Jin Wang Dotes on His Concubine Ch 155 Pt. 1
Translated by gingercat
Edited by gingercat
This year was undoubtedly a busy year for Yaoniang.
After finally finishing up all the matters for the approaching New Year, with less than a day of rest, it was New Year’s Eve. On New Year’s Eve, for regular families, everyone celebrated together with the sounds of firecrackers and laughter continuing throughout the night. But for the imperial family, this was undoubtedly the busiest time of the year.
On New Year’s Eve, there would be several banquets happening in the palace. During the day, the grand banquet was for honourable ministers, civil officials and military officers. The banquet in the evening was a family banquet, and all those who had a seat were related to the imperial family.
The Qianqing Palace was brightly lit at this time. Emperor Hongjing and Empress Wei were seated in the seats of honour, while everyone else was divided into two sides. On the left sat the princes, and on the right sat the women with the children. Yaoniang couldn’t understand the ins and outs of what the men were discussing, so she focused on taking care of Xiaobao and Yueyue during the banquet.
They entered the palace in the afternoon. After a long wait, they were quite hungry.
Xiao Yueyue also came along. Technically, she wasn’t qualified to come, but Xiaobao held on to her and was unwilling to let go. They were running behind schedule and Yaoniang still couldn’t change his mind. Later, Jin Wang came. It was unknown what he was thinking but he said it was fine to bring her along. Today’s banquet was different from the past. This wasn’t Yaoniang’s first banquet in the palace. The banquets she went to in the past served cold dishes nine times out of ten. They looked good, but they didn’t taste good. She even told Jin Wang the common people believed that the imperial banquets enjoyed by His Majesty and the imperial concubines in the palace were the most delicious thing in the world. She disagreed. The food wasn’t even as good as what the chef in the manor prepared.
Jin Wang simply laughed and didn’t speak.
Now Yaoniang understood why Jin Wang was laughing. He was laughing at her ignorance. The reason why the dishes served at the banquets in the palace were not delicious wasn’t because of the imperial chefs’ poor craftsmanship, but because the dishes were cold. Every time there was a banquet in the palace, with so many guests to entertain, the heat would be long gone by the time the food arrived at one’s plate. But the family banquet was different. With only a room of people, if the dishes eaten were still cold, the imperial chefs in the kitchen would lose a few heads.
At this time and place, almost no one was in the mood to feast, so Yaoniang and the kids eating appeared particularly conspicuous.
It was one thing if it was only the two children, but there was also an adult eating with such relish. It’s not like anyone was so poor they couldn’t afford to eat a good meal
Yaoniang sat with the family members of Lu Wang, Qing Wang, and Wu Wang. The younger children stayed with their mother, while the older ones had a separate table. Consort Wu’s eyes have been fixed on Yaoniang for a while. This table was for the main consorts, yet she was only a side consort. It was unknown who arranged this.
“Fifth Sister-in-law, for this family banquet, why did you bring someone else’s child?”
There are only two young masters in Jin Wang Manor. There used to be a junzhu as well, but it was a pity she died young. Now that there was suddenly another girl, everyone knew that she wasn’t a child of Jin Wang Manor.
Since Yaoniang had brought someone with her, and the people above didn’t say anything, the servants naturally didn’t dare to comment anything. They simply added an extra seat. However, those seated at the table weren’t blind. They’ve long noticed Yueyue’s presence and most of them probably were aware of whose child she was but they all acted like they didn’t see anything. This was because they all knew sooner or later, that someone would jump out to ask.
Indeed, someone did jump out.
Yaoniang had already thought about what to say and was about to open her mouth to speak when Xiaobao suddenly spoke.
“Yueyue was brought by me. Eighth Aunt, do you have any opinion against it?”
This young master was still so young, but he already spoke like an adult.
Consort Wu was surprised. She looked at Xiaobao with a smile, “Who would’ve thought that Chen Ge’er who’s only two years old would have such an imposing manner?”
Her words seemed like a joke, but as long as the imperial family was involved, anything could be a big or small matter. Treated as a small matter, Consort Wu was simply joking with the child. But if it was made into a big matter, her words meant Xiaobao had no respect for his elders that he dared use such a tone when speaking to his seniors.
Yaoniang hurriedly reprimanded in a low voice, “How can you speak like that to Eighth Aunt?” She explained to Consort Wu, “Eighth Sister-in-law, Xiaobao is still young and ignorant, so I’ll apologize to you on his behalf.”
“I don’t dare to accept your apology. I don’t dare to have any other opinions.” Consort Wu’s words were quite strange.
