Volume 1 Chapter 24 Banquet Storm (Part 1)

  All the way, Shangguan Qing'er was fascinated by the scenery of the imperial palace, looking left and right, just like Liu Laizi entering Daguanyuan, which made Xia Jincheng feel extremely impatient.

  It was not easy to bring that curious cat into the imperial garden, and Xia Jinhan's face, which had softened a lot, suddenly became cold again. He still held Shangguan Qing'er's hand, accompanied by Qingyun and Lihua, as well as two eunuchs and two palace maids, and swaggered into the imperial garden.

  Because they walked very slowly along the way, when they came in, the sunset had already fallen, and the imperial garden was already filled with guests, bustling and extraordinary.

  As soon as Xia Jinhans foot stepped into the Imperial Garden, the eunuch at the gate immediately shouted in a loud voice, "The Crown Prince has arrived!"

  At these words, the originally lively Imperial Garden immediately fell silent, so quiet that even a needle falling to the ground could be heard clearly.

  Then everyone stood up and knelt down towards the direction of Xia Jinhan at the door, saying in unison, "Greetings to His Royal Highness, may you live for a thousand years, a thousand times a thousand years."

  Xia Jinhans had long been accustomed to such scenes, wearing a bright yellow dragon robe, lightly sweeping his sleeves, raising his hand calmly to look at the people present, with an air of majesty that came naturally, "You may dispense with the formalities."

  The people present stood up and took their seats, some of the bolder women secretly raised their eyes to look at the prince, seeing that he was icy cold, yet handsome as a celestial being who did not eat human food, they couldn't help but blush and their breathing became irregular.

  Shangguan Qing's delicate and petite body stood beside Xia Jinhan, easily overlooked. Xia Jinhan was too dazzling, and with her small stature, it was hard to draw attention to herself.

  However, others ignored her, but she didn't ignore those people present.

  A pair of bright eyes scanned the crowd, taking note of all the women who were batting their eyelashes at the prince and those who were blushing but still sneaking glances at him with their flirtatious eyes. She pouted her small mouth, thinking to herself that Xia Jinhan was indeed handsome, no wonder all these women were stealing looks at him. However, if they wanted to be her Prince Consort's concubine, they would have to get past her first, heh heh.

  Just as she was feeling proud, she suddenly discovered two gazes falling on her. She raised her head to look forward and met Xia Jin Xuan's slightly angry eyes. She furrowed her brow and shifted her gaze away, only to meet the face of the person opposite Xia Jin Xuan, a face full of provocation and disdain.

  Xia Jin Xuan glared at her, she could understand that he was jealous of her being able to follow Xia Jin Han's side, but why did that person show such an expression towards herself?

  Xia Jinhan led Shangguan Qing'er slowly to the front, arriving at the throne in the very front. They paid their respects to the Empress Dowager and several imperial consorts who were already seated.

  But Upper Official Light Child only then saw clearly, that the man sitting opposite Xia Jin Xuan, unexpectedly wore a bright red foreign costume, with tassels on his waistband, seemingly also having small bells, making him who was originally demonic-looking look even more seductive than a woman. He just sat there lazily, looking like he was less than ten years old, but the demonic face had a mature expression, that provocative expression made people want to kick him a few times.

  Shangguan Qing'er disdainfully rolled her eyes at him, made a face, and then looked at the demon's suddenly ugly expression, feeling pleased with herself as she turned around to avoid his angry gaze.

  At this time, Xia Jinhan's voice came from above, "Qing'er, why don't you quickly pay your respects to the Empress Dowager and the Imperial Consort?"

  Shangguan Qing'er timidly lowered her head, and a clear and pleasant voice sweetly rang out, "Qing'er pays respects to the Empress Dowager, the Imperial Consort, may you live for thousands of years, thousands of years, and thousands upon thousands of years."

  A crisp sound, like the falling of jade beads on a jade plate, echoed through the quiet imperial garden, causing everyone to shift their gaze onto Shangguan Qing'er.

