Chapter 76 Admiring Chrysanthemums Banque (1/2)

t

March 29, 2019

secretdreamwishes

When Lan You Nian and Lan Mo Xian exited Lan Manor, they discovered two sets of horse-drawn carriages in front of the gates of Lan manor.One belonged to Ming wang manor, the other belonged to fourth wangye.

Just as Lan Mo Xian was about to go forward to perform salutations, he was stopped by Lan You Nian.Lan You Nian dragged her brother into Lan manor’s carriage.Under Lan You Nian’s cue, the guard drove the carriage and set out.Meanwhile, Ming wangfu’s carriage and fourth wangfu’s carriage followed in suit.

“Nian’er, that was fourth wangye and Ming wang.How can such neglect be appropriate?” Lan Mo Xian asked bewildered.

“This is the gates of Lan Manor.If brother is so friendly with the two princes in plain sight, then does brother think Lan Manor won’t become an eyesore in some people’s eyes?” Lan You Nian’s tone was indifferent as she clarified.

“Nian’er meimei is right.Mo Xian you aren’t as smart as Nian’er meimei!” Feng Xia Qi and Feng Yi Xuan used qinggong to dart into the carriage.Fortunately, the carriage Lan Manor sent out was big enough, so seating four people in one carriage didn’t feel crowded.

“Fourth wangye, Ming wang!” Lan Mo Xian saluted, “I was thoughtless!” Although now he already officially joined fourth wangye’s camp, outsiders weren’t aware of this, only believed him to be Ming wang’s subordinate.If others knew that Lan manor sided with fourth wangye, then there will be much for Lan manor to bear in the future.

“Nian’er meimei is really smart, much smarter than your brother!” Feng Xia Qi seemingly boneless reclined in the carriage as he praised Lan You Nian.

“You take up too much of the space!” Before Lan You Nian could speak, Feng Yi Xuan snapped frigidly to his own royal brother.

Feng Xia Qi eyed the area he occupied.Indeed, he occupied half of the space in the carriage.Under his brother’s sharp eyes, he obediently sat up straight, recovering his original, elegant façade.

“With you entering the palace today, the empress will probably find trouble with you.If you aren’t happy, just kill.Don’t let yourself be wronged” The tone of Feng Yi Xuan’s voice was cool like the feeling of spring, trickling over Lan You Nian’s heart.Her heart was touched by the faint concern in his voice.

“Uh, A’Xuan, you will lead Nian’er meimei astray!” Feng Xia Qi helplessly looked at his younger brother.After all, the other was a girl, was it really good for you to be so cruel and blunt?But Lan You Nian’s following words revealed to Feng Xia Qi, it’s perfect!

“I know, I will do it cleanly!” Lan You Nian replied gravely.Although in this world, the power of royalty was supreme, it was alright for her to be slightly mistreated, but if you crossed her bottom line, then if she wants to kill, why not?

“Pu——“ Feng Xia Qi and Lan Mo Xian spluttered.This one cruel tyrant was already difficult to deal with, but now came another?They always felt Lan You Nian was weak and pitiful; how can they expect that her heart was so ferocious!

“A’Xuan, you see you’ve led Nian’er meimei astray!” Feng Xia Qi hastened to remedy the situation, for fear that the little sister he liked so much will become like his younger brother, cold-blooded and murderous.He turned around and allowed a very refined smile to bloom on his face, “Nian’er meimei, you can’t believe A’Xuan’s words, girls should be gentle!”

Feng Yi Xuan sneered but didn’t say anything.His own royal brother did not see with his own eyes Nian Nian’s abilities and decisiveness.In Feng Yi Xuan’s eyes, regardless of whether Nian Nian was a weak female of the boudoir or an apathetic woman with decisive killer instincts, he Feng Yi Xuan will like all the same.

“Ming wang is right.I don’t want to accept any mistreatment!” Lan You Nian corrected Feng Xia Qi’s remark.In fact, after being in contact with Feng Xia Qi more and more, Lan You Nian noticed that although this person was cunning like a fox, if he considered you a real friend, then his high morality reaches the clouds (idiom: one’s value on friendship reaches great heights; values friendship), indeed a man worth befriending.

