Shen Qingyan and Zhao Mengtong had a good conversation here, but the banquet on the other side had already begun.

Shen Mingwei sat on the seat, picked up a mung bean roll with a heavy heart, and swallowed it without chewing any taste, but choked and coughed, and hurriedly poured tea. Meng Ru watched from the sidelines, rolled her eyes without a trace, and smiled a little sarcastically.

"The emperor has arrived!" The eunuch's voice was sharp, and the originally noisy hall fell silent for a moment, and everyone left their seats one after another and knelt down to salute.

"Today is a day of fun, and Zhong Aiqing doesn't have to be polite." The emperor sat on the chairman's seat, next to him sat Concubine Li, and the three princes followed behind and sat down one after another.

"Third child, today is your birthday, and there is a new Ili horse in the palace, and I will reward you." Yin Xiao is approaching the sixtieth birthday, although he is still in good spirits, but the whiteness of his temples and the lines at the corners of his eyes can hardly hide his old age, and the tension of political affairs in recent years has made him a little powerless. In fact, Yin Xiao does not have any eloquence, he is gentle and courageless, so Mucheng is not peaceful, and he does not have the vigilance that the emperor should have, when he is old, he only thinks about cultivating a successor as soon as possible, but he has never thought about cultivating a man or a wolf, let alone restricting the emergence of a dominant family.

"Son-in-law, thank your father." The third prince Yin Ci smiled lightly, there were not many waves in his heart, his mother was just a nobleman, and he did not have a deep relationship with his father, and he did not have much interest in the so-called throne.

Everyone present also congratulated the three princes on their birthdays, but they understood in their hearts that the three princes had not been added to the official ranks, the second had not been rewarded with mansions, and the third had not been sealed, and the emperor only used a horse to send them away, afraid that he had already been excluded from the throne. The emperor has a total of six princes, the second prince died of smallpox when he was young, the third prince is not valued, the prince is even more stupid and crazy, the fifth prince and the sixth prince are still babies in swaddling clothes, and the fourth prince Yin Yuan is young and handsome, outstanding, and his mother Li Guifei is deeply favored, now this throne is self-evident, but Yin Yuan is ruthless, some highly respected ministers and some people have a lot of complaints about it, this Hongmen banquet is probably to choose a suitable family affair for the four princes, While increasing its power, it can win the hearts of the people.

Concubine Li raised her eyebrows as she looked at the cautious crowd and admired her onion-like fingers. With her pure and refined beauty and good at observing words and feelings, she fascinated the emperor, and from the moment she entered the palace, she was favored forever, and after giving birth to the fourth prince Yin Yuan, she was directly promoted from Li Concubine to Li Guifei, after the death of the queen, although the emperor did not stand again, everyone knew that she Li Guifei was the default queen, and now her son will inherit the throne, and her life can be described as infinite.

"Your Majesty, I heard that all the adults have brought their beloved daughters to the banquet, and the concubines have an idea, I don't know if the emperor can agree." Although Concubine Li is over thirty, her voice is sticky and glutinous, which makes Yin Xiao's heart soft.

"Concubine Ai said yes." Yin Xiao naturally knew what Concubine Li was going to say, and this was also the main purpose of his birthday banquet today.

"Now that the three princes and the four princes have reached the marriageable age, they haven't even accepted the side blessings, so it's better to take advantage of today's opportunity to choose a lover for the two princes, which can be regarded as double happiness."

"Concubine Ai is bothered." Yin Xiao smiled and patted Concubine Li's hand and squeezed it again.

"All Aiqing can disagree."

How dare the ministers disagree, the only thing they can hope for is that their daughters will not be chosen, or not be chosen by the three princes. When the fourth prince becomes the emperor, with that ruthless means, how can the third prince have a good life, not to mention the suffering of his own daughter, maybe even the mother's life will not be guaranteed. Of course, there are also ministers who hope that their daughters can be chosen by the four princes, fly on the branches and become phoenixes, and also bring benefits to the mother's family.

The palace maid dragged a tray, there was a dish of water in the tray, and a bunch of orchid grass leaves in her hand, and every time a daughter came in, she would dip some bluegrass in water and gently shake it around it twice. This is the etiquette when Mucheng chooses a family, which represents the girl's ice and jade, and is the respect for the woman's family.

Shen Qingyan followed Shen Wanyan and took a seat, winked at Shen Qingchen on the other side, turned his head to look at Concubine Li on the emperor's side, and lowered his eyes. The previous emperor and Concubine Li took a fancy to the prestige and power of the Shen family, and they were very fond of themselves, the daughter of the Shen family, and later the emperor was critically ill, and the forces of all parties had already been in the hands of Yin Yuan, and Mucheng became the world of Concubine Li's mother and son, and he was like a puppet in the mansion to threaten Shen's father, and later Shen's father fell, and he was discarded like abandonment.

"Father, mother, and son-in-law are late, so I apologize here." The door was pushed open, and a pair of navy blue riding boots embroidered with a pegasus pattern greeted you.

Shen Qingyan heard the voice that had been engraved in his heart, so he grabbed the chair handle fiercely, and the plain armor that had not been put on the pill left a dazzling mark on the pineapple wood, his eyes were slightly curled, and his eyelashes were trembling slightly, covering all emotions.

