The sun was as yellow as the crowns on most of the heads of the women’s heads as they flocked the Sea city Eastern palace. The National Liberation Day ceremony which was used to honor the past and dress the present was one of the most anticipated public holiday in the Chinese empire.
As early as 6:00 A.M. dignitaries, bejeweled noble women, fashionable noble men and invited guests flooded the palace, like peacocks on a run-way. Altogether, two thousand guests were expected to attend the ceremony, so far, more than half had already arrived. They were yet to take their seats in the large open space where royal ceremonies were held.
Most of them were still in comparison mode. Once upon a time, people dressed up to show off their wealth. Now, they dressed off to outshine others and win the title of best dressed noble.
It had turned into a red carpet event.
The ceremony started at exactly 9:00 A.M. with the the arrival of the Emperor, Empress Mother and other members of the royal family. They found their seats around the moveable ceremonial royal throne and faced the crowd.
It didn’t take long before whispers curled like smoke among the guests.
"The Empress is not here."
"Was the peep star right about the Empress being grounded?"
"I heard she was punished because Princess Long Shuang misbehaved and she was banished."
"The Empress has never missed a royal ceremony. This is a sign of something. I don’t know what."
As these whispers traveled, nobles in the know smiled mysteriously. An emperor alone at such a ceremony in the midst of rumors about an unfit empress who had no son!! Was this a sign that they should prepare their daughters of marriageable age and take their chances?
"Tell Fan Fan to greet the Emperor when she gets a chance."
"Jang Xin, make sure that you talk to the Empress mother and recite a poem for her."
"Zhen Zhen, stick to Princess Rize when you see her. Don’t you have an actress friend that has been involved in a string of burglaries. Sell her the story in exchange for an introduction to the Emperor."
The ceremony was barely underfoot but already, the nobles were scheming. To them, the Empress could as well be considered to be dead.
Kay Lu, a rising singer from Phoenix Entertainment that had recently risen to fame after singing some socially conscious songs, speaking out against the influence of too much technology on children and recognized for her vocal range took a microphone as instrumentalists started playing the Empire’s anthem.
She was wearing a beautiful yellow satin gown, around her arms was a white fur scarf and on her head, a a very large floral crown of mixed colors, yellow ones were most dominant.
Kay Lu looked lovely and simple but the floral crown was quite extreme. Ten birds could nest inside comfortably. It was a miracle that it was not pulling her down as it should have done.
Only a handful of people knew how much tape and how many pins were holding it down. They also had no idea that one of the pins had pierced her scalp only moments before she opened he mouth and led them into the anthem.
Her voice was beautiful, half the guests gasped when she started singing. The other half, only knowing a few lines of the anthem just stood still and wondered when it would come to an end. One elderly duke had to be supported by his sons because he could barely keep his eyes open.
A cat jumped onto the stage, sitting on the podium and meowing into a microphone. As guests giggled, Kay Lu soldiered on, ending in an triumphant soprano that nearly shattered great grandma Jun’s eardrum.
The crowd clapped and guests took their seats. The prime minister Chi Rui gave a brief boring speech and invited the Emperor.
Emperor Junjie, in his dashing royal robes stood behind the podium. Two royal agents whose faces were partially hidden behind red and gold flanked his sides.
He cleared his throat.
"Beloved citizens and guests," He began, his voice smooth as diplomacy. "I welcome you all to this glorious day. Every year, we come together on this day to celebrate those that worked hard to secure our freedom and success....."
Rose tapped Mei Mei on the shoulder with the hand fan she was using to chase off the heat. "How is it? Have you missed these things?" She whispered.
"Absolutely not." Mei Mei whispered back. "I had forgotten how hot it gets despite the ceremony being held out in the open or how boring the speeches are."
Rose pointed her fan in the direction of their mother that was sitting all the way at the front with the other princesses. "Mom has on her hungry face."
Mei Mei chuckled.
"I bet dad is wishing that he could push Junjie aside and give a lecture on world economics right now. He tried to trick me into sitting down for a talk on geopolitical tensions last night and I escaped so quickly that I almost stepped on Blackguard’s back."
Mei Mei chuckled again. She could only imagine how fast Rose had been running to miss the sight of a very large dog. "Is Mingzhe on protection detail in person?"
Rose nodded.
The Emperor said something and the crowd applauded. Meanwhile, in the tunnels hidden beneath what was once a cold palace, five masked figures moved with precision and silent steps.
They were all armed with guns and explosives. Two had blades which were poisoned and one was wearing an explosive vest.
They were there for the Emperor.
What they had not accounted for were the Imperial soldiers waiting in the tunnels, some hiding inside abandoned moldy sacks that looked like they had not been touched in centuries.
In under ten seconds, four assassins were gassed and the one with the explosive vest met his end at Mingzhe’s gun.
A kitchen maid that was about to poison the cake was hit on the back of her neck by Waning and royal agents dragged her body away.
Nobody noticed anything out of the ordinary, the orchestra picked up and the crowd applauded as the Emperor declared that the ceremony of bestowing titles on three individuals whose contributions to the empire had been outstanding could begin.
As trumpets sounded, the three names were read off and the Empress mother and Prime minister joined the Emperor. Two of these lucky individuals were men and one was a woman.
Lady Ru Yujing was declared a Baroness, she was the first woman to receive a noble title in twenty five years and she was applauded greatly. She was a university professor and archeologist that had discovered the lost treasure of Emperor Yue Lao.
Rather than keeping the treasure which was valued at fifty eight billion, she returned it all to the royal family.
She was also on the team of linguists that had spent five years reconstructing a lost language and added missing pieces to the lost history of the Empire around the twelfth century.
All the people being titled had achieved great things. Watching them, Jingzhe wondered what he needed to accomplish to be added to the list the following year.
The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!