Aunt Mei Jiang leaned outside the curtain of the phoenix bed. After a moment's thought, she said, "This old servant thinks that the public gift should be valuable. As for the private gift from Your Highness, you need to put some thought into it. You should figure out what the Prince of Yuzhang desires most."
Du Gu Luanyue lifted the curtain and poked her head out. Her delicate features were especially charming and lively in the moonlight. "I don't even know what Huo Wei wants. But since I have this chance, I must show some special feelings that are different from others."
On the day of Huo Wei's birthday, there was no message from the palace summoning him, and no ministers came to the mansion to offer their congratulations. Everything was extremely quiet.
Only the Third Prince sent someone to deliver a birthday gift. He himself had gone out of the city with the emperor and couldn't come.
The rest were the brothers who had fought side by side with Huo Wei, the military generals who had returned from the deserts of Western Liao. These people had nothing to do with the nobles of Northern Yan, and they looked down on each other.
Meng Tan rushed into the prince's mansion quickly, holding the hilt of his sword. He said in surprise, "My lord, the imperial carriage of the queen has arrived at the mansion gate."
On this day, Huo Wei still got up early and was practicing martial arts in the back yard. At this moment, he was standing bare - chested in the snow, putting his long sword back into its scabbard. "What is the queen doing in my Prince of Yuzhang's mansion?"
Meng Tan replied, "This subordinate doesn't know. But this subordinate saw that the queen brought quite a number of people from the palace. I don't know what they are going to do."
Huo Wei took his robe from the stone table and put it on. While walking, he tied his belt. "Come on, go out with me and have a look."
When they reached the mansion gate, Huo Wei's black eyes swept over.
Under the snow - covered golden glazed - tile wall, Du Gu Luanyue was being helped off the imperial carriage by Aunt Mei Jiang, the chief maid.
On this day, she was not wearing the peony - embroidered golden silk phoenix robe, nor the nine - tailed phoenix crown that symbolized the queen's power. Instead, her hair was simply coiled up and fixed with a warm and smooth white jade hairpin. A pair of jade bead earrings hung by her ears, making a clear sound.
Under her naturally charming appearance, there was a touch of elegance, making her look more amiable and gentle.
Huo Wei's eyes darkened a bit, and he was slightly distracted.
Du Gu Luanyue walked over at a steady pace, with elegant manners. "Prince of Yuzhang, I am here by the emperor's order to wish you a happy birthday."
Huo Wei was slightly stunned. He only knew that the royal family would celebrate his birthday, but he didn't know that the queen would come in person.
Just as he was about to say something, a group of rowdy military generals who were used to the barracks rushed over from behind. When they saw Du Gu Luanyue, their eyes almost popped out.
"Is this the queen? She's so beautiful!"
"Why didn't the prince tell us that the emperor's new queen is so gorgeous when he had seen her before?"
"This is the so - called evil queen. Indeed, if I were the emperor, I wouldn't want to go to court every day either."
Huo Wei's black eyes swept over them like a sharp blade. "Why don't you pay your respects to Queen Du Gu quickly?"
Everyone immediately felt a chill on the back of their necks. They bowed respectfully and didn't dare to look up anymore. After all, Huo Wei's deep eyes seemed to be warning them.
Du Gu Luanyue's charming figure in light red slowly walked into this mansion, which was one of the most magnificent in the imperial capital. It was the most luxurious and spacious mansion bestowed by Murong Min.
She looked around for a week and was a bit surprised. Why was the inside not even half as grand as the outside?
The trees had been replaced by martial - arts training racks, and the potted plants had been replaced by sandbags. It was almost like a battlefield.
There were military soldiers standing everywhere, holding weapons, standing guard coldly at every corner.
This was not a prince's mansion at all. It was no different from a barracks.
"Today is your birthday, Prince of Yuzhang, and you're in your own mansion. Why are you so strict and there's no festive atmosphere at all?" She blinked and looked at Huo Wei.
