Chapter 778: Birthday Banquet (V)
The sedan chair slowly moved forward, and wherever it went, it was like cutting through the waves. The dancers blocking the front bowed and retreated.
However, the child's identity spread ten times faster than the sedan chair, and spread to every corner of the birthday party like a plague.
The Crown Prince!
The prince's 'son'!
Almost in the blink of an eye, the hustle and bustle of the banquet was replaced by deathly silence.
Even the sounds of dance and music from the surroundings seemed to be blocked out outside the square.
Among the civil and military nobles present, although there were inevitably a few who were just filling in the numbers, the vast majority could be considered elites in the officialdom.
When people saw the three tables and chairs lined up in the middle, many of them realized that the emperor intended to promote Jia Yuanchun, and even intended to depose and enthronize the crown prince.
In the blink of an eye, the Crown Prince, who had been talked about on the streets for two whole years but had never appeared in public, suddenly appeared at the birthday banquet with great fanfare.
If you say this is not the prince 's counterattack, even a fool wouldn't believe it!
So at that moment, hundreds of pairs of eyes were staring at the small figure, and the emotions contained in them were different.
Among them, the one with the most special ideas is naturally Sun Shaozong.
It was his idea to have the Crown Prince appear on stage at the birthday banquet, and he had already guessed from the Crown Princess's unusual behavior that the Crown Prince was most likely going to appear on stage.
Therefore, he was not shocked at all. Instead, he stared at the grandson for a few times and sighed with contentment:
It turns out that this chubby kid is the crown prince that I created!
Although the sedan chair was moving slowly forward, the distance of several dozen steps would eventually have an end.
Seeing that they were close to the emperor, two young eunuchs carefully took it off their shoulders and then knelt down swiftly on both sides of the sedan chair.
Then, the little man turned around and lay on the sedan chair, then twisted his body and moved down little by little. When his feet were firmly on the ground, he did not straighten his body in a hurry, but stretched out his hand to touch something in the sedan chair.
After a while, he finally straightened his back, and there was a fist-sized longevity peach in his hand.
The little person, holding the longevity peach, slowly turned around, looked around in confusion at first, then identified the emperor in front of him and moved closer step by step.
The emperor was also observing him, observing him expressionlessly.
And there seemed to be little kindness in the emperor's eyes.
Therefore, the child stood timidly at a certain distance from the imperial desk, hunched his shoulders and raised his head, looking at the emperor with grievance.
Time seemed to freeze at this moment.
At the birthday banquet with hundreds of people, the music was still melodious and the dancing never stopped, but all the guests at the banquet were like clay or wooden sculptures, not making any sound.
Everyone's eyes shifted back and forth between the Emperor Retired and the Crown Prince , afraid of missing even the slightest detail.
Throughout the dynasties, the fight for the throne has always been the most dangerous court struggle. Not to mention the winners and losers, the number of innocent officials implicated is also countless!
Therefore, even if one does not want to participate in the fight for the throne, one cannot help but hope to see some clues so that one can avoid danger and seek fortune in the future and avoid being killed.
It seemed like a long time had passed, yet it seemed like only a brief moment.
The Crown Prince, holding the longevity peach, finally took the initiative to break the deadlock - he avoided the emperor's gaze, and began to look back uneasily, as if he was expecting something.
And the figure he was looking forward to finally appeared at the right time.
Then, a dignified and graceful figure appeared from behind the stage and came up leisurely.
Needless to say, this person is naturally the Crown Princess Sun.
But when she arrived beside the Crown Prince, she knelt down and said long live the emperor, then took the Crown Prince's hand and said in a gentle and persuasive manner: "Son, what did your father teach you before? Let Grandpa listen too."
The gentle words and graceful manners greatly reduced the Crown Prince's panic, so he tilted his head and looked back and forth between the Crown Princess and Emperor Guangde several times, and suddenly said in a childish voice: "Grandpa, long live your majesty."
As soon as he finished speaking, he threw himself into the Crown Princess's arms and started to act coquettishly.
Although this short sentence was divided into three parts and the pronunciation was a little unclear, it was still quite rare for a child who was less than two years old.
If this had happened at another birthday party, and the grandson had congratulated him in this way, the guests would have probably cheered loudly and flattered him countless times.
However……
At this time, the birthday banquet was still dead silent.
People were still waiting for the emperor's attitude. Even Sun Shaozong, the instigator, did not dare to show up at this time.
Time seemed to freeze again, and this time, due to the presence of the Crown Princess, the atmosphere seemed even more solemn than before.
No one except the emperor himself could break this second stalemate.
However, the emperor looked at the small figure and seemed to be lost in thought. He did not react for a long time, and had no intention of taking the initiative to break the deadlock.
The solemn atmosphere gradually turned into awkwardness.
If the stalemate continues like this, the Crown Prince's first appearance is likely to turn into an absurd farce.
