Surprise Banquet
The flower-viewing banquet at Prince Jing's Mansion was more like a silent execution ground than a banquet.
The sedan stopped at the side gate of Prince Jing's mansion. Xu Xianyue, holding Wancui's hand, stepped out. Looking up, she saw a vermilion gate, high walls, and rows of armored soldiers. The austere atmosphere was overwhelming, almost suffocating. The air lacked the scent of flowers, but instead was filled with a faint, bitter medicinal odor, mingled with a chilling, rusty air.
The officials' families, no matter how flamboyant they usually were, now held their breath, their faces adorned with just the right amount of worry and respect, yet their eyes couldn't hide the deep fear and calculation. Praying for the God of War? Just a pretext to smooth things over. Everyone knew the woman pushed here today was most likely a family outcast, a sacrifice to test the mad king's attitude.
Wang took Xu Xianyun with her, deliberately walking a few quick steps to distance herself from Xu Xianyue, as if any contact with her would bring bad luck. Xu Xianyun turned around and gave her a look that was a mixture of jealousy and gloating.
Xu Xianyue turned a blind eye. She wore a simple, moon-white skirt and a single, delicate, jade-colored orchid velvet flower pinned in her hair. Beyond that, she wore no other adornment. Amidst the dazzling array of flowers and jewels, she was as inconspicuous as a drop of ink dropped into a lake, silent and inconspicuous.
She was led to the women's area in a secluded corner of the garden, near a desolate bamboo forest. The central seat was vacant; it belonged to today's protagonist, Prince Jing Xie Wuqi. No one dared approach that area.
The atmosphere at the banquet was stagnant and eerie. The music was feeble, the conversations whispered like mosquitoes. The ladies of the various families seemed to be admiring the flowers, but their eyes kept glancing in the direction of the host, both anticipating and dreading the arrival of the man.
Xu Xianyue sat alone in a corner, her eyes cast down at the snacks laid out on the stone table before her, motionless. Her fingertips unconsciously twirled in her sleeves, mimicking the curves of filigree. Only by immersing herself in the world of craftsmanship could she maintain absolute calm in this suffocating environment.
"Oh, who was it? It turns out to be the younger sister of the Xu family." A slightly sharp voice sounded.
Xu Xianyue looked up and saw several elegantly dressed young women gathering around them. Leading them was Li Qianqian, the daughter of the Minister of Personnel, who had always been close to Xu Xianyun. Their gazes were like knives, raking up and down Xu Xianyue's plain clothes and the distinctive velvet flower in her hair.
"Sister Xu's outfit is quite... unique." Li Qianqian chuckled softly, her eyes full of sarcasm. "Could it be that the Xu family is so poor now that they can't even afford a decent headpiece? Or is it that Sister Xu is too self-conscious of her low status to compete with us?"
Several girls nearby joined in the laughter.
Xu Xianyue's expression remained unchanged as she spoke calmly, "Sister Li, you're joking. Today we're praying for the prince, so it's good enough if the intention is there. Being too ostentatious would be a disgrace."
Her voice was quiet, but it reached the ears of several people clearly, causing their smiles to freeze. Her words were veiled insinuation that they were ostentatious in their attire and had ulterior motives.
Li Qianqian's face darkened and she was about to explode when suddenly the entire garden became quiet.
An invisible, scalp-numbing sense of oppression swept over like a tide.
All sounds stopped abruptly.
Xu Xianyue seemed to have sensed something and looked up.
At the end of the corridor, a dark figure slowly emerged. He was tall and straight, with broad shoulders, but his gait carried an indescribable sluggishness, as if suppressed by immense pain. He wore no princely formal attire, only a dark casual attire embroidered with cloud patterns. His dark hair was held back with a simple jade hairpin. His face was unnaturally pale, but his thin lips were a deep red.
Prince Jing, Xie Wuqi.
He walked towards them step by step, his pace was not fast, but it seemed as if he was stepping on everyone's heart. Wherever he passed, the crowds were like water split by a sharp blade, all lowering their heads to avoid him, not daring to look directly at him.
His features were deep and handsome, but his phoenix eyes were bottomless, swirling with a kind of mad anger and dead silence. The corners of his eyes were tinged with a sickly red. The strong smell of medicine mixed with the smell of blood became more distinct as he approached.
