Great Danger at the Sate Banquet [1]
Time flies quickly. In a blink of an eye, time is already lost.
The dark curtain of the night is withdrawn as dawn is awaken.
Rays of golden sunlight sprinkled down from the sky, glazing everything with a layer of golden light. That warm sunshine has already emitted warm heat since dawn. The radiance of the sunshine was bottomless. It really is the best day out of many days because of the warmth.
Under these golden rays of light, Bei Mu’s imperial city, Sheng Jing was decorated with red decorations.
Against the dazzling golden lights, joy erupted from the solemnness.
Because of the assassination attempt on Empress Dowager Xiao, the state banquet can’t be too grand or festive. Instead, everything is based on simplicity.
But in Cheng Lan Hall, the place where the state banquet is hosted, the palace maids and servants all have a smile on their face as they move about.
Bei Mu has never been as prosperous as this year. The Minister of Appointments and the Minister of Revenue had all went over to help out early in the morning.
A lot of people are going to attend. Yet the news that they had received said that the carts of grains, cattle and sheep, and gold are still far away. The amount of grains, cattle, and sheep is too much. Thus they can’t move too fast so they’re unable to return in time for New Years.
However, this was unable to affect their good mood. Once the grain, cattle and sheep, and gold reaches Bei Mu and enters the palace, even if they’re servants, they’ll definitely receive a large sum of money.
The slower they travel, the better. This meant that there are more items, so then the annual money they get would also be more.
Therefore, even though there was an assassination attempt on the empress dowager so that everything should be solemn and simple, it still couldn’t affect the good mood of the people in the palace.
Everyone was showing repressed joy.
But under the repressed joy, a storm was brewing.
The imperial guards at the palace gate were switched. The guards that were guarding Chen Lan Hall were switched with the guards from the South Courtyard. The guards at the three major palace gates were also replaced by the guards from the South Courtyard.
All the imperial bodyguards and guards of the palace were replaced by the guard from the South Courtyard.
The gates of the imperial city were sealed at night to prevent anyone from entering. The commoners weren’t allowed to go out on the grounds that the empress dowager was almost assassinated. They were also not allowed to set off fireworks.
As one thing changes after another, rapid changes occur.
On the surface, everything was festive and everyone was full of enthusiasm. However, many discerning people were able to see the dangers that are lurking in the shadow.