Chapter 1143: New Year’s Eve Terror (Part 1)

When Bai Ruozhu was taken to the imperial study room, she realized what a disaster was. Why did she say such a mean thing? It just so happened that Si Lefang actually had a spy in there.

But think about it, the officials and wives of the New Year banquet are not allowed to bring any entourage, and the emperor is surrounded by close guards and palace people. They only have the opportunity to get close to the emperor during singing and dancing performances. At that time, after three rounds of drinking, the emperor may be a little dizzy. , the defensiveness will also drop.

Faced with the emperor's scrutiny, Bai Ruozhu could only say that she had imagined it, but the emperor's eyes widened and he said, "You have never attended the palace's New Year's Eve banquet before, have you? You are just from a peasant family, how could you think of this?"

Bai Ruozhu didn't like the emperor talking about her status. It wasn't because she cared about her status as a farmer, but because she cared about the emperor's attitude of looking down on her.

"Although I have never attended the New Year's Eve banquet, I have also attended the Queen Mother's birthday banquet. I can think of it by drawing inferences." Bai Ruozhu said.

"According to what you say, the palace attendants who perform tonight will be on guard?" the emperor asked, raising his eyebrows.

Bai Ruozhu smiled helplessly, "I don't know about that. There are so many people in the palace, who knows that someone could take advantage of a corner?"

The emperor looked at her carefully for a long time and suddenly said: "You don't look like a peasant girl. You have a lot of secrets hidden in you."

Bai Ruozhu's heart was beating wildly, but she couldn't panic at this moment. She suppressed her heart palpitations and said calmly: "Maybe I accumulated virtue in my previous life and was able to encounter such good things as enlightenment from immortals, which can be regarded as enlightenment."

The emperor snorted dissatisfiedly, as if he didn't believe it and didn't want to delve deeper.

When Bai Ruozhu left the imperial study, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It was considered safe, but where was her Ah Chun?

In the evening, the Queen Mother invited Bai Ruozhu and Lin Ping'er to attend the palace banquet. Even the little Dengdeng was taken in. He was very well-behaved and never cried or made trouble. He was particularly focused on the beauty's performance, wasn't he? She giggled, making Bai Ruozhu sigh that she knew how to look at beautiful women at such a young age.

The palace banquet went very smoothly, but no one expected that in the middle of the banquet, the emperor said: "Every year there is a song and dance performance, and I am tired of it. I will skip it this year. Change the format to a tea fight. Which of you?" Those who are good at tea ceremony can participate in it.”

Everyone was stunned, especially the concubines in the palace who were waiting to show their faces in front of the emperor. They had started preparing early, so why did they suddenly stop acting?

The Queen Mother also looked surprised, obviously not knowing that the Emperor would change the rules temporarily. However, some noble families were very excited, guessing that the emperor was scouting candidates for next year's draft, and some ladies had even secretly winked at their daughters to signal them to perform well later.

The noble ladies in the capital have learned piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, red wine, tea art, etc. almost since childhood. There are many who can sign up.

The emperor had made up his mind and immediately ordered the palace servants to bring in all the utensils for the tea art competition. The tea art competition began in a lively manner.

"Your second brother is good at tea. If he were here, he could participate in the competition." Lin Ping'er whispered with some emotion.

The two of them were located very close to the Queen Mother, which was considered a high-status position. Not far away was Concubine Liu. She was originally banned, but she was allowed to attend the New Year's Eve banquet by the emperor. Her lazy and charming eyes glanced at Lin Ping'er lightly, and she seemed to be saying to herself: "You are a country bumpkin from nowhere, do you think that tea art is something that only low-class people can do? It's really ridiculous."

Lin Ping'er's face turned green when she heard this, but the other party was a noble concubine. She didn't want to cause trouble for her daughter, so she could only pretend that she didn't hear anything.

Bai Ruozhu glanced at Concubine Liu and thought about how to silence this bitch so that he could just cause trouble for her and bully her mother.

Concubine Liu glanced at Bai Ruozhu with disdain and whispered to the female officer next to her. Because there was some noise around her, Bai Ruozhu couldn't hear what she said clearly.

Soon the tea art competition began, and Bai Ruozhu discovered that Li Wanhua and Gu Xu'an were also participating, but Gu Xu'an's eyes always glanced in the direction of Lin Xufei, and Lin Xufei's eyes widened when he looked at her, and he was teased by the people next to him.

Only then did Bai Ruozhu notice that the young man sitting near Lin Xufei looked like he was in his early twenties. He had a delicate baby face and looked very young. He happened to notice Bai Ruozhu's gaze, turned to look at her, and smiled politely at her, looking very gentle.

She noticed that the young man was wearing a python robe, and then realized that he was also a prince. Based on his age, she guessed that he was Prince Rui.

Yang Hongwen, who had had issues with her before, was Prince Rui's cousin, and Prince Rui's biological mother, Concubine Yang, was from the Yang family.

Bai Ruozhu withdrew her gaze and wondered why Lin Xufei was sitting with Prince Rui.

The tea art competition is in full swing. Li Wanhua's tea art skills are better than Bai Ruozhu imagined. She even feels that she is a little more refined than her second brother.

At the end of the competition, the emperor indeed ranked Li Wanhua first, which made the reputation of "Miss Li" even more famous.

Just as the New Year's bell rang, the fireworks began to set off, blooming with brilliant colors in the night sky, but Bai Ruozhu was not in the mood to appreciate it, and couldn't help but look into the distance.

At this time, a familiar figure came into her sight, but the figure flashed past and quickly disappeared from the end of the corridor. She wanted to see it more clearly, but it was too late.

An indescribable worry arose from the bottom of her heart. She hurriedly handed Deng Deng, who was already asleep in her arms, to her mother, and whispered: "Mom, take Deng Deng back later. There are willows and swords. Qi will protect you, I will go back and change Le Bin’s dressing first.”

"Didn't you just change the medicine before coming out? Is there something wrong? Do you want to report it to the Queen Mother?" Lin Ping'er asked worriedly.

Bai Ruozhu shook her head hastily. It was just her confused worry about how to alert the Queen Mother and the Emperor. Moreover, the Emperor had sent extra personnel to protect Le Bin, so she had better be cautious.

"The medicine should be almost ready. I'll go back and keep an eye on it in advance to be sure." Bai Ruozhu said hurriedly.

After Bai Ruozhu finished speaking, she stood up and said to Liu Mu next to her: "Please tell the Queen Mother for me later."

"Yes, Mrs. Jiang, please find a palace maid to light lanterns and leave some on the way." Liu Mu explained uneasily.

Bai Ruozhu didn't dare to delay. He responded and left the table in a hurry. The palace maids and eunuchs were all watching the fireworks. Bai Ruozhu carried a lantern himself and used Qinggong to go faster, so as not to slow down the speed if he brought people with him.

As she was walking, a gust of cold wind hit her, and the lantern flickered and suddenly went out...