The Banquet (1)
The day after witnessing that heart-stirring spectacle — a game of Go between Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi — I held the banquet to welcome the Zhuge family, exactly as I had planned the evening before.
At first I'd considered keeping the affair modest, but the guest of honor tonight was not me; it was the Zhuge family. Letting carelessness creep into how I received others could easily leave a scratch on my own prestige, so I sent invitations out to my subordinates. It was never meant as a summons for every soul under my command to assemble — it sat closer to a suggestion that they drop by if they had the leisure.
Besides, I was hardly so strapped these days that I couldn't afford a single feast, so enlarging the scale posed no problem. I had stockpiled ample relief grain against famine and disaster, and of the wealth that flowed in with my stipend, barely a coin left the coffers once the servants' wages and performance bonuses were paid — the pile only grew as time went on.
And so, the result of enlarging the banquet.
"This is... quite a lot."
I murmured, gazing out at the crowds bustling through the hall.
Jia Xu, standing at my side, answered.
"Of all the officials currently in Luoyang, who would dare refuse an invitation from the General-in-Chief?"
"Fair point."
That was simply how the political arena worked. It was a place where even the most trivial action got loaded with all manner of hidden intent — so how could declining an invitation possibly escape such scrutiny? Odds were good that more than a few had canceled long-standing schedules just to answer my call.
"I thought I'd hand-picked the guest list. I didn't expect this many."
"It merely goes to show how greatly the General-in-Chief's power has grown."
Facing the scene before me, I wore a sheepish expression. With the Emperor backing me from behind and quietly weakening my rival factions on her own initiative, my influence had swelled all on its own, without my lifting a finger.
I was starting to get a faint idea of how the Ten Attendants must have felt.
Just then, Liu Bei — charged with marshaling the guests and securing the grounds — came to report.
"General-in-Chief. The banquet preparations are complete."
"Good."
I gave a nod and spoke.
"Show them all inside."
"Yes, my lord."
Having watched the stream of guests a while longer, I wheeled about and headed for the banquet hall. Stepping inside, I found Zhuge Jin already seated, every movement tight with nerves.
"Ready?"
"Th-that is... might I have a little more time to compose myself...?"
The sight of Zhuge Jin, stiff as a board, drew a small smile from me. In the original history, this was a woman who had earned Sun Quan's deepest trust through sheer ability — but for now, she was still nothing more than an unseasoned scholar.
"Don't be so tense. One misstep, and the other officials at court may start looking down on you."
"Yes..."
I let my gaze drift a little way off.
"Your sister, it seems, has been ready for some time."
There, where my eyes had landed, sat Zhuge Liang — serene, waiting for the rest of the world to arrive.
"For those of us honored with the General-in-Chief's personal invitation to be held in contempt by others would be, in effect, a stain upon the General-in-Chief's prestige itself."
Beside Zhuge Jin, Zhuge Liang declared flatly.
"Who here would dare commit such an affront?"
"...You're not saying that about me, are you?"
"..."
"...Liang?"
Zhuge Liang simply beamed at her older sister.
What a close pair of sisters they made.
Zhuge Jin's face crumpled into something close to tears.
"Only your way of speaking got politer... the personality hasn't changed one bit..."
"Sister?"
"A-all right, I'll be quiet..."
An older sister who couldn't put up a fight against her own younger sibling. On that count, at least, they were the polar opposite of Sima Yi, forever gauging the moods of her elder sister Sima Lang. As for tone and temperament, I honestly couldn't tell you what either was supposed to tell me.
Was the Zhuge Liang on display now somehow different from the one she usually showed? Mild curiosity got the better of me, and I put the question to her directly.
"I take it this is a touch different from your everyday self?"
"The face one shows in public and the face one shows in private can hardly be the same, General-in-Chief."
"Well, no arguing with that."
Conceding the point, I bobbed my head in agreement.
"They should be arriving now."
With that, I crossed the room and dropped heavily into the seat of honor. At my movement, Zhuge Jin fixed the door with a tense stare, and Zhuge Liang with a level one. The closed doors swung slowly open, and the invitees began pouring into the hall.
"There are a crazy number of people here. It's almost making me dizzy."
Zhang Fei, assigned to perimeter watch, let out a whistle at the sheer scale of the affair.
"Yide. Mind your post."
And there was Guan Yu, rebuking her with the ease of long habit.
"Father. What of your duties, that you've come all this way...?"
"Hahahaha! When our lord summons us to a feast, how could I fail to spare a single hour!"
Ma Chao, who had been drilling her cavalry in Luoyang, had come to the banquet — and so had Ma Teng, Administrator of Jincheng in far-off Xiliang.
True to their say-only-what-must-be-said natures, Zhang Liao and Seo Hwang offered nothing superfluous, merely paying me brief, crisp greetings. Sima Yi made her appearance as well, glued firmly to her elder sister Sima Lang's side.
"..."
Sima Yi, as though something still needled her, held Zhuge Liang in a long, hard stare before turning her head away. Zhuge Liang, for her part, gave no indication she noticed at all.
