As usual, there were none other than the normal chattings and keeping up with each other, people greeting and toasting the prince and emperor, and ladies blushing at the handsome men. Then, there would be the gifting session.
Well, right now was not currently the time to present the gifts but to chatter with each other. Of course, this was not the case for Cao Fenfang. She abhorred talking to people who did not understand her, so why would she waste her breath on them?
Thus, she sat in a position that told everyone she was currently very bored. Due to her status and wealth as Master Cao, they gave her a seat by herself where she did not have to share with anyone. However, this attracted a lot of attention to her, especially because of the position she was sitting in.
Due to the way she was sitting, she attracted the attention of both Shi Huang and Shi Zian a lot. As time went on, Shi Zian even wondered why he was constantly looking at someone who was not even doing anything aside from sitting without showing a single sign of movement at all.
For Cao Fenfang, aside from being bored, she was regretting that she did not bring Xiao Xiulan or Wei Cuifen with her. Who cares about showing some respect to the royal family when she needed entertainment?
After some time had passed, the empress finally stated, "This empress is sure everyone must be very bored now. This empress has heard that many of the noble ladies are well-trained in the art of music and dancing. Thus, would any lady be willing to dance for Huang'er?"
As soon as the empress said such a thing, the eyes of many ladies immediately lit up and some began to glare at others to not stand up.
"Your Majesty, please allow me," a young lady stood up.
"Please, go ahead," the empress kindly gestured her to go to the center of the hall.
"Your Majesty, this daughter apologizes beforehand if she does not meet your expectations," the young lady said as she walked up to the musicians and asked them to play a song for her to dance.
In the middle of the hall, the young lady in light blue danced beautifully almost like a falling fairy. However, without the accompaniment of the other dancers in dark blue that had joined her, she would not be standing out as much. If not for the accompanying music, her dance would seem lackluster with no soul.
As though to point this out, the moment that the young lady finished her dance and received the compliments of many nobles, Cao Fenfang gave a quiet scoff that no one heard except for Shi Huang.
"Haha! Chancellor Zhang, your daughter is a great dancer. This emperor is sure that there are many noble sons rushing to propose marriage," Shi Zian stated with a cheery face. "Servants! Award Young Miss Zhang with 100 gold taels and a bolt of moon silk."
Then, Shi Zian turned to his son and asked, "Huang'er, what do you think of Young Miss Zhang?"
However, after waiting a few seconds, his son was still not talking. Normally, he would already have given him a reply even if it was just a short simple vowel.
Wondering what happened to his son, Shi Zian looked at his son only to realize that Shi Huang was deeply focused on Cao Fenfang who still had not changed her position from one of boredom.
This made Shi Zian turn to Cao Fenfang and ask, "Master Cao, what do you think of Young Miss Zhang's dance?"
Due to boredom, Cao Fenfang was already close to falling asleep, but hearing her name - she immediately woke up.
"Boring," Cao Fenfang gave a simple answer.
This completely insulted everyone, especially the Zhang nobles. If Cao Fenfang had been a man, they could still forgive her. However, she was a woman and the mere fact that she was judging another lady lowly made many of the noble ladies want to fight her.
Understanding the mood of the room, Cao Fenfang asked, "Angry?"
Then, she gave a low chuckle and said, "If Miss Zhang was indeed entertaining, this lady here would not be falling asleep and trying so hard to stay awake."
In response to that, Madam Zhang said, "Miss Cao seems to have fallen asleep since she's come here."
"That is only natural," Cao Fenfang immediately replied. "The entertainment is subpar and premeditated. The music is barely adequate and even the food is of low quality. There is not a single thing in this feast that has entertained me thus far."
"Miss Cao, speaking like that, you must not like what this empress has prepared?" the empress spoke with an ugly expression on her face.
"Perhaps if they had truly been of good quality. Pitifully, they do not meet even half of what I'd want," Cao Fenfang answered, not in the least fearful of the royal might. "What? Empress feels insulted? Empress should have already known what embarrassment is when she decided to allow her own family to dance for the prince."
The more Cao Fenfang spoke, the darker the expression on the empress and the Zhang family. After all, they just got exposed for trying to stuff their bloodline to Shi Huang.
Then, a brave young girl stood up and spoke in an arrogant voice, "If Miss Cao says that His Highness's birthday banquet has been boring, then what are you still doing here? Why not just leave immediately? It is not as though you're important to the banquet."
Almost immediately, the male side of the family of the brave girl pulled her down and told her to stop. The females were more closed off to the political and economical scene, but this was not the same for the males.
Master Cao was the boss behind Continental Bank and many other gigantic businesses, controlling the economy of the entire world. If they infuriated Cao Fenfang and made her their enemy, they would be losing out in so many ways. This was also the same reason why the empress could not fully show her dominating power like normal and also the reason why Cao Fenfang managed to sit so high up with her own table despite being new to the capital.
However, the young girl did not take heed and continued, "If Miss Cao is saying that Sister Chunhua is not good at dancing, then Miss Cao should come dance for us to see."
At those words, Cao Fenfang gave a smile and thought, 'Finally something entertaining.'
"That's quite fine with me. In the end, I'm quite bored. A dance would lighten up my mood," Cao Fenfang immediately agreed and stood up.
Then, she called out in her normal not too loud and not too quiet voice, "Xiao Xiao, Xiao Wei, Cui Xing, come, I have a use for you guys."
Right then, three people popped up from the entrance all covered up with nothing but eyes showing. This simply made the nobles think, 'Does Miss Cao have an addiction with face veils, or is it a taboo?'
The moment that the three of them popped up from thin air though, someone asked Shi Zian, "Your Majesty, this subordinate believes that it is against the law to just bring in a maid or guard without any notice. What if they were assassins instead? Have their body even been checked for weapons and poisons?"
"Had I wanted to assassinate the emperor, I would not be doing it at a birthday banquet but while he is sleeping," Cao Fenfang countered. "Stupid. What idiot would kill in daylight knowing that they would be the suspect, hm?"
"Miss," Xiao Xiulan called out, knowing that Cao Fenfang was eager to cause chaos due to her boredom.
Otherwise, she would not be talking so much since she generally did not like to talk in the first place.
"Go, pick an instrument and play for this lady. Any song will do," Cao Fenfang immediately said as soon as she was called out by Xiao Xiulan.
Thus, Cao Fenfang went to the middle of the hall and listened to the music that the three played. If someone ever asked her why she chose the three of them to attend to her daily, she would give them her reason now: They always knew how to read the mood and understand the event.
Like now, they were playing a song fitting the ninth prince according to the rumors. However, since it is his birthday, they were not playing a murderous song, but a heroic song of the prince who would fight in wars to protect the borders. This was a song that was full of praise and with the accompanying singing of Xiao Xiulan, many people would definitely know that this was a celebratory song.
Though, there was also another thing that stood out. This was a song that told a story - to be specific, the story of the Shi Huang in a positive light. Although in a positive light, there would inevitably be sad tunes joining in to show the hardships in his life.
As soon as Cao Fenfang acclimated to the beats of the song, she began to dance and used her sleeves as her weapon of choice. In order to show the same power and heroic meaning of the song, she needed to give off the aura of bravery. Thus, her moves demonstrated her skill in martial arts and swordsmanship.
At the same time, she had to give off the same forlornness and dark vibes that the prince had, thus her art was very cold and stiff to show the darkness of the prince.
By the end of her dance, everyone was too astounded to give a single reaction. This was except for Shi Huang who immediately clapped his hands in applause.