Chapter 1835: Chapter 1835: A Special Gift (Part 3)
“What happened?” The Emperor hadn’t heard anything for a while and couldn’t help but look up.
“Reporting to the Emperor, this gift… is somewhat unusual.” Third Eunuch tugged at the corner of his mouth, looking a bit embarrassed. He had visited Yang Ruxin’s home and knew they lived well, but he didn’t expect the gift to be… so grounded.
Emperor Xuanjing curiously glanced at Third Eunuch, “Unusual? Hurry up and read it out.”
Third Eunuch, with no choice, read aloud: “Ningyuan General congratulates the Royal Concubine on her birthday with a gift of a basket of carrots, a basket of sweet potatoes, a basket of eggplants, a basket of cabbages, a basket of peanuts…” The last word “basket” was even dragged out a bit, adding to its flavor.
Once the gift list was read, the entire hall remained silent for about a minute, even the Emperor’s face showed a moment of stunned surprise—indeed, it was quite unusual.
Then everyone began to discuss.
“What kind of gift is this? Is it like a countryside housewarming?”
“Indeed, sweet potatoes and carrots—does the Royal Concubine not eat these?”
“I think it’s nice; food is the paramount necessity…”
“That Yang Ruxin is just a village girl, probably never seen anything good…”
But once someone finished saying this foolish remark, everyone around fell silent, this wasn’t the right occasion for such talk.
Zuo Qingqing instantly became awkward but dared not speak again because her father glared back at her.
Yet the others continued to discuss, the entire hall was like a boiling pot, eventually drawing everyone’s attention over.
However, sitting there, Gu Qingheng kept a calm face, even turning to give a smiling nod to whoever looked over.
And sitting beside him, Yang Ruxin was even calmer, as if the discussions weren’t about her.
“Haha…” Suddenly, a rampant laugh sounded, overpowering the surrounding chatter, “Emperor Xuanjing, I didn’t expect your country’s general to be so poor.” It was the Dayuan Country envoy who came, named Jiu E.
Everyone’s face changed upon hearing Jiu E’s words, but because the Emperor hadn’t spoken, the ministers below were angry but didn’t dare to speak.
Yet Jiu E was indifferent, directly calling in his attendants, who brought in a box.
“Royal Concubine, this is the gift from our Dayuan Country.” Jiu E personally got up to open the wooden box.
The people around all widened their eyes; it was a box of fur, with the top being a piece of snow-white fox fur, which made one want to touch it.
Emperor Xuanjing remained unfazed, instead smiling slightly, neither praising nor criticizing, and then turned to Gu Qingheng: “Gu Aiqing, Madam Gu, what do you think?”
Gu Qingheng glanced at Yang Ruxin and then got up to salute: “These gifts were carefully prepared by my wife; I believe they were very well prepared.”
“Really?” Emperor Xuanjing smiled, “Yang Ruxin, your husband says you prepared well, tell us, what makes them well-prepared?”
Yang Ruxin stood up, first approached and saluted the Emperor, Empress Dowager, and other nobles. Only after the Emperor said to stand did she turn toward Jiu E: “Envoy Jiu, I want to ask you, what is considered valuable?”
Jiu E glanced at Yang Ruxin disdainfully, then pointed to his box: “These are what’s valuable, while your sweet potatoes and carrots are worthless.”
“Do you also believe this?” Yang Ruxin looked at the two attendants of Jiu E.