Chapter 84

 

The palace banquet started at the beginning of Youchu (5-7 pm), lasted for two hours and ended at Xuchu (7-9pm).

Hua Yang ate the banquet for half an hour and admired the lanterns for half an hour. She was already a little tired now, and after drinking the fruit wine, she always felt a bit weak and unable to lift her spirits.

After bidding farewell to her mother, Hua Yang along with Princess Anle took the lead and led the womenfolk to walk outside the palace.

Fortunately, the cool evening breeze kept blowing in front of her, suppressing Hua Yang’s drunkenness and sleepiness.

When they arrived at the Meridian Gate, Emperor Jingshun had already returned to the palace. Only the ministers who had brought their wives into the palace were still waiting there. Some were standing alone, and some were chatting with their close colleagues.

Hua Yang saw her father-in-law standing at the front. Behind him were the Chen brothers, Chen Bozong and Chen Jingzong.

Respecting the princess, Chen Jingzong came over first to greet her.

He was wearing a crimson prince consort’s official uniform. He had obviously a bit tanned recently, but his face was like a crown jade reflected by the watery moonlight, handsome and upright.

Almost at the same time that Chen Jingzong stepped over, Marquis Wuqing and Qi Jin, father and son, who were not far away, also walked over.

Hua Yang naturally shifted her gaze and smiled at her uncle Marquis Wuqing: “Uncle, I met Grandma when I entered the palace, but why didn’t I see you?”

Empress Qi was born beautiful, and Marquis Wuqing, as her elder brother, was also a handsome man when he was young. Now that he was over forty this year and had grown beard, he was still outstanding and graceful.

Marquis Wuqing had a good reputation, but he had no extraordinary talents in civil and military affairs. The title of Marquis was also bestowed by Emperor Jingshun when Empress Qi became empress. However, compared with some relatives who love to bully others, Marquis Wuqing abide by his duties. When Emperor Jingshun gave him a job, he worked conscientiously on his errands and kept all the masters and servants in the Marquis Mansion in check. He never caused any trouble to Empress Qi.

The uncle in Hua Yang’s memory was gentle and amiable, and his temper couldn’t be better.

Marquis Wu Qing said with a hint of helplessness: “This minister was originally traveling with Mother, but accidentally soiled the hem of the clothes on the way, so went back to change clothes.”

Qi Jin looked at Hua Yang and explained with a smile: “There were children playing in the alley, and they accidently threw some mud on Father.”

Hua Yang knew that with her uncle’s good temper, he must have not punished those children.

Chen Jingzong, Marquis Wuqing and Qi Jin drank quite a bit of wine tonight, and when the wind blew from their side, Hua Yang could smell the smell of alcohol. No matter who it was from, Hua Yang didn’t like it.

Without saying much words, Hua Yang said goodbye to her uncle, grandmother, aunt and the others. She then greeted her parents-in-law before taking Chen Jingzong to her princess carriage.

The wind blew the hem of her bright red skirt embroidered with golden peonies, making it flutter under the eyes of everyone around her.

The most beautiful princess left gracefully, and the bright moon in the sky seemed to dim a little.

Chen Jingzong stood in front of the carriage and helped the princess into the carriage. He continued to wait outside and watched his parents, elder brother and sister-in-law get on the carriage before stepping onto the carriage shaft and got inside.

In the spacious carriage, Hua Yang leaned tiredly in a corner. She glanced at him, lowered her eyes, then turned her face towards the window next to her, as if wanted to avoid the strong smell of alcohol that came in with Chen Jingzong.

Two lights hung in the carriage, illuminating her face which was slightly red.

Chen Jingzong frowned and asked her, “Did you blown by the wind too much and catch a cold?”

As he spoke, he reached out to touch her forehead.

Hua Yang closed her eyes, and when he moved his hand away, she explained softly: “Drink a little fruit wine. It will be fine after a little nap.”

Chen Jingzong could indeed see that she was a little drunk.

A row of carriages was waiting behind them, and Chen Jingzong asked the coachman to set off first.

As soon as the carriage moved, Hua Yang’s body also swayed.

Looking at this weak appearance, Chen Jingzong directly held the person on his lap.

