85 The Banque (1/2)
The much-awaited invitations to the imperial banquet that officially kicks off the start of the games have been sent out without fanfare. The invite was a must-have for just about anybody who wanted to make a little splash during The Battle of Talents, one of the most awaited official events in the kingdom.
The banquet gathered together all the beautiful people that really mattered, and which include artists, athletes, government officials, ministers, the fabulously rich people of the land, and of course, royalty. Without that invite, the door to meeting these fabulous and beautiful people was barred forever.
In previous meets, the invite had been given to a select few, only top athletes in each competing teams, their coaches/teachers, and members of families if they were in the top rank, that is.In the past, matchmaking parents have been known to smuggle in a son or daughter hoping for lightning to strike and the heavens to open up. No one had been successful, that is, until the eldest Wu daughter came, was seen, and easily snagged a rich duke for a husband.
That story was already legendary according to the books on courtship and marriage. And it became even more phenomenal, the luck of the Wus, when the second Wu sister did better than her elder and married a wealthy prince from another kingdom. Thankfully, the third sister met and fell in love and eventually married a very rich merchant before she even set foot in the capital and disrupted the banquet. Otherwise...the matchmaking mamas shuddered at the implication. But of course, they remembered the fourth Wu sister, who will be present in the banquet, and the shudder became a quake of trepidation.
This year's banquet promises to be different from previous ones. For one, many protocols were broken, nearly all of them at the request of Mu Xing, who was now the school principal. His appointment to the post was made possible after the emperor downgraded the board's power and basically made them an advisory council rather than co-equal partners of the school. And the first thing Mu Xing did as principal was loosen up the guest list and send out invitations to all participants instead of only the select few.
Invites were also given to previous winners in previous contests, which the board had previously blocked, insisting that this year's competition should be low-key to reflect the mood in the capital. No chance of that after a bloody civil war, Mu Xing scoffed.
Although the school was the games' chief organizer, the imperial banquet, however, was strictly the palace's imperial pervue.The banquet serves at the emperor's pleasure. He can cancel it, rescind an invitation, even refuse to let someone in at the door. This year's banquet, however, also broke with tradition when the palace announced that the banquet was going to be hosted by the empress rather than the emperor. The venue also came as a surprise announcement: it was going to be held in her official residence rather than the palace as had been the previous practice.
The decision to hold the banquet in the love nest was not An Ning's idea. Neither was the banquet. She had officially moved to the residence after matters during the aftermath of the failed rebellion were cleared up. The monies were paid out, the lands apportioned so she had thought it was time for her to take a step back and let Gu Sheng take the limelight after the admirable leadership he showed during the crisis. She had told Gu Sheng this, expecting him to agree.
Gu Sheng didn't say anything; he merely smiled but didn't stop her either. A few days later, he was in her living room eating lunch. Then eating breakfast with her in the mornings, then napping in the big bedroom in the back courtyard, then staying late to discuss official business with her, then staying the night because it was too late to go back to the palace, which was just a block away.
The habit became so ordinarily regular the servants started moving some of his things in the west courtyard, which was opposite hers. Then Yi Hai and some of the palace guards followed, and Kang Jun, who tidied and cleaned up the study for the emperor's use. Kang Jun also took over the back bedroom after asking An Ning's permission.
An Ning just looked on, never saying anything about the intrusion. What was the point of saying anything anyway? If she moved back to the palace or moved to another house outside the capital, the same thing would happen. Better stay put and not disturb the apple cart. It seemed Gu Sheng was still unwilling to cut the apron strings and take the mantle of the monarchy just yet.
The banquet was arranged in the large pavilion which was the centerpiece of the love nest's famous garden. This garden was not originally part of the blue print approved by the emperor's favorite concubine but was later added at the request of the empress when she took over the renovation. It was a magnificent creation, creatively fusing together the harmony of rocks, ponds, trees, flowers, and structures.
The guests started arriving around six that evening. Since the house was very close to the school, most of the guests practically presented themselves at the gates at the same time after walking the short distance away. Servants then directed them to the pavilion, which was ablaze with light from a hundred lanterns.
There was a sort of magical feel to it, making everyone feel as if they were entering dreamland. Not only the pavilion but the garden was bathed in the soft light emitting from the lanterns. The smell of flowers engulfed the night with their sweet scent, the walkways twist and turn as small flashing lights illuminated their path. Fascinated, they examined the lights and realized they came from hundreds of thousands of glow worms caught in little nets. The glow worms wiggled happily about, each wiggle causing the lights from their bellies to shine.
The pavilion stood like a bright wondrous city in the middle of the lake. The four bridges linking it to shore also shone, the lights from the glow worms reflecting on the still water like a melody from a forgotten song. It was beautiful and magical. It made one breathless and made one feel wondrous joy.
Inside the pavilion greeting guests were the emperor and empress. An Ning herself looked like the personification of a dream. She seemed to capture the magic of the moment and return it tenfold as an image of her reflection. She was dream-like and unconventional, fierce and powerful.
All women in that gathering came to represent themselves by dressing in their very best. But they came dressed in the same drab robes, wearing the same hairstyle, the same trinkets, the same jewelry on their bodies. They were beautiful but lacked originality, sensuous but vulgar with it, smart but lacked the verb to follow through.
An Ning on the other hand was dressed in a deep emerald green gown that followed the gentle contours of her long and slender body. The dress was cut half-way back, so that it bared her smooth, white skin and the slenderness of her arms. Her long hair was twisted on top of her head and fastened by what looked like to be a pair of lavender chopsticks. She was not wearing any makeup except a touch of pink on her cheeks and lavender tint on her lips. On her feet were lavender shoes the same exact color as the chopsticks on her hair. She was not wearing any jewelry, except for the thin strand of silver around her neck and an ugly-looking ring on her left finger.
An Ning was dressed so simply and yet unconventionally she practically smashed years of sartorial convention that night. The ladies surreptitiously studied every detail of her dress and that surprising pair of chopsticks in her hair. In each bosom was born a desire, to find a seamstress and have the imperial dress immediately stitched and copied.