It was Liu Qing who reminded him: "Niangniang, look, His Royal Highness has already sent the box up." Hearing this, I also looked sideways and saw Zhu Yuanzhang taking out the picture scroll from the brocade box. To be honest, I'm also a little nervous, if this birthday gift is really too simple in terms of the internal meaning, I don't know if Zhu Yuanzhang can see Ah Ping's intentions.

As the scroll was pulled out little by little, Zhu Yuanzhang's originally smiling face gradually froze, and he didn't look away after his gaze fell to one place. Others don't know me but can see clearly, that is exactly the image that Ah Ping sketched with me as a silhouette model, I sighed in my heart, no matter how hard an emperor is, there is a soft side, and Zhu Yuanzhang's softness may be the late Queen Ma.

The people below looked at each other, and didn't understand why their emperor had not moved for a long time because of a painting, Concubine Lu and Liu Qing were very anxious when they saw this, and lowered their voices and said that there should be no problem.

It was Ah Ping who reminded: "Grandfather Huang, it's time to start the birthday banquet." Only then did Zhu Yuanzhang wake up like a dream, and everyone present could see it clearly when he raised his eyes, and his face was full of emotion, and he said three times in a row: "Good, good, good!" My good grandson, you know the emperor's grandfather's mind best. Ah Ping pursed the corners of his lips and smiled: "Imperial grandfather, it's just a little heart." ”

"Well, the heart is the heart, the heart is the heart."

Listening to Zhu Yuanzhang's appreciation, Concubine Lu finally breathed a sigh of relief, but she was also curious, and turned back to me and asked, "What is ......it?" What did she draw? At this time, her tone had softened a lot, and she was no longer as fierce as she had just spoken.

I didn't hide it from her: "It's the Orchid Garden." ”

Concubine Lu was stunned, as if she didn't quite believe it: "Really? I nodded. She turned her eyes to look at Liu Qing, both of them were confused and didn't understand its meaning, and couldn't help but sigh lightly, the two of them were the closest to Ah Ping, but they didn't understand his mind at all. Even if I explained, it would only be understood for a moment.

Ah Ping was the last person to celebrate his birthday, and then announced that the birthday feast had begun. Finally got through to this time, as soon as I waited for Concubine Lu to eat, I first picked up the snacks on the table and put them in my mouth, to be honest, I was a little hungry and fainted. The two pieces of dim sum finally cushioned my stomach slightly, and I felt that my mouth was dry and I wanted to drink tea, but there was only a sake pot on the table. I looked around and said to a small palace maid beside me, "Can you help me pour some tea?" ”

The little palace maid didn't reply and went to see Concubine Lu first, which made me feel gloomy, did she even need to drink saliva?

But Concubine Lu didn't have time to pay attention to me, because since the banquet began, the ladies of the princes and nobles came forward to talk and toast, and some even stayed in this seat. There are still songs and dances going on in the field, but no one pays attention to them anymore, and in this case, no one should pay attention to me, so it's better to be self-sufficient.

I got up and withdrew from my seat, and as I passed by the little maid, I glanced at her, and she immediately hung her head and did not dare to look at me. The corners of his mouth hooked up a smile, since he wants to fight the dog, then he is bolder, and he still doesn't come out with this little bit of Taoism.

There were a few steps under the seat, and I walked slowly, but I didn't prevent anyone's feet from suddenly sticking out, and even if I caught a glimpse of it, I couldn't react, and I felt my foot stumble and lean forward uncontrollably.

At that moment, my mind was actually blank, there was no chaotic distraction, no picket thoughts, only a faint pain in my heart. Seeing that I was about to fall down the steps, a hand suddenly reached out from my side and dragged my half-collapsed body, even that my belly was only inches away from the ground.

I was shocked into a cold sweat, my heart was beating like thunder, and a familiar voice came from above my head: "Silly girl, why are you so careless?" ”

After standing firmly along the hand holding his arm, he turned his head, Zhu Gaoxu was looking at me playfully, but the surprise in his eyes could not be hidden, it can be seen that he was actually very afraid that I would really fall down just now.

"Why don't you speak? Did you stumble somewhere? Seeing that I was silent, he became nervous again, and looked me up and down.

I shook my head, "No, thank you just now." ”

He stepped closer and asked in a low voice, "Who are you coming with?" I ...... that day" Hearing him explain, I cut off his words first: "The occasion is not right, you let go of me first." He was stunned for a moment, and then he reacted and let go of the hand that was holding my arm.

Looking around slightly, I couldn't tell if the change just now was intentional or unintentional. But most of the people in my heart are the former, I am pregnant with the child of the emperor's grandson, how many pairs of eyes are watching, I did not appear in the eyes of everyone before, but it does not mean that people everywhere in the palace do not pay attention to me.