Huo Wei said, "People in the barracks are used to it." He made a gesture of invitation. "Your Highness, only some military generals have been invited to the mansion today. I'm afraid it will be a bit of a neglect."
Du Gu Luanyue turned around and looked behind. "Mei Jiang, Yu Zan, order all the people from the Imperial Household Department to come in. Also, call the steward of the Prince of Yuzhang's mansion. This birthday banquet should be held according to the standard of a palace banquet. It's actually me who's afraid of neglecting the prince."
The palace servants filed in and stood on both sides of the front yard of the mansion, extremely well - behaved.
Liu Dequan, the chief eunuch of the Imperial Household Department, walked over. "Reporting to the Prince of Yuzhang, the queen has brought imperial chefs, palace servants, and beautiful concubines and musicians from the music bureau to liven up the party. This servant will go and make arrangements first. The guests will arrive soon."
The military generals were dressed very casually today. When they heard that there were guests coming, they felt uncomfortable all over.
A military general asked, "My lord, didn't you say it would just be us today? Who else is coming? Look, we're really dressed too casually today..."
Indeed, these fierce generals had just thrown on some clothes and left the mansion. They were used to being lazy and casual on the border of Western Liao. In this imperial capital full of etiquette, they really seemed out of place.
Their master, Huo Wei, was a bit better, but he was still wearing a black robe and never changed his clothes.
Huo Wei's black eyes were calm, showing no joy of celebrating his birthday. "Probably no other court officials will come. I just want to celebrate with my brothers."
Du Gu Luanyue flicked her long sleeves and said seriously, "This is the first birthday of the Prince of Yuzhang after he conquered Western Liao. How can it be celebrated casually? Don't think too much. I'll take care of everything. Now, why don't you show me around your magnificent mansion?"
This was her first time coming to the place where Huo Wei lived. She also wanted to see what kind of person he was in daily life. She also wanted to see if there were any beautiful concubines in his mansion who had captured his heart and made him ignore other women.
Huo Wei didn't want to think too much. He guessed that Murong Min wanted to perfunctory him, but also felt that he couldn't be too perfunctory. So he ordered this step - queen, who had no foundation and only an empty title in Northern Yan, to come to the mansion to celebrate his birthday in person. There probably wouldn't be any other guests later.
Yu Zan carried a brocade box and followed up. "My lord, this is the gift from the queen on behalf of the emperor. Where should this servant put it?"
With that, she opened the brocade box. It was a jade Avalokitesvara carved from white jade. The white jade was warm and smooth, without a single impurity. It was obviously carved from expensive mutton - fat jade and was a rare item.
Huo Wei glanced at it indifferently. "Give it to the steward."
Du Gu Luanyue could tell from his expression that this jade Avalokitesvara was very ordinary and couldn't catch his eye. She stretched out her jade finger and closed the brocade box. "Don't you like it?"
Huo Wei said, "How dare I not like the gift from Your Highness?"
The two walked a short distance into the mansion. The palace servants still followed behind. As they walked, Aunt Mei Jiang ordered the palace servants to wait at the entrance of the garden so as not to disturb them.
Du Gu Luanyue sat down in the garden. In fact, she was a bit dizzy. She had been busy in the palace for two consecutive days and hadn't slept all night last night. She had worked hard to make this birthday banquet a success without arousing Murong Min's disgust.
"Huo Wei, do you have any birthday wishes?"
Huo Wei, in his black robe, stood in the wind and said softly, "No."
Du Gu Luanyue raised her arm. "Come and sit closer. It's tiring for me to look up at you."
Huo Wei replied, "It's not in line with etiquette."
Du Gu Luanyue reached out and grabbed the hem of his black robe and dragged him over. He sat down beside her on the stone bench in the garden. After sitting down, Huo Wei sat up straight but didn't leave.
Du Gu Luanyue smiled and took something out of her wide sleeve. It was wrapped in a bright yellow cloth embroidered with flying dragons, and she handled it very carefully.
She spread out the silk cloth and placed it in front of Huo Wei. "Then, will you like this?"