CH 41

Dan Yi dealt with what he needed to in the front palace and went back to accompany Chen Ziqi for breakfast as promised. At this time, Chen Ziqi was wandering around in the Wutong forest.

He really had nothing good to say to the Tiande Emperor. If it had been the Second Prince instead of the Tiande Emperor, the Second Prince would have used the carrot-and-stick method; he would have threatened him, but he also would have given him some benefits. This Tiande Emperor, on the other hand, didn’t offer any carrots at all, and just kept smacking him hard with the stick. Not only did he fail to offer any benefits, he even insinuated that Chen Ziqi should help him get more benefits for the Imperial Palace from Dan Yi. Chen Ziqi was very annoyed by this, and the two parted on a bad note as a result. 

The patch of Wutong trees in front of Dan Yi’s sleeping quarters were very tall and lush, so much so that they blocked out nearly all the sunlight. Chen Ziqi looked up, saw the little dots of sunlight dancing between the rustling leaves, and couldn’t help sneezing.

“What are you looking at?” a rich voice said, sounding from behind Chen Ziqi. Chen Ziqi rubbed his nose, then turned to look at Dan Yi.

“Why aren’t there any birds on this tree?” Chen Ziqi asked. He’d been staring at the trees for quite some time now, and finally figured out what was wrong. Such a big tree would ordinarily have many birds roosting on it, and walking under this kind of tree usually meant getting bird poop all over your clothes. However, this forest was extraordinarily clean. Not even a bird feather could be seen.

“If one doesn’t want it to have birds, then it won’t have birds,” Dan Yi said ambiguously. He led him to the pavilion to have breakfast. 

A wooden pavilion had been built in the Wutong forest, and the wood used for the pavilion was taken from the trees in the Wutong forest itself. Lingguan saw the two sitting there, and instructed the servants to serve breakfast in the pavilion. The servants came in and started setting out the dishes on the Wutong wood table.

There was so much food that the whole table was filled. The delicious smell wafted up from the dishes into Chen Ziqi’s nose, and his belly immediately started rumbling in anticipation. Chen Ziqi suddenly realised that he hadn’t eaten dinner last night.

Dan Yi’s breakfast looked very plain. There were bamboo shoot dumplings, sliced bamboo shoots in a cold, sour sauce, a plate of steamed cake, and something that looked like stir-fried fish slices.

Chen Ziqi looked at the bowl of porridge, then at the bowl of noodles. They were both green in colour. In fact, nearly all the dishes were green in colour. They looked more like bird food than something a human would eat.

“Try it,” Dan Yi said. He could tell what Chen Ziqi was thinking, and lifted his chin in the direction of the food, indicating that he should start eating.

Chen Ziqi decided to try the only dish on the table that looked like it was made of meat. He picked up a snow-white slice of meat with his chopsticks and examined it carefully. It looked like stir-fried belly meat of a perch fish, which was the most tender part of the fish. He tossed the meat into his mouth and chewed, then suddenly opened his eyes wide. The meat itself had a delicious fragrance, and was fresh, tender and perfectly seasoned. It was even better than perch.

“Ooh, this is really good. What is it?” Chen Ziqi asked, his mouth full. He had shoved another two pieces into his mouth in quick succession.

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Chen Ziqi no longer thought that the stuff in front of him was bird food. He held the bowl of green porridge in his hands and took a spoonful. He initially thought it was jade rice, but after eating two mouthfuls, he decided that it didn’t taste like it at all. This porridge was in fact much better to eat than jade rice. It had the gentle fragrance of bamboo, and a deliciously refreshing sweetness to it. This kind of sweetness couldn’t be achieved with rock sugar or malt sugar.

“It’s bamboo rice,” Dan Yi said, finally deigning to explain.

Bamboo rice? Chen Ziqi scooped a spoonful of porridge and examined it closely. The small little rice grains were rounder than normal rice, and the size was not as uniform as rice grains were. The grains varied quite greatly in size and it looked a little messy. 

Bamboo rice came from bamboo flowers, which produced bamboo seeds. These bamboo seeds were very small, like the size of rice grains, and were called ‘rice’ as a result.

“Bamboo rice is very precious. In the whole Cloud Palace, only the Cloud Palace Master has the privilege of eating it,” Linghe said, smiling as she refilled Chen Ziqi’s bowl with green porridge.

Chen Ziqi naturally wanted to eat a little more of these delicious things that he had never had before in his life. He ate up two bowls of porridge, five of the dumplings, and three pieces of steamed cake before he finally put down his chopsticks. The unfortunate consequence of this feasting was that he could no longer fit into his Qinwang robes.

Today was the auspicious day that the Master of Ceremony had spoken of, the day that they were to have the ceremony to appoint Dan Yi as the new Phoenix King. The Tiande Emperor ordered people to send Qinwang robes over for Chen Ziqi to wear to the ceremony. This was a set of robes that was even more elaborate and grand than the formal ones he wore the day before. 

The long robes were the usual powder blue used by Qinwang, and were secured by a belt made of fine Yangzhi jade. The outermost robe was a wide-sleeved one with sapphire blue piping. The clothes were one thing – they were robes that opened in the front, so Chen Ziqi was able to put them on, but that belt was made to measure and had a fixed length. His stomach now jutted out so much that it was nigh impossible to fasten the belt clasp. Linghe had no choice but to look for another belt. She finally pulled out one of Dan Yi’s and fastened it around Chen Ziqi’s waist.