He walked to the main seat but did not sit down immediately. His eyes were like a cold probe, slowly sweeping over the silent crowd below.
The moment his gaze swept over her, Xu Xianyue calmly lowered her eyelids, focusing on the subtle lines on her cuffs. She could feel that gaze lingering in her direction for a very brief moment, so fast that it seemed like an illusion.
"Let's get started."
Xie Wuqi spoke, his voice low and hoarse, with a kind of weakness that comes from a long-term illness, but also contains unquestionable majesty and coldness.
The ceremonial officer trembled as he announced the start of the blessing ceremony. The sound of monks chanting added a touch of weirdness to the atmosphere.
Halfway through the long and boring ceremony, something unexpected happened!
A young eunuch holding an incense burner, perhaps due to excessive nervousness, accidentally tripped and the incense burner in his hand suddenly flew out of his hand and flew straight to the side and front of the main seat! There happened to be several officials' families standing there, including Li Qianqian and... Xu Xianyue, who had been squeezed to the front at some point.
Exclamations were heard everywhere!
In a split second, Xu Xianyue instinctively moved sideways and backward, her movements smooth and swift, narrowly avoiding the flying incense ash and the scorching heat of the incense burner. Her skirt fluttered, and the magnolia flower in her hair trembled slightly, drawing a cool arc in the chaos.
But Li Qianqian was not so lucky. She was frightened and stood still. Although the incense burner finally landed at her feet and did not hit her directly, the flying incense ash flew all over her head and face, burning her so much that she screamed, her makeup was messed up, and her hair was disheveled.
Amidst the chaos, there was dead silence.
Everyone's eyes were involuntarily focused on two women who formed a sharp contrast - one was panic-stricken and embarrassed; the other stood quietly aside, with a calm expression, as if the previous danger had nothing to do with her. Only the velvet flower in her hair quietly bloomed with a soft luster in the slightly settled air.
On the high seat, Xie Wuqi, who had been watching this farce with an expressionless face and even a bit of disgust, had a clear focus for the first time.
He was not looking at the screaming Li Qianqian, nor at the incense burner that caused the accident.
His gaze passed over everyone and was precisely fixed on Xu Xianyue's hair.
A barely perceptible flicker of emotion flashed across those deep, silent eyes. It wasn't a look of astonishment, nor of curiosity, but rather a kind of scrutiny and inquiry... almost like the scrutiny and inquiry of a wild animal sniffing out a unique scent.
The venomous rage within him that burned his sanity day and night seemed, in that instant, to be... subtly smoothed out by that cool jade-like color? It was barely noticeable, yet truly present.
Xie Wuqi raised his hand and covered his lips with a plain white handkerchief. He coughed softly a few times, a faint glaring red seeping through his fingers. But the look he gave Xu Xianyue became even deeper and sharper.
"Drag him away." He put down his handkerchief and gave an indifferent order to the eunuch who was lying limp on the ground. There was no emotion in his voice.
Immediately, a guard came forward and silently dragged the eunuch away.
He stopped looking at anyone, leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes and rested, as if nothing had happened.
But the atmosphere of the banquet had completely dropped to freezing point.
Xu Xianyue felt that brief but penetrating gaze, and a slight shiver ran through her heart. She knew she might have attracted undue attention. She calmly stepped back again, fading into the shadows of the crowd.
The blessing ceremony ended abruptly.
On the carriage back to the palace, Wang Shi and Xu Xianyun's faces were extremely grim. They saw Li Qianqian's embarrassment, and while they felt pleased, they were even more alarmed by Prince Jing's unpredictable attitude and... Xu Xianyue's unexpected composure.
"I underestimated you. You pretend to be indifferent to worldly affairs, but you dodge at the critical moment!" Xu Xianyun couldn't help but sneer.
Xu Xianyue closed his eyes and rested, too lazy to respond.
Her fingers seemed to still linger with the delicate and slightly cool touch of the silk she had used when making velvet flowers.
The mountain rain seemed to come faster than she expected.
And at the center of the storm, those deep eyes have already noticed this chess piece that seems harmless but may disrupt the overall situation.
When the carriage drove back to the slightly shabby side door of the Xu Mansion, Xu Xianyue opened his eyes, his eyes clear and calm.
She knew that from today on, the "leisure month" life she wanted would probably have to be put on hold for the time being.
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