bestfiction Chapter 123 Jade Invitation
Chapter 123 Jade Invitation
Chapter 123 Jade Invitation
Following this shout, a royal carriage drove towards the First-Rank General's Mansion.
The palace carriage is different from ordinary carriages. Not all carriages in the palace can be called palace carriages, and not everyone is qualified to ride in a palace carriage.
Those who can ride in the palace carriage are either of high status themselves, such as the emperor, empress, princes, princesses, concubines, or their masters are of high status, also the emperor, empress, princes, princesses, concubines.
In short, the imperial carriage is for people in the palace and the royal family to ride in. The official families outside, even if they are as noble as the general's mansion, can only call their own carriages, not imperial carriages.
There are also differences in appearance between horse-drawn carriages and imperial carriages. Needless to say, horse-drawn carriages are ordinary, with horses and carriages. If the family is wealthy, they will have more horses and a larger carriage. If the family is average, a small carriage pulled by one horse will do.
The palace carriage is not like that!
The carriage of the imperial carriage was square, with at least four wheels underneath, and a platform outside the carriage for maids and servants to stand on. There were also curtains around the platform, which would be lowered when the sun was too strong or when it was rainy or cloudy.
In short, the imperial carriage was luxurious and relatively large.
The young eunuch who was delivering a letter to the old lady also encountered the imperial carriage. The driver hurriedly avoided it, and the wheels were about to scrape against the roadside wall before he barely managed to get the carriage past.
At that time, the coachman turned around to look, but after looking for a long time he could not figure out whose palace carriage it was. He only saw a group of eunuchs in purple standing on the platform outside the carriage, each holding something in their hands. It seemed that they were delivering gifts to the First-Rank General's Mansion.
The two of them stopped by the roadside and talked for a while. The driver said that judging from the way the Ye family was sending gifts to the General's Mansion this year, they must be following the old saying that a new emperor chooses new ministers, and they are definitely not on the same page with the new emperor.
But when he looked at the huge imperial carriage that had just passed by, he felt that what he thought seemed to be wrong.
Anyway, whether it was right or wrong, it was none of their business. They were just low-ranking eunuchs in the palace, and being sent out to deliver the invitation was already a favor given to them by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Without mentioning the young eunuch's speculations and sighs, let's just say that the imperial carriage stopped in front of the gate of the first-rank general's mansion in a grand manner.
The person who just spoke was Yun Chen. He came down first and spoke to Mu cheerfully, "I am a little late and have kept you waiting for a long time, Madam." As he spoke, he stretched out his hand and handed over a note.
At this time, the other two people in the imperial carriage had also walked down, and they stood half a step behind Yun Chen, one on the left and one on the right.
"Qin Tianjian Yunchen!"
"Lian Shi from Yanhua Palace!" "Wu Fei from the Ministry of Internal Affairs!"
"Greetings to the Madam! Respectfully invite the Madam, the Young Master, and the Young Miss to the palace on New Year's Eve to attend the palace banquet!"
The three of them bowed together, representing the most supreme authority in the world today.
The note was passed forward again, and the old lady glanced sideways and found that it was actually a golden note. She then looked at the plain note in her hand, and her hands began to tremble uncontrollably.
Mu was neither surprised nor happy, but calmly and steadily. She motioned Ye Qingmei to take the invitation, and then said to the three people: "You don't have to be polite. I really don't deserve it for the three of you to personally deliver the invitations to a palace banquet."
Yun Chen quickly replied, "Madam, you are too modest. If you can't bear it, then no one can."
Nanny Ji, who had been following Madam Mu, asked very considerately, "Is everything okay in the palace?"
Lian Shi took the initiative to answer: "Don't worry, Madam, everything is fine, and it's very fine." After saying that, he nodded meaningfully at Madam Mu. Madam Mu was relieved, Ye Feiyu was relieved, and even Ye Qingmei breathed a sigh of relief.
After what happened these days, Ye Qingmei felt that she had grown up and was a little different from before. At least when she received the post, the first thing she thought of was to be proud of herself and finally win back a game from the old lady.
Yun Chen glanced at the invitation that the old lady had received and exclaimed, "Oh!" "The General's Mansion received a plain invitation this year! That's right, the old general and the great general are no longer here, so there's really no need to send a brocade invitation, it's such a waste."
There were many rules in the Northern Qi Dynasty. For example, regarding letters, plain letters were generally used in normal communication between officials and their families. For example, if an official residence held a banquet, all the letters handed out would be plain letters.
Sutie is a name card made of ordinary paper. You can add your own patterns to it. There are not many requirements. It is used by officials in their residences.
But if there is a banquet in the palace, there are more types of invitations, and the worst type is the silver invitation. The silver invitation is made of silver thread embroidered, and the cost is relatively high, but it is just a drop in the bucket for the royal family. Therefore, the silver invitation sent to officials below the third rank in royal banquets should be this type of silver invitation.
Above the silver letter is the brocade letter, which is more exquisite. It is made of brocade woven into patterns and ironed onto a harder paper. It not only requires brocade forging, but also embroidery. Generally, officials above the third rank receive this kind of brocade letter.
