Chapter 157 Choose Your Concubines with Your Crown Princess
After this episode, everyone’s attitude towards Qiao Jinniang was more respectful than before.
Even Old Madam Qin who still wanted to complain to the Emperor and the Queen about Qiao Jinniang could only give up. It turned out that it was not only Old Madam Zhou, but Queen Zhou would also defend Qiao Jinniang.
What was so good about Qiao Jinniang? Why did even Queen Zhou defend her?!
After the banquet, the Duke Wu Mansion arranged an opera at the waterside garden, which was “The Fairy Offered the Longevity Peach”, and everyone was watching the opera.
The woman disguised as the fairy slowly walked to Old Madam Zhou with a big peach in her hands. “At the order of Goddess Queen Mother, I came here to present a longevity peach to Old Madam Zhou, and I wish you longevity and health.”
Old Madam Zhou laughed happily. “Good, reward her!”
Suddenly Zhou Sisi who was disguised as a little peach spirit jumped out of the big peach, snuggled up to Old Madam Zhou and said, “Grandmother, I’m the longevity peach. Come on, take a bite of me and you’ll have infinite longevity.” Old Madam Zhou was amused by Zhou Sisi and laughed out loud.
Zhou Sisi walked up to Lu Chen and said, “Brother, take a bite of me. Sisi wants you to have infinite longevity too.”
The smile disappeared from Qiao Jinniang’s face.
Lu Chen said, “No, I don’t want infinite longevity.”
Zhou Sisi tilted her head, and Emperor Huilin also frowned and looked at Lu Chen and said, “What are you talking about? Who doesn’t want infinite longevity?”
Lu Chen said, “I just want to live as long as Jinniang.”
The crowd who was amused by Zhou Sisi didn’t expect Lu Chen to suddenly play lovey-dovey with Qiao Jinniang in front of
them…
Were these words really said by the Crown Prince? Which high-ranking person didn’t want infinite longevity?
Very satisfied with Lu Chen’s performance, Qiao Jinniang smiled and said,
“Miss Zhou, I wonder if I can take a bite of you too? In this way, I’ll have infinite longevity, and so will your brother.”
Zhou Sisi snorted. “Humph, no way!”
Everyone knew that Zhou Sisi’s intelligence was like a child’s, so her words just caused a burst of laughter from the crowd.
Fulu walked to Qiao Jinniang and said, “I still remember how you called the Crown Prince ‘jerk’ back then. Now that you two love each other so much, why don’t you marry into the East Palace yet?”
Qiao Jinniang said, “I won’t be so free if I enter the East Palace.”
Fulu whispered to Qiao Jinniang, “I know several dog holes in the imperial palace. Shh, don’t tell others. If you miss me after entering the East Palace, you can sneak out of the dog holes to play with me…”
Qiao Jinniang: “…”
She didn’t want to sneak out of the imperial palace from a dog hole.
And she didn’t really want to play with Fulu.
If she had to sneak out of a dog hole, she would rather stay in the East Palace.
After Zhou Sisi finished her performance, the guests offered birthday gifts to Old Madam Zhou. The Qiao family presented three gifts, one of which was Old Madam Qiao’s gift that was brought over from the temple.
One was from the Duke Mansion, and the other was from Zheng Xiao and Qiao Jinniang and her sisters, each of which was not too high-profile yet expensive.
Among the gifts, the most ingenious one was Tong Yingying’s gift, which was a scroll consisting of hundred forms of the character “Longevity” she wrote, and all the characters formed a huge character “Longevity”.
This was very thoughtful and must have taken a lot of effort, so everyone was amazed at it.
Mrs. Tong proudly enjoyed everyone’s praise.
Old Madam Zhou said, “This scroll must have cost Yingying a lot of time and effort. Good, very good.”
Tong Yingying lowered her head and said shyly, “I’m glad you like it, Grandma Zhou.” “Old Madam, this is the birthday gift from me.” Little Lu Xi held the doll rabbit that Qiao Jinniang made for him and handed it to Old Madam Zhou. “Although I like this rabbit very much, I want to give you the best thing.”
When Old Madam Zhou saw the little rabbit, her hand trembled slightly. “Which, which maid made this?”
Duchess Wu asked her in a small voice from the side, “Mother, what’s wrong? This is made by Jinniang for the little imperial grandson. I heard that on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Prince Qi’s son, Bao’er had fought with the imperial grandson for this little rabbit!”
It was not a secret that little Lu Xi held this little rabbit wherever he went.
Old Madam Zhou asked, “Jinniang, who taught you to sew this rabbit?”
Qiao Jinniang walked over and said, “My teacher in Lin’an City taught me. No, to be exact, there was a rabbit like this at her home, and I happened to be born in the year of the rabbit, so I made a copy of that rabbit…”
Old Madam Zhou asked, “Is that rabbit hairless and made of a piece of pink silk cloth?”
Qiao Jinniang nodded and said, “Yes!”
“Is she still in Lin’an?”
Qiao Jinniang shook her head. “No, she left Lin’an when I was twelve years old. She was the best teacher in our school.”
Old Madam Zhou sighed heavily.
Queen Zhou said to Old Madam Zhou, “Mother, Sister is determined to travel around the world, and she probably won’t stay in one place for a long time. Chen’er is going to be married, and everyone knows the news. Maybe Sister will come back to Chang’an after she learns the news.”
Qiao Jinniang said to Old Madam Zhou, “So Ms. Zhou is your daughter?”
Old Madam Zhou looked at the rabbit and sighed. “Her thoughts were different from others ever since she was a child, and she did a lot of shocking things.”
Queen Zhou tittered and said, “No wonder Jinniangn is so bold. If Sister is her teacher, it makes sense.”
Qiao Jinniang didn’t dare to say anything. She was not that bold, and Ms. Zhou didn’t teach her anything but kept selling them novels.
Most of the novels Qiao Jinniang liked to read were sold to her by Ms. Zhou.
She didn’t teach them boring scriptures all day long like other teachers, but just told them women should rely on themselves.
In class, Ms. Zhou would just let them read whatever books they liked, and would come to Myriad Taste every day to eat and drink without paying any money… The news that her eldest daughter used to be a teacher in Lin’an was the best birthday present for Old Madam Zhou. This was the first time in nearly 20 years that she had heard the news of her eldest daughter.
The Longevity Scroll that Tong Yingying had been preparing for a month seemed to be outshone by the news.
In hatred, Tong Yingying almost vomited a mouthful of blood. Qiao Jinniang, you’re pushing me too far!
An old consort asked the Queen, “Your Majesty, you just said that His Royal Highness is going to be married? How come I haven’t heard the news?”
Queen Zhou said, “The Crown Prince’s wedding is a major event for the entire country, so the imperial decree has not been issued yet.”
The old consort smiled and said, “Chen’er was not in Chang’an for three years, and many girls in Chang’an waited for him for three years.
“Chen’er delayed his selection of concubines because he went to investigate the illicite salt dealings. After having a crown princess, he can choose concubines with his crown princess.”
Queen Zhou gave Qiao Jinniang a reassuring look before she said, “It’s inappropriate to choose him concubines as soon as he marries his crown princess. He is not in a hurry.”
Even Queen Zhou didn’t dare to say anything about not selecting any concubines for the Crown Prince, which would go against the feudal ethical code.
