Because of these words, Feng Yu Heng looked around the yard some more. The evaluation she ended up giving was: Tasteless! Too tasteless!
It seemed that the Ding An palace was also lacking in artistic taste. The appearance was completely tasteless and should not be looked at. It would be fine if it were just ugly flowers and lousy trees, but the colors were not at all coordinated. Bright red and bright pink were put together. No matter how she looked at it, her head ached. It was also unknown what this garden looked like previously, as they had said that it used to be much prettier. The fire Xuan Tian Ming started was a little too big.
Mentioning the ninth prince, someone immediately jealously looked at Feng Yu Heng. Her face had a fawning look, as she said: "Second young miss Feng really has good fortune. The day the ninth prince sent gifts to the Feng manor, everyone in the capital heard about it. I heard that the ninth prince gifted second young miss a residence?"
Feng Yu Heng nodded but remained silent.
Another person said: "It's merely a residence. What could that be worth. I heard that in the betrothal gifts, there were the five treasures: moon palace silk, refined cloud silk, heavenly gauze, commoner's brocade and smokey silk gauze! Furthermore, it wasn't just one bolt, there were many!"
Every girl was the same, they all liked beautiful fabrics. Hearing mention of the five treasures, all of them stared blankly.
Feng Yu Heng did not want to talk with them too much about her betrothal gifts, so she took the initiative and spoke up, bringing the conversation back to the previous topic: "You said that this garden was rebuilt after being burned down. The Ding An palace was burned down for no apparent reason, yet they were not unhappy?"
A daughter of the first wife to a supposed fourth rank official had some inside information and spoke up: "Of course they were unhappy! That year, Lord Ding An very angrily entered the imperial palace and directly filed a complaint against the ninth prince to the Emperor's face."
"How did the Emperor react?" A curious person asked.
The fourth ranked official's daughter continued: "The Emperor said to Lord Ding An, you can not even take care of a palace, yet you dare come to Our place and complain?"
"Hahaha!" These words made everyone present laugh. Feng Yu Heng also laughed with them.
"There's more, there's more!" The young miss saw that everyone was joining in, so she also felt spirited, "Because of these words from the Emperor, after Lord Ding An returned, he ordered for many imperial guards to protect the palace. Apparently there are a few hundred of them! The Emperor then punished him for the crime of having a private army."
Pft!
This time, Feng Yu Heng spewed while laughing. She finally knew who Xuan Tian Ming and Xuan Tian Ge got their personality from. It seemed to be hereditary!
On their side, they chatted and laughed boisterously, while in the opposite corridor, Feng Chen Yu was talking face to face with Qing Le about something. Feng Yu Heng looked over and saw Chen Yu standing outside the corridor with her arms wrapped around herself. She had clearly started feeling cold.
Thinking about it, it was the beginning of Autumn. Standing in the sun was fine, but standing in the shade was really cold. Yet, for the sake of looking pretty, Feng Chen Yu wore clothes made with a thin fabric and her collar was opened wide. Who knew what Qing Le was saying, as she continued endlessly, seemingly without any intention of letting Chen Yu leave.
Xiang Rong tugged at Feng Yu Heng's sleeve and quietly asked: "Second sister, they all came to celebrate Princess Ding An's birthday. Is conversing about them behind their back ok?"
Feng Yu Heng loosed her grip, "Thinking about it, they must come and do this every year; otherwise, look at the palace's maidservants, they clearly heard everything, yet nobody came over to stop us, nor did they even have any reaction."
Xiang Rong sighed: "It seems that Lord Ding An's reputation is very poor. Previously, I did not go out often and did not meet any friends. I really did not expect that the outside world and home were... actually exactly the same."
Feng Yu Heng smiled, "That's right, every family has a way of fighting. The Feng manor is never peaceful, and this Ding An palace is not much better. If they are living well, how could they have invited such criticism."
She moved back a little and leaned against a small tree. Raising her hand, she pulled two flower branches from the side and looked at Feng Chen Yu and Qing Le. She thought to herself, if these two got together like this, it's likely they are talking about something unpleasant. It was eighty percent likely that it had to do with her. The resentment Feng Chen Yu had accumulated over the past few days had to be vented out. She did not know if Qing Le would hit it off with her.
Outside the corridor, Qing Le and Feng Chen Yu's discussion had actually come to an end, but the few times Feng Chen Yu wanted to leave, she was stopped by Qing Le over random matters.
Chen Yu was very aware of the situation. Although the enemy of the enemy is a friend, it was clear that Qing Le had a great deal of enmity towards her as well. Perhaps the two could cooperate, but there was no chance they could coexist.
She turned her head, not wanting to look at Qing Le, instead she searched around the garden.
Qing Le saw Feng Chen Yu's searching appearance and could not help but ask: "What are you looking for?"
Chen Yu quickly retracted her gaze and respectfully replied: "Nothing."
The flowers the bloomed at the start of Autumn were very colorful, especially the ones grown by the Ding An palace. They were all very gaudy colors, add on the countless young misses and wealthy madams that came today, it really made the eyes sore.
Princess Ding An's birthday banquet was already about to begin. The crowd followed the servants to their seats and sat down.
Xiang Rong and Fen Dai had been arranged to sit together, while Chen Yu was assigned to the other side.
