bookcurios Chapter 187 Banquet Confrontation [Revised]
Chapter 187 Banquet Confrontation [Revised]
Zhao Fangyu's summer banquet continued the tradition of noble ladies in the capital. It was divided into two seats, front and back. The front was where little girls gathered to play, and the back was where the wives of the house drank tea and chatted.
The Zhao family had held banquets before, and every family had a list of dietary restrictions on what the ladies could and could not eat.
Another thing is what each family observes, such as who seems to be getting along well with whom, but in fact their relationship is not good.
The banquets came and went with the same routine, and Zhao Fangyu did not innovate. He just followed the old practice and gave the girls more perfumes and cosmetics. If the girls were in a good mood, they could make perfume on the spot.
Zhao Fangjin arrived early, wearing a cold moon-colored tube top with wide-brimmed sleeves. Her hair was combed into a bun, and she pinned it with several mutton-fat jade hairpins and red and blue precious hairpins, which made her look both elegant and bright.
Zhao Fangyu wore a dress of sky-blue with wide sleeves. The material was shimmering and it was embroidered with small flower-shaped butterflies. The hairpins on her head were in the shape of white jade butterflies. She picked out a few of the hair accessories from her set and tied them into a fluffy bun. She wore a jade pendant at her waist and pearl shoes on her feet. Even the maid behind her was wearing silk.
Those who came to the banquet could tell Zhao Fangyu's wealth at a glance, but there was no point in saying more. The eldest lady who had once had ambitions towards Zhao Fangyu could only sigh and sit with her, talking about the latest gossip of the year.
Yang Xiaofei's mother was also there. Zhao Fangyu had specifically inquired about the Yang family. The eldest daughter was married to a foreigner at the border, the second daughter was married to the prince, and there was a younger daughter who was about the same age as Zhao Fangmo, but she was not brought here today.
"She was covered in peach blossoms in the spring, and the little girl was unwilling to come out, which rejected the princess's kindness."
Zhao Fangyu's smile did not reach his eyes. He turned the teacup in his hand and said, "What a pity."
Zhao Fangyu also sent Yang Xiaofei the invitation for the banquet, but she didn't come and replied to the invitation honestly. She has been very quiet since she was involved in the Zongzheng Temple, and she wanted to treat herself as a transparent person.
Although the Zongzheng Temple has not made a clear decision yet, everyone has already made the decision in their hearts.
It was expected that she didn't come, probably because she wanted to vent her anger for her daughter, or it could be for other reasons. Yang Xiaofei's mother, the Prime Minister's wife - Liu Mianxin, came.
Zhao Fangyu was not afraid of her coming, but was afraid that she would not come.
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"Did you remember everything I taught you yesterday?"
Chun Shao's voice was not loud, but it soon aroused a loud response: "Remember!"
The man was dressed in a gray-green servant's uniform, following behind the silent Chunshao, and slowly walked into the Xia Riyan territory.
When Zhao Fangyu saw Chunshao coming back, he reached out and rang the silver bell. A crisp sound was heard, and the servants came in carrying fresh dishes.
Zhao Fangyu smiled and explained to everyone: "This is a snack made from Longxi peaches. The juice is squeezed out and made into a fruit. It looks cute. You can just eat it for fun."
Everyone has eaten fruits before, but the fruits that Zhao Fangyu served were different for everyone.
Each one is as beautiful as a painting, and even the cups and plates are different to match the appearance of the snacks.
Just by looking at the tea sets that look the same but have slight differences, one can tell that they must have been specially made for this banquet. It is enough to see how much silver the Zhao family gave her as a dowry to make Zhao Fangyu spend the money on such a useless thing.
Everyone's attention was focused on the fruit. The little girls were curious and looked at what was on their plates. Then they turned their heads inadvertently to see the people around them and naturally discovered that the shape of the fruit also had a mystery.
For a moment, they all took turns looking at each other with their good sisters.
Only the Prime Minister's wife glanced coldly at the servant who brought the tea, her eyes were indescribably cold.
She raised her eyes and looked at Zhao Fangyu, who was also indifferent in the crowd. Their eyes met and separated instantly, but they also understood each other a little bit.
When Zhao Fangyu looked at the prime minister's wife, it was as if he was looking at an older version of Zhao Fangwei, who worked hard, kept a low profile all her life but had money and power. When the prime minister's wife looked at Zhao Fangyu, she felt that the feng shui of the Zhao family's ancestral tomb was really good.
Good bamboo shoots come from bad bamboo. A grandfather who was born a peasant first gave birth to a very talented scholar, Zhao Minshan, then two sons who became Jinshi (imperial examination candidates), and now even his daughter is exceptionally promising.
The maid who served tea only showed up once and was hurriedly sent away, as if she was just a maid who was temporarily seconded. She was wearing slightly ill-fitting clothes. She only served fruit to the prime minister's wife once and then hurriedly left.
The Prime Minister's wife looked at the fruits that Zhao Fangyu brought over. The surface of the fruits was covered with a very thin layer of dough, and the inside was filled with not-so-sweet red bean paste. Some were wrapped in osmanthus honey sauce, and some were wrapped in jasmine honey sauce.
The one for the prime minister’s wife is filled with honeysuckle.
Zhao Fangyu smiled and explained to her: "The dough made with the water boiled from honeysuckle has the effect of clearing away heat and removing internal heat."
The Prime Minister's wife did not move for a long time. She looked at the picture on the fruit and was sarcastic for a moment.
I don’t know what he was thinking about, but he even looked at Zhao Fangyu with contempt.
Someone behind her cut the fruit for her, picked out a small piece with a silver stick, and handed it to the prime minister's wife.
After tasting the fruit once, the Prime Minister's wife stopped eating it, seeming to be dissatisfied.
Zhao Fangyu remained calm and continued to invite everyone to eat and drink. Everyone talked about the items that were popular in the capital or Jiangnan recently. These things were very different from Longxi, and due to the long distance, it was difficult to transport things from Longxi to the capital.
Zhao Fangyu saw the prime minister's wife personally signing away the calf in the painting of loving mother and daughter, and said with a smile: "The prime minister's wife and the prime minister are deeply in love, which is really a model in the capital. The family is harmonious, so the wife's is the painting of loving mother and daughter, with her husband by her side."
There were ladies around who were familiar with Mrs. Yang, and they hurried to look at her fruit. It was a thing the size of an egg, with every detail carefully outlined. The corner with the calf had already been eaten, and there were still two larger cows left.
Liu Mianxin's reaction was flat. He smiled and pushed his fruit to them: "Young people are very smart after all. If it were us, how could we come up with such tricks?"
With just one word, Liu Mianxin separated Zhao Fangyu from the other ladies. She sat upright and looked at the ladies around her with a smile on her face. That smile seemed to be saying, what kind of things are these that are not presentable?
Someone understood Liu Mianxin's meaning and immediately said, "After all, they are young, so it's normal for them to like small things."
In an instant, this lovely little fruit turned into a strange and lewd technique to please the powerful.
Zhao Fangyu understood what she meant, but did not reply. Instead, he rang the bell again, and a row of maids came up to serve the dishes.
When people host a banquet, they usually cook part of it in the kitchen at home and buy part of it from shops outside.
Zhao Fangyu's summer banquet is no exception, except that there are more dishes. Lotus leaves alone can be eaten in several ways.
One soup is a bone soup that has been simmered for many days, and the other is a sweet soup made with snow fungus. Even the seemingly ordinary locust leaf cold soup can taste the faint fragrance of locust flowers.
Every detail was exquisitely done, and in comparison, those eye-catching and novel fruits suddenly seemed ordinary.
Who are the powerful people?