This matter wasn’t completely considered over with. What others say don’t count, only what Jing Wan says counts. En, that’s right, Jing Wan had the final say.
After this incident, the people of Kaiming Fu also for the most part understood, if Jin Qinwang was the living Enma, then Jin Wangfei was just the living Bodhisattva.
Although it’s said that the various madams were later treated to a cold reception, it was indeed them that let her be troubled. For the sake of pleading for them, she and Jin Qinwang nearly had a falling out. Thus, from their mouths, Jin Wangfei couldn’t be more kind-hearted, and wherever they went, it was all having Jing Wan praised into the heavens.
Jing Wan listened to the rumors outside, rubbing her ears, oh, seemingly a bit hot. Can she say, she really wasn’t that good, and that everything was all planned by the two of them?
After listening a few more times, Jing Wan also just calmed down. Because of having a bit of ‘friendship’ with the madams of Kaiming Fu, Jing Wan agreed to their banquet invitation.
This was a banquet carrying friendship, and not purely a welcoming banquet, so naturally don’t need to be too bothered over whether or not the dishes were good, just ordinary dishes was enough. As for whether or not Jin Qinwang will nitpick, that was just have to depend on luck. If their luck is good, then he perhaps won’t say anything, at most just putting down the chopsticks and not eating, but if their luck isn’t good, heheh, perhaps it’ll just become ‘the banquet not having good dishes[1]‘. Of course, this was purely just the literal meaning on the surface. At this time, probably no one would be so stupid as to scheme against Li Hong Yuan.
Don’t first go pondering over how the banquet will be in the end, to be able to let Jin Qinwang appear was already needing to thank the heaven and earth. One has to know, a dignified qinwang, going out for an assignment, entirely using his own things, what was the meaning of this? For those that knew, that was because Jin Qinwang was picky, but for those that don’t know, they would just think that your administrative city of a prefecture was just this poor?
Everything else aside, if Le Cheng Emperor were to find out, he can all issue an imperial decree to skin you to death. And in past years, those excellent evaluations, do they also need to be reassessed?
That’s why, he just needed to attend. As for the aftermath, let’s also work hard and have things nicely sealed off, not letting the matters during the banquet spread out. Even if embarrassing, it’s fine as long as it’s just our circle that knows. They’ve already gotten laughed at by their rivals, and already fell head first into his hands before. Everyone was all just fellow brothers in hardship. To come again, they can even pull along their rival together, so it didn’t matter.
Because Jing Wan was present, this banquet was very family-friendly, and things that were too ‘pandering’ naturally won’t appear. There can be dance and song, but need to be normal, the kind where even small children can watch. The female dancers also can only be pure dancers, can’t be bewitching, can’t be alluring. Lastly, the dance also needed to be good.
This can be said to be quite the painstaking effort.
They also adopted the one table, one seat arrangement, just having two people sitting together in one place, and between the seats, it was admiring the dance and song.
(T/N: This kind of layout but like more space and more seats.)
Attending the banquet together with Li Hong Yuan and Jing Wan was just the only two remaining among the important personnels that had accompanied along, the living survey map, Sir Shi, and the Great Commander of the Imperial Guards, Yu Zhong Qing———–The two of them sat together.
The former was Jing Wan’s living GPS, so with Jing Wan in Kaiming Fu, he naturally also needed to stay behind. He was an official possessing a rank, so attending the banquet was only natural.
The latter was Li Hong Yuan’s ‘bodyguard’, the kind that needed to follow at all times. And in the entirety of Kaiming Fu, there were only those countable few that had an even higher rank than him.
There were numerous officials currently serving in post, and never mind having wife and children, some even had both parents present. With this kind of seating arrangement, those that can be present naturally won’t be too many. It was mostly just husband and wife sitting together, and behind them, adding a few more seats, bringing along their outstanding descendants, and not unfilial bastards that would stir up trouble and do something inappropriate. Didn’t Jin Wangfei already mention, Jin Qinwang won’t look for trouble for no reason. As such, there was no harm, and if Jin Wangfei were to take fancy to them, supporting a little, then perhaps their future will be much smoother.
That’s right, they were brought along to show their faces before Jin Wangfei, and not Jin Qinwang. Didn’t one see, that poor scholar, because of Jin Wangfei, directly entered Kaiming Academy. Kaiming Academy’s history was just a few hundred years shorter than Kaiming Fu’s. In Qi Yuan, it belonged to one of the three renowned academies of the south, providing many fresh blood for the imperial court. The scholars seeking knowledge inside came from various regions all over Qi Yuan. Randomly picking one out, all would be very outstanding. Of course, there also exist some relatively special students, but the character was all passing.
