bookcurios Chapter 122 Mu Qiu, the Royal Family Didn’t Invite You
Chapter 122 Mu Qiu, the Royal Family Didn’t Invite You
Chapter 122 Mu Qianqiu, the Royal Family Didn’t Invite You
On the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, the palace had already begun sending out invitations to banquets.
Countless palace maids and eunuchs walked out of the imperial palace and went back and forth between the official residences of all sizes in the inner city of Lin'an, and the First-Rank General's Mansion was one of them.
Sending invitations from the palace is a very particular matter. Which house to send the invitation to and who to use must all be arranged before leaving the palace.
Generally speaking, the people who did this were the senior eunuchs around the emperor, who also served as the chief steward of the Imperial Household Department.
Although a new emperor ascended the throne, the chief steward of the Imperial Household Department did not change. It was Wu Fei before, and it is still Wu Fei now.
Wu Fei is particularly good at doing this kind of thing. He basically doesn't have to think about it. He can arrange everything for everyone with just a wave of his hand.
But this year, they had to use their brains, because the sudden appearance of Ye Wenyan raised the seniority of the First-Rank General's Mansion by several generations. But at the same time, Ye Wenyan had a grudge against the current head of the Ye family, so the existence of the First-Rank General's Mansion was more subtle.
Wu Fei thought about it and came up with a dirty trick...
Madam Ye had been waiting for the palace to send her invitation since she woke up in the morning, and she even changed into new clothes for this occasion. Although the new clothes were still plain, they had lace on the cuffs, and she no longer looked as depressed as before.
In previous years, this day was a particularly glorious day for the First-Rank General's Mansion. With the military power of the old general and the great general, the chief eunuch of the Ministry of Internal Affairs would definitely come in person. Not only that, he would also bring the head maid of the Empress's side, and even the Sixth Prince came in person last year! In short, the face was given in full.
But this year is different. The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Wu Fei, followed the new emperor, and the new emperor accepted Ye Wenyan's favor. On the night of the previous emperor's death, Wu Fei followed Yun Chen to the Ye Mansion to slap him in the face. So the old lady estimated that Wu Fei would definitely not be able to come to send the invitation this year. But she couldn't just send a little eunuch to fool around, so it was most likely that Empress Dowager Li would take the lead. Because of Ye Hongzhuang's incident, the relationship between the Ye family and Empress Dowager Li was not as good as before, and she was even worried that Empress Dowager Li would blame the Sixth Prince for the Ye family.
The old lady was very nervous. She wanted to use this palace banquet to express her determination to Queen Mother Li and to remove the Ye family from the party. She had to let Queen Mother Li know that Ye Wenyan was Ye Wenyan, and the Ye family was the Ye family. The Ye family and Ye Wenyan were not in the same group.
Not only the old lady was sitting in Xu Ming Hall, but also Mu with Ye Feiyu and Ye Lianmian, and Liu with Ye Chulian.
Ye Lianmian still stayed by the old lady's side, and very obediently peeled a handful of walnuts for her grandmother.
Unfortunately, the old lady didn't eat it, and even reminded her: "You will be meeting guests soon. Eating before meeting guests will stick to your teeth, especially walnuts. It would be considered impolite to eat them." After saying that, she glanced at Mu and snorted coldly, "You don't even want to teach your own daughter this little truth. I don't know how you can be a mother!"
Madam Mu sighed, "It's not that I don't want to teach, but I simply don't have the opportunity to teach. Because my daughter was only a few months old when you took her away. You said at the beginning that you would teach her well. So I want to ask you, old lady, why doesn't she know such simple etiquette? What have you taught her all these years?"
"I..." The old lady was retorted. She wanted to retort again, but she found that there was really no reason to speak in this matter. So after holding it in for a long time, she could only say one sentence, "She just grew up by my side. As her biological mother, you are also obligated to teach her."
"The problem is that you, old lady, didn't give me this opportunity! If you had allowed me to get close to this daughter before, she wouldn't have grown up like this now." Mu rolled up her sleeves and sighed again, "It's also my fault. If I had shown the aura of being the eldest daughter in my mother's family before, you, old lady, would not have been able to take this child away."
"You——" The old lady was really furious. She had just said a few words, why did Mu Qianqiu complain so much? Looking at the way Mu rolled up her sleeves, she couldn't help but think of her second son's family who were still imprisoned in Qihua Pavilion, and her heart ached again.
She wanted to bring this up, but was afraid that Mrs. Mu would embarrass her. She wanted to talk about Ye Lianmian again, but she felt a little guilty. The atmosphere was a little awkward for a while, but fortunately, a servant came to report that the person who sent the invitation from the palace had arrived.
The old lady breathed a sigh of relief and stood up first. Without even looking at Madam Mu, she quickly walked out of Xu Ming Hall.
Jun Tao followed behind, and Ye Lianmian also followed. When they passed by Mu Shi, they glared at her fiercely, which made Mu Shi feel a pang of pain in her heart.
At the gate of the First-Rank General's Mansion, a strange young eunuch got out of the carriage. He looked no more than fifteen or sixteen years old, with a fair and clean face, and was quite good-looking.
