The Legend of the Concubine in the Harem

The full-moon banquet was not as grand as the one-year-old banquet, so apart from the concubines in the harem, most of the people who came to Shouning Palace were women from the royal family and women from other official positions. Xie Yuzhen didn't talk to Jun Yuexin for too long, and Xia Zhi came to report that the emperor and empress would be arriving soon, accompanied by the queen mother.

Picking up her daughter, Xie Yuzhen quickly asked someone to remove the screen. After giving Jun Yuexin a few words of advice, she walked towards the palace gate. When she arrived, the emperor, empress and others had also arrived.

"Your Majesty, I pay my respects to the Empress Dowager, Your Majesty, and the Empress." Xie Yuzhen bowed while holding the swaddling clothes. "Yuanjun also pays his respects to the Empress Dowager and the Emperor and the Empress."

The emperor smiled and said, "No need to be so polite."

Empress Dowager Hu was old, and was supported by the Empress. She was holding a dragon-headed cane in her hand, and she took two steps forward shakily. Xie Yuzhen immediately stepped forward with a tactful look in her arms, holding the child and saying, "Your Majesty."

She handed the child to the Empress Dowager, but she did not reach out to take it. She just looked down at the cute baby in the swaddling clothes, and then she smiled and praised: "The Emperor told me before that this child is growing fast and well, but I didn't believe it. Now that I see it, I know it's true."

"If you had seen Yuanjun's appearance when he was just born, you would be even more surprised." The sickness between the queen's eyebrows and eyes had lessened a lot at this moment, probably because Concubine Xu's medicine was effective.

Lady Xu was not present because she accidentally had a miscarriage the day before and had a rare bloody discharge, so she needed to lie down and rest.

Xie Yuzhen didn't care what she was planning. He just told her through secret channels that there might be something wrong with Concubine Deng. Although he didn't explicitly say that he suspected that there might be a system in Concubine Deng, considering Concubine Xu's intelligence, as long as she was careful and vigilant, coupled with the power of the magic medicine system, it would be difficult for her to be tricked.

"Oh, what do you mean?" Mrs. Hu became interested and asked with a smile.

The queen glanced at Xie Yuzhen and said with a smile, "When she was born, she was also a little wrinkled, but she grew up soon after. Then her appearance changed every day. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would have found it hard to believe that there could be such a beautiful child in the world."

"Yes." Empress Dowager Hu made a face at the little baby in Xie Yuzhen's arms. "It is your blessing to have such a healthy and extraordinary daughter. It is also the blessing of heaven that such an auspicious birth has taken place."

Several people walked into the flower hall while talking.

According to the order arranged long ago, the concubines and ladies who had already sat down stood up one after another and bowed and greeted the most noble family in the world.

As the biological mother of the little princess, Xie Yuzhen stood by to observe some etiquette. She found that even towards the ladies outside the royal family, Empress Dowager Hu was still good-tempered. She looked like an ordinary old lady from a wealthy family. Although she looked old, her memory was surprisingly good. She greeted several older ladies in the royal family cheerfully and asked about their children and grandchildren. Those ladies expressed their gratitude and concern very humbly, and praised the little princess who was only one month old very frankly.

The Queen Mother also showed a very simple pride.

The emperor and the empress sat on either side of the empress dowager. He was very happy to show his filial piety to his mother in this scene which was almost entirely filled with women, so he just smiled and did not interrupt.

As the biological mother of the little princess, Xie Yuzhen had the rare opportunity to pass over Concubine Xian and others and sit next to the emperor. She held the child in her arms, observing the words and deeds of the most honorable people above her, and studied very diligently, until Li Zong came forward to say that the time had arrived and the full moon banquet officially began, and everyone present stopped talking.

According to the customs at that time.

When a woman gives birth to a child, she should be taken back to her parents' home after the full moon. This is called "leaving the nest". However, the descendants of the royal family are special, so the full moon banquet must be celebrated in the palace.

As the grandmother, Xie's mother was the first to step forward and put a longevity lock on the little princess in her daughter's arms, praying for her good health and longevity.

Xie's mother's hands were trembling slightly. When Xie Yi was born, she couldn't even send her daughter a red egg or rice wine, let alone a return visit. She said the blessing with tears in her eyes and left.

The one who came up behind Xie's mother was Jun Yuexin. Jun Yuexin represented Xie Yuzhen's relatives and friends. She prepared a complete set of clothes for the little princess. She had specially searched for a wealthy family with three generations of family history, asked for their children's old clothes, and re-sewed them into a set of blessings clothes. The clothes had more meaning than practicality, and the little princess would not wear them.

Xie Yuzhen thanked his friend solemnly and decided to find a box to preserve the clothes when he returned.

Then Jun Yuexin wrapped a gold coin in a red cloth, tied it with a thread, and stuffed it into the little princess's swaddling clothes - this was a "birthday gift". After Jun Yuexin finished her auspicious words, she was about to turn around when she saw Empress Dowager Hu standing up and said, "Little girl, whose family are you from? You look familiar."

Jun Yuexin was wearing a Hu costume that didn't fit in with the other ladies present. She turned around and saluted: "Your Majesty, my grandmother was Princess Kangle. My mother always said that I look a lot like her."

"So it's the granddaughter of the Kang Le family!" Empress Dowager Hu nodded and asked only this question without saying any more, as she didn't want to disrupt her granddaughter's subsequent full moon ceremony.

The ceremony ends after the baby's hair is shaved and the head and face are rolled with red eggs.

Even though Lu Weiyuan was an energetic child, she was still young after all. After all this, she was already drowsy, so Xie Yuzhen asked Xia Zhi to take her back to rest.

Although the protagonist of the banquet has left, the banquet must still continue.

It just quietly became the home ground for adults.

Empress Dowager Hu approached Jun Yuexin and Madam Ye and their daughter and said, "Madam Kangle, I remember your name is Lianxin?"

Madam Ye was wearing the attire of a first-class lady. Her long-term worship of Buddha made her eyes reveal a sense of compassion. Upon hearing this, she stood up and replied, "Yes, I am your wife."

"Why haven't I seen you come out for a walk in all these years?" Empress Dowager Hu asked with concern.

Madam Ye smiled and said, "I am lazy and don't like to go out. But these two evil stars at home are always away from home, leaving me alone at home. Alas..."

Although she was respectful enough in front of the Queen Mother, she was not humble.

Empress Dowager Hu obviously liked her homely attitude and simply started chatting with Madam Ye: "We mothers are only worried about our children's marriage and health. Your girl and boy look not young anymore, how come they are still unmarried?"

"That's right." Mrs. Ye's face was filled with sorrow and she glanced at her daughter resentfully.

Jun Yuexin quickly bowed and said, "Your Highness, I am unwilling to get married, but recently many people have proposed marriages to my brother, even the daughter of the Duke of Ying..."

"Yuexin!" Mrs. Ye interrupted her daughter sternly.

Empress Dowager Hu seemed not to notice the quarrel between the mother and daughter, and asked with a smile: "Oh, there is such a thing, Concubine Xian?"

Sitting among the concubines, Xianfei Deng, who was silent as if she didn't exist, raised her head and said in a gentle voice: "General Jun is young and promising, but he has no wife. My father also loves his talent and wants to find a good marriage for Deng's daughter..."

As she spoke, she looked at Madam Ye and said, "It's a pity that our two families are not destined to be together...but General Jun really pleases my father. I have also thought that Concubine Zhao and Miss Jun are close friends who grew up together and have a deep friendship. I wonder if I can ask her to be a matchmaker and mediate a little to make this marriage happen. But she just gave birth to the fifth princess, and I don't want to bother her, so I gave up."