Entering the prefectural school, for the children of official families, was very easy. But, wanting to enter Kaiming Academy wasn’t that easy. Unless really having some special relation, otherwise all must go through rigorous examination, and can only enter by passing. Additionally, even if one has entered, there was still a discrepancy in scholarly aptitude. Kaiming Academy didn’t lack court academicians that were great scholars.
And Jing Wan being able to have the person shoved in was also beyond everyone’s expectations. Even that poor scholar himself also thought that he at most would just enter Kaiming’s prefectural school.
For Jing Wan to be able to achieve this bit, it naturally wasn’t because of Li Hong Yuan’s face. It was true that Li Hong Yuan was the living Enma, and that many people feared him, but in this world, there was also a kind of person that had hard bones[2]. Scholars just have many hard bones, and those old men that just wholeheartedly want to teach and educate, not caring for fame nor profit, usually had the hardest bones among them. They weren’t the type that can be subdued by power and force. That’s why, the living Enma with the unusually terrible reputation wasn’t able to gnaw through them. Fortunately, Li Hong Yuan wasn’t a real spoiled rich kid, and won’t look for this kind of trouble for no reason.
Jing Wan’s face originated from a name card, her second great uncle’s name card. The Luo family’s two elders knew in advance that she was going to accompany Jin Qinwang to Jiangnan. They didn’t give Jing Wan anything else, only giving her one of her second great uncle’s name card. No one should ever underestimate the influence of a world renowned great scholar. In this era where the relationship between teacher and student was equal to that of a father and son, when coming across certain difficult to solve problems, based on Jing Wan’s relationship with that one, things can just be easily solved.
(T/N: This is her grandfather, Luo Pei Shan’s only younger brother that was mentioned in the early chapters, the one that never married and traveling the world.)
And this time, all don’t need to bring out the relations, with just that name card, the person was just easily sent in.
The living Enma was unhappy for a long while.
Just look, Jin Wangfei was much more capable than Jin Qinwang.
The dishes were brought up one after another, also appearing to be very appetizing. To say that the things Jin Qinwang ate were just the best in the world, that certainly wasn’t the case. These words were merely used to suffocate other people. Food very heavily relied on locality. Some things emphasized on freshness, for instance coastal seafood deeply entering the mainland, what remained edible was also just dry goods. To want to eat one that was alive and fresh, that was just a dream. Of course, in Jing Wan’s past life, there wasn’t this great of a restriction. Probably because of not wanting to get nitpicked by Li Hong Yuan too ruthlessly, majority all used Kaiming Fu’s in season delicacies.
Li Hong Yuan appeared nonchalant, and also seemingly relaxed, but exactly what attitude he had, no one could tell. As expected, being born in the imperial family, even someone like him that was used to being wanton was good at hiding his emotions. That’s why, for these people that mingled in officialdom, they themselves would put in all effort to want to become someone that outsiders can’t see through, yet also hated this kind of person the most.
Contradictory, yet also inevitable.
Speaking of which, Jing Wan was actually somewhat looking forward to these dishes from the start. Kaiming Fu had that long of a history, thus naturally possessing its unique dishes that were passed down. Perhaps they existed elsewhere, but it wasn’t as authentic as the original taste. Without having that many elaborate formalities, this kind of banquet, compared to palace banquets, was don’t know how many times more comfortable.
At least, there definitely won’t be cases where dishes that needed to be hot for it to be tasty being ice cold when set on the table.
On one side admiring the dance and song, and on one side eating delicious delicacies. And Li Hong Yuan sure enough didn’t move his chopsticks all that much. Perhaps that wine was still considered to his liking, occasionally drinking a bit. However, Jing Wan had every dish that was served all sampled. The ones that she felt tasted pretty good, she just used the serving chopstick to serve Li Hong Yuan a little, and the ones that were especially tasty, she just served a little more.
At first, Li Hong Yuan even glanced at her, seemingly having questions, but facing Jing Wan’s smiling face, he didn’t say anything, just quietly eating it. Afterwards, he just ate whatever Jing Wan served him, eating however much she served. In any case, one just never saw him voluntarily extending his chopsticks towards the dishes. And Jing Wan very patiently fed him.
The people below took it all in. That’s why, one actually didn’t need to ponder over Jin Qinwang’s preferences, just needing to know Jin Wangfei’s preferences was enough?
[1] 宴无好宴 – In chinese the word ‘宴 (yan)’ means banquet or feast, but can also be used to refer to the dishes at a banquet. This phrase ‘the banquet not having good dishes’ originates from the historical event ‘Feast at Hongmen’ in 206 BC where Xiang Yu invites the future Han Emperor Liu Bang to a banquet in order to assassinate him. In general, the phrase is meant to mean that the person inviting you harbors ill intentions.
[2] Firm and unyielding moral character and principles
