Phoenix Reborn: the Prime Minister’s Scheming Daughter - Chapter 361

The cleaning and decoration in the imperial palace had been ongoing since a month ago. Today, every corner of the imperial palace was filled with exquisite luxury. At a glance, one could see the majestic and imposing vibe exhuming from even the back of the corridor and the eaves.

Shen Ninghua was particularly familiar with the imperial palace. In the past, she felt heartache and suffocated when she stood behind the tall palace walls. However, now that she had changed her state of mind, she felt that this was the most luxurious place in the entire Da’an Kingdom. The vibe and momentum were something that other places could not match. Otherwise, the princes would not fight with all their might for the throne.

Shen Ninghua and Baili Junyi went to sit at the female and male sections respectively. Just as Shen Ninghua sat down, she felt a gaze fall on her and looked up. Her eyes met with Yang Yingxue’s, and she greeted her with a smile, “Cousin, you’re here early.”

Because they were both the consorts of princes, they were sitting quite close to each other and could chat easily. Yang Yingxue was dressed in the official princess outfit with a bright yellow pearl hairpin. At first glance, she looked particularly similar to Shen Ninghua in terms of dressing. Seeing Shen Ninghua look over, Yang Yingxue raised her hand to stroke her hair at her temples. “Cousin, please forgive me that I haven’t visited you ever since you came back.”

Shen Ninghua smiled warmly. “Oh, please don’t say that. We just met at my children’s birthday banquet the other day. You don’t have to visit me in private. Thank you for the gifts too. Moreover, you are Second Royal Brother’s side concubine now. It’s inconvenient for you to move around as when you were single. I understand that.”

“Thank you. You know me best.” Yang Yingxue smiled gratefully.

Shen Ninghua smiled slightly and then turned her eyes to the table in front of her, no longer wishing to continue their conversation.

On the other side, Baili Jinchuan’s cold gaze swept across Shen Ninghua’s face. He looked at her very carefully, as if he wanted to deeply engrave her image in his mind. He did not even mind when Shen Ninghua noticed his intense gaze. He picked up the wine glass on the table and took a sip. The spicy wine flew down his throat, which made his chest burn. Even the depths of his eyes were dyed with layers of flames.

After all the officials had arrived, the guests waited for about a quarter of an hour before the announcement outside echoed, “His Majesty has arrived. His Highness the Crown Prince has arrived.”

Everyone knelt down and saluted. Ever since Zhao Huiying died, the Emperor did not appoint another Empress. There were not many high-ranking concubines in the Palace. This year’s banquet, the Emperor didn’t bring any of his concubines. Instead, he came with the Crown Prince.

“Dear associates, rise. Today is the New Year’s banquet. Everyone has worked hard for a year. You can relax today. There is no need to be too serious.”

“Yes, thank you, Your Majesty. Long live Your Majesty.”

Soon, the sound of the orchestra resonated. A group of beauties walked in, their clothes fluttering in the wind and their slender waists moved gracefully. As they danced, a fragrance rose from their body and hair. The surrounding officials were mesmerized by the sight, and they stared fixedly at the dancing ladies.

The atmosphere at the female guests’ side was much quieter. Many of them did not fancy the dancers, especially those noble ladies. When they saw their husband staring at the women without even blinking, they were indignant.

Shen Ninghua quietly sipped her tea and occasionally ate a piece of dessert, looking pleasant and at ease.

On the throne, Baili Qingcang was a little bored. He even yawned in the latter part of the dance.

The Third Prince suddenly stood up. “Father Emperor, you must have been bored of watching the same performance every year. I’ve prepared some folk performances. I wonder if you are interested to see them.”

“A folk performance?” Baili Qingcang was slightly interested. He had stayed in the Palace for a long time, and it had been a long time since he had come into contact with the things of the commoners.

“Yes.” The Third Princess smiled faintly. “I always listen to Father Emperor’s teachings, and I always try to get closer to the people. I took advantage of the New Year and specially went to understand how the commoners celebrated New Year’s Eve. I happened to see someone performing, so I had some ideas and carefully selected a few performers to perform for you. When the selected performers heard that they were going to perform for you at the New Year banquet, they were so happy that they almost fainted.”

Thinking of that scene, Baili Qingcang laughed. “Wow, this is something new. I have indeed gotten tired of watching the same dances year after year. Summon your people up.”

The beauties in gorgeous dance uniforms retreated one by one. Shen Ninghua slightly raised her eyes. She still donned the same smile, which was faint but friendly. The smile looked so polite as if her lips had been meticulously drawn on her face.

Soon, several people dressed in plain clothes walked up. There were also three iron cages behind them which were covered in red cloth. Only the outline of the cages could be vaguely seen. There were a few creaking and squeaking sounds, which made people know that there were different living things inside.

Shen Ninghua’s fingers that were holding the tea cup paused, and she slowly put down the tea cup. Her eyes fell on the few cages that were covered.

When the performers saw Baili Qingcang, they were especially excited, and their faces were flushed red. Indeed, it was like what the Third Prince said. The performers were so delightful that they were almost about to faint.

