Yuelan listened quietly as the women around her gossiped. They talked mostly about hair accessories, makeup, clothes, what others were currently wearing, and what shops they liked to visit. Naturally, the daughters of prominent families were discussed by the women standing in line, too. What was going on with the prominent families was what Yuelan was most interested in, even if she wasn’t familiar with most of them.
Before long, Yuelan heard her name come up. She kept facing forward and listened quietly. None of the women around her were familiar, which meant that they had no idea the topic of their gossip could hear them.
“Can you believe the emperor picked some random girl from who knows where and gave her the authority to select the crown prince?” a nearby woman in a burnt orange dress scoffed. Her hair was pinned up into a knot that flopped to one side and looked like it could come undone any time, though it seemed to be holding the tastefully expensive hair pins just fine.
“Not only that, but now she’s been decreed a marriage to the third prince! Who doesn’t know what sort of person he is? What sort of brains does this girl have to pick such a person as our future emperor? He may never have been inappropriate with anyone’s daughters, but who knows what he’s done with the servants in his palace?” The woman who replied was wearing a subdued purple and had her medium-brown hair done up to look like a boat-shaped gold nugget used as currency. Her gold jewelry and hair accessories were a bit more ostentatious than the first speaker’s.
“Shh!” a third woman wearing dark blue cut in. “You can’t say such things! Especially not right outside the palace! If someone reports you then what sort of punishment do you think you’ll get?”
The two women looked around nervously and quickly changed topics without realizing they were still discussing Yuelan.
“Look at that pretty girl! She looks so beautiful and intelligent!” the second woman exclaimed when she spotted Yuelan. “The clothes she’s wearing look so expensive, too. I wonder which family’s daughter she is…I haven’t seen her at any banquets before.”
“Her accessories, too. Those look like fire opals and it’s a complete set! She must be well-loved by her family to have such nice things. Where do you think her mother is?” the second woman added.
Yuelan sighed and lost interest in continuing to listen. Fortunately, they weren’t far from the gates at this point. After a couple more women and their daughters handed their invitations to the palace maids it was Yuelan’s turn. Camphor stepped forward and handed the invitation to the waiting middle-aged woman, who looked from the invitation to Yuelan and back again several times before offering a deep bow. “Miss Long! If you had come to the front of the gates we would have let you in immediately! As a future princess how could it be necessary for Miss to wait in line?”
“It’s alright. I enjoyed waiting in line,” Yuelan assured the woman. “Besides, I wouldn’t want to trouble anyone else.” She smiled slightly and let Willow help the servant woman up. “Is there someone who could guide me to the banquet location? I’m afraid I’m rather unfamiliar with the palace.”
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The women who had been discussing Yuelan before paled and looked at each other with wide eyes. Willow and Camphor looked back and smirked at them, though Yuelan paid them no attention at all. She didn’t care what others said or thought about her.
“Of course,” the palace servant woman assured Yuelan. “This servant would be happy to escort Miss Long…”
Yuelan waved a hand to cut her off. “No, no. You have your duties here and I wouldn’t want to take them from you. If there isn’t anyone else I can just follow the other women going through. We’re all going to the same place anyway.” She gave the servant a kind smile and stepped through the gates and into the palace, following the closest group of women to her.
As she walked, Yuelan studied her surroundings. The path was paved with cobblestones and lined with maples and other trees. The leaves had turned from green to bright reds, yellows, and oranges. The grass lining the path was still green with fall flowers blooming in rings around the trees.
Eventually, the path opened up to show a large, outdoor area filled with tables separated into two sections. The section on the right had men seated according to rank while the women sat in the section to the left. Small areas had been set up for painting, music, poetry, archery, and other skills that could be showcased later by the young men and women from prominent families. Camphor stood beside Yuelan and explained in a hushed voice what was expected at the banquet and Yuelan nodded to indicate she understood.
Less than a minute after Yuelan had arrived she saw Guangfeng making his way over to her. The third prince stopped in front of her and looked her up and down with an appreciative expression. “You look beautiful today,” he said, looking pleased. “And you’re wearing my mother’s fire opals.” His hand reached out and lightly touched a golden tassel hanging from Yuelan’s head. “This prince is happy to see you enjoying them.”
Yuelan’s cheeks flushed and she looked down as she curtsied to the prince. “Thank you, Your Highness, for the praise,” she said softly.
Guangfeng looked rather pleased that he wasn’t being attacked by his spicy fiance after giving a compliment. “Will this prince have the pleasure of listening to your guzheng performance later?” he asked hopefully.
The blush on Yuelan’s cheeks darkened. “Yuelan has never performed for so many people before and I had thought the performances were for those who haven’t already made marriage arrangements…”
“It’s an opportunity to show off your skills,” Guangfeng explained. “Only those who attended Liling’s cherry blossom banquet and my brothers know of your talent in music. How could I allow anyone to look down on my future wife and think she has beauty but no skills?”
Yuelan’s hands clenched inside her wide sleeves and she gently bit her bottom lip. So it was for the purpose of showing her capability that he wanted her to perform. It was true that she didn’t have much of a reputation in Longuo and this banquet was an opportunity to make herself better known. “Then...I would be happy to play a song,” she said quietly. “Will there be an instrument that I can borrow?”
“Of course. All of the instruments in the music area belong to the palace. You can choose any of them to play on later,” Guangfeng assured her. “Or I can send someone to collect your guzheng if you would prefer to play on that.”
“If you could have someone sent for mine I would appreciate it,” Yuelan replied, looking up at Guangfeng with a relieved smile. “I prefer to use my own instruments, since I know and like their tonal quality.”
Guangfeng nodded and indicated to a servant behind him to go and fetch Yuelan’s guzheng. He glanced around, then sighed a little. “We can speak more later. You should go and find your friends.”
Yuelan smiled, nodded, and headed toward the women’s side of the banquet to find Princess Liling, Zhou Xiuya, and Zhao Hanju.