Ancient banquets were as formal as the official dinners in later generations, beginning with speeches from leaders, although here the leaders were the Empress, the Crown Prince, and the Crown Princess Consort.
The main content was a briefing on some changes in Yan Country from the past year, as well as some major events. Quite boring actually, since she didn’t care for these official matters and preferred to interest herself in tasting the palace pastries quietly; making a sound while eating seeds at this time could not be risked. Content originally comes from novel fire.net
The beautiful girl sitting next to her had been noticing her for quite some time, probably thinking her not only unfamiliar but also bold, as everyone else dared not move while the Empress and Crown Prince spoke, yet she occasionally bowed her head to sneak some pastries into her mouth. Wasn’t that a bit too audacious? If she were discovered—
Before this suspicion was confirmed, she caught sight of three people standing around Xiao Yu. Although she didn’t recognize Xiao Ya and Nanny Liang, she could tell they were not ordinary servants. The palace maid always helping with tea and water definitely wasn’t her own maid, although she had maids standing behind her, people usually preferred to have their own servants do these tasks. The palace ones were rarely trusted, yet she had never seen someone use them with such carefree abandon.
In fact, Xiao Yu had already mentioned she could come by herself and didn’t need a palace maid to attend to her, but the others insisted, arranged by Prince Qing. If she just went back like that, she wouldn’t be able to report back, they said pitifully. She had no choice but to keep the girl, letting her be.
She never thought that this scene, being watched by others, would seem so incredible, because she hadn’t focused on these details at all.
The introductory speeches lasted about thirty to forty minutes, after which the palace dinner officially commenced. Special palace maid performances took place and music started playing; the men began to move around offering toasts, and the women started whispering among themselves.
"Hello, my name is Tie Lingling. I am the legitimate daughter of the Imperial Censor, fifteen years old this year. May I ask for your sister’s name?"
Suddenly, the young lady beside her initiated a greeting.
Xiao Yu didn’t have a deep understanding of ancient official ranks yet, so what rank was an Imperial Censor?
Despite her confusion, since the other party greeted her, she certainly couldn’t ignore her, so she quickly stood up and returned the courtesy.
"Hello, my name is Shen Xiaoyu, nineteen years old this year." She didn’t mention her own background because she didn’t know how to explain it.
The other girl seemed surprised why she didn’t introduce her family background fully since, in usual circumstances, shouldn’t that mean her family was not as prominent as hers?
Rarely finding someone whose father’s position was lower than her own, Tie Lingling felt a bit of relief and couldn’t help but strike up a casual conversation with Xiao Yu.
As they chatted, she noticed a little eunuch approaching their direction. The previously unnoticed corner suddenly had two or three little eunuchs; naturally, everyone found it strange because these eunuchs weren’t moving towards the front rows but rather to the back. If they were serving the front rows, no one would have thought anything of it since it’s normal for princes to take care of their princesses and commandery princesses, but who would send something to the back rows for no reason?
(Eunuchs were responsible for serving meals to the men, palace maids to the women)
"Miss Shen, this is an almond Buddha’s hand bestowed by the Emperor."
"Miss Shen, this is spicy tripe bestowed by the Crown Prince."
"Miss Shen, this is milk juice corner and a fruit platter offered by Prince Qing."
Tie Lingling: "..." Did she just have a hallucination? What exactly did she hear just now?