Chapter 133: Palace Night Banquet
Chapter 133: Palace Night Banquet (Part )
Yang Guang also came back to change his clothes and prepare to enter the palace. His wife Xiao straightened his collar and said, "Dou Yan came to visit today. Your husband is not here, so he went back again."
"Did he say anything?"
"It seems like his son is in some trouble. I didn't ask the details, but he might go to the Ministry of Justice to find my husband tomorrow!"
Yang Guang sighed and said, "If you don't discipline your children strictly, they will cause trouble outside and you will be in big trouble. Yun Dingxing's son robbed a woman on the street last night and was beheaded by someone. This has become the biggest case of the new year!"
Xiao was startled and asked anxiously, "Has the murderer been caught?"
"How can we catch him without any clues? This is bound to be a mystery!"
"Will it affect my husband?"
Yang Guang smiled proudly, "I will give Dali Temple Minister Zhang Guo three days to solve the case. If he fails to do so, I will have a reason to impeach him. If Zhang Guo is driven away, I won't have to lose a leg anymore."
"Does my husband have a suitable successor?"
"I'm considering it. If it doesn't work out, I'll let Xiao Cong be the Minister of Dali Temple?"
Princess Xiao shook her head. "My eldest brother is not qualified! After all, he was once the Emperor of Xiliang. The third brother, Xiao Yu, is qualified, but I'm afraid he doesn't have enough experience. The Dali Temple Minister is a third-rank official."
Yang Guang was just talking to appease his wife. With the crown prince controlling the Ministry of Personnel, how could the Xiao family have a chance?
He already had a candidate, and there were many people waiting for Zhang Guo to step down.
At this time, Yang Guang thought of something else and told his wife, "Today, the emperor specifically asked the third child to attend the party tonight. Don't give him a cold shoulder in front of everyone, or someone will laugh at you."
Xiao sneered and said, "Aren't we all pretending tonight? Don't worry, husband! I will pretend very well."
At quarter of an hour before the afternoon, Yang Guang, his wife Xiao, his second son Yang Ling, and his daughter Yang Feiyan went out in a carriage.
At the same time, Yang Zhao and his brother Xiao Xia drove to the imperial city. It was five o'clock in the afternoon. It got dark early, the night was gradually falling, and there were more and more tourists on the street.
"This is the main gate of the imperial city, Suzaku Gate!"
Yang Zhao pointed to a magnificent tower and said with a smile: "Don't think it's a tower. It's actually a huge palace. The celebration of the Sui Dynasty conquering the Chen Kingdom and unifying the world was held here. Later, the emperor received Qimin Khan here. If it's the same as last year, the first half of tonight will be here, and the second half will go to Ganlu Palace."
"Is there any difference between the first half and the second half?" Xiao Xia asked with a smile.
"Of course, if you want to see the lanterns and have fun with the people, you have to be here. You can't see anything in the palace."
"But I heard that there is also a lantern street in the palace, and the palace maids and eunuchs pretend to be pedestrians to enjoy the lanterns, and the eunuchs set up stalls to sell various snacks and lanterns, is that true?"
Yang Zhao pondered for a moment and said, "It was done before when the Imperial Grandmother was here, but it wasn't pretending to be pedestrians, it was a real lantern viewing for the concubines and palace maids. After my father was demoted, it was no longer done, and they just watched the lanterns directly on the Vermillion Bird Gate. This year my father has returned, I wonder if the lantern festival will be held again. In fact, the palace maids and eunuchs are looking forward to it."
"Isn't it possible for my father to attend such gatherings while he is under house arrest?"
"No, it's not as scary as you think. It's not called house arrest, it's called surveillance. You can go out on the street and drink tea every day. As long as you don't participate in government affairs, there are basically no restrictions. For the first three years, my father and mother lived in Chang'an and attended the royal family gatherings every year. In the last two years, they went to Luoyang and stopped attending."
"Why are you going to Luoyang?" Xiao Xia asked puzzledly.
"Don't you know?"
Yang Zhao smiled and said, "Father was appointed as the governor of Luoyang. Although the governor of Luoyang has no real power, it is also a sign of easing the punishment. The Royal Grandmother passed away two years ago, and my father and mother rushed back to Chang'an to attend the funeral. They only returned to Luoyang in March last year."
Xiao Xia suddenly realized that this was the case. She had been overthinking it. She had thought that the whole family was locked up in a yard and not allowed to go out for five years. It turned out that this was not the case at all.
The carriage entered the imperial city from Hanguang Gate, and then changed to the palace carriage. Along the way, there were various government offices and palaces, which made people dizzy. Sometimes Yang Zhao himself couldn't figure it out. However, the court was over at this time, and there were no officials in the palace, so it seemed a bit deserted.
We passed through the imperial city and entered the palace city from the Zhaoyang Gate. When the carriage entered the Ganlu Gate, the scene in front of us suddenly lit up. There were lanterns everywhere, and the lights were brilliant. Especially on a cross street in front of us, there were lanterns that stretched for three or four miles. Lanterns of various shapes and sizes were brilliant.
Groups of palace maids were watching the lanterns everywhere, and eunuchs were setting up various stalls, selling lanterns and snacks. Groups of palace maids were dressed in gorgeous clothes, bustling about, and laughing constantly, which was no worse than the streets outside.
