One by one, they unboarded the sleek black limo and entered the grand palace.
They were led to the royal dining room by the butler that had waited at the door for them. He looked exactly like one of the ones you would read about in a book old and dressed in a black and white suit.
Although he did have a suspicious amount of hair on his head. Shouldn't he at least have a bald spot for his age?
Intricate pillars lined the lengthy hallway, they were escorted down while tall, imposing windows were spaced out excellently between them.
The palace floors were made of polished marble that displayed how the world was mapped and divided over time using large circular mosaics.
Along the halls were beautifully assorted flowers and plants that brought more life and colour to the stone gray walls, black tile floors, and detailed marble statues.
As expected, the ceiling did, in fact, have an extraordinary mural painted on it and looked as good as it would in the 1500s. Yaorui had to applaud the people that managed to keep the masterpiece in pristine condition.
Golden chandeliers were hanging from the ceiling as well as fake torches and lamps on the walls, that emitted a soft but refined yellow glow, making the room seem a bit warmer.
Eventually, they reached the end of the hallway and instantly entered what she was assuming was the royal ballroom, meant for large gatherings of people.
The floors were checkered black and gold marble and the walls curved at the edges.
Just like in the previous hall, the pillars were grand and intricate, while the windows were tall and imposing.
Contrary to the earlier hall, the ballroom did not have a mural on the ceiling, instead, in its place is carvings of elaborate patterns. Flower arrangments, as well as a section where the instrumentalists would play their music, and of course some seating, decorated the hall.
Past the ballroom was an extravagant dining room that could fit 200 hundred people.
The butler turned left, and her family followed closely behind.
Now they had finally arrived at their destination.
The room was not as large as the previous one, but that was an obvious outcome since not 200 hundred something people were going to eating with them today.
The dining table in the center of the room was considerably large and sat 30 people max.
A second after they were seated comfortably at the dining table, they heard voices coming from the same direction they had entered through. Assuming that it was just the Hu family arriving, she didn't bother to pause her conversation with her sister about some new technologies to improve both the country's economy and environmental health.
Her father, mother, father's parents, Shen Hui, Fanlong, Aonu, and her little sister all sat to one side while the rest of them (Long Ao, Wenshi, Aunt, Uncle, Mom's parents, Zhangmin, and herself) sat on the other side.
"...But wouldn't it make more sense to build tree houses rather than the modern-day houses?" Her sister was a fan of heights, it wasn't surprising for Aishi to prefer treehouses.
"Yes, but treehouses aren't exactly safe and convenient,"
"Well if you ask me, I think building them into the earth itself is a better option,"
Yaorui and Aishi looked up at the intruder, "Hu Angli, I see you've finally learned to tame your hair,"
"Yes, I guess I did Rui'er," Hu Angli chuckled at the sarcastic remark.
"That's an interesting suggestion though, it'd take fewer materials to build home into the Earth's crust,"
"Yes, but finding the location and digging into certain terrains would cause trouble," Yaorui countered her sister's suggestion.
"There are also the possibilities of earthquakes, tsunamis, tornados, landslides, etc..." And just like that, Hu Angli was kicked out of the conversation by the two passionate sisters.
He harumphed and slumped back into his seat, earning giggles from his sisters and mother. Angli rolled his eyes and glared at them in return.
His third sister, Hu Huibai, stuck out her tongue at him.
"I see you've all arrived already," Everyone stood up at the sound of the Duke's voice. "Please, stay seated,"
The Duke moved forward to take a seat followed closely by his family.
Just like before, the triplets were dressed in matching outfits and behaved completely differently from each other.
Bailey was laughing and playing.
Celestia was calm and collected.
Lizzie was shy and quiet, hiding behind the skirts of her mother's dress.
The queen held Celestia in her arms, and Prince Sean was chasing after Bailey.
Five minutes later, everybody was settled into their seats, and a line of servants entered with platers on their hands. The meals were hidden by dome-shaped lids that fit snuggly onto the plate.
The flower arrangements were removed to provide better communication, and the three little princesses were given boosters.
"Mr. Li," The Duke started, "I only heard about five of your children, how come I see six of them?"
"Ah well, these two young ladies," Her father gestured to Fanlong and Wenshi, "Are to be my future daughters-in-law, and my fourth child is part of the entertainment industry and has chosen to stay behind in China due to her busy schedule and upcoming world tour,"
"Admirable, she specializes in the musical arts, I assume?"
"Yes, that is correct," her father hesitated, "If I may, I heard from my eldest daughter that your three princesses are also part of the GIFTED program, what do they specialize in?"
"Well, Celestia here, visual arts, Lizzie has an outstanding photographic memory and is studying an array of subjects, and my youngest Bailey has the gifted mind of a strategist, she will be a great ruler if the time ever comes,"
"A ruler indeed, do you plan for her to enter the military?"
"That will be up to her when she grows older,"
After that, the atmosphere became tense and awkward, nobody knew what to say.
"Your highness?" the Duke and Duchess both looked in her direction.
"You mentioned that Lizzie studied a wide array of subjects, do they include languages?"
"Yes," The Duchess replied.
"Then if you don't mind, I think it would be fun to test just how much she knows,"
The couple looked at their daughter, who was looking at Yaorui in curiousity.
In a meek and quiet voice, the princess nodded and said, "okay..."
"What language would you like to compete in?"
"...german..."
And just like that, they started a conversation in fluent german. Eventually, Lizzie became relaxed, and as she relaxed, so did her way of speaking. At first, it was very polite and professional, now she was using some of the slang from the country.
They did this all while they ate their appetizers.
When the main courses arrived, they switched to Central Malay, a language spoken in Indonesia.
By the third course, Lizzie had run out of languages to communicate with while she was still going strong.
"How old are you again, Lizzie?"
"5,"
"And what age did you begin learning how to speak several languages?"
"Three,"
"So you learned 5 languages including, English in two years!?"
The little princess nodded shyly, not knowing where the conversation was going.
Yaorui applauded the little princess and praised the young one to a great extent.
After seeing their sister conversing with Yaorui, the other two sisters too requested to be quizzed. But because Yaorui wasn't proficient in visual arts, Aishi quizzed Celestia on her knowledge of digital art.
Bailey's problem-solving abilities had soared above her expectations. Although Bailey was energetic, she never liked taking the long way to solve problems, instead she was able to come up with short and blunt answers that even baffled her at times.
While the triplets were busy being quizzed by her, Aishi, and sometimes Angli, the adults engaged in a polite conversation of politics and business. Her other siblings conversed with Prince Sean, Prince Christian, and his wife, Princesa Inez.
Soon enough, the meal was over, and it was time for the triplets to retire to their rooms.
At the door, the butler came up to both Angli and Yaorui and passed them an invitation.
"His highness wishes to invite you to the Princesses' seventh birthday in two years and sincerely hopes for you to present yourselves. He apologizes for not inviting you to their sixth birthday, it's just that Princess Bailey is highly against the next year, we are unsure why,"
Angli made eye contact with her before they both reached out their hands to grasp the two invites.
"We understand, after all, we can't fight against the word of a strategist,"
"Please give our thanks to his highness for us," Angli continued her sentence.
"We'll be there, no matter the circumstances,"
And that was a vow that would never be broken.
But the price of the unbroken vow is another story...