As the guests were coming in one by one, they couldn't help but me amazed. Even the Empress herself was quite satisfied with Yu Mei's decoration. Huge blue lanterns were hanging from the ceiling as it created a translucent light on the gold table cloths. Everything was well thought of. At each side of the room were three long rectangle tables. A round glass bowl filled with water and floating red flower candles was used as the center piece.
Empress Ping who was the last to make her arrival looked quite pleased. As all the guests stopped talking to welcome her in. This only boosted her confidence. People left and right were looking at her with awe. Her newly tailored purple silk tunic was just as majestic as the decoration itself. She had to give it to Yu Mei this time. She thought it but would never say it to Yu Mei in person.
With her head held high, she made her way to her seat. At the end of the two rows of guests was a long table facing horizontally towards the entrance of the room. It had the same gold cloth and arrangement but two wisteria vines were hanging on each side of the table, Empress Ping sat next to the Emperor as she smiled brightly at him.
The emperor was the first to stand up and make a toast to Empress Ping. "This is to my Ning Wan (her name). Thank you for always being by my side. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be here. To another year with the most beautiful woman, the mother of the nation."
After the emperor gave his toast, some of the more important political figures started to stand and congratulate her. Empress Ping was trying hard to concentrate but her nose kept feeling stuffy. The only person who took notice of this sudden change in Empress Ping was Yu Mei.
Sitting at the left side nearest to the Empress's table were Pei Nan, Yu Mei, Fei Ning, Ming Yan and Ji Er. Yu Mei sat at the furthest seat, observing her mother in law.
On the other side of the room was Gu Shao. He was sitting with some of the younger men. His eyes had been on the beautiful Fei Ning ever since arriving.
Yu Mei didn't pay much attention to Gu Shao after she greeted him from afar. She had something better to do.
As she watched, she felt it was almost too good. She could see Empress Ping's nose become pink from being stuffy. It didn't take long for her eyes to become watery. Empress Ping looked around the room to figure out what was going on. Nothing was unusual. She became flustered when the emperor asked her to make a speech. Empress Ping nervously stood up and smiled at the guests. "Thank you…" she paused after hearing her own voice. It sounded hoarse. Some of the older women covered their mouth with their sleeves, making sure Empress Ping couldn't see them snicker.
"My throat seems to be hurting a bit." Empress Ping tried to laugh it off before she proceeded to continue her speech. No matter what she did, she couldn't hide the rough and coarse voice in her throat. Yu Mei intently watched as she continued to make her speech under such an unpleasant voice. "This banquet, the decoration." She spread her arms out to compliment it. "I must thank all my daughter-in-law's for planning this out for me. Especially Fei Ning who came up with the whole idea."
"Mother, I didn't do much." Fei Ning quickly cleared up the misunderstanding. If it wasn't for Pei Nan sitting in front of her, she would never have said that. "Of course you did. I know that you helped Yu Mei plan this together. I knew I could trust you with this." She smiled at Fei Ning.
"Yes, I must thank sister Fei Ning for doing most of the work. If it wasn't for her, I don't know if this would have turned out this perfect." Yu Mei exaggerated.
When Pei Nan heard this, he nodded his head like he understood the situation. No wonder Yu Mei didn't need his help, Fei Ning had already offered to help. With that in mind, he held onto Fei Ning's hand and smiled at her like a proud husband.
Yu Mei on the other hand didn't mind. If anything was to actually happen at this banquet, it was Fei Ning who would be blamed for, not her. Not that anything too bizarre was going to happen. She knew what she could do and couldn't do.
Empress Ping quickly cut her speech short when her throat became itchy and dry.
Empress Ping sat down and wrinkled her forehead. This was clearly allergies. The only thing she knew that made her allergies kick up was begonias. But where were they?
Her mind was elsewhere. Every time someone tried to talk to her, she was zoned out. "Wan'er, are you okay?" the emperor nudged her.
"I'm okay."
Yu Mei was having a casual talk with Ji Er but didn't forget to pay attention to the very distracted Empress Ping. Surely the woman would have noticed something wrong with the wisteria vines by now. Yu Mei spent two hours picking begonias and adding them into the vines. She only put enough begonias for her mother-in-law to start acting up.
