Chapter 229: A Marvelous Feast

The crowd surged into the cabin, but not like they usually did, rushing to occupy their favorite gambling tables, seeking out their favorite singers and dancers, or slipping into private rooms to compose poems and paint. Instead, they all gathered in the main hall, their eyes fixed on the center of the room.

Dengyun Lady’s sword dance had ended, she had floated away with the colorful silk ribbons, and the people’s gazes had yet to recover when tall poles and ropes were erected in the hall. In the next moment, five young men soared into the air, walking, tumbling, and dancing on the ropes. Colorful silk and white gauze flowed between them like clouds and mist. Looking up from below, it was like catching a glimpse of a celestial palace.

For a moment, everyone was mesmerized.

Maid servants gracefully approached, offering each person a cup of fine wine.

Li Yu raised his cup. “A joyous occasion for us all today. Please, drink with me.”

Everyone involuntarily raised their cups. Although they still didn’t know where the joy came from, immersed in this atmosphere and spectacle, who cared what Li Yu was saying? They all shouted congratulations, shared joy, and offered a jumble of blessings before draining their cups in one gulp.

Unlike the others, Wang Tong wasn’t captivated by the breathtaking acrobatics. His eyes were fixed on Li Yu, who stood at the highest point, then on Zhou Jingyun as he slowly ascended the stairs toward him. He joyfully finished his wine, snatched another cup from someone nearby, and drank again. Perhaps he had drunk too much, for in his blurred vision, he seemed to see a woman standing beside Li Yu, holding a child in her arms…

The child looked very small, delicately sculpted, with tiny buns and flower hairpins.

He knew this woman, Li Yu’s favored maidservant, the one who managed the pleasure boat for him.

But, what about the child?

Did this favored maidservant have a child?

Wang Tong couldn’t help but rub his eyes and stare again, only to find that the maidservant wasn’t holding a child, but a white porcelain wine jug.

A wine jug.

Was he seeing things?

In a daze, he saw Zhou Jingyun had approached and was smiling and nodding at Li Yu. The favored maidservant approached with the jug, seemingly to pour him wine.

Four youths on the suspended ropes leaped and bounded, landing and bouncing back up in the hall. The flying white gauze obscured his view.

Bai Li lifted the child in her arms and said with a smile, “Nannan, Nannan, look who’s here?”

The little girl widened her eyes and looked around, seemingly not knowing where to focus.

Zhou Jingyun also tried to focus his gaze on what Bai Li was holding, trying to convince himself that it wasn’t a white porcelain wine jug, but a child…

His vision blurred; the child and the wine jug kept changing.

“Focus on her being Nannan, Nannan,” Bai Li reminded him with a smile.

Li Yu laughed beside them. He didn’t have this problem. Ah Li had said that because of his dreamless constitution, he was less affected when pulled into dreamscapes.

So, although his vision was slightly blurred, he could see that Bai Li was holding a child, not a wine jug.

“Don’t force it, My Lord. You can see her properly when we’re back in the room,” he said from the side.

Zhou Jingyun smiled at him. “It’s alright. No matter what I see, she is who she is.”

With that, he reached out and took the “wine jug” from Bai Li’s arms.

“It’s her first time seeing so many people. Don’t let her get scared.”

As he spoke, his vision shifted, and the wine jug in his arms transformed into a child. He hurriedly reached out and gently stroked the child’s ear.

“Nannan, don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid. This is your hundred-day banquet.”

Li Yu drew closer, smiling at the child, and pointed to the hall. “Nannan, look, isn’t it beautiful? Do you like it? There will be even more beautiful things later.”

The youths standing on the ropes in the hall tossed out a string of glass beads. The rapidly alternating beads formed a halo of light. Through this halo, Wang Tong, standing on the first floor, saw Li Yu standing shoulder to shoulder with Zhou Jingyun, smiling and pointing to the hall. Although the distance was great, as if they were in the clouds, Wang Tong could still clearly make out Li Yu’s words from the movement of his lips.

“Look, isn’t it beautiful? Do you like it? I specially prepared it for you.”

Zhou Jingyun looked at the hall and smiled faintly.

Although it was a bit strange that Marquis Zhou’s Heir was holding a wine jug, but… handsome people look elegant and stylish even if they’re holding a branch.

