I don't want to be the favorite concubine of this palace anymore

This time, it was Xiao Shunzi who brought the sedan chair to pick up An Muxi. After the last palace banquet, An Muxi recalled that Xiao Shunzi was probably Li Rui's man.

Emperor Tiansheng's birthday celebration was actually similar to the usual palace banquets, except that this time there were some envoys from other countries attending, making it more formal.

All the participating prefectures also had to present gifts. Emperor Tiansheng Li Wenxu was 45 years old this year and had been on the throne for 20 years.

He can be considered a wise ruler. Over the years, he has governed the Tiansheng Empire in an orderly manner. The people live and work in peace and prosperity, and the Tiansheng Empire has truly become a central empire.

Every year during the Wanshou Festival, some small countries around would come to pay tribute and make pilgrimages. This is the way for small countries to survive.

When almost everyone had arrived, An Muxi saw a lot of strange costumes from other countries, which were quite interesting.

She saw Feng Qingyu sitting opposite her. He looked much better. The poison had been cured and he was in a good mood with a smile on his face.

Li Rui sat not far from Feng Qingyu, but his face was not so good. He had no expression on his face and did not greet the people next to him.

At this moment, An Muxi felt that there was an unfriendly gaze staring at her from above. She turned her head and saw that it was Princess Wenhua.

She was released? It seems she still hasn't learned her lesson?

An Muxi rolled her eyes at her, and Princess Wenhua gritted her teeth in anger.

She really couldn't understand why she failed last time and ended up hurting herself. She always felt that An Muxi had something to do with it.

Having been spoiled by his father and mother since childhood, he had never suffered such humiliation. He hated An Muxi so much in his heart.

But after that incident, her mother was demoted to a concubine, and her father also disliked her. She didn't dare to take risks easily.

But today she found out something: Yusup, the leader of the foreign states in Western Xinjiang, was fond of women, so maybe she could take advantage of him.

Lipin saw Wenhua's gaze and quickly reminded her in a low voice: "Be honest today and don't do anything else, understand?

You are almost killing my mother. Your father hasn't come to visit me for a month. If something happens to you again, your father will completely dislike us, mother and daughter."

Princess Wenhua was not convinced, but she still agreed obediently: "I understand, mother."

Before the banquet started, all the guests presented their gifts and said the congratulatory words they had prepared in advance, which made Emperor Tiansheng laugh loudly. It was obvious that he was in a good mood.

On behalf of the Rui Palace, Li Rui presented a rare calligraphy work by a deceased master of painting and calligraphy. It was considered to be quite ordinary, but it was enough that Emperor Tiansheng liked it very much.

The gifts from other guests were also dazzling, and most of them were very valuable. Among them, Feng Qingyu presented a large red coral ornament, which had a smooth texture and symbolized wealth and auspiciousness, and was deeply loved by Emperor Tiansheng.

The prince and the queen exchanged glances. Didn't they hear that the Crown Prince Tianqi sent that miraculous medicine? Could the news be wrong?

Yusup from Western Xinjiang presented a piece of raw mutton-fat jade the size of a honeydew melon, which was considered full of sincerity. This time he had a request to Emperor Tiansheng, and he had spent a lot of money.

He placed his right hand on his heart and performed the Western Frontier salute: "Your Majesty, I wish you great fortune and a long life. In addition to wishing you a happy birthday, I also want to ask for your help with something."

Emperor Tiansheng was just smiling, but after hearing this, he had to ask, "What do you want, Chief?"

"It is winter now and food is in short supply in Western Xinjiang. I request Your Majesty to provide some support to help our country in its urgent need."

Emperor Tiansheng was also a little annoyed with Western Xinjiang. Although the territory of Western Xinjiang was vast, the soil was barren. Every winter, refugees would harass the border areas and steal food.

Many years ago, there was even an incident in which the prince of the Western Frontier led his troops to invade and seize border cities. Emperor Tiansheng sent Marquis Anyang to quell the rebellion. The two countries fought many times. In the end, Marquis Anyang seriously injured the prince, but he was also killed in a sneak attack.

