By the time Zheng Lingbo returned, the grand hall of the banquet was already crowded with guests.
Mu Rong Huiyan does not know if she is entertaining the honored guests or not, and she is not in the hall.
Ladies of high status gathered in groups of three and two to chat and gossip, with the waitresses carrying trays from time to time, fluttering in their flowing dresses. Zheng Lingbo glanced over and felt that the fresh youthful vigor of those youthful faces was almost to hit her face. Seeing them for a moment, she felt like she was much younger.
Although but, in fact, she herself is no more than a young girl of a few dozen years now. It's just that, due to the numerous events from her previous life, her mindset has long been unable to compare with these genuinely young girls.
Furthermore, the painful beating of Liu Chengwang just now unconsciously reminded her of the days when she was beaten in the backyard of the Liu family in her previous life, making it difficult for her to adjust her mindset in a short time.
Zheng Lingbo unconsciously sighed and felt regretful.
She simply found a place to sit down, bowed her head, and quietly began to fix the flower stem that she had inadvertently broken earlier with her fingers.
As she sat quietly, someone approached her and broke her peacefulness.
It was the Anping Princess who had said some strange words at the imperial banquet.
The Anping Princess is a few years older than them, around twenty, and is already married. She carries herself with an air of grace and composure that sets her apart from the lively young girls in front of her.
But it was heard that she and her husband were not harmonious, and they usually lived apart. She also didn't stay in the capital for long, but this time it was because of the imperial throne anniversary celebration that she returned to the capital. Perhaps she would leave again at any time.
Zheng Lingbo felt that she was not well acquainted with this Anping Princess and couldn't understand why the Princess seemed to have an inexplicable, rather eerie demeanor towards her in these two encounters.
However, on the surface, she didn't show it very clearly. As a result, Zheng Lingbo pondered back and forth, even suspecting that she might be overthinking it.
At this moment, the Anping Princess initiated a greeting with Zheng Lingbo and glanced at the chrysanthemum in her hand before smiling lightly: "This snowy red plum is quite rare. I didn't expect that Miss Zheng is also a person who can destroy flowers ruthlessly."
The remark was ambiguous, so Zheng Lingbo also looked down at the flower in her hand and made no further explanation, just playfully brushing it off with a smile: "As the saying goes, a beautiful flower is worth picking straight away; I'm just following in the footsteps of elegance."
She remembered that Mu Rong Huiyan and this Anping Princess had a relatively good relationship. At Mu Rong Huiyan's birthday banquet, she did not want to cause any conflict with this person, as it would waste Mu Rong Huiyan's face.
However, she didn't expect that she would yield. Anping Princess seemed to be somewhat overbearing: "A beautiful flower is worth picking straight away? It is said that Miss Zheng, who comes from a military family and is not well-educated, can easily come up with such fine lines."
It was a compliment, but the condescending tone in her words was not well concealed by the speaker. Hearing this, Zheng Lingbo merely smiled slightly and said, "Just picked up someone else's words."
Anping Princess heard this and didn't say anything else, but looked at the face of the other noblewoman next to her.
Upon receiving this look, the noblewoman raised her handkerchief, gently curved her lips, and immediately began to laugh coquettishly: "Coincidentally, Yun sister and the others are making toasts for Miss Fulei's birthday with the theme of chrysanthemum. Miss Zheng has such talent and has been friends with Miss Fulei for many years. How can she not compose a poem?"
Zheng Lingbo: "..."
Okay, okay, you're still being petty.
She really is a bit impatient.
In fact, she has also studied poetry and songs, but she is not very interested in that aspect and doesn't have much talent for it. She usually doesn't participate in such topics, but when she can't escape from the jokes and laughter of her close friends, she would just say a couple of sentences from ancient poems or songs and let it be.
Everyone who knows her character knows that she can't stand to be bothered. By simply brushing it off with a casual response, she could create an atmosphere of harmony and joy.
However, today was different. Just by observing the expressions of the few in front of her, she knew they were not seeking any supposed harmony and atmosphere.
The chapter elder sister, Mingyue, whom Zheng Lingbo had seen earlier, heard the commotion and moved closer. Seeing the group of people pressuring Zheng Lingbo, her eyes immediately deepened slightly.
In the next second, her face quickly regained a gentle smile, and she deliberately asked: "Where are you hiding sneakily? Let us also join the fun?"
The Zhang family is a high and noble family with a good reputation in the capital circles. Zhang father is a second-tier official in the government, and Zhang Mingyue is known for her grace and elegance in handling social affairs, not dragging down the Zhang family's reputation.
In her heart, she didn't mention it, and on the surface, the group of noblewomen had never had any conflict with her.
At this moment, when Zhang Mingyue asked, someone next to her replied with a smile: "Yun sister only found out Miss Zheng's elegance today. She is arguing with her for a poem to celebrate Miss Fulei's birthday."
A face of playful banter between sisters.
Hearing this, Zhang Mingyue raised an eyebrow in a look of surprise: "My cousin, even though she has read some books, how dare she show off her skills in front of Yun sister?"
She softly gazed at the person in front of her who was speaking.
Zheng Lingbo was quite witty and followed her words: "That's right, who doesn't know that Yun sister's talent is not inferior to that of men in the whole capital?"
She narrowed her eyes and laughed quite freely, "Everyone knows I'm not good at this, and yet Yun sister insists that I write a poem. Could it be that you're deliberately trying to make me look foolish?"
The crowd: "……”
She actually said it out loud?
The group couldn't help but stare at Zheng Lingbo in shock.
It's natural for there to be disputes and comparisons among many people, but usually, people are quite polite and try to handle things gracefully, keeping their thoughts to themselves and pretending everything is fine on the surface.
Surely, everyone has a desire to see others make a fool of themselves, but nobody would ever say it outright. At most, they might flatter someone and make them feel pressured to speak up, resulting in their embarrassment.
Zheng Lingbo's clarification made the situation rather awkward.
As you said, the noblewomen all value their reputation, and any behavior that doesn't meet the expectations of refined and virtuous behaviors of a family of high status cannot be brought up.
The characters that the noblewomen exhibit can be dignified, playful, or mischievous, but their foundation must be beautiful, kind, and understanding.
In short, they cannot be associated with any negative words.
This is likely the most common phrase spoken by those gentlemen and ladies - don't lose your dignity.
Zheng Lingbo, who followed behind Liu Chengwang for the past few years, was disliked by the noblewomen because of her behavior that lost the dignity of a noblewoman.
This was like a dream of the yellow millet, and after being reborn at the age of fifteen, Zheng Lingbo sometimes found these people quite interesting.
Doing it, but afraid of being said.
