Chapter 12: The Full Moon Banquet
"Here we are..."
"…Back again."
Simon and Sue looked at each other grimly as they stepped out of the fireplace of the Yang ancestral mansion. Their few moments of unspoken solidarity these years was whenever they visited China. Any bickering or prank wars between Simon and his sister was put on hold when they knew they had to face Aunt Xiao and Zeren.
Aunt Xiao had already arrived, posing with a gigantic peacock feathered fan with her beloved grandson Zeren beside her as she sat in the living room. Zeren was now a lanky teenager but had the same arrogant scowl on his face. As per custom, the Lis first greeted the Matriarch Sze Lyn, Lord Yang, Lady Yang and En-han as the hosts, before basically doing the bare minimum of pleasantries with Xiao and her family. Greetings were also given to Jane's other elder sisters, Aunt Hanjin and Qiejin. Simon was not particularly fond of Aunt Han, as she just tended to agree and parrot what Aunt Xiao says but at least she never started drama on her own. Meanwhile, Aunt Qie was at least entertaining. She seemed to always know the hottest gossip in the Chinese wizarding circles. Aunt Han was a spinster so she did not come with anyone else. Aunt Qie followed the family tradition and married well – she married into the Liu Clan descended from rulers of the Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms' period emperors. Aunt Qie had two daughters who had married a long time ago and were not present at the manor.
After greeting these two aunts the Lis rarely saw, Jane and Dirk led Simon and Sue away towards a few people they had seen even less of.
"Simon and Sue, pay your respects to Uncle Tian and his wife, and their daughter Wanyang."
Simon dutifully greeted these relatives but could not help but notice how different Uncle Tian looked like compared to the other Yang siblings. It was something he noticed when he first met this uncle over a year ago at Wanyang's wedding. While most of the Yang family had soft features, Uncle Tian had brooding dark eyes, defined cheekbones and a long sharp nose. Uncle Tian's wife looks more like a Yang than he did. With Wanyang taking after her mother, Uncle Tian looked very out of place in the Yang ancestral manor.
Before Simon could contemplate more about why Uncle Tian looked so different, he was distracted by the bundle in Wanyang's arms.
"This is my daughter, Weiyi. And you have met my husband, Wu Wentao."
Simon and Sue greeted the niece who they were here for and politely exchanged pleasantries with the burly bearded man named Wentao. First time they met Wentao was during the couple's wedding. Simon still recalled how a few weeks before the wedding, the groom, who had no idea his bride-to-be belonged to the illustrious Honglong Yang clan, due to Uncle Tian's low profile, kept bragging about his position as the Deputy Head of the Chinese Ministry's Department of Magical Transportation. Once he found out how much more powerful his wife's family was (even though Wanyang was from a less-favoured branch), he had mainly kept his mouth shut in family gatherings when the elders spoke. That did not stop him from trying to smooch off them every now and then. Simon may have also heard Wentao once ask Jane if she could get him a discount for setting up an account in Gringott's London office, given she worked as a cursebreaker there. What a guy.
Not long later, the familiar figures of Uncle Diego and Aunt Charlotte appeared in the fireplace. And soon the festivities began.
---
Simon and Sue sat bored out of their minds in a grand Chinese banquet hall decorated completely in red and gold. Some extended family members and friends were present but were seated far from the action – at the front of the hall where Wanyang and Wentao were holding their baby for photos and speaking using a sonorous charm every now and then. Simon and Sue knew it was a Chinese tradition, both wiccan and muggle to celebrate the first month since a child's birth in a Full Moon Banquet. For muggles, it was more of a matter of tradition and age-old beliefs that the mother and child need a month to recuperate from the birth. However, for Chinese wizards there is a belief that any residual aura of magic left on the child from the mother during birth would have completely left the child's body after the first month since birth. It was the belief that from this point onwards, the child had become its own being, be it magical or squib. And this called for a celebration.
Simon shifted uncomfortably in his Chinese dress robes. The collar scratched on his neck every time he took a gulp of water or swallowed a somewhat larger mouthful of food. En-han was also seated at another table and there was no way he could distract himself by engaging his favourite cousin in conversation. Sue did not seem interested in talking with him and had chosen to bide time by eating her fifth course very slowly. While he never had the opportunity to go to too many major Chinese cultural events in his previous life as he was mostly bedridden, the past few gatherings in this life did teach him to "go to the bathroom" when one was feeling awkward in a social gathering. Nobody would ask why you were going to the bathroom and how come you were in there for such a long time.
Simon excused himself and made his way to the bathroom. While in the hallway leaving the banquet hall, Simon heard the familiar high-pitched voice of Aunt Qie chatting with a few middle-aged ladies.
"…not even coming to his sister's wedding and her child's Full Moon Banquet! Ridiculous is it not?"
"Well, the boy might think he is too good for his family now. He seems to have a promising career in Japan. Did you not see the Eastern Sea Sorceress article from a while back? En-hua won the 1988 Wizarding Schools Potions Championship representing Mahoutokoro! Last I heard he had become a protegé for an eminent Japanese alchemist and the Japanese branch of the family pretty much wanted to adopt him as their heir! Boy probably thinks he is a superstar and does not need the Honglong Yang Clan in China anymore."
Simon perked at this tidbit of information about his elusive cousin En-hua, the son of Uncle Tian. Sounded like he was doing very well in Japan. Simon contemplated whether to hide and listen to more. But without a wand and having only mastered wandless spells up to around 3rd-4th grade of the Hogwarts curriculum through intensive study at night for seven years, Simon knew there was no way he could make himself invisible around all these older and wiser Chinese witches. Raze also had to stay in the manor as "beasts" were banned from the banquet. Or else Simon could have asked Raze to shrink in size and eavesdrop for him. Sighing, Simon continued his planned journey to the bathroom.
---
"What did I miss?"
"Zeren does not look too well," Sue remarked, "Think he might have swallowed a tadpole."
"He WHAT?"
"Nice how Zonko's Frog Spawn Soap could be broken into smaller pieces and could easy dissolve in any liquid."
Simon could not help but look somewhat impressed at Sue but also decided to refrain from touching the oolong tea in front of him.
"May I ask what provoked it?"
"Oh, he made snide comments about how one of Wentao's female cousins looked like a stuffed sausage in her dress robe. He had it coming."
Simon grimaced at that comment. Simon did not even want to say what was wrong with Zeren because honestly, everything was wrong with this spoiled chauvinistic kid. And probably having a grandmother on the Academy's Board of Governors helped him get away with things like how Draco did in canon. "My grandmother would hear about this!" had a nice ring to it.
"Is it just me but everyone who is not the immediate family is leaving?"
"Oh right. When you were in the bathroom they announced the banquet is over and we will need to travel back to the manor," Sue explained before grinning, "I heard from dad there is some kind of Clan tradition that will happen!"