The most beautiful lady in the harem

Chapter 369 Autumn Again

This year's Qianqiu Banquet coincided with the Empress Dowager Cixi's half-birthday, so it was held more grandly than last year.

This year, the banquet was held in the Langyue Hall again. The princes, princesses, and concubines in the harem all came to the Empress Dowager to celebrate her birthday. And because this year was a half-birthday, the banquet was even bigger, and high-ranking court ladies also had to come to the palace to celebrate.

However, because there were so many royal nobles in the capital, this year's Qianqiu Banquet lasted for seven days.

Before the main day, the opera troupe in the garden would have already started performing, with different shows every day.

During the seven days, the palace was extremely lively, as if it were New Year's Day.

Every morning, the Empress Dowager Cixi would watch plays in the Langyue Hall and wait for people to come and congratulate her on her birthday and kowtow to her.

However, the banquet had to be held on this day, and the ladies who could come to the banquet on this day must be the royal relatives among the royal relatives.

As soon as Qin Liuse and Concubine Xiao De arrived, they drew up a long menu, which was full of various famous dishes from all over the world. The Shangshi Bureau started preparing for the banquet half a month in advance.

This year, the Empress Dowager Cixi didn't want Qin Liuse to be too busy, so she informed her in advance that there was no need to organize so many activities like last year. She just wanted to invite a troupe of people from the Jiaofang Bureau to sing songs and perform plays in the garden to make it lively.

The Empress Dowager Cixi said this because she understood that Qin Liuse was now a mother and a royal concubine, and she didn't want her to be too busy.

But in this way, Qin Liuse did have some free time.

But even though the Empress Dowager Cixi said so, the excitement still had to take place.

Qin Liuse and Concubine Xiao Defei invited some folk jugglers and craftsmen to make sugar figures, paper-cuts and other folk arts in the palace for the entertainment of the princes and princesses, as well as the crown prince who came into the palace with the ladies of honor.

These were chosen so that Qin Liuse wouldn't have to do it herself like she did last year when she flew the kite.

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On the day of the wedding, Qin Liuse got up in the morning and after breakfast, he heard the pleasant sounds of stringed instruments coming from the Langyue Hall from afar. The show had already begun.

Although the Empress Dowager Cixi certainly has not arrived at the Langyue Hall yet, the opera troupe will sing from day to night for a full seven days to create the lively atmosphere of the Qianqiu Banquet.

After breakfast, the little princess and the little prince knew that these days were the royal grandmother’s birthday, so they jumped up and down in advance.

Although they didn't understand what a birthday celebration meant, the children were very happy because it was lively. They got up early in the morning, changed their clothes, and then walked around the hall, clapping their hands, to see if their mother was ready to go out.

Aunt Mingyue, Qingqing, and Zijin were busy dressing Qin Liuse up. "Today is a solemn day, so the queen must look her best."

It is possible that the mentality of the maids around Qin Liuse has also changed along with her.

In the past, if Qin Liuse fell out of favor, Aunt Mingyue was the calmest among these people, while Qingqing would always worry and sigh for her master.

But this time, even after so many days, Qingqing was not discouraged at all. Instead, she was no different from usual.

This is because, during this period of time, except that Emperor Yongjia did not come to the Zhaoyang Palace, the rest of the daily life and all the supplies were no different from usual.

There are two lovely princes and princesses in the palace, and Qingqing has so many things to keep her mind busy. Naturally, she will no longer feel sad for Qin Liuse like she did before.

However, after all, Qingqing still hopes that her master can reconcile with Emperor Yongjia as soon as possible.

But Qingqing was not in a hurry. Since her master was so calm, she was naturally at ease.

Qin Liuse changed her clothes and came out, sitting in front of the dressing table. Zijin began to work on her hair, combing it and tying it into a flying bun for her.

It makes her already slender and fair neck look even more fairy-like.

Qingqing muttered, "The queen has done this hairstyle today. This outfit will become popular in the capital tomorrow. Everyone will follow the queen's hairstyle."

Qingqing was not trying to bring honor to herself, but because Qin Liuse had attended such occasions several times, the makeup and hair style she did, and the clothes she wore would soon be learned by the women of noble families. After the women learned it, they would move around in the capital, and soon the style would spread among the people.

Qin Liuse touched her hair, looked at herself in the mirror, and said with a smile, "Isn't it your work? You are the driving force behind this trend in the capital."

Qin Liuse's words made Qingqing Zijin and the others laugh so hard that they covered their mouths, and of course they couldn't help feeling a little proud.

Aunt Mingyue came over with a jewelry box in her hand. "These are all things that the queen has never used. I picked them out from the book yesterday and just took them out from the storeroom."

Aunt Mingyue placed the black lacquer box on the table and opened it. Inside was a dazzling gold-rimmed emerald green gemstone and pearl headdress, as well as a hairpin, a hairpin, earrings and a necklace.

They were all rewards from Emperor Yongjia. Because there were so many jewels, many of them were piled up in the warehouse.

