Seizing the throne, abolishing the adopted son, the imperial concubine rose to prominence

"Is the Empress saying that the Emperor has granted permission for my family to attend the banquet in the palace?"

Gu Youning raised the corners of his mouth slightly, and even had a hint of showing off on his face.

However, the jealousy in the eyes of the concubines sitting in the hall faded after hearing this, especially the girls from aristocratic families. Their families were already qualified to attend the banquet and they really looked down on this gift.

Moreover, although they were in the palace, they were well-informed. This time, Gu Yuanshan almost lost his life in Dengzhou in order to persuade those bandits, so it was normal for the emperor to reward them.

Now Gu Youning's ignorant and complacent look made them take him even less seriously.

"It seems you already knew this. I originally wanted to leave you a surprise that day."

The queen smiled with a hint of regret.

"This is the first time someone from the Gu Mansion has attended a palace banquet. Your Majesty, why don't you ask two nurses to go to the Gu Mansion and teach them the rules? This will prevent any mishaps from upsetting the Queen Mother and implicating Concubine Gu herself."

Concubine Zheng chuckled beside her.

The governess is responsible for teaching the female members of the family etiquette. The female members of the Gu family are not well behaved, so her daughter is naturally unruly as well.

"It would be good if the women in the mansion could receive guidance from the palace maids, and my parents would certainly be grateful."

As soon as Gu Youning said this, many concubines in the palace showed ridicule and contempt on their faces. Everyone here understood what Concubine Zheng meant. She just wanted to humiliate the people in the Gu family, but Concubine Gu actually responded with a happy look on her face.

As expected, she came from a poor family and had no brains at all. No wonder Fang Cainv didn't look for anyone else but chose to use her as a raft.

"Although I am ignorant, I know that although there is a fixed number of people attending the palace banquet every year, the people are different. In this case, will the Empress send a nanny to teach them?"

"Just for this matter, Your Majesty, I don't know how much hardship you have to bear."

The mockery on everyone's lips froze.

That’s right. Not to mention the royal family, there are frequent changes in officials above the third rank in the capital, and every year there are officials who are granted by the emperor to attend the palace banquet. Many of them attend the banquet for the first time.

"The Imperial Concubine is becoming more and more fond of joking. The Queen Mother has always been kind-hearted, so how could she blame her so easily?"

The queen smiled and glanced at Gu Youning, but spoke to Concubine Zheng who was sitting below her.

"That's right. The Empress and the Queen Mother are aunt and niece, so they are naturally close. I, your concubine, cannot possibly understand the Queen Mother as well as you do."

What Concubine Zheng said was a blatant irony. Everyone in the harem knew that the Queen Mother was not close to the Queen.

When the emperor first ascended the throne, the empress dowager wanted to summon another niece of the Cui family to the palace to serve the emperor, but the emperor refused on the grounds that it had not been a year since the late emperor passed away.

"I heard that Concubine Gu's mother is from the Wen family?"

The queen's expression remained graceful, and her gaze turned to the face of Concubine Wen who was sitting below Gu Youning.

"Your Majesty, that is indeed the case. However, Madam Gu is only from a branch of the Wen family, and I am not familiar with her."

Lady Wen's words were not polite at all, she almost said that Gu Wenshi was not a real member of the Wen family.

"The Wen family has been passed down for hundreds of years. Even if it's a branch, its demeanor and grace are unmatched by others. Rules are naturally good."

The queen took over the words calmly.

The matter of the governess was thus diverted, and the Queen turned the conversation to the Queen Mother's birthday banquet.

Although the Queen Mother has always been cold towards the concubines, everyone is still eager to please the Queen Mother because of Gu Youning's "good luck" of being named a concubine.

Moreover, all the high-ranking officials and nobles were there that day. If I could get a word of praise from the empress dowager, the emperor would naturally look at me more.

So all the concubines tried every possible means to find out about other people's gifts, and the exchanges were very lively.

"Jieyu Gu needs to prepare two gifts. If you can't find anything good, why not offer her the two pieces of blood jade I gave her last time?"

Gu Youning was listening carefully when suddenly a voice sounded in his ears.

She turned to look at that very arrogant face.

"Are you planning to save the eldest prince's share? Don't embarrass yourself in front of everyone."

Seeing Gu Youning looking at her doubtfully, Lady Wen became even more annoyed.

Gu Youning was indeed confused. She and Concubine Wen had only had two interactions. One time was when she lent her sedan chair to Concubine Wen who had sprained her ankle, and Concubine Wen gave her two pieces of top-quality blood jade; the other time was when Concubine Wen asked an imperial physician for her.

If inviting the imperial physician to the imperial garden that time was to repay the favor she had done her before, then it would be a bit puzzling that he specifically reminded her to prepare two birthday gifts this time.

"Thanks for the reminder."

Suppressing the doubts in his heart, Gu Youning chuckled and thanked him.

Lady Wen raised her chin and looked away.

In the eyes of other people in the hall, the two of them just didn't get along.

But Gu Youning really didn't have the heart to think about Concubine Wen at the moment. The Queen's attitude today made her feel a strong sense of crisis.

Her original idea was to appear close to the Queen and work together to deal with Concubine Zheng. The Queen was not a good person, but Concubine Zheng's threat to the Queen's position was obvious, so it was in her interest to win her over.

But the Queen had just deliberately aroused the jealousy of the concubines towards her. There were only a few possibilities. One was that the Queen was trying to hit her; two was that the Queen had found a more suitable knife; three was that the Queen felt that she was no less threatening than Concubine Zheng.

The Cui family and the Zheng family, whether in the harem or in the former dynasty, were enough to make her breathless. Gu Youning felt a strong sense of unease in her heart.

But no matter what the reason was, since the queen couldn't help but take action against her, she had to be more careful in her daily actions.

……

November 15th is the Empress Dowager’s birthday.

To show his filial piety, the emperor held the banquet in the Qianzheng Hall.

At night, the Qianzheng Hall was brightly lit inside and out, and the royal family, civil and military officials, and concubines from the harem were all sitting in the hall.

According to the degree of closeness, Empress Dowager Cui and the Emperor and Empress sat at the highest position, followed by imperial concubines of the fifth rank and above, and below them were royal relatives and civil and military officials.

Although Gu Yuanshan was rewarded by the emperor, he was only ranked fifth and could only sit in the last few seats.

But when Gu Youning looked down, he narrowed his eyes slightly. Only his mother was beside his father. Neither Gu Wenshi nor Gu Youxin, mother and daughter, were there.

If Gu Youxin hadn't said it, it would have been strange that Gu Wenshi, who cared so much about the reputation of the main wife, didn't show up today.

While Gu Youning was thinking, clear and peaceful music sounded in the hall.

A moment later, more than ten women in pink and green clothes entered the hall. When these women danced to the center of the hall, everyone discovered that there was also a woman in colorful clothes and covered with jewels inside.

The woman had a red dot between her eyebrows, and her hair was combed into a bun with two rings. The bracelets on both sides added to her nobility, and the necklaces all over her body made her look more fairy-like. Her dancing sleeves were like clouds, making her look like a fairy bodhisattva who had descended from the nine heavens, cold and noble.

While everyone's attention was drawn over, Gu Youning whispered a few words to Tan Yin.