Feng Yu Heng heard a girl beside her, who she did not recognize, mutter: "Ah, the other side only has daughters of the first wife." Only then did she understand, how entrenched in this ancient world the idea of "differences between a concubine's child and the first wife's child."
This birthday banquet, both male guests and female guests feasted. The female guests sat in the garden, while the male guests sat in the front yard.
After all the guests were seated, servants came and brought more fruits and refreshments to the table. Feng Yu Heng found this to be curious. All the other tables had fruit, desserts and tea. Only her table had relatively few fruits and desserts, and there was no tea. Furthermore, all of the fruits were quite ugly and looked as though they were specially picked out for being oddly shaped.
Seeing Xiang Rong frown, she smiled and comforted her: "Do not worry, let us see what dirty tricks Ding An palace can bring out."
Just as she said this, she heard some maidservants exclaim "Princess Ding An has arrived!"
Following this exclamation, a princess dressed in splendid attire slowly walked with a procession of servants along a side path. Her steady pace was like a deliberate stage play. For such a short distance, she somehow walked for the duration of half a stick of incense.
Waiting for the princess to ascend her throne, all the guests finally rose and bowed towards the throne, saying in unison: "Greetings to the princess. Wishing the princess celebrate a birthday every year."
Princess Ding An was very pleased with this grand occasion, especially since there was the daughter of the first wife to a first rank official present today. This made her feel very dignified. She could not help but lift her haughtiness and enjoy it for a while before reluctantly lifting her hand: "You may all rise."
Feng Yu Heng smiled, rise? She really dared to use these words.
After sitting down, she made some time to look at that dignified princess. Glancing over, she almost cried.
This was imperial daughter Qing Le's mother? Why did she look older than their Feng family's matriarch? Not only did she look old, her face was yellow and disgusting to look at. She was also thin and completely spoiled the magnificent dress. She absolutely could not maintain her haughtiness.
Xiang Rong also felt this princess was a little too ugly. She could not help but turn her head away, as she did not want to look at her any longer.
Both were princesses, yet the difference between this Princess Ding An and Princess Wen Xuan was much too large.
As the two sisters were observing this princess, Princess Ding An was also paying attention to the Feng family's children who were attending for the first time. Of course, the most important was the Feng family's daughter to the first wife.
But just as Princess Ding An's eyes caught sight of the incomparably gorgeous pink figure, her already ugly eyebrows came together in a frown. Without thinking at all, she asked: "Whose family's bride is that?"
Some young misses who were drinking water could not swallow it and instead spat it out upon hearing these words.
Bride! The princess' description was very suitable and exactly the same as imperial daughter Qing Le's.
Feng Chen Yu knew that she was talking about her. Her expression sank and rose again, saying: "This humble girl is Feng Chen Yu."
Princess Ding An was startled, Feng Chen Yu? She was the Feng family's daughter to the first wife?
Looking carefully, she could not help but secretly praise her. She really was too beautiful. Even for someone like her, who was very critical of those of the same sex, she felt that this Feng Chen Yu was too beautiful.
But, regardless of how beautiful you are, wearing such clothes to my birthday banquet is a little overboard, right?
Princess Ding An's expression was also ugly, "So it was the Feng family's eldest young miss. Eldest young miss Feng wearing these types of clothes to go out, did Lord Feng not stop you?"
Following Princess Ding An's words, the madams and young misses also began to discuss this. The Feng family's eldest young miss dressing herself like this, clearly she understood that this did not give any face to Princess Ding An! She was beautiful, while Princess Ding An was ugly and old, but that was that. Feng Chen Yu dressing herself as she did and attending this banquet was a deliberate attempt to humiliate their princess.
Feng Chen Yu also felt wronged. This was her first time seeing Princess Ding An. Only the devil knew that the dignified princess looked like a grandmother. Furthermore, her dressing well was for the Feng family's face; moreover, it was not for this old woman to see.
"The family fully respects princess' birthday banquet. Right before we left, us three sisters had to dress splendidly to show respect to Ding An palace." Chen Yu was not stupid. She had helped Chen shi mediate disputes from a young age. This sort of wordplay was something she could do.
Sure enough, Princess Ding An liked the sound of those words. Quickly gesturing for Chen Yu to sit, she then signaled to a servant at her side, as the song and dance performances began.
Feng Yu Heng picked two fruits that were not too shabby, eating one herself and handing one to Xiang Rong. She then looked past the performance to watch the excitement on Chen Yu's side.
There were a number of madams and young misses who sat closer that were trying to befriend Chen Yu. They did not care if Chen Yu was giving Princess Ding An face or hitting it. They only knew that this was the daughter to the first wife of a current first rank official. Fawning on her was necessary.
Thus, one offered her tea, another brought fruit and another brought desserts. There were even some who gave her bank notes and jade jewelry. For a while, Chen Yu became the most important person in the party. It could be seen that Princess Ding An became more and more jealous.
Feng Chen Yu maintained a harmless and peaceful smile towards those that came up to her. Natural and at ease, she brought out her Bodhisattva face.
But Feng Yu Heng could see the impatience in her eyes.
But of course, they were all from merchants' homes or at best fourth or fifth ranked officials' homes. It would be odd if Feng Chen Yu put them in her eyes. But for the sake of maintaining her image, she could not flip on them.
But no matter how good she was at enduring, after a woman as fat as Chen shi said something, she suddenly stood up and screamed while pointing at the woman: "How dare you! How did someone like you get into the palace?"