Xiao Xia never dreamed that there would be so many palace maids. Yang Zhao whispered, "There were only 10,000 palace maids before. After the Chen Dynasty was destroyed, more than 10,000 palace maids of the Chen Dynasty came. Now there are more than 20,000 palace maids and more than 4,000 eunuchs in the entire palace. Look at both sides, the lights in Shennong Hall and Anren Hall are on. It seems that all the royal family members are here tonight. It's grand! It's been a long time since it was so lively." Across a white jade bridge in front is the Ganlu Hall, the emperor's bedroom and the main hall of the harem. It is not a palace, but a complex of buildings surrounding the palace with a wide square in the middle and palace guards standing on both sides.
At this time, an elderly female official stepped forward and said with a smile: "Second grandson, please follow us to bathe and change clothes!"
Yang Zhao pointed at Xiao Xia and said, "This is my third brother, let's go together!"
The female official nodded, "I know, Master Seven, please come this way!"
Yang Zhao said quickly: "They want to teach you about etiquette, see you in the hall later!"
Although Xiao Xia was the emperor's grandson, he was not a member of the royal family and had not been officially canonized as the emperor's grandson. Therefore, the female officials were very cautious in addressing him, calling him the Seventh Young Master instead of the Seventh Grandson of the Emperor.
Generally speaking, royal family members in a situation like Xiao Xia would have three choices. Most people would be like Xiao Xia now. They would agree to allow me to join the royal family, or not. However, this casual state would not last for a few years.
As their interests gradually deepen, their mentality will gradually change, and they will often go to two extremes. One is the good extreme, striving to gain recognition, becoming a member of the clan, and vigorously defending the clan.
The other is the extreme evil, which is betrayal out of hatred, and from then on hatred of the royal family, overthrowing it and destroying it by any means necessary.
Xiao Xia is still in a casual state, because it does not involve his interests. He does not care whether the palace people respect him or despise him. He keeps a distance from the clan and protects himself carefully.
As for which direction he will go in the future, he himself doesn't know.
An old female official in the palace told him many rules. In fact, he knew all these rules without being told: don't make loud noises, don't drink and lose control, don't interrupt casually, don't stand in front of elders casually, don't look directly at female relatives, don't have too much contact with palace maids or concubines, etc.
Then several young palace maids took him to bathe. He sat in a large steaming tub. Four young palace maids in their undergarments stood in the tub and washed his body carefully and combed his hair as well.
This was one of the important rules of the palace that the old female official told him. When bathing, one must not look or touch anything inappropriate. In other words, only the palace maids can touch him, but he cannot. If he touches the palace maids, he will be violating the rules. At the very least, the offense will be recorded in the case, and at the worst, he will be demoted.
Of course, not everyone had palace maids to help them bathe. Most of the external officials bathed themselves, and only the royal family members who could enter the inner palace were qualified to do so.
After the bath, four palace maids wrapped him in a thick bathrobe, changed him into a new soft and fluffy robe, dried his hair carefully, put on a gauze hat, and Xiao Xia followed the two palace maids into the hall.
Bathing is a disguised body search, which prevents you from bringing any weapons to meet the emperor.
But Xiao Xia still found a loophole. The ring on his hand was overlooked. It was not a ring, but a finger knife, a life-saving item given to him by Xiao Lin. It was a clever gadget made by Emperor Wu of Liang himself. If one did not know how to use it, one could not tell that it was three small knives.
The hall was brightly lit, with dozens of long tables placed on both sides. Directly above was the throne of Emperor Yang Jian, and on both sides there were three tables, probably for the three concubines.
Because Xiao Xia was delayed listening to the explanation of etiquette, he entered the hall quite late. The five princes and their children had all arrived. At this time, the brothers were all living in harmony, the aunts and sisters-in-law and the sisters-in-law were respectful to each other, and the younger generations were chatting happily. It was hard to tell that they were fighting for the throne to the death.
In the words of Princess Xiao of Jin, everyone was pretending. Everyone stood at the palace gate, looking at the palace lantern festival not far away and whispering.
Yang Guang was chatting with Crown Prince Yang Yong. When Yang Guang saw Xiao Xia, he smiled and waved his hand, "Qi Lang, come here quickly!"
Xiao Xia stepped forward and bowed, "Father!"
Yang Guang introduced him, "This is your uncle. You haven't seen him in Jiangdu yet. Come and pay your respects to him!"
Xiao Xia knelt on one knee and bowed, "Junior greets uncle!"
This was also the etiquette that the old palace maid had taught him. Although it was a family dinner, when meeting the royal grandfather, one must kneel on both knees to perform the ceremony. If meeting uncles or grandfather's brothers, the first ceremony is to kneel on one knee as a courtesy for the younger generation. After that, there is no need to kneel and just bow. This is not only the case in the royal palace, but also in all the wealthy and powerful families.
Yang Yong smiled and said, "My dear nephew, please stand up! Please stand up!"
Xiao Xia stood up. Yang Yong looked Xiao Xia up and down, with a hint of surprise in his eyes. "I must have seen my nephew somewhere before!"
Xiao Xia was also a little strange. Yang Yong also gave him a very familiar feeling. It was an indescribable feeling. He also felt that he had seen Yang Yong before.
(End of this chapter)