Volume 2 Chapter 86 The Empress Dowager's Birthday

  Thank you cardcat for the reward of Ping An Fu. Today there are some card plots, so I can only update once. It will be supplemented later...

  It's no different from an ordinary rosary, if someone didn't tell her that it was a rosary made of the rare and precious South Sea divine wood, she would have thought it was just an ordinary rosary.

  The Buddha beads were done in two days, and the Empress Dowager's birthday also arrived soon after.

  The weather is fine and sunny.

  On the day of Empress Dowager's birthday, the weather was exceptionally good. Early in the morning, Qingjin was called up from bed by Yuanyang, dressed and made up under Yuanyang's service, then rode on the horse carriage of Anji Marquis' manor towards the Imperial Palace.

  This time to the imperial palace to attend the birthday of the empress dowager, Anji Houfu prepared two horse-drawn carriages. Grandmother Shen and mother of Qingjin, Junshi, and third aunt Sushi rode in one carriage, while Qingjin and Qingyao sat in another carriage.

  In the carriage, Qing Jin was dozing off, while Qing Yao was trying her best to suppress her joy. Half a moment later, she thought of something and turned to Qing Jin, who was sitting across from her in a green dress, and said: "Second sister, I heard that you've changed your birthday gift, what did you change it to?" Qing Yao's eyes sparkled with concern as she looked at Qing Jin.

  Qing Yao's question made Qing Jin somewhat dispirited, and he replied: "I changed a string of Buddhist beads."

  A string of Buddhist beads? Upon hearing Qing Jin's response, Qing Yao immediately lost her desire to continue investigating.

  Qing Jin was up late reading a new book, so she didn't get much sleep. This morning, she got up early and felt a bit sleepy. Seeing Qing Yao, she didn't feel like investigating further and closed her eyes to take a nap on the horse.

  Qing Yao originally wanted to say something else to Qing Jin, but seeing Qing Jin's sleepy appearance, she didn't dare to speak again and could only sit quietly in the carriage.

  Before long, the carriage came to a steady stop in front of the palace gate. After arriving at the palace gate, they could no longer move forward and everyone had to get off the carriage and walk into the palace on foot.

  The horse carriage stopped, Qing Yao looked at Qing Jin who was sleeping soundly opposite her. She leaned forward to wake Qing Jin up, but unexpectedly met Qing Jin's cold and sharp eyes that had just woken up. Her heart skipped a beat. After Qing Jin saw Qing Yao clearly in front of her, the coldness in her eyes disappeared. Looking at Qing Yao with confusion, she opened her mouth: "Fourth sister?"

  Upon hearing Qing Jin's voice, Qing Yao snapped out of her shock and looked at Qing Jin carefully. Her eyes were calm and tranquil, a far cry from the sharp coldness earlier. Her gaze was puzzled, "Elder sister's eyes just now were really scary." However, she opened her mouth with a wronged expression towards Qing Jin: "Yao'er saw that it was about to stop. Seeing that elder sister was still sleeping, I just wanted to wake up elder sister, didn't expect elder sister to wake up..."

  "Thank you, Fourth Sister. Let's hurry down, don't keep Grandma and the others waiting." Upon hearing Qing Yao's words, Qing Jin thanked her and rubbed her eyes with her hand, instantly becoming clear-headed and alert, without a hint of drowsiness, then led the way down from the carriage.

  Qing Yao also got off the carriage behind Qing Jin.

  Shen's family, Jun's family and Su's family had already gotten off the carriage and were waiting for Qingjin and Qingyao not far away. However, when they got down, they saw that the horse Qingjin and Qingyao were riding still hadn't reacted.

  Shen's eyebrows furrowed, just wanting to call someone beside him to take a look at what was going on, when he saw Qingjin and Qingyao getting down from the horse carriage.

  The tightly furrowed eyebrows suddenly relaxed.

