C211

Holding the slip of paper in her hand, Dong Shu pondered carefully before finally going to the Main Yard to tell Old Madame Xu about this matter.

"Mom, I don't know anyone else in the capital city, not to mention that this note didn't have a signature on it. It only said that we would meet tomorrow at noon at the Qing Xiang Tower in the city." Dong Shu said, and then handed the slip of paper in her hand to Old Madame Xu.

When the Old Madame Xu heard Dong Shu's words, she had already guessed a bit. Even after reading the paper slip that Dong Shu handed over, she still did not tell her the news that she knew.

"Since it's a note from someone you don't know, just pretend you didn't see it. "Rest well at home for the next two days and eat more good food. After all, during the annual feast, there won't be much to eat."

Hearing that the Old Madame Xu mentioned the annual feast, Dong Shu's attention was immediately shifted, and she immediately stared at the new moon with a puzzled face: "There's nothing to eat at the annual feast? Shouldn't there be a lot of food for the feast? Every time I enter the palace, I get some bad food. "

Seeing Dong Shu's puzzled expression, Old Madame Xu immediately laughed and shook her head: "There are indeed quite a lot of delicacies in the palace, but think about it, at the Spring Festival, it's so cold, and the imperial kitchen has to make so much food. Apart from His Majesty and a few other emperors and Prince Duan, who have food that can be hot, I'm afraid the food in front of us would have already turned cold. In such a cold weather, if you eat even a little bit of food, you won't have any appetite to eat, no matter how delicious it is. "

After saying that, the Old Madame Xu paused for a moment before continuing, "However, during the annual feast, the tea is always warm, it's just that if you drink too much tea, it's not convenient for you, so just endure as you please."

As soon as Old Madame Xu finished speaking, Dong Shu nodded her head in understanding: "So that's how it is. Then I'll be taking extra care of it at home for the next few days, and on the day of the feast, I'll put another two snacks in my bag."

Hearing Dong Shu's words, Old Madame Xu did not speak out to stop her. After all, even she could not guarantee that the annual banquet would go smoothly this year.

If he brought two pastries with him, he might really be able to have a stomach full of pastries at that time.

Since Dong Shu did not plan to go and meet her on the note, and the Old Madame Xu did not persuade her to go, for the next few days, Dong Shu stayed at home and waited for the New Year to come.

Although Xu Shiqiu never came back, because of the approach of the new year, they didn't have much time to think about whether he was on his way back, or what had happened, and simply didn't come back from the north.

On the morning of New Year's Eve, under the guidance of the Old Madame Xu, all three houses of the Xu Family offered sacrifices to their ancestors in their old residence.

After the Ancestor was done, the Madame Ye, Old Madame Xu and Dong Shu went to the palace to participate in the annual feast.

Madame Jiang watched on enviously as her eldest sister-in-law and her third sister-in-law stood behind her mother-in-law. Her heart was filled with jealousy, but she also knew that her husband was not an official, and she wasn't a princess like the Madame Ye, who possessed royal blood in her veins.

Unless, in the future, her family was able to become an extremely influential person, so she could get a title for her mother.

Old Madame Xu could feel the sourness in Madame Jiang's entire body. Today, she was also wearing her first-class clothes, and after glancing at Madame Jiang, she then looked at her and the Madame Hu at the side and said. "Today, when we entered the palace, you, Second Brother, will be in charge of taking care of the dinner at home."

After she finished speaking, the Old Madame Xu ignored her pleasantly surprised expression. He then directly looked at the Madame Hu and said: "You are the eldest grandson of our Xu Family. Your mother-in-law is the prefecture lord and thus, you will be responsible for all these matters in the future. In the future, when I bring you a title, I will leave this matter to my brothers and sisters below you. "This year, you have to help your second aunt. When next year, when Brother Ning is older, you will have full responsibility for all of this."

Hearing what the Old Madame Xu said to the Madame Hu, the surprise on Madame Jiang's face immediately disappeared.

