The Duke's Daughter is Reborn

The little episode between Princess Cheng'an and Yang Qi did not attract much attention from the public. After all, in this palace, the real calculations are hidden behind people's backs, and what is shown in front of people is what everyone wants others to see.

Princess Cheng'an, on the other hand, had suffered two losses in a row at the hands of Su Wanrou and Yang Qi, and was feeling increasingly unhappy. Just as she was about to continue saying something, she heard the jingling of bells and ornaments coming from the corridor, like a spring breeze carrying broken jade rolling over bluestone slabs - it turned out that the Queen had arrived with Princess Yuanyi.

Everyone stood up and saluted. Even Princess Cheng'an restrained her expression, but she couldn't help but glance over there.

The empress was seen wearing a moon-white robe with golden phoenix furrows. The twelve-chapter pattern on the robe flowed in the sunlight, and the dark gold-woven cloud pattern flowed over the hem of her skirt like waves. The most wonderful thing was that the cuffs were embroidered with entwined lotus flowers in gold thread, and each flower was embedded with oriental pearls as big as rice grains. When she walked, the lotus flowers trembled slightly with the step-shaking ornaments, making a crisp sound.

The nine-phoenix-holding-a-pearl hairpin on her head was a treasure from the national treasury. Each phoenix held a thumb-sized South China Sea pearl in its beak, and the largest one was in the middle, reflecting a soft glow on the queen's eyebrows.

She had a red gold and kingfisher-emerald crabapple hairpin inserted diagonally in her hair, with a pigeon blood ruby ​​embedded in the pistil, which echoed the blood chalcedony necklace sent from the South China Sea around her neck. It was noble but not gaudy, and she truly exuded the air of a mother of the country.

Princess Yuan Yi followed beside the Queen, wearing a lake blue skirt with gold embroidered butterflies. On the corners of her skirt were embroidered twelve flapping jade butterflies with tiny South China pearls on the tips of their wings. When she walked, it looked like a living creature was about to fly out of her skirt.

She had her hair done in twin spiral buns and wore the same kingfisher-emerald crabapple hairpin as the empress's, except that the gem was two sizes smaller, which made her palm-sized face look even more delicate.

The most wonderful thing is the string of coral court beads on her wrist, which were strung for her by the Empress herself. The eighteen coral beads were as red as if soaked in morning blood, making her skin look white and almost transparent.

As soon as the Queen sat down in the main seat, a palace maid holding a lamp came forward with a celadon tea tray and distributed the pre-rain Longjing tea to everyone.

She picked up the teacup and took a sip, with a smile in her eyes: "Everyone, don't be so reserved, sit down."

After everyone was seated, the Queen continued, "Today is a flower viewing banquet, not a poetry gathering, but the flowers in the garden are vying to speak. You are all daughters of different families, some of you are good at poetry and painting, and some of you know flowers and plants. Why don't you tell me - which flower in this garden is the most attractive to you?"

Before he finished speaking, Princess Cheng'an, who was sitting in the first seat in the east, stood up first. She held the teacup and bowed: "Your Majesty, my favorite is the purple lily."

She pointed outside the pavilion, "Last autumn, I followed the Empress and my mother to the Taiye Lake. I felt close to the Wei Zi flower when I saw it. Today, it is in full bloom. It looks like the Empress's elegance and grace. Even the petals have a sense of stability."

"Princess Cheng'an is very creative." A crisp response came from the right, it was from Jingzhao Yin's daughter Lu Xiaojin, "But I think the Yaohuang is more wonderful. Look at its golden color, and even the stamens are carved in detail."

A few days ago, my brother mentioned to Lu Xiaojin by chance that he had seen the Queen Mother wearing a golden hairpin. The style of that golden hairpin was extremely complicated, and it was quite similar to the flower Yao Huang, both revealing a natural nobility.

Ever since receiving the invitation from the Queen, Lu Xiaojin began to ask around about the Queen's preferences.

She thought to herself that if she could accurately guess the Queen's favorite flower at the flower-viewing banquet, she would surely stand out among the many noble ladies and attract the Queen's attention.

