In the past, the Wenxi Banquet in Bianjing was usually held at Qionglin Garden, which faced Jinming Pool. On the day of the Wenxi Banquet, flowers filled the roads around Jinming Pool, with red-skirted ladies competing to see the green-robed scholars – it was one of the great spectacles of the capital. Now the venue for Lin’an’s Wenxi Banquet had been changed to the Ministry of Rites’ examination hall, located west of Guan Bridge and east of Xinzhuang Bridge, built along a small tributary. Though its scale could not compare with Qionglin Garden, the courtyard also contained halls, pavilions, corridors, and galleries, as well as famous flowers and fine trees. With spring grass around pools and fragrant courtyards, it possessed something of the charm of southern gardens.

The Emperor usually did not attend the Wenxi Banquet, often appointing the chief examiner of that session or other important ministers as presiding officials to drink with the jinshi. But this year was different – the Emperor had unprecedentedly appointed the Crown Prince to serve as presiding official to meet the new jinshi. The Royal Kitchen palace servants privately passed along this news and speculated: “Because there’s a member of the imperial clan among the top three graduates, His Majesty is very pleased. He even said that scholar is a thousand-li horse of our family, so he’s having the Crown Prince attend the Wenxi Banquet to show special favor.”

It was said that this imperial clan member was the seventh-generation descendant of Han Gong Xian Prince, the eldest son of Emperor Taizong. Originally, he should have placed first as the zhuangyuan, but His Majesty, to avoid suspicion and demonstrate fairness to the world, following the principle of “prioritizing humble scholars in the imperial examinations,” promoted the second-place candidate Xiao Ting to zhuangyuan, while the original zhuangyuan became the bangyan.

Zhenzhen and Feng Xian, remembering that Zhao Huaiyu was also from the imperial clan, became even more curious. Feng Xian then inquired with Li Dianshan, who often accompanied Pei Shangshi in and out of the Emperor’s bedchamber, about the bangyan’s name. The answer was indeed “Zhao Huaiyu.”

Upon hearing this news, Zhenzhen laughed: “When I saw that Young Master Zhao treat the wealth of Yibei Lou like dirt, I knew he harbored great ambitions and was no ordinary man. Now he has indeed achieved high success.”

Feng Xian clasped her hands together, also showing joy in her expression.

On the day of the imperial banquet, personnel from the Ceremonial Department and Royal Kitchen waited for the palace gates to open before heading to the Ministry of Rites’ examination hall to prepare. When the appointed time arrived, the Crown Prince and the chief examiner led officials and jinshi inside, arranged in the courtyard, facing the palace with incense tables set up, performing ten prostrations in succession. Then the Crown Prince, together with the presiding officials and first-rank jinshi, entered Jingyi Pavilion in the courtyard, while the remaining jinshi were divided into two categories – regular nominees and special nominees – seated respectively in the eastern and western corridors. Those who passed through normal examinations and were qualified nominees from the Ministry of Rites were called “regular nominees.” Those who had failed the jinshi examinations multiple times were separately listed by the Ministry of Rites and submitted to the throne; with the Emperor’s permission, they were allowed to take additional tests during the palace examination and specially granted degrees for that session, called “special nominees.” These two categories of jinshi were each seated in the corridors according to age.

When the Crown Prince and those from zhuangyuan downward entered the gates, the Court Music Bureau immediately played the elegant music “Zheng’an”: “Many scholars gather here, in that western academy. Respectful and dignified in bearing, they also possess this demeanor. Coming here with reverence, from west to east. Heaven bestows your fortune, and the King honors it.”

The Crown Prince’s countenance was bright and clear, his appearance graceful and refined. Facing the assembly of officials and scholars, he sat upright and elegantly in the main seat, listening to the melodious court music. His gentle thin lips held a slight smile, his gaze directed toward the ministers and jinshi arranged to his left and right. His manner was clear and solemn, his bearing possessing the dignity and gravity of a ruler. Though he spoke not a word, merely sitting quietly seemed to embrace the sun and moon, radiating brilliance.

The jinshi sat on the ground and ate at separate tables, each with a small black table before them, using blue cushions for seating. Each table was set with four dishes of seasonal fresh fruits, plus a plate of carved decorative fruits for viewing called “wangguo,” and a fresh flower arranged in a vase for decoration called “wanghua.” Condiments like vinegar, pickled vegetables, and sauces were also distributed among the tables.