But eunuchs cannot be judged by their appearance, but by their status. It depends on which palace or courtyard they work in and who their master is.
Old Madam Ye knew all the palace ladies, but at least she knew the main ones, but she really didn't recognize the person in front of her.
He is too young. How can such a young eunuch serve an important master?
Old Madam Ye's face looked a little unhappy.
Jun Tao knew her master's mind best. When she saw the old lady's face darken, she immediately stepped forward and asked, "This eunuch looks unfamiliar! Is this your first time to come to the First-Rank General's Mansion? Please come in, eunuch. In previous years, when Eunuch Wu and his men came, they would sit in the Xu Ming Hall of the mansion and drink a cup of tea. This young eunuch looks really young. I didn't expect that he could hold his own at such a young age. It's really enviable."
The young eunuch glanced at Jun Tao, without moving a step, and only bowed to the old lady, then said: "I am not a person who can hold up a scene. I am just a sweeper in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and I only entered the palace last year. This lady, please don't flatter me anymore, I can't bear it."
As he spoke, he handed over the invitation in his hand: "This is for the old lady. Please come to the palace before the evening of the New Year's Eve tomorrow to attend the palace banquet."
Jun Tao took the invitation and naturally reached into her sleeve pocket. This was the action of taking out money to reward. In the past, the palace servants who came to the mansion to deliver invitations would receive rewards, and big rewards.
But this year was different. When the old lady saw her doing this, she coughed. Jun Tao reacted and quickly took her hand back. She just leaned over to the young eunuch and said, "Thank you, eunuch."
The young eunuch nodded, said goodbye to the old lady, got on the carriage and left in a hurry.
It was not until the carriage had gone far that the old lady reprimanded Jun Tao: "You don't know how to look at someone's face. You sent this little eunuch to slap our First-Rank General's Mansion in the face. And you still want to reward him?"
Jun Tao immediately knelt down and said, "Old Madam, please calm down. I know I was wrong."
The old lady snorted, "Get up. Why are you kneeling at the door? I always heard that when a person leaves, the tea gets cold. I didn't expect that the tea would get cold so quickly in our Ye family."
After hearing this, Ye Feiyu replied: "If people don't leave, the tea won't get cold."
"What do you mean?" The old lady got angry. "What does the death of your grandfather and father have to do with me?"
Ye Feiyu looked at her in confusion, "When did my grandson say that their deaths had anything to do with you? Why would grandma think so?"
The old lady stopped talking, but her face became more gloomy. She couldn't stand up to Mu Qianqiu, and now even her eldest grandson, who was always quiet and polite, started to challenge her. What was wrong with this family? Who was the king?
She didn't want to bother with the eldest family anymore, so she snatched the invitation from Jun Tao's hand and looked through it. Her expression changed again as she looked at it.
This time he was happy. After being gloomy for several days, his dark and thin face finally showed a smile at this moment.
"The royal family knows what is important and who is wrong." She spread out the invitation in her hand while speaking, "Mu Qianqiu, your name is not on it. The royal family only invited me to the palace banquet this year, so I will take..." She paused, glanced at Ye Lianmian, then at Ye Chulian, and quickly made a choice - "I will take the fifth girl with me, so that she can see the world."
Ye Chulian was very excited, excited and nervous, and immediately saluted the old lady: "Chu Lian thanks grandma, thank you grandma."
Ye Lianmian couldn't stand it anymore: "Grandmother, why didn't you take me with you? She is a concubine's daughter. How can a concubine's daughter attend an event like the New Year's Eve banquet?"
"Hmph!" The old lady glanced at her and handed the note to her again, "Take a look for yourself! See if it's me who won't take you with me, or if the palace specifically forbids you from going!"
Ye Lianmian was a little confused. She was called by her name in the palace? When did she have a name in the palace?
Let's look at the invitation again. Okay, there is a sentence written at the end of the invitation: First-rank general's mansion, please remember that the second Miss Ye who talked too much in front of Eunuch Lian Shi in Yanhua Palace that day is not allowed to enter the palace.
Ye Lianmian's eyes turned red with anxiety, "Grandma..."
"It's no use begging me. I can't be the master of the palace. You can only blame yourself for being too talkative."
"I..." Ye Lianmian felt very aggrieved. He looked at Mu Qianqiu and the other two standing aside and suddenly became furious: "It's all your fault! My life was ruined by you. How could I have a family like you?"
Ye Lianmian ran back to the mansion crying, and Mu's heart felt like a knife cutting through her. That was her biological daughter, and even though she hadn't grown up with her, she still thought about her every day and every night. Now her daughter had become her enemy, and the hatred seemed to be deepening day by day. Whenever she thought about this, she felt very uncomfortable.
Ye Qingmei held onto Mu's arm to comfort her, while the old lady said arrogantly, "Alright, you have nothing to do with the New Year's Eve banquet, so just stay at home. Don't think that you can do anything just because the Imperial Observatory and Yanhua Palace have come to support you. Royal banquets are based on seniority, and as long as I am here, I will not tolerate you taking advantage of me."
Thinking about what happened at night, Mu didn't want to argue with her, so she planned to take her two children back home. At this time, she heard a shout from the entrance of the alley: "Madam, please stay——"