She understood that her mother-in-law's warning just now was to warn her that even though she was an elder, she was still a concubine after all. With her eldest wife already married, she would at most be a helper in the future.

However, when she thought about the need to return to her dwelling at most for the next year during the new year, Madame Jiang did not reveal any more envious expressions.

Now that the old lady was still alive, they could finally gather together for the new year. When the old lady was no longer around, their second room would be hers.

When Old Madame Xu saw that the Madame Jiang had understood that there were no longer any weird expressions on her face, she looked at his grandsons and said: "Grandmother has already told you all about it, I'll leave it to you guys at home."

As the eldest grandson of the Xu Family, even though he had been preparing for the Imperial examinations since childhood, Xu Yanqing was not a weak scholar who was powerless.

Old Madame Xu had already told him that something big was going to happen during this year's feast.

As for Xu Yanbo, who was in the main house, he had been helping Xu Shiqiu gather information recently, so he naturally knew about this matter as well.

On the other hand, only the two brothers, Xu Yanlang who had been managing the house from the outside, noticed something amiss. As for Xu Yanwei, he did not notice anything amiss.

After looking at her grandchildren, Old Madame Xu finally looked at Xu Yanmo, who had been left at home today with a cold, "Yanmo will take care of Yuanxi at home, you must not go out."

Xu Yanmo was the only daughter of the Madame Ye. Even if she had not been married off, she could tell that something was wrong due to the meticulous guidance of the Madame Ye.

Since a few days ago, his mother had forbidden him from going out and had even released the news that he had caught a cold. This morning, she had sent someone to the palace to inform him that she could not enter the palace to attend the annual feast.

Now that her grandmother had begun to remind her again, she hugged her cousin who was trying to pull out the beads on her head, then she looked at Old Madame Xu and said: "Grandmother, don't worry, I will definitely keep Yuanxi with me today."

Seeing that Xu Yanmo immediately understood her meaning, Old Madame Xu nodded her head in satisfaction and was about to leave.

After instructing about the matters of the family, Old Madame Xu brought Madame Ye and Dong Shu, and with her eldest son accompanying him, they sat in a carriage and headed towards the Imperial Palace.

Although Madame Ye and Dong Shu had their own carriages, the two of them still chose to accompany Old Madame Xu today.

Madame Ye knew that something big was going to happen in the palace, so she was afraid that it would be inconvenient for them to part.

As for Dong Shu, because she had been repeatedly warned by the Old Madame Xu several times, she had to always stay by her side today.

When Xu Family's carriage just arrived at the palace gate, it just so happened to meet Zhang Family's carriage. The two old ladies were helped off the carriage by their juniors, and when their gazes collided in the air, a hint of a smile quickly flashed past their eyes.

They had experienced many things and weren't as panicked as the others when they sensed that something was wrong. They all knew that even though the events of today were dangerous, once they succeeded, the identities of the two of them would be completely different in the future.

Since the two of them were of the same grade, they smiled at each other before walking towards the palace together.

However, just as the two of them reached the entrance of the palace, two young eunuchs rushed out. One young eunuchs walked in front of the two old ladies from left to right, and hurriedly bowed with clearly frozen bodies: "Empress has specially arranged for a carriage driver. Two Old Madame s, please board it."

The moment the two of them finished speaking, Dong Shu saw a few familiar faces carrying two fine, though not extravagant, palanquins, towards him.

After confirming that it was indeed arranged by the Empress Hu, the two old ladies finally got on the palanquin with the support of their juniors.

There were very few women who could be driven away by a gift palanquin today. Aside from the old lady from Xu Family and the old lady from the Zhang Family, only the old wangfei from the Imperial Family would have this kind of honor.

As for the Old Madame s of the Hu Family, they were all supported by their own juniors as they walked step by step into the palace for the annual feast.

Since the Hu Family were not favored, no one felt that the Empress Hu was doing something wrong.

