I am a cat in the palace

Zining Palace.

Golden Osmanthus, Silver Osmanthus, Osmanthus Osmanthus, Four Seasons Osmanthus.

The queen almost wanted to move all the sweet-scented osmanthus flowers in the entire palace into the Zining Palace. The flowers are really dazzling, and the "osmanthus" is overwhelming!Before entering the gate of Zining Palace, bursts of sweet-scented osmanthus burst into my nose. In fact, I have always liked sweet-scented osmanthus, but no matter how good it is, it can’t hold up to the words "too much to compare with".

"Fatty, meaty, my little meaty meat." Humming a little meow tune, I jumped forward along the palace wall, and soon came to the roof of the main hall where the palace banquet was held.

This palace banquet was really quite grand. After a cursory glance, I found that the guests ranged from relatives of the emperor, down to officials and family members of the fourth rank and above, as well as envoys of states and tribute envoys of subordinate states. The entire hall was filled with seats, and some officials who were not high enough were even arranged directly on the square outside the hall.However, I personally thought it would be more comfortable to sit outside the main hall, toast to invite the bright moon, right in time for the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Rourou has a noble status, so naturally he wouldn't sit outside. I climbed along the brackets into the hall, squatted on the main beam and looked down.

"This year's Mid-Autumn Festival is extraordinarily lively." The old emperor made an exception and was not late. When I entered, he had already sat on the main seat and started talking. "Zi Tong has worked hard." While talking about the old emperor, he took the queen's hand and patted it numbly, but the face of the queen who was already in her early thirties was really red, and there was a little shyness of a girl in the corners of her eyes and brows. , "Your Majesty is serious. This is the responsibility of the courtiers and concubines. I dare not talk about hard work."

I closed my eyes and scratched hard on the girder, finally resisting the urge to jump down and scratch people. This pair of emperors and empresses are even better at acting than the opera singers who sing about gifted scholars and beautiful ladies.

"My son, Shang Hui, and my brothers, cough, cough, greetings to father and mother, best wishes to father and mother...cough cough..." Seeing that the emperor and the empress had already sat on the throne hand in hand, the second prince Shang Hui immediately got up, The leader led Rourou and the fourth prince to salute the empress together.

Seeing that Shang Hui kept coughing and couldn't even complete a sentence, he couldn't bear to stretch out his fleshy hand towards him, and patted his back.The second prince felt Rourou's kindness, and immediately turned around and gave Rourou a gentle smile.

The old emperor nodded slightly, and at the same time glanced calmly at Yu Guo, Prince Liang Guo and their envoys sitting not far away, "Hui'er, Xin'er, Xuan'er's wishes, and your mother's empress are all Now that you know, you are all your own flesh and blood, so you don't need to be too polite, let's all go back and sit down."

The queen looked at the three princes standing in the center of the hall from above, and her eyes fell on the fourth prince on Shang Hui's right. When she saw the thin dress on his body, her eyes were as cold as a knife.

"Your Majesty, Hui'er has been staying up late to study lately. I told him several times, but he never listened. No, the night before last night, I was caught in the night wind and caught the wind and cold. It hasn't recovered yet, so I really felt a little bit sick just now." I’m rude.” While the princes were retreating, the empress explained to the emperor softly, but the voice was not too loud, but the voice was not loud enough to make the important ministers and neighboring countries not far away. The envoy heard it clearly.

"Hey! Why is Zi Tong talking like this? I am his father. The child is sick, and it is too late to take care of him. How can there be any disrespect? However, Hui'er is still young. You should cherish your body, you are too careless as a mother. What do the imperial doctors say? Have you prescribed a prescription?"

"It's on, it's okay, just take a few doses of medicine and you'll be fine."

"Well, come here! Remove those cold fruits from the second prince's table, and ask someone to bring some warm goat's milk over."

What a touching loving father and mother.

After the princes finished their salutes, there were lengthy etiquette ceremonies such as congratulatory ceremonies from various countries and congratulatory forms by courtiers. After all, the Mid-Autumn Festival in the Great Summer is the second largest festival after the New Year, and it has been done this way for so many years. Well, if it wasn't for Rourou sitting under here, I wouldn't be impatient to squat here.A gust of hot air came up, and I yawned boredly. When I lowered my head again, I suddenly found that Rourou was looking up at the top of the hall.

"Could it be that you found me?" I was surprised. It's unlikely. Although the palace lanterns are hung high, the beams and pillars are in the shadow of the backlight. It stands to reason that if I'm squatting here, no one will be able to spot it.

-----

"What is Your Highness looking at?" Fulin, who was accompanying Shang Xin, asked worriedly, because the little master had been looking up at the top of the hall non-stop since he sat back in his seat.

"It's nothing." Shang Xin shook his head, but he couldn't help but look at the beam on the roof of the hall again, as if there was something on it that attracted his gaze but he couldn't move his eyes away.

Finally all the courtesy greetings were over, followed by a cheerful song and dance that brought the banquet to a climax.Singing and dancing is to add to the fun, but there are always some people who feel that the interest is not high enough, so they will inevitably jump out and make some troubles.

