flstandardbreds Chapter 288 Goodbye at the Palace Banquet
Chapter 288 Goodbye at the Palace Banquet
"Don't worry, elder sister." Lu Mingyang rubbed his elder sister's smooth face with a half-eaten crispy fish cake. "I used to be able to coax Jin Yiluo around by myself. Now, I have you, my third brother, and him. I still can't beat that idiot."
"Idiot?" Lu Mingyuan had never heard of such a word.
"Yeah!" Lu Mingyang nodded. "Don't you think Jin Yiluo looks like a fool? If he took off his animal skin, showing the tuft of hair on his chest and ran, he would look even more like one."
Lu Mingyuan couldn't laugh anymore.
"Elder sister, what's wrong with you?" Lu Mingyang wanted to make his elder sister happy, but he didn't expect his elder sister's eyes to turn red.
"Nothing!" Lu Mingyuan rubbed his eyes with a smile.
She didn't dare to ask how much her sister had suffered, as she had even seen the bodies of the Huns.
"Oh!" Lu Mingyang didn't dare to make his elder sister laugh anymore. He looked outside and sighed, "I wonder when Third Brother will come back."
Not long after, someone came from the palace to convey the imperial decree, summoning Lu Mingyang to enter the palace.
"Think of me so much!"
Hearing that it was Jin Yiluo's idea, Lu Mingyang rolled his eyes in disgust, comforted his elder sister, and brought Ruying and Rushu into the palace. Worried that Jin Yiluo would miss his younger sister, he did not dare to bring Nian'er.
Inside the Hanyuan Hall, singing and dancing were adding to the excitement. When Lu Mingyang entered, a dance had just ended, and the dancers, waving their sleeves, filed out. As they entered and exited, only one eye-catching figure remained in the center of the vast hall.
Jin Yiluo smiled and said, "Miss Lu, I am here as promised."
Lu Mingyang pretended not to notice and knelt down to pay his respects. "Your Majesty, I pay my respects to you. Long live Your Majesty."
"Stand up and take a seat!" The emperor sat upright, looking superior.
There were no female members of the family in Hanyuan Hall. The eunuch brought out the food tray. When he didn't know where to put it, Jin Yiluo patted his own food tray and said, "Put it here!"
The emperor said nothing. The eunuch glanced at Eunuch Su secretly and put the food tray aside.
Chu Mingzheng stood up with the help of the food tray. Lu Mingyang knew that he wanted to sit over there and let him take his seat, so he glared at him fiercely.
Chu Mingzheng sat back obediently, looking aggrieved.
At this time, Lu Mingze stood up and saluted, saying, "Your Majesty, as a woman, I am naturally shy. It is really inappropriate for me to appear at the main banquet. Let her wait in the back hall."
Jin Yiluo smiled: "Lu Sanlang, it seems that you really don't understand your sister."
Lu Mingyang shook her head slightly at her third brother, lifted her skirt and sat over.
Jin Yiluo took a step sideways and quietly stuck to Lu Mingyang. Then he took out a red velvet flower from his arms and inserted it in the most conspicuous position on Lu Mingyang's bun.
"I've kept what you pooped on my bed." Under everyone's gaze, he spoke without hesitation: "That night, Yang'er's warm and soft pillow kept me awake every night, and I still miss you."
He wanted everyone to know that Lu Mingyang had slept with him, to humiliate Chu Mingzheng and let her know that he was the only one who could protect her. The men in Dasheng were all cowards.
But his words humiliated more than just Chu Mingzheng. The emperor's face was clearly dark.
Lu Mingyang raised his glass and stood between the two of them, smiling and asking, "Khan, tell me about that night so I can reminisce."
Jin Yiluo was stunned for a moment because he didn't expect that the girl he hadn't seen for many days would dare to ask such a blunt question.
"Speak?" Lu Mingyang asked.
Once she said it, the emperor's reputation would be completely ruined. She didn't believe the emperor would still agree to the benefits he wanted. Lu Mingyang plucked the red velvet flower from her hair and threw it into the center of the hall.