Suddenly, Zhu Gaoxu asked in a low voice, "Are you looking for the person who stretched out his foot and tripped you?" It's the woman in purple in front of you on the left. "Slightly surprised, he can still see my thoughts? Following his prompt, it was a very old woman, who was either a family member or a concubine in the palace, and I definitely didn't know who it was.

But it is redundant to be caught on the spot, and the other party will not admit it, even if Zhu Gaoxu testifies; Second, if it is a harem concubine, she is an elder, and no one can refute her unintentional mistakes. And Zhu Gaoxu didn't have much scheming, he ran here to find me when he saw me, and when he made a big fuss, he must have been asked why he wanted to drill into the female dependents?

I had no intention of lingering here, so I shook my head at him and said, "Let's go elsewhere, but I'll go first, and you'll come back in a while." He was stupid again: "Why? Can't I go with you? ”

I didn't bother to explain to him, so I just said: "You listen to me, where are so many questions." He was just about to leave, but he heard him say, "What if anyone trips you again?" I'm not at ease. ”

My heart moved, his words were not unreasonable, I squinted my eyes and found the figure of the green lotus in the crowd and said to Zhu Gaoxu: "You go and call the palace maid who is slightly taller in green clothes, she came with me." ”

Zhu Gaoxu looked over and recognized the green lotus at a glance: "It turned out to be my subordinate's defeat." Now he was also relieved, stepped forward and pulled out the green lotus, whispered a word, and walked away for the time being. Green Lotus ran to me and asked, "Niangniang, are we going back?" I replied softly, "You stand by my side, be careful." ”

Her face turned pale, and she asked in a low voice that was rare not to be confused, "Did something happen?" ”

I shook my head lightly, and I shouldn't talk about it here. With the green lotus by the side, we successfully exited the banquet venue, but only chose a pavilion nearby to sit down and did not return to Lanyuan, Zhu Yuanzhang has not left the table, but I, the imperial concubine, left the venue without permission, and it must be another tongue to be hyped by someone with a heart.

After sitting down, I asked Lu He to find some tea for me to drink, and by the way, I went to report to Ah Ping, lest he come back to me after he was busy and couldn't find me. As soon as the green lotus walked on his front foot, he heard footsteps, thinking it was Zhu Gaoxu, and I said to the approaching black shadow with disgust: "I finally learned to be smarter." The expected dissatisfaction and rebuttal did not come, and when they approached, they found that it was Zhu Gaoxu, and it was his father-Zhu Di.

I sat in my position and didn't move, watching Zhu Di step up the steps to the pavilion, he didn't come closer, but leaned back on the pavilion pillar and watched me quietly. "What? Wasn't it surprise to see me? ”

"What's the surprise?" I asked back.

The moonlight is bright tonight, and the moonlight is not as bright as day, but it can also see people clearly. And Zhu Di was standing just where the moonlight fell on him, so I could see it very clearly, the corners of his mouth curved an arc, and he looked at me with a smile and said, "What you just said is obviously not for me." ”

Needless to say? How could I speak to him in such a relaxed tone?

Glancing away from the subject: "Do you have something to look for me?" Zhu Di was silent for a while and said: "I've been thinking about why my father would let you live in Lanyuan for a while, and I didn't figure it out until just now." ”

Actually, I could not have taken his words, but after thinking about it, if I didn't care, he would have another way for me to speak. So he followed his words and asked, "What have you figured out?" ”

"In the eyes of your father, you have a similar temperament to your mother."

I froze, "How can you think that?" ”

He chuckled lightly and said softly, "It's not that I think so, but my father." I always thought that my nephew was like a weak Confucian student, but it turned out to be a little fox, and I thought my father's mind was so thorough, which made me impressed. ”

Hearing this, I couldn't help but squint my eyes, and my voice was cold: "Ah Ping is not what you think. ”

"Lan'er, you don't have to rush to erect a thorn to defend him, yes or no, it's not that important. I have secretly paid attention to your movements, it seems that you don't get along well with your brother and sister-in-law, and you don't have the consciousness of being in the palace at all, is Ping'er protecting you too well or are you naïve to think that no one dares to touch you with the care of your father? ”

Zhu Di's words sounded a little harsh, but they hit the nail on the head. I opened my mouth to refute, but thinking back about my behavior tonight, it seemed that it was really as he said, first, Ah Ping protected me too well, so that I didn't have to fight with people and intrigue all day long; And Orchid Garden is a safety barrier given to me by Zhu Yuanzhang, so even if I walked out of Orchid Garden this time, I thought that no one would dare to do anything to me if I participated in Zhu Yuanzhang's birthday banquet, so I was not worried when Lu He was sent back to the periphery.

But in fact? Concubine Lu still didn't want to see me, I couldn't even send a little palace maid, and even deliberately stretched out to trip my feet. These things may not happen when Ah Ping is around, but Ah Ping can't always protect me left and right.