Chapter 37: 19.1

Chapter 19          Night Banquet (1/2)

At youshi*, Qin Yan together with the Emperor of Hui and Taizi Feng Zhan, went to the Imperial Garden where the banquet was held, and many people were waiting at the banquet. It was already dusk, and the palace lanterns were lit everywhere in the Imperial Garden, and the candles were flickering. The sun was setting on the horizon, what a beautiful sunset.

(youshi* – 5 pm – 7 pm)

Everyone got up to pay respect to His Majesty and returned to their seats. Qin Yan’s seat was arranged next to Feng Yuyao, Princess of Jingyi.

Today’s Dragon Boat Festival banquet was a palace banquet and also an imperial family banquet.

At the banquet sat four imperial concubines, the second prince, the two princesses, and Xie Changyuan.

Yes, Shizi Xie of the Marquis of Yongding Mansion was the only son of the Princess of Anyang. Although Princess of Anyang had passed away, Xie Changyuan was still Emperor Hui’s nephew after all.

Before the banquet started, Empress Dowager sent someone to inform the Emperor of Hui that she was unwell and would not be there today. She told them to enjoy themselves.

The Emperor of Hui had the palace servants greet the Empress Dowager and then announced the opening of the banquet.

The dancers were accompanied by the palace music, danced in the garden, with delicious food and wine, and everyone toasted each other.

In the fifth month, all kinds of fruits were fragrant. Cherries, mulberries, grapes, and other seasonal fruits were placed at the banquet.

The wine at the banquet today was calamus wine, which was also the custom of the Dragon Boat Festival.

——

Qin Yan had heard this Empress Dowager Xiao was also a strange woman. She was the original empress of the late emperor, but she had no children in her life. The current Emperor of Hui, the Eldest Princess of Anyang, and the Duan Wang of Youzhou were all concubine-born sons and daughters of the concubine in the mansion when the late emperor was still the prince.

The former emperor was a famous dandy before, but after marrying the legitimate imperial concubine, the current Empress Dowager Xiao, the dandy became a new man and repented his actions. The two had mutual respect, and their love was stronger than gold, which could be regarded as a good story. The only regret was that the two had no children.

Later, Empress Dowager Xiao chose the present, among the only two concubine-born sons of the late emperor, Emperor of Hui, and adopted him as her legitimate son and cultivated him personally. The Emperor of Hui also naturally became the crown prince and the current emperor.

The Empress Dowager Xiao was a ruthless person. After her family, the Xiao Clan was found involved in corruption, she personally cleaned up the relatives of her family.

This move was respected by the late emperor and the ministers of civil and military affairs in the court. After the death of the late emperor, she served as the regent of the Empress Dowager for some time, but no one in the civil and military affairs of the court questioned her authority.

After two years of regency, and after the current Emperor of Hui’s wings gained strength, Empress Dowager Xiao took the initiative to return the power to the Emperor of Hui and retired to Shou’an Palace to enjoy her life. In recent years, Empress Dowager Xiao had rarely appeared in the court and the public, and she had rarely even appeared at the palace banquet.

It was said that Taizi Feng Zhan was also taught by Empress Dowager when he was a child. Empress Dowager Xiao carefully trained the heir to the throne, Taizi Feng Zhan. It was rumored that Empress Dowager Xiao once said that Taizi Feng Zhan was her most satisfied descendent, even more so than the Emperor of Hui today.

Oh, by the way, Master Yishan, who taught Emperor of Hui and Taizi Feng Zhan, was said to be an old friend of Empress Dowager Xiao. If that were the case, wouldn’t the Emperor of Hui and Taizi consider brothers?

Qin Yan suddenly reacted, weren’t the Emperor of Hui and Taizi also her senior brothers?

This seniority was so chaotic…

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—–

Thinking of this, Qin Yan glanced in the direction of Emperor Hui and Taizi. However, he found that Imperial Concubine Xian was also looking at the Taizi, but the Taizi just narrowed his eyes slightly, sipped the calamus wine in the cup, and his expression was unclear.

Imperial Concubine Xian was the younger sister of Empress Dowager, the younger sister of the Left Prime Minister, and the aunt of the Taizi. After the Empress went to Dajue Temple to worship the Buddha, the Imperial Concubine Xian took over the phoenix seal on behalf of the Empress, and her position was the same as the Empress. However, Feng Yuyao once gossiped that the relationship between the Taizi and the aunt, Imperial Concubine Xian, didn’t seem to be very good, not knowing whether there was anything to do with the Empress being outside the palace all year round.

Imperial Concubine De, who sat next to Imperial Concubine Xian, was from the Count of Pingnan Mansion. She was Feng Yuyao’s mother and a close friend of Qin Yan’s mother, Shen Shiying. When Qin Yan was a child, as Feng Yuyao’s study companion, she often strolled around the palace, and Imperial Concubine De often took care of Qin Yan. Seeing Qin Yan’s gaze, Imperial Concubine De smiled kindly toward Qin Yan, and Qin Yan also nodded toward her.

Today, Concubine Shu just quietly watched wine toastings, singing, and dancing, returning to her previous gentle and sensible appearance. Imperial Concubine Shu also hated that when she encountered Shen Shiying and Qin Yan, it was extremely difficult to control her emotions, so much so that she lost her temper and destroyed her image. A few days ago, she was actually confined by His Majesty, making her a laughingstock in the palace. Today, she only tried to reduce her sense of existence.

The last of the four imperial concubines, Imperial Concubine Jing, came from the Marquis of Guannei Mansion and gave birth to the Third Prince Feng Yi. That Third Prince was not in the palace all year round. He liked to listen to Zen and worship Buddha and enjoyed the scenery. He was also an outlier of the imperial family. Perhaps the Emperor of Hui was too satisfied with Taizi Feng Zhan, he had never restrained the Third Prince Feng Yi, and let him go free.

