Chapter 10 - Banquet

The banquet that will be held the next day is only an inner-palace banquet. Meaning, only the royal family and highest-ranking officials are invited.

Xiu Ying is totally clueless about what he should do because he came from the future and he can't recall anything about a banquet in his memories. But for someone with a smart brain, it's not that hard to get the clue in a short time.

Turning to his servant, Xiu Ying asked Jing Yi what he should do. Too many on his need-to-do list, Xiu Ying started the day at 5 am. Starting from sending an invitation to the guests, deciding on the dishes that will be served, the entertainment, and also the decoration of the venue. Empress Dowager Wu Jiaying already sent him around 40 servants to assist him.

Firstly, the guests that will be invited are the Six Ministries which are the Ministry of Personnel, Ministry of Revenue, Ministry of Rites, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Justice, and Ministry of Works. The lords from three departments; the Department of The Palace, Department of Secret Books, and Department of Service are also invited. Li Shizen as the Prime Minister also will attend the banquet.

Next, for the menu, Xiu Ying asked the kitchen to prepare the "Eight Land Delicacies" which includes several precious fowls and mushrooms, the "Eight Sea Delicacies" includes dried sea cucumbers, shark's fin soup, bird's nest, and a few others and also few other side dishes. The dishes need to be sampled and tested by Xiu Ying before it passes and proceed to be served during the banquet.

Xiu Ying also sent an invitation from a famous troop in the capital to make a performance during the banquet. Other than that, an eye-opener for the perverted old ministers, which is a dancing performance by gisaengs also will be included because Xiu Ying knows well what those ministers desired. The last performance is a sword dance by the military members.

The decoration is not too grand like a wedding banquet but also not too simple. With the help of the eunuchs, Xiu Ying feels better. He doesn't want to mess up anything especially with seating arrangements. One tiny mistake could lead to a bigger problem, not only for him but for his father too.

Running here and there might be normal for Mo Xiu Ying as he used to pull a night shifter when he worked at the hospital but his current body is now a bit weaker than his old body, so he feels quite exhausted. The only thing that kept him going strong is to see the disappointment in the emperor's face when he managed to do an excellent job.

Looking from aside, Wu Zhang Wei's lips curve upwards. Chief of Eunuch, Qiu Li Jie, frowns when he sees the emperor leisurely walking around the palace but more like....follow around Xiu Ying.

Li Jie thought the emperor just wanted to supervise the progress of the preparation but Wu Zhang Wei only watched from afar then smiled to himself.

Xiu Ying got to eat at dinner after his first meal during 5 am breakfast. He didn't even have time for lunch. After a refreshing soak in a warm bath, Xiu Ying quickly finished his dinner then directly turned in for the night as he got an earlier start tomorrow.

.....

The banquet that is held in the main hall goes on from afternoon until evening. It is divided into two parts. During the afternoon, it is more like a formal dining banquet, meanwhile for the evening until early night part, it is more relaxed and informal.

The ministers started to come one after another. They happily greet each other even though sarcasm never left in every word they spit out. Those ministers were led by the servants to their arranged seatings.

When all the ministers have arrived, it's time for the empress dowager and Princes Wu Xiao Qing to enter the main hall, followed by Noble Consort Yu Li Na, Consort Lin Hui Yin, Concubine Wen Qian, and lastly, Concubine Li Xiu Ying. All of the ministers rise and greet them.

When they're about to straighten their back, the last figure makes them stare in awe. Some of the perverted ministers even drool over Li Xiu Ying's mesmerizing look. They only snap back to reality when the announcement of the emperor's arrival was made.

Upon the entrance of Wu Zhang Wei, all fall on their knees and kowtow once to greet him. They rise when the emperor has taken his place on the throne.

On his left side, Wu Jiaying is seated but empty on his right side as there's no esteemed empress yet. Wu Xiao Qing sits beside her mother.

Wu Zhang Wei is about to raise his cup to start the ceremony but Wu Jiaying whispers, "There's another honored guest that still didn't come. That guest, I personally invited him."

Wu Zhang Wei raises his brows, "Who? Why didn't I know about this?"

"Well...it's- "

Before Wu Jiaying could say it, a servant made an announcement. "The arrival of Prince Yang Lijun from Yang Empire."

The door of the main hall opens and a handsome man walks in with a big smile plastered on his face. He walks leisurely, straight towards the throne. Once he reached, he kneels and kowtows, "Prince Yang Li Jun greets Your Majesty, Emperor Wu Zhang Wei, and Empress Dowager Wu Jiaying."

Seeing the kneeling figure, Wu Zhang Wei's eyes twitched.

Wu Jiaying touched her son's arm, signaling him to allow the prince to stand because the prince can't do so as long as Wu Zhang Wei didn't say it.

The emperor rolls his eyes. "Rise, Prince Yang." The prince was led to his seat.

Wu Zhang Wei raises his cup and is followed by all the ones present in the banquet, as a starter of the ceremony.

Since the afternoon banquet is more of a formal one, so everyone only greets the one near or beside them and enjoys the performance.

