Ten thousand people suspect that cannon fodder does not want to save themselves

The seating order of this kind of table is also very particular.Because the dishes flow from top to bottom, there will be no good dishes left at the end, and more empty dishes, so the host sits at the top, and the guests on both sides are seated according to their status. Just sit back.

For a banquet held by the Second Prince, the princes are naturally the ones at the head and ends. As the juniors, the princes have to sit behind the princes, and the next are the sons of the rich and powerful officials.

No matter how you say it, Gu Chiyuan is still an orthodox prince, but he was arranged at the end. I don't know if it was because of the negligence of the servants, or because someone deliberately humiliated him.

He was still wearing the old clothes he usually wore when he went to the Imperial College today, and he looked so out of place sitting among the group of glamorous royal relatives.

As soon as Shen Rongci stepped onto the Jiuqu Bridge leading to the water pavilion, the second prince greeted him personally.

When he disregarded the dissuasion of the second prince that day, when he wanted to rescue Gu Chiyuan from the Library Pavilion no matter what, he could already feel the displeasure of the second prince, and the other party didn't even say a word to him before parting. .

Today's tea party, Shen Rongci was already on the way here, ready to be sneered at by the second prince.

Unexpectedly, when the second prince saw him, he showed a friendly smile like a brother next door as usual, as if there had never been any quarrel between the two of them.

"Why did brother Shen come here, come in quickly."

He naturally stretched his hand behind Shen Rongci, half hugged and half pushed Shen Rongci into the water pavilion, and invited him to sit on his left side.

This position belongs to the most distinguished position among all the people present, whether it is the prince or the prince, after all, he should not be the heir of a foreign surname.

Almost everyone's eyes met Shen Rongci at this moment.

Shen Rongci hastily declined and said: "The second prince asked me to sit here, I'm afraid it's out of bounds, I'd better sit in the back."

But the second prince whispered in his ear: "I want you to sit here, and you can sit here. Why do you go beyond the rules?"

Shen Rongci still wanted to refuse, and the young man sitting on the right side of the second prince spoke:

"Nephew, who is this? You haven't introduced it to us yet."

This person is the youngest younger brother of the Holy Majesty, ranking sixteen, and also the most favored prince. After all, both he and the emperor were raised by the queen mother.This year, he is only 17 years old. Due to the big age difference with his brothers, he can't play together, but he is quite speculative with the second prince.

But he is considered an older person at this table, so no one would object to letting him sit at the top.

The second prince cleared his throat so that everyone at the table could hear his introduction: "This is the son of Duke Chongning, Shen Rongci. Brother Shen, this is the Sixteenth Prince. You can also call him as the prince with me. Uncle Sixteen."

This is what it means to classify Shen Rongci as one of his own.

Although Shen Rongci had been confined at home before entering the palace and hadn't been out much, but his family background is there, and he is considered a well-known figure in the capital, so except for the princes who attended the class together, everyone else heard that After being the son of Duke Chongning, they all showed a clear look.

No wonder he got the second prince's favor, after all, he is Duke Chongning who holds military power...

At the end of the flowing water mat, a family member secretly sneered, and muttered: "Is he that trash Shen Rongci?"

Sitting next to him, the son of the Taibao, with sharp ears, immediately felt the smell of gossip when he heard his words, like a fly that found a rotten egg, and hurriedly leaned over and whispered, "Why do you say that?"

Gu Chiyuan, who was sitting beside them drinking tea alone, raised his eyelids slightly.

Seeing that someone was cheering, the son of the aristocratic family immediately raised his volume, as if he wanted to announce to the world but dared not let the few people sitting at the head hear him: "You only think of him as the son of Duke Chongning, that's just a glamorous appearance. That’s all. In fact, he’s just a worthless bastard who doesn’t understand anything, and doesn’t even know a few big characters!”

Sure enough, as soon as these words came out, the people around him pricked up their ears.Because of his words, some people thought of certain rumors they had heard, and couldn't wait to share them.

"I seem to have heard that he is not only mediocre and ignorant, but also disobedient, turning a blind eye to Duke Chongning at home, and often bullying the two concubine younger brothers?"

The son of the noble family who spoke first said immediately: "I took lessons with his two younger brothers. Those two are really talented people. They are proficient in everything from piano, chess, calligraphy, painting, riding and archery to martial arts. I don't know how much better than that Shen Rongci." However, the two of them still spoke good words for this useless brother and showed mercy... But who knows, Shen Rongci still didn't buy it, slandered his two younger brothers everywhere, and never regarded them as his relatives. Now it's alright, such an unbearable character climbed onto a concubine Jin, turned around and entered the palace and flew up a branch."

After hearing this, several people were filled with righteous indignation.

"The second prince also treats him as a guest of honor and treats him with courtesy everywhere, isn't he being deceived by him?"

"Who knows what tricks he used?"

"The second prince is really pitiful..."

The son of the aristocratic family let out a "tch", showing disdain, and suddenly lowered his voice with a mysterious look: "Do you know that before Shen Rongci entered the palace, he threatened many times that he had loved the fifth prince for a long time and was devoted to him?" Only to the Fifth Prince!"

"what?"