The Wenxi Banquet involved nine rounds of wine toasts, each accompanied by different musical pieces to enhance the drinking atmosphere. When the Crown Prince smiled and raised his cup for the first toast, the musicians changed their tune and began playing “Binxing Xianneng”: “The illustrious Son of Heaven follows ancient traditions. Delighting in Pan waters, shining in all directions. Gathering these scholars like picking water celery, using them as guests to the King. I have fine titles to bestow, placing them in the court ranks.”

During the first two toasts, host and guests raised their cups in celebration, occasionally conversing. Besides the fruits on the tables, the Royal Kitchen palace servants did not yet serve dishes. Only at the third toast was a dish of freshly pickled meat called “xuanzha” served, and the subsequent six toasts all had food to accompany the wine. After the fifth toast, the banquet temporarily paused. Palace servants would present four silk flowers bestowed by the Emperor to the ministers and jinshi, for them to pin on their caps, while also granting a box of palace ice for cooling. Everyone arranged themselves in the courtyard, prostrated twice in gratitude, then returned to their seats to continue the final four toasts.

Before the sixth toast, all cups, wangguo, and wanghua on each table had to be completely replaced. Ministers and jinshi had previously used silver cups, but starting from the sixth toast, they switched to silver goblets. The Crown Prince differed from the others – he had previously used gold cups, and for the sixth toast switched to his customary lotus jade goblet. The wangguo were carved from seasonal fresh fruits, each with intricate auspicious patterns, and when arranged on plates required overall artistic composition – extremely difficult work that required several palace servants to complete in advance.

This time, the presiding official’s cups and wangguo were Feng Jing’s responsibility, assigned two months earlier. Only recently did they learn the presiding official would be the Crown Prince. She felt extremely awkward but could not decline the task, so she could only prepare carefully, while assigning other palace servants to actually present the wine cups and wangguo.

During each toast, the Royal Kitchen female officials would inspect the wine and food to be served several steps in advance. Just as the third toast’s xuanzha was served, Feng Jing began checking the wine cup and wangguo that the Crown Prince would switch to after the flower ceremony for the sixth toast. Opening the brocade box containing the lotus jade goblet, Feng Jing was instantly shocked – the box was completely empty, containing no cups whatsoever.

The lotus jade goblet set consisted of two cups, previously taken out by Qin Sishan and entrusted to Feng Jing to bring from the palace to the examination hall. Before the banquet began, she had been guarding beside the brocade box. Only after the first five toasts were fully prepared did she briefly step away, standing in the shadows under the corridor opposite Jingyi Pavilion, watching from afar the Crown Prince who was smiling and raising his cup to the jinshi. Unexpectedly, in this brief moment, the jade goblets had vanished without a trace.

Feng Jing quickly searched everywhere, and the surrounding female officials soon discovered the missing jade goblets, commanding their subordinate palace servants to search. However, after a flurry of activity, everyone came up empty-handed. Instead, palace servants discovered that the wangguo prepared for the Crown Prince had somehow been overturned in a corner of the kitchen and trampled by someone, completely destroyed.

Feng Jing’s face turned ashen as she stared at the crushed remains of the wangguo, her frail body swaying as if about to collapse.

Zhenzhen stepped forward to support her, whispering in her ear: “Don’t panic. You continue looking for the jade goblet, I’ll go ask Qin Sishan for instructions.”

Pei Shangshi was still in the palace serving His Majesty today, Sun Sishan remained at Cifu Palace, making Qin Sishan the highest-ranking female official at the examination hall today. She had been sitting to one side below the Crown Prince, responsible for tasting the food and drink presented to the Crown Prince beforehand. After consulting with a palace servant about to enter the pavilion to pour wine, Zhenzhen took over her wine pot, carried it into the pavilion, came behind Qin Sishan, and under the pretense of pouring wine for her, quietly told Qin Sishan about the jade goblet and wangguo incident.

After hearing this, Qin Sishan’s gaze froze slightly, but her expression remained unchanged. She turned her head and whispered in Zhenzhen’s ear: “Quickly notify the Imperial City Department.”

After giving these instructions, she calmly turned back and slightly bowed toward the Crown Prince who was looking at her, presenting the same impeccable elegant smile as when serving at the banquet.

The Imperial City Department commanded the Imperial Guards and was responsible for protecting the imperial city. On the day of the Wenxi Banquet, over a thousand Imperial City Department guards accompanied them, stationed inside and outside the examination hall to ensure the safety of relevant personnel.

