After five or six officials all went the same way as the first official, the remaining officials no longer dared to go up for a toast. Marquis Wei stood in the middle of the hall, holding the wine glass high, and turned a full round. All the officials shrank their heads in panic while howling loudly inwardly —- the heaven is unfair! It’s one thing they can’t out-talk him, but now, they can’t even out-drink him!
Feng Zhi Wei smiled, made a full turn with her body, and got ready to saunter back to her seat. She had come prepared tonight, and as expected, Zong Chen’s hangover pills were extremely effective. Drink? She will drink until they all pass out!
She had just turned when she suddenly paused. Surrounded on all sides by people who sat in silence, three people suddenly stood up. One of them was the Grand Marshal Lu Rui, who was sitting on the first seat to the right. He was fine, but the other two caused her brows to furrow slightly. These two people were not seated together, and their seats were very inconspicuous. When the Regent introduced them, he casually mentioned that one was the governor of a remote county on the southern border of Xiliang, and the other was the third generation descendant of an influential family in Xiliang. Both of them came to Jincheng on official business and happened to be attending the grand banquet. It was common to have such people in every gathering. People who hid in the corner to not draw attention to themselves, squeezing in only in hopes of broadening their horizons and perhaps even getting a chance to get to know someone important. That sort of fortune would be something to brag about in the future and might even become the means for them to make beneficial connections. Feng Zhi Wei was used to such things and therefore had not paid much attention to the two men but had simply given them a casual glance. In keeping with their status, the two men had quietly kept to themselves in their own inconspicuous respective corners. Yet, at this moment, when she had stood there tauntingly, half jokingly raised her glass, those two men had actually stood up at the same time.
It was one thing to stand up at the same time, but after standing up, the two looked at each other with surprise, as if neither had expected the other to stand up.
In that instant, even in their respective dark corners, there was seemingly a spark of fire in the two men’s expressions. The spark disappeared instantly, then the two turned to look at Grand Marshal Lu Rui at the same time before both sitting down in unison. When they sat down, they exchanged yet another glance.
Watching all that had just transpired, Feng Zhi Wei’s gaze narrowed and carefully looked over the two men. They looked ordinary in appearance and dress, which was in line with their identities. However, there was an elegance in both men. One was sitting upright in silence, appearing gentle and refined. The other was half leaning against his seat, tapping his palm with a folded fan casually, giving off a charismatic aura. Previously, the two men were hidden in the dark, unobtrusive, but now, after a closer look, it is clear these are men who would never be lost in a crowd.
People who have truly occupied a high station in life for a long time, no matter how they disguise themselves, change their clothes, or mix themselves among the commoners, will always have something that sets them apart, causing them to stand out.
Feng Zhi Wei’s glance swept across the men and moved right on. Her attention turned to the Grand Marshal Lu Rui. This man was different from what she had imagined. According to the rumors, this Grand Marshal was the previous Xiliang emperor’s most trusted official. The previous emperor had entrusted the still young crown prince to the Grand Marshal on his deathbed. However, the Grand Marshal had immediately joined the Regent’s camp once the Regent gained control of the government, allowing the Regent to take control of the military and allowing Dowager Consort Dong to take control of the imperial harem. In fact, even after he had joined the Regent’s camp, he had personally eliminated a group of old officials who were loyal to the old emperor’s will and were firmly opposed the Regent taking power. Thus, the Grand Marshal gained the Regent’s trust and became the first official of Xiliang’s imperial court, the Regent’s right hand man. In Feng Zhi Wei’s imagination, such a person who would flip-flop in loyalty according to who is in power must have a wolf and hawk-like greedy appearance. However, today’s meeting greatly surprised her— this is a gentle and almost fragile looking man, with pale white skin, delicate eyebrows and eyes, with a woman-like appearance. His health doesn’t seem to be too good either since he coughed often at the table. It was only in the occasional turn of his eyes that one could discover a gaze as sharp as lightning, a sharpness that is unique to the first official of Xiliang court.
At this moment, he came forward slowly, holding a huge wine glass, looking quite fragile as he swayed none too steadily forward, causing one to fear that he might fall right into the wine glass.
Feng Zhi Wei stood still and looked at him with a smile.
“Marquis Wei sure can drink.” Lu Rui said slowly through narrowed eyes, “I didn’t expect that Marquis Wei is not only skilled at government and military affairs but is even more skilled at drinking. I imagine such a generous tolerance must have been developed through long-term practice in the ever-frequent banquet in Tiansheng court?”
This was a jeer that Tiansheng court is filled with a bunch of drunkards. Feng Zhi Wei smiled, held up her glass, and said with emotion, “An official’s life is filled with frequent banquets, every nation is thus. Indeed, over time, one’s tolerance does get well trained. I was a bit nervous when I came to the banquet today. I was worried that I would surely have to leave in an embarrassing drunken state after facing all my colleagues from Xiliang. Who would’ve expected that your good nation’s officials are all so humble, vying to prostrate themselves in front of me? Perhaps there were not enough banquets, and they didn’t get to practice enough? Ah, that’s true… wine and meats are still very expensive…haha.”
This was even more spiteful. Since you said that we drink and have lots of feasts, then I will say that you have too few banquets because you are too poor.
The expressions on the Xiliang’s officials were not good as they exchanged glances, but Lu Rei did not get angry. He smiled softly and poured another glass. “Don’t worry, Marquis Wei. Although the wine and meat are expensive, we can still afford them. They are just not as fine of quality. They certainly cannot compare to the corrupt quality accumulated by your nation’s gluttony, debauchery, and indiscriminate indulgence with both men and women. (Translation notes#1)
gluttony, debauchery, and indiscriminate…isn’t this Ning Yi’s reputation out there among the people? (Translation notes#2)
Feng Zhi Wei raised an eyebrow, raised a hand, and drank the cup of wine first, then filled Lu Rui’s glass as she said with a smile, “The people of my country are simple and honest, and that extends to our government. I don’t understand where Grand Marshal’s words came from. I guess with us being so far away, vicious rumors must have spread, and people making up their own stories. In truth, it seems to me…” She pointed at the officials of Xiliang with a smile, “Some have waists of three feet, and some are as thin as a willow. Perhaps not to the extent of indiscriminate indulgence with both men and women, but rather, it seems to me to be more like indiscriminate of being man or woman.”
“………………..”
The Xiliang officials took a collective very audible sharp intake of breath— the Grand Marshal was rude enough with his publicaly jerring of Tiansheng’s prince, but this Tiansheng envoy took a step even further and just publicly said that the Grand Marshal was neither male nor female right to his face!
Lu Rui stared at Feng Zhi Wei steadily for a long time, raised his hand, and poured another glass. Feng Zhi Wei frowned, thinking inwardly that this guy actually had a great alcohol tolerance. He looked like he was going to fall down after drinking that first glass, but now, he seemed to be in the same condition as he was in the beginning. And moreover, did she offend this person before? Why is he so relentless?
Just when she was about to say a few more things to send the guy off, Lu Ri leaned forward with yet another drink. This time, his voice was very low, “It was just a joke but Marquis Wei seemed to have gotten angry? Could it be that I have accidentally hit a sore spot?”
Feng Zhi Wei met his gaze steadily, drained her cup, and returned a very fake looking smile, “Oh? Isn’t Grand Marshal the one whose sore spot had accidentally been poked by me?”
Lu Ri ignored her jab and refilled the cup, “Or Marquis Wei just couldn’t tolerate me slandering His Royal Highness Prince Chu?”
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(Translation notes 1: The description I translated as “indiscriminate indulgence with both men and women” was one I had to stew over for quite a while. The actual phrase is 男女通吃. The literal translation would be “men women all eat”. It can have several meanings. When describing someone’s romantic preference, it would mean they are interested in both genders. In olden days, this was something that was pretty exclusive to the rich and powerful, often done through coercion and sometimes outright force. The other meaning of 男女通吃 would be to describe someone who is so attractive and charming that both genders are attracted to the person. Attraction here doesn’t necessarily have to be the romantic kind. It often just means the person is so charismatic that people old and young, male and female, are drawn to the person.)
(Translation notes 2: like I mentioned previously, a lot of Chinese negative descriptions about people are not always strictly negative and are often quite a bit softer than their English counterpart would be. This is the case here as well. Gluttony and debauchery are adjectives that would conjure up someone who was a jerk through and through. The Chinese phrases here, especially when applied to a young man though, would just give one an image of someone who was very playful, a charming young man who was still sowing his wild oats.)
Thank you, Ninja for another great translation. Thank you for the effort to give us clear understanding of the language and meaning. Who are those 2 young men? Is the grand Marshall another woman dressed in man clothing?