The smell of alcohol became stronger, Hua Yang frowned and said in disgust: “Let me go, you stink of alcohol.”

She struggled while talking, but with strength of grass being sway by the wind, Chen Jingzong didn’t even need to exert any special force and she couldn’t get away.

Chen Jingzong looked at her blushing face and said, “Usually it’s fine when you dislike me, but today you also smell of alcohol all over, why you still dislike me?”

Hua Yang was shocked. She only drank a little bit, but she smelled of alcohol?

She couldn’t help but tilted her head and sniffed her shoulder.

It smelled of alcohol, but she couldn’t tell whether it was from her or Chen Jingzong.

Chen Jingzong touched her face: “It’s almost as red as a monkey’s ass. How many cups have you drink? Are you so happy to have a palace banquet?”

Just the “monkey butt” was enough to make Hua Yang’s anger rose up. Ever since she was little, everyone always praised her for her beauty. Only Chen Jingzong had said that she was fat, and now this.

An angry Hua Yang looked at him with drunken eyes, suddenly raised her hand and pinched his face.

The flesh on Chen Jingzong’s face was also very firm. Hua Yang’s hand slipped once before pinching up a layer of skin.

The more this happened, the more painful it became. Chen Jingzong raised his eyebrows, but did not hide or protest. He only looked at her seriously.

The warm breath he exhaled fell on Hua Yang’s face. It tasted like pure wine, much stronger than the fruit wine Hua Yang had drunk.

Hua Yang let go, took out the handkerchief from her sleeves, and covered her face.

This was a Shu brocade silk handkerchief with a white background. The thin layer of silk did not have much covering effect at all. Chen Jingzong could still see her thin eyebrows, her lightly closed eyes, the straight bridge of her nose, the red face, and those plump and bright red lips.

Chen Jingzong lowered his head and kissed her lips again and again through the thin silk handkerchief.

His lips touched the silk handkerchief, and the silk handkerchief gently rubbed her lips.

Hua Yang felt a little itchy and couldn’t stand it anymore. She pulled away the handkerchief. As soon as the handkerchief was gone, Chen Jingzong’s lips fell again.

Hua Yang was kissed by him for a while before suddenly remembered that he hadn’t rinsed his mouth yet, so she started to struggle again unhappily.

Chen Jingzong’s throat rolled and rolled, but he still let her go.

Hua Yang was panting slightly.

Chen Jingzong held her with one hand, picked up the teapot on the cabinet next to him with the other hand, poured half a cup of tea for her, and fed her.

Hua Yang gargled the first sip and spit it into another tea cup, then drank the rest.

The herbal tea made her sober up a little. Because she felt comfortable being held by Chen Jingzong, she did not ask to sit down again and just look at him. She switched to use a round fan to cover her mouth and nose, and asked him what happened at the palace banquet: “Why did you suddenly beat Meng Yanqing?”

There was also this palace banquet in the previous life, but this incident did not happen.

Chen Jingzong: “You all know about this?”

Hua Yang: “Yes, don’t tell me that you’re really helping Nan Kang out of the kindness of your heart.”

Chen Jingzong: “Why am I helping her? It’s purely because I don’t like Meng Yanqing.”

Hua Yang asked curiously: “How did he offend you?”

Chen Jingzong couldn’t fully tell the truth in public, but there were only a couple of husband and wife here, so Chen Jingzong didn’t need to hide anything: “He didn’t finish saying the word ‘beautiful’ before my fist came over.”

Hua Yang gritted her teeth and felt that Chen Jingzong was doing a good job.

She liked to be praised for her appearance, but it must be a compliment out of pure appreciation, such as a poet praising flowers. A drunken mention by a lustful person like Meng Yanqing would only make her sick.

Chen Jingzong’s reply to her father emperor couldn’t be more suitable, which punished Meng Yanqing without pulling her out.

Although she didn’t say it out loud, the way she looked at Chen Jingzong was full of approval.

Chen Jingzong was about to speak when he saw her lowering her eyelashes as if she was thinking about something.

Hua Yang was thinking about her previous life. At that time, was it because Meng Yanqing didn’t go to Chen Jingzong to talk nonsense so Chen Jingzong didn’t hit him, or was it because the relationship between the two was cold at the time, and Chen Jingzong didn’t take her, his wife princess, seriously, so he let Meng Yanqing speak frivolously?