When such a huge lace gossip fell down, everyone was shocked to suspect that there was something wrong with their ears.

Even Gu Chiyuan paused when he raised his glass, as if interested, he asked the aristocratic son: "How do you say that?"

Seeing him with a rough face, plain clothes, and sitting at the end, the son of the family thought he was the youngest son of some newly promoted official. At first, he looked uninterested, but thought he was a little cautious when he entered the palace for the first time. .Seeing him asking at this time, he naturally wanted to pull him into his camp, exaggerating and saying:

"You don't know that Shen Rongci is not only stupid as a pig, but also has a gloomy personality and loves masculinity. That's all, if he finds a few servants to play with, I don't bother to say, but he just wants to eat swan meat. Only the Fifth Prince fell in love with him! Not only that, Duke Chongning found him an enlightened teacher to teach him how to write, guess which one he practiced first?"

Everyone didn't know why he was gossiping so well, why he suddenly brought up calligraphy practice, and they all shook their heads to express their ignorance.

Only Gu Chiyuan's breathing was slightly stagnant, and he suddenly remembered the small characters engraved on Shen Rongci's dagger.

The son of the aristocratic family kept his secretive face on his face, and his voice couldn't be lower: "He has practiced the whole five hundred pages——the word "Yuan"! "

Some people didn't know the name of the fifth prince, so they haven't reacted yet; others who have reacted have widened their eyes and looked disgusted.

"Then he is still close to the second prince, maybe he wants to..."

"This Shen Rongci is really unbearable!"

"But does the fifth prince know about this? No two people..."

"Shhhhhhh! Who knows if the Fifth Prince will be present at today's tea party!"

Everyone quickly shut up and stopped talking, but they all looked at Shen Rongci more or less with a trace of disdain.

What they didn't know was that another protagonist at the center of the topic was sitting among them at the moment, and even participated in their conversation.

With the movement of raising his hand to drink tea, Gu Chiyuan concealed a faint smile on the corner of his mouth, and used the slightly bitter tea to slightly suppress the inexplicable pride in his heart.

——This little fox.

The banquet was about to start, and Shen Rongci really couldn't resist the second prince's kind invitation, and the two were in the center of everyone's sight, and it was ugly to stand in a stalemate all the time, and finally had to sit down in that hot potato-like position.

Although it is said to be a tea party, of course it is not just drinking tea, and it will not work without some delicious food.

In the attic opposite the waterside pavilion, the Nanqu troupe that had been prepared for a long time began to babble to the sound of gongs and drums, and the sound came from the lake, which was very clear and pleasant.

Palace maids and maids filed in with their delicacies, and after a while, they began to toast and criss-cross each other on the flowing water table.

The second prince didn't need to eat the dishes in the canal, as there were other delicate dishes in front of him.But he didn't eat it. Instead, he picked up a few pieces of the best meat and put them in Shen Rongci's bowl.

"Brother Shen, you are welcome. Tell me what you want to eat, and I will order someone to do it immediately." He smiled.

Shen Rongci did not dare to refuse, but could only thank him.

I don't know if it was Shen Rongci's illusion, but he always felt that after he sat down, the gaze on him became more intense.

Especially the Sixteenth Prince sitting opposite him, although he concealed his eyes, Shen Rongci could feel his dissatisfaction with sitting in this position.

It's terrible...

After drinking for three rounds, Shen Rongci couldn't sit still anymore, just about to get up and try to find an excuse to slip out, when someone said at the end:

"Second prince, today is a rare and good day, what's the fun in just listening to music and watching plays?"

The queen has always been known in the capital for being easy-going, and the second prince, who is the queen's direct son, is also the same.Someone suggested that he would naturally agree, and asked with great interest, "Oh? Then, do you have any interesting proposals?"

The one who spoke was one of the sons of several aristocratic families who participated in the gossip exchange about Shen Rongci.He intends to make Shen Rongci look ugly in public, so that the second prince can see clearly that this is an embroidered pillow with an empty appearance, so he said:

"Today is Lichun, why don't you take turns to write a poem on the topic of "Spring" on the spot? "

This is also in line with the theme of today's tea party, not to mention that the topic is not difficult, there are too many poems with the theme of spring, so it is not a problem for them few royal relatives who have received the highest education since childhood.

"What's the point of writing poetry without any punishment?" The sixth prince who hadn't spoken all this time suddenly stood up, and glanced provocatively at the top of Shen Rongci's head. If you can't do it within five steps, you will be punished by the second brother, and if you do well, you will naturally be rewarded by the second brother, how about it?"

"I have no objection, what do you guys think?" The second prince just smiled kindly and asked everyone.

All the people here are of the same age, and they are all boys, so they naturally have a heart for comparison.As soon as this proposal came out, no one objected, and everyone was eager to try it.

Shen Rongci, who was about to escape, also missed the best time to leave the table, and could only continue to sit on pins and needles in this position.

He only thought about why the damn tea party wasn't over yet, but he was suddenly called by someone.

The aristocratic family who proposed to compose the poem said: "According to the order of seating, or please invite Shen Shizi to come first."

The author says:

Gu Chiyuan, who was forced to listen to his wife's gossip: My wife loves me very much, what do you need to say?