Tonight, the banquet hall was brightly lit up. There was singing and dancing, and it was comparable to the Spring Festival Gala back in her past life. The relatives of the imperial family who were partaking the banquet entered the palace one after another.
Emperor Lin was the last to enter the venue, and when he came, the banquet officially began. After he toasted his wine cup, the dishes began to be served. Emperor Lin sat in the highest position, watching the ninety-nine dishes served one by one. Careful to not reveal his expression, he was already sighing inside his heart.
This again.
Couldn’t the chefs in the Imperial Kitchen make the Great Reunion Banquet dishes more delicious? How could they all be so unpalatable?
He was born a prince, that is, so he had been eating this banquet since he was able to speak, year after year, for more than 30 years. Still, the thought of eating this for decades more to come was absolutely terrifying.
It was just a matter of his personal taste. Apart from his fourth son, everyone else seemed to think the food was pretty good.
As expected, his fourth son, Lin Jingyuan, who resembled him the most, also had the same tastes as himself, thus was the only one who could understand his feelings.
Thinking of this, Emperor Lin could not help but to look at Lin Jingyuan, who was uncomfortably moving about in his seat as if there was a thorn in his side. Emperor Lin raised his wine glass and paid compliments to Consort Xian.
He gave so many words of praise that it stunned Consort Xian.
What did I do? Why am I suddenly being praised?
When all ninety-nine dishes were served on the table, Emperor Lin tasted them one by one. After completing this task, he was eager to leave.
Everyone was accustomed to his behavior of leaving to rest halfway through the banquet. In the absence of Emperor Lin, the imperial relatives became more comfortable, soon there was a lot of laughter in the hall.
Walking outside the hall, a palace servant was already waiting outside with a lantern, and asked in a soft voice, “Your Majesty, will you go to the plum garden now?”
Emperor Lin endured the greasy feeling in his abdomen and nodded.
Because of the heavy snow tonight, he did not instruct his palace servant to make tea in advance, as he planned to air out his discomfort and appreciate the smell of plum blossoms. As he approached the plum garden, suddenly he heard a small voice coming from inside. The rustling sound of snowfall clashed with the young, fragile voice, so he could not hear the voice clearly.
The palace servant beside him was about to chase the people inside the plum garden out, but Emperor Lin lightly waved his hand for him to stop.
Snow was falling heavily amidst the dark night. Thus, he was curious to see who was so interested in enjoying plum blossoms at such a time.
He walked in lightly, and through the clusters of gorgeous red plums, he saw a little girl in a red cloak, kneeling under a plum tree.
She resembled a small ball wrapped in a red cloak. He could not make out how she looked.
Behind her, there were four snow dolls, neatly lined up from big to small, with noses, eyes, and red scarfs. They looked adorable.
It was the first time that Emperor Lin had seen such a thing. He was surprised. Standing on the spot and looking at it, he heard the little girl kneeling on the ground and making a wish, “Dear Fairy Goddess, can you hear me? If you are listening, please blow a little wind.”
Tonight was already a windy night with heavy snowfall. When she said this, the wind kept blowing, so she looked happy and said, “So you’re here, Fairy Goddess? Then I’ll start to make a wish!”
Emperor Lin: “…”