Chapter 561 - Full of Guests (1/2)

As for the pastries and fruits, that went without saying. The fruits were naturally meticulously hand-picked from the back hill of the Imperial Plantation: pears, apples, gr.a.p.es, mulberries, raspberries… Although it was already late fall, many fruits from the previous seasons like peaches, watermelon, cantaloupes, strawberries had been preserved fresh, as though they had only just been harvested from the orchard.

The pastries were all sent from The Yu’s main pastry shop. Other than the exquisite little pastries on each table, the one thing that became the focus of everyone was still the giant cake that was being made on the spot in the main hall on the ground floor of Zhenxiu Restaurant. The cake at the bottom was brought in from the pastry shop after it was baked, and formed a large rectangular structure of about 10 meters long and 3 meters wide. As for the whipped cream, fruit jam and fruit compote that were spread on top, they were made then and there with the cooperation of six pretty little misses.

Those little misses and young masters that arrived earlier surrounded the area where the giant cake was taking shape and peered at it curiously. Gasps sprouted from their lips as they saw beautiful, life-like whipped cream flowers and multicolored decorations taking form under the skilled hands of these young patissieres.

The giant cake was covered with pink and purple roses, with lush leaves that made the colors pop, as though they had only just been picked from the bushes. The cake was decorated with a lining of whipped cream, while jams and fruit compotes of different colors decorated the center of the cake.

The last touch was a little girl at the center of cake with a slender figure, big eyes, and a sharp chin wearing a red Qi-style attire—vaguely recognizable as Xiaocao through her facial features. This humanoid decoration was the masterpiece of the head manager of The Yu’s pastry shop and top patissiere, Yang Liu.

Those who had arrived slightly later were unable to witness the creation of this giant cake and deeply regretted missing out on it when they heard about it from those who did. However, they all discreetly asked the few cake makers who were standing next to the cake if such a superstar's birthday cake like this could be custom ordered. Even when they were told that it had to be booked a month in advance and that it cost a lot, no one hesitated, because most of the people who came to Xiaocao's Hairpin Banquet were either rich or of a high status, and no one was short of money for a cake. Some people even wrote down their birth date on the spot on the reservation book in the cake maker's hands. Yang Liu, who had wanted to make her mistress proud at her banquet, had inadvertently ushered in a new high of reservations for her pastry shop again.

Originally, Yu Xiaocao had planned to keep a low profile, only inviting some friends and family over, and have a meal together to celebrate her birthday just like how she did in her previous life. However, even without mentioning Lady Fang’s reluctance, the imperial palace had already sent out a decree along with the palace maidservant, Chunhong, to help Lady Fang with the preparations of the hairpin ceremony. Such imperial favor caused certain people in court to start making plans in their hearts.

Naturally, the Yu Family's relatives could not be missing from the list of banquet guests: her eldest granduncle's family, maternal grandparents, eldest uncle, second uncle, youngest uncle along with her three aunts, and her cousins and their spouses. Zhu Junyang had sent his own convoy to transport all of them over.

Then, there were the relatives of the Fang Family. Fang Zizhen was an orphan, and had no other relatives except for his master’s wife, Madame Zhao. However, there were quite a few relatives from Lady Fang’s maternal family. Although only the families of the eldest and younger legitimate uncles were invited, the party that arrived was still quite big.

In the past, Lady Fang's maternal family didn't understand her when she took a peasant girl as her adopted daughter, saying that instead of choosing her niece from her maternal family, she took a low-born, vulgar country girl to be her adopted daughter. Her sister-in-law even came to argue with her about Xia Furong, threatening to cut off all contact with her.

But in the past two years, Yu Xiaocao, with her own abilities, had not only managed to reach new heights in her career and made her businesses prosper, but she was also in great favor with the emperor, and had been given the honorary t.i.tle of a royal princess. Now, in terms of wealth and the favor of the emperor, even Fang Zizhen, Count Zhongqin, found it hard to compete with, let alone the Xia Family, which had already been in a gradual decline.

The Xia Family, which had always sucked-up to the influential and looked down on people who had lower status, would never miss this opportunity to get closer to the Yu Family—or to be exact, Yu Xiaocao—even without Lady Fang's invitation. As such, everyone who was part of the legitimate bloodline, regardless of whether they were on the invitation list or not, came to get acquainted.

The sister-in-law who had threatened to sever ties with Lady Fang was actually shameless enough to come up and suggest that Xia Furong be the master of ceremonies of Xiaocao's hairpin ceremony. Disregarding the fact that Xia Furong and Xiaocao had an unpleasant encounter in the past, the master of ceremonies was always either the best friend or sister—who did she think she was?

Apart from the relatives were the families that they were closer with. There was the Grand Princess Royal, Marquis and Marchioness Anning, Heir Anning and his wife, who also brought along their one-year-old baby, and last but not least, He Wanning. She had already reserved the role of the master of ceremonies a long time ago, and even asked Yuan Xueyan and Royal Princess Minglan to not fight with her.

Quite a few members of the Yuan Family also came, starting with Great Scholar Yuan, then the prime minister and his wife, Yuan Xueyan's brothers and sisters-in-law, plus Yuan Xueyan and her youngest brother Yuan Yunxi. Other than that, there was Royal Princess Minglan and her mother and sister-in-law. Not to mention, Left a.s.sistant Minister Yu and his wife, along with Yu Wanqing and her brother and sister-in-law were also there.

As her business partner, naturally, Li Mengru wouldn’t be absent. Madam Li came along with her eldest legitimate daughter, Li Mengqi, and her two young sons who came to join in on the fun....