Consort Qing was also at this table, seated next to Yaoniang and the three of them. Hearing this, she interjected, “Why is Eighth Sister-in-law in such a bad mood today?” She deliberately glanced at the children seated behind her. “Shouldn’t you be happy instead? For Wu Wang Manor to be so prosperous, part of the credit goes to you.”
These words were enough to irritate anyone. No matter how prosperous they were, none of it had anything to do with her. Besides Yu Ge’er, the rest of the children were all born from other concubines in Wu Wang Manor. With so many people from Wu Wang Manor, they made the already low-populated Jin Wang Manor seem even less populated.
Consort Wu’s face paled then turned green. Just as she was about to say something, Xiaobao suddenly jumped off the chair and pulled Yueyue. Without giving Yaoniang a chance to react, the children ran to Emperor Hongjing.
“Imperial Grandpa, Imperial Grandpa, Xiaobao wants to tell you something.” At this moment the banter between the princes was in full swing. Although everyone appeared to be smiling and laughing, acting out the loving brother and filial son, the undercurrent was extremely tense.
Hui Wang’s face was sullen, while An Wang’s face was glowing and radiant. Dai Wang remained silent, Yong Wang poured oil onto the fire from time to time, and Jin Wang didn’t say anything from beginning to end. As for Lu Wang, he sang the same tune as Yong Wang and nearly praised An Wang to the heavens.
This made Hui Wang’s face even more ugly. Just as he was about to make a scene, Xiaobao ran over.
Emperor Hongjing lowered his eyes and looked at the short chubby child standing next to his leg. “What do you want to tell Imperial Grandpa?”
“I found a little wife for myself, but Eighth Aunt said that my little wife isn’t allowed to be here, so I came to find you for you to decide.”
As soon as these words came out, everyone in the hall looked over. Although they laughed and were surprised, their eyes couldn’t help but land on Jin Wang.
Emperor Hongjing’s smile remained the same, but the corners of his mouth pulled down inconspicuously. “You are still so young, yet you already know how to find a wife for yourself.”
“Yueyue’s mother is sick, so my mother is taking care of Yueyue. But she’s too timid and doesn’t want to sleep by herself, so I slept with her. But I heard from the maids that I can only sleep with my wife. If I had known this earlier, even if she cried, I still wouldn’t have done so.”
“Xiaobao Gege, I thought you were good to me, but you lied.” Xiao Yueyue looked like she was about to cry.
“I didn’t lie. I’m still so young. Having a wife at this age makes other people laugh. Look at you, you are so clingy and you like to cry. I have to coax you every day, it’s so tiring…”
How could Yueyue know that Xiaobao was actually lying through his teeth right now? Thinking that Xiaobao disliked her for crying and being clingy, she hurriedly said through her tears, “Then I won’t cry in the future, so don’t find me annoying okay?”
“If you don’t cry, I won’t find you annoying anymore…”
At first, others thought that Jin Wang had taught the child what to say. Xiaobao was still such a small child, yet he could already express himself so clearly. At least, in the beginning, he started out sounding sophisticated, but the more he talked, the more his childishness was exposed. The conversation between the two children was very amusing, full of childishness, and without any pretense. If someone said that it was all because an adult had taught them what to say, few people would’ve believed it.
After all, the two children’s ages added together weren’t even five years old.
“But you can’t call someone your wife from just spending some time playing together. Besides, you are still young. Men and women use different seats from the age of seven. Look at how old you are.” Emperor Hongjing scolded with a laugh.
“But isn’t it only direct family members who can come here? Eighth Aunt called her a child of someone else’s family. My mother is my father’s wife, so my mother can come. Yueyue is my wife, so she can come too.”
“Xiaobao Gege, I’ll be your wife. Don’t leave me.” Yueyue was a little nervous and she grabbed Xiaobao’s hand.
Xiaobao made a look of ‘you see’, with helplessness written all over his face.
Seeing this scene, everyone laughed. They finally understood why this little boy suddenly popped out. It turned out that it was Consort Wu’s fault.
Although she said that there was a child of someone else’s family at the imperial family banquet, whether Yueyue was the only child of a different family could still be argued. Technically, the children born by His Majesty’s daughters could also be regarded as children from other families because of their different last names.
From this, everyone finally knew why a child from Duke Zhenguo Manor was brought here by Jin Wang’s family. To be honest, if Jin Wang had any connection with Duke Zhenguo, he wouldn’t announce it to everyone with such great fanfare. He wasn’t so foolish.