"Sister Yu Mei, you did a good job. It's very beautiful." Ji Er didn't forget to sincerely compliment her. Yu Mei came back to her senses.
"I didn't do much. It was all thanks to Chu'mei." Yu Mei didn't forget to give credit to the hardworking Chu'mei who literally created this masterpiece in front of them. Chu'mei who was standing behind Yu Mei smiled proudly. Of course it was her. If they knew how lazy her lady was, they would never have believed such a masterpiece could be done.
After everyone was done giving gifts and congratulating Empress Ping, the food was served. Rows and rows of maids walked in with trays filled with covered dishes. The mother-in-law who wasn't feeling so good was feeling much better when she saw the food coming down. Maybe her allergies would go away naturally after eating.
As the food was coming in, Ji Er could smell it. She excitedly turned to Yu Mei. "Sister Yu Mei, the food smells so good. What did you prepare for the main course?'
"You'll see." Yu Mei mischievously said. Yu Mei's eyes glanced over at the Empress's table. Ji Er had noticed it a while ago. "Did something happen between you and mother? You've been staring at her this whole time."
"Watch. I'm waiting for her to react."
"React?"
Yu Mei knew she could trust Ji Er. Whatever she wanted to say, she could say to her. Yu Mei leaned over and whispered. "Every dish is chicken." Yu Mei whispered a few more lines into Ji Er's ears causing her to burst in laughter. This caught the attention of Pei Nan, Fei Ning and Ming Yan. Ming Yan who was sitting next to Ji Er whispered. "What are you laughing at?"
"Nothing." Ji Er quickly tried to stop laughing. Ming Yan didn't say anything more. Ever since Ji Er started hanging out with Yu Mei, the two of them had become distant.
Gu Shao had also looked over. To be exact, he had subconsciously started gazing over at the cheerful Yu Mei. The contrast was wide. Fei Ning sat there like her elegant self while Yu Mei was acting carefree like usual.
On the othe side, now that Ji Er was in on the secret, she couldn't help but keep taking secret peeks at Empress Ping.
Finally the dishes were set on every table.The main dish was opened first upon Yu Mei's request beforehand. The watery eyed Empress Ping almost jumped out of her seat when she saw it. It was a whole glazed chicken. She automatically leaned back on her seat and looked at it in horror. Every dish was opened one by one afterwards, which shocked Empress Ping even more. She couldn't stomach it down. The dishes were all normal, made with chicken. So what was she so surprised by.
Everyone began to eat and create small conversation except for a scarred Empress Ping. "Ming Yan, are you not feeling well?" the emperor proceeded to ask his wife when he noticed she hadn't touched any of her food yet. He picked up a drumstick with his chopstick and put it on her dish. "Thank you." She awkwardly smiled at him before picking up her chopstick. After forcing herself to pick up the drumstick, it was held up to her mouth. She couldn't do it. She couldn't bring herself to eat it without thinking of that day. The day…she was chased by five chickens.
Ji Er and Yu Mei on the other hand was trying hard not to laugh. What did Yu Mei whisper to her? The story of Empress Ping being chased by chickens.
Two days ago***
Yu Mei and Chu'mei arrived at the palace to continue decorating but they had come a half hour early. Yu Mei made her way towards the kitchen. Just a few meters away, she pulled out a bag of seed and sprinkled them all over the grass before slipping into the kitchen. Over 6 dozen chickens were caged inside the storage room of the kitchen. She peeked in, no one was there. On her tiptoes, she made her way in as she waited and waited.
So what was she waiting for?
Empress Ping.
Right as the sun was rising, Empress Ping was doing her daily walk with her maid Tao Yu accompanying her. Something Yu Mei had quickly learned of.
*Click* Yu Mei unlocked the first batch of chickens. *Cluck* *Cluck* they made their escape through the opened door.
*Click* one more cage was unlocked. A total of ten chickens were released into the wild. Yu Mei waited no more than two seconds before it happened.
*AHHHHH* Yu Mei peeked outside after hearing the loud shriek. Empress Ping was running around like a mad woman with five chickens tailing behind her.
Just thinking back on it, Yu Mei smiled. Empress Ping on the other hand was not having it. She had never had such a bizarre thing happen to her before. After that day, she never wanted to see another chicken ever again.