The pearls are round and full, shining brightly. The gold is made into a thin leaf base, and emerald gems surround it. When worn on the head, this set of headwear is truly glittering and dazzling.

The little princess, whose hair had not yet fully grown, ran over and threw herself between Qin Liuse's legs. She looked up at her mother, also a little stunned.

Just like seeing delicious pastries, I open my mouth slightly and start drooling.

Nowadays, Qin Liuse can treat these looks very calmly, but when seen from her daughter's eyes, it seems different.

Being looked at by the little princess with blinking eyes made Qin Liuse feel warm and happy in his heart.

All the way to Langyue Hall, we saw such looks, but they were much more restrained than those of the little princess.

When they arrived at the Langyue Hall, Qin Liuse led the little prince and princess to pay their respects and kowtow to the Empress Dowager Cixi.

After a whole day of teaching them birthday greetings, today only a few words came out of their mouths.

"……East China Sea!"

"……Mountain!"

The Empress Dowager was so amused that she couldn't stop grinning.

But when they kowtowed, the two of them imitated Qin Liuse, and they did it very well. The small one touched the ground with its head, and tilted its head to see how the person next to it was kowtowed. They were just about to flip over.

Made the old man laugh again.

"Hurry up, hurry up, get up, come to your grandmother!" The Empress Dowager Cixi liked these two imperial grandchildren so much that she almost got up and came to hug them.

Qin Liuse stood up, took the two men’s hands and led them to the old man.

Zhu Cui held the lacquer tray for the Empress Dowager, and the old aunt took out a purse from it and gave it to everyone one by one, "May our young master also be blessed with good fortune and may everything go smoothly and peacefully!"

"Thanks...Grandma!"

The connected words are not pronounced clearly, and when they are spoken, it sounds like there is only one word.

While saying auspicious words, the little princes and princesses chattered in words that others could not quite understand, and they "communicated" with their ancestors for a long time.

Suddenly I heard some noise in the garden outside, and I immediately turned my head back to see what was going on outside.

In fact, the children were playing in a group in the garden outside, which instantly attracted the attention of both of them.

The two of them ran out, and Qin Liuse took the opportunity to say, "Empress Dowager, I will go outside to look after the two children."

There were many people coming to celebrate the birthday, and Qin Liuse didn't want to let the two children occupy the seat next to the Empress Dowager Cixi all the time.

The Empress Dowager smiled at her grandson who was eager to go out, her eyes curved with a smile, "Go ahead."

Qin Liuse turned around and walked out, preparing to go to the garden, when the eunuch next to her just called out, "Madam Yuan of the Marquis of Shanyang, congratulations to the Queen Mother on her birthday!"

Qin Liuse looked to the side and saw Yuan Jiuer walking in with Xiao Shizi in her hand. It was the son of Yan Shouyu and Shi Qiuwu. She brought him to celebrate the Empress Dowager Cixi's birthday.

Yuan Jiuer was accompanied by her sister-in-law.

Yan Shouyu has set up his own family now, but since he can get along well with the young master and comes with his sisters-in-law, it seems that the Duke Dingguo's Mansion has also accepted Yuan Jiuer.

Liu Yiyi, who had come early to celebrate the birthday and was sitting outside, was secretly staring at Qin Liuse, cursing her as a bitch in her heart, gritting her teeth.

She cursed in her heart, today is the Empress Dowager Cixi's birthday, and she is an imperial concubine, not the master today, but she is dressed so fancy. Who is she dressing for?

However, Qin Liuse's dress today was not ostentatious. Because it was the empress dowager's birthday, she specially chose festive clothes to wear, which made her look a little more luxurious than usual.

The top is a short jacket with an orange-pink background and dark peony flowers, and the bottom is a long skirt with a light gold background and a butterfly pattern with gold thread and slight pleats.

Among the concubines and ladies who were wearing red or bright colors, Qin Liuse's outfit was not considered ostentatious at all.

It's just that Qin Liuse's beauty, which is so stunning that it can shame the moon and flowers, looks the same no matter what she wears, attracting everyone's attention, which is why Liu Yiyi is so jealous.

Especially those ladies who came to celebrate the birthday, when they saw Qin Liuse today, they couldn't take their eyes off her. They took the initiative to go over to greet her and say a few words, all with smiling faces.

The reason why Liu Yiyi disliked them was naturally because many of these ladies had also gone on the autumn hunt a while ago. However, these people's attentive attitude towards Qin Liuse was completely different from their attitude towards herself, which was why Liu Yiyi found it so irritating.

At that time, all the men in the hunting ground had gone deep into the mountains. Liu Yiyi was bored in the hunting ground, so she organized a game and invited the female relatives to come over and play hammer pills with her to kill time.

But in the end, only two or three out of ten female relatives went, and the place was deserted, which made Liu Yiyi very angry.

Unfortunately, those who didn't come all had excuses, saying they were learning archery and horse riding at the hunting grounds, or couldn't leave, or were not feeling well...

But Liu Yiyi knew very well that these people were deliberately not going and not giving her face!