——

Shortly after the banquet started, the palace servants brought the yellow rice sweet rice dumplings wrapped in leaves made by the imperial kitchen. After the palace servants helped everyone remove the rice dumpling from the leaves, they put the rice dumpling on a porcelain plate.

The Emperor of Hui and everyone below tasted the zongzi* with chopsticks, which was the custom of the Dragon Boat Festival Banquet.

(zongzi* – the yellow rice sweet rice dumplings wrapped in leaves)

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Qin Yan and Feng Zhan were the only ones at the banquet who were drinking and didn’t take a bite of the sweet zongzi in front of them.

Seeing this, the Emperor of Hui asked Qin Yan, “Why doesn’t the Princess of Zhaoren try this zongzi? The craftsmanship of the imperial kitchen is quite good.”

Qin Yan put down the wine cup and replied, “Back to Your Majesty, this minister never eats desserts.”

Everyone at the banquet was a little surprised. This reason… Princess of Zhaoren didn’t even give His Majesty a face?

“Hahaha, Princess of Zhaoren is really a straightforward person! I remember that Taizi doesn’t like sweets either. Both of your tastes are really similar, aren’t they, Taizi?” Emperor of Hui looked at Taizi Feng Zhan while smiling.

Feng Zhan ignored his imperial father, who was always matchmaking, and just picked up this wine cup and took a sip lightly.

Everyone at the banquet was also aware that today’s Dragon Boat Festival banquet was a palace banquet, and it was also an imperial family banquet, but the position of Princess of Zhaoren had increased. According to His Majesty’s recent actions and the words just now, His Majesty was matchmaking the Princess of Zhaoren and Taizi.

Feng Yuyao knew that Qin Yan had no intention of joining the imperial family, or that her cousin Junyan was more suitable for Xiao Yanyan.

However, Feng Yunchao immediately thought of An Yanxi, the generous and fitting young lady of the Grand Scholar Mansion. An Yanxi used to be Feng Yunchao’s study companion. Since Feng Yunchao was born, the Empress, her imperial mother, left the palace to worship the Buddha at Dajue Temple.

Her imperial mother never asked about her. She was brought up by her wet nurse. Only Imperial Concubine Xian, which was her aunt, took care of her occasionally, but since she was sensible and knew some of her mother’s past with her aunt, she became estranged from Imperial Concubine Xian.

Her grandmother, Empress Dowager only took care of her imperial brother Taizi, and her imperial brother Taizi went to the army early. She, the first eldest princess, seemed to have a noble status, but in fact, she was not as happy as the concubine-born Feng Yuyao of Imperial Concubine De.

Therefore, since childhood, she had been very dependent on her companion, An Yanxi, who was a few years older than her. Although their identities were different, she thought of her as her sister in her heart. After Feng Yunchao learned about An Yanxi’s thoughts on her imperial brother Taizi, Feng Yunchao also regarded An Yanxi as her future imperial sister-in-law.

Her imperial father seemed to have the intention of matchmaking Princess of Zhaoren and Imperial Brother Taizi. Feng Yunchao was a little nervous about it, what if her imperial brother Taizi agreed?

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Xie Changyuan, who was at the end of the table, looked slightly cold, just raised his head and took a sip of wine.

——

At this time, Second Prince Feng Xian suddenly spoke to the Emperor of Hui at the main seat, “Imperial Father, I’ve asked the imperial kitchen to prepare some playthings. I want to add some extras program, I hope to have Imperial Father’s permission.”

Emperor Hui looked at Second Prince Feng Xian, and asked, “You’ve always had lots of ideas. Tell me, what program have you prepared?”

“Shoot willows of the Tomb Sweeping Day. Today, we will shoot zongzi during the Dragon Boat Festival. However, I have to ask Imperial Father for a reward for the winner. Will Imperial Father agree?”

“Okay, I agree.” The Emperor of Hui was also interested.

The Second Prince Feng Xian raised his hand and clapped twice. The palace servants brought several plates of specially made zongzi. Each of these zongzi was no more than the size of a child’s palm, and ten of them were strung together with thin threads. Feng Xian asked the palace servants to hang a few strings of zongzi on a branch a hundred steps away from the garden where the banquet was held.

“Does Imperial Brother want to show your skills?” The Second Prince Feng Xian asked the Taizi Feng Zhan.

Feng Zhan raised his eyes and said nothing.

The Second Prince Feng Xian knew that Taizi didn’t like to play around, so he didn’t ask again.

Feng Yuyao was eager to try, “I’ll have one”.

Since Qin Yan returned from the Northwest, Feng Yuyao seemed liberated, and instantly returned to the lively and energetic little princess when she was a child. Perhaps it wasn’t because Qin Yan came back, but because of Young Master Shen from the Duke of Zhenguo Mansion.

The little girl’s mind*, ah.

(little girl’s mind* – means that after entering adolescence, the girl’s heart becomes sentimental and develops a love for the opposite sex)

Feng Yunchao had no interest in horseback riding and archery, so she had no choice but to learn calligraphy and painting.

Second Prince Feng Xian saw Feng Yunchao’s indifferent expression, so he didn’t ask any more questions, and instead asked Qin Yan, “Does Princess of Zhaoren want to give it a try?”

Qin Yan was not interested in this. She just wanted to end the palace banquet quickly and go back to the mansion to soak in a fragrant hot pool to rest.

The Second Prince glanced at Qin Yan’s weak look and no longer embarrassed this weak woman.

Emperor of Hui saw that Xie Changyuan was drinking alone, and said, “Changyuan, go play too.”

Xie Changyuan accepted the order.

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