Vol 2 Chapter 134 (1/2)
Chapter 134: Evening Feast
The festivities were everywhere three days later The giant red lanterns were hung up high as valued guests passed underneath theuests Northern Qi and Dongyi They greeted each other with sh the tunnel towards the sole the expressions on all three sides, it was as if the war and its horrific violence never occurred at all
The feast was set just outside the palace, in the Hall of Prayer
The palace girls who came to prepare the plates and liquor were all very beautiful Fan Xian, watched theirls, noticing that the young and handso thelances at him from time to time
Crowds of guests gathered, yet it was silent in the hall On Qing’s side were ures and some nobles Fan Xian had never seen before Only Director Chen and the pri sat the envoys of Northern Qi and Dongyi City
Despite his low rank, Fan Xian was still a deputy and was her-ranked officials much older than him Naturally, his place next to him said with a smile, ”This feast involves many formalities, but His Majesty had always been amiable No need to be so nervous”
The old man who just spoke was the functionary of the Board of Rites, Zhang Zigan Because Fan Xian made an enemy out of the Director of the Board of Rites, he was secretly suspicious But after detecting no malice fro corandeur Should I step out of turn, please provide uidance”
Zhang Zigan stroked his beard, saying, ”It has been said you otiations For that alone, no one in the Iainst you, but you should be wary of those people”
The two looked over and saw Chang Ninghou of Northern Qi waiting lazily; the first table was still vacant—it should have reserved for Zhuang Mohan And sitting at the head of Dongyi’s table was a sword on his waist Fan Xian frowned, ”How come he could come to the palace with a sword?”
”He is an exception; His Majesty personally peru School, the sword cannot part fro to a descendant of his own family
”So he’s the head Sigu disciple Yun Zhilan?” Fan Xian inhaled cold air and slightly squinted his eyes as he felt a hint of killing intent fro swordsman
In recent days, Qing had neglected Dongyi’s envoy on purpose It appeared that this ninth-ranked swords palace, his entire being was cold as ice
Fan Xian was staring at Yun Zhilan’s blade-like eyebrows Coincidentally, at that moment, Yun Zhilan stared back
Their gazesthe atmosphere
A shorthis throat Even Yun Zhilan’s gaze was full of ”swords”
For the moment, everyone in the hall had their eyes on the two They all knew that Fan Xian killed two feyi City sent an envoy was to take care of the matter But most people believed that this sword master Yun Zhilan wouldn’t hesitate to cut Fan Xian down
It was fortunate for Fan Xian that the prince in the East Palace had ardless of factions, dared gloat at Fan Xian over it With a foreign ene stared viciously at Yun Zhilan The atmosphere in the hall turned tense immediately
Fan Xian ithout any expressions He
secretly adjusted his zhenqi, readying himself for any moment
At that moment, the sound of instru the solemn palace music, a eunuch yelled out, ”His Majesty has arrived” The one holding , His Majesty the eht son throne
”We wish Your Majesty a very long life”
The Qing subjects all knelt dohile members of the envoys bowed The tense atmosphere had been replaced by somberness
The eh, the empress next to him The prince too had his own seat two steps below his parents For an occasion like this, the other princes wouldn’t be here The emperor scanned his subjects and said, ”You may rise”
They did, and the feast officially began The envoy fro with some recitals of the friendshi+p between the two nations Dongyi’s Yun Zhilan came up next and expressionlessly said a feords
The empress syi is quite haughty” This exchange couldn’t not be heard by anyone else, so it was rather direct
”He is the head disciple of Sigu Sword If he couldn’t be haughty, he probably wouldn’t have to courage to swing his sword either, especially not here”
The palace girls served up food, and the various officials began to eat None dared to say anything His Majesty hadn’t spoken yet, so all were quiet
Fan Xian uncomfortably lowered his head and inconspicuously observed the people sitting across froo was now occupied by an oldon his face, his eyes were clear, and his wrinkles see countless wisdom The old man wore a cloud-like white robe which hid his short stature Without question, thatMohan
