Now love peony, once a reward of 10,000 gold and offer a thousand leaves Yao Huang folk florist, and build a peony garden, there are many kinds of peonies in the garden, there are rare varieties offered from all over the place, whenever the flowers bloom, feast and reward the ministers, the beauty sings and dances, the selection of the flower in the leader, the reputation of the middle, is the money rolling. With this reason, the princes and nobles in Beijing, the rich and wealthy gentry are all proud of having rare peonies at home, competing to boast, that is, the common people, but also proud of having peonies at home, and when the peonies are in full bloom, the city is full of flower arrangers.

Today's banquet of the Liu family is no exception, among the guests who came, regardless of men and women, eight out of ten had peonies. Especially for the female guests, most of them have a huge peony hairpin on the high bun, which is rarer, bigger, more colorful and more valuable than the clothes and jewelry than the style, and the peony varieties on whose head are more rare, bigger and more colorful.

Peony is one of the very few women who do not have a hairpin peony, she did not follow Liu Chang to greet the guests, but hid in an inconspicuous place in the shade under the tree early to silently observe the guests attending the flower banquet. Because she was sick and didn't like to go out before, and she was afraid of being noisy and didn't like to make friends with people, Peony searched for a long time in her memory, but she only found a few familiar faces from these guests, as for the Qinghua County Lord and Li Xun who she wanted to see, but she never appeared.

Yu'er dutifully waited on the side, patiently instructing the guests to show the peony: "Young lady, look at the lady who wears a silver-red large-sleeved saro shirt and a hairpin red peony and wears a golden step, she is the best friend of the prince, Mrs. Bai, the wife of Pan Rong, the prince of Chuzhou, she just got a little son last year, and her family is also the same as ours, with a large population. She looked cold and arrogant, in fact, her temper cultivation is very good, if the young lady likes it, you can talk to her, she will definitely not snub you. ”

Peony was reminded by Yu'er's words full of meaning, and couldn't help but seriously look at the Mrs. Hou Shizi of Chuzhou. This lady of the prince was surrounded by a group of warblers and swallows, and looked intently at the jade banbai in front of her, who was surrounded by a fence and green yarn, and had not yet revealed her true face, and occasionally frowned and glanced coldly at the attentive woman beside her.

Peony saw that the group of women around her looked enchanting and behaved frivolously, so she said curiously: "Who are the people around her?" I see that they are very attentive to Madame Bai, and Madame Bai does not pay much attention to them. ”

Yu'er paused and smiled awkwardly: "They are all concubines of the prince." After thinking about it, he added, "It's not that the housewife of any family is as generous and soft as the young lady." ”

Yu'er's flattery was too obvious, Peony smiled faintly, pointed to another girl who was dressed delicately and was circling around her Wei Zi, eager to try, eager to pick the biggest Wei Zi hairpin girl and said, "This young lady has a good look, whose family is it?" ”

Yu'er only glanced at it and smiled: "No wonder you don't know it, this is the second mother of the Qi family, she only returned to Beijing from her post with her uncle last month, and when you came to visit, you were not in good health and did not come out." Later, I came to the house several times, but I missed it by mistake. ”

As soon as Yu'er said this, there were a number of peonies, this is Mrs. Qi's sister Qi Yuzhu, the younger brother of Qi Changlin, who had just been appointed as a senior counselor. Liu Chang held this flower banquet this time, more than half of the reason was for Qi Yuzhu and to find a good marriage for her.

Speaking of which, the people who interact with the Liu family are all high-ranking families, famous and noble, even if the He family is very rich, but it is not the right household, no wonder the Liu family is so uncomfortable. I don't know how the Liu family got to that point at the beginning, and other help can't be relied on, so I can only ask for what family?

Peony was contemplating, Liu Chang's family raised more than a dozen flower-like housekeepers, under the leadership of Slender Su, came over like a weak willow in the wind, sat down not far away, and began to laugh coquettishly.

Although she never carried her aunt, she lived alone in a small and exquisite courtyard, with five or six people around her, and Liu Chang always had ten days a month with her. She deceived the peony again, she was unfavorable, soft-natured, and never took the peony in her eyes. At this time, he obviously saw Peony and Yu'er here, but he also pretended not to know, and led everyone to debug Sizhu on the side, talking and laughing loudly, and instantly made Peony dizzy.