Being looked at with such an incomparably respectful gaze, Baili Qingcang was in a good mood. “Alright, you can calm down. What kind of performance are you guys good at? Let’s take a look at your performance. If the performance is brilliant, I will reward you heftily.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. We will begin now.”

The performers uncovered the red cloth covering one of the cages, revealing the animal inside.

“Oh, it’s a monkey!”

Seeing the animals in the cages clearly, many people could not help but laugh. The tiny monkey was wearing red printed clothes. After seeing the cage door open, the monkey walked out of the cage on its hind legs and plopped down on the ground towards Baili Qingcang.

“Haha!” Seeing this scene, Baili Qingcang laughed happily. The officials below quickly applauded and cheered on, saying that the Emperor was so domineering and intimidating that everything under the sun bowed to him.

The performer at the side kowtowed to Baili Qingcang and said, “Your Majesty, you have to give permission for the monkey to stand up.”

“Oh? This is fun. Can it understand human language? Stand up.”

After Baili Qingcang said that, the monkey nimbly sat up. Then, it jumped up high, did a perfect somersault, and landed on the ground again.

Baili Qingcang smiled even more happily. “Good, good! Give them a reward!”

The Third Prince smiled, his eyes full of pride.

After the little monkey finished his performance, the performer let the little monkey stay in the cage and then opened the second cage. A black eagle flew out of the cage like an arrow. The officials on the side exclaimed in shock, “Oh, my goodness.”

The eagle flew around the hall and then steadily landed on the cage, nodding continuously at Baili Qingcang.

A trace of surprise flashed in Baili Qingcang’s eyes. “This is gyrfalcon. After being tamed and domesticated, it still retained its original spirit. Not bad.”

At this point, everyone’s gaze had landed on the third cage. Now that the monkey and the falcon were revealed, they wondered what was in the third cafe. Could it be even more ferocious than the falcon?

The third cage was the largest, and when they put it on the floor, it was also the heaviest. What kind of beast was inside?

Under everyone’s expectant gaze, the red cloth on the third cage was lifted, and everyone around immediately gasped in astonishment.

“I-Is that a tiger?”

“Heavens, it’s actually a tiger? It looks mighty and domineering!”

Shen Ninghua frowned slightly. Was the Third Prince out of his mind for bringing a tiger to the imperial palace?

Ignoring the exclamations of the crowd, the performers directly opened the door of the cage. The crowd began to panic, especially the women. “Oh my goodness! Will the tiger bite us?”

“Oh my goodness, it’s looking over here.”

The king of beasts came out and slowly walked a few steps. Then, it knelt down in front of Baili Qingcang, placed its huge head on its front paws, and roared in a low voice a few times like a cat.

The Third Prince, who had been looking forward to this moment for a long time, stepped forward and knelt down to Baili Qingcang, shouting, “The king of all beasts bowed to Father Emperor. Father Emperor, you are almighty and powerful! Everyone bows before you and is grateful to you for letting them live in peace and prosperity!”

With the Third Prince taking the lead, the other officials quickly stood up and shouted, “Long live, Your Majesty!”

Baili Qingcang was smiling from ear to ear, and he began to laugh happily. “Haha! Good! Rise, my dear associates. Son, you are very considerate. The performers have performed well too. Give them a big reward!”

The performers were especially excited and knelt on the ground to thank him.

Just as everyone was about to stand up, a heaven-shaking roar suddenly exploded in their ears, “Roar!”

The tiger stood up and roared at the officials. It pounced at the performer beside it who had yet to react. The performer didn’t manage to run away, so he could only dodge the tiger’s attack. Although the tiger failed to bite him in the neck, one of his arms was directly bitten off. Blood immediately sprayed everywhere.

“Oh my goodness, run!”

“Oh my goodness!”

The tiger’s ferocity was completely activated due to the chaos and blood, and it pounced towards the women.

Noticing that something was wrong, Shen Ninghua was about to get out when someone behind her couldn’t stand steadily and directly pressed her on her back in a panic. She was tightly pressed down to the ground and couldn’t move.

The ferocious tiger spotted Shen Ninghua and pounced towards her with its mouth wide open.

Shen Ninghua clenched her teeth tightly. Due to the exposure of her knowledge and skills in using poison, Shen Ninghua didn’t want Baili Qingcang to raise any more suspicion toward her, so she didn’t bring any poison with her today. Now, she only had a few gold needles hidden in her sleeve to save herself, but the needles were useless against the tiger.

The sudden change of events stunned Baili Jinchuan. Then, he subconsciously looked for Shen Ninghua. Seeing that she was in danger, he hurriedly stepped forward to save her. He forcefully circulated his internal energy, and the already damaged meridians seemed to have been scraped by steel needle. It hurt so much that he almost fell to the ground. Shen Ninghua!

With a slight frown, Shen Ninghua abruptly pushed away the weight on her back and rolled to the side, trying to avoid the tiger’s lethal bite.

Just as the tiger was about to bite Shen Ninghua, it suddenly stopped and fell straight to the ground. Baili Junyi stepped forward to protect Shen Ninghua. “Ninghua, are you alright?”

Shen Ninghua shook her head and looked at the Third Prince coldly. “Third Brother, the performers you brought in don’t seem to be very reliable!”