April 16 of the fifth year of Cheng'an is the birthday of Nie Xinlin, the seventh princess of southern Xinjiang, and it is also the first gratifying event in southern Xinjiang since the regent murdered Her Majesty the empress and framed the six princesses in the palace.

According to the previous situation, Nie Xinlin's birthday has no chance to be big, but because this is the first thing to be happy about after a long silence in southern Xinjiang, and Nie Xinlin is the favorite daughter of the queen of southern Xinjiang, Her Majesty the Empress issued a holy decree to allow the Seven Kings Mansion to hold Nie Xinlin's birthday banquet in a big way.

On April 15th, the Seven Princes' Mansion sent many servants to go to the many princes' mansions in the southern Xinjiang capital, and they sent an invitation from Nie Xinlin, saying that it was the occasion of her birthday, which coincided with the blooming of strange flowers that had been cultivated in the palace for many years, and invited a group of sisters to go to the Seven Princes' Mansion on April 16 to have a small gathering, enjoy the flowers and chat, which can be regarded as a lively picture.

"A few days ago, the girl once came to the palace, saying that she wanted to take advantage of the birthday of the Seventh Emperor Sister, and now the Seventh Emperor Sister sent an invitation, and the girl is also counted together, I don't know what the girl's plans are" Nie Xinyao motioned to Wu Qin beside her to hand the invitation to Qingchen, and asked.

"His Royal Highness the Seventh held a birthday banquet by the Holy Decree, and there must be many people who went this time, in addition to His Royal Highness and several other royal daughters, there should be many people among the courtiers who will be present. Qingchen said, "In such a complicated situation, we don't have to do anything, naturally someone will help us do it, so we just need to help us at the right time." ”

"The girl already has an idea," Nie Xinyao asked.

"I have an idea, but whether I can use it or not depends on whether His Highness the Seventh gives me this opportunity. Qingchen said, "Your Highness doesn't have to worry, if there is anything that needs His Highness's cooperation tomorrow, I will definitely inform Your Highness in advance so that Your Highness can be prepared." ”

Nie Xinyao saw that Qingchen was sure of what he said, so she didn't ask anything, just nodded, discussed the gift with Qingchen again, and left.

Early in the morning, Nie Xinyao sent someone to invite Qingchen, saying that the carriage was already waiting at the gate of the mansion. Qingchen didn't delay any longer, took Zhanyu with him, left the courtyard, went out of the gate of the Six Princes' Mansion, boarded the carriage, followed Nie Xinyao, and went to Nie Xinlin's mansion.

Sure enough, as expected, there were many people from the Seven Princes' Mansion, in addition to the royal daughters, there were also many courtiers, as well as the courtiers' families.

Seeing Nie Xinyao and Qingchen coming, the housekeeper in the Seven Princes' Mansion led people to the guest area and sat with the other princesses, the fourth and fifth princesses had already arrived, Nie Xinyu was not in good health, she had always appeared late, and Nie Xinyi and Nie Xinrou had not yet arrived.

Although Qingchen received an invitation letter from Nie Xinlin, her identity was Nie Xinyao's entourage, and she was not qualified to sit down, so she could only stand by Nie Xinyao's side, taking everyone's expressions into her eyes, and she was already prepared in her heart.

"Your Highness, there are many guests, and I am celebrating the birthday of the Seventh Highness, but the Seventh Highness has not seen anyone yet, which is really a little strange. Qingchen whispered in Nie Xinyao's ear.

"I also think it's strange to say that. According to the personality of my seventh sister, she is the most active, and usually appears early with exquisite makeup, chatting and joking with a group of guests, becoming the core of the whole banquet, and the object of the stars holding the moon. But today, she herself is the protagonist, but she didn't appear" Nie Xinyao looked around, and when she didn't see Nie Xinlin, she also frowned and spoke suspiciously.

"Your Highness, the second and third princesses have not yet come, maybe the seventh princess will not appear until everyone has arrived. Wu Qin said on the side.

"Leave her alone. Nie Xinyao said, turning her head to look at Qingchen, "Miss Mu, do you see anything wrong?"

"Not yet, but I'm sure whatever they do, they should know soon. Qingchen shook his head and said.

At the moment when her words fell, the Three Princesses Nie Xinrou appeared in front of everyone with Baolian and Xiao Yi, the Three Princesses have always been humble and polite in front of people, which made the courtiers very fond of it, and the heavenly scales in their hearts couldn't help but deviate a little to Nie Xinrou's side.

Qingchen looked at Xiao Yi, who was expressionless, and sighed in his heart for a while, since Xiao Yi stabbed her that day, the two had not seen each other for a long time, let alone on such a bright and upright occasion.

"I'm sorry for the long wait. As Nie Xinrou sat down, the voice of the Seventh Imperial Maiden Nie Xinlin sounded, with a hint of publicity, although she said sorry in her mouth, but there was no trace of apology in her tone.

"The seventh sister is polite, today is the birthday of the seventh sister, the younger sister dressed up carefully, it is understandable that she is late, all the adults are reasonable people, and they will not blame. Nie Xinrou was the first to say hello.

Qingchen turned his head and looked at the direction Nie Xinlin came, a flash of shock and doubt flashed in his eyes, and he couldn't help but look at Nie Xinyao, but found that Nie Xinyao was also frowning, looking at Nie Xinlin.

