Noble Lady

Xue Chenyu also made some preparations for this flower viewing banquet.

She had already asked people to find out about some noble ladies who had received invitations to the flower-viewing banquet like her, and even compiled a picture album.

Of course, most families in Shengjing did this, so it was so easy to draw albums for noble ladies.

She had seen the characters in the picture album, and when she saw them in person today, she could almost match them.

But none of them were as detailed and specific as what Chen Lizhu explained to her.

There were also noble ladies who, upon seeing Xue Chenyu dressed like this, took the initiative to come forward and pay their respects.

"Your humble servant Liu Hui'an pays homage to the Princess of Anping."

After all, she was a county lady awarded by the court, and her title and fiefdom were all listed here.

"No need to be so polite, please stand up." Xue Chenyu politely gave him a light support.

However, they just came to pay their respects and then left.

But even so, she was still laughed at by people around her for actually going to pay a visit to a county lady who was nothing.

Because their group didn't go far, Xue Chenyu and Chen Lizhu heard it clearly.

"What kind of people are they? They don't even look in the mirror. What qualifications do they have to point fingers at His Majesty, the Princess of Qingfeng?"

Miss Chen San's expression was much uglier than that of the real person Xue Chenyu.

Xue Chenyu found it difficult to persuade her.

Liu Huian seemed to have retorted a few times, but I couldn't hear clearly because I was far away. I only vaguely heard her say something like "The county lady is the county lady, your mistress would have to kowtow to her when she sees her... Aren't you afraid of bringing disaster to your family by talking like this?"

Then the person who laughed at her had a dark face and kept silent.

Unexpectedly, this woman surnamed Liu is actually a smart girl.

"That's more like it." Miss Chen San gave a rather sensible smile.

At this moment, a eunuch outside shouted loudly:

"Your Majesty has arrived, the Queen Mother has arrived, the Imperial Concubine has arrived..."

"Prince Cheng, the Sixth Prince has arrived..."

Then these most distinguished people in Dasheng made their grand appearance.

Situ Zhen followed the Empress Dowager, and the Sixth Prince followed the Imperial Concubine.

As for why the queen did not show up, that is another story.

"Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager, Your Majesty ...

Everyone knelt down in unison.

"Empress Dowager, look, the third young lady from the Chen family is with the young lady from the Xue family." Nanny Fang reminded the Empress Dowager in a low voice.

The Empress Dowager looked in the direction Nanny Fang pointed, and saw Xue Chenyu and Chen Lizhu kneeling together.

"Let the young people handle their own affairs." It was His Majesty who spoke.

The Queen Mother met his gaze. Both mother and son knew Situ Zhen's life story very well.

When His Majesty said this at this time, it meant that he had some ideas.

The Queen Mother did not respond and sat down quietly.

"No need to be polite, just stand up." His Majesty sat down and raised his hand.

Everyone followed suit and shouted "Long live the emperor!" and then stood up.

After His Majesty and the Queen Mother took turns giving words of encouragement to the ladies, today's competition began.

The general process of the flower viewing banquet is divided into three stages.

Painting flowers, arranging flowers, and making tea.

As the name suggests, flower painting means admiring the flowers in the imperial garden and then painting the flowers you appreciate with a brush.

Flower arrangement is even simpler and clearer.

As for the part about making tea and reciting poems about flowers, it tests not only the skill of making tea but also the foundation of poetry.

Xue Chenyu was not very good at painting and only got a mediocre B grade.

The Han sisters, on the other hand, performed exceptionally well, their painting skills clearly the result of years of hard practice.

Although Chen Lizhu had been bullied a lot in the past and seemed not to care much about these things on weekdays, her painting skills were also very good.

It's not something that Xue Chenyu, who's just cramming at the last minute, can compare to.

Xue Chenyu is quite capable in terms of flower arranging and tea making.

She was very good at flower arrangement, and she was even more adept at making tea, which amazed everyone.

However, all of this was due to the fact that after she married He Min in her previous life, she tried her best to build connections for He Min, so she used all her energy to learn it.

But at that time he was not valued by his husband's family and was of no use to him anywhere, but now he has come in handy.

The three-level competition is over.

The fifth and sixth daughters of the Han family both received three A-levels. However, they were the only ones who received three A-levels.

Next was Chen Lizhu. She had two A grades, but she did not do well in making tea, so she only got B+.

Xue Chenyu was also lucky and got two A's.

Although she was not good at painting, she had practiced flower arrangement and tea making in her previous life.

