Chapter 184: It’s Not Easy to Attend a Feast
The words from the Prince’s Estate villa: The Crown Prince greatly valued this imperial banquet, repeatedly instructing that nothing should be handled carelessly.
Since nothing was to be handled carelessly, etiquette was certainly the most important thing not to be handled carelessly.
Uncle Hong personally visited the home of the retired former Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, Minister Gao, two or three times to ask for his guidance. He also invited several old gentlemen from the Lu Family in Huating, known for their etiquette, to advise. Furthermore, he sent people back and forth five or six times to consult with Prefect Liu of Pingjiang Prefecture.
The group worked diligently, adding to, but not subtracting from, the already packed schedule on Uncle Hong’s desk. What started as a single sheet of paper was expanded to one and a half sheets, and the start time was pushed from the Chen Hour to the Mao Hour.
It was said the Crown Prince was very pleased.
A Wu went to the villa early the next day and didn’t see Steward Sun until evening.
It wasn’t that Steward Sun was being negligent; he was simply too busy. He had gone out to procure supplies at midnight and only returned to the villa by evening.
Steward Sun asked A Wu to wait and immediately went to find Wan Jing. He returned shortly after, relaying Wan Jing’s message: A Wu was to come find Uncle Hong tomorrow morning.
Early the next morning, A Wu arrived. She sent word inside, and this time, it was very quick; someone almost immediately led her in.
Uncle Hong asked a few questions and very decisively assigned her a task.
She spent the entire day practicing walking, kneeling, bowing, and retreating, along with various other royal etiquette. A Wu was sore all over but felt incredibly happy and uplifted.
During dinner, A Wu animatedly recounted her day’s experiences to everyone.
“…So I asked, is this Mao Hour the time they leave their homes? And that old official said:”
A Wu mimicked the high-pitched voice of an old eunuch.
“This is the time they arrive here. When they leave their homes, that’s none of our concern!
“Mao Hour is the time of arrival at the villa, the time of arrival, Mao Hour! If your home is far, wouldn’t you have to leave at midnight? And then you have to get dressed and ready, which would keep you up all night, wouldn’t it? Tsk!”
A Wu widened her eyes and waved her hands, tutting repeatedly.
“I heard the morning court starts at the Yin Hour,” Li Xuedong added.
“What job did they assign you?” Li Xiaonan asked.
“Just standing guard, I suppose.” A Wu felt a bit awkward.
Her intuition told her they had simply found a place for her to stand and watch the spectacle.
“Just standing? Nothing else?” Mei Jie sounded a bit surprised.
“This is also a task. It’s a Prince’s Estate, and they said that day everything would be done according to palace rules. In the imperial palace, people have to stand everywhere!” A Wu said with a serious expression.
“That’s true. Before the Emperor and Empress appear on the opera stage, two rows of palace maids come out first, doing nothing but standing on either side of the stage. Let me tell you,”
Mei Jie turned to Wang Yuting, smiling, “I’ve figured it out. Whether a troupe is big or small depends on those two rows of palace maids. A small troupe only has two, one on each side. But a big troupe is something else! The last show I saw, there were six on each side, twelve in total. And the twelve people were holding different things, tsk, how grand!”
“Our troupe has twenty people, and I heard there are three troupes in total,” A Wu immediately chimed in.
“You’re not palace maids, so that doesn’t count!” Mei Jie waved her hand, dismissing A Wu’s statement.
“Are there really palace maids by the Crown Prince’s side?” Li Yuzhu asked Li Xiaonan in a low voice, listening with great interest.
“I haven’t seen any,” Li Xiaonan replied with a smile.
“Have you seen the Crown Prince?” A Wu’s ears were particularly sharp.
Li Xiaonan glanced sideways at A Wu and ignored her.
“Are you going to the imperial banquet?” Li Jinzhu asked.
“No,” Li Xiaonan shook her head with a smile.
Wan Jing had asked her if she wanted to watch the spectacle, but she had firmly refused. To watch this spectacle, one would either have to be a guest or, like A Wu, pretend to be a servant and take on a task. She was unwilling to do either, so it was better not to watch the spectacle.
Although A Wu was not scheduled to be on duty until the Si Hour, she joined the earliest shift and, before the Yin Hour, was ready and entered the servants’ resting quarters, three small rooms inside the Second Gate.
After a while, A Wu, guided by a minor steward, entered the inner room of the Second Gate’s doorman’s quarters and watched the spectacle through the window.
There were many gates to the villa. This was A Wu’s first time at this particular one. The area outside the Second Gate was extremely spacious, capable of holding one to two hundred people. A Wu stared, mesmerized.
“Is this the main gate?” A Wu leaned towards an old steward sitting on a small bamboo chair and asked in a low voice.
“Our villa doesn’t have a main gate. We privately call this gate the ‘Audience Gate.’ The Emperor and Crown Prince have stayed here several times before, holding imperial banquets and audiences here,” the old steward said with a friendly smile.
“The Emperor has also been here?” A Wu’s eyes widened.
“He has!” the old steward replied, his calmness tinged with pride. “After Emperor Taizong became the Supreme Emperor, he went on a southern tour and stayed at our villa for nearly half a year.”
“Wow!” A Wu’s eyes bulged. “Emperor Taizong? They say he was the Ziwei star descended from heaven! They say when the country was founded, stars gathered!”
“If stars hadn’t gathered, could the country have been founded?” The old steward gestured with his chin towards the outside. “Which family is this? So early.”
A Wu quickly looked outside.
A ninth-rank official, about fifty years old, arrived. His official robe was brand new and crisp. He entered the Second Gate with a composed demeanor. Not seeing anyone, he breathed a sigh of relief.
A servant hurried out, approached the ninth-rank official, said a few words, bowed, and gestured for him to take a seat on the row of stools against the wall.
The ninth-rank official repeatedly cupped his hands and bowed. The servant took two steps back and turned away.
The ninth-rank official carefully looked around, found the head of the row, and one by one, pointed to the stools. He continued to the last few seats, carefully lifted his official robe, and sat down properly.
“A ninth-rank honorary title. At this age, he’s likely the president of a merchant association,” the old steward chuckled.
“It’s only the first quarter of the Yin Hour, and there’s still almost an hour until Mao Hour. Is he just going to sit here and wait?” A Wu watched the ninth-rank official sitting upright.
“There’s still half an hour. At the first quarter of Mao Hour, they’ll perform the etiquette again,” the old steward said with a smile.
“Perform it again? Has it been performed before?”
“Of course. It’s been performed four or five times. Don’t just talk about them; even the officials from the six ministries in the Capital City, who attend court daily, have to practice a few times for such events.
“Most of them have never been to the palace, so they have to be taught from how to kowtow. From the day the Crown Prince gave his instructions, we started getting busy, and they got even busier.
“For the first few days, they learned kowtowing and how to advance and retreat from the old retainers of our villa. In the later days, they gathered here to rehearse the etiquette. We were busy from morning till night, and they were even busier from morning till night!”
The old steward laughed.
A Wu let out a low “Ah,” stunned for a moment, and began to understand why A Nan had been unwilling to come.
A Nan was so lazy; she definitely wouldn’t want to learn how to kowtow from morning till night!
It was truly not easy to enjoy a royal imperial banquet!
Update tomorrow at 8 AM.
