Chapter 299: Chapter 299: Why Does the Princess Wear a Veil? (Thanks for the extra donation from ’I Want to Be a Hot Girl’)
Upon hearing this, Xie Pan’Er stiffened. However, it lasted only an instant. In the end, she said nothing, her expression impassive as she unhurriedly fell in step with those ahead.
Suddenly, Xiaosuisui’s soft, sweet voice reached her ears, asking, "Grandma Empress Dowager! What does it mean to say ’gilding one’s face’?"
Grandma Empress Dowager?
Everyone was taken aback by this. The members of the Ji Family broke out in cold sweats, and Madame Ji quickly corrected her, saying, "Suisui, you mustn’t be disrespectful. Such an address..."
"Alright, alright, stop lecturing her," the Empress Dowager, clearly in high spirits, countered Madame Ji. Then, she looked down at Xiaosuisui and said, "The child’s address is correct. She is the Emperor’s adopted daughter, which makes her my granddaughter. Isn’t it only right that she calls me Grandma? From now on, Suisui, just call me Grandma. No need for ’Grandma Empress Dowager,’ understood?"
Xiaosuisui nodded enthusiastically. "Alright, alright! Grandma!"
"Aye!" the Empress Dowager responded joyfully. Only then did she recall the question Xiaosuisui had asked earlier.
"My dear granddaughter, what was it you asked Grandma just now?"
Xiaosuisui quickly repeated, "’Gilding one’s face.’ Just now, Grandma and Father Emperor were trying to put a gold hairpin in my hair, and they couldn’t get it to stay for the longest time. If gold is supposed to be stuck onto a person’s face, how would it even stay on?"
Hearing Xiaosuisui’s words, even without knowing what Xiao Ning’Er had said to others, the Empress Dowager could guess the gist of it. Her expression flickered unpleasantly for a moment.
The attendant Eunuchs announced in loud, clear voices, "Her Majesty the Empress Dowager and His Majesty the Emperor have arrived!"
After they entered the Banquet in the Imperial Garden, Madame Ji and the others respectfully moved to one side, waiting for everyone at the banquet to kneel and pay their respects to the Empress Dowager and the young Emperor. Only after the Empress Dowager granted them leave to be seated were they guided to their places by the Palace Maids.
Xiaosuisui was still being held in the Empress Dowager’s arms. When everyone sat down and noticed this, they were puzzled. Why was the Empress Dowager cradling such a young child? What was this child’s status?
"May I ask the Empress Dowager, this little girl Your Majesty is holding... to which noble family does she belong?"
As the Empress Dowager’s elder brother, the Duke of the State, upon learning how his wife and daughter had been treated in the Cining Palace, was already nursing a grievance. Although he had already guessed that the little girl in the Empress Dowager’s arms was the Grand Princess personally invested by the Emperor from among the common folk, he still had to ask. He wanted to probe what sort of background this Grand Princess truly possessed. What position did she hold in the hearts of the Empress Dowager and the Emperor? Moreover, he planned to use this child’s appearance as leverage, determined to make the young Emperor select consorts and establish an Empress.
"If my elder brother hadn’t asked, I would have forgotten to make the introductions," the Empress Dowager said. "Everyone, this little child is named Suisui. She is our Great Han Dynasty’s Changrong Princess Shunhe—personally invested by His Majesty the Emperor!"
As soon as the Empress Dowager spoke these words, everyone involuntarily put down their wine cups.
Someone seized the opportunity to ask, "Since she is the Grand Princess, why might she be covering her face with a veil?"
Xiaosuisui had been wearing a veil the entire time and still hadn’t removed it.
In the Cining Palace, they had been preoccupied with teasing Xiaobai. The Empress Dowager did, for a fleeting moment, consider asking Suisui to remove her veil so she could see her face. However, as if by some strange twist of fate, she hadn’t done so.
Now, hearing someone ask this, the Empress Dowager remembered and turned to Xiaosuisui. "Suisui, why are you wearing a veil?"
Xiaosuisui counted on her fingers. "Second Aunt, Sixth Uncle, Eldest Uncle, Eldest Aunt, Third Aunt, and Maternal Grandmother told Suisui to wear it!"
After finishing, she added, "And Seventh Uncle too!"
Hearing this, the Empress Dowager chuckled softly. Reaching out, she gently tugged a corner of the veil and asked, "Are you willing to take off this veil and let all the nobles, ministers, ladies, and young misses in this hall see your true face?"