CH 90.1

Chapter 90.1 – The Fish Turned Upside Down

When the Crown Prince arrived with the kings and princesses, Xuande Hall was already bustling with excitement.

Today was the Emperor’s birthday; naturally, no one dared to be late for the palace banquet. This included those envoys, who all arrived early.

They gathered together to gossip in groups of two and three. Even envoys from small countries were not left out, making the atmosphere in the palace very harmonious.

Qi Yang and Lu Qipei sat behind a table, with the other princes and princesses to the side, while the envoys and officials sat opposite them. But the two acted like no one was there and gathered whispered with each other.

Seeing this, the Rong envoy opposite them frowned, but didn’t dare to gaze too much.

Fortunately, everyone left Xuanshi Hall almost at the same time, so soon the princes and princesses had all taken their seats, and the palace banquet began.

The Emperor was dressed in black and arrived last. As he walked calmly through the hall, everyone on both sides stood up and bowed down in salute.

His black clothes flickered past the crowd’s eyes, and he finally reached the throne and sat down.

The Emperor’s majestic voice could be heard immediately after; first, he relieved everyone of their salute, then said a few polite words as an opening remark. The intimidating atmosphere from his entrance gradually dissipated, and the atmosphere became much more peaceful.

The palace banquet was held to celebrate the Emperor’s birthday, and the princes and princesses would take the lead.

The Crown Prince was the eldest son as well as the crown prince – he was the first to step up and walk in front of the Emperor, bowing as he said, “Royal Father’s birthday is a celebration for the whole country. This Child wishes Royal Father blessings as wide as the East Sea, and longevity as enduring as the South Mountain.”

After saying that, he presented as scroll and said, “This Child is dull, and all I have is thank to Royal Father. Today, I only have a Hundred Longevity Scroll that I wrote myself. It is a token of my feelings, I hope Royal Father would not blame me.”

Of course, the Emperor would not blame the Crown Prince for giving a crude and simple gift. He immediately smiled and encouraged him, then had a servant take the Hundred Longevity Scroll that the Crown Prince presented to appraise it publicly.

The so-called Hundred Longevity Scroll was a picture made by writing a hundred different characters for ‘longevity’. Some people use a trick and have one hundred people write one longevity character to create one Hundred Longevity Scroll, while others wrote all one hundred characters themselves. Writing one hundred different characters beautifully would take a lot of effort.

The Crown Prince was obviously the latter. With his status, it was too easy to get one hundred people to write the Hundred Longevity Scroll, and it would be more thoughtful to write them himself.

The Emperor could tell that the Crown Prince had written it himself after seeing it. He thought of how much time and effort it had to have taken for him to write such a calligraphy now that his right hand had been rendered half useless, and he practiced calligraphy with his left hand. The Emperor was so moved that he repeated the word ‘good’ three times.

Even the Emperor praised it, so how could the ministers react otherwise? The hall was filled with praise for a while.

This made the face of the other princes turn ugly for a while. They spent a lot of money and effort, and thought that they had found exquisite and precious objects for the Emperor’s birthday gift, so they could win the praises of the Emperor and the officials.

But right now, before they could present their gift, the Crown Prince had used a worthless Hundred Longevity Scroll to seize the lead. How could they not feel angry?

But in front of the Emperor, the officials and the envoys, the kings did not dare to say anything. Only a few gazes fell on the Crown Prince, filled with jealousy and reluctance.

The Crown Prince had been the crown prince for many years, and had been favored by the Emperor ever since he was born.     How could he had not been used to such gazes?

He grew up under such jealous and unwilling gaze, so he looked very calm right now as he thanked the Emperor for the praise, then sat back down.

The birthday celebration continued.

After the Crown Prince, the Second Prince died early, while the Third Prince was executed for treason. The Fourth Prince was King Qi.

King Qi couldn’t sit still when the officials praised the Crown Prince. He jumped up and walked forward, saying, “Royal Father, This Child heard that an auspicious sign appeared in Qizhou a month ago. There was a light filled with immortal qi in the sky, so I sent people to look for it. Fortunately, I managed to find it before Royal Father’s birthday. I would like to dedicate it to Royal Father, wishing you health like a dragon’s, and boundless blessings and longevity.”

The Emperor had sat on the throne for decades. What kind of things had he not heard of or seen before? He knew that the so-called auspicious sign was most likely man-made, for the purpose of pleasing him.

He didn’t believe in its auspiciousness, but something that involved auspiciousness was always a happy thing. So even though he didn’t have much interest in his heart, his face was still filled with joy. He asked, “What kind of auspicious sign is it? Bring it here to show us.”

When King Qi saw the Emperor’s smile, he thought that he had given a good birthday gift, and his back became straighter than before. He gave an order personally, and soon four servants came to the hall carrying the birthday gift covered in red cloth.

After it was settled down, King Qi stepped forward personally with an excited face, then lifted the red cloth to reveal a water tank made of glass.

The hall was brightly lit, and the warm yellow light went through the clear glass, clearly showing the dragonfish1 inside.

It was a real dragonfish. Its body was long like a snake, with golden scales on its body and dragon beards on its lips. Its face only looked half like a fish, and half like the legendary golden dragon.

Since ancient times, there was the idiom of the fish that leaped over the dragon gate. Other that having no claws or horns, and being trapped in the water tank, this dragonfish really had the appearance of a dragon.

No one had ever seen such a dragonfish, and it wasn’t too much to call it an auspicious thing. Everyone’s eyes turned wide, and their faces were full of surprise. Even the Emperor, who had not cared about it before, could not help being a little curious.

He even came down from the throne and walked to the water tank to have a closer look.

Seeing this, King Qi became even more satisfied, and looked at the Emperor with sparkling eyes, waiting for his praise.

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