Dan Yi was dressed in brilliantly-coloured robes as usual, so bright that they dazzled the eyes.

“This can’t be allowed. The King can only be appointed by the Emperor,” the Master of Ceremony protested, shaking his head violently. Lan Shanyu had just explained the order of events for the appointment ceremony. “Wing Leader Lan, please get people to bring the Jinwu Guards up at once. We can start then.”

“Lord Minister, you may not know this, but our Cloud Palace Master has only recently achieved mastery of a divine-class martial art. As such, we do not allow random people to go near him, let alone crown him with the guan. Only people who are familiar with the Cloud Palace Master are safe near him; he might accidentally beat up unfamiliar people if he thinks they’re a threat,” Lan Shanyu said with an expression of perfect seriousness. 

The Master of Ceremony paled, then turned to discuss this with the Tiande Emperor.

“You idiotic creature! If Chen Ziqi can crown him, what was the point of me coming all this way?!” the Tiande Emperor barked, throwing down his cup in a fit of anger.

“But your Majesty, the Danyang Divine Martial Arts is really powerful. The new Phoenix King has just attained full mastery and can’t control his powers well… what if he injures your Majesty?” the minister persisted. He was so anxious that he’d broken out in a cold sweat.

“What about the Jinwu Guards? Where are they?” the Tiande Emperor asked. He needed the full complement of his honour guards present for the appointment ceremony. If they didn’t bring the Jinwu Guards up, then the ceremony wouldn’t go on. 

“Lan Shanyu said that they’ve got it covered,” the Master of Ceremony said, pointing at the Fengchan platform, which had been set up much earlier.

Turquoise carpets had been laid out on a vast patch of flat ground. The Wing Leaders and their deputies, as well as other people from the Cloud Palace, were standing at attention in two straight rows. The necessary banners, royal umbrellas, and musical accompaniment had all been prepared. One could even say that they’d done it better than the Jinwu Guards could have done.

The Tiande Emperor’s expression was dark as he sat on the throne on the Fengchan platform, listening to the Master of Ceremony intone the ritual phrases.

“May Heaven’s blessings be on the Phoenix, and on the Great Yu Dynasty. Since the time of the Taizu Emperor, the Phoenix King and the Son of Heaven have stood side by side as equals, with the Phoenix King’s title being one that is passed down in perpetuity…” 

Lan Jiangxue floated in from afar, wearing a white peacock-tail long-sleeved huafu, carrying a pure white seven-stringed qin in his arms. After landing, he settled himself in a cross-legged position, then balanced the qin on his knees and played a single note.

The lone note resonated, seeming to ripple in the air and ascend into the very heavens. As the note faded, the drums, reed pipes and flutes sang out, playing the soul-stirring and yet stately music of a King’s appointment ceremony.

Chen Ziqi received the Phoenix King’s guan from the Tiande Emperor and stood in the centre of the raised platform, looking at the crimson-clad Dan Yi walk regally step by step toward him. When Dan Yi reached him, he stopped, then slowly knelt down in front of him.

The Phoenix King’s guan was made to look like a phoenix’s crown feathers, likely because they wanted the guan to match the name of the title. As Chen Ziqi looked at the guan in his hands, he suddenly thought of the little divine bird. He hadn’t seen that little bird in a long while. 

The two little feathers on the divine chicken’s head looked really cute and funny, but when Chen Ziqi thought about it, it actually looked very much like the two “crown feathers” on this Phoenix King guan. Every time the first snows of winter fell, the divine chicken would appear like clockwork, snuggling into his arms for the whole winter. When the weather turned warmer and flowers started to bloom, it would disappear. Actually, now that he was thinking about it, he wasn’t sure if the divine chicken would be able to find him now that he wasn’t in the Imperial Palace.

“Qiqi?” Dan Yi said, snapping Chen Ziqi out of his reverie.

Chen Ziqi came to, then grinned at Dan Yi. He raised his hands and placed the guan on Dan Yi’s head. The feathery-looking golden guan was inlaid with red rubies, and matched Dan Yi’s brilliant red robes perfectly. The robes Dan Yi wore today had a long, three-foot train, which brought to mind a phoenix’s long tail feathers. With the guan on his head, Dan Yi looked like a regal, fiery phoenix in flight.

The music from the qin suddenly became frenzied and turbulent, rippling out toward the forests in great waves of sound. Birds burst out of the trees following the direction of the wave, and flew toward the Fengchan platform where they were gathered. 

“AHHHH! What on earth is this?!” the Tiande Emperor couldn’t help screaming in fright.

—

The author has something to say: Mini-theater

Birdie Gong: You ate my rice, so you’re mine now 

Qiqi: What kind of logic is that?

Linghe: When birds court their mate, they will give the mate some of their food

Qiqi: Those fellows give their mates worms, and I didn’t eat your worm ╭(╯^╰)╮

Birdie Gong: You did (⊙v⊙) 

Qiqi: Huh? o(>﹏<)o