Every war is costly and laborious, and even for Tiansheng Kingdom it took several years to recover. So when Western Xinjiang asked for food, Tiansheng Kingdom would give some in order to maintain border stability.

Fortunately, after that battle, the Western Xinjiang has been stable for many years, and no one dared to invade again. This Yusup was the younger brother of the vassal king who launched the rebellion.

Emperor Tiansheng originally wanted to arrange a meeting to discuss some state affairs after the Wanshou Festival, but he didn't expect Yusup to bring them up now.

Xijiang relied on Tiansheng and did not dare to go to war casually, so it could only appease, so it often asked for support.

Emperor Tiansheng's eyes flickered darkly, and then he smiled and said, "The weather is bad this year, which has affected the grain harvest, but we can still provide you with 500 dan of support from Western Xinjiang."

Five hundred dan was half of the one thousand dan Yusup had expected, so how could he agree to it? Then he tried to bargain.

At this time, a cold voice came: "Father, today is your birthday, let's not talk about these state affairs, so as not to spoil everyone's interest."

When Yusup heard someone interrupt what he was about to say, he looked over with a sullen face and met a pair of deep and cold black eyes.

Emperor Tiansheng just didn't want to discuss this matter, so he laughed and said, "Rui'er is right, Chief Yu should just enjoy the palace banquet today, and we can discuss this matter later."

Yusup then guessed that the person who spoke was Li Rui, the third prince of Emperor Tiansheng.

He couldn't say anything more, so he could only say tactfully, "Let's discuss this another day.

But there is one more thing. I want to marry the Princess of Tiansheng Kingdom. This is to express my good wishes for the friendship between the two countries. "

After this was said, many people looked towards the royal women. Emperor Tiansheng was not obsessed with women. He had never favored any concubine since the death of Concubine Rong.

There were rarely any more large-scale beauty pageants, but Concubine Xiao was favored more.

There are only three princesses in the harem, Princess Wenhua, Princess Wen'an, and Princess Wenxin. Among them, only Princess Wenhua has just reached the age of fifteen, Princess Wen'an is fourteen, and Princess Wenxin is only eight.

Obviously Princess Wenhua is the most suitable candidate at the moment. An Muxi couldn't help but look at Princess Wenhua with gloating.

Yusup is about 40 years old, so he can be Wenhua's father. He must be the second wife.

Princess Wenhua obviously thought of her own situation and her face turned pale. She definitely didn't want to marry to Western Xinjiang. Not to mention the harsh conditions in that damn place, Yusup was so old, how could he have the nerve to ask for the princess' hand in marriage.

Emperor Tiansheng was obviously reluctant to marry his daughter to the emperor. He loved all his daughters very much. Although Wenhua had done something shameful last time, she was still the daughter he had loved for more than ten years.

If it doesn't work, then find a county lady and make her a princess to marry. Thinking of this, Emperor Tiansheng said, "Let me think about this matter, and I will give Chief Yu a satisfactory answer."

Yusup then sat back in his original seat.

An Muxi discovered that ever since Yusup appeared, Lu Qingxue had been emitting a chill all over her body, and had been staring at Yusup with hatred.

She asked quietly, "Princess, do you know the leader of that foreign country?"

Lu Qingxue retracted her gaze, calmed down and said, "His brother is the enemy who killed my father. My father died in the war with Xijiang."

An Muxi didn't expect there would be such a story, and said apologetically: "I'm sorry to ask about your sad story."

Lu Qingxue shook her head: "It's okay. It's been many years. I won't think about what happened back then if I haven't seen him."

An Muxi looked at the men's seats opposite and finally found Lu Qingxue's younger brother Lu Qingfeng. As expected, he was also glaring at Yusup with resentment on his face.

Wenhua looked at Lipin anxiously: "Mother, what do you think we should do? Father is not really going to marry me to that reckless man, is he?"

Lipin had only one daughter, so she definitely didn't want her to marry far away. Suddenly, they both looked at a girl not far away. It was Princess Wen'an.