"Even the maids in my house wouldn't wear such a tacky hairpin, let alone me who was in mourning for my father. Khan, could you please be more careful when choosing something?"
Song Wei, the peace envoy, took the opportunity to speak: "If the Khan is sincere in negotiating peace, please don't talk nonsense."
Jin Yiluo couldn't bear to listen any longer. He had cuddled that red velvet flower every night until he fell asleep, and he had developed a deep affection for it. He hurriedly got up, picked it up, and wiped it with his sleeve, feeling distressed.
"I'm just talking nonsense, don't lose your temper."
He placed the red velvet flower in his arms and took the initiative to punish himself by drinking three cups in front of Lu Mingyang, begging for forgiveness. He was so focused on humiliating Chu Mingzheng that he forgot about the damage he had done to her reputation.
Lu Mingyang frowned.
What's wrong with this idiot? Has his brain been hurt over the past year?
The emperor smiled and let the singing and dancing continue.
While others were eating, Jin Yiluo kept sticking to Lu Mingyang, even trying to hold his hand. A drop of wine passed through the dancer and sprayed accurately onto Jin Yiluo's face.
Jin Yiluo was thick-skinned and didn't feel anything. He wiped his face and continued to pull the little hand that Zhao Simu had longed for. Lu Mingyang looked over and saw that Chu Mingzheng's face had turned extremely dark.
Seeing another drop of wine coming, Lu Mingyang was really worried that they would fight. He pushed away the dog-skin plaster that came towards him with disdain and stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I am willing to dance a song to entertain the Khan."
The dance and music stopped, and the emperor smiled strangely: "You can also dance?"
"Of course it's not as good as the singing and dancing of the Shangyi Bureau, but..." Lu Mingyang looked at Jin Yiluo with a smile: "Khan, would you like to watch it?"
"Great!" Jin Yiluo clapped his hands, his heart bursting with joy.
Yang'er was willing to dance for me. It seemed she had been heartbroken by the men of Shengchao, especially Chu Mingzheng. She wanted me to save her. So, she rushed to please me.
Thinking of this, Jin Yiluo sat up straight, his eyes full of heartache.
Lu Mingyang had no idea what he was thinking. He walked to the center of the hall, bowed, and said, "Your Majesty, I would like a sword."
She didn't have any dancing skills. But when her elder sister was teaching her martial arts, she thought her elder sister's movements were beautiful, so she curiously asked her if she could dance. Her elder sister then used the sword in her hand to perform a sword dance.
She was itching to learn it, so she asked her elder sister to teach her.
The eunuch presented a wooden sword.
Lu Mingyang rose to the rhythm of the music, each move a breathtaking sight. Back then, she was a timid little girl, but now she had grown into a woman who dared to dance with a sword.
Jin Yiluo stared with his eyes wide open, amazed at the changes in her over the past year. He became more and more delighted and clapped his hands to the beat of the drum.
Lu Mingyang drew back his sword and stopped dancing. He cut off a pearl from the tassel and flung it into Jin Yiluo's wine glass. The wine splashed all over Jin Yiluo's face.
She just wanted to use this as a warning to Jin Yiluo to behave himself, but Jin Yiluo didn't seem to be annoyed at all. He raised his glass and drank it, his face full of intoxication. The wine was almost gone, and the pearls gleamed between his teeth.
Jin Yiluo spit it into his palm, then held it in his arms with great care, saying lovingly, "I will treasure the pearl Yang'er gave me very much."
What's wrong with this guy's brain?
Lu Mingyang subconsciously looked at Chu Mingzheng, his mind filled with only three words: It's over.
The emperor took the lead and thunderous applause broke out in the Hanyuan Hall.
Jin Yiluo said, "Your Majesty, the Xiongnu want to quickly facilitate the marriage and welcome our Xiongnu Great Lady back to the grasslands."
"Okay!" The emperor ordered Song Wei to move forward with the marriage as quickly as possible, and then said to Lu Mingyang, "You don't have to return to the Chengyang Marquis' Mansion. Move into Cheng'en Palace today and prepare for your marriage."