“Good!” Wang Tong excitedly raised his cup and drained it in one gulp. “This is truly a celestial scene, a rare sight in the mortal world.”

Suddenly, there was silence behind him, followed by a commotion. Wang Tong was a little annoyed. Who was ruining the atmosphere?

He instinctively turned his head and saw seven or eight people rushing in, then splitting into two rows, revealing a man in plain clothes behind them.

Wang Tong almost spat out the wine in his mouth.

Unlucky.

Why was Zhang Ze also on the pleasure boat?!

Zhang Ze ignored the surprised gazes around him and didn’t look at the crowd. He looked at the ropes set up in the hall. At this time, the youth who had been throwing the glass beads was hanging upside down, sliding down the rope, the beads falling into his arms like shooting stars.

“Good!” he said slowly, clapping his hands.

✿✿✿

✿✿✿

Zhang Ze.

Zhou Jingyun and Li Yu looked over at the same time.

At the same time, Cai Songnian also hurried forward.

“He didn’t board the boat as an Inspector,” Cai Songnian whispered. “He came as a guest, and he meets the requirements, so we can’t stop him.”

Li Yu nodded and smiled at Zhang Ze in the hall. “It’s alright, let him come. I’ll go welcome the guest.”

The moment Zhou Jingyun saw Zhang Ze enter, he turned around and handed the child to Bai Li, whispering, “Take the child and go.”

Bai Li took the child. “It’s not us who should be leaving. This is our Nannan’s hundred-day banquet.”

She looked at Zhang Ze in the hall and smiled.

“As for him, now that he’s here, don’t think he’ll be leaving so easily.”

✿✿✿

✿✿✿

The youth on the ropes fell to the ground. The high platforms and ropes were taken down, and this time, no new performance appeared.

All eyes were focused on the entrance.

Zhang Ze looked at Li Yu, who was walking towards him, and Zhou Jingyun behind him.

“Your Highness and My Lord, what a delightful gathering,” he said with a sardonic smile. “Wasn’t yesterday’s company by Lake Taiye enough? You must spend tonight together as well.”

✿✿✿

These words were truly unpleasant.

Li Yu didn’t seem to understand and patted his chest. “Of course, it’s a delightful gathering. After yesterday’s scare, I almost got caught up in trouble. I must celebrate.” He looked at Zhou Jingyun beside him. “Marquis Zhou’s Heir was my lucky star yesterday, so naturally, he’s the guest of honor today.”

Zhou Jingyun smiled. “You’re too kind, Your Highness. It was just a coincidence.” Then he looked at Zhang Ze and asked calmly, “Inspector, haven’t you finished your investigation yet? After investigating the pleasure boat, are you going to Princess Jinyu’s residence next?”

Using the Princess to threaten him? Zhang Ze smiled. “I’m not on official business today. I’ve long heard of the fame of this pleasure boat. Even My Lord is so enamored with it. I’ve come to experience it myself.”

Li Yu laughed heartily. “Good, good! A rare guest, a rare guest! My humble pleasure boat is truly honored by your presence, Inspector. Please, take a seat.”

Zhang Ze didn’t decline and followed Li Yu and Zhou Jingyun to a nearby elegant seat. He glanced around, seeing men and women, old and young, maidservants and attendants, all mingling together.

Zhang Ze took his seat and didn’t allow the pleasure boat’s maidservants to approach. The eight people he brought stood behind him.

These eight people looked ordinary, but four of them wore swords, and the other four held strange objects: a fan made of unknown feathers, an engraved bronze mirror, a palm-sized copper disc, and one person even held a piece of white gauze.

Strange and eerie.

“Please forgive me, Your Highness,” he said to Li Yu. “I’m not accustomed to having people close to me.”

Li Yu smiled. “I understand, I understand. It’s already a great show of trust that you, Inspector, only brought these few people. With your usual habits, you would have had everyone on my pleasure boat cleared out.”

Zhang Ze didn’t deny it and said with a smile, “In any case, Your Highness is now the Prince of Chu, not a young master of the Shangguan family.”

Li Yu didn’t mind his bluntness. “Since Inspector Zhang is here, let’s continue.” He raised his hand and clapped.