Miss Xue, who was not favored by everyone, actually got two A grades. All those who were waiting for her to make a fool of herself were disappointed.

I don’t even know how many people secretly gritted their teeth.

Most of the remaining ladies had at least one A, which wasn't too bad.

Moreover, the flower viewing banquet is said to test one's ability in playing the piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, flower arrangement and making tea, but it also tests one's character, family background and emphasis is placed on one's background.

Even if she is a Jia, she may not be unable to become the prince's consort or the crown prince's consort. Ultimately, it depends on whether the crown prince Cheng Wang or the sixth prince likes her.

Even if the two or three top-ranked members of the Han family were not necessarily able to win the favor of the Prince of Cheng or the Sixth Prince, there were some things that were different from playing chess, calligraphy, painting, or flower arranging or making tea.

But the one from the Meng family was the biggest surprise. He scored B in all three tests, which was really not good enough. He was just there to fill in the numbers.

Everyone is tacitly aware of this.

After the results were compiled and reported—

"This girl from the Xue family has really impressed me." The Queen Mother exclaimed in amazement, with an unclear meaning in her words.

Situ Zhen took a sip of tea and said, "Grandmother is right. I've been to the Marquis of Wu'an's mansion so many times, but this is the first time I've heard that the eldest daughter of the Xue family is so proficient in flower arrangement and tea making."

What he meant was that he had previously thought that she really didn't know anything and was just bringing the invitation to make herself known.

This left the empress dowager, who had originally wanted to find something to criticize Xue Chenyu, speechless.

His Majesty also smiled and said slowly, "Marquis Xue is a martial arts fanatic, and Madam Xue is only interested in business. I never thought that they could raise such a virtuous and beautiful daughter."

"It makes me look at you with new eyes."

The Queen Mother glanced at him and said: Don't think I can't hear that you are praising your sweetheart for her good parenting.

After so many years, he still couldn't forget the girl from the Jiang family, even though her child was old enough to be a mother.

"Your Majesty is right. This girl from the Xue family was personally appointed as the Princess of Anping by you. How could she be bad?" The empress dowager smiled meaningfully.

Concubine Chen knew that she had nothing to do with this, so she and the Sixth Prince kept silent.

His Majesty continued the Queen Mother's words, "The divorce is not a heinous crime. Moreover, the Marquis of Wu'an has made great contributions to the country, and the Princess of Anping is a kind-hearted and good girl. There is no need to keep picking on her sore spots."

"What do you think, Mother?"

The Queen Mother couldn't help laughing in anger: Things have come to this point, and the father and son are singing the same tune, so what does she have to think about it?

Looking at Princess Cheng, her expression was extremely angry.

"Princess Cheng, what do you think?" the Queen Mother asked calmly.

Regardless of Dafu's background, as long as he hasn't been officially recognized yet, he is still the prince of Prince Cheng's Mansion, and Princess Cheng is still his mother.

Princess Cheng: It would be fine if Situ Zhen was bewitched and blinded by evil spirits, but how come even His Majesty is siding with that divorced woman!

Could the Prince Cheng's palace be so despicable as to allow the Crown Prince to marry a divorced woman as his first wife?

But she also heard clearly what His Majesty said. He did not allow the Queen Mother to mention the divorce, which clearly meant that he intended to expose the fact that the girl from the Xue family had been divorced.

The Queen Mother was unhappy and deliberately diverted the blame.

If she doesn't understand, she will really become a fool.

But there are some things that the Queen Mother can say, but she, as a minister and the sister-in-law of someone else's brother, cannot say, and she cannot offend His Majesty in public.

Princess Cheng suddenly felt like she was being roasted on the fire by the Queen Mother.

"...The eldest daughter of the Xue family was personally appointed Princess of Anping by His Majesty. This is known to everyone. No one is perfect, and even if they have been divorced, it does not necessarily mean that their character is flawed...."

"However, the Crown Prince has been raised by our mother since he was young. I dare not interfere in his affairs."

This is pushing the hot potato back to the Queen Mother.

The Queen Mother raised her eyebrow slightly, thinking that she had underestimated her.

Situ Zhen was also a little surprised. He had thought that Princess Cheng would argue with her.

But then he thought, Princess Cheng is the best at pretending to be good and smoothing things over. How could she possibly fall out with His Majesty and the Queen Mother just because she doesn't want to see him marry a divorced woman?

Even if she was unwilling a thousand times or ten thousand times, she would swallow her anger in front of His Majesty and the Queen Mother.

Otherwise, he would not have grown up in the Empress Dowager Ci'an Palace.