Following Qin Sishan’s instructions, Zhenzhen found the Imperial City Department attendant officer leading the troops that day outside Jingyi Pavilion. Unexpectedly, he was a youth who appeared not yet twenty years old, and looked quite familiar. Before Zhenzhen could speak as she approached him, he was already smiling at her: “It’s you!”

Though this youth wore military garb, very different from when they had previously met, his bright smile quickly lifted the dust from Zhenzhen’s sealed memories, and she recognized him as the youth who had played water polo with Zhao Ai, Zhao Ai’s cousin.

“You are Yin Rui,” Zhenzhen sought confirmation using the name Qin Sishan had mentioned.

He nodded: “Yes, I am Yin Rui.” After a pause, he added quite happily: “The Second Prince’s cousin.”

Zhenzhen had no time for reminiscing, so she lowered her voice to tell him about the incident in the kitchen and Qin Sishan’s instructions. Yin Rui’s expression changed from his previous joking demeanor to serious: “Understood. Please rest assured, I will make arrangements.”

Zhenzhen immediately hurried back to the kitchen. Along the way, passing by the examination hall’s water scenery, fragrant scents drifted on the breeze. Zhenzhen slowed her steps slightly and looked up to see lotus flowers standing tall in the pool, their leaves round and green, pure and elegant.

Returning to see Feng Jing, Zhenzhen told her that the Imperial City Department had made deployments according to Qin Sishan’s instructions and would investigate the theft of the lotus jade goblet, while the urgent matter was to find wine vessels to replace the jade goblet and prepare new wangguo.

Feng Jing looked troubled: “There are still many wine vessels, but they’re all silver. At such a grand banquet, the Crown Prince’s vessels cannot be the same as the ministers’. Carving wangguo takes considerable time, and those specially for the Crown Prince are different from others – more refined. In the time of these two toasts, there’s clearly no time to re-carve them.”

Zhenzhen remembered the green lotus leaves she had seen earlier, and gradually formed an idea. She said to Feng Jing: “I have a solution for the wine vessel, I’ll go prepare it. But there’s no good plan for the wangguo. Please think more, Food Preparation official, and find a substitute.”

After considering for a moment, Feng Jing said: “Perhaps I could make a kanpan to replace the wangguo.”

A kanpan was also solely for banquet display and viewing, composed of arranged food. Hearing this, Feng Xian stepped forward: “The pastries I’m responsible for are ready. If Food Preparation Feng needs assistance, I can help.”

Several observing female officials and palace servants also expressed their willingness to assist Feng Jing in making the kanpan. Feng Jing thanked them, stated the ingredients needed, and everyone immediately dispersed to prepare. Seeing this, Zhenzhen breathed a sigh of relief and immediately went out toward the lotus pond to carry out her plan.

Feng Jing took a silver plate and placed it on an ice box, dripping oil into it to form mountains, using celery, chive leaves, and willow buds to create a verdant mountain scene. Between the mountains, she used honey to create streams and mountain springs. Then she took soaked lily bulbs, selecting appropriately sized ones, assembling them petal by petal into several magnolia-like flowers, using bayberry juice to dye the outer edges of the petals, making the flowers show a pink-purple gradient like magnolias. The flowers were fixed on thin fruit tree branches and inserted into the silver plate among the mountains, exactly like magnolia trees. When inserting the flowering trees, a few petals were knocked off and fell beside the stream. Feng Jing was about to pick them up, but the watching crowd felt this scene was natural, with the charm of fallen flowers following the water, so Feng Jing left them unchanged.

When the kanpan was finished, the flower-granting ceremony in the courtyard had concluded, and it was time to change the cups, plates, and wine vessels on the tables. The guests’ tables had been cleared, the wanghua had been changed, and the wangguo were about to be presented. The palace servant originally designated to present wangguo to the Crown Prince asked Feng Jing for instructions. Feng Jing concentrated her thoughts, finally made up her mind, and said: “I’ll do it.”

Feng Jing lifted the kanpan to eyebrow height, moved with delicate steps, slowly entered Jingyi Pavilion, and under the Crown Prince’s gaze, bowed low, knelt to place the kanpan on his table, retreated several steps on her knees, then raised her hands to her forehead and performed another grand salute.

The kanpan’s landscape was three-dimensional, visible to ministers on both sides below the Crown Prince. Tanhua Ju Junyi was a young man in his twenties who carefully observed the kanpan, clicked his tongue in amazement, and whispered to Zhao Huaiyu nearby: “The imperial style is truly extraordinary. This kanpan is lifelike, recreating the scene of hibiscus flowers blooming in the mountains.”