“~cough~cough~Of course I’m not saying to let Nian’er meimei be wronged.My meaning is if Nian’er meimei is wronged, then you can tell me.I, A’Xuan, Mo Xian and the others will definitely demand retribution for Nian’er meimei!” Feng Xia Qi said sincerely.Since he recognized this little sister, then he was serious.Of course, he won’t let his friend’s little sister be wronged, but he was worried that Lan You Nian, a yet unmarried young girl, how can she adequately cope with everything in the royal palace?

“Nian’er, no matter what, you must be careful.If it’s not necessary, don’t eat anything,” Lan Mo Xian started to babble again.In the royal palace, the most common method used was to mess around with the wine and pastries.Maybe Nian’er wasn’t aware of these dirty methods, so he needed to remind in advance.

“I know.Thank you everyone for your concern!” Lan You Nian nodded.The carriage was quickly approaching the royal palace, Feng Yi Xuan and Feng Xia Qi swiftly departed from Lan manor’s carriage and returned to their own transport.Both of them entered Lan manor’s carriage for their personal reasons: Feng Xia Qi was because he was worried for Lan You Nian while Feng Yi Xuan, on the one hand, was worried for Lan You Nian, and on the other hand he simply missed Lan You Nian.Obviously, he would be able to see her when he entered the palace, but Feng Yi Xuan couldn’t hold himself back.

The carriage stopped in front of the Meridian Gate at the outermost periphery of the palace.All family members and other people must get off their carriage and follow a eunuch to walk into the palace.Only one carriage can enter the palace directly without stopping, and that was Ming wangfu carriage.Ming wangfu, Feng Yi Xuan, having campaigned for many years, has toiled and accumulated a lot of merits, as well as having the Emperor’s favor, so it was not only decreed Feng Yi Xuan can forgo the etiquette of kneeling, Ming wangfu’s carriage can directly enter the palace.Ming wang is even allowed to carry a blade and ride on a horse to travel in the palace.This was a privilege that no other wangye ever had.

Feng Xia Qi was too lazy to walk, so he stepped down from his own carriage then ran into Feng Yi Xuan’s carriage.All the young miss of officials’ families waiting at the Meridian Gate all shyly looked down when they saw Feng Xia Qi as they giggled behind their handkerchief.Only Lan You Nian when seeing that sinful face remained unmoved.

Feng Yi Xuan, from the gap in the curtain of the carriage, saw Nian Nian standing there waiting.His heart felt unwell.He very much wanted to accompany her, or let Nian Nian sit on his own carriage and publicly enter the palace.But thinking of the fact that Nian Nian currently did not have any feelings for him, he felt depressed.Feng Yi Xuan started to doubt his own attractiveness.

Lan Mo Xian and Lan You Nian stood at the Meridian Gate with the children of the other officials’ families in waiting.After a while, several eunuchs came out to lead the way to the Empress’s Kunning Palace (Palace of Earthly Tranquility) which is today’s location for the chrysanthemum banquet.

Kunning Palace was located in the center of the royal palace, the one nearest to the Emperor’s palace of rest (otherwise known as the Hall of Heavenly Purity), but it still took some time to walk the distance.The cornice of Kunning Palace was carved with dragons and phoenixes, golden-scaled, golden armor, lively and vivid like they want to fly away.Golden glazed tiles shone in the sun with blinding brilliance.Under the clear blue skies, that golden glazed tiles with multiple-level eaves were extraordinarily magnificent.

Following everyone into Kunning Palace, under the eunuch’s guidance, everyone walked into Kunning Palace’s garden.Sure enough, the garden was full of blooming chrysanthemums, each one was unique, of such an assorted variety that it was dizzying.There were some that had petals that were short at the top and long at the ends like the many, small outstretched hands of the “Thousand-Hand Guanyin”.Some were like crabs displaying its claws of the “Crab chrysanthemum,” and others were like mini balls of “Purple Silk Balls”…. Each flower had its own characteristics.Some were beautiful and elegant; others were bright and eye-catching.Some pranced and stood proudly displayed… The chrysanthemums were in full bloom, blazing with colors of all different kinds…Flowers red as fire, white like snow, pink like the dawn, big ones were like round silk balls, the small ones were like delicate flower lanterns.A whole cluster of chrysanthemums was currently in full bloom.Who can imagine that in this summer season chrysanthemums were actually in bloom?After all, chrysanthemums only bloomed in the autumn.This showed how rare these varieties were.