Chapter 516: Prince Beichen Did Not Enter the Palace
Time quietly came to the day of the palace banquet.
The banquet was held in the Imperial Garden. The venue was very large and quite a few people had already arrived.
The families of the ministers chatted with people they were familiar with, waiting for the appearance of His Majesty, the Queen Mother and others.
"Your Majesty has arrived!——"
"The Queen Mother is here!——"
Upon hearing this, everyone hurried back to their seats and knelt down to pay homage.
"Your Highness! Long live the Emperor! Long live the Emperor!"
"Long live the Queen Mother! Long live the thousandth year!"
Empress Dowager Feng, Yun Yanyu, was supported and sat on a high seat. She gestured and spoke to everyone.
"Be flat."
"Thank you, Queen Mother."
Everyone stood up and returned to their seats.
Afterwards, the empress made a few polite remarks and the banquet began.
Everyone knew that today was the wife-selection banquet held by the Empress Dowager for Princess Mingxuan, and all the civil and military officials in the court knew it very well.
Just knowing it in your heart is one thing, but whether or not you want Princess Mingxuan to be your daughter's husband is another.
When noble families choose their husbands, they usually consider whether the husbands are of equal social status. The husband they choose should not only have good character, but more importantly, he should be beneficial to his wife's family. His character, appearance, family background and abilities should all be outstanding. Even if his own abilities are not so good, his family background must be good.
Although Princess Mingxuan has the Queen Mother behind her, she cannot avoid the fact that she is just an orphan.
The Empress Dowager and Your Majesty are not biological father and daughter. The Empress Dowager is over fifty years old. How long can she protect Princess Mingxuan?
Once the Empress Dowager passed away, Princess Mingxuan's position became awkward.
Such a person is not a good candidate for a husband from aristocratic family. Therefore, the people who came to the banquet were not stupid. Some of them had already arranged marriages for their daughters early on and brought their concubines' daughters to participate in the selection.
Although Princess Mingxuan cannot marry a legitimate husband, it would be great if she could use a concubine's daughter to arrange the marriage.
So, no one is a fool.
At the banquet, the girls brought by each family competed to perform, some reciting poems and painting, some playing the piano and dancing with swords, some playing the flute and dancing. It was a hundred flowers competing for beauty.
"I heard that Prince Beichen has returned to the capital, why is he not here?"
The Queen Mother mentioned it casually.
The empress's face sank: "What's going on?" An Lingrong, the left supervisor, bowed her head slightly and said respectfully: "Your Majesty, Queen Mother, Prince Beichen said that he had important matters to attend to and could not attend the palace banquet. He also sent a gift to the palace to pay his respects to the Queen Mother."
Hearing this, the Queen Mother's eyes were filled with displeasure: "It seems that in the eyes of Prince Beichen, I am not as important as her affairs."
The eyes of the Empress Ji Yao flickered slightly. She glared at Zuo Sijian and said coldly, "What important matter can be more important than the Empress Dowager?"
"This……"
An Lingrong looked embarrassed.
The empress said solemnly: "Speak!"
"Reporting to Your Majesty and the Queen Mother, the Prince of Beichen said that the prince is ill and she has to take care of him and has no time to enter the palace."
As soon as these words were spoken, the Queen Mother's expression suddenly turned ugly.
"Why, just because the prince is sick, he doesn't care about me anymore, and he doesn't even have time to come to the palace to say hello?"
When the empress saw that her father was angry, her eyes flickered slightly and a helpless smile appeared on her face.
"Father, please calm down. This is the character of my sister. You know that."
The Queen Mother glanced at her and snorted coldly, "I haven't been back for a long time. Since when did the ruler of a country become afraid of a prince?"
The empress was slightly stunned, then she smiled bitterly and sighed, "Father, you are joking. My sister is extremely intelligent, and even mother admires and praises her. I dare not compete with her, let alone provoke her."
The empress dowager's face became even angrier. No one knew what she was thinking of. Her expression froze slightly, and her eyes were filled with disgust and jealousy.
"Humph, you are the king of a country, and you are suppressed by a prince all day long, what a mess!"
"My father taught me that."
The empress looked ashamed as she listened to the teachings.
Feng Jun on the other side quickly changed the subject: "Father, today is the day to choose a wife for Princess Mingxuan. Don't get angry over someone irrelevant. It's not worth it to ruin your health."
"I think Lin Lan is pretty good. I heard that she is the runner-up in this year's exam..."
"And the second girl from the Duke's Mansion..."
Sure enough, remembering the purpose of the banquet, the Queen Mother was quickly distracted by Feng Jun.
When Empress Ji Yao saw her husband and father commenting on the girls from various families, she didn't pay much attention. Instead, she seemed to be thinking about something, and no one knew what they were thinking about.
(End of this chapter)