When the entrance of the gisaengs, all of them knew that's the sign of starting the informal banquet. One after another, ministers walked around the hall, chatting with their peers.

Wu Jiaying dragged Wu Zhang Wei and Wu Xiao Qing to get down from the throne and meet Prince Yang Lijun. The latter noticed three figures approaching him, he quickly raised from his seat and walked towards them.

Prince Lijun folds his friends to the front and bows, "Your Majesty."

"Lijun...thank you for coming here," said Wu Jiaying.

"It's my honor to be given a chance to join this banquet. Thank you Your Majesty for inviting me and I beg Your Majesty's pardon on behalf of my mother. She couldn't come as she was a little bit out of the weather."

"Oh my. Is she okay?" Wu Jiaying asked worriedly.

"Don't worry Your Majesty. My mother is fine. It's just a bit of a fever. She's already fine but the physician said it's better for her to stay and recover first before travel. My mother told me about the invitation and at the same time I was near this country, so I came on behalf of my mother."

Wu Jiaying releases a sigh of relief.

Three of them forgot the existence of another person there. Wu Zhang Wei watched his mother, Xiao Qing, and the prince of Yang Empire happily exchange words. Wu Zhang Wei doesn't have the intention of interrupting their conversation. First, because he doesn't think it is necessary to do so as the person in front of him is not to his liking. Second, his eyes try to look around the hall looking for a certain someone.

Wu Jiaying glances at her son who is busy looking here and there. She nudges on his arm. "Zhang Wei...what are you looking at? Come on. Talk to Lijun."

Wu Zhang Wei looks at Lijun with his poker face, with no intention of initiating a conversation. Lijun keeps on smiling even though he knows the emperor despised him.

"Your Majesty...how have you been doing?" Lijun asked.

"Hmn. Good."

"Seems like this country is blessed and becoming even better since Your Majesty's ruling."

"Zhen know."

Lijun and Wu Jiaying, "......."

Lijun's mouth twitched. 'How shameless can this guy be? I'm being kind enough to talk to you. How dare you ignore me.'

The reason for the cold treatment is because...

Yang Empire and Wu Empire always have a good relationship. Since their grandfather's time, their family is already close to each other.

Wu Jiaying and Lijun's mother are best friends and once a year they will visit each other's country. Even though the parents are good to each other but not the first child of each family. Wu Zhang Wei's first impression of Lijun is not good when he saw Lijun on top of his sister who was lying on the grass. 13 years old Wu Zhang Wei quickly pushes 12 years old Lijun and dragged Xiao Qing away from the perverted prince.

The second impression made the situation worse when they were fighting off, Lijun accidentally stumbled upon a big stone and they crashed into each other. When Lijun tried to lift his head, his lips brushed against Wu Zhang Wei's. Because of that, Lijun received a nice and hard punch right on his face.

Since then, Wu Zhang Wei hates Lijun and he'll try his best to make sure Xiao Qing and he, himself stay away from him. Just now, he didn't forbid Xiao Qing from talking with him because he knows Lijun won't dare to do anything in presence of Wu Jiaying.

Lijun is about to open his mouth again but suddenly feels short of breath and his stomach is burning. He bends to hold the pain and wrinkles form on his forehead.

"...jun?! Lijun?! Wh- what's wrong?!" Wu Jiaying's loud voice attracts the attention of all the people inside the hall.

Lijun collapsed onto the ground.

Suddenly, someone shouted, "He- he's poisoned!" People start to whisper.

"Call the physician here!" ordered Wu Zhang Wei. He is glad if the other guy died but not in his country, during the banquet in his palace especially.

The next second, a physician came and did his work fast. Squinted eyes, furrows brows, the physician's face clearly shows something not good.

"Wh- what's wrong? Did Prince Lijun get poisoned?!" Wu Jiaying asked impatiently.

The physician shakes his head. "Your Majesty, pardon this servant. When I checked his pulse it showed an erratic pulse but it is a bit different from being poisoned. This servant didn't know what caused this."

Wu Zhang Wei turns his head to the audience. "Who is the one who said he was poisoned?!" In a flash, he detected a female servant flinching when he asked and she's nervous.

Wu Zhang Wei walks towards her. "Why did you say he was poisoned? Did you have any proof? Or- you're the one who did it?" His tall height makes him look frightening, adding with his cold voice.

The girl trembles. "N- no! It- it's not me! I- I'm just... I saw the silver spoon used by the prince turn dark. Th- that's why I said he's poisoned." The female servant pointed to the table that Lijun seated just now.

Before Wu Zhang Wei could make his move, Yu Li Na reached out for the silver spoon first. She gasped when she looked at the spoon. "Yo- your Majesty! It's true!" She brings the spoon to Wu Zhang Wei.

He looks at the spoon in Li Na's hand. "Bring Zhen everyone in the kitchen here! Right now!"

Even Li Na feels intimidated by the angered Wu Zhang Wei, but she still speaks up, "Bu- but Your Majesty... all of the meals must undergo supervision of Concubine Li. He is responsible for this banquet's meals....so...." Her words were cut off.

"Yes. Looking for me?"