Return of the Swallow

Chapter 145: An Awkward Empress (II)

Knowing that the empress was making an excursion to Oft Spring Garden today, the servants had prepared a banquet in a quiet corner of the rear garden.

The empress was gazing around from her position in the head seat. She was slightly pacified by the crabapple blossom encircled surroundings and strands of birdsong from all around. A trace of a smile also appeared on her face, allowing the group to relax when they saw that the imperial presence no longer imitated a walking thundercloud.

The empress raised a small wine cup. Her pure gold nail guards were tipped with crimson nail polish, beautifully offsetting her sparkling skin. The combination also complemented the gold wine up, further highlighting her embroidered, loose sleeve, garnet robe. She was the epitome of opulence and sumptuous.

The group cast reverent glances at the head seat when they saw that the empress wanted to offer a toast. She quite enjoyed being the center of attention and cleared her throat.

“Our peace talks with Great Zhou were successful, and peace will be known beneath the heavens in the future.” She called out, “The emperor and this seat are immensely gratified. I have invited everyone here today first for…”

Bang~~~~~ Pow~~~~

Fireworks soared into the air, their sudden explosions reverberating through the mountain and drowning out the empress’ speech. The crowd jerked their heads in the relevant direction and saw multi colored fireworks shooting into the sky from Ning Park’s direction. The radiant red, green, and yellow on display were bedazzling even in the daylight. Whoever was setting them off wasn’t being stingy about them at all as fireworks gushed forth like a fountain, showing no signs of stopping at all.

While the pops and cracks of the fireworks rang and echoed, it wasn’t so loud as to be deafening, but it beat a great racket on one’s heart all the same. Nothing could be heard now even if the empress yelled next to everyone’s ear, much less giving a simple speech at the head of a table!

Although fireworks weren’t an exceedingly rare sight, they were uncommon during ordinary times, particularly a stupendous show like this. The madames and misses couldn’t tear their eyes away and were quite taken with wonder. They’d actually forgotten about the empress’ speech!

Meanwhile, her imperial majesty was livid and clenching her teeth. She wanted to lose her temper, but she was completely drowned out by the fireworks. They’d taken the wrong way earlier and someone else’s garden had completely outshone hers. Now her speech was being interrupted? How could she endure all this??

The display went on for a full fifteen minutes, bringing the smell of gunpowder to everyone’s nose when they breathed in. The group turned around to see the empress with a heavily displeased expression on her face. No one knew what to do. It’s probably an inauspicious day today. Why else would the empress have lost face so many times?

A servant was summoned and the empress murmured, “Go and tell whoever’s at Ning Park that the empress wishes to borrow their premises for a banquet. Have whoever’s inside leave as soon as possible. I will set off for there shortly with the group.”

The servant whispered back, “In response to Your Majesty, the statesman did say that the owner of the park has a great background, and that we should avoid interacting with them.”