Chapter 9 The Flower Banquet (II)

　　His Majesty loved peonies so much that he once rewarded ten thousand dollars to a folk florist who offered a thousand leaves of Yaohuang, and built a peony garden with many kinds of peonies, including rare varieties offered from all over the world. Whenever the flowers bloomed, he would give a banquet to his ministers, and the beauties sang and danced, and chose the best among the flowers, and those who won the award were known far and wide, and they were also rich in money. With this reason, princes and nobles, rich and powerful gentlemen in the capital were proud of having rare peonies at home and boasted about it, and even the small people were proud of having peonies at home, and when the peonies were in full bloom, the city was full of people arranging the peonies. 　　Today's banquet of the Liu family was no exception. Among the guests, eight out of ten had peonies in their hairpins, regardless of gender. Especially for the female guests, most of them had a large peony pinned on their high buns, comparing their clothes, jewelry, and appearance, and also comparing whose peony on their heads was rarer, bigger, more colorful, and more valuable. 　　Peony was one of the very few women who did not have a peony pin, she did not follow Liu Chang to greet the guests, instead, she hid in the shade under the tree to observe the guests attending the flower banquet silently. As she was too sick and weak to go out, and was afraid of noise and did not like to make friends with others, Peony searched her memory for a long time, but she could only find a few familiar faces among the guests, and as for the Princess Qinghua and Li Nympho, whom she wanted to see, they never showed up. 　　Yu'er dutifully waited at the side, patiently pointing out the guests to Mudan: "Young lady, look at that lady in the silver and red big-sleeved gauze shirt, with red peonies and gold swags, she is the best friend of the Prince, Mrs. Bai, the wife of Pan Rong, the son of the Prince of Chuzhou, she just got a young son last year, and her family has a large population just like ours. She looks cold and arrogant, but actually has a very good temperament and cultivation, if you like it, young lady, you can talk to her, she will definitely not slow you down." 　　Peony was reminded by Yu'er's later words that were full of deep meaning, and could not help but seriously look at that Chuzhou Waiting Prince's wife. Surrounded by a group of warblers and swallows, this son's wife looked intently at Jade Plate White, who was surrounded by a hedge and a green veil in front of her and had yet to reveal her true face, occasionally frowning and coldly sweeping a glance at the attentive women around her. 　　Peony saw that the group of women surrounding her were alluring and frivolous, so she curiously said: ''Who are the people around her? I see that they are so attentive to Lady Bai that Lady Bai doesn't pay much attention to them." 　　Yu'er paused and smiled awkwardly, "They are all the concubines of the World Prince." After thinking about it, she added, "Not everyone's house mother is as generous and soft as the young lady." 　　Yu'er's flattery was too obvious, Peony smiled faintly and pointed to another young girl who was dressed up in a delicate costume and was circling around her own Wei Zi, eager to pick the biggest Wei Zi, saying, "This young lady is very good looking, whose family is she from?" 　　Yu'er only glanced at it and laughed: "No wonder you don't recognize, this is the Chi family Erniang ah, she just returned to the capital last month with the uncle from the post, over to pay tribute to the time, you're not well, did not come out. When you came to pay your respects, you weren't well and didn't come out. Afterwards, I came to the mansion several times, but I missed it by mistake." 　　Yu'er said, Peony has a number, this is Mrs. Chi that just served as the fifth grade of the upper rank of the Counselor's brother Chi Changlin's first daughter Chi Yuzhu, years ago and maturity, I heard that it is a talented girl, much favored, has had this life will be married to a lifelong good man's grand wishes. Liu Chang organized this flower banquet, more than half of the reason is afraid for Qi Yuzhu, to find a good marriage for her. 　　Speaking of which, with the Liu family to socialize with are some high family, noble family, He family even if it is very rich, but is also the door is not the right household, it is no wonder that the Liu family up and down this uncomfortable. I don't know how the Liu family got to the point where they couldn't rely on any other help, and could only beg the He family. 　　Peony is contemplating, Liu Chang's family raised ten or so flowery and jade-like domestic helpers under the leadership of the slender vegetative, weak willow wind general came over, not far away from the big sashaying to sit down, began to chat and laugh. 　　Though she had never raised her aunt, she lived alone in a small, exquisite courtyard, with five or six people waiting around her, and Liu Chang always had ten or so days at her place in a month. Liu Chang was always at her place for about ten days in a month. She also bullied Peony for not having any favor, and her nature was soft, so she didn't put Peony in her eyes. At this time, she obviously saw Peony and Yu'er here, but she pretended not to know, and led all the people to debug the silk and bamboo on the side, talking and laughing loudly, which made Peony dizzy in no time. 　　