bookrebus Chapter 723 Opportunity to attend the banquet
Chapter 723 Opportunity to attend the banquet
The next day, Zhong Yiyu did not leave the Zhong family, but asked someone to secretly send a letter to the Girls' Academy.
Before Wei Yao went on duty, she happened to go to the Women's Academy, got the letter and brought it into the palace.
"Zhong Yixue hopes that we can help her so that she has the opportunity to attend the palace banquet." After reading the letter, Jiang Suining handed the letter to Lu Yan.
Lu Yan frowned and looked at it quickly, "She didn't mention the reason why she wanted to attend the palace banquet in the letter."
"According to what you said before, the sisters wanted to become female teachers in the academy. Maybe they attended the banquet to achieve this goal, but..." Wei Yao thought about it doubtfully, "For a moment, I can't figure out how these two things can be connected."
If the purpose is to stand out at the banquet, gain a good reputation, and be allowed into the girls' college, then it can only be said that there is no need for this at all.
After all, the requirements for recruiting female teachers in women's colleges are not high nowadays. According to their conditions, they can definitely be met, so there is no need to do anything unnecessary.
Lu Yan looked at the silent Jiang Suining, "Suining, are you going to help her?"
"As the daughter of the Minister of Revenue, it is not difficult for her to attend the palace banquet. However, it is still unclear what she plans to do at the banquet. If we help her rashly, we might end up causing trouble..."
"Then I won't help." Wei Yao said immediately.
"But we promised before that we would help if we can." Lu Yan said.
"Zhong Yixiu may not necessarily rely on us for this matter, and even if we want to help, we don't necessarily have to show up in person." Jiang Suining looked at the paper and pen on the table beside him, walked over and took out the pen to write.
Lu Yan and Wei Yao came forward and saw that Jiang Suining had only written four words.
"Mingchang Marquis Mansion." Wei Yao read out loud, "Sui Ning, do you want Zhong Yixue to enter the palace with the help of Mingchang Marquis Mansion?"
Jiang Suining nodded, "The status of the Marquis of Mingchang is extraordinary. In most cases, the Marquis is eligible to participate in these banquets in the palace. If you want to get in touch with the Marquis's son and ask her father to arrange it, it won't be too difficult."
"According to Zhong Yiyu, her sister is not satisfied with this marriage and probably doesn't want to have anything to do with the Marquis of Mingchang's Mansion." Lu Yan thought.
"That depends on what Zhong Yixue does. If she wants to find a reason to cancel the marriage, she still has to find a way to contact him. And..." Jiang Suining paused, with curiosity in his eyes, "I also want to see what Zhong Yixue will do."
All she knew about Miss Zhong now was almost limited to the old story that Lu Yan had told her.
In such a lack of contact, she didn't think that they should find a way to help her enter the palace and attend the banquet just because of a letter sent by the other party.
Two days later, those generals who had made outstanding contributions at the border arrived at the imperial city.
The people lined the streets to welcome him, and the imperial city was bustling with activity.
Inside the palace, palace maids and eunuchs shuttled back and forth, preparing all matters necessary for the celebration banquet.
In the evening, when there was still half an hour left before the banquet was to start, the officials attending the banquet arrived one after another.
"Sui Ning, someone is coming." Lu Yan's reminder sounded beside him.
Jiang Suining followed her gaze towards the entrance of the banquet, and Zhong Yixiu, wearing a light blue brocade dress, walked in.
He glanced around briefly, then looked at Jiang Suining and Lu Yan, nodding slightly at them.
Zhong Yixiu's name was newly added to the list yesterday.
Lu Yan secretly inquired about what Empress Shi had sent to convey.
It seemed that Zhong Yixiu's mother came to the palace to ask to see Queen Shi, saying that the Zhong family and the Mingchang Marquis' Mansion had been engaged, but there had not been many banquets in the imperial city recently, and the children of the two families did not have many opportunities to interact with each other on weekdays, so they wanted to take advantage of the celebration banquet to have some fun together and meet each other by the way.
After all, the two families had already been engaged, so saying such things was not too outrageous. Besides, since Madam Zhong had already spoken, Empress Shi agreed.
Zhong Yixiu came to the banquet with her father. While Zhong Xingyun was greeting other officials, she walked up to Jiang Suining and the others.
"Madam Jiang, Madam Lu." Zhong Yixiu greeted with a smile.
"Ms. Zhong."
Jiang Suining and Lu Yan also nodded.
Zhong Yixue's eyes fell on Jiang Suining's face, "Miss Jiang, there is still some time before the banquet. I wonder if I could ask you to come and talk with me for a moment."
Jiang Suining looked at Lu Yan.
Lu Yan said: "Sui Ning, you go ahead, I'll take care of it, it's okay."
"Okay." Jiang Suining responded.
She and Zhong Yixiu did not walk too far. Tonight's banquet was scheduled in the Imperial Garden, so they just walked to a place with fewer people.
"Ms. Zhong, you can say whatever you want to say now." Jiang Suining looked at Zhong Yixiu politely.
"Madam Jiang, I want to know why you wrote the name of Marquis Mingchang's Mansion in your reply letter."
"Miss Zhong wants to enter the palace for the banquet, and Mingchang Marquis Mansion is one of the ways. Is there any problem with that?" Jiang Suining asked back.
Zhong Yixue looked at the smile on Jiang Suining's face, was silent for a moment, and then smiled and said, "Madam Jiang, do you think that I clearly have a way to enter the palace, but I wrote to you for help, and I didn't try my best, so I wanted to rely on others, so you don't want to help?"
"Miss Zhong, you misunderstood. The reason I wrote back to the Marquis of Mingchang's Mansion was because that was the first solution I thought of at the time. Although we are palace ladies-in-waiting, we only arrange banquets and seats according to orders, and have no right to interfere with who enters the palace for the banquet." Jiang Suining's expression remained unchanged and his tone was still gentle.
Zhong Yixiu looked at her like this, and the smile on her face faded little by little.
"Lady Jiang, let's be frank. The reason I wrote to you for help was actually to test whether your previous offer to help was sincere or just a courtesy. Whether you noticed this or not, I apologize to you. It was wrong of me to test you. But both me and my sister sincerely hope to be admitted to the Women's Academy."
"We have never doubted this, and there is no need to apologize. As for whether it is sincere or just a courtesy, I can only say that we are willing to help within our ability. But if helping Miss Zhong and your sister puts us in trouble..."
Jiang Sui glanced at Zhong Xingyun, who was looking over from a distance from time to time and seemed about to come over to interrupt their conversation, and shook her head.
"I'm sorry, but we won't do that. After all, you can see that your father is trying his best to find faults between us and the Girls' Academy."