"Respected His Majesty the Emperor of Xia." The envoy of Yu State who was sitting first in the envoy area suddenly stood up and saluted the old emperor. Immediately all eyes in the hall were focused on that direction.

"Emissary of the State of Yu." The old emperor smiled and looked at the envoy of the State of Yu who stood up, but his eyes fell more on the young boy who stood up with the envoy of the State of Yu.That is the Seventh Prince of Yu State, he is a compatriot with the crown prince of Yu State, and his status is extremely precious.I don't know what the emperor of Yu State thought, but he just simply celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival, but suddenly sent a prince and the envoy to follow the court to congratulate him.

"I, Dayu, founded the country for a hundred years, and I have always taken it as my duty to make peace and friendship with neighbors. Since the establishment of the Xia Kingdom, although there have been occasional disputes, they have never affected the friendship between the two countries from generation to generation. It coincides with the annual Mid-Autumn Festival. My Emperor Dayu His Majesty ordered me to accompany His Royal Highness the Seventh Prince of our country to come to Xia Kingdom to deliver the letter of credence and exchange friendship."

While speaking, the envoy of the State of Yu turned his body slightly to salute the young boy beside him, and it seemed that the young boy was the official envoy sent by the State of Yu this time.The young boy stood there a little arrogantly, and when he heard the envoy of Yu State introduce himself, he just bowed slightly to the old emperor, and his attitude was only maintained at the limit of not being contemptuous.He was about twelve or thirteen years old, but he was very tall and strong, with some rough downy hairs growing around his mouth, and his thick brown hair was braided in seven or eight colorful braids hanging down his head according to the customs of Yu Kingdom. Finally, he was wearing a light regular dress, but different from the regular dress, he also wore a very delicate chain mail, but according to visual inspection, although the chain mail has been improved, it is by no means a fake. It is indeed made of fine steel, and the weight is definitely not light.

"I heard that the country of Xia has outstanding people, capable ministers and brave generals, and I yearn for it with all my heart. That's why I asked my father this time to come to the country of Xia to see it for myself. However, I didn't know until I arrived in the capital of Xia. It turned out that those rumors were really early. It's just a rumour."

Although the attitude of the Seventh Prince of Yu State was not respectful enough, considering his identity and age, the old emperor and his group of ministers didn't really want to argue with him, so when he first spoke, the old emperor and the ministers' faces They were still smiling, but upon hearing his last words before a pause, the atmosphere in the hall froze for an instant, and even the sound of the drums that had been ringing all of a sudden became much lower.

"Where did the Seventh Prince start?" After a moment's pause, the old emperor asked warmly with a faint smile. The tone and posture of the question was completely like a magnanimous and gentle elder coaxing an unreasonable child.

"I thought that the men of Xia State were like General Yan Wei and the warriors of Chi Yan Army, all of them were able to conquer and fight well, so that they could fight against our million-strong army of Yu State at the border for more than ten years, but unexpectedly, the men in the capital of Xia State traveled They are not even allowed to wear swords, and what’s more, they wear hairpins on their heads, paint them with makeup, and regard weakness as beauty. At first glance, it’s difficult to distinguish between male and female, haha! It’s just ridiculous.”

As soon as these words came out, even the old emperor's face darkened.When Da Xia established his country, he seized power by force. For the sake of his country's stability, the emperors of all dynasties have been very wary of generals since the establishment of the dynasty. Except for the limited force kept by the imperial guards in the palace and the palace ministers' homes, other people must enter the imperial capital. Unleash swords and soldiers, and civilians are never allowed to walk with swords on the street. This is for the sake of public security in the capital, and secondly, it is a gesture of emphasizing civility over martial arts by the superiors.It's just that such a regulation should not only be ridiculous in the eyes of neighboring countries that rely on force to build a country, but should also be very grateful.

The General Yanwei mentioned by the Seventh Prince was Rourou's uncle and his only surviving relative.Rourou's mother, Concubine Zhen, was originally the daughter of a seventh-rank official, and her only elder brother was General Yanwei. My mother was only three or four years old.

For the next ten years, General Yanwei almost lost contact with his family. During this period, Concubine Zhen's parents passed away one after another, leaving Concubine Zhen alone to live in the cousin's house until Concubine Zhen was 14 years old when it was time for marriage. At that time, he suddenly received a good news from the northern border, saying that his elder brother had made extraordinary achievements and was named General Yanwei, who would serve as the main general to guard the northern border of Great Xia.And almost on the same day, a decree was issued in the palace that Feng Rourou's mother, Zhen Jieyu, would be in charge of Ding'an Palace.

Speaking of which, Rourou's mother was raised in the capital since she was a child, and her elder brother, who was almost ten years older than her, was actually not much better than a stranger. Seeing that General Yanwei who is said to be able to call the wind and rain in the northern border stretched out half a helping hand, he knew how cold this General Yanwei was to his only nephew.