Chapter 37: Birthday Banquet (Part 2)

  "Is there anyone who can protect the Emperor?" General Li heard that Zi Yan was coming and his whole body tensed up, asking with a serious expression.

  "This is of course. Those bodyguards cost this king a lot of silver." Clutching at his chest in heartache, Zi Ruoye's face twisted in bitterness.

  "What! How can there be such unreliable guards beside the Emperor! This is absurd!" General Li's face turned red with rage as soon as he heard this. From Prince Ye's tone, it was clear that he had casually found some people to serve as guards. Why didn't he use the Imperial Guards? General Li's loud voice attracted the attention of many people, forcing him to fall silent, but his eyes still showed strong disapproval as he looked at Zi Ruo Ye.

  "Look, look... isn't the Emperor coming over safely?" Zi Ruoye pointed with her slender fingers, and indeed, not far away, two sedan chairs were slowly approaching, accompanied by none other than Wang Shiren, who had always been by Zi Yanran's side. The two people inside the sedan chairs must be Zi Yanran and Liu Qingyue.

  Ziyan wore a deep purple brocade robe, with fragrant peonies embroidered on it, and the golden trim made her look even more luxurious. However, this made Ziruo Ye feel helpless, as if she was openly telling others that she was a fat sheep waiting to be snatched away. Moreover, in the country of Zixuan, even extremely wealthy families were not allowed to embroider peonies on their robes.

  Ziyan stepped down from the sedan chair and turned to help Liu Qingyue, who was wearing a snow-white cloud-patterned robe made of cloud brocade and cloud satin, exuding an elegant and refined aura like the moon.

  "General Li, I just heard your voice from inside the sedan. But what happened?" Zi Yan's face was filled with a satisfied smile, and it could be seen that she was in high spirits at this moment. Even Liu Qingyue had a happy smile on her face.

  "It was presumptuous of me to disturb Your Majesty, but I do not agree with the Prince's arrangement for the Emperor's guards. The Emperor is the Son of Heaven, how can he be guarded by commoners? If something were to go wrong, it would be a loss for the country." General Li stepped forward and said with conviction.

  Zi Ruoye heard it but couldn't help but laugh secretly, why did she think the last sentence sounded like a tongue twister...

  "No need to be so formal, I'm here incognito today, let's not bother with too many formalities." He smiled and comforted General Li, casting a grateful glance at Zi Ruoye. Today, she and the Phoenix Empress had come out early, letting her experience the joys of common life, and also allowing the Phoenix Empress to tour the area freely. Meanwhile, no one was bothering them, but Zi Yanran knew that Zi Ruoye had arranged for guards to be stationed around them, protecting their safety.

  "Now that everyone is here, let's hurry up and come in. Today is my birthday banquet after all!" Zi Ruo Ye said with a smile on her face, suddenly turning around to say, "General Li, although we are colleagues in the same dynasty and of the same rank, this courtesy cannot be omitted." She rubbed her thumb, index finger, and middle finger together lightly, indicating money, and gave General Li a look.

  "How could an old woman forget! I'll give it to you in a moment!" General Li burst out laughing, she was still afraid that the king wouldn't accept her gift.

  "It's fine as long as you don't forget!" After reminding her once, they set off. Zi Yanran looked at her greedy appearance and couldn't help but curl up the corner of her mouth, this person really is...

  The arrival of Zi Yanran and Liu Qingyue clearly made the officials present feel uneasy, and everyone hurriedly knelt down to pay their respects. However, they were stopped by Zi Yanran's smile, "Today, I and the Empress are just here to congratulate you, so let's dispense with the formalities." With a wave of her sleeve, she indicated that they should rise, and then walked up to the chair.

  Liu Chengxiang and Liu Qingyou were both very excited to see Liu Qingyue, after all, they had rarely seen each other since Liu Qingyue entered the palace. Liu Qingyou and Liu Qingyue had been close since childhood, and now that they finally saw each other, they wanted to go talk to Liu Qingyue.

  "Mother, I didn't expect brother to come too." Liu Qingyou's voice was full of excitement.

  "Yes, yes. I didn't expect it either." Minister Liu's benevolent gaze fell on Liu Qingyue, and fortunately, the Emperor was sincere towards Qingyue. Fortunately, fortunately. Liu Qingyue noticed their gazes and also smiled softly at them.

  "Everyone can enjoy themselves." Zi Yanran said with a smile, and then let the ministers fend for themselves.

