In the evening, the emperor held a banquet in the purple osmanthus garden of the palace to reward his ministers. At that time, the golden osmanthus was fragrant. The princes, ministers and children of the aristocratic families were seated on both sides of the hall in order of rank. The female relatives of each family were separated by a screen and sat behind their heads and men.
, at the banquet they drank wine, talked and laughed, and the king and his ministers enjoyed themselves.
As usual, Xia Houchun sat with Xia Houchun, but the two girls from Prince Gong's palace were both absent because one "fallen her leg" and the other was "unwell", so there was a lot of space behind Zhong Zan. However, Zhong Zan still looked good.
Calmly, as if nothing had happened, he was calmly chatting with his colleagues around him, without even looking at the people in the Duke of Yue's palace.
Xu Ruoyu, who had to attend on the other side, was drinking absent-mindedly, thinking about why her younger brother hadn't woken up yet, and whether he should send someone back to Beijing to give a message to his parents first...
Halfway through the banquet, the palace maid served a very special dish - braised bear meat.
According to the ceremony officer, this was the most ferocious beast among the prey captured on the first day of the siege, and one of them was captured by the emperor. Everyone shouted again in unison, praising His Majesty's spirit of dragon and horse, his shots hitting every target, and his extraordinary weapons.
Showing the royal demeanor...
Only then did Xia Houshu find out that Dugu Che and his entourage also hunted a bear today, and cooked it together with the big black bear that Xia Houyi and the others had hunted, and discussed their merits and rewards at the banquet. Before that, everyone only knew that
Xia Houyi and others hunted a bear. I don't know if it was because he was too low-key or because he didn't want to steal the limelight from other family members.
What was even more puzzling was that everyone else was served clear-roasted bear meat, but the one in front of Xia Hoshu was a braised bear paw, and Xia Houchun, who was sitting with her, also got one.
One bear had four bear paws, so there were eight bears in two bears. The Xiahou sisters divided two, leaving only six. And these six were basically eaten by the concubines who were accompanying them.
This honor quickly attracted the attention of the people nearby, and many people began to whisper among themselves, speculating on His Majesty's purpose of doing this.
Yu Wenke was also very unhappy. After all, Dugu Che had just said in person in the afternoon that Xia Houshu's merits and demerits were equal, and now he was treating him with special courtesy in front of so many people. It was obviously a slap in the face again. But he also knew that in the capital, especially
In front of the royal family, his face is worth nothing.
Everyone thought that it was he and his mother, Mrs. Xue, who made Princess Zhaoyun miserable for half her life, and finally escaped into Buddhism, so their existence was the original sin. However, in fact, he did not feel that Prince Ling and Mrs. Xue had anything to do with him.
Something special.
Over the years, he has been left in the capital like a child without a father and a mother. When he was a child, he studied with the princes and princesses, and he was always the one who was bullied and ostracized. It seemed that this could make up for what Princess Zhaoyun had suffered.
He could only pretend to be uneducated and incompetent to make them stay away from him automatically. When they grew up, they felt that he had made a bunch of bad friends, sleeping in flowers and willows all day long, with bad character, and worried about getting into trouble with them.
It was troublesome, and I didn’t want to join him. As time went by, there were more and more bad friends around him, but there were only a handful of decent men.
Everyone said that he was just like his father, arrogant, lustful, ruthless, and unjust, but he also felt that he was different from his father. At least when he knew that his father wanted to depose him as the heir apparent and change his title to his younger brother.
At that time, he still had some hope, thinking that they would not be so cruel...
He drank glass after glass of wine and had no appetite for the braised bear meat that the palace maid had just served.
Xia Houyuan's expression didn't look too happy either. Fortunately, he was a battle-hardened man and he could keep his composure at this time. He just showed his gratitude to his two juniors in a polite manner.
However, other people's comments did not decrease, and the looks they looked at seemed meaningful.
Brothers and sisters of the same family were praised twice by the emperor in front of everyone for the same thing on the same day. This kind of love is extraordinary.
Probably because of this honor, after a while, several girls from aristocratic families who had never had any contact with each other came over to chat, which made the Xiahou sisters stare at the bear paws on the plate and couldn't eat.
After a few people exchanged greetings, Xia Houshu saw the people sitting in front starting to get up and toast. Except for Xia Houyuan, who was sitting calmly and accepting the compliments of others, Xia Houyi and Xia Houhui both stood up and went to pay tribute to other high-ranking people.
The powerful uncles toasted, and the whole hall suddenly became lively, and the Xiahou sisters no longer looked so embarrassed.
Due to some subjective or official reasons, the Xiahou sisters usually did not interact much with girls from other families, and they were not very good at taking the initiative to socialize. When they saw the crowds of people in the hall, and everyone said beautiful words that they did not mean, they even
Not even bothering to listen, they sat quietly and dealt with the bear paws on their plates. Since it was a gift from the emperor, why should they waste it?
Having just eaten half a bear paw, Xia Houshu already felt a little full. Several girls happened to come over to compliment them. They were full of envy and jealousy, both overtly and covertly. The two sisters dealt with it in a neither humble nor overbearing manner, talking about their performance today and their respective clothes.
Jewelry. If we were talking about other things, Xia Houchun might not be too interested, but when it came to clothes and jewelry, Xia Houchun was so happy. The few of them were chatting here and there and even started to make appointments at which clothing store to go to to make clothes.
I went to a silver shop to shop for jewelry. She looked very happy, as if she were a close friend.
