Chapter 277: Night Banquet at Daming Palace
Not to mention, in addition to money, even the children of each family have made a lot of progress, which makes everyone excited! What people fear most is having no hope, and with hope, everyone can burst out with greater enthusiasm.
Jia Huan and Jia Lan also followed behind Jia Cong and saluted with the elders. After half a year of clan school life, Jia Huan had undergone tremendous changes. Not only had he grown a lot taller, he was no longer as fierce-looking as before. Instead, he moved as fast as the wind and looked quite brave.
In the clan school, he was not interested in literature, but was very enthusiastic about martial arts. In every monthly assessment, he always ranked among the top in martial arts.
As for Jia Lan, he had also changed a lot. Compared to his previous dull temperament, he was much more lively. Moreover, although he was young, he was one of the top students in the clan school in the literature examination.
The only person who hadn't changed was Baoyu.
Although Baoyu was smart, he hated the Four Books and Five Classics and despised military affairs! This also caused him to get the lowest grade in several end-of-month assessments. Even though the old lady protected him, he was beaten severely by Jia Zheng several times.
However, he had also made up his mind that after the New Year, he would not go to the clan school even if he was beaten to death. Otherwise, what fun would there be in life? Moreover, in just over a month, the third brother Cong actually took Yuanyang to the East Palace. If she continued to stay in the clan school, wouldn't all the sisters be kidnapped by Jia Cong?
He decided that he would stay even if he had to throw a tantrum at the old lady, and fight the villain Jia Cong to the end! He was just the Marquis of Guanjun, so was he afraid?
When the old lady and others came back, they opened the ancestral hall to offer sacrifices, but this time the main priest was Jia Cong.
Although the main line still has Jia Zheng, the legitimate master, Jia Cong not only has the highest status but is also the clan leader, so it is natural that he should take the lead.
After the sacrifice, Jia Cong chatted with the old lady in the back hall for a while, then hurried out the door with the prepared things and headed straight for the palace.
In order to ask for an imperial decree for Yuanyang, he had promised the queen that he would accompany her to the New Year's Eve dinner...
When Jia Cong arrived at the palace, he was shocked to find that neither the emperor nor the empress was there. However, it was the busiest day in the palace, and the masters in the palace were too busy to stop. It was estimated that the emperor and the empress would have time to spend together only after the emperor gave a banquet.
Fortunately, the Queen told Yuanchun to stay and wait for Jia Cong, otherwise Jia Cong really didn’t know what to do.
In the side hall of Fengzao Palace, Jia Cong and Yuanchun were chatting and laughing. When the old lady and others came to the palace to express their gratitude today, the Queen also showed favor and allowed Yuanchun to meet them together, so Yuanchun was very happy.
"I never thought that Cong has grown up!" Yuanchun said to Jia Cong with a smile, "I heard the Queen mentioned the other day that she wanted to arrange a marriage for Cong."
"When Cong-ge has a child, our family will be even more prosperous. When that happens, the old lady will be so happy! "
"I will be satisfied if I can make the old lady happy and let all the sisters live without worries!" Jia Cong said with a smile.
As the brother and sister were talking, they saw Dai Quan jogging in.
Before Jia Cong could ask, Dai Quan grabbed Jia Cong and said, "My Lord, please follow me. The Emperor has given a banquet and knows that you are also in the palace, so he asked me to come and find you."
"This..." Jia Cong hesitated for a moment, "Isn't this a bit inconvenient? How about I go to pay my respects to His Majesty the Emperor after the banquet?"
In fact, when Jia Cong entered the palace today , he had already gone to Daming Palace to pay his respects to the emperor, and talked for a long time. He never thought that the emperor would let him go now. Today's banquet was considered a royal family banquet. What was the point of him, an outsider, going there to join in the fun?
"Oh, my Lord, the Emperor and the Retired Emperor have both told me that if I can't bring you there, I'll be punished!"
Seeing this, Jia Cong could only say helplessly, "Okay, then I'll go and greet the two emperors, the queen mother, the ladies, and the princes."
"Big sister, please sit here for a while. I'll be back soon!"
Yuanchun stepped forward to help Jia Cong straighten his clothes and whispered, "My dear brother, please be careful with your words and actions!"
Jia Cong nodded, and followed Dai Quan out of the side hall and headed towards the Daming Palace.
When they arrived at the main hall of the Daming Palace, just as Jia Cong had guessed, there were not many people in the hall, and they were all the direct relatives of the retired emperor.
At the top were the retired emperor and the empress dowager, followed by Emperor Longxing and the empress. Below that was Prince Zhongshun sitting on the left, with his wife and Crown Prince Li She also present.
On the right are the second prince Li Wei, the third prince Li Xu, and their mothers, Concubine Shu and Concubine Wu.
After entering the hall, everyone's eyes turned to Jia Cong, but no matter Prince Zhongshun and his wife, the two princes, Concubine Wu, or Concubine Shu, they all looked at Jia Cong without any closeness. This was not surprising, because Jia Cong had offended Prince Zhongshun because of the matter of the prince's mansion official and Sun Shaozu, and he had offended the second prince because of the matter of Daiyu and Baochai.
These people wish Jia Cong would just die, so how could they possibly be nice to him?
"Your servant, Jia Cong, pays respect to the Emperor and the Empress Dowager, and pays respect to Your Majesty and the Empress!"
"Get up quickly, it's so cold!" said the emperor, waving his hand.
Jia Cong stood up, bowed to the people on both sides and said, "Greetings to the princes and queens!"
The third prince Li Yu smiled and returned the greeting, but Prince Zhongshun and Li Wei were too lazy to even put on a show, and Jia Cong naturally didn't care. Although he was a prince, he was not a pushover.
"You little monkey, are you ready to eat?" the emperor said with a smile.
"Your Majesty, no!" Jia Cong smiled awkwardly. He had been busy all day and didn't even have time to drink water, so how could he have time to eat?
"Dai Quan, go get someone to bring a small table over and put it over there."
Seeing the position pointed by the emperor, Jia Cong's eyes twitched fiercely. Was this old man afraid that his death was not tragic enough? It was fine that he was called over for the family banquet, but he also gave him a hot butt position.
You have to know that the position that the emperor was talking about was below him. On this level, the emperor and the empress were on the left, but the right side was still empty.
Being ranked below the emperor and above several princes, this is simply putting oneself on the fire...
Moreover, Jia Cong didn't even need to think about it, Prince Zhongshun and the other two princes would definitely be staring at him! In fact, there was even envy and jealousy in the eyes of the two brothers. After all, if they sat in that position, it would almost represent the throne of the next generation...