Fan Xian hadn’t seen him take a seat ”So,” he reasoned, ”he must have arrived with the emperor If that was case, then the ru Mohan, who stayed in the palace the entire time”
While Fan Xian secretly observed the oldhim The e man is Fan Xian, the future son-in-law”
His Majesty smiled, ”He certainly is handsome, with a quite a reputation in poetry, not to s complimented his talents I ao out of his way to establish good relations”
The empress’s smile was a bit forced, ”Perhaps the prince understood the iood relations? Besides, Fan Xian is soon to be the prime minister’s son-in-law”
”Oh, good relations?” His Majesty didn’t quite smile, nor did he look at the e below, ”Looks like he finally gets it now”
While there was just a hint of dissatisfaction, the eood ave such a direct evaluation of the prince She said happily, ”As he grows up, he’ll cos”
The e
Only a short while after thenonstop Whether it was due to his nervousness or so else, no one knew The alcohol served was more or less the sa and tasted sweet and sour Drinking it, Fan Xian didn’t feel like it was too much But in the eyes of the various officials present, Fan Xian was drinking like a wild anih and warned him, ”Sir Fan, you mustn’t drink anymore Should you misbehave in front of His Majesty, it would be a major crime”
Hearing he was being called ”Sir Fan”, Fan Xian realize he was being re River but the most solemn Imperial palace, and he wasn’t here to drink but to be a civil servant Fan Xian s all his drunkenness onto his face Slight confusion clouded over his eyes He lowered his voice and said, ”I’ to lie to you, sir, I’m actually this nervous So it would be better for me to drink some now in order to relax”
Seeing Fan Xian’s drunken state, Zhang Zigan could only smile uneasily, ”The prime minister clai you under my care If you really drink yourself into a mess, how am I supposed to explain?”
In the past few days, the envoy frolu Te drunk, they looked at each other and decided to take revenge Those of the envoy all knew the reason behind Honglu Te While they didn’t know exactly what it was he plotted, they hated the way Fan Xian stayed silent and only occasionally showed a plotting expression on his handsome face
Now that the negotiations were over, regret would accohou s up high, ”Your Majesty, both sides had worked hard over the negotiations May I raise a toast to the officials of Honglu Ten of friendshi+p?”
While he spoke, the envoy fro But they only observed and did not chose to get involved
Perhaps it was due to theh, neither the emperor nor the empress noticed Fan Xian and therefore was unaware of Northern Qi’s scheave the permission Even the prince added in, ”Eneh, still enemies at a feast”
The prince washimself; he didn’t kno the situation would develop The various officials of Honglu Temple, on the other hand, became worried They had already accepted Fan Xian as one of their own, they did not want Northern Qi to intentionally get hi far away, they had no way of helping
With a smile, Fan Xian drank with the various officials of Northern Qi Inside, he felt uneasy Recently, the eldest princess beganthe price of paper in order to lower the price on books Such a si Sizhe and the shopkeeper quite dispirited But Fan Xian knew the actual scheme was yet to come And what he was about to do today requires the help of alcohol
It was difficult to not get drunk, but it was even more difficult to pretend to be drunk This was the first strong feeling since the feast began Northern Qi’s side was about done Six of the eight er cared for his position and passed out still hanging onto Fan Xian’s arm
Up to now, His Majesty had been chatting with the e Mohan He s time since the palace was this lively”
Zhuang Mohan had been silent, only giving out the occasional reply when asked questions He appeared to have just noticed Fan Xian as holding up Northern Qi’s Chang Ninghou Zhuang Mohan asked, ”That young sir over there, would that be Mister Fan?”
Zhuang Mohan could hardly believe his eyes This young genius who became famous for a mere three poems turned out to be a drunkard
His Majesty also seeht He raised his voice and yelled out, ”Fan Xian”
Everyone in the palace had been paying attention to ent on around the dragon throne in case so happened When His Majesty spoke, the entire palace went quiet, except for Fan Xian, still yelling out ”Victory! Victory!”