Today, the Hundred Flowers Garden at Prince Xin's Residence bustled with excitement, an open-air banquet in full swing.
The fragrance of flowers filled the garden, colorful butterflies danced through the air, and wealthy merchants and officials in splendid attire mingled, chatting and laughing.
Sunlight filtered through the flowering branches, dappling the elegant tables and illuminating the exquisite delicacies and gleaming gold and silver drinking vessels.
The guests were all influential figures in the city. The wealthy merchants wore fine silks and satins, their collars and cuffs embroidered with intricate patterns, every gesture radiating wealth;
the officials wore colorful court robes and black gauze hats, their expressions carrying the authority and caution of officialdom. Their greetings and conversations brimmed with subtle calculations and worldly sophistication.
Among the crowd, one man seemed entirely out of place: Wonderful Brush Scholar.
Tall and powerfully built, he stood like a small mountain, his muscles bulging. His mere presence exerted an immense pressure.
Yet he wore a scholar's long robe and a scholarly square cap, and held a folding fan painted with mountains and rivers.
At first glance, the outfit looked utterly bizarre, as though a brute strong enough to lift a great bronze cauldron had insisted on dressing as a refined gentleman.
Prince Xin stood beneath the grape arbor in the Hundred Flowers Garden, his dark blue satin casual robes lending him an air of gentle refinement.
Simple cloud patterns adorned his lapels, and only a green jade seal hung at his waist. He looked no different from an ordinary wealthy gentleman.
He was chatting with several sixth-rank officials whose robes bore mandarin-duck rank badges, holding a teacup no different from theirs.
"Director Li, I hear the new shipment of tribute grain has reached your department's granaries?" Prince Xin asked casually, his finger brushing the