuous person, the emperor likes beauty, and there are all kinds of beauties in the palace, but she has never heard of which palace concubine she framed for embarrassment, not only for the concubine, but also for the minister's family, she has always been very preferential, she really didn't expect such a queen to be competitive in her bones.