Yu'er has not been angry with her for a long time, firstly, she wants to use Mrs. Qi's power to borrow Peony's hand to clean her up, and secondly, she also wants to test the depth of Peony, so she said: "Young lady, she is too unsightly, and there are no rules at all, so the concubine will let people go to Haosheng and reprimand her......"

When Mother Lin heard this, she sneered: "Even if she has no one in her eyes, if she wants to reprimand, it is the young lady's business, isn't Aunt Yu acting as a substitute?" It can be seen that the aunt looks respectful of Mrs. on the surface, but in fact, she also has a contempt for her, right? ”

Yu'er hurriedly stood up, looked at Peony with an anxious face, and said: "Young lady forgive your sins, the concubine doesn't have this kind of thought, but when she sees them so rude, she is not angry in her heart, and she is impulsive, and it is inevitable that she will lose her manners......"

Peony has long understood that none of these people really put themselves in their eyes, Yu'er's overtures are just other plans and for Mrs. Qi's face, and a slender person from a clean official can't even go to Mrs. Qi's courtyard, if she really cares about her in front of these many guests, it will be a real shame. Then he smiled and said: "It's not a big deal, if I deal with them, I will lose my identity." They love it here, so let's just change places. ”

Yu'er quietly looked at her expression and said with a smile: "The young lady is right, the concubine has no knowledge. There's nothing good here, let's go over there, it's quiet, and we can see everything in the field. ”

This is a place specially prepared for outdoor feasting and play, decades-old trees are like screens, enclosing a piece of thick and soft grass with a radius of more than 20 zhang, and the shade under the trees, the Yin mat is spread on the ground, and the fruits, wines, and pastries are dazzling on the low table. On the side of the master's table, there is a small thatched pavilion, half covered by a bush of blooming lilacs, which is a good place to go. Yu'er was referring to the pavilion.

Peony smiled: "It's a good place to go, so let's go." ”

As soon as the two of them got up, a maid hurriedly ran over and saluted: "Young lady, the princess invites you to the front to greet the guests, the county lord is here." ”

As soon as these words came out, the sound of Sizhu's laughter suddenly stopped, and all the family tricks, Mother Lin, Yuhe, and Yu'er, all looked at Peony with sympathy or jokes. Slender even got up and walked in front of the peony, and said with a smile: "The slave maid has seen the young lady, the county lord said last time that she wanted to see the concubine dance the green waist, the slave maid has been practicing for a long time, and she jumped to the princess last night, and the princess said that she can handle it." I also invited the young lady to see the county lord and ask the mother what she meant, and if she was willing to reward her, the slave maid would dance on the stage. ”

It's so deceitful! What is it, dare to show off like this in front of Peony. Mother Lin trembled with anger, and was about to scold Slim, but Peony had already walked over from Slender without squinting: "Now that the prince has known about this, whether he should jump or not, he naturally knows in his heart." As a subordinate, it is a good thing to please the master, but to rush on the ground in disregard of the rules is a loss of decency. Since you are a house slave, you must forget the past, follow the rules of the house, and don't let people laugh at you for being frivolous. ”

Yu'er laughed out loud: "Slender girl, you continue to be busy." Presumably, when the prince is free, he will definitely send someone to call you. ”

Slender Fiber's pretty face the size of a palm suddenly became blue-gray in anger, and when Peony walked away, he spat hatefully: "What! But the daughter of a businessman, she was lucky enough to get this position, so she thought she really flew on the branch and became a phoenix? Dare to laugh at me! I thought in my heart that when Liu Chang went to her in the evening, she must give the peony some eye medicine.

Peony didn't know how to scold and calculate himself in the back, but secretly thought to himself, Liu Chang asked himself to meet the county lord, the two of them must have evil thoughts, and how should they deal with it properly.

Before he reached the gate of the garden, Peony saw Liu Chang and a young man in a royal blue arrow sleeve robe standing under a willow tree from a distance, laughing with a tall and plump young woman who was dressed extraordinarily luxuriously and seductively. A handsome-looking young man in a bearded suit and seven or eight young maidservants in green clothes lowered their hands and held their voices, standing not far away in a regular manner, it seemed that it was probably the county lord of Qinghua and her entourage.

Liu Chang turned his head and happened to see the peony, so he whispered something to the two, and the man in the fancy costume and the county lord of Qinghua both turned around to look at the peony.

Peony saw it clearly, and a trace of surprise flashed in the eyes of the man in the fancy clothes, but the county lord of Qinghua was full of inquiry and scrutiny, and there was undisguised contempt and hatred in his eyes.

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