  Qing Jin and Qing Yao got off the car, slightly adjusted their clothes, and then walked towards Shen Shi, Jun Shi, and Su Shi.

  The Shen family walked towards the approaching Qingjin and Qingyao, took a look at them, and after seeing that there was nothing wrong with the two people, they led the group of people to walk deeper into the palace gate.

  As soon as they entered the palace gate, a small eunuch came forward to lead the way. The group followed the leading eunuch with their eyes fixed on him, heading in the direction of the inner palace.

  Qingjin and Qingyao followed respectfully behind the Shen family, their eyes scanning the decorations that had been put up around the palace gates.

  A group of people followed the eunuch who led the way to the Imperial Garden, and they felt even more festive atmosphere. In the Imperial Garden, flowers were in full bloom, red, pink, blue and purple, bees and butterflies flew around, a scene of prosperity and joy.

  After passing by the Imperial Flower Garden, they walked for a while before arriving at the Empress Dowager's birthday banquet location.

  The little eunuch who led the way took the group from Anji Houfu to their destination, accepted the reward money given by Shen's family, bowed and left.

  The little eunuch who led the way had just left when a palace maid came over and led Qingjin and her party to their seats at the Anji Marquis's table.

  After Qingjin sat down, she swept her eyes around and found that they were among the earlier arrivals. Taking advantage of the sparse crowd, Qingjin sat in her seat, preparing to rest for a while.

  Before long, people started coming one after another. Qingjin's grandmother Shen, her mother Jun and third aunt Su were all pulled away to chat or talk to others, leaving only Qingjin and Qingyao sitting properly in their seats.

  Slowly, more and more people arrived. During this time, Qing Jin and Qing Yao also attended and went to greet the people they had met at the banquet a while ago. Just as Qing Jin observed that every seat was filled, she wondered when today's main character, the Empress Dowager, would arrive.

  "The Empress Dowager has arrived——" A sharp, high-pitched voice rang out, and a majestic figure emerged, surrounded by attendants, as everyone in the room fell silent, waiting for the majestic figure to take her seat.

  "The queen's ladies-in-waiting, including the queen's daughter, pay their respects to Her Majesty the Empress Dowager, wishing her ten thousand blessings and longevity. Suddenly, a thunderous shout shook heaven and earth as everyone present knelt down in unison, shouting in one voice: 'Long live Your Majesty, long live Your Majesty, may you live for thousands of years!' Qing Jin also followed suit and knelt down according to etiquette."

  "The Empress Dowager's solemn voice rang out: 'Dispense with the formalities and rise!'"

  "Empress Dowager!" The ladies-in-waiting stood up at the sound of the Empress Dowager's voice, but did not sit down again, instead waiting for the first-ranking Empress Dowager to speak.

  "Ladies, please take a seat! Today is a family dinner, no need for too much courtesy."

  "May the Empress Dowager's good fortune be as vast as the Eastern Sea and her longevity be as enduring as Mount Nan."

  "Very well! Very well! All of you ladies may rise and take your seats!" The Empress Dowager said with a smile.

  "Empress Dowager grants permission to take a seat!" All the ladies sat down under the empress dowager's order.

  After the ceremony, the banquet began. First, the palace maids brought out various delicious dishes in an orderly manner. Then, the dancers who had been waiting came out and performed a beautiful dance for everyone.

  There is delicious food and beautiful women dancing to watch, Qing Jin didn't find it boring at all, but rather enjoyable.

  However, no matter how good the song and dance are, there will always be an end. At some point, everyone finishes appreciating the performance, and it's unclear who starts it, but one of the noble ladies takes the lead, and all the noblewomen present begin to personally come on stage to offer birthday gifts to the empress dowager while performing their own specialties.

  When the noble ladies present realized that they had to take turns performing for the empress dowager, it was almost time for Anji Houfu's turn. Just as Qingjin was still in a daze, everyone's attention turned to Qingjin and Qingyao at Anji Houfu's seat. According to seniority, Qingjin should perform first, and this wasn't just any ordinary banquet, so Qingyao couldn't go first.

