It had been raining for several days, but on the day of the lotus viewing banquet, the weather finally cleared up.

Ling Jingyan put on her new clothes and put on the six pieces of jewelry she had picked out two days ago. She turned around happily in front of Ling Jingshu: “Ah Shu, how is it? Does it look good?”

Ling Jingshu held back her laughter and praised seriously: “Of course, it looks good. From a distance, you can see a head full of pearls and jade, shining brightly, making people dizzy.”

… Wait, was this praising her or making fun of her?

Ling Jingyan thought seriously for a moment, then pounced on her with her teeth bared: “Okay, you dare to make fun of me, let me see how I deal with you.”

The two laughed and made a scene.

Ling Jingshu reached out and removed a pearl hairpin and a hair clasp from Ling Jingyan. Then she took off the gemstone choker from her neck. She then pushed her to the mirror and said, “Now look, isn’t it much more refreshing than before?”

For a young girl in her prime, youth was the greatest adornment. Wearing too much jewelry, the glittering and precious stones will appear tacky.

Ling Jingyan looked at it for a while, and had to admit that what Ling Jingshu said was right: “Okay, okay, I’ll listen to you.” Then she turned to Ling Jingshu and said: “What about you, you still didn’t wear a new dress today?”

Ling Jingshu smiled casually: “Changping Gōngzhǔ specially held a lotus viewing banquet. If I dress too casually, it will be disrespectful to Her Royal Highness. New clothes must be worn. Wait a while, I will come after changing into new clothes.”

Ling Jingyan nodded, secretly feeling strange.

Ah Shu had never dealt with Changping Gōngzhǔ before, but every time she mentioned Changping Gōngzhǔ, her tone was always inexplicably subtle…

After waiting for a while, Ling Jingshu quickly changed into new clothes and came out.

“How is it, does it look good?” Ling Jingshu imitated Ling Jingyan’s previous behavior and turned around.

Ling Jingyan looked at Ling Jingshu with a strange expression, as if she was holding back something difficult to say but couldn’t say it.

Ling Jingshu understood and deliberately raised her eyebrows and smiled at Ling Jingyan: “What’s wrong? Are you amazed by my stunning beauty?”

“Ah Shu, stop joking.” Ling Jingyan let out a long breath. Confusion appeared on her face: “You are born beautiful and charming. Even if you don’t deliberately do makeup, you are still a real beauty. You deliberately wear this autumn-scented dress to look older. Don’t want to attract attention, right!”

Ling Jingyan looked very serious, and Ling Jingshu also put away her joking heart and nodded without hiding it: “Yes, I did plan to do that.”

“Last time in Huichun Hall, Fúmǐn jùnzhǔ made things difficult for me. It was because of my face. The Crown Princess had a bad first impression of me, and it was also because of my face. Changping Gōngzhǔ didn’t look good when she first saw me, and it was also because of this face.”

“A woman’s beauty is a gift from God, and there should be no complaints. But I really hope that this face will not attract attention and trouble for me again.”

… This feeling of wanting to sympathize with her and wanting to beat her up was really complicated and sour!

Ling Jingyan looked at Ling Jingshu with a complex and contradictory look and said honestly: “Qiuxiang color is indeed a bit old-fashioned. Few young girls wear this color dress. But you look unexpectedly good in this color dress.”

So, it was impossible to be inconspicuous!

Ling Jingshu sighed: “Yes! When I looked in the mirror just now, I also discovered this serious fact. But if I change into bright clothes, wouldn’t it be more eye-catching?”

… What should she do if she wanted to beat her up even more?

Ling Jingyan also sighed deeply: “Ah Shu, considering that we are táng jiěmèi ^[1]paternal elder and younger sisters, I will reluctantly forgive you for hurting me unintentionally.”

…

According to the practice of the Great Zhou Dynasty, after the huángzi ^[2]sons of the current Emperor and gōngzhǔ ^[3]daughter of the current Emperor grow up in the palace to the age of ten, they must leave the palace to build a mansion.

Changping Gōngzhǔ was extremely favored by the Emperor. When building the Princess’s mansion, there were some “slightly” beyond the Princess’s regulations, but the Ministry of Internal Affairs did not say anything. The Emperor just ignored it.

As a result, Changping Gōngzhǔ’s mansion even occupied more land than her brothers, Prince An and Prince Kang, and was only slightly smaller than the Crown Prince’s Mansion in the Eastern Palace. The mansion was luxurious and exquisite with carved beams and painted rafters, pavilions, and towers. It is astonishing.

The back garden alone covered an area of ​​more than a hundred acres. This was simply extravagant to the extreme in the inner city of Luoyang, where every inch of land was worth a lot of money.

Changping Gōngzhǔ liked peonies, and a large piece of open space in the garden was specially enclosed as a peony garden. It was a pity that the peony season had passed, and there were no peonies to appreciate. Now one could only appreciate the lotus leaves and lotus flowers in the lake.

This lake was not very big. It covered an area of ​​about ten acres. It was located in the northwest corner of the garden. Fresh water was specially introduced, and the lake water is clear. Many species of precious fish were raised in it.

The lake was shaded by green trees, and there was a three-story viewing pavilion in the middle of the lake.

The lotus viewing banquet was set up in the viewing pavilion.

If you wanted to go to the viewing pavilion, you had to walk over from the wooden bridge on the lake, or you could take a boat and let the beautiful palace maids or handsome eunuchs row the boat, which was a special kind of fun.

When Ling Jingshu and others followed the steward to the lake, someone happened to get on a boat by the lake.

Ling Jingshu smiled and asked, “Yan tángjiě, do you want to take a boat?”

With Ling Jingyan’s greed for novelty and excitement, nine out of ten she wanted to take a boat.

Unexpectedly, this time Ling Jingshu guessed wrong.

Ling Jingyan shook her head again and again: “Forget it, let’s just walk over the wooden bridge.” Without waiting for Ling Jingshu to ask, she confessed honestly: “Ever since I encountered bandits on the boat in the middle of the night, I have had nightmares for many days in a row. I have a psychological shadow on taking the boat. So, let’s walk over!”

Ling Jingshu was taken aback and couldn’t help but laugh; she never would have guessed it was for this reason.

But…

“Yan tángjiě, I was the one who was caught by the bandits that night, and I was also the one who almost lost my life. It should be me who has a shadow!” Ling Jingshu half-jokingly and half-jokingly said: “I’m fine, why are you afraid of taking the boat?”

Ling Jingyan honestly admitted: “Don’t look at me jumping around a lot, I’m actually the most timid. Anyway, I dare not take the boat again.”

It didn’t matter if they didn’t take the boat!

Ling Jingshu raised her voice and said to the eunuch in front: “We won’t take the boat, we will just walk over the bridge.”

The eunuch was quite surprised: “Are the ladies really not going to take the boat? It is early summer, sitting on the boat, paddling with a wooden oar, the lotus leaves swaying, creating a unique beauty. “

The ladies who came to the Princess’s mansion for the banquet all took a boat to the viewing pavilion. Who would be willing to walk across the wooden bridge in the sun?

Ling Jingshu smiled and said, “Thank you for the reminder, but we are not used to taking a boat, so we’d better walk across.”

The eunuch did not say anything to comfort her and led Ling Jingshu and her group to the wooden bridge.

… (To be continued)