sjar Chapter 429: Concubine Shu’s Birthday Banquet
Chapter 429: Concubine Shu’s Birthday Banquet
"He Qingrui, I think you are just jealous. I am a seventh-rank female official appointed by the emperor himself. You dare to talk to me like this, which is insubordination!"
Yang Manman glared at He Qingrui and raised her voice again.
Jiang Suining stood at the door and listened quietly. Although the tone was still arrogant, this time, Jiang Suining heard a hint of bluffing in it.
After seeing the Duke's Mansion being sealed off with her own eyes, Yang Manman must have now completely understood that she had no other way out.
Even though she still has the identity of a female official, she suddenly lost the family background that she had relied on for so many years. No matter how harshly Yang Manman said, she would not be without the slightest fear in her heart.
He Qingrui looked at Yang Manman and retorted without any hesitation, "You are committing a crime of insubordination. Stop accusing me of that! Don't you look at your current status? Even if you are a seventh-rank female official, so what? I don't believe that an ungrateful person who treats his own mother like that and is stabbed in the back by others, how long can he stay in this position of female official!"
Yang Manman's eyebrows trembled, revealing a moment of panic, but the next moment she gritted her teeth and spoke loudly.
"How long I can stay here depends on my ability. Do you think that you can see me in trouble just by maliciously badmouthing me here? You are really wishful thinking. I am not like a fool like you who only knows how to rely on your family."
He Qingrui was completely furious, "Yang Manman, who do you say is..."
"have you had enough!"
A scolding came, interrupting He Qingrui's unfinished words.
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and found that the person who was scolding was the head nanny beside Empress Shi.
Queen Shi had arrived outside the courtyard at some point and was standing there with a sullen face.
He Qingrui's face changed and she knelt down hurriedly to salute.
"I've met the Queen."
Jiang Suining and the others also walked out of the ceremonial hall and stood in the courtyard to salute.
When Yang Manman saw Queen Shi, she also saluted nervously, but then immediately spoke.
"Empress, you've come just in time. Please, for your servant, no, please, make the decision for me. I was clearly concerned about the overall situation before. For the sake of the entire court and even Beiyang State, I sacrificed my relatives for the sake of justice and exposed my father. You and the emperor also praised me. But I didn't expect He Qingrui to use this matter to humiliate me. This is clearly a sign of dissatisfaction with you and the emperor."
"Yang Manman, stop accusing me of this. It was clearly you who started the trouble today!"
He Qingrui's heart tightened and she glared at Yang Manman angrily.
After saying this, he quickly turned to Queen Shi and spoke.
"Please be clear, Queen, I have absolutely no such intention. Please do not believe Yang Manman's one-sided words!"
"Your Majesty, everything I said is true. He Qingrui..."
"enough."
Queen Shi interrupted Yang Manman, glanced at the two of them, and frowned.
"You are now palace ladies-in-waiting, so you should do your job well and fulfill your duties. But you are making a fuss here on duty, how can you be so disrespectful!"
He Qingrui and Yang Manman both trembled.
He Qingrui quickly admitted her fault, "Please forgive me, Queen, I know I was wrong!"
Yang Manman still wanted to explain herself, but when she met Queen Shi's gaze, she shuddered in her heart and could only quickly lower her head and admit her mistake.
"Considering that this is your first offense, I will not punish you. But if it happens again, don't blame me for being rude." Queen Shi's tone was full of criticism.
"Yes, I'll remember that." He Qingrui's heart was pounding like thunder, and he quickly responded with his head down.
Although Yang Manman was unwilling, she could only say: "I will remember this."
Queen Shi then withdrew her gaze and looked at Jiang Suining and Wei Yao in the courtyard.
"Lü Yan hasn't arrived yet?"
"Your humble servant greets Her Majesty the Queen." Lu Yan's voice came from behind. She hurriedly walked in front of Queen Shi and bowed. "Your humble servant is late. I hope Your Majesty will forgive me."
Seeing Lu Yan's hurried look, Queen Shi frowned, but didn't say much, just continued speaking.
"Now that everyone is here, let's make the announcement."
"Yes." The head nanny at the side responded, looking at the few people and said, "My lords, although you have only been on duty for a short time, I think you should be familiar with various affairs in the past few days. In half a month, it will be the birthday of the Concubine Shu. The Queen has decided that this birthday banquet will be in charge of you."
"We?" He Qingrui looked up subconsciously. Were they going to be in charge of the palace banquet? Wasn't that a little too fast?
The head nanny glanced at He Qingrui and continued.
"According to the rules, Jiang Dianbin, Yang Dianbin, and Wei Zhangbin are mainly responsible for arranging various matters for the banquet. Lu Dianji and He Zhangji will assist and be responsible for various paperwork and related record-keeping matters. In the next half month, I hope you will put aside your past grudges, work together, and prepare for the birthday banquet well."
"You are the first batch of female officials and are receiving a lot of attention. The upcoming birthday banquet will be the first test you will face. I hope you will not make any mistakes. Remember?" Queen Shi swept her eyes over the crowd again.
Several people spoke in unison: "Remember, please rest assured, Queen, we will do our best."
After seeing Queen Shi off, facing this sudden birthday banquet, Yang Manman and He Qingrui could no longer argue, and both looked unhappy.
Lu Yan took the lead and walked to Jiang Suining's side. "Suining, are you sure about the birthday banquet for Concubine Shu?"
Although a chrysanthemum-viewing banquet had been arranged before, this time it was for Concubine Shu, one of the Four Concubines, and it was also a birthday banquet, so it was not of the same level as the previous chrysanthemum-viewing banquet.
"I……"
"Why ask her if she is sure?"
Jiang Suining just opened his mouth when he was interrupted by Yang Manman.
She snorted coldly, looking at Lu Yan and Jiang Suining with dissatisfaction, "Don't forget, I am also a seventh-rank guest, not to mention that I have much more experience in attending banquets in this palace than she does."
"Yang Manman, stop making trouble here. This matter cannot be trifled with. Do you think we don't know how capable you are..."
Jiang Suining grabbed Lu Yan's sleeve to stop her from saying the next words, then looked at Yang Manman with a smile and spoke.
"Since Yang Dianbin is so confident, why don't we let you take charge of this matter and we will assist you from the side."
Lu Yan was surprised. How could this matter be handed over to Yang Manman? If Yang Manman was really allowed to take charge, who knows what kind of chaos would happen.
"Sui Ning, you..."
Jiang Suining shook his head, stopped Lu Yan from saying the next word again, and continued to wait for Yang Manman's reply.
Yang Manman raised her chin and snorted, "It's only natural to hand it over to me!"
"Okay, in that case, we will go to report to the Queen later. You will be in charge of this matter. If everything goes well, Yang Dianbin will be the one who deserves the most credit."
Jiang Suining looked at Yang Manman with a leisurely gaze and continued.
"However, if anything goes wrong during this period, Yang Dianbin should be held responsible."
The smug look on Yang Manman's face froze, "Jiang Suining, you're scaring me!"