1.24 AuYeung LaiSan - First Meeting

In the afternoon, father summoned me to his library and asked that I join him at the celebration in the Palace this evening. I protested but he said it was also the Princess' request. I wanted to see MeiMei again, so I agreed.

Mom asked her maid to bring me a new dress.. I opened up the wrapping and saw it was a silky forest green dress. It was embroidered with white and yellow chrysanthemums. I grabbed it and unfolded the whole dress with glee, then swung around with it, only stopping in front of the mirror. It was absolutely gorgeous, the inner layers were white and yellow as well, to match the colors of the embroidery.

I happily asked Jo-yi to help me get dressed. It took the rest of the afternoon, and by the time I was ready, my parents had already been waiting in the carriage for a while. They smiled when they saw me, "You look wonderful in this dress," mom cooed.

"Thank you for the dress, mom and dad," I replied happily.

"Okay, let's get going." my father ordered with a smile on his face.

I quickly sat down at the opposite bench and this time made sure I stayed awake for the carriage ride. I lifted the curtain and looked out the window. The sun was setting, some of the stalls were just opening up for the night time rush. I noticed a little chubby boy on the side of the road up ahead playing with a ball next to his mom. I guessed she was haggling with the pork vendor regarding the price of the piece of meat. He failed to catch the ball and it rolled out to the road, the boy ran after it. We were close and I was afraid we would run over the little boy.

"Stop the carriage! Stop right now!" I screamed as I opened the curtain to see where we were. I saw the driver lean back abruptly and tried to stop the carriage, the horses neighed loudly. A woman on the side must have seen the little boy run out into the road as she yelled "Stop!"

Then before the carriage came to a complete stop, a black figure swooshed by like a gust of wind.

When we were completely stopped, I jumped off the carriage to see if the little boy was okay. I looked under the horse and the carriage but he was nowhere to be seen.

I heard murmuring behind me and I feared the worst. I placed one hand on the carriage to steady my steps as my heart was beating a mile a minute as I walked to the back. A wave of relief rushed over me as I saw a man in black cradling the little boy. The mother rushed over and the man handed the little one over to his mother. She thanked him profusely.

He turned towards the carriage, he glared at me with a bit of disdain in his eyes.

A woman ran toward him, yelling, "DongAn, are you okay?"

He smiled down at her and said, "Yes, I am fine. The boy is okay too."

I felt that was my que to go up and thank him for saving the boy as well, since it was our carriage that almost ran over him.

With a slight bow and hands folded in front as a greeting, "Thank you General Szeto for your assistance" I said a bit shakily.

"Oh, you know me? Have we met?" He questioned me with a harsh tone.

Oh shit! I forgot he had never met me but I had seen him while as MeiMei, so I recognized him. "Um…" was all I could muster, not knowing what to say next.

"General Szeto, what a coincidence. Thank you so much for your assistance. My daughter had tried to stop the carriage when she witnessed the boy running out into the road, but the horses were not able to stop in time. Thank you for saving the little boy." my father chimed in as he walked towards us.

As my father got to my side he patted me on the shoulders. I hadn't realized that I was still in the bowing position. I straightened out and sneaked behind my father. I turned to my side, standing perpendicular to my father's back so that he completely shielded me. I didn't dare look at the General, because I didn't want him to continue questioning me.

My father and the General exchanged a couple more pleasantries and the General's tone had softened. As they said their goodbyes, my father grabbed my shoulder and turned me towards the carriage.

I just meekly followed him back. I didn't dare to look up until we were at the opening of the carriage.

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding when I sat back down.

"Remember you are the Imperial Scholar's daughter. There is no need for you to shy away even to a General when you are not in the wrong." my father admonished.

"I am sorry father for embarrassing you." I quietly said.

"Okay, okay, it has passed. LaiSan will remember that for the future. Now let's just enjoy the evening. After all, it is the celebration and an engagement party for the Crown Prince." my mom said to try to smooth things over.

"Okay. Always spoiling her," my father said, pretending he was still upset.

I smiled as I turned to face the window, I stared out the window the rest of the ride to the Palace.

My father was given special permission, so we did not have to disembark when we arrived at the Palace gates. We drove straight in but still not long after, my mom and I had to disembark and walk to the female reception as my father went to attend the other one.

My mother, being from a wealthy family herself, was very much at ease with such gatherings, so she soon left me to mingle with the other wives. I walked around until I found a couple of young ladies I knew from school. We mingled until a servant came to announce that we were now to attend the main event.

We fell in line as the servants led us to the main event in the Palace of Festivities. Rectangular tables lined in a crescent shape facing a half-moon shaped performance area. In front of the performance area was a foot high, half-moon shaped platform where the royals were seated. The Crown Prince and the Princess from BeiGao were seated on opposite ends of the platform, on either side of where his Majesty and the Empress were seated. The Crown Prince was sitting with MeiMei and the Princess was sitting with her brother the Prince.

We found our table in the front roll and left side of the performance area. My father was already seated in the middle of the table. There were no chairs, we sat on cushions. Mom and I each chose a side and straightened out our dresses as we prepared to sit down. The females were to sit in a kind of kneeling position, their legs were not directly under them but turned out slightly to their side, this way it would not crumple their dresses. Of course the men, who wore pants were able to sit with their legs comfortably crossed under the table.

After having settled in, I looked around and saw a couple of people that I nodded to as a greeting. Then I noticed her, the girl that was on the General's horse. She was sitting alone at a table on the far right side of the performance area.

She was looking quite uncomfortable, she kept on adjusting her clothing and fidgeting in her seat, it was quite obvious that she was not used to this type of event. I looked at her for a moment when she suddenly looked directly at me. I nodded as a greeting and she nodded back with a slight smile. I smiled back.

Then with a gong, my attention turned to the platform.

"Thank you, everyone for attending this wonderful event and welcoming to our country the Prince and Princess of BeiGao. Now let us welcome General Szeto"

General Szeto walks out from the side and gives a grand greeting to the royals. While the General was still kneeling, the Emperor announced, "I would like to recognize General Szeto for his gallant efforts in keeping the envoy safe. I hereby award all his soldiers and the families of the fallen soldiers, one hundred taels of silver each. On top of that, I would like to award the General as well. I will allow you one request. Please go ahead and ask for anything you want."

"Your Majesty, it is my duty and I dare not ask for compensation for completing what I should," the General replied.

"Haha, as I had expected of the General. Always serious and always humble. Okay, I will not force you, but I will leave it open. If ever there is something, you only need to ask," the Emperor said.

"Thank you, your Majesty."

"Okay rise, be seated." The Emperor waved his hand and dismissed the General.

The General bowed and walked towards his table. He walked to the table where the girl was sitting and sat right next to her. She even leaned in and whispered something in his ear and he smiled.

"Now, another announcement," the Emperor said. "As you know the Prince and Princess of BeiGao came to attend my birthday party next week but even more so, the envoy has come to accept the engagement of their Princess to our own Crown Prince. The marriage ceremony will happen next Spring."

Everyone said in unison, "Congratulations to the Crown Prince for finding a wonderful Crown Princess."

"Yes, yes! the Emperor said with glee. "Let the festivities begin."

He clapped his hands. Right on que, a frenzy of activities began. Dancers filed into the performance area and music from the back started playing. Servants with plates and plates of food started coming to each table and a maid was at our side pouring drinks. Everyone started talking and the volume in the area raised 50 decibels.

I glanced over again at the General's table and they were laughing and enjoying each other's company. I felt a bit of jealousy and I decided that I could not continue staring. So I focused on the performance instead. I looked at it but I really could not enjoy it. I was troubled by our first meeting and that girl being so close to him, even calling him so familiarly.

I couldn't help it, I glazed over at them again. I noticed a figure was walking towards their table, as he approached the hanging lantern, I recognized it was Feng HaiNan.