Nine Nether Heavenly Emperor
Chapter 120: State Preceptor’s Birthday Banquet

Chapter 120: Chapter 120: State Preceptor’s Birthday Banquet

National Master Mansion.

Today, the National Master Mansion was resplendent with lights and festooned with bright red lanterns; the entrance was bustling with a continuous flow of people clad in brocade and adorned in jade, prestigious officials entering and leaving in a lively atmosphere.

Today was an important day for the National Master Mansion, marking the seventieth birthday of the State Preceptor, Nalan Yuan! Those invited to the feast were all prominent figures in the Imperial City.

"General Duanmu Zeyi has arrived to offer birthday congratulations!" At the gate, the young attendants would shout aloud the arrival of guests presenting their invitations, followed by someone keeping track of the gifts brought by the guests, then announcing loudly, "General Duanmu Zeyi presents a strand of East Sea Pearls!"

"The Eldest Young Master of Duke Wei Mansion, Dongfang Ziyu, has arrived to offer birthday congratulations!" "The Eldest Young Master, Dongfang Ziyu, presents a piece of Heavenly Dragon Jade Stone."

"Marquis Mo Wen of Qingbei has arrived to offer birthday congratulations!" "Marquis Qingbei presents a millennium Fire Lingzhi mushroom."

...

When Shi Feng, Long Chen, and a mysterious figure clad in black and wearing a bamboo hat arrived not far from the National Master Mansion, they saw that the queue of congratulating guests had already formed a long line.

At that moment, someone shouted, "His Highness Prince Chenn!"

"Ah, Prince Chenn His Highness has come."

"Prince Chenn His Highness!"

After one person called out, the others, like a string of firecrackers, followed suit with calls of "Prince Chenn" spilling out from their lips.

Regardless, Long Chen was a prince, the Emperor’s son. Even those who supported other princes had to show outward respect when seeing him, as the prince represented the Emperor. To disrespect him was to disrespect the Holy Emperor.

"Everyone, my respects!" Long Chen greeted the crowd with a clasped fist, "Thank you all for coming to my master’s birthday banquet."

"Your Highness, our respects."

After exchanging pleasantries with the guests, Long Chen went straight to the young attendants at the door. His status as a prince meant he didn’t need to queue.

"Prince Chenn His Highness!" The young attendant quickly came forward to greet Long Chen when he saw him.

Long Chen smiled and handed over a jade box to the attendant, who glanced at it and then shouted toward the mansion, "Prince Chenn His Highness has arrived! Prince Chenn His Highness presents a Fifth Grade Spiritual Medicine, one Heavenly Mountain Fire Ginseng."

Afterward, Long Chen walked into the mansion, followed by Shi Feng and the mysterious figure in the bamboo hat.

Long Chen said to Shi Feng and the other person, "You two find a place to sit for a while on your own; I have many people here I need to socialize with."

As the three entered the main courtyard of the mansion, Long Chen instantly became the center of attention, with the crowd surging towards him: "Greetings, Prince Chenn His Highness!"

"Hahaha, General Duanmu! Good! Very good! There’s no need for formalities, everyone! Ah! Young Master Dongfang! You’ve arrived too! Excellent! And you, Old Duke, how are you feeling?" Long Chen greeted the crowd with clasped fists, smiling joyfully. He was quickly surrounded by the people; his arrival seemingly made the atmosphere even more lively. More and more people continued to join the crowd, and at this moment, it felt like Long Chen had become the protagonist of the day.

At this moment, the banquet had already been laid out in the great courtyard, but since the Old National Master had not yet appeared, no one had started dining. Shi Feng found a random table and sat down off to the side, while the mysterious person began to wander around the courtyard.

"How can you, a servant, not understand the rules," a young, displeased voice rang out. Shi Feng turned toward the sound, seeing a young girl, around seventeen or eighteen years of age, with a cold appearance, noble aura, proud face, standing not far from himself. The voice had come from her.

Shi Feng noticed that the young girl was looking at him with furrowed brows, showing displeasure.

Then, the girl coldly said, "You’re Long Chen’s guard, right? Do you even understand the rules? Your master hasn’t seated himself, and you’ve sat down already, what kind of behavior is that! Besides, no one else here has started to take their seats. How can you sit there without understanding any servant’s propriety?"

"Do I need you to teach me how to handle my affairs? Who do you think you are?" Shi Feng replied icily.

"I might not interfere with others’ matters, but when it comes to Long Chen’s household, I actually do have a say!" the young girl said, her face gradually sporting a cold smile. She then announced, "Listen up, I am the daughter of the current Duke National Protector, conferred by the Holy Emperor himself as Princess Jiulian, Long Chen’s fiancée, the future Princess Consort of Prince Chenn’s Mansion!"

After finishing her statement, the cold smile hanging from her lips grew even wider. She stared at Shi Feng, almost imagining his reaction upon learning her identity.

Afraid, regretful, perhaps even kneeling and begging for mercy, slapping one’s own face.

But after waiting a short while, the young girl still saw the young servant sitting there, utterly unaffected. Still with a lazy demeanor, he looked at her and slowly uttered four words, "You’re out of your mind."

"You!" Upon hearing this, the young girl was immediately infuriated, grinding her teeth in anger. "You, a mere servant! You dare be so insolent to me! I’m so infuriated, so infuriated! Alright! Just you wait! I’ll have your master deal with you later."

After saying that, she walked away fuming. Shi Feng couldn’t be bothered to pay her any mind.

Princess Jiulian indeed headed towards where Long Chen was, but he was already swarmed by people, engaged in lively conversation, and she couldn’t get close. This only angered her further, and she stamped her feet in frustration.

"Eh! Isn’t that Princess Jiulian? What happened to you? You seem angry. Who has upset you?" Suddenly, a crisp voice called out.

Princess Jiulian looked in the direction of the voice, and there approached a young man clad in blue, with a handsome face and an equally noble air.

"It turns out to be Young Master Ma Junjie from Wu’an Marquis Residence," she said, her face still showing unhappiness as she looked at the approaching young man.

"What exactly happened to you, Princess?" Ma Junjie asked with a curious face.

"Nowadays, servants have no understanding of the rules at all; they are getting more and more out of line," Princess Jiulian said.

"A servant? The Princess was angered by a mere servant? Given our noble status, why stoop to their level?" Ma Junjie commented.

"Hmph! If it were a servant from some other mansion, I wouldn’t even bother, but that is a servant of Prince Chenn’s Mansion. You should know that I’ve been betrothed to Prince Chenn since childhood. If their servant disrespects me even before I’ve crossed the threshold, what will happen once I’m married into the household? How will I be able to manage these servants?" Princess Jiulian grew angrier as she spoke.

After hearing this, Ma Junjie shook his head, secretly finding it amusing, and then said to Princess Jiulian, "If the servants dare to disobey in the future, just break their legs, and that’ll be the end of it."

"You have no idea just how arrogant that servant was earlier. He completely disregarded me! I wanted Long Chen to discipline him personally, but he’s inside, and I can’t even get in. How about this, Ma Junjie, you go and break that servant’s legs for me," Princess Jiulian said, pointing towards where Shi Feng was sitting.