"What's the matter, Your Majesty?"
At this moment, a voice finally broke the silence.
Along with the voice came a middle-aged woman wearing a phoenix coronet and a bridal robe, surrounded by several noble ladies.
This middle-aged woman was none other than Queen Zhao, who had once met Sun Shaozong.
"This humble servant has met the Empress's wife."
Although Queen Zhao raised questions to Emperor Guangde as soon as she appeared on the stage, the first person to respond was not the emperor, but Prince Zhongshun who was sitting on his right.
As he took the lead, the other two princes opposite also stood up to greet him.
The rest of the civil and military nobles naturally stood up as well, but they were not qualified to greet Queen Zhao, so they could only bow silently.
After Queen Zhao bowed and returned the greetings to the three princes, she stepped forward to take the child from the Crown Princess and carried him to Emperor Guangde. She smiled and said, "Your Majesty, were you surprised by the child's intelligence just now? Why didn't you respond for such a long time?"
The emperor looked up at her, then slowly stood up and carefully examined the child for a few more times. Finally, he said word by word, "She is indeed very smart."
No matter how you listen to this, it sounds like a double entendre.
But the queen smiled even more happily, and the crow's feet at the corners of her eyes were tightly wrinkled. Then she held the child and turned back to tease, "De Fei, when his little uncle is born, you can't let this nephew take the lead."
Following her teasing, Sun Shaozong opened his eyes wide to look - to be honest, although he had been in and out of Jingren Palace several times, he had never seen this Empress Defei.
In terms of appearance, she is somewhat similar to Jia Tanchun.
However, there was always a bit of stubbornness and strength in Jia Tanchun's brows that could not be concealed.
Although they have similar facial features, Jia Yuanchun looks gentle and pleasing to the eye.
As for the figure...
It would be strange if anyone could see anything wrapped in that wide auspicious robe.
But when Jia Yuanchun heard Queen Zhao's teasing, she smiled and leaned forward slightly, saying, "I am stupid and I am afraid I can't teach children as well as the Crown Princess."
In fact, Queen Zhao had laid a trap in her ridicule.
But Jia Yuanchun was not fooled. She did not mention the baby in her belly at all and only admitted that she was not as good as the Crown Princess.
At least on the surface, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this statement.
So Queen Zhao smiled and stopped targeting her. Instead, she turned around and held the child in her arms and said, "Your Majesty, I am fine, but Concubine De is pregnant. Should we let her take the seat first to avoid hurting her body?"
Emperor Guangde finally came to his senses at this time, and immediately invited Empress Zhao and Jia Yuanchun to take their seats. He also ordered the eunuchs to set up another table to entertain the several relatives and ladies who came with Empress Zhao.
At this moment the crown prince also came over with gifts from the retired emperor, and after a lot of fuss, the "confrontation between grandfather and grandson" seemed to be over.
However, none of the civil and military officials present at the scene would seriously believe that this matter would just pass so easily!
So when the banquet started again, amid the joyous smiles and clinking of glasses, there was always a weird atmosphere.
…
Not to mention the banquet.
Among the relatives and noble ladies who came with Queen Zhao, there was one who kept looking at Sun Shaozong who was at the table.
This person was none other than Princess Wei of Prince Beijing.
Previously, she broke into the Dali Temple court in anger, but unexpectedly saw Lord Niu hitting his head and dying.
I was completely confused at the time and felt completely bewildered.
Later, when he returned home, he asked Xia Jingui again and again, but she kept making excuses and evading the question.
Besides, Wei Ruolan had just been released from prison at that time, and the two siblings had endless private conversations to share, so naturally they didn't pursue the matter any further.
However, her deep-seated impression of Sun Shaozong inevitably underwent some changes.
But with the news that Sun Shaozong disobeyed the imperial order in order to save an innocent child two days ago, this perception changed again.
In fact, to be honest, Sun Shaozong had many heroic deeds in the past, many of which were not necessarily inferior to his performance this time.
However, because of Wei Ruolan, Princess Beijing had some resentment in her heart, and it was inevitable that she looked at Sun Shaozong's actions with prejudice.
And at this time...
Those many rumors lingered in Princess Beijing's mind, making her unsure of how to evaluate this man.
Despicable?
Upright and awe-inspiring?
Abuse of power for personal gain?
Fair and honest?
While stealing glances at Sun Shaozong at the table, Wei Ying seemed to see many different faces in her mind.
Some are amiable and decent, some are ferocious and vicious; some are righteous and eloquent, and some are eloquent and flattering.
Naturally, a red-faced, panting face will appear among them.
Phew!
What on earth were you thinking about?!
Princess Beijing secretly spat at herself in her heart, glanced guiltily at Prince Beijing Shui Rong who was not far away, and then forced herself to swear in her heart: I will find an opportunity someday to kill this shameless beast and wash away the humiliation I have suffered!
