Don't be a salted fish, the daily life of the concubine in the palace

"Your Excellency, is your tongue damaged? This is clearly top-quality plum wine, and it tastes fantastic." A Daqing official retorted loudly.

The Nanchu envoy raised his eyebrows and looked at Shen Wei, who was sitting at the main seat, with a half-smile: "That's really strange. It just so happens that my cup is sour and smelly. It seems that the actions of the Imperial Concubine Daqing are not perfect."

Shen Wei raised her eyebrows slightly.

I couldn't help but look at this 30-something Southern Chu envoy. He had an ordinary appearance, was very tall, and had a strong body. He looked ordinary, but every word he said was full of thorns.

It was obviously aimed at Shen Wei on purpose.

Generally speaking, the best way to deal with this kind of sudden crisis is to give the critical envoy from Nan Chu a pot of wine.

But if Shen Wei sent someone to change the wine, it would indirectly mean that there was something wrong with this pot of wine. At the same time, in the verbal battle between Nanchu and Qingguo, Qingguo was at a disadvantage, which damaged the national prestige.

Li Yuanjing frowned slightly and was about to speak when Shen Wei quietly held Li Yuanjing's hand.

Their eyes met.

Li Yuanjing smiled. He knew that Shen Wei had a way to deal with the minor friction in front of her.

"Master, do you need to change a pot of wine for that foreign minister?" Cai Lian asked in a low voice.

Shen Wei shook her head.

Shen Wei put down the teacup in her hand and asked Liu Ruyan casually, "Princess Mei, this foreign official from Nanchu said that plum wine tastes like swill. What do you think?"

Liu Ruyan is a senior lover of plum blossoms.

She liked to wear clothes of the same color as white plum blossoms, wear plum blossom hairpins, use plum blossom paper, draw plum blossom pictures, and also liked to drink plum blossom wine. Unfortunately, she could not drink much, and she would get drunk after one or two glasses.

Hearing Shen Wei's question at this time, Liu Ruyan pressed her brows and grasped the key words in Shen Wei's words in her confused consciousness - the outsider said that plum blossom wine is like swill.

Liu Ruyan immediately sneered. She raised her pair of clear eyes and looked at the envoy from Nanchu as if she was looking at some inferior stuff.

Liu Ruyan pursed her lips and said, "Plum wine is made from white plums that bloom on branches in the cold winter. It takes three years to ferment one jar. There are no winter plums in southern Chu. You came from a poor and remote place and actually slandered this rare and good wine."

Tsinghua Hall suddenly became quiet.

No one expected that Concubine Mei would actually mock the envoy from Southern Chu for not knowing the value of things.

However, it feels good to curse.

The Nanchu envoy held his chin up, a smile on his lips, "But the wine I drank is really sour and smelly--"

Liu Ruyan was already drunk. She couldn't bear to hear others mocking her favorite plum wine, so she refuted coldly: "The reeds on the wall are top-heavy and shallow-rooted; the bamboo shoots in the mountains have sharp mouths, thick skins and hollow bellies. Toads and rats occasionally drink fine wine and deliberately comment on it, but they don't know its depth."

Envoy from Southern Chu: ...

Liu Ruyan looked at the mediocre face of the Southern Chu envoy again: "The mouse has skin, but the man has no manners. In my opinion, the wine is sweet, but you have a foul mouth, so you taste the good wine sour."

Envoy from Southern Chu: ...

Zhang Miaoyu, who was sitting in the female seat, couldn't help but burst out laughing.

The Nanchu envoys who were watching the fun all looked unhappy. Shen Wei spoke appropriately: "Princess Mei is drunk. Drunk people always like to tell the truth, which is really inappropriate. Come, take Concubine Mei back to Yuxiu Palace to sober up."

The palace maid stepped forward and helped the drunk Liu Ruyan away.

Liu Ruyan was obviously drunk, but she still told Shen Wei: "Noble Concubine Chen, plum wine is precious, you should not give it to outsiders who don't know its value, it would be a waste of resources."