She tried to ask Chen Jingzong: “If I still dislike you as much as I did when we first got married, and sleep in a separate room with you at night, and what happened tonight happens again, will still you beat him?”

Chen Jingzong sneered: “Then I will only beat him harder.”

Dared to cause trouble when he was in a bad mood, Meng Yanqing didn’t want to live anymore.

Hua Yang was very satisfied with this answer. No matter what, Chen Jingzong was her prince consort, and he should defend her anytime.

Chen Jingzong looked at her and said, “You haven’t told me yet why you are in the mood to drink tonight.”

Hua Yang glared at him.

Chen Jingzong reacted: “Because of me?”

Hua Yang: “Yeah, when I saw the moon, I remembered the stupid words you said the night before. I was in a bad mood, so I could only use the wine to calm down.”

Chen Jingzong smiled: “It turns out that when you were admiring the moon, you were also thinking of me.”

Hua Yang:……

She pinched his face again.

Only this time, Chen Jingzong grabbed her wrist in time, lowered his head and kissed her neck.

.

Marquis Jing’an Mansion.

Princess Nan Kang left the party early and went to Concubine Lin’s place. She was very angry and did not want to leave the palace at all. However, Meng Yanqing knelt at the Meridian Gate and insisted on waiting for her. If Princess Nan Kang didn’t go back with him, things would get worse, then her jealous reputation and the couple’s jokes would only spread longer.

For the sake of face, Princess Nan Kang had to come to see him in a sedan chair.

As soon as the couple met, Meng Yanqing just lowered himself and didn’t mention the issue. Marquis Jing’an and his wife, who were waiting with their son, just breathed a sigh of relief. But then Xiao Ma gonggong led four beautiful singers with different styles to come over. After pushing back and forth with Marquis of Jing’an for a long time, he still insisted for Meng Yanqing to take them.

Princess Nan Kang got on the carriage angrily.

Meng Yanqing chased into the carriage, coaxing his wife on the surface, but actually secretly happy in his heart.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he returned to the Marquis Mansion and was driven to sleep in the front yard by Princess Nan Kang, Meng Yanqing was called to the ancestral hall by Marquis Jing’an.

Marquis Jing’an was a general of this dynasty, and he looked mighty and majestic. At this time, he took off his outer robe and only wore his middle coat, which made it even more difficult to conceal his strength.

Seeing his son, Marquis Jing’an rolled up his sleeves and began to curse: “You useless thing. It’s because of His Majesty’s kindness that you can marry a princess, and it’s the greatest glory that you can earn for our Meng family in your life. Yet you still dare to be dissatisfied, and dare to go to the palace banquet to complain, your skin is itchy, isn’t it? This old man will help you! People come!”

As soon as he gave order, two sturdy young men immediately came in carrying a bench. They pushed the frightened Meng Yanqing onto the bench and tied his shoulders and legs one after the other.

Marquis Jing’an picked up the plank and started beating him with his own hands. Hit once and cursed:

“I called you horny!”

“I let you accept tongfang!”

“I let you to run to His Majesty and talk nonsense!”

Madam Marquis Jing’an sent someone to inform Princess Nan Kang, and when Princess Nan Kang came over with great difficulty with a big belly, Meng Yanqing’s butt was already covered in blood, and the person had passed out!

Princess Nan Kang was both gratified and distressed, but she was even more afraid that Meng Yanqing would be beaten to death. All kinds of emotions were aroused, and she started to have fetal gas.

Fortunately, she was already due to give birth, and giving birth now would not be considered premature.

The next morning, Marquis Jing’an entered the palace in person and reported two pieces of good news to Emperor Jingshun.

First, Princess Nan Kang and her son were safe.

Second, he personally used family law on his son to ensure that his son would never cause Princess Nan Kang to be wronged again in the future.

Emperor Jingshun spoke for his son-in-law like he did last night, and instead blamed Marquis Jing’an for using family law indiscriminately.

Marquis Jing’an knelt for a long time, and when he left, he finally breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Emperor Jingshun arrange for Eunuch Ma to prepare a reward for his grandson.

Previous     TOC     Next