Yan Mingzhu did not list Ming Xingjian among those who admired her, but he was her nephew.
"Master Ming and I are just friends."
Ning Zhenbao nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, they are just ordinary friends. Miss Yan, you and my ninth cousin are a talented couple, a perfect match!"
Yan Mingzhu smiled helplessly and shook her head, letting her go. At this moment, the banquet officially started.
The first program was for the guests present at the banquet to send their representatives one by one to congratulate Concubine Zhuang.
Nowadays, the most favored person in the harem is Concubine Zhuang. This can be seen from the banquet organized by Emperor Zhao for her, which is more strict than that of the empress. Therefore, these dignitaries naturally have to fawn over her.
Of course, for most of the female relatives present today, if they please Concubine Zhuang and win her favor, they will be one step closer to the position of Princess Dingbei.
As a result, each of the congratulatory gifts was more precious than the last, just like comparing their beauty. I wanted to try my best to leave a deep impression in front of Concubine Zhuang.
During the process of sending the congratulatory gifts, Yan Mingzhu saw Lin Huihui. She also sent a congratulatory gift on behalf of the Lin family, but compared to the various valuables in front of them, the Lin family's congratulatory gifts seemed much more ordinary.
After Lin Huihui gave the gift, she did not take another look at the main seat. Instead, she took a deep look in the other direction when she stepped back.
Yan Mingzhu's position is perfect, and she can accurately capture the forbearing and surging emotions in Lin Huihui's eyes at the first time.
This direction... is the location of the Ming family. Who is Lin Huihui looking at with this look?
But before Yan Mingzhu could think about it, she soon came to him.
As soon as Yan Mingzhu moved, all the guests who were minding their own business immediately focused their attention on her.
Fortunately, Yan Mingzhu was used to being the center of attention in her previous life. Otherwise, if she were an ordinary person, she would probably feel uncomfortable and even be so nervous that she would not even be able to walk.
But none of these existed for Yan Mingzhu. She stood up unhurriedly, walked to the center of the terrace, and bowed without humility or saying a word.
"My congratulations to Concubine Zhuang for her long life. I have prepared this small gift to show my sincerity."
What Yan Mingzhu took out was a very ordinary jade brocade box. The length was only the distance between two hands. Compared with the large objects carried by the previous guests, it was almost negligible.
Everyone couldn't help but stretched their necks, and they couldn't help but guess, maybe there was some kind of rare treasure in this box? Such a small object couldn't be more valuable, right?
The guests had just sent a round of congratulatory gifts, but none of them aroused Concubine Zhuang's interest. After all, sitting in her position, what good things have she never seen?
But Yan Mingzhu took out such a small box, with the lid closed, and had no idea what was inside, but it aroused Concubine Zhuang's curiosity.
However, Concubine Zhuang glanced at Qi Jue beside her out of the corner of her eye, and saw that her son had not left Yan Mingzhu since he was sitting down at the table.
But now, Yan Mingzhu came out to send congratulatory gifts, and Qi Jue did not hide his happy mood at all. His usually cold eyes were now full of smiles.
Concubine Zhuang felt aggrieved. She only raised her hand and made an expression of disinterest, "If you are interested, put it away..."
Just as he was about to ask the palace maid to accept it, Qi Jue Qingqing said quietly: "Aren't you curious about what is in this brocade box? I am quite curious, why don't you take it and take a look?"
Concubine Zhuang twitched the corner of her mouth. She was curious. Didn't he just think that she didn't accept it personally because she didn't want to give Yan Mingzhu face?
Before Concubine Zhuang could answer, Qi Jue had already raised his hand and motioned to Feiyu to get it.
Is this for fear that she will refuse?
Concubine Zhuang was really angry and helpless. She had no choice but to do it. Qi Jue had already asked her people to go get it. Naturally, she couldn't harm her son's face.
When Feiyu went to pick it up, he asked Yan Mingzhu in a low voice: "Miss Yan, is this a rare treasure?"
Yan Mingzhu smiled, "No, it's just an ordinary thing."
"As long as it is a gift from Miss Yan, it must be unusual!"
Feiyu took the brocade box confidently, and Yan Mingzhu saw how convinced he was that she really wanted to say that the stuff inside was really ordinary.
"Your Majesty, please take a look."
They were all delivered to her, and Concubine Zhuang could only reach out to take it, opened it, and saw her eyes stagnant, and the expression on her face was difficult for outsiders to figure out for a moment.
Even Emperor Zhao came over curiously. He thought it was some kind of treasure, but when he looked at it, what was lying in the brocade box turned out to be just a... pamphlet?
That's right, it's the kind of pamphlet you can see on the street and costs less than ten cents.
Shi Taiyi also craned his neck to see it, and couldn't help but cover his mouth with a handkerchief, and laughed out loud, "I thought it was some strange thing, but it turned out to be a pamphlet that you can buy one and get one free for ten cents?"
This congratulatory gift is really unique among all the rare treasures!"
There is a strong sense of sarcasm in these words, and anyone with a brain can hear it.
Concubine Zhuang's face instantly darkened, a surge of anger welling up in her heart, and the female relatives showed gloating expressions, all waiting to see Concubine Zhuang get angry in public.
Originally, they regarded Yan Mingzhu as their biggest competitor, but how did they know that this woman actually committed suicide and gave her a ten-penny buy-one-get-one-free street stall product on such an important occasion as Concubine Zhuang's birthday?
As long as Concubine Zhuang gets angry in public and beats Yan Mingzhu out with a stick, she will no longer have any hope of becoming Princess Dingbei. She can solve the biggest stumbling block without any effort. The female relatives all feel that they can laugh out of their dreams!
Unexpectedly, before Concubine Zhuang opened her mouth, Qi Jue stretched out a slender jade-like hand and took out the pamphlet.
After flipping through two pages seemingly casually, he recognized Yan Mingzhu's handwriting almost at a glance. When he took a closer look, Qi Jue couldn't help but chuckle.
"Is this a storybook?"
What? A storybook? Everyone was confused.
Yan Mingzhu admitted openly: "Yes."
"If I read it correctly, this is the most popular story in the imperial capital recently, the story between the cool female general and the God of War Prince, right?"
Qi Jue read out the title of the storybook seriously, almost making Yan Mingzhu laugh.
Yan Mingzhu didn't know that he was trying to get her back.
"Your Highness has great eyesight."
Qi Jue continued naturally: "I have also heard it once. It is a very interesting story. And as far as I know, this story can only be heard in one teahouse in the entire imperial capital. How did you get this book?
?”
Of course, only one teahouse can listen to it, because it was His Royal Highness Dingbei who personally opened the mouth at the beginning, and other teahouses are not allowed to speak, otherwise they will be arrested and punished.
"There is only a simple draft of this story, and there is no script. I just handwritten it based on my own memory. It is completely incomparable with those rare treasures."