  As the crowd's gaze fell upon her, Qingjin was already being pushed forward. As she passed by her grandmother, Shen Shi, she saw Shen Shi gazing at her with a profound and meaningful look in her eyes. The crowd saw Qingjin walking out and couldn't help but be curious, looking over at her with amusement. Those who had attended the banquet at the Yang residence had heard Qingjin's story about the blue-and-white porcelain, and although they secretly fantasized about meeting a prince like the one in the story when no one was around, in public, they were still noble ladies from esteemed families. Even after hearing Qingjin's story, they privately purchased some high-quality blue-and-white porcelain to place in their bedrooms, but on the surface, they still showed disdain towards Qingjin.

  However, the last time was a gathering of noble ladies, telling a story, everyone on the surface was disdainful, but because it wasn't a formal occasion, Qingjin's story that day was also harmless. Recently, it was the Empress Dowager's birthday banquet, and I don't know what new and interesting things this Miss Gu will bring to everyone. So although they think Qingjin is not worthy of being on stage, they all secretly perk up their ears and listen carefully to see what new and interesting story Qingjin will bring today.

  Qing Jin gathered everyone's attention, followed the previous order of the noble ladies, and stood out with a calm and composed demeanor. She slightly bowed to the Empress Dowager at the front, then presented her prepared birthday gift with both hands.

  Someone immediately walked out from the side, took over Qingjin's birthday gift, and respectfully turned around, holding the gift in both hands, carefully walking to the front of the empress dowager. The empress dowager took the birthday gift presented by the eunuch, saw that it was a string of Buddhist beads, looked at Qingjin with a gentle expression, stretched out her hand to take out the Buddhist beads from the box, and originally there was no change in her face, but when she picked up the Buddhist beads, she immediately became astonished. She carefully examined the Buddhist beads, fondled them in her hands for a moment, and a joyful smile appeared on her face. She spoke to Qingjin who was bowing down: "You are the eldest daughter of the Anji Marquis's manor?"

  "Your Majesty, I am Gu Qingjin, the eldest daughter of the Duke of Anji."

  Seeing Qingjin's respectful reply, the Empress nodded: "The birthday gift you sent is very much liked by our family."

  When the empress dowager's words of obvious praise were heard, the women in the seats below couldn't help but be shocked. Just now, so many noble ladies presented gifts, and the empress dowager only smiled and nodded her head. This was still the first time today that she opened her mouth to say words of praise. People who couldn't help but look at the people in the seat of Anji Houfu with envy and jealousy looked towards the person standing among the crowd - Gu Qingjin.

  It's not that they're too surprised, this Gu Qingjin obviously gave a simple Buddhist rosary, but actually got the empress dowager's praise. Is it that the Buddhist rosary has something special? Their eyes looked at the Buddhist rosary, but no matter how they looked, it was just an extremely ordinary Buddhist rosary! Unable to understand the reason, everyone put their eyes on the empress dowager, hoping she could dispel their confusion.

  The empress dowager just smiled and didn't say a word, without any expression of explanation.

  Seeing the Empress Dowager's attitude, Qing Jin also ignored the gaze placed on her and spoke to the Empress Dowager: "As long as Your Majesty likes it!"

  Seeing Qingjin standing calmly and quietly there, the Empress Dowager nodded in satisfaction and said to Qingjin: "Then what talent will you show next?"

  Upon hearing the empress's question, Qing Jin thought seriously for a moment, recalling her grandmother's glance when she left her seat earlier. She let out a sigh in her heart and racked her brain to think of something she could do. Unfortunately, her memories as a modern person had long been deeply ingrained, and some things... like being asked to play a piece of music that no one else had played before, would instinctively make her think of popular songs from the modern era. This was what she dreaded most about the talent show.