As his clapping echoed, a rhythmic drumming sound suddenly started in the previously quiet hall, seemingly coming from all directions.

The pleasure boat’s music room was so ingeniously designed that only the sound was heard, not the musicians.

“This horse galloping rhythm is so realistic,” a guest commented, closing his eyes and stroking his beard. “I feel like I can actually see the horse trotting.”

Someone next to him exclaimed, “It’s not just realistic, it’s real!”

Real what? The guest opened his eyes and looked, his eyes widening instantly. He saw a horse trotting out from a corner of the hall.

It was a pure white steed, adorned with gold thread and white ropes, studded with pearls and precious stones.

“A magnificent horse!” many in the hall exclaimed in admiration.

But a magnificent horse wasn’t that rare for theprodigal sons in the hall. In the next moment, someone else shouted.

“The horse, the horse, it’s moving in sync with the drums!”

In sync with the drums? These words made many people in the hall focus their attention. Indeed, they saw the horse’s hooves moving in rhythm with the drumbeats. Not only the drums, but the sounds of zither and flute also rose, light and agile, and the horse’s movements changed accordingly. Not just its hooves, but its head swaying, its body turning and moving…

“The horse is dancing!”

“It’s really dancing!”

“Ha, look, it can even spin!”

The previously quiet hall erupted. Compared to the dancing beauties, the dancing horse was even more stunning.

Zhang Ze saw this scene with a calm expression and turned to look at the attendants behind him.

The feather fan gently swayed, a soft breeze brushed his face, the bronze mirror shone, reflecting his familiar face, the copper disc lightly clinked, a crisp sound in his ear.

“Don’t worry, Inspector. Everything is normal,” the person holding the white gauze said softly.

It wasn’t an illusion; it was a real white horse dancing.

Zhang Ze looked back at the white horse swaying and stepping to the music in the hall and clapped his hands. “Amazing, amazing! Prince Chu truly has everything here.” Then he looked at Li Yu and smiled. “Even His Majesty’s grand feasts don’t have such mystical things.”

These words were truly malicious. If they spread tomorrow, it would surely spark more suspicion between His Majesty and the Prince of Chu. Cai Songnian and the other managers looked over, their hands clenching at their sides.

Li Yu just smiled. “These are just my playthings, nothing to be compared to His Majesty’s.”

Zhang Ze looked at the dancing horse, the bustling crowd, the brightly lit hall, and suddenly saw a woman standing on the third floor opposite him, smiling and holding a child…

She lifted the child up, seemingly wanting the child to see the horse dancing in the hall. She swayed along with the music, and the little child, whether attracted by the horse dance or enjoying the rocking, waved its arms and grinned…

A child.

Zhang Ze felt a boom in his head, as if something was bursting forth. He was about to stand up, but the woman holding the child looked over at that moment and smiled at him. Zhang Ze’s vision blurred, as if a piece of white gauze had fallen, and his sight dimmed.

He couldn’t feel the wind from the feather fan, hear the clinking of the copper disc, or see the face in the bronze mirror.

He couldn’t move, as if he had been enveloped.

That woman!

That woman!

Her!

Zhang Ze looked across the hall. Her face was blurry yet clear. She was holding the child, smiling at him.

“Zhang Ze, you’ve come.”

Her voice rang out, distant yet clear, cutting through the noise of the hall and the cheerful music.

“Why did you think of coming here?”

Colorful silk ribbons danced in the hall. The woman stepped onto them, gracefully moving, walking towards him step by step.

“Also to…”

She stepped off the ribbons and sat down beside him, holding the child.

“…congratulate our little princess on her hundred-day banquet?”

Zhang Ze’s head could move now. He slowly turned, looking at the woman beside him. The woman raised her hand, seemingly lifting the white gauze, and her face went from blurry to clear. It was a young face, but before he could see it clearly, the face rippled and melted, and another face emerged from beneath it.

Eyes as clear as autumn water slowly opened, cherry lips curved into a slight smile.

It was a familiar face.

She held the child on her lap, looked at Zhang Ze, and raised an eyebrow.

“Zhang Ze, did you bring a gift?”

The feast scene is inspired by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang’s Thousand Autumn Banquet.