Yu'er had been angry with her for a long time, she wanted to take advantage of Mrs. Qi's power to clean up her by Peony's hand, and she also wanted to test Peony's depth, so she said: "Young lady, she is too arrogant, half of the rules are not there, I will let someone go to reprimand her..." ...... " 　　Lin mother heard, coldly laughed: "Even if she is no one, to reprimand, is also the young lady's business, Aunt Yu this is not overstepping her bounds? It can be seen that on the surface, Auntie looks to respect Madam, but in reality, she also has a contemptuous heart, isn't it?" 　　Yu'er hurriedly stood up and looked at Peony with an anxious face, "Young Madam, forgive me, the servant girl didn't have this kind of mind, she just saw them being so rude, and her heart was angry, and she was so impulsive that she inevitably lost her manners. ......" 　　Peony has long been able to see that none of these people really put themselves in their eyes, Yu'er's gesture of goodwill is just a sign of ulterior motives and looking at Mrs. Chi's face, and a clear official born of the Fiansu, even Mrs. Chi's courtyard is not allowed to go to her, she has to be really in front of these many guests and she is really a disgrace. So he laughed and said: "Not a big deal, if I am and they count, only is lost my identity. They love to be here, let's just change another place." 　　Yu'er quietly surveyed her expression and laughed, "Young lady is right, maidservant has no insight. There's nothing good here, let's go over there, it's quiet and we can see the situation in the field clearly." 　　This place is specially prepared for outdoor seating and play, decades old trees are like a screen, enclosing a piece of grass more than 20 feet in circumference, thick and soft, under the shade of the trees, Yin mat on the ground, a wide range of fruits, wine and pastries on the low table. At the side of the master's seat, there is a small thatched pavilion, covered by a clump of blooming lilacs, a good place to go. It was that pavilion that Yu'er was pointing at. 　　Peony laughed, "That's a good place to go, in that case, let's go there." 　　Just as the two of them got up, a maid hurriedly ran over and saluted, "Young Lady, the Prince asks you to go to the front to greet the guests, the County Lord's Maiden is here." 　　Upon these words, the sound of silk and bamboo bantering suddenly stopped, all the domestic servants, Lin mother, Yu He, Yu Er, all of them looked at Peony with sympathetic or jocular gazes. Jiansu even got up and walked in front of Peony, and smiled, "My slave girl has met you, Young Lady. Your Highness said that she wanted to see my servant girl dance the Green Waist last time, so my slave girl practiced for a long time, and last night I showed my son to him, and he said that I could hold my hand now. Please ask the young lady to see the county princess, ask her meaning, if still willing to reward, slave girl will be on a dance." 　　Truly too deceitful! What kind of thing dares to show off like this in front of Peony. Lin mother was trembling with anger, and was about to rebuke Jiansu, when Peony had already walked past Jiansu without looking askance, "Since the Duke is aware of this matter, he naturally knows in his heart whether he should dance or not. As a servant, it's good to want to please your master, but to rush up and down the stairs like this without regard to the rules is out of order. Since you have become a house slave, you should forget about the past, according to the rules of the house, do not let people laugh at your frivolity." 　　Yu'er let out a laugh, "Miss Fiber Su, you continue to be busy. I'm sure that when the Prince is free later, he will certainly send someone to call you." 　　Fiansu's pretty face was so angry that it turned greenish-gray, and she spat at Peony when she was far away, "What a thing! She's just a daughter of a merchant, and just because she got this position by chance, she thinks she's really become a phoenix? How dare you laugh at me!" In her heart, she thought, when Liu Chang went to her place in the evening, she must give Peony some eye candy. 　　Peony didn't know how Jiansu was scolding and calculating herself behind, but she was only thinking that Liu Chang told her to go to meet the princess, and they must have bad thoughts, how should she deal with it. 　　Before walking to the entrance of the garden, Peony saw Liu Chang and a young man wearing a blue arrow-sleeved robe standing under a willow tree, joking with a young woman who was tall and full-bodied, and dressed up in an extraordinarily flashy and sexy outfit. A handsome face, with Hu clothing young man and seven or eight young maidservants wearing green clothes hanging hands and holding their voices, standing in the not far away from the rules, looks like, probably is the Qinghua County Lord and her entourage. 　　Liu Chang looked back and saw Peony, so he whispered something to those two, and the man in Chinese clothes and the Princess of Qinghua both looked back at Peony. 　　Peony could see clearly that the man in Chinese clothes clearly had a hint of amazement in his eyes, while County Head of Qinghua had a face full of inquisitiveness, with undisguised contempt and dislike in her eyes.