Re-embroidering life

The palace banquet on New Year's Eve was not large in scale. It was actually a family banquet. The emperor and empress, along with their concubines, princes and princesses, and clan members, stayed up to celebrate the New Year. A group of ladies, led by Dong Yajing, were also invited to attend as they were noble ladies who might marry into the royal family.

Tonight, Chonghua Palace was like a bright star in the night sky. There were countless lamps burning in the palace, and pearls of various colors were placed on them, illuminating the palace like daylight. The ground dragons were burning warmly, and it was snowing heavily outside, but the palace was warm as spring, and wearing a bright and thin shirt did not feel cold at all.

Inside the hall stands an exquisite rockery made of Taihu stones, dotted with exotic flowers and plants, surrounded by gurgling water with colorful goldfish swimming in the water.

There is a custom of placing a fruit plate for midnight snacks on New Year's Eve. This year, the eunuchs used 52 kinds of candies and 52 kinds of preserved fruits to place 26 different flower and bird patterns, including "Five Blessings Holding Longevity", "Three Friends in Winter", "Abundant Good Fortunes", and so on. The box for the midnight snack fruit is an exquisite three-layer lacquer box, and the surface of the box is inlaid with pearls and gems to create various patterns of flowers, plants, mountains, rivers, birds and animals, showing the royal luxury.

Princes and noble ladies entered the hall one after another. Dong Yajing arrived at the right time, wearing a snow-white fox fur coat without a single color. She had a simple bun on her head, with no decorations except for three long kingfisher hairpins inserted in the middle in a fan-shaped pattern. Kingfisher earrings of the same color hung from her earlobes, and the deep blue color made her skin look whiter than snow.

Miss Liu also came, wearing a golden palace skirt with large, gorgeous peonies blooming on the hem. Every step she took seemed to shake off a floor full of gold.

Miss Liu couldn't help but smile disdainfully when she saw Dong Yajing: "Miss Dong, have you forgotten that today is the New Year's Eve banquet in the palace? You are wearing such plain clothes. Are you disrespecting the majesty of the royal family? Or are you from a poor family and don't have money to buy hairpins? Tell me earlier. I have a lot of new headwear. It's okay to lend a few to you."

Dong Yajing smiled slightly, "Thank you, Miss Liu, but your headgear is too gaudy and doesn't match me. Besides, the Lady of Tanghua County only has one daughter, so how can I have a sister?"

Miss Liu's face changed. Her mother was not of high birth, just the daughter of a minor official, and this was a mockery of her marrying up.

Dong Yajing took a few steps, untied the laces of the fox fur coat, and slowly took it off, revealing the palace skirt underneath. As she moved, everyone felt a little bit of light leaking out from under the fox fur coat. As the fox fur coat was completely taken off, the room suddenly felt brighter and brighter!

Her skirt was made of a whole piece of water blue brocade. Brocade is known as "an inch of brocade is worth an inch of gold" because of its bright and brilliant color, beautiful like clouds in the sky, gorgeous patterns and elegant style, and is known as the "crown of brocades". This piece of brocade was a reward from the palace that came with the imperial decree granting marriage, and it was the perfect dress for the palace banquet.

The materials used are already extremely luxurious, but what is even more attractive is the style of the dress and the embroidery on it. The whole dress is designed to imitate the posture of a peacock. The upper body is slender and fitted, and the hem spreads out like a peacock spreading its tail, making her waist look slender and slim. The hem of the skirt is decorated with dark blue and emerald green peacock feathers. Each feather is outlined with delicate silk thread, and the tip of the feather is decorated with tiny gems, which sparkle dazzlingly under the candlelight.

When she walked, her peacock skirt swayed, and her feathers seemed to tremble gently in the breeze, like a dream. She was graceful, her steps were light, her slender neck was raised high, her skin was crystal clear, her face was delicate, her eyes were confident and proud, and her behavior was elegant and firm. The three long hairpins with kingfisher feathers inserted in her bun were just like the beautiful crown feathers on the top of a peacock's head, echoing from beginning to end, making her look like a peacock fairy walking out of a painting, making everyone present unconsciously fall in love and surrender.