Beyond them, Jia Xu, Gao Shun, and every other face worth knowing had turned out; once I'd confirmed that all were seated, I inclined my head beneath the weight of so many gathered eyes.
Whew. My heart's doing somersaults.
I'd done this any number of times, yet having every gaze in the room converge on me like this still hadn't stopped feeling strange.
One way or another, I needed to get this over with and sit back down.
I raised my voice.
"The reason for tonight's banquet is none other than this: to welcome the family that answered my summons."
The words were barely out of my mouth before every gaze in the hall snapped onto the Zhuge sisters. Zhuge Jin and Zhuge Liang bore that forest of stares without so much as a flicker.
Zhuge Liang had been composed from the start, granted — but when exactly had Zhuge Jin steadied herself again? Was she the type who only found her footing once the real thing began? All that fidgeting and faltering earlier — a smokescreen, every bit of it.
Having etched the sisters' presence into everyone's minds, I pressed on.
"I say this only in case it needs saying: I trust there is no one present who would dare mistreat the guests I invited with my own hand."
This was a warning of sorts. As of now, the Zhuge family was regarded as nothing more — and nothing less — than a provincial gentry house. From the standpoint of the established scholar-officials, they would make an exceedingly tempting target.
Hence the grim warning I issued: only those prepared to answer for the consequences should lay a hand on the Zhuge family. It sat poorly with me to spell it out myself, but not one person in Luoyang was free of watching my mood. And even if someone somehow weathered my retribution, what remained on the other side was the Emperor's purge. No one could hope to remain in Luoyang after that — so unless they were ready to throw away everything they had built here, nobody would touch the Zhuge family.
"..."
Everyone who caught the true import of my words held their silence. Some, meanwhile, wore doubtful looks — wondering what on earth those two could be, that the General-in-Chief would wrap them in cotton wool like that.
"Women..."
"Hm..."
A few who regarded me with particular devotion seemed utterly fixated on the fact that the Zhuge sisters were, well, women.
...No, that is not why I shield them.
I sighed inwardly and spoke.
"That is all I wished to say."
My warning had left the atmosphere in a strange state, so I made a point of clearing the air.
"Tonight, everyone is to eat, drink, and make merry."
With that, I drained the cup in my hand.
Delicious.
It slid down clean, the aroma was pleasant, and the taste struck just the right balance — exactly the style of drink I favored. Whoever had matched my palate this precisely, it could only mean Diaochan had been working hard. Deciding I would have to give her a proper reward later, I looked out over the assembly, still holding its silence, and said:
"What's the matter? Enjoy yourselves."
Say that sort of thing and you start feeling like a tyrant straight out of a period drama.
"Hahahaha! Then I shall revel to my heart's content before I go!"
Ma Teng laughed heartily, first of all, and downed the drink set before him. That bold, expansive spirit of his hadn't changed a bit.
"Father..."
His daughter Ma Chao looked thoroughly mortified by the display, but I couldn't see it as anything bad.
And so, with Ma Teng striking the spark, everyone fell into conversation and the banquet found its rhythm. Watching the lively clamor, I turned my head, waved a servant over with a casual gesture, and ordered more food brought in. Then I called to someone nearby.
"Liu Bei."
"You called?"
No sooner had I spoken her name than Liu Bei, standing guard a few paces off, answered. As ever, the Peach Sisters were leading my Bugok — the private retinue sworn to me alone — and attending to my every need.
"With everyone else enjoying themselves, it hardly seems fair that you three alone stay glued to your duties."
"..."
"Your shift ends here. Go on and join the feast."
Zhang Fei, listening from nearby, lit up like a lantern.
"Really?! Woo-hoo! Then right this second—"
"Be still."
"Urk."
Guan Yu's arm shot out and seized the nape of Zhang Fei's neck just as she was about to bolt from her post. Collared mid-escape, Zhang Fei produced a strangled, unintelligible sound.
Watching those two together always felt like tuning into a sitcom.
Then Liu Bei asked,
"If we step away, then who will mind the security here...?"
"No need to worry."
I shrugged off her concern.
"What fool would have the gall to target this place?"
Just look at the roster gathered under this one roof — Zhang Liao, Seo Hwang, Ma Chao, Sun Ce, and more, every one of them a force to be reckoned with. And then there was Lü Bu, and Xiang Yu besides.
After all, soldiers patrolled the streets of Luoyang day in and day out; had any suspicious element slipped into the city, it would have reached my ears long since. And with Lü Bu herself — a walking, breathing CCTV, and I mean that as no insult — regularly sweeping the city on top of that, if trouble was coming, it would have come already.
Hostile political factions? Her Majesty the Emperor had already blown away everyone who seemed even mildly dangerous. I'll spare you the particulars of what exactly got blown away. It might have been their offices. It might have been something else entirely.
Under these conditions, the notion of someone bursting into the banquet hall — you could curse me up and down for the implausibility, and I'd have no rebuttal.
"Banquets under my own name are a rarity in the first place, so take this chance to rest."
"...But, my lord—"
"That's an order."
When I waved the objection aside without a moment's hesitation, Liu Bei closed her eyes briefly, then answered in a level, gentle voice.
"Thank you for your kindness, General-in-Chief."