In an instant, everyone in the hall rose to their feet, straightened their robes and crowns, bowed deeply with lowered heads, and called out in unison, “We respectfully welcome the Emperor, the Empress Dowager, and the Empress!”
The synchronized chorus echoed through the bright and grand hall, its lingering notes swirling around the beams.
Yun Ran also followed Zheng Shi, bowing properly and observing the etiquette.
She had practiced this ceremony at home no less than a hundred times.
At the time, she thought it was simple, but now, standing in such a solemn and majestic setting, her heart couldn’t help but leap in her chest, and even her breathing stilled without her realizing it.
After all, the one about to enter was the Son of Heaven, the most noble man in the world!
And there were the Empress Dowager and the Empress, the two most honored women on earth!
Yun Ran’s heart surged with excitement, and in the tranquil hall, a steady procession of footsteps rang out.
Although Yun Ran dearly wanted to look up and see what the legendary Empress Dowager and imperial consorts looked like, she managed to restrain herself.
She obediently kept her gaze lowered, listening as those footsteps drew nearer, then gradually faded away.
After a short while, a warm yet dignified male voice sounded from the high platform above: “All my beloved subjects, you may rise.”
Everyone bowed once more in perfect unison to express their gratitude. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”
“Ranran.”
Zheng Shi’s gentle voice sounded at her ear. Yun Ran turned her face and saw her mother grasping her wrist. “You may take your seat now.”
Seeing that the people around her were all sitting down, Yun Ran hurriedly arranged her complicated skirts and sat down as well, taking the opportunity to sneak a glance upward.
She saw three distinguished nobles in splendid attire seated on the brilliantly lit high platform, arranged in the shape of the character for “mountain.”
The one seated on the central throne was undoubtedly the Emperor, wearing a jade crown, a purple robe embroidered with dragons, and a gold-and-silver inlaid belt.
He looked to be about twenty-seven or twenty-eight, young and with a dignified, handsome face— completely different from the “old Emperor” Yun Ran had imagined.
Next, she looked at the dignified woman to the Emperor’s right, dressed in a pine-green phoenix robe with swastika and double happiness patterns, jade earrings, and her hair in a stately high bun.
Though her fair face showed some traces of age and her skin was slightly loose, she was still a beauty.
Yun Ran had always thought her own mother had aged well, but now, seeing Empress Dowager Zhao, if not for the even younger and more brightly dressed woman beside the Emperor, she might have mistaken her.
As for the young woman in a vivid red peony-patterned robe on the left, that was the current Empress, Zheng Yuyan.
At first sight of the Empress, Yun Ran felt a sense of kinship and couldn’t help but whisper to Zheng Shi, “The Empress really does look a bit like you, Mother— both have oval faces and high noses.”
Zheng Shi smiled at this. “All the Zheng family have noses like your grandfather’s. Look, if you don’t believe me, look at your eldest and second uncles up ahead.”
Tonight, at the palace banquet, the Guogong Mansion, as the Empress’s natal family, naturally had people in attendance.
Yun Ran looked ahead and indeed saw her eldest and second uncles sitting side by side— one plump, one thin—both with high, straight noses, their tips slightly hooked, giving them a heroic, sharp look.
But even with the same noses, Yun Ran still thought her mother and the Empress wore them best.
Perhaps she had stared too long, for suddenly Empress Zheng looked over in her direction.
Yun Ran was startled. Before she could react, Empress Zheng gave her a gentle smile.
That friendly gesture made Yun Ran relax. She blinked, then returned a radiant smile.
This time, it was Empress Zheng’s turn to be surprised. But soon, she bent down and whispered a few words to the little prince beside her.
The three-year-old prince opened his big eyes and also glanced Yun Ran’s way.
“Mother, is that the Crown Prince?”
Yun Ran sighed, “He’s so beautiful, almost like a little girl.”
Zheng Shi said, “The prince’s looks are more like those of the imperial family. The Simashi have ruled for three hundred years— not many great rulers, but every generation produces beauties.”