Above the brocade post is the gold post. As the name suggests, the gold post is a post woven and embroidered with gold threads. Not only is there gold thread, but there is also a small gold pendant hanging on the corner of the post.
The golden invitation can only be used by the royal family, so those who can receive the golden invitation are royal relatives, such as the Li family, the mother's family of Empress Dowager Li, and places like the princes and princesses' palaces.
For the royal family, the most valuable thing is the gold note. But in fact, there is a jade note that is superior to the gold note, which is only used by the emperor. Unfortunately, in the past four hundred years, the emperor has never hosted anyone, nor has he ever used the jade note to ask for an audience with anyone. Therefore, the jade note has always existed in legends. Everyone has heard of it, but no one has ever seen it.
The old lady was upset by Yun Chen's ridicule and replied casually: "Mu is just a minister's wife. Even if the man is still in the family, the most she can do is to receive a brocade invitation. Why would the palace send out a golden invitation?"
Yun Chen glanced at the post in Ye Qingmei's hand, his mouth twitched, but he didn't say anything.
Wu Fei took over the conversation and said, "The Emperor regards the Fourth Miss as his benefactor, so the benefactor's mother and brothers and sisters are naturally qualified to receive the golden invitation. This is a royal reward, and it shows the importance he attaches to the Fourth Miss's family."
The old lady was even more angry, "The emperor hasn't taken power yet!"
"Hehe." Wu Fei laughed dryly twice, with a cunning look on his face, "Don't be anxious, old lady. The emperor is still young, but he will be seventeen next year, and he is getting closer and closer to ruling the country. You look so anxious that your eyes are red. People who don't know would think you are very supportive of the emperor! How about we go back and talk to the emperor about it, asking him to remember that old lady Ye is supportive of him, and visit you more often in the future?" The old lady's heart trembled, and her face became increasingly ugly.
How could she possibly side with the little emperor? She dreamed that the little emperor would quickly roll off the throne and make room for the Sixth Prince whom she had supported for many years. Unfortunately, the Sixth Prince was useless, and she and Empress Dowager Li never had the opportunity to explain the misunderstanding face to face.
She was still thinking about meeting the Queen Mother at the New Year's Palace Banquet and telling her about what had happened in the past few days. Now was not the time to fall out with Queen Mother Li. Although the Sixth Prince was not going to make it, she felt that Queen Mother Li still had a chance to turn the tables.
Besides, her red eyes weren't because she was anxious. She was angry and envious.
Mu Qianqiu could actually receive a gold invitation. Why did Mu Qianqiu receive a gold invitation? She had never received a gold invitation in her life. The most she could get was brocade. Today, she was alive again, but she only got a plain invitation!
No wonder she felt something was wrong when she received the post. If Yunchen hadn’t mentioned it, she would have forgotten about it.
When and why did the Ye family's status plummet?
The old lady felt more and more suffocated the more she thought about it, and couldn't help but look at Ye Qingmei's hand again.
Once he looked away, he could never take his eyes away. Not only that, his eyes got wider and wider.
She might be blind, or she might be old and confused, otherwise how could she have made a mistake just now.
This is not a gold card, it is clearly a jade card! It's just that the jade is inlaid in the middle of the gold. She only saw the gold edge and thought it was a gold card. But she didn't expect that the gold card was not worthy of Mu Qianqiu, and the royal family actually asked for a jade card!
No, that's not right. It's not the jade card given by the royal family. There is only one person in the world who can afford the jade card, and that's the Emperor!
She swayed and her vision went a little dark.
Yun Chen had a smile on his face. He wanted to laugh when the old lady was struggling with the golden note just now. He couldn't hold it back any longer, so he said, "Madam Ye's eyesight isn't very good!"
Lian Shi nodded and said, "That's right. Why did you and Eunuch Wu spend so much time arguing about whether it was a gold letter or not? This is not a gold letter sent by the royal family. Do you have any say in that?"
Old Madam Ye was so ashamed that she wanted to go back and close the door. No one should see her. She didn't want to see anyone. She just wanted to think about her life, how Mu Qianqiu got a jade note, and what happened to Ye Wenyan, whether he was alive or dead, and who his backers were.
But the three people in front of her didn't plan to leave, and even started to argue with her: "Old Madam Ye is really confused. If they just sent a golden invitation, then it would be enough for Eunuch Wu to come. How could my family and Lord Yun come with them? My family and Lord Yun came in person, don't you know what that means?"
Wu Fei echoed him, "Why else would you say this person? When you get older, you know how to advance and retreat. People who are too old are not suitable to be the head of the family. When people get old, their memory is easy to be bad, and their minds are not clear. It is easy for a single word to ruin things. Take today's incident for example. If it were a wise person, he would never ask a single question. Even if it was not a jade note but a gold note, he should not have asked. Because the gold note represents the royal family, who dares to question the royal family?"
Yun Chen shook his head after hearing this. "No, no, everyone knows that the old lady of the Ye family has no dealings with the current emperor, and has never had any contact with the Empress Dowager of the Eastern Palace. So it is right for her to question the royal family. After all, she doesn't take the emperor seriously!"
Madam Ye broke out in a cold sweat...