After all, they all understood that Zhang Family was an external clan of the Fifth Prince and the Xu Family was the home of the Fifth Prince's Concubine. After today, the two clans would be completely different from before.

For an occasion like today, it was naturally the lower the level of the people that came earlier. Therefore, when Dong Shu and the others arrived, the large palace was already almost full.

This was Dong Shu's first time participating in a banquet of this scale, she had always been imitating her sister-in-law's style, with a shallow smile on her face as she followed behind her elder sister-in-law.

Just as Dong Shu was thinking that she could continue to follow along like this, she suddenly felt a somewhat familiar gaze land on her body.

She quickly raised her head to look at the line of sight, only to see the owner of the gaze nod instead of avoiding it.

Dong Shu did not understand why Madame Liu was looking at her like that. Although she was curious, she still remembered what her mother-in-law had told her to not leave her place today, and to follow her forever.

Thinking about it, Dong Shu could only smile and nod his head towards Madame Liu, treating it as a form of greeting.

At this time, Old Madame Xu was talking to Old Zhang about the marriage between the two young masters and her granddaughter. As her mother-in-law, Madame Ye naturally joined in enthusiastically.

Dong Shu had been silently listening at the side. Just as she was seriously listening to the two families discussing this matter, she suddenly felt someone tugging at her sleeve from beside her.

"It's you. You have something to talk to me about?" Saying that, Dong Shu took two steps forward. Although she was away from Old Madame Xu's side, she was not too far away.

The person who came was a second class palace maid from the Phoenix Maiden Palace. Her face was filled with anxiety, and after seeing Dong Shu avoid the crowd, she whispered into Dong Zhui's ear, "Madam Xu, the Empress just received some kind of news. She suddenly started laughing and crying, and neither Su mama nor Hu mama could persuade her, so they could only send a servant to invite you to take a look." As she spoke, the palace maid took out a jade token that belonged to the Phoenix Nest Palace.

Upon seeing the jade tablet, Dong Shu immediately believed in the identity of the palace maid and asked anxiously: "Is the Empress still in Phoenix Palace?"

"Exactly, it's almost time to come here, but the Empress is unwilling to continue dressing up." As the palace maid spoke, her face became more and more anxious.

After hearing the palace maid's words, Dong Shu nodded to her, then immediately turned back to Old Madame Xu's side and told her in a low voice that she was leaving for a while.

Hearing Dong Shu's words, the Old Madame Xu immediately turned to look at the palace maid who was still waiting there, and then looked at Dong Shu and said: "You should pay more attention."

The reason the Old Madame Xu dared to let Dong Shu leave on her own was because she knew that Dong Shu had someone by her side to protect him.

Even if something really did happen, with the people from the Empress Hu, no one could do anything to Dong Shu.

Dong Shu understood what Old Madame Xu meant, after hearing her words, she nodded to her seriously, then turned and left with the palace maid.

Only, Dong Shu did not expect that as soon as she followed the palace maid out of the place, a familiar palace maid would quickly walk over.

The moment the palace maid saw Dong Shu, she hurriedly apologized and bowed, "Third Madame Xu, the Empress has already stabilized his emotions. Mama Su has asked this servant to tell you that you do not need to go over." After saying that, she paused for a moment before continuing, "However, the Empress ordered that you would accompany her in a while, and that you inform Old Madame Xu in advance."

Dong Shu was not angry after hearing what the palace maid said, she only nodded her head obediently.

Right after she nodded, the palace maid who came to look for her decided to lead the way first.

Seeing the two's troubled expression, Dong Shu laughed and said: "It's fine, if you two are busy in advance, I'll go back myself."

This was merely the outside of the palace. As long as she entered the door, there would be many palace maids and attendants present, so she was not worried that her safety would be in danger.

After hearing Dong Shu's words, the two palace maids hurriedly apologized and left.

After the two of them left, Dong Shu turned around and prepared to return, but she didn't expect that after walking just two steps away, she was stopped by Madame Liu.