Don't Touch Those Flowers!

With warm hearts, everyone passed the night of New Year's Eve blissfully...

Apart from Lu Qing Yu, who was not able to chase out the 14 drunk princes sprawled all over his chambers, nor ask someone to come in and step around them to clean it... he spent the night on a couch he had brought in instead... falling asleep to the sour smell of alcohol...

"Quick, Young Miss, we have to get going soon to make it in time for the procession!" Qiu Le called from the other side of the screen.

I shoved another dumpling into my mouth, marveling at how the flavour absolutely exploded, and how juicy it was. I looked at the tray of dumplings in regret, decorated tastefully on a bed of green and brown.

Hmm... Surely I had time for a few more? How did they make these dumplings to be so delicious? I reached for some clear soup to wash it down, at the same time fishing out the sleeve of my new dress before it could dip into the food.

It was now New Year's Day. As was customary both in this world and that of my previous world, I put on new clothes and had breakfast before going out. Breakfast was dumplings of multiple fillings (餃子 Jiǎo Zi), shaped like a gold ingot. The world 餃子 Jiǎo Zi, or dumplings, sounded like "bidding farewell to the old and ushering in the new", thus making it a traditional food of choice during the Spring Festival.

Today was also a special day for me. Every year on the first day of the Spring Festival, a royal procession beginning from the imperial palace compounds would take place, traveling around the main streets of the capital in celebration.

There would also be music and dance on elaborate floats specially created for the occasion, which took thousands of artisans all year to finish. For this occasion, the main roads were closed, and no vehicles or animals were allowed on the roads.

Usually, the royals taking part would just be the Emperor, the Empress, and his immediate heirs. As Lu Qing Yu had none of these, it was usually just him. But this year for some reason, they had allowed all 3 Noble Concubines to take part in the procession as well, in an unprecedented move by the council of elders.

We were slightly late this morning precisely because the maids had taken too long to get me ready before breakfast. Although they had decided on the outfit weeks in advance (it was a custom-made red piece ordered by Lu Qing Yu), they decided to argue about the hair and the accessories instead. With so many accessories available, I would be a bit indecisive too.

After a quick touch-up for the cosmetics and a last-minute outfit check, we made our way to the side of the imperial palace compounds, where all the participants would get onto the procession. The maids had all gotten new outfits for the new year as well, and accessorised with gold hairpins.

It was dawn, and the slightest glimmer of sun was just starting to make its way into the sky, dying the dark blue of the night sky in shades of purple and orange, like ink making its way through the paper in paper chromatography or the blossom of colour in a watercolour piece.

Right at the main entrance of the palace, the group of us bumped into a very large and lavish flower arrangement.

"Noble Concubine Ling, this was delivered just this morning and was sent by the Emperor." Qiu Ci advised. The entourage of maids immediately swooned and started to coo over the flowers, as if it was a newborn child.

"Oh!" I gasped.

Bunches of rapeseed and cherry blossom flowers available in spring in Duan An (the capital) were arranged tastefully in a very expensive looking woven basket, a sea of yellow and pink.

Combined with the sky, it was such a beautiful and romantic surprise. Wow, I didn't expect Lu Qing Yu to be so romantic.

"Noble Concubine Ling, the Emperor has you in his heart!"

"It's so romantic! And on New Year's day, too!"

Not only me, the maids were also very encouraged and touched by this gesture. As maids, working for a favoured master was much better than working for someone who had no power or authority. The treatment and rewards would be better, and they could also hold their heads high. But after so many years, I truly believed we had all become close.

After stopping to admire the flowers for a moment, it was time to go.

Without thinking, I reached out to dip my hands into the flowers. Maybe we could bring some with us...

"STOP!" a hoarse shout came from the right.

We all froze. Was it an attack?

Eunuch Song Chu was standing in the path to my palace, holding a rather large bouquet of flowers.

His face was red from shouting and he immediately ran toward us.

"Don't touch those flowers!" he shouted again.

I withdrew my hands and sighed.

"Why is that eunuch shouting?" Qiu Le asked.

"Maybe he's in a hurry?" someone suggested. "No, he's holding flowers as well." "Eunuch Song Chu is the Emperor's eunuch, those must be from His Highness as well!" a maid suggested.

"Why would His Highness send another bunch of flowers? Is this one not big enough?" another maid scoffed at her.

At this, we all came to a realisation.

"Noble Concubine Ling, step away from the flowers. They might be dangerous." Qiu Ci was quick on her feet and immediately grabbed my arm, half-dragging me away from the flowers.

Although puzzled, I followed. They were right. We better wait and see what Eunuch Song Chu had to say.

Eunuch Song Chu finally reached us, panting all the way.

He held out the flower bouquet to Qiu Ci, who dodged.

"Why are you dodging?" he asked indignantly.

"Why shouldn't I? What if these flowers have a problem too?" Qiu Ci said.

"Problem?!" Eunuch Song Chu exclaimed in outrage, his voice going up two octaves.

"These were sent by His Highness himself, handpicked personally this morning! He even sent this eunuch over to deliver them to show his sincerity." Eunuch Song Chu preened, then looked at us expectantly.

"Thanks to Eunuch Song Chu for your hard work." I said.

Having received due praise for his hard work, he finally let it go. Meanwhile, Qiu Ci took the flowers from his hand.

"It's THOSE flowers that have a problem!" he pointed accusingly at the very large and over the top flower arrangement we had just been cooing over.

We all looked over simultaneously.

"Those weren't sent by Lu Qing Yu?" I asked.

"Of course not! The flowers His Highness sent are here. Who knows who sent those? Those are so suspicious!" Eunuch Song Chu said.

Qiu Le paled. "But the guards said those were delivered this morning and sent by His Highness."