Hearing this, Yun Ran couldn’t help but glance at the Emperor’s face again, frowning slightly. “His Majesty is indeed quite handsome, but…”
Her voice grew softer. “He’s not quite what I’d call a beauty.”
Zheng Shi chuckled at this. “His Majesty’s looks are only average for the royal family. Among the younger generation of the Simashi, the most outstanding in appearance would be…”
She stopped herself in time.
Yun Ran was left hanging. “Who is it, Mother? Don’t keep me guessing!”
Zheng Shi pressed her lips together, not answering, but glanced at the most prominent empty seat just below the main throne.
Yun Ran was stunned, then quickly realized whose seat that was.
“Jing Prince?” Yun Ran was greatly surprised.
Perhaps influenced by rumors and her sisters-in-law, Yun Ran had always imagined the Jing Prince as a hideous monster, holding a snake in one hand and a rat in the other, shrouded in miasma, and cackling eerily from time to time.
But now her mother said he was the most beautiful person in the royal family.
A beauty… who holds a snake in one hand and a rat in the other?
Yun Ran: “…”
It was truly hard to imagine.
She shook her head, banishing those strange mental images, and asked Zheng Shi, “Why didn’t the Jing Prince come tonight?”
Zheng Shi was not surprised. “The Jing Prince prefers quiet. He rarely attends palace banquets, no matter how big or small.”
Yun Ran said, “But it’s the Mid-Autumn Festival, and both the Empress Dowager and His Majesty are here. Doesn’t he feel lonely, staying alone at the Jing Wang Residence?”
Zheng Shi couldn’t understand it either.
But how many normal people in this world can understand someone as strange as the Jing Prince?
“Anyway, it’s none of our business.”
Afraid her daughter would keep asking, Zheng Shi quickly picked up an Osmanthus Sweet Rice Ball and put it in Yun Ran’s bowl. “Hurry and try this. It’s an imperial dish you can only get in the palace, nowhere else.”
Sure enough, the little dessert was as soft and sticky as a snowball, dusted with a tempting layer of golden osmanthus honey, and instantly caught Yun Ran’s attention.
She immediately pushed thoughts of the Jing Prince aside, picked up her ivory chopsticks, and dug in to the table full of delicious, aromatic, and beautiful dishes.
“This is delicious! The roast lamb leg is so fragrant— crispy outside, tender inside, crunchy but not burnt!”
“…And these honey-glazed ribs are so good, sweet and sour, fatty but not greasy.”
“Ah, this wine is wonderful too!”
Yun Ran ate the delicacies and sipped the freshly brewed Osmanthus Rice Wine, as happy as a mouse that had fallen into a rice jar.
Seeing her daughter eat so happily, Zheng Shi’s eyes were full of smiles.
Though others might whisper about her daughter’s lack of restraint at the table, well… let them say what they want.
Her daughter was thin and still growing, and since their family would be marrying in a son-in-law anyway, there was no need to care about others’ opinions—
Eat, eat as much as you want!
But with all the eating and drinking, a problem soon arose.
Halfway through the banquet, Yun Ran felt her stomach uncomfortably full and needed to relieve herself.
She held it in for a while, but finally couldn’t bear it. Blushing, she quietly whispered to Zheng Shi, “Mother, I need… to answer nature’s call.”
Zheng Shi was deep in conversation with a noblewoman at the next table. Hearing this, she gave a few instructions to the palace maid behind her, then turned to Yun Ran. “Go with this young lady.”
Yun Ran saw the palace maid was gentle and polite, so she nodded, propped herself up on the table, and stood. “Thank you, sister.”
“Young lady, you are too polite. Please follow me.”
As she followed the palace maid out, Yun Ran looked down at her own round, bulging stomach and secretly felt relieved that it was autumn and her skirts were thick.
If it were summer and her clothes were thin, people might think she was five months pregnant.
Compared to the bright and lively singing and dancing inside the hall, the long corridor outside was much quieter.
