After a period of bustling commotion, the banquet finally resumed. Tie Yan repeatedly insisted there was no need for excessive formality, so ultimately the Emperor sat in the seat of honor, Noble Consort Tie Ci seated beside him, with everyone else arranged around below.
Both the Emperor and Noble Consort smiled warmly as they gazed at these promising young men. The Emperor looked at them with the eyes of one viewing future assistants to his daughter, while the Noble Consort looked at them with the eyes of one viewing potential future sons-in-law.
Since she couldn’t look openly, she would steal glances left and right from time to time. Her gaze made Qi Yuansi, Yang Yixiu, and the others feel as if they were sitting on pins and needles, constantly shifting backward discreetly until they had pushed Rong Pu to the very front.
Rong Pu, however, remained composed and upright no matter how intense the scrutiny, his clear and open demeanor earning Tie Yan’s satisfied beard-stroking and the Noble Consort’s subtle nods of approval. Her gaze grew increasingly satisfied.
She noticed Pingzong, having eaten her fill, showed no interest in joining the conversation and was playing with her prayer beads, causing the Noble Consort to furrow her brow slightly.
Tie Ci had said this woman could protect them, but having seen her in person, the Noble Consort didn’t believe it. The palace was full of skilled fighters—how could it be the turn of this young village woman who seemed to understand nothing?
His Highness was simply too ambitious in spirit. Why must she always work so hard? Wouldn’t it be much easier to marry a husband with powerful influence sooner rather than later?
His Highness was currently completely focused on court affairs with no mind for marriage matters, and His Majesty had always indulged His Highness, letting her have her way. But as a woman herself, she understood most clearly that if a woman delayed her good years and missed good young men, it would be a lifelong regret.
Rong Pu was even older than His Highness and had also reached the age for betrothal. They should naturally form closer ties with the imperial family, but the imperial family had never given any indication. If Chief Minister Rong felt uncertain and unwilling to wait, arranging another match with a distinguished family for Rong Pu would be very possible.
These matters—her daughter didn’t understand them, men were careless about them—required her as a mother to worry about them more.
Her gaze swept over the prayer beads, and her heart stirred. She spoke softly to Tie Yan: “Your Majesty must be delighted to see so many young heroes today.”
“That’s only natural.”
Reminded by the Noble Consort’s gaze, Tie Yan noticed Pingzong’s prayer beads and suddenly remembered that Tie Ci’s unusual hospitality to these classmates today meant he should properly bestow some gifts.
The Emperor had eunuchs specifically assigned to this duty, and imperial rewards followed established protocols. A single word of “reward” would bring forth appropriate gifts matching the recipients’ status and rank.
However, except for Rong Pu, none of those present currently held official positions. Ordinary rewards wouldn’t demonstrate proper regard. Just as Tie Yan hesitated, the Noble Consort was already rising with a radiant smile, personally accompanying the eunuchs to arrange the rewards.
Both Tie Yan and Tie Ci felt puzzled, wondering when she had become so socially astute. On second thought, she wasn’t actually lacking in social understanding—she simply tended to think rather self-centeredly and stubbornly.
Since this was a minor matter, neither paid it much attention. Tie Yan personally inquired about Rong Pu and the others regarding Tie Ci’s experiences over the past year. While Tie Ci’s letters had been concise, reporting good news but not bad, Rong Pu and the others dared not speak the complete truth either, only briefly mentioning a few things. Finally, Rong Pu said: “His Highness has faced life and death for the sake of Your Majesty and the Great Qian realm. We loyally follow, moved by His Highness’s noble character, and this is also our duty as subjects. We dare not accept Your Majesty’s rewards. We only wish to request that Your Majesty preserve your dragon body for the sake of His Highness and Great Qian, forever remaining the support of His Highness, Great Qian, and countless millions of subjects.”
Tie Yan understood his meaning and nodded with gratification, saying: “I have only this one daughter. The previous dynasty saw fathers and sons suspicious of each other, brothers fighting—none of this will happen in our dynasty. I need no more heirs. What I want is for the Tie imperial clan to be united from top to bottom precisely because there is no retreat.”
Rong Pu vaguely understood his meaning and felt shocked in his heart. Looking at this emperor rumored to be weak and useless, a puppet ruler, Tie Yan smiled slightly at him.
Rong Pu lowered his eyes, thinking that indeed, even gentle people could have brave hearts. The Emperor’s desperate gamble, placing himself in mortal danger to find life—this was not something ordinary people could do.
With such a father and daughter pair, how could the Tie clan face decline?
After hearing these young people briefly describe a few incidents, Tie Yan sighed continuously. Previously he had only known that the trials were difficult, but he hadn’t known they were this difficult. The guilt in his heart deepened further, feeling that sitting safely and enjoying comfort at this moment was inappropriate. He wanted to share his feelings with the Noble Consort, but discovered she still hadn’t returned, making him wonder what she was arranging that required such attention to detail.
After a while, the Noble Consort finally appeared gracefully, followed by a line of palace maids carrying trays.
Tie Ci, feeling uneasy, personally went over first to examine everything, and only after finding no problems did she accompany the Noble Consort back.
The trays held paintings, rare books, precious porcelain, palace-made daggers with sharkskin scabbards, and a purple jade ruyi scepter.
Except for that purple jade ruyi being somewhat more precious, these were all standard items that emperors typically bestowed upon close subjects.
The famous painting was awarded to Tian Wu. From then on, the main hall of the old Tian family would display an imperially bestowed center scroll, and even the county magistrate would have to dismount when entering, saving them from much exploitation and harassment.
The rare book went to Shen Mi, encouraging him to study diligently. Tie Ci planned that once things settled down, she would have someone thoroughly investigate his father’s case, and if there had been injustice, clearing the Shen family’s name would be the greatest favor.
The jade porcelain went to Yang Yixiu—his father loved collecting precious porcelain, which was well known throughout the court, so he could use this to repair the father-son relationship.
The dagger went to Qi Yuansi—this was appropriate for a military family.
These were the items, though the original arrangements were different—Tie Ci had rearranged them.
Only regarding the purple jade ruyi, the Noble Consort insisted on bestowing it upon Rong Pu. Tie Ci was indifferent and wouldn’t argue with the Noble Consort over such a small matter.
Seeing that purple jade ruyi, Tie Yan’s brow furrowed slightly, but since the items had already been presented, it was inappropriate to say anything. He silently glanced at the Noble Consort.
The Great Qian dynasty valued purple as precious—below bright yellow came purple. “Purple qi coming from the east” itself represented the imperial clan.
And the ruyi scepter held different significance.
Going back several generations, when the imperial family arranged marriages, imperial marriage edicts were accompanied by purple jade ruyi scepters. It had simply been used less in recent generations.
Tie Ci was probably unaware of these implications.
But Tie Yan felt that since Rong Pu was already the best candidate for future national father-in-law, bestowing it early was not inappropriate.
Seeing the purple jade ruyi, Rong Pu was also slightly stunned and glanced at Tie Ci.
These rewards had been personally reviewed by Tie Ci, meaning they came from her authorization, or at minimum, she didn’t object.
So she was…
A slight smile crossed his face as he expressed gratitude and accepted the reward.
The Noble Consort looked at him with radiant joy, then looked at Tie Ci conversing and laughing with him, feeling more and more that she had done right—they truly were a perfect pair.
Over there, Pingzong, having eaten her fill, turned to study this group of people. After watching for quite a while, she suddenly asked: “Where’s my little uncle-in-law?”