Chapter One: Shangyuan

  The first year of Taiguang, January 15th.

  This day is the grandest day of the year for the common people in Bianjing City, marking the official start of the annual Lantern Festival on the 15th night of the first lunar month. The three-day national holiday has begun, and all social classes are equal, with officials and civilians enjoying themselves together. The whole city, young and old, pours out onto the streets, and the twelve city gates are wide open, except for the Forbidden Palace. Everywhere is decorated with lanterns and streamers, and people are free to roam and play. As Wang Anshi once wrote in a poem: "Carriages and horses throng together in broad daylight, while the lights of a million families warm the spring breeze." This is indeed a boast about the grandeur of the Lantern Festival.

  It was during the Chen hour, when the imperial carriage drove out of the Shangqing Palace. Zhao Ji ascended to the Xuan De Lou, which faced the Imperial Street. The civil and military officials were led by Cai Jing, the Left Assistant Director of the Department of State Affairs, who was followed by He Zhongzhong, the newly appointed Vice Minister of the Secretariat; Deng Xunwu, the Left Deputy Director of the Department of State Affairs; Liang Shijie, the Right Deputy Director of the Department of State Affairs; Zhang Kangguo, the Administrator of the Bureau of Military Affairs; and Gao Cu, the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Guard. They all congratulated Zhao Ji in turn, shouting and dancing, praising his literary and military achievements as unmatched in history, and extolling the prosperity of the imperial court, which surpassed that of previous dynasties. Zhao Ji listened with great satisfaction, his face flushed with pleasure, feeling as if he were about to ascend to heaven. He immediately issued an edict granting the officials who had ascended to the tower to pay their respects a reward of flowers for their hats, brocade robes, and golden belts. The officials danced and thanked him in unison, filled with joy and harmony between ruler and ministers.

  At this time, Gao Qiang was still a small seventh-rank official, and according to the rules, he shouldn't have been in the same position as the other high-ranking officials. However, Emperor Zhaozong trusted him and specially ordered him to ascend to the Xuan De Tower for an audience, so Gao Qiang, wearing his green robe, openly stood among the many high-ranking officials clad in gold and purple, creating a beautiful scene.

  After the morning greetings, everyone dispersed in order. On the Xuan De Tower, the emperor sat naturally, with the imperial family members and concubines on either side, a colorful and lively scene, watching lanterns and performances from various places. On both sides, the Kaifeng government had set up colorful tents early on, with words like "Prime Minister", "Policy Advisor", "Chief Minister" and "General-in-Chief" written on them. The officials followed the numbers to take their seats. The family members of each official were already seated, this was a rare opportunity for the women of the mansion to show off, all the married ladies and unmarried young girls were lightly powdered and had a subtle blush on their faces, each one dressed up in a colorful and vibrant way, attracting the young men from various families to look around, stretching their necks, at this time, the idle guests of each family were useful, once the young man from their own family took a liking to which miss, they immediately reported all the information they had collected every day to help their master choose a marriage partner, while also avoiding their master mistakenly taking a fancy to someone else's wife, which would be extremely troublesome.

  At this time, Gao was newly married and in high spirits, sitting with his wife Cai Ying in the General's pavilion, slightly behind Gao Jue. Although the Gao family had many children, there were not many talented people among them. Most of Gao Jue's brothers were from humble origins and spent their days coming to the mansion to ask for money to spend, without any great ambitions or talents. As a result, the pavilion was quiet and empty, with only two men and their wives sitting in attendance, watching the scenery. However, there were many attendants standing behind them, including the likes of Dang Shi's brothers, who were always busy running around serving them. New military officers such as Lu Qian and Shi Xiu had also changed into new clothes and were walking back and forth in front of and behind the pavilion.

  The commotion subsided, and everyone took their seats. The Kaifeng Prefecture issued an order to light up the lanterns of various colors throughout the city. Instantly, the city of Bianjing, with its population of over a million, was illuminated as brightly as daylight. The colorful lanterns on the mountain in front of Xuande Hall shone with golden and green lights, interweaving with each other, causing gasps of amazement from all, with many rising from their seats.