Xia Houshu was neither disgusted nor interested in the content of their conversation, but it was much better for them to chat here than to be secretly discussed behind their backs, so she was happy to chime in with a few words. Suddenly, from the corner of her eye, she saw
When Lu Yingxue left, she quickly ended the chat and sent them all away. Then she pulled Xia Houchun's sleeve and reminded in a low voice: "Second sister, look, Miss Lu is gone. How about we follow and fight?"
Say hello, maybe we can become a family in the future."
Xia Houchun was more interested in Lu Yingxue than those women from aristocratic families whose names he couldn't even remember, but he felt that just following her seemed too deliberate and hesitant.
Seeing Lu Yingxue's figure disappearing from the side door of the hall, Xia Houshu didn't give her any more time to think, and just pulled her out and walked out, using the excuse that she had drunk too much and wanted to go out for some fresh air.
The two sisters hurried out, but they didn't even see Lu Yingxue's shadow, and they didn't know where she went. So they searched along the Purple Osmanthus Garden, but still found nothing. As a result, they met a friend who also came out for some air.
Yu Wenke.
Yu Wenke drank a lot of wine in the hall, so he came out early to get some fresh air. He had already seen them walking around in the yard, seeming to be looking for something or someone. He was curious and climbed there specially.
Sitting on a rockery.
When Xia Houchun looked up, he happened to see Yu Wenke, who was staring at them intently. He was so frightened that he stopped walking. Then he quickly turned back and took his sister's hand, as if to tell her not to be afraid, she would accompany her to deal with it.
A head-on confrontation was unavoidable. Xia Houshu thought that she had already explained everything in front of the emperor in the afternoon, so she really wasn't that scared anymore, so she just went forward openly.
Yu Wenke held the rockery with one hand and his chin with the other, looking at them with interest. His slender peach blossom eyes were full of excitement and he said lazily: "Did the two Xiahou girls lose something?"
?If necessary, I can send someone to help look for it."
Xia Houshu raised his head and said, "We appreciate Crown Prince Yuwen's kindness, but there's no need. We just came out to get some fresh air."
Yu Wenke smiled and said, "Are you looking for someone?"
Xia Houshu ignored him and took his sister to leave.
Yu Wenke seemed to think about it seriously and then said, "Are you looking for someone?"
Xia Houchun and Xia Houchun looked at each other, thinking that this person might be following them on purpose.
Xia Houchun leaned into her ear and whispered: "We don't know when he hid here or how long he stayed. Maybe he really saw a lot of things we don't know."
Xia Houshu didn't believe this evil, raised his head and said bluntly: "Does what we are looking for have anything to do with you?"
"Why is the third girl so hostile to me?" Yu Wenke asked puzzledly, "I have thought about it seriously for a long time. Except for the last time in the red maple forest, I don't know where I offended the girl. But the girl's attitude towards me
The hostility seems to have started before that. I remember our first meeting was at Shuyu Pavilion. At that time, the third girl called herself Mo Zhen."
Xia Houshu wanted to laugh. She thought Yuwen Ke wouldn't care, but she didn't expect that he would actually be entangled in this matter. So she deliberately asked: "Do you really want to know?"
Yu Wenke immediately sat up straight and jumped down from the rockery. He bowed his hands to Xia Houshu respectfully and said humbly: "I would like to hear the details."
Even though he had shown great sincerity, Xia Houshu still didn't want him to get his wish.
"Why should I tell you?" Xia Houshu said deliberately.
Yu Wenke was stunned for a moment, his brows furrowed, hinting at anger.
Xia Houshu was very satisfied with his reaction and continued to provoke: "Do you feel that the claws are scratching your heart now, very uncomfortable, and you even want to beat me?"
Yu Wenke tried hard to put away the anger in his eyes, forced out a smile, and said: "What did the third girl say? How could I have such thoughts?"
You really can keep your composure, Xia Houshu thought to himself.
Xia Houchun couldn't understand what his sister was doing, so he quickly pulled her and whispered: "Why should we waste time with him here?"
Xia Houshu nodded in agreement, and then pulled his sister past Yu Wenke.
"Three girls!" Yu Wenke stopped them again, "I think I have shown my sincerity, and I hope you can treat me with sincerity!"
Xia Houshu stopped, turned to look at him, and said seriously: "I'm not familiar with you, and I never thought you were a sincere person, so I don't need to be sincere to you!"
"Is it just because I am the eldest son of Prince Ling?" Yu Wenke said, "Because of my status, you naturally think that I cannot be friends with you."
This question surprised Xia Houshu and reminded her of what Xia Houyi had told her before about Yu Wenke's life experience. But before she could figure out the question, she was interrupted.
A palace maid hurriedly ran over from the other side and shouted: "Oh no, King Ji is fighting with the prince of Yue Kingdom!"
The son of the Duke of Yue?
The Xiahou sisters felt nervous. This time, the only young masters who came to the Duke of Yue to participate in the hunting trip were Xia Houyi and Xia Houyi, and Xiahouyi's character would never conflict or even fight with anyone casually, let alone the other party.
It's still King Ji who is younger than him. Then there is only one possibility - the one who fights with King Ji is Xia Houhui!
The two sisters no longer paid attention to Yu Wenke, and immediately stopped the palace maid and forced her to take them to the scene. The palace lady thought someone was plotting something evil, so she screamed louder. Xia Houshu had to cover her mouth quickly and drag her with his sister.
Follow her.
Yu Wenke was stunned by their actions, and then a wicked smile appeared on the corner of his mouth and said: "It looks like there is something exciting to watch again!"