Lady Meilin is seduced by her green tea brother-in-law everyday-Chapter 225: Crowns and myths.

After the title ceremony was finished, there was a brief moment for entertainment. It included a a troupe of dancers performing a traditional ribbon dance. As great as it was, the nobles were more interested in gossiping about each other.

This was because there was always a classical dance performed every year. It had become a bit of an expected bore.

One of the things that nearly everyone was discussing was the crowns. Who was wearing the best crown? Princess Chi Lian as always, had one of the most outstanding crowns and this year she had taken it a step further. Her crown was orbiting slowly around her skull like a holy sun.

The glittering eye catching gems could generate the greed of every thief at home or in the crowd.

Lady Rong Anqi’s gold crown had a pair of Buddhist palm at the back and a large Buddha shaped green jade in the center at the front.

Lady Ai Wenwen [Mei Mei’s maternal aunt] had hired three blind monks to chant while she walked. [This had happened when she was arriving.] Her crown was looked like the goddess of justice. One minute she was eight inches tall and the next, she was four inches tall and pointing a sword at someone. It was like she was moving around in different directions.

Great great great grandpa Jun had donned a cape wind a hologram system and every other minute it would project images of himself and his wife, ballroom dancing. The only time it was not active was when the Emperor was giving speech and during the singing of empire’s anthem.

Lord Tao Zihan’s cloak had a wind system and it was heroically billowed, disturbing the peace of those around him. His wife had decided to gather as much of it as she could and sit on it.

Lady Wen Meirong’s crown was something crafted out of shattered mirrors. In the mirrors were faces of all the people she did not like. [She was eighty three years old and petty so, it was not a shock.] Still, the crown was beautiful, shiny and worth discussing.

Jun Muyang was the only man with a crown worth discussing. He had opted for a floral crown and a plain white traditional robes. On top of the robes was a long white fur cloak. He was also holding an oil paper umbrella.

He had added extensions to his hair and it was tied up, held together in a bun by two golden pins. He looked like a handsome scholar from the eighteenth century.

To those discussing his outfit, he looked like a fairy.

And then, there was Viscount Huang, ever so dramatic. He was dressed in black robes with a snake pattern. He had opted for a black snake shaped crown with red gems in the snake’s eyes. Every time someone came close to him, hissing came from the crown.

Every once in a while, those around him forgot that the hissing was not coming from a real snake and they jumped up or screamed in fright. His wife was one of those people.

"How did we go from simple floral crowns to this?" Great grandma Jun asked her husband.

He shook his head for he had no clue as well. If there was blame to go around, he would have to lay it at Chi Lian’s feet first as she was the one that started the crown tradition. The second person to be blamed was the Empress at the time who allowed it to happen. The third were the citizens of the empire who followed Chi Lian into crown madness.

The fourth was the media that kept pitting the nobles against each other when they declared one of them the best dressed or having the best crown.

It all took away from the significance of the celebrations.

The traditional dance ended and more entertainment followed. Children under the age of twelve stepped onto the stage. They had been training for three months to perform "The Heroic Battle of the first Emperor Long,"the routine.

Everyone was eager to see how it would be turned into an interpretative dance. Before it started, a four year old sat down and started crying. Then the most unexpected thing happened, one of the empress mother’s dogs went up and licked her tears.

"Awww..." the crowd went.

That was until the dog caught the dress and started to drag the little girl off the stage. Royal attendants rushed to separate them.

There were those that knew the empress mother had trained her dogs to drag out of her sight all children that threw tantrums.

The Minister for information Shi Dapeng, that was co-hosting the ceremony took the microphone and said, "Everyone that came with a pet, please put them in a carrier."

The children performed their dance, which was not very impressive. But, the crowd clapped politely when it was finished.

The Emperor came forward again, to show off some of the significant relics of the empire that had been unearthed by the new Baroness and her team. This part, everyone was waiting for as a lot of secrecy surrounded these treasures.

The staged parted and a part of it rose, bringing to the surface a transparent glass box. Inside was a red hand fan...more than red, it seemed to have the color of fire inside. Pink pearls were embedded one the sides and the tips were blackish-silver.

Holograms popped up in the crowd giving everyone a view of the hand fan from wherever they were sitting. Its beauty was eye catching, some wondered how valuable it was.

"I give you, the mythical whispering hand fan of Lady Yunxiang." Emperor Junjie shared. "We have no idea how to price this relic because it is a treasure of myth, said to have been given to Lady Yunxiang by a fairy from the clouds.

It is believed that the fan was crafted from the feathers of a phoenix. Lady Yunxiang used this fan when she was defending the Empress Yue Ying Ling from an assassination attempt in the year 1042. When the Empress went into exile, Lady Yunxiang left her home and followed her, protecting her all the way until they reached the Yangshao temple. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

It is believed that Lady Yunxiang died as soon as she delivered the Empress to safety. She was holding this fan as she drew her last breath. Two drops of her blood fell onto it."

Cameras zoomed in on the drops which had become permanent additions to the fans.

The year 1042 marks one of our earliest dynasties. Little is known about it. That is what makes this fan very special, it is a piece of our history finally coming to life. I don’t know if there is truth to the myth but stories claim that when she died, a phoenix rose out of this fan and took to the skies, crying in outrage. It rained for a whole week in the empire and the rain was named the sorrowful tears of a phoenix."

Chi Lian leaned towards he husband and whispered, "I want it."