Shen Wei covered her mouth with a handkerchief and pretended to be serious: "Take Meipin away."

After a pause, Shen Wei smiled and looked at the insulted Nanchu envoy: "Princess Mei is not good at drinking. Nanchu is a country of etiquette. This Nanchu foreign minister must be a broad-minded person. He should not care about a woman in the harem."

The Nanchu envoy looked at Shen Wei deeply.

This is a clever statement. If Nan Chu and Meipin were to make a fuss about it, it would make the envoy of Nan Chu appear petty.

He curled his lips, his plain face showed no emotion, he just put down the wine glass and said, "I am an outsider with poor taste and cannot drink good wine. I wrongly blamed the Imperial Concubine of Qing. I apologize to the Imperial Concubine."

He cupped his hands in apology.

The minor disturbance subsided, and the delicacies were served one after another, with singing and dancing. After three rounds of wine, Li Yuanjing clapped his hands, and two armored tiger guards entered the hall.

A target was set up in the center of the hall. Two tiger guards, one holding a modified musket and the other holding a modified crossbow, performed a hundred-step-above-the-barrel shooting show for the envoys from Southern Chu.

The Southern Chu envoys looked unhappy, knowing that this was Emperor Qing promoting Daqing's military power, and warned the Southern Chu delegation not to act rashly.

At a dinner party, everyone has their own thoughts.

At the men's table, the Nan Chu envoy who was mocked by Liu Ruyan was drinking and eating as if nothing had happened. He held the exquisite white jade wine glass, raised his head to drink, and glanced at Li Yuanjing and Shen Wei behind the pearl curtain of the main seat.

The Daqing Emperor was dressed in black and gold court robes, majestic and handsome;

The Imperial Concubine Daqing was dressed in a golden and red auspicious dress, gorgeous and noble;

The two of them had a very good relationship. Occasionally, they would put their heads close together and whisper things that only the two of them could hear.

Everyone in Qing Kingdom knows that Emperor Li Yuanjing now favors Consort Chen Shen. Consort Chen was born in a poor family, but she was in a high position but she did not take advantage of her favor to be arrogant. She cared about the people's livelihood and the concubines in the harem. She was a well-known virtuous concubine.

The Southern Chu envoy drank a cup of mellow plum wine and sighed: "This wine is really sour."

...

...

After the welcoming banquet, Shen Wei had to drink two more glasses of plum wine. She was not a good drinker and was drunk, but she was still sober.

Finally, the banquet was over, and the ministers stood up, bowed, and left one after another. Li Yuanjing asked the palace servants to send Shen Wei back to Yongning Palace, and he summoned officials from the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of War to reconfirm the placement of the Southern Chu delegation.

The spring night was cool, and palace lanterns were lit on both sides of the palace road. Shen Wei sat on the slightly swaying sedan chair. The sedan chair was shaking, and Shen Wei felt nauseous as if she were carsick. She asked the sedan chair to stop and planned to walk back to the palace.

After taking just two steps, Shen Wei's stomach nausea intensified, and she walked to the flower bed and vomited. Cai Lian was startled and hurriedly patted Shen Wei's back gently: "Master, Jixiang has already run back to get the hangover soup, please wait a moment."

Shen Wei said: "I'm fine - A-choo -"

The fragrance of the flowers planted in the flowerbed was so strong that Shen Wei couldn't help but sneeze a few more times. Her eyes and nose were itchy, and tears welled up in the corners of her eyes.

I keep sneezing and it's really uncomfortable.

Shen Wei really wanted to pluck all the flowers in the harem.

Shen Wei wiped the tears that came from sneezing, and felt the cool spring breeze in the garden, which helped her feel a little more drunk.

"Hey, what's wrong with the imperial concubine? She's vomiting and crying, so pitiful." A slightly curious voice sounded.

Shen Wei turned around.

See that plain-looking foreign official from Southern Chu.

He walked out from among the blooming flowers, his wide crimson robe fluttering in the wind and the moonlight shining down, like a strange ghost walking out of the dark abyss.