Zhao Huaiyu smiled slightly and said softly: “What the kanpan depicts seems to be magnolia flowers.”

“How can you tell?” Fu Junyi said. “Looking at this color, it’s very much like hibiscus.”

Zhao Huaiyu said: “This kanpan landscape seems to be created based on the poetic meaning of ‘Xinyi Wu’ from Wang Wei’s Wangchuan Collection.”

“Correct, they are magnolia flowers,” said Zhuangyuan Xiao Ting, who was sitting nearby. Unable to resist joining the discussion after hearing their debate, he recited the poem from Xinyi Wu: “Magnolia flowers at tree tops, red buds opening in the mountains. By the ravine door with no one around, they bloom and fall in profusion.”

They spoke very softly, but during the cup-changing intermission, the music had paused and the pavilion was quiet, so their whispers could reach the ears of both the Crown Prince and Feng Jing. Hearing this, the Crown Prince quietly looked toward them. The three immediately fell silent, but the Crown Prince smiled faintly and joined the discussion by saying: “They are magnolia flowers.”

Encouraged by this, Fu Junyi wanted to perform more before the Crown Prince, so he enthusiastically continued the topic: “Looking carefully, this scene indeed matches the poetic meaning of Xinyi Wu. Back then, Wang Wei’s good friend Pei Di also wrote a poem in response.”

He quickly recited Pei Di’s poem: “Green embankment where spring grass joins, the nobleman lingers to enjoy. Moreover there are magnolia flowers, their color confused with hibiscus.”

The Crown Prince’s smile deepened, but his eyes gazing at the kanpan held some melancholy confusion. After a moment, he raised his eyes to Feng Jing with a slight smile and said gently: “This scene is very beautiful. Food Preparation official, you have worked hard.”

Feng Jing bowed low in thanks, keeping her head down as much as possible to prevent her gaze from being caught by him, then took her leave.

The Crown Prince nodded and softly said to her: “Take good care of yourself.”

With the kanpan in place, it was time to change the wine cups. At this moment, Zhenzhen entered the pavilion, performed her salute, then slowly approached the Crown Prince’s table and placed the prepared wine cup on his table.

Except for the Crown Prince, everyone else widened their eyes, staring at the “wine cup” Zhenzhen had presented, amazed beyond measure.

That wine cup was neither gold nor jade, but a fresh lotus leaf placed on a purple sandalwood inkstone stand. The leaf center dipped down, supported by the inkstone stand, with the outer edges curving inward in a funnel shape, while the leaf stem was bent like an elephant’s trunk, loosely tied in a knot, with the end pointing upward, extending diagonally toward the Crown Prince.

Zhenzhen lifted the wine pot and poured wine into the leaf center. The wine flowed like clear dew along the lotus leaf’s outer edges into the leaf center, gathering there, clear and pure.

Zhenzhen then picked up a snow-white silver hairpin beside the inkstone stand, pierced the leaf center, allowing the wine to flow into the hollow leaf stem. Then she stepped back, saluted the Crown Prince again, and began explaining this wine vessel’s origin: “This wine vessel is called a Green Tube Cup. Legend has it that during the Wei period, Zheng Que led his guests to escape the heat in Shijun Forest during the dog days of summer…”

Zhenzhen had read about the Green Tube Cup in Lin Hong’s notes but had never told anyone about it. Now forced by circumstances, she decided to use lotus leaves to replace the lotus jade goblet for the Crown Prince’s use, which required explaining the historical precedent to gain the Crown Prince’s understanding. However, the notes were not with her, and she had never memorized them word for word, so the details were unclear. Being somewhat nervous, her speech was stammering and frequently paused.

“During the Zhengshi years of Wei, Zheng Que, Prefect of Qi Prefecture, during the dog days of summer, led his guests to escape the heat in Shijun Forest north of Licheng,” the Crown Prince suddenly took over her words, continuing calmly and unhurriedly: “At that time, Zheng Que took lotus leaves and placed them on inkstone stands, filling them with three sheng of wine, using hairpins to pierce the leaves and connect them to the stems, bending the stems like elephant trunks to suck the wine.” Pausing here, he looked up at the ministers listening to his words and smiled: “Recently the summer heat has been growing intense, so I am imitating Zheng Que’s elegant practice, ordering the Royal Kitchen palace servants to use lotus leaves instead of wine cups to hold wine. Fine wine infused through lotus flower stems and leaves becomes even more fragrant and refreshing, and can dispel summer heat. As the ancients said: ‘The wine taste mingles with lotus fragrance, cool and refreshing, better than water.'”