Chapter 33 - State Banquet (1/2)
Chapter 33: State Banquet
Editor: Asada
The palace workers shuttled between the tables as they were setting up the table. The people of Chen Dynasty were used to sitting cross legged or to kneel, especially among the upper classes and nobility, which symbolized a kind of etiquette.
However, it was quite common for folk tables and chairs to be matched. The common people are busy living and eating. They are busy working. They are not so poor and fastidious. They eat on stools.
This cross legged kneeling etiquette was also used in the state banquet. The floor was covered with a thick woolen blanket, and the long tables were shared by three people, arranged one by one according to their ranks.
Before the emperor arrived, the palace workers placed the objects and served the dishes under the guidance of the chief eunuch.
The so-called objects refer to the flowers’ arrangements and decorations. The Chen Dynasty’s national flower was a kind of blue flower, which blooms brightly and compellingly. The flowers were stacked one after another, with the golden core in the middle. It was decorated with a little bright yellow colour, which looked very beautiful. Compared with the richness of peony, it was not inferior, but it added some noble and cool temperament, which was loved by people.
This flower was called blue tail, also known as the imperial flower. It could be seen that the people of the Chen Dynasty loved and admired it. A perfect vase was placed on each table. A blue tail was inserted in the vase alone, which was elegant and beautiful.
The front dish was some fruit desserts. All the fruits were unique tributes in the palace. They were usually not available outside. Officials of four or more grades in the whole court had brought their families into the palace. Only legitimate children could follow their father into the palace. There was no limit to the number of people brought though.
This was a rare chance to see the world. Ministers had brought all their wives and children, even three or five-year-old baby girls.
The little dumpling was led by the emperor. She was too short, and her father was too tall. She stretched her little hand hard. Wei Jue bent down a little and Mr. Xiao Yuzi stopped him, “Your Majesty, this is a state banquet, held only once a year. Let the little princess walk by herself. “
He didn’t say anything unreasonable, after all, the emperor could take the people to the new era of prosperity in this Dynasty, holding onto and sitting on the Dragon throne. Why would he care about these trivial manners?
But the emperor was not afraid of anything. After all, the princess was a girl. If she had a good reputation in the future and could find an excellent son-in-law for him when she grows up, that would be wonderful. But, Mr. Xiao Yuzi was really heartbroken just thinking about it.
“Ministers will all look up to you. After all, you are the Lord of the world(1). No one can care about you. But if the princess has a good reputation in the court, it would be better for her when she grows up in the future.”
What Mr.Xiao Yuzi actually meant by this was that this was the first time that the little princess was appearing on a formal occasion. It was not only the ministers of the imperial court, but also some retired senior ministers and patriarchal elders. It was better to pay attention to such details.
Wei Jue slowed down and let the little dumpling walk on her short legs. Fortunately, she didn’t have to walk a lot. She had come here in the imperial chariot before and had to take a few steps.
The eunuchs high pitched voice sang as they entered: “The Emperor has arrived, Princess Chaoyang has arrived!”
“Long live the emperor, long live the princess!” After the ministers knelt down to salute. The emperor said in a low voice, “Please get up.”
Then the emperor sat on the Dragon throne.
As for the three-year-old princess that the emperor had brought back from outside the palace, the emperor was still very fond of her. She was carried into the court by the Emperor every day. This news has already spread all over Chang’an City.
All the civil and military officials in the court had only seen the back of the princess’s head, but not the front of her face. After all, every time the emperor held her, the little princess was sleeping. Everyone had been curious for a long time, not to mention the family members who couldn’t believe it after hearing the rumors.
Everyone looked up quietly and saw clearly.
The emperor led the little princess with a slow pace. The little princess was wearing a bright yellow palace Dress and it was the same color as the Dragon Robe of the emperor. As the emperor led the little princess, everyone was looking at them shocked. They could see that the emperor’s value and love for the princess seemed far more than what they heard in the rumors.
Just look at the little princess. She was raised to be chubby and fair. She was very cute.
The child was still small but she learned from the emperor’s cold expression and mimicked it with her small chubby face. But, she was still very young in the end, her big clear eyes couldn’t bear her curiosity and her eyes were looking around at everyone. Her face was red with excitement and she seemed to be both nervous and excited at the same time.
From their point of view, the princess had a lively and naive character, far from the cruel image of the emperor, but they really looked like father and daughter wearing clothes of the same color.
As she was waiting for a seat, the little dumpling took it for granted to sit on the Dragon chair under the emperor’s buttock, and shared a chair with the emperor. Although the Dragon chair was wide, it was also possible to sit with two more dumplings like her, but it was also a surprise to the public.
It was a happy day in the end. No one was looking for anything to pick on, not to mention to lose the emperor’s face. The emperor was pretending as if this was nothing special after all.
The so-called state banquet was a feast for both the monarch and the ministers. It was not like the longevity Festival in which they had to offer gifts. There was no such rule here.
The eunuch Li’er announced that the auspicious time had come, the state banquet had begun. The pamphlets had been spread out for a long time regarding the great events that had happened in the past year and what achievements the emperor had made, then they listened to all the officials one by one.
After reading the pamphlets and praying that the next year’s state banquet will be better. Year after year, the banquet would start like this after a long opening speech.
The little dumpling was a three-years-old child. After listening to the reading of the passage for half an hour, she couldn’t sit still, but in order not to lose face, she stifled but sat still. Her little chubby face was taut, and her little claws secretly grasped the cuff of her father’s robe and held it back and forth.
When the ceremony announced that the banquet had started and was ready to eat, the little dumpling breathed a long sigh of relief and spit out her tongue. Finally, she was able to eat. Yinyin was starving!
When she was hungry, the little dumpling expected that her father would be hungry too. She could not wait to grab the nearest plate of cakes, pinch two of them, put one in his mouth, and handed the other to Wei Jue. Then she said in a tearful voice, “Father, you can also eat it.”
Some of the ministers noticed this scene and secretly thought that the emperor was the one who was the most fortunate, this was akin to an addiction. Even if the three-year-old was really naive, she was so spoiled by the emperor that she didn’t know the immensity of the earth. How dare she feed the emperor? They were afraid that the emperor would fume in anger.
Who didn’t know the emperor was extremely obsessed with cleanliness, but to everybody’s surprise he took the cake with his hand and ate it without any expression of disgust.
That was a cake! It’s sweet and greasy, and somebody’s paws had already touched it, yet the emperor ate it?!
A minister opened his eyes wide and looked back. He couldn’t believe what he had seen and he asked the person beside him by poking him with his elbows, “Did you just see that! The emperor ate the cake fed by the little princess?”
The person next to him was also in a trance. “It seems that I have seen that too…”
“…”
It was not the only matter that that dazzled the public. The state banquet made the little princess a big star, which left a deep impression on the ministers and officials.