Looking at the map, Bai Family Manor was far larger than the Imperial City. But if one truly stood at the center of Jianshui City and looked out, the Imperial City still appeared more imposing.
Vast stretches of endless palaces rose and fell throughout the Imperial City. Beneath the sunlight, every roof gleamed with golden radiance, magnificent beyond compare.
Meanwhile, the Bai Family Manor to the east appeared far more low-key. Strictly speaking, it looked like a chain of small mountains standing strangely in the heart of the city, enclosing the entire Bai Family Manor within.
Yet that was only relatively speaking. In truth, from most areas of Jianshui City, the mountain peaks belonging to Bai Family Manor were still what people could see across countless buildings and streets.
Unlike Bai Family Manor and the Imperial Palace, Orchid Pond Garden west of the Imperial Palace was even more understated.
The heart of Orchid Pond Garden was naturally Orchid Pond itself, divided into several sections by small islands and waterside pavilions. The lake was not small, its emerald waves rippling as white birds came and went. Amid the lush forests surrounding it, flowers bloomed in abundance, while pavilions and towers peeked through the foliage, creating a rather pleasant scene.
At the edge of a stretch of water in the southern part of Orchid Pond Garden lay a peninsula extending into the lake. Upon it stood a palace that seemed filled with spiritual grace.
Paulownia trees had been planted all around the palace.
This palace was called Phoenix Palace. It had once been the temporary residence in Orchid Pond Garden of the former Queen of Chen State, Li Xiangge's mother.
Perhaps out of taboo, or perhaps to emphasize her own distinction, the new Queen—now the Queen of Chen State—had moved the Queen's