That Day I Found The Strangest Egg

7.5 The Language Of Flowers

The Western Palace is usually quiet. The only noise that could be heard would be either from the birds chirping or the occasional laughter from the inhabitants of the place. There are also times when maids causes some stepping sounds, or the clanking of tea cups when the Empress Dowager has a visitor. Loud noises will only come when the Emperor requests an audience, or when there are special events like today. The usual silence of the Western Palace was filled with chatter and sounds of guqin being played by a musician.

The center of the music is from the best player of the Harem, the tenth concubine Bai Ai. Her hands fiddled through the string majestically creating a pleasant tune to the ears. The music is lively yet possesses a hint of naivety that is befitting to Bai Ai's character. Clad in blue robes, the maiden continued her play as the other concubines listened around her.

The cause of this special celