Chapter 134.1 – A New Game
Naturally, the venue for the royal banquet would be in the palace, and all the members of the imperial family and some high-ranking officials and dignitaries would be invited to attend.
This was a good opportunity to hitch a ride to the sky on the dragon and phoenix*. And it was also a good place for the upper brass to make friends with and sound out each other. Because the royal banquet was only held once a year, every year it would be a very lively event.
[*T/N: “to hitch a ride to the sky on the dragon and phoenix” – this is an idiom meaning to curry favor with the rich and powerful in hopes of advancement]
Although Emperor Chong Ming was arrogant and extravagant, it cost a lot of money to hold such a large-scale banquet like this, so no matter how stupid and incompetent he was, he knew that the treasury’s money could not be used for his wanton squandering. Of course, it might also be related to the concubine selections that were held just some time ago.
An Zi Ran actually wasn’t very interested in the royal banquet.
This kind of royal banquet was nothing more than a place for all the various factions to probe each other. The event would definitely be surging like a gathering storm. He really did not want to get involved in the struggle of these people.
Translations are by vmnovels [dot] com, if you’re reading this anywhere else, then it was stolen.
Moreover, Fu Wu Tian’s military power had already been confiscated, and those who wanted to rope him in before also disappeared. It seemed like they had little to do with them. It didn’t matter if Fu wangfu attended or not.
“The empress dowager is hoping that this prince will attend.” Fu Wu Tian said.
The chopsticks in An Zi Ran’s hand paused, and he finally raised his head, “Why is that?”
Fu Wu Tian picked up a piece of meat and put it into his bowl. When he spoke, his tone was unconcerned, “The empress dowager heard that grandfather might recover, so she hopes that grandfather will also go to the royal banquet. Speaking of which, it’s true that I haven’t attended the royal banquet for many years.”
Laowangye was unable to participate because he was ill, and Fu Wu Tian was not in Jun Zi City during those years. Although Fu Yi was the laowangye’s biological son, few people knew about this fact. Therefore, the Fu wangfu had been absent from the royal banquet every year.
This year, everyone was present, so the empress dowager hoped that they could attend the royal banquet.
An Zi Ran’s expression became a bit absent-minded.
Fu Wu Tian said: “Wangfei will go with this prince at that time. The empress dowager also wants to see you.”
“See me for what?”
“The empress dowager regards grandfather as her own. You are the wangfei chosen by this prince. Of course she wants to see you. She’s been wanting to see you for a long time, but there was never the opportunity to do so.”
“When is it?” An Zi Ran understood right away. He had thought that the members of the imperial family did not want to see him, so that was why Fu Wu Tian never took him to meet his elders. Fortunately, he also did not want to have anything to do with the imperial family, so he never minded not meeting them.
“On the 25th.”
That wasn’t too far off, because it was the day after tomorrow.
As the Lunar New Year drew closer and closer, every family in the capital hung up two big red lanterns in front of their house. There was a festive atmosphere everywhere, and the atmosphere on the street was a bit more lively than usual. The elderly and children all had happy expressions on their faces, and there was endless laughter.
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On this increasingly festive day, Xiao Jin Street (a.k.a. Money Squandering Street) was also particularly lively.
Since other gambling houses have successively launched card games, all the major gambling houses have become popular again. Along the street, you could see many faces of confidence, disappointment, or despair coming in and out of the gambling houses.
At the teahouse on the opposite street, a few old gamblers gathered together, holding a deck of cards in their hands. They were playing one of the most popular games nowadays: Chinese poker.
Chinese poker was the game that Tian Long Gambling House launched a month ago. Although it was not as popular as Fight the Landlord, for gamblers, they preferred this one. In this game, it was two versus two, and was fairer than Fight the Landlord.
Fight the Landlord was a more playful game, but on the contrary, it was not very suitable for gambling, because the players felt that two versus one was not very fair. But a lot of people still enjoyed playing this stuff. When there was nothing to do, they would gather three people to play together. Many teahouses and restaurants could witness this phenomenon.
At this time, a middle-aged man with a parrot in his hand came up from downstairs.
The sound of the parrot made several gamblers look over subconsciously, and then they casually retracted their gaze and focused on the cards in their hands.
The middle-aged man looked around inside, his gaze eventually settled on a group of gamblers, and then he walked over with a smile on his face.
“Why are you guys playing cards again?”
“Don’t talk nonsense, it affects my judgment,” said a gambler on one side. He didn’t even raise his head. Then he tossed out eight cards from his hand. The chance of getting this card was not high, but the game of gambling was inherently prone to surprises, so his expression was not relaxed, and he still kept an eye on his opponent.
Translations by Vanilla Muse.
After going around the players once, it turned out that not a single of one of them had it. The gambler immediately threw down the remaining two cards in his hands, a pair of fives, and said triumphantly: “I won!”
“F*ck, I lost again!”
The two opponents wailed. For several consecutive rounds, they’ve been drawing bad cards. Their luck was simply too bad.
“Haha, look at what this is.” At this time, the gambler’s partner spread out the cards in his hand. There were eight cards in a row, and they just so happened to be higher than his by a little.
Thank you for the update!!
Lol, now I wanna play ????
Thank you for the update
thank you for the update ♡