  Shangguan Qing'er, in her past life, was a superstar who had been the focus of attention for millions of people. Naturally, she wouldn't be afraid of those people's gazes. She lifted her head, and her tender little face faced the Empress Dowager and several young imperial consorts on the upper seat. She smiled, and her sparkling eyes immediately became radiant, making people feel affectionate just by looking at her.

  The Empress Dowager and several imperial consorts suddenly felt a bright spot in front of them, looking at the little maid who was kneeling down to pay her respects. They smiled and said, "Where did the Crown Prince find such an adorable little maid? Hehe, quickly get up, come over and let me take a look."

  Shangguan Qing'er stood up, raised her eyes and asked for Xia Jincheng's opinion with her gaze.

  Just then, the eunuch's sharp voice came from outside the door, saving Shangguan Qing'er: "The Emperor has arrived, the Empress Dowager has arrived, Princess Jingyi has arrived."

  Xia Jin Han pulled along Shang Guan Qing Er, following the crowd to bow to the person entering the door, saying "Greetings to Your Majesty, may you live forever and ever... Long live the Empress, may she live for a thousand years, a thousand times a thousand years..."

  The Emperor Zhao of Jin, who was only in his early forties, wore a bright yellow dragon robe and led the Empress, who was only in her thirties, into the Imperial Garden. Behind them followed a stately young woman in her teens wearing a deep purple palace attire. They walked through the crowds of people bowing their heads in respect and slowly made their way to the front seats.

  Until he stopped in front of the throne, the Emperor raised his hand. His resolute and handsome face wore a bright smile. "Everyone, dispense with the formalities. Today's celebration feast is to welcome back the Crown Prince who has traveled far and wide. Don't be too restrained, everyone, just eat and drink to your heart's content."

  "Thank you, Your Majesty."

  Everyone stood up and sat down in their own seats, Xia Jincheng also pulled Shangguan Qing'er to sit down on a seat under Emperor Zhaojin's hand.

  There was only Xia Jinhan's seat there, but no one left a seat for Shangguan Qing'er.

  He remembered that at noon, he had indeed mentioned Shangguan Qing'er to Zhao Jin Emperor and asked Qingran to instruct him to give Shangguan Qing'er an extra seat. Was someone intentionally trying to pick a fight? Xia Jinhans' eyebrows furrowed slightly, but she didn't say anything.

  Finding someone staring at him with a cold and sharp gaze, Xia Jin's eyes narrowed coldly as he picked up Shangguan Qing'er and sat down in his seat.

  Then, Xia Jinhan raised her eyes and looked at the three princes Xia Jinyong in black robes beside her. She happened to see Xia Jinyong's face change from complacency to gloominess.

  Shangguan Linger also realized something and sneered in her heart, thinking that the Third Prince was not on good terms with Xia Jincheng. This time Xia Jincheng had achieved a great merit and returned, but his heart was unbalanced, wanting to make things difficult for Xia Jincheng?

  However, wanting to make Xia Jincheng lose face isn't easy, so they're taking advantage of her being a young girl? Hmph, nice move.

  Shangguan Qing'er's chubby little face looked up at Xia Jinwu, opening her arms and giggling, "Big brother, hug..."

  Upon hearing this, Xia Jinhan's face suddenly turned ugly, and he lowered his head. His icy gaze fell on Shangguan Qing'er like a knife. Meanwhile, Xia Jinyu was stunned, narrowing his eyes as his sinister eyes glared at Shangguan Qing'er with malice.

  Shangguan Qing'er seemed to have not noticed the frightening gaze of the two, and directly crawled from Xia Jinhans arms into Xia Jinyus arms.

  Xia Jinwu instinctively hugged her, preventing her from falling to the ground.

  But then, Shangguan Qing'er naturally sat down on Xia Jinwu's thigh, reached out to hold Xia Jinhuan's hand in the adjacent seat, and winked at him, as if saying, "This is my seat, I've taken it back myself."

  Digression

  As for which one of the eight princes likes whom, let's not rush to study it, everyone just read on and you'll slowly find out. Mwah!