If Nie Xinlin in the past was just an impulsive and spoiled princess, then the current Nie Xinlin is like a veil, which is unpredictable, because now Nie Xinlin's face has changed greatly in a short period of time.

In the past, although it was flying and domineering, it was full of agility and liveliness, but now, every move is full of manners, but with the charm and enchantment that the royal emperor should not have, and even the makeup is very different from the previous freshness and refinement.

With the appearance of Nie Xinlin, the guests who came to congratulate were also slightly surprised, maybe there was no official in the court, who was not a master of acting, but the expression changed in a moment, and it had returned to normal, and the congratulatory voices were all words of praise to Nie Xinlin.

The so-called banquet is just an ordinary procedure, talking and laughing in twos and threes, giving Nie Xinlin a birthday gift, waiting for the program arranged by the Seven Kings Mansion, and when the time comes, enter the banquet and drink, a few glasses of wine, and stagger.

Qingchen watched all this go on in an orderly manner, but the second princess Nie Xinyi never appeared, and couldn't help but have a burst of doubts in her heart, her eyes swept over Nie Xinlin and Nie Xinrou's faces, but she saw that the two of them looked as usual, did they still send someone to ask, there was nothing unusual.

It wasn't until Her Majesty the Empress arrived that Qingchen noticed a different aura from the faces of these two people. The smile on the corner of Nie Xinrou's mouth did not change, and the calculation in her eyes flashed, but Nie Xinlin was full of worry for a moment, frowning, as if she was thinking about something.

"I just heard that the flowers that have not bloomed in Lin'er's house for several years have all bloomed in the past two days, and I was a little curious, so I came to take a look. The Empress said to the crowd, "You eat what you should eat, you drink what you should drink, you don't have to worry about me, I and my daughters have their own entertainment." ”

The courtiers toasted His Majesty with a glass of wine, and then they did not restrain themselves anymore, and said with a smile. The empress exchanged a few words with everyone, and then noticed that Nie Xinyi had not arrived, so she asked where Nie Xinyi went.

"Mother Emperor, the second emperor sister thinks that there is something delayed, the seventh sister's birthday, the mother emperor has already issued an order to celebrate, how can she not come" Nie Xinrou said.

"Yes, Mother, you don't have to worry about it. We came the earliest, and I heard from the people in the house of the Seventh Emperor Sister that the Seventh Sister knew that the Queen Mother was going to celebrate her birthday, and it happened that the Seventh Sister had recently learned a new dance and wanted to dance to the Queen at her birthday banquet. The Fifth Princesses also spoke.

Sure enough, a few people chatted for a long time, and saw that the songs and dances that were originally dancing in the courtyard were scattered, and Nie Xinlin volunteered to dance ugly, which made everyone look forward to it.

The empress also looked at Nie Xinlin with great interest, but when she saw that Nie Xinlin had confessed to everyone, she went down to prepare, and it didn't take long for her to come up again, but she was already wearing the same clothes as before.

I used to wear a serious regular dress, but now I wear a dance costume.

As soon as Nie Xinlin, who was wearing a dance suit, walked out, everyone in the audience invariably sounded a gasp, looking at Nie Xinlin, their eyes were full of shock. Because Nie Xinlin's dance dress is priceless, it is actually made of rare flowing cloud satin and lake light brocade. The whole dance dress is gorgeous and dazzling, and it shines in the drunken spring sun.

"The dance clothes on the Seven Emperor Sisters have been prepared for a long time, thinking that they have been preparing for this banquet for a long time. Nie Xinrou saw the dance dress made of flowing cloud satin and lake brocade, with an indescribable look in her eyes, and her tone was a little unpredictable.

"I heard a few days ago that Lin'er often goes to a ready-to-wear shop, and even the maidservants around her are not allowed to follow, so she secretly prepares such a dance dress and wants to shine at the birthday banquet" The empress didn't know whether it was intentional or unintentional, and even mentioned Nie Xinlin's going to the ready-to-wear shop.

Qingchen was secretly frightened, the empress seemed to have lived in the deep palace for a long time, and did not ask about things outside the palace, but every move of the princesses fell in her eyes, although it seems that she only knows one or the other at present, but after a long time, it is difficult to guarantee that Her Majesty will not find out something. In this way, the matter of her contact with the regent and Nie Xinyi may have been known by the empress for a long time, but she just didn't say it.

"The Seventh Emperor Sister is really willing to put a lot of effort into it, not to mention how rare this cloud satin and lake brocade are, with our technology in southern Xinjiang, we can't produce one horse a year, even if it is, such a precious thing will be sent to the palace. However, the Seventh Emperor Sister actually has the ability to get these two things to make dance clothes. Nie Xinrou seemed to sigh, but in fact she spoke very thoughtfully.

When others heard this, they only thought that Nie Xinrou was admiring Nie Xinlin's dance clothes, but Qingchen and Nie Xinyao glanced at each other, and saw a different understanding in each other's eyes.

These things that even Her Majesty the Empress was reluctant to use, but Nie Xinlin used it to make dance clothes, which made the Empress think in her heart, not to mention what it meant that the things that should have been sent to the palace appeared outside the palace at this moment

Is it the people who produce Huguang brocade and Liuyun satin who deceive the monarch, obviously there are good brocades but they have never sent them to the palace, or Nie Xinlin's wealth is so powerful that he has a way to get these rare tributes

...

(Tianjin)