An ugly girl starts off, then becomes a beauty

The royal autumn hunt in the eleventh year of Jiansi was decided by the emperor, and Empress Wu arranged a palace banquet to put the finishing touches on it.

The remaining officials and their families could only make preparations.

The carriage from the Sang Mansion came to pick up Sang Ling two days before he set out for Huanlin Mountain. The day before, Sang Feng'e took Sang Ling to the bedroom in the painting hall to count his clothes and jewelry. I'm afraid my aunt also saw the hidden meaning behind this activity. She smiled and said, "In fact, it may not be the queen's idea. In the winter hunt in the second year of Jiansi, the palace also invited these officials' children."

It was the second year of Jiansi - that year Gao Hengzheng accidentally killed the talkative Sun Mu.

"I'm afraid that's what the old lady wants." Aunt sighed.

She was the only one in the palace who was worthy of being called the old lady, and was also qualified to have Empress Wu take charge of things. "Empress Dowager?" she asked softly.

"The Grand Empress Dowager," Sang Feng'e explained, "She has always liked to do these things. She did it once when she was the Empress Dowager. That's how I met your uncle."

Ah, an old man who likes to act as a matchmaker.

Sang Ling nodded, chatted for a few more words, tried on a few new clothes in front of her aunt, and then went to rest with her aunt in the painting hall. She had to go back to the Sang Mansion tomorrow, and she didn't know how long this autumn hunt would last. If she came back before winter, she might still be able to study for a few days. But if the time coincided, the school would be closed for one or two months before the New Year, and she wouldn't be able to study at that time. She didn't know if she could go back to the Gao Mansion, or stay at home from now on.

Since Mrs. Ma is pregnant, she will give birth in the middle of next year. In the meantime, she should be able to take good care of herself and have no time to think about murdering her.

*

Before leaving Gao's house, the aunt was thoughtful and gave Ya Nu to Sang Ling.

The female head of the Gao family was fully aware of the conspiracies and intrigues within the mansion.

Fortunately, Ma was pregnant. During the two days that Sang Ling stayed in the Taiwei Mansion, Ma stayed in Zhiyu Residence all day to take care of her pregnancy. Except for the day when she sent Sang Wu and his daughter to the gate of the mansion on her departure, Sang Ling had never seen her before.

It was clear that she wanted to prevent the little girls in the Sang family's backyard from getting pregnant, which showed how much she wanted to give birth to a legitimate son first. After all, there was still the Sang family business to inherit, so this baby was treated like a treasure.

That morning, officials from the outer court rushed to Huanlin Mountain first, and officials from the central court and the royal family arrived in the afternoon. It was said that this was to accommodate the Empress Dowager. The old lady was old and her body did not allow her to move around much, but she was also playful. Even her daughter-in-law, the Empress Dowager, did not come with her this time, but she could not stay in the palace. So she avoided the morning and evening when the dew was heavy, and came when the sun was at its peak in the afternoon, after taking a short rest.

Officials from the outer court settled in Yuchen Palace in batches. The construction of this palace complex was very exquisite. The palaces in Yuchen Palace were not in one place, but surrounded the Yongshan Palace in the middle from four directions. Just looking at the geomancy map, you can clearly see a layout of many stars surrounding the moon.

The officials of the Central Court and the royal nobles lived in the Yongshan Palace in the center.

The Sang family and the palace slaves went to live in the southern palace. Sang Wu did not go with his two daughters. When he entered Huanlin Mountain, he went to the main hall with the people from the Prime Minister's Mansion.

The two sisters were arranged by the servants to put their daily necessities in their respective rooms. When Sang Mei came, she smiled at Sang Ling and called her "sister" in front of Sang Wu. As soon as Sang Wu left, she stayed in her room and did not say a word to Sang Ling.

Sang Ling, on the other hand, looked at her sister's back for a long time. From her modern perspective, she felt that a girl of this age could not have such deep thoughts. But her sister was really hard for her to understand - except for a greeting of "sister" or "sister" in public, the two of them hardly said a word to each other, and if they looked at each other, Sang Mei would just smile at her, without any other dissatisfaction on her face.

She was calm, calmer than anyone Sang Ling had ever met, so calm that she couldn’t understand what was hidden in the abyss.

"I knew you were still here."

Ban Le's voice brought her out of her confused thoughts.

The residence of Zong Zhengcheng Ban's family was not far from her. The two of them met when they got off the carriage, and soon Ban Le came to talk to her.

"What are you going to wear for the palace banquet tonight?" The daughter of the Ban family sat down on the felt carpet and circled the incense burner with her jade-white fingers.

On the first night, the old lady arranged a banquet and invited each family's family to come together.

Sang Ling sneezed suddenly and said, "I'll pick one when the time comes."

"Which one? Let me see it." Ban Le didn't look at her, but there seemed to be something in his tone.

Sang Ling gave Ya Nu a look, walked towards her, knelt down slowly, and poured honey into the two jade cups on the table.

These things are all from the palace. Before the autumn hunt began, I heard that a batch of food specially used by the palace was transported here. The long ox cart traveled along the main road in the capital for two or three hours, which shows the luxurious life of the nobles. The pale yellow honey syrup was mixed with hot water and stirred twice. The bamboo box was filled with flower petals, milk cakes and candied fruits. It was mixed according to one's own taste and it was a drink for the nobles of this era to satisfy their cravings.

Sang Ling was still thinking about what dessert to pair with it, whether it would be too fat or too sweet. Ban Le then grabbed a handful of petals and threw them into the jade cup. His black pearl-like eyes stared at him and whispered, "Don't dress up too nicely, okay?"

After saying this, the lady brought up the tray. On the red-lacquered pinewood plate, on one side was a bamboo-green curved-hem gown, underneath which was a plain gauze Zen robe with twisted gold threads, and on the other side were the jewellery she was wearing: two apricot blossom hairpins and a fake hairpin.

Compared to other daughters of officials, this kind of dress is extremely simple. Ban Le also understands Sang Ling. Maybe she will not even wear the slightly eye-catching Zen robe underneath when she attends a night event. After she started wearing a quju skirt when she entered the school in August, she never liked to wear an outer shirt.

When a fat girl suddenly becomes slim, she will like to show off her figure. Although the golden gauze dress looks good, it always covers her waistline a little bit - so she bets that she will not wear it.

But... the smile in Ban Le's eyes faded a little bit, and he turned his head to look at Sang Ling and said, "Can you not go?"

While she was staring at the clothes, Sang Ling's eyes were always on her. After taking a sip of the sweet honey, he had a vague guess in his mind and only asked, "Why?"

Ban Le suddenly covered his mouth and smiled, his fake smile was really unnatural, "I was just kidding."

The meaning of the song was full of twists and turns, and it was clear that the person had some thoughts in mind, but he just didn't say them out loud. This was also the common trait of the youngest daughter, so she lowered her eyes and smiled, not asking any more questions, nor did she expose the truth.

The Ban family's daughter took a small spoon and stirred the ear cup, looking from Sang Ling's face to his waist, and finally stopped at the wooden edge of the table. Then she said slowly, "You are not allowed to look at Qin Zhongjian when the time comes."

Well, it turns out it was for this. "I don't even know Qin Zhongjian." Sang Ling curled his lips and couldn't help sneezing again.

It's different in the mountains, even though it's still on the plains at the foot of the mountain. When I came here early in the morning, there was a lot of grass and dew, and the hidden cold air could penetrate the body the most.

"He is the best-looking boy. You are not allowed to look at him!" Ban Le repeated solemnly.

How good-looking is he? Can he be as good-looking as my cousin? Sang Ling snorted coldly and responded with a hmm or an ah, "I won't look at anyone else. When the time comes, I will only look at you."

"Then you can say it."

Sang Ling nodded and said "yes" quickly. He then personally escorted Ban Le to the palace.

Perhaps she felt a little guilty, so the Ban family's daughter dragged her out for a walk and talked about this and that. In fact, she was just feeling embarrassed, but she didn't want to say directly that she was afraid of Sang Ling's appearance, so she had to talk about something else to cover up her childish words just now.

Sang Ling couldn't do anything. After all, she was one of her few friends. Why not just go along with her? Besides, if she were in her shoes, thinking that Gao Heng had come today, Sang Ling would also feel a sense of crisis.

As the two of them were talking, they unknowingly walked around to the outside of the Yongshan Palace. The palace was not densely arranged. There was a small artificial lake next to the side hall. Autumn willows were reflected on the water. There was a wooden couch under the tree. The sun was out, and the surface of the lake was sparkling. The two little girls sat on the couch and talked about fun things. Their crisp laughter spread from the lake all the way to the other side.

The noble lady in the golden robe slowly turned her head, looked at her for a long time, and then smiled and asked the palace servant beside her, "Whose daughter is that?"

"To answer your Majesty, it seems that they came from the south. Currently, the four families living in the south are Sang, Ban, Li, and Luo." The eunuch bowed and replied, "The daughters of the Sang and Ban families are here, and the sons of the other two families are here."

"That..." Empress Wu pointed to her daughter on the left, wearing a Xiang-colored dark dress and a bun tied in a horse's bun. "Go check which family she belongs to."

"promise."