  Zi Ruoye sat at the lower square table, but there was an empty seat next to him. The various ministers all speculated about who the seat next to the king belonged to and why they had yet to appear?

  "Young Master, should you be sitting there?" Liu Chengxiang and Liu Qingyou sat in front of the same table, asking softly.

  "I'd rather not sit there!" Liu Qingyu bit her lip, the seat next to her was definitely reserved for that person, and he didn't want to sit there! From the moment he came in, she occasionally asked the little servant, so she knew roughly. This banquet hadn't even started yet, his heart had already begun to ache, but he ignored Li Yu's gaze which had been fixed on him all along.

  On the contrary, Shangguan Meng confirmed where Zi Ruoye was sitting and asked for Shangguan Fei's opinion. Without waiting for her response, he walked directly towards Zi Ruoye.

  Zi Ruoye held a small wine jug, with her eyes half-closed, and even though it was her birthday banquet today, she seemed to be in a state of half-drunkenness. With one hand supporting herself on the ground, she sat slantedly, and when she saw Shangguan Meng flying over like a ghost, she couldn't help but feel stunned, not understanding what he was coming over for.

  "May I sit here... Ye sister?" Shang Guan Meng's eyes held a faint expectation, his small hands tightly grasping the warm yellow garment. Okay, he admitted it, he was a little afraid she would refuse.

  "This... I'm already..." was about to refuse, but found that Shangguan Meng's eyes were filled with a faint mist, innocent as if tears would fall with just one blink. He swallowed his wine and said, "You sit on my right side." He called the servant to add a seat on the right side. If she really cried, she feared that even politeness couldn't be maintained, let alone that he truly couldn't bear to refuse her.

  He knew his wife was the best!

  The little face suddenly smiled sweetly and sat satisfactorily beside Ziyue Ye. Zi Yanran saw this scene, but her eyes flashed, today she saw the ministers bring their sons, and was very satisfied, ignoring the ministers' gaze like a wolf guarding the imperial sister, that little guy was still the first to take the initiative to go over.

  Shangguan Meng sat down beside her, and his soft voice was like a gentle cotton candy as he asked in confusion, "Who is the seat next to Ye sister for?"

  Zi Ruoye blinked her eyes and smiled as she replied, "It's for a beautiful young woman..."

  Oh! He nodded vaguely, picked up the teacup beside him, and looked at his slightly chubby face reflected in the tea water. Is he considered a beauty? These past few days, everyone who asked about his wife said she only liked beautiful men...

  "Today is my birthday, everyone has fun, next is the program I have prepared. Everyone enjoys it." Zi Ruoye stood up with a small wine jug, swayed and almost fell, said something incoherently and sat down.

  The various ministers did not have high expectations and could only put on a show by inviting an opera troupe to perform, at most they would invite acrobats to do some tricks.

  But then people below were holding trays, on which all sorts of small boats were placed, and to my surprise, candles were lit on the boats. I saw people putting the small boats one by one into the small lake, and the twinkling candlelight instantly illuminated the sky. At this moment, the big red lanterns on the viewing platform were also hung up, and the entire stage was suddenly brightened up.

  Everyone's eyes sparkled with curiosity as they looked at the small boats, wondering what would happen next. Even Zi Yanran and others were watching the stage with a curious expression.

  Only one servant came forward, standing in the middle of the stage, with a very pleasant voice, "It is said that in ancient times, demons who cultivated for hundreds or even thousands of years would transform into human form, go through emotional trials, and engage in passionate love affairs with ordinary people. That year, the White Snake had just transformed into a human...

  This is a story that no one has ever heard before... Everyone listened intently, and as the servant narrated, the small bridge also began to stage this scene of love between humans and demons, beautiful and magnificent. Everyone was so absorbed in listening that they even forgot to put down their chopsticks.

  Zi Ruoye looked at everyone's focused listening, even the glutinous rice balls next to her had an entranced expression. On this birthday, although she was the birthday star, she still had prepared programs for these people to watch... Even when she called out to the servants several times, no one paid attention to her.

  She sighed and had no choice but to go find Yunying herself.

  Yun Ning was in the house at this moment, looking at the neatly pressed clothes on the bed with a worried expression. He didn't want to attend such a banquet, even though his identity had changed, but everyone's impression of him was still that of the head of Penglai Pavilion. He thought he could avoid it and not hurt the prince, and the ministers would not have any complaints, but that person seemed to see through him as if he had already known what he was thinking, sending over clothes and makeup. Looking at the clothes on the bed, he lost his mind for a moment.

  Digression

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