The palace lanterns hanging along the corridor cast dim shadows, creating a different, ethereal beauty.
After relieving herself in the official restroom, Yun Ran felt completely at ease.
She looked at the rockeries, pavilions, and winding corridors behind the Chanyuan Hall, and wasn’t in a hurry to return—
She was already full, and there was nothing to do but sit and be scrutinized.
Rather than sitting stiffly and letting others judge her, she might as well take a stroll outside.
“Sister, could you tell me which way is the inner palace? And which way leads to the outer court?”
Yun Ran strolled slowly to aid her digestion, chatting with the palace maid out of curiosity. “Is this hall we’re in used just for banquets?”
The palace maid noticed that this young lady from the Guogong Mansion was especially chatty.
Unlike the usual noble ladies, she spoke as if she were chatting with her own sisters, without any airs at all.
So the palace maid was happy to chat more with her.
The two of them talked off and on, even stopping by the flowerbeds along the corridor to admire the moon for a while.
Just as Yun Ran felt it was time to head back, a night breeze carrying the sweet scent of osmanthus suddenly swept over.
Carried on the wind was a faint, sorrowful sound of a flute.
Yun Ran’s sensitive ears twitched. “Sister Qiulian, did you hear that? It sounds like someone is playing the flute.”
The palace maid called Autumn Lotus frowned and nodded. “I hear it. But who would be playing the flute outside Chanyuan Hall at this hour?”
Yun Ran said, “Let’s go take a look.”
Autumn Lotus hesitated, but by the time she realized, the young lady in red had already darted off like a lively little Jinli, following the sound under the moonlight.
“Young lady, slow down, slow down…”
“Shh.”
Yun Ran turned back and made a hushing gesture, not wanting to disturb the musician.
Autumn Lotus fell silent too, but stayed close behind Yun Ran, not leaving her side.
They rounded a long corridor and passed two osmanthus trees. The sound of the flute grew clearer, but Yun Ran stopped in her tracks—
There was no path ahead.
Beyond the osmanthus trees was a large, uneven rockery, and the entrance wasn’t on her side.
With the darkness all around, she didn’t dare wander into any of the other openings.
But the haunting flute music was right above her.
She took two steps back and looked up, and saw atop the jagged rocks a hexagonal pavilion with a single lantern burning inside.
Beneath the lantern, a figure sat slightly to one side.
From Yun Ran’s angle, the light was dim and flickering.
All she could make out was a man with broad shoulders and a narrow waist, but nothing else was clear.
Yun Ran stood there listening for a while, then suddenly said, “He’s not playing a flute, but a Qiang Flute, isn’t he?”
Autumn Lotus said, “Qiang Flute?”
Yun Ran nodded. “A Qiang Flute is an instrument from the western regions. At first it sounds like a regular flute, but if you listen closely, its tone is much more desolate.”
Listening to the mournful sound of the Qiang Flute, Yun Ran’s nose tingled and she sighed softly. “I wonder who he is, and what he’s going through. On such a festive night, to sit alone and play such a sorrowful tune… It really tugs at the heartstrings.”
Autumn Lotus was only a low-ranking palace maid and didn’t know who the man was, but seeing him alone and playing so beautifully, she guessed, “Could he be a musician from the Jiaofangsi?”
At today’s palace banquet, there were bound to be musicians and dancers from the Jiaofangsi performing.
“Maybe.”
Yun Ran replied, then fell silent, simply standing under the osmanthus tree dusted with gold, quietly listening to the entire piece.
When the music ended, she felt both satisfied and a little inexplicably lost.
She looked up to see the full moon high in the sky, its clear light shining down, but the bright moonlight could not reach the pavilion, nor the man within it.
He still sat quietly beneath the lone lantern, holding the Qiang Flute, solitary and cold as a wandering soul.
Taking a deep breath, Yun Ran suddenly clenched her sleeve, rose up on tiptoe, and called toward the pavilion, “You there… You there, brother, are you all right?”