"The envoy's business has been taken care of?" Yin Xiao's tone was very gentle, he had always loved this son.

"Back to my father, the settlement money has been negotiated, and the envoy will leave tomorrow." Yin Yuan bowed his head respectfully, humble but not flattering.

Shen Qingyan sorted out his emotions, raised his head and looked directly at Yin Yuan, this person is still the same as the original gentle son, whether it is fair skin, straight thick eyebrows, just the right curve of the nose bridge and the eyes that never have intense emotions, it seems to show this person's humble and peaceful temperament, but unfortunately, Shen Qingyan, who has lived a lifetime, can see the ambition and ruthless cold-blooded nature from those unwavering eyes.

Suddenly, Yin Yuan turned his head and met Shen Qingyan's eyes that were still a little distracted, and shrunk his eyes without a trace. Shen Qingyan knew very well what kind of eyes it was, it was the eyes of the hunter when he saw his prey, and maybe there was a little contempt. She wanted to laugh a little, why did she fall in love with such a man who only used her as a doll in her previous life. She still remembers that Yin Yuan was disheveled and hugged Shen Wanyan to sarcastically humiliate her disgusting appearance, and later, Shen's father was beheaded and Shen Qingchen was plotted, Yin Yuan listened to Shen Wanyan's persuasion and sent herself into the land of fireworks, causing herself to die of humiliation. She has to settle all of this one by one, so that these people who have hurt her will be punished. Shen Qingyan restrained the hatred in his heart, and turned his head in disgust and staggered his gaze.

Yin Yuan narrowed his eyes when he saw Shen Qingyan's cold reaction. In fact, when he first entered the house, he noticed Shen Qingyan, it is undeniable that that face does stand out among this group of vulgar fans, such a charming woman, even if she has never met, Yin Yuan more or less guessed that she is Shen Qingyan. Shen Mingwei is superior in terms of family power and folk prestige, and if he can make his daughter his heir, it will be of great benefit to him. However, Yin Yuan casually turned the jade wrench on his thumb, with a hint of lingering contempt. For such a woman, just have fun. Even a cold rose is not more than a rel. But it is undeniable that this cold rose did arouse some of his desire for conquest, the natural desire for conquest that men have over women.

Shen Wanyan blushed from the moment Yin Yuan appeared, when her mother said that she would work hard to climb to the fourth prince and become her concubine, Shen Wanyan just regarded it as her goal to ascend to the throne, but she didn't expect him to be so handsome and extraordinary, which made her more determined to do so. However, after seeing the subtle interaction between Yin Yuan and Shen Qingyan, she distorted her face uncontrollably. Since she was a child, Shen Qingyan has pressed her everywhere, and Shen Qingyan can get the things she can get with hard work, and now even her husband has to rob her. Shen Wanyan clenched her palms fiercely, and regardless of whether her skin was punctured by her long pointed nails, she would never allow such a thing to happen.

And Shen Qingchen on the other side was a little irritable and straightened out his clothes, he didn't see Yin Yuan's aggressive eyes when he looked at Shen Qingyan, for this prince, he has always disdained to negotiate with him with arrogance, and his style of acting is also despised by him, if his girl is really chosen, thinking of this, Shen Qingchen will lean back on the chair a little lazy, but his eyes reveal undoubted decisiveness, then he has to take the girl away from this place. As for Shen Wanyan, since she "accidentally" pushed Shen Qingyan into the water on the day of her death, he no longer regarded her as his sister.

Shen Mingwei and Meng Ru on the side were irrepressibly anxious. Shen Mingwei didn't have much turmoil on his face, but the hand hidden in his sleeve kept exchanging postures, at this time he could only rely on such small actions to relieve the anxiety in his heart, he saw very clearly what kind of person Yin Yuan was, he never wanted his daughter to marry into such a person and ruin her life. Meng Ru tried to hide her emotions by drinking tea, but her frowning brows still betrayed her. This Shen Qingyan must not ruin her plan, and her daughter's glory and wealth must not be wiped out just because of a fox spirit.

"Your Majesty," Concubine Li's coquettish voice broke the somewhat stagnant atmosphere, "Since the prince's selection of concubines this time is at the birthday banquet of the third prince, it is better to change the rules, write some talent items on the brand, and the daughters will flop the cards, and perform whatever they turn over, so that you can not only understand the daughters more clearly, but also add some joy to this birthday banquet." ”

"According to what Concubine Ai said." Yin Xiao agreed with a smile.

Shen Qingyan couldn't help sneering in his heart, in fact, the emperor and Concubine Li had already decided on a candidate in their hearts, and the so-called talent show was just to find a fig leaf for their preference.

The palace people carried the cloth board that had been prepared to the front of the hall, and there was a wooden sign on it that was turned to the back, so that no one could see what was written on the wooden card. There are a total of ten daughters in the palace, and there are ten wooden cards hanging no more than no less, divided into two rows, each row of five pieces.

"When you're ready, let's get started." Yin Xiao picked up the teacup and took a sip of tea.

The eunuch on the side looked at the eyes and began to read the names on the list, and the obscure voice was clear and sharp in the main hall.