Chapter 776: Birthday Banquet (Part 3)
Although the lowest official who entered the palace for the banquet was of the fourth rank.
But Sun Shaozong's seat was not low. He could barely squeeze into the front and middle field and was only a few steps away from the VIP seats.
This is because the Dali Temple is the head of the Five Temples, and there is no fourth-rank position in the Six Ministries, so he can be ranked among the top five among the fourth-rank officials.
The only ones who could compare with him were the left and right assistant censors of the Censorate and the chief academician of the Imperial College.
These are top-level noble civil service positions, which can usually only be held by officials from the Hanlin Academy.
A rough guy was mixed in with them. You could say he stood out from the crowd or he was just a fake. Anyway, except for a few greetings at the beginning, Sun Shaozong's weight of more than 200 pounds was ignored by them intentionally or unintentionally.
Sun Shaozong was quite happy to be idle. He picked up a cup of half-warm tea, sipped it casually, and silently recalled the fleeting scene just now.
That should be the Crown Princess.
But if you think about it carefully, although she was surrounded by several dancers, she was wearing an elegant and gorgeous palace dress, and she didn't look like she was going to perform on stage.
But since she wasn't going to perform on stage, why was she hanging out with a few dancers?
Although I couldn't see clearly from a distance, I could vaguely make out that she was nervously saying something.
Could it be that...
Sun Shaozong suddenly had an idea and turned to look towards the stage in the north.
"Sun Shaoqing."
However, at this moment, a feminine voice suddenly came into his ears. Sun Shaozong subconsciously looked up and saw a little eunuch with a hunched back, looking at him intently from behind.
"Sun Shaoqing."
Seeing Sun Shaozong looking back, the young eunuch bowed again and said gently but without a smile: "His Majesty has ordered you to go to Wenzhao Pavilion to see him."
See you?
Sun Shaozong couldn't help but be slightly stunned. Although he had long known that the court would never turn a blind eye to what happened in the past two days.
But compared to the birthday party to be held today, his affairs are nothing.
Summoning him at this time would be putting the cart before the horse.
Although I was puzzled, the emperor had issued an order to summon me, so who would dare to neglect him in the slightest?
Sun Shaozong hurriedly stood up from the mat, bowed and said "thank you, eunuch", then followed the young eunuch and rushed to Wenzhao Pavilion in the southeast.
The Wenzhao Pavilion is usually used to store documents and books, but because it is close to the Hall of Supreme Harmony, it was temporarily converted into a circulation and relay place.
Before the birthday banquet officially began, the emperor would chat with royal relatives and cabinet ministers here.
However, just as Sun Shaozong arrived at the gate of Wenzhao Pavilion, he unexpectedly ran into two acquaintances.
The man in front was still staying at home yesterday; the name of the man behind was just mentioned by Jia Yucun more than a dozen times.
At this moment, the two men were standing on both sides of the gate of Wenzhao Pavilion like gods, one glaring at each other and gritting his teeth; the other had a wandering look of grievance.
How did these two get together?
Sun Shaozong slowed down his pace hesitantly, but still startled them. His aggrieved face was immediately filled with joy, and he didn't care that he was in the palace, and shouted: "Second brother, why are you here?!"
This person is Jia Baoyu!
The middle-aged man opposite him with his hair standing on end in anger was the Queen's younger brother, Zhao Guojiu.
When Uncle Zhao saw Sun Shaozong, he opened his mouth to say hello, but when he heard Jia Baoyu calling him so affectionately, he snorted coldly, frowned and remained silent.
Tsk~
This guy is quite jealous!
Sun Shaozong felt more and more helpless. Right now the prince was trying his best to stabilize the situation, but the ones around him either looked down on the military officers or were simple-minded and showed their emotions clearly.
When Zhuge Liang was protecting Adou , at least he still had a few capable generals at his disposal.
But these old guys...
Alas~
Sighing in his heart, Sun Shaozong quickly signaled with his eyes, asking Jia Baoyu not to come over and talk, so as not to further irritate Uncle Zhao.
Then he stood right in front of the door, waiting quietly for the eunuch to come in and report.
During this time, Jia Baoyu wanted to say something several times but stopped himself, and Uncle Zhao sneered again and again. However, Sun Shaozong just stood there with his hands hanging down, pretending not to see anything.
Fortunately, this embarrassing scene did not last too long - after a while, the young eunuch came back and led Sun Shaozong into the hall.
But once I entered the door, I found that this was another awkward place.
There were only about ten people lined up on the left and right sides of the hall. Most of them were standing with their bodies bent, but there were also a few who were sitting upright on high-backed chairs.
Sitting on the left were two unfamiliar faces, but judging by their crowns and robes, they must be the emperor's two younger brothers, Prince Yishun and Prince Zhongxin.
There is nothing wrong between these two old brothers, but the two opposite them are terrible - Prince Zhongshun who sits in the first seat, and Prince Beijing who sits in the second seat.
These two are old enemies, and the hatred between them is far greater than that between the two "uncles of the emperor" outside the door.
Furthermore, there was no sign of the emperor sitting on the main seat in the center, so one can imagine how awkward the scene was.
Seeing Sun Shaozong coming in from outside, the reactions of these two people were similar to that of the "enemies" outside - Prince Zhongshun snorted coldly and looked away; Prince Beijing, on the other hand, showed no need to smile and nodded to Sun Shaozong.
Speaking of which...
If these two knew about the romantic affair that Sun Shaozong had while boating on the lake a few days ago, their expressions would probably be different.
Just as he was thinking about something else, the eunuch who was leading the way suddenly pointed to a corridor in the southeast corner and said, "Please come in, Lord Sun. His Majesty and several ministers are waiting inside."
Sun Shaozong felt guilty, but he also did not dare to be negligent, so he bowed and entered the corridor.
As soon as I entered, I saw the emperor sitting about ten steps away, facing the entrance of the corridor.
Sun Shaozong did not dare to look any longer , and hurried a few steps to kneel before the emperor, introducing himself: "Your Majesty, I am Sun Shaozong, and I am here to see you. Long live Your Majesty, long live Your Majesty."
There is no need to add the following words, but isn't today the emperor's birthday?
"Get up and talk."
As usual, the emperor exempted him from the kneeling ceremony.
This made Sun Shaozong feel a little relieved, as it seemed that at least the emperor was not angry with him.
When he got up from the ground, the emperor asked again: "I heard that you had an argument with Zhou Chang, the Minister of Revenue, a few days ago? What did you say at that time? Tell me from the beginning."
Huh?
He did not ask about the matter of disobeying the order, but instead went straight to the point and asked about the conflict with Zhou Chang.
Sun Shaozong seemed to be thinking about something in his mind, but he repeated the conversation in detail.
After he finished speaking, he pricked up his ears again, wanting to hear what the emperor would say.
Who would have thought that the emperor remained silent for a long while, and only replied calmly: "I understand, you can go down first."
this……
Is that all?
Sun Shaozong was still a little confused until the chief minister He Tiren waved his sleeves at him. Then he finally reacted and bowed hurriedly to leave.
This retreat took them directly to the square in front of the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
Even after sitting back in his original seat, Sun Shaozong still felt puzzled.
Even if he suspected Zhou Chang, there was no need to call him over and then send him back with just one sentence, right?
After all, he is the Shaoqing of Dali Temple and a world-famous "divine judge". It should be common sense for him to be entrusted with the task of investigating Zhou Chang, right?
Sun Shaozong was puzzled and finally had to keep the matter deep in his heart.
I wanted to be a transparent big salted fish like before, but suddenly I found that the eyes around me were all full of inquiry and eagerness...