However, the Queen is of a respected status after all, and her personal preferences are naturally extremely private. Except for those who are closest to her, it would be difficult for others to find out.

Although his brother had a close relationship with the Crown Prince, he was also helpless in this matter.

Lu Xiaojin pondered for a long time and finally decided to place the bet today on Yao Huang.

She thought, since her brother said that the Queen's golden hairpin was similar to Yao Huang, then perhaps the Queen had a special preference for Yao Huang?

Having said that, Lu Xiaojin was still a little uneasy. After giving her answer, she carefully observed the Queen's expression, hoping to catch some clues from her expression.

It was a pity that the Queen Mother always had a smile on her face and her expression did not change at all, which made Lu Xiaojin completely unable to judge whether his guess was correct.

For a moment, there was a buzz in the pavilion. Some said the peony was delicate, some said the wisteria was romantic, and even Su Wanrou, who was the most silent today, spoke up and said that she liked the white lilac the most, "its fragrance was so quiet, just like the morning bell in the palace."

Yang Qi lowered her eyes and took a sip of tea. Although there were many nobles in the Imperial Garden now, everyone seemed to treat the flowers in the Imperial Garden as ladders to become the Crown Princess.

"Yang Qi, why don't you speak?"

The queen's voice was like a feather that suddenly fell, lightly sweeping across the noisy pavilion. The pavilion suddenly became so quiet that one could hear the light sound of wisteria flowers falling to the ground.

All the ladies competed with each other for beauty, hoping to win the favor of the Queen, but they never thought that the Queen only asked about the young lady of the Duke of Song's mansion.

The teacup held by Princess Cheng'an hit the stone table with a clang. It was the second time she had thrown the teacup away today. However, she looked as if her backbone had been pulled out and drooped down. She looked at the smiling eyes of the Queen as she looked at Yang Qi, and she could only force a smile.

Lu Xiaojin's jade beads were tangled in her palm. She had originally wanted to use Yao Huang to suppress the other noble ladies, but now she saw that the Queen only cared about Yang Qi. Her nails almost dug into the flesh of her wrist, and she could only force a smile.

The Queen Mother actually praises Yang Qi so much. Could it be that after being with Princess Yuan Yi for several months, Yang Qi has gained the Queen Mother's favor?

But the Duke of Song's Mansion is already in decline, and they intend to marry the second daughter of the mansion to the fifth prince. How could the Queen continue to favor the daughter of the Duke of Song's Mansion?

What kind of women in the Duke of Song’s mansion are the reincarnations of fox spirits? Could it be that they can all drug people with drugs?

Song Yanglan finally quieted down among the noble ladies, and now Song Yangqi has appeared again.

Yang Qi looked up in the whirlpool and saw the Queen looking at him with a smile in the corners of her eyes. It was not like the scrutiny of an ordinary elder, but more like an elder asking a younger person a question.

She calmed herself down, stood up and bowed: "Your Majesty, my favorite tree is the old apricot tree growing behind the rockery."

Yang Qi knew very well that the reason why the Queen specifically mentioned her in front of so many people and specifically named her in the post from the Duke of Song's Mansion was that every move was not accidental.

It is obvious that the Queen did this with deep meaning. She was intentionally trying to create a good impression for herself in this prosperous place, the Imperial City.

The room was silent for a moment. The old apricot tree? It was in the most remote corner of the imperial garden. Even the head of the flower room could not tell its age. When it bloomed, the flowers were just a few in number, far less eye-catching than the Yaohuang and Weizi trees.

"Oh?" The Queen became interested. "Why?"

"When I was young in the Song Mansion, Mr. Yang took me to the outskirts of the city to see wild apricots." Yang Qi looked at the apricot tree outside the pavilion, her voice soft but clear, "The tree grows on the edge of the cliff, with branches leaning out diagonally. When it blooms, the pink and white flowers look like clouds falling all over the cliff. Mr. Yang said that wild apricots don't have a greenhouse to take care of them, and there are no gardeners to fertilize them, but when they bloom, they are more energetic than those delicate ones."