Miss Liu looked at Dong Yajing's back with a look that almost made her want to spit fire. Even if she married the third prince as a concubine, she would not be able to get such luxurious brocade.

There was only a loud singing from the eunuchs and a few whip sounds, and then the emperor and empress arrived with their concubines and princes and princesses.

The emperor was over 40 years old, wearing a dragon robe, looking majestic and solemn. The empress was about the same age as the emperor, wearing a phoenix crown, looking elegant and noble. The concubines wore various palace costumes, wearing pearls and jade on their heads, competing for beauty. Several princes wore dragon robes, with jade belts tied around their waists, looking majestic.

Everyone took their seats according to their rank, and the Third Prince spotted Dong Yajing in the crowd the first time. She stood out tonight, sparkling like a pearl or gem.

The emperor and empress took the lead in raising their glasses to congratulate the couple on the new year. The atmosphere became relaxed, and after three rounds of drinks, the emperor even commented on the midnight snack fruit plates with great interest, rewarding those that were well arranged.

A young concubine in the audience covered her mouth with her hands and chuckled, and said to the emperor in a sweet voice: "Your Majesty, don't just focus on commenting on the fruit plate. There are so many outstanding girls here tonight, and each of them is a pearl of the capital. Why not let everyone show their talents, so that we can broaden our horizons and have more fun while staying up all night." As he spoke, his eyes swept over Dong Yajing intentionally or unintentionally.

Dong Yajing recognized that this was the most popular concubine in the palace, Concubine Lian. Concubine Lian was proud of her beauty and dressed up tonight in a very charming way. She should have been the most beautiful among all the beauties, but she was stolen from the limelight by someone else.

The emperor was not interested in these women's affairs and waved his hand to let them do as they pleased. The queen smiled and took out a fine jade pendant from her waist as a prize.

The noble ladies were all eager to try. If they could perform well in front of the empress and concubines today, it would undoubtedly be beneficial for them to marry into the royal family in the future. What's more, the princes and grandchildren were also watching them.

Dong Yajing had little interest. She was the daughter of a great scholar and was brought up by the county magistrate who was a descendant of the royal family. She had been exposed to the best arts in music, chess, calligraphy and painting since she was a child. Her level was not much inferior to that of her senior brothers, let alone this group of ladies.

In the first round, playing the piano, Dong Yajing won.

In the second round, poetry writing, Dong Yajing won.

In the third round, calligraphy and painting, Dong Yajing won.

There was some commotion in the hall. The ladies were not actually familiar with Dong Yajing. She had lived with her parents in Jiangxia Town for many years and had only been back in the capital for a year. She had not been out for social events or banquets very often. In the eyes of the noble ladies in the capital, although she was the daughter of a county lady, she was basically the same as a country girl. Her father was said to be a great scholar, but he was only the chief priest of the Imperial College and had no real power. This was why Miss Liu was resentful that she could be the prince's principal wife.

But tonight, they all have to get to know the name Dong Yajing again.

Concubine Lian coughed lightly and said, "Although Miss Dong is unfamiliar, I didn't expect that she is a talented woman. We are ignorant of her. However, for a woman, the skills of playing the piano, chess, calligraphy and painting are just icing on the cake. Needlework is her duty. I wonder if Miss Dong is good at this?"

Miss Liu became nervous. Concubine Lian was unaware of the fact that Dong Yajing presented the embroidery "Hundred Flowers Birthday" to Princess Huijun on her birthday, but they had heard about it.

Dong Yajing modestly said, "I dare not say I am proficient in it, I just know a little bit." Concubine Lian smiled and said, "Then how about we compete in embroidery skills in the fourth round?"