  But what was seen were thousands of lotus flower lanterns arranged on the imperial river, looking like a silver river in the sky reflected in the water. On the heavenly street above, colorful tassels were hung, and various flower lanterns were suspended from the tassels, including peonies, lotus flowers, and mandalas, all shapes complete. Moreover, long poles held up over ten zhang high, with a hundred theatrical figures made of silk, fluttering in the wind like flying immortals. Besides these, various lanterns, lantern poles, silk lanterns, sun and moon lanterns, poem plaques, mirror lanterns, character lanterns, horseback riding lanterns, phoenix lanterns, water lanterns, crystal lanterns, shadow lanterns, etc., of all sizes, high and low, were scattered everywhere. A vast city was like a celestial palace, shining brightly before one's eyes.

  The citizens of the capital pointed and watched, children ran and jumped with joy, so excited that they couldn't help but scare the adults who were closely following behind them, fearing that in the crowded streets, a single misstep would lead to losing sight of them. The Kaifeng government had made preparations beforehand, setting up large tents at every street corner, where shadow puppet shows and storytelling performances for children were held, distributing snacks and fruits, and providing a place for lost children to wait quietly until their families came to find them.

  Young girls and boys naturally couldn't miss this great opportunity. The young men of Kyoto were all spirited, holding lanterns with flowers tucked behind their ears, while the young women wore lanterns on their sashes, some as big as fists, with over a dozen or more hanging from them, covering their entire bodies. The light from the lanterns reflected off the flowers, making their faces even more radiant and lovely. As they strolled through the lantern market, laughter filled the air, as if competing with the beauty of the flower lanterns.

  In an instant, the heavenly street was filled with hundreds of plays and performances, strange skills were performed in succession, songs and dances echoed for dozens of miles, walking on tightropes, swallowing swords, playing puppets, performing miscellaneous dramas, all sorts of things, too numerous to mention. There were also monkey trainers, sheep herders, bee summoners, ant chasers, as well as fortune tellers, lantern riddle solvers and other clever tricks, each place was filled with shouts of surprise and joy, one after another.

  Stop for a moment, and in each colorful pavilion, the family's artisans will present their skills. For a time, the silk and bamboo instruments are full of pipes and strings, and the officials and dignitaries will compete with each other to show off their usual teachings.

  The geishas and dancing girls all came out to show off, the new programs they had been rehearsing for a long time made their debut one after another, with new words, new tunes, and new people taking turns performing. The ordinary people on the street were delighted to be free spectators, watching from the side and applauding enthusiastically. In this session, the Taifu Mansion was slightly inferior, mainly because Gao felt that Xiao Shishi was too small and hid her away, not allowing her to go on stage, she could only watch from behind. Actually, part of it was also afraid that some other prince or high-ranking official would take a liking to her and demand her, whether to give in or not? It's better to have one less thing than one more thing.

  On this side, Gao Qiang and Cai Ying watched and pointed, occasionally commenting on a few sentences. At this time, Cai Ying showed the true character of a talented woman, and every word she uttered was able to hit the nail on the head. Gao Qiang listened with great admiration, his own literary talent being quite mediocre, relying on plagiarizing the poetry of "later generations" to get by, usually pretending to be profound and rarely producing any "original work" in order to hide his ineptitude. At this moment, he heard that his wife was indeed quite talented, and couldn't help but feel great respect and admiration for her, repeatedly praising her without end.

  Just as they were enjoying themselves, a eunuch suddenly arrived with an urgent message. It turned out that the Zhao family had been listening to new songs and suddenly remembered the young and talented High Inspectors who had recently emerged in the imperial court. They invited the inspectors to come and sing new lyrics, and also ordered Madame Cai Ying to teach them together. This made High Inspectors feel a bit dizzy, but since it was an imperial order, he could not disobey, so he reluctantly took his new wife's hand and went to fulfill the summons.

  The two of them came to the Xuan De Building and paid their respects to the officials. Although there were countless birds chirping on both sides, Gao was still expressionless, his eyes fixed on the tip of his nose, his nose on his mouth, and his mouth on his heart. He stood with his hands hanging down, not daring to be presumptuous. Zhao Ji was very fond of this new poet laureate and hastily invited him to take a seat, asked about his recent wedding, and laughed: "Gao Gong, today I am delighted to share the joy with my people, and my heart is exceptionally happy. I want to ask you to come and sing a new poem together, so as to add some splendor to today's grand occasion. What do you think?"

  Gao Jiang hastily expressed his gratitude, saying that he was only a shallow scholar and didn't dare to be on the same level as Your Majesty. Zhao Ji repeatedly said it was no big deal, just write some ordinary poems and songs, literature is naturally born, and sometimes it's just luck. Today, even if inspiration doesn't strike, it's still normal, right? After speaking, he laughed loudly, and everyone in the hall followed suit, Gao Jiang also forced out a smile, but in his heart, he thought "what's so funny about this joke?"

  In a moment, Zhao Ji got it and recited "Golden Lotus Around the Phoenix Building" : "Red candles and red lanterns reflect each other... The imperial family's noble spirit is full of spring, lifting the pearl curtain, looking at Yao and Shun." As soon as he finished speaking, all around him shouted in unison, Gao Gang led the way, kneeling down and shouting "Long live the Emperor!" This flattery was not in vain, hadn't they seen that even the emperor himself was flattering his own horse?

  Zhao Ji heard the young poet's flattering words and couldn't help but feel pleased with himself, it wasn't until after a while that he thought of something and hastily said: "Does Gongchen have any wonderful poems to exchange with me?"

  This is a difficult position to fill, if the words are better than the emperor's, it would be considered flattery and would not work out well. If they are much worse than the emperor's, then the emperor must have real talent, and once he loses favor with the emperor, wouldn't that be even more disastrous? Therefore, literary officials by the emperor's side throughout history have never been good writers, it is precisely this reason.

  Fortunately, Gao had thought it out early on his way here. Although there were many Lantern Festival poems for future generations, regardless of their quality, he couldn't use them at all. He said: "Your Majesty's new poem is so shocking that I can't think of even half a sentence. After racking my brains, I managed to come up with only eight lines of ancient poetry. Please forgive me!"

  Zhao Ji heard it was an ancient poem, and hastily asked him to recite it quickly. But in fact, this is not some ancient poem at all! It's actually a poem from the Ming dynasty by Tang Yin called "Yuanxiao": "With lanterns but no moon, people are not delighted; with moon but no lanterns, it doesn't feel like spring... Without raising a fragrant cup and opening one's mouth to laugh, how can this fine evening be spent?"

  The poem was finished, the whole hall was quiet and speechless, everyone was secretly looking at the emperor's expression. Only then did Zhao Ji pause for a moment, smile and say: "Your family's poem is a bit rustic, but it has a lot of fun, on this Lantern Festival evening, listening to it while chasing joy and pleasure is quite interesting, good, well done!" As soon as the word "good" came out, all the imperial concubines on the side called out in praise, nodding their heads in admiration for Gao Nei's literary talent. However, even though the poem was well-written, the emperor's comment was even better; otherwise, how could the ministers see its merits? Truly, the wise and discerning Son of Heaven is all-knowing and all-capable.

  After several rounds of feasting, Zhao Ji was somewhat tired. Just as the third watch was approaching, he ordered the imperial carriage to return to the palace. A eunuch used a long pole to lift up a string of red silk lanterns in mid-air, and people on the street knew that the emperor's carriage was about to return to the palace. After a short while, three loud drumbeats sounded in front of the Xuan De Tower, and tens of thousands of lamps on the colorful hills were extinguished one after another. The guards in front of the palace gradually dispersed, and the civilians lingered for a moment before slowly dispersing.

  Gao Qiang and Cai Ying descended from the Xuan De Tower, and Cai Ying smiled and said to Gao Qiang: "Today, you have taught me another lesson in literary talent. This eight-character ancient poem is well-written, and it's even more wonderful that it can't be compared with the officials' works."

  Seeing his lovely wife smiling so charmingly, with half of her body still bathed in the lingering light of the street lamps, Gao Qiang couldn't help but feel affectionate and said with a smile: "Ying'er, your eyesight is really impressive, you can see right through my thoughts, can't fool you at all."

  Just as the two were chatting and laughing, someone suddenly said beside them: "Young master, sir has summoned you."