diskusbooks Chapter 136 Before the Lychee Banquet
Chapter 136 Before the Lychee Banquet
However, when Mingyu saw that the person coming was Hailancha, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Hailancha, why is it you?" Mingyu asked in surprise.
Hailancha lowered his voice and replied, "Hush, Mingyu, I just heard Concubine Gao and Qing Ying talking about something. It seems to be related to the Queen's Lychee Banquet. They will be here soon."
Mingyu's face suddenly became solemn. She was startled and immediately squatted aside.
Hailancha looked at Mingyu who suddenly became extremely well-behaved and couldn't help but cover her mouth and laugh.
Mingyu urged anxiously: "Stop laughing and squat down!" She reached out and grabbed Hailancha's sleeve, motioning him to squat down quickly to avoid being discovered.
A blush appeared on Hailancha's face, and she seemed a little shy, but Mingyu did not notice these subtle changes. She just focused her attention on the people who were about to come.
It was indeed Concubine Gao. She was discussing with Er Qing how to make some changes at the litchi banquet.
After hearing this, Mingyu hurriedly left and went back to tell Wei Yingluo to be careful.
But Hailancha hurriedly grabbed Mingyu and said, "Ms. Mingyu, I heard something about saffron before. You should be more careful."
Mingyu nodded, a warm smile appeared on her face, then she looked at Hailancha and said, "Okay, I will, Guard Soran, thank you very much this time!" Her tone was full of gratitude.
Hailancha saw that Mingyu's mood had improved. He scratched his head, showing a shy and expectant expression, and said, "Ms. Mingyu, I have been carrying the sachet you gave me last time, but it seems to have come undone. Could you please help me sew it again?"
There was something pleading in his eyes, like a cute puppy waiting for a response from his owner.
Mingyu looked down and found that there were indeed some threads next to the sachet.
She was secretly upset, thinking that she must have forgotten to hide the thread, but she refused to admit defeat and said in surprise: "Oh, how could this happen! You must be too careless, but since you did a good job this time, I will help you sew it."
As she spoke, she took the sachet and gently stroked the embroidery thread on it.
When Hailancha heard Mingyu agreed to help, a happy smile appeared on his face. He quickly took out a pair of exquisite earrings from his sleeves, handed them to Mingyu carefully, and said, "Thank you, Miss Mingyu! This pair of earrings is a thank you gift for you, please accept it. I will come to see you again in a few days."
After saying this, he was afraid that Mingyu would refuse, so he turned and left in a hurry.
Mingyu held the exquisite earrings in her hands, recalling everything that had just happened. Looking at Hailancha's departing back, recalling everything that had just happened, she couldn't help feeling a little strange.
But he did not think deeply about it, and hurried back to Changchun Palace.
The lychee banquet was held half a month later, and the protagonists were naturally the three lychee trees given by the emperor to the queen.
This time, all the lychees were not picked, but were left growing neatly on the trees, waiting to be picked one by one when the banquet began, and served to the plates of the concubines in the freshest and most juicy form.
Wei Yingluo hurriedly passed by the banquet and took a sneak peek. She saw Concubine Xian, Concubine Chun, Concubine Gao, as well as Concubine Shu, Concubine Qing and other concubines sitting at the table.
She knew very well that Er Qing was not qualified to attend such a banquet because of her low status and disfavor from the emperor.
Wei Yingluo quickly lowered her head and quickened her pace to leave the place.
Arriving at the agreed dark alley, Wei Yingluo stood in the shadow of the wall and waited quietly for a while.
Not long after, two figures slowly walked over from a distance.
One of them is Qingyun and the other is Zhang Jianyi.
Zhang Jianyi held Concubine Gao's favorite pet, Snowball, tightly in his arms.
The two of them had already prepared the puppy's favorite food and were waiting at the gate of Chuxiu Palace before dawn. Finally, they got the chance and brought Snowball out.
At the same time, Mingyu and Xiao Quanzi took Zhenzhu, Jixiang and others to the door of the litchi tree warehouse, closely watching the movements around them.
Likewise, Er Qing and Hu Bo had been quietly waiting nearby, waiting for the right moment to strike. However, after a long wait, the two of them tried countless methods, but they were unable to lure everyone away, and there would always be one or two people guarding the spot.
In the end, Er Qing gritted her teeth and decided to take a risky move. She let Amber stay where she was and continue to look for opportunities and wait for the right moment to act, while she herself went to carry out another plan.
Er Qing knew very well that the Queen had already stated that she would pick lychees herself and present them to the Emperor, so it was impossible for her to go back on her word easily.
Therefore, the best strategy was to destroy all the lychee trees and make the Queen and everyone in Changchun Palace lose face.
More importantly, this way, Concubine Gao could take the opportunity to accuse the palace servants of failing to do their job well, resulting in the loss of tribute, and then ask the emperor to severely punish the palace servants in charge of the lychee banquet. The first person to bear the brunt of this group of palace servants was the Queen's most trusted confidant - Wei Yingluo.
However, it might be impossible to succeed now, so Er Qing decided to take a more risky strategy.
She arrived at the entrance of the treasury of Changchun Palace, looked around, and found that there was no one guarding nearby, so she let down her guard a little. This treasury contained precious items and utensils that were not often used in Changchun Palace.
Although she left Changchun Palace, she secretly left behind a spare key.
She found a set of cups at the bottom of the box, smeared something on the bottom of the exquisite cups, and then left in a hurry.
After a while, Amber followed Er Qing's instructions and asked her eunuch to make some thick smoke, then shouted, "The fire is coming, the fire is coming."
At this time, Zhang Jianyi and Qingyun exchanged glances, and hurriedly ran out with Zhenzhu, Jixiang and others, as if they were going to put out the fire.
Amber rushed into the storeroom and hurriedly poured hot water on the litchi tree. She then stealthily told Concubine Gao's men that they had succeeded and was about to leave Changchun Palace.
After a while, Wei Yingluo came back holding the snowball. Looking at the destroyed litchi tree, she handed the snowball to Zhenzhu and Jixiang, and told them to arrange the snowball and prepare the litchi tree.