Chapter 243
The Lantern Festival (1)
Fifteenth day of the first month, Lantern Festival.
Capital city had started lighting lanterns from the 13th day of the first month, and by the time it was the lantern festival, that was the 15th day, the whole city was akin to a beautiful sky filled with twinkling stars, making everything incredibly lively.
Colourful lanterns were hung on the Xuande Gate a few days prior to the lantern festival, as the emperor and the royal family were going to visit it on the festival with other high ranking officials.
Although Xuande gate was called a ‘gate’, actually it was a massive city wall which was the boundary between the palace city and the outside world. In addition to that, there were watchtowers on the eastern and western sides of the wall. This city wall had become a divider between these two different worlds.
Xuande Gate was the first gate of the imperial palace, which was tantamount to the face of the emperor. Furthermore, Xuande Gate was very tall. From there, one could see the entire city.
The way the city wall of Xuande Gate and the two towers on the left and right were placed, they neatly formed a perfect flat square. All the grand ceremonies of the imperial court were held on the Xuande Gate, all because of its lofty status and fame. Even before the festival started, the city wall’s barrier, canopy, and throne had long been prepared. As the time for the celebration was nearing, eunuchs and maids on the Xuande Gate could be seen doing the final inspection of everything.
Feeling excited, Mu Mingtang had left early for the banquet in the palace held during the day. While the emperor held the banquet in the royal court, the empress entertained all the female attendants at the back. After the signal of the emperor’s departure came from the palace, only then did the empress lead all the female guests to the city gate tower, where the lanterns were finally lit.
Lantern festival was one of the most jolly events of the year, and it was not only limited to men, even women were allowed to enjoy it freely however they wanted. This time, because of the emperor’s generosity, the concubines in the harem also got the chance to visit the city tower to look at the beautiful lanterns and enjoy the festival as they wished.
At this moment, the city tower was fluttering with colourful clothes, and there were canopies everywhere with maids standing in their position with respectful and hard to hide exciting faces. The officials, who were gathered in front of the Xuande Gate, were looking up at the tower eagerly.
Soon a drumming sound started to echo around the Xuange Gate indicating the arrival of the ‘the royal family’ and other high ranking nobles.
When the news about the arrival of the ‘royal family’ spread among the people gathered, the leading troops quickly started their performances not knowing whether the message they got was true or not. When Mu Mingtang followed the empress and others to the city gate, she saw the lights below, and heard the sounds of gongs and drums along with exciting shouts of the people, heightening the lively atmosphere.
[TL notes: A gong is a percussion instrument originating in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Gongs are a flat, circular metal disc that is typically struck with a mallet. Wikipedia]
After seeing liveliness surrounding the festival, Mu Mingtang was very sure that she was just a frog in the well before, since prior to this day she had never seen such an overwhelming spectacle.
After the emperor and the crowd went up to the city tower, the atmosphere downstairs suddenly exploded, cries of “Long live the emperor!” came one after another.
Honestly, the tower was unbelievably tall, and the sky had already turned dark, so the people under the city gate could not clearly distinguish the faces of the people standing above, and could only faintly see the attendants gathered around the important figures, as well as many alluring women who look like the beautiful immortals descended on the earth.
Even if people couldn’t see them clearly, they could guess that they were the emperor and the empress along with the concubines from the emperor’s harem, knowing their identities people became even more encouraged and excited.
Mu Mingtang, who was standing next to the empress, saw the restaurants in the city illuminated with the colourful lanterns. The lanterns were linked up like a river, resembling that of the magnificent sky adorned by the millions of stars. Occasionally, kongming lanterns would float up, appearing to bring the lights of the human world into the sky.
[TL Notes: A sky lantern (traditional Chinese: 天燈; simplified Chinese: 天灯; pinyin: tiāndēng), also known as Kǒngmíng lantern (traditional Chinese: 孔明燈; simplified Chinese: 孔明灯), or Chinese lantern, is a small hot air balloon made of paper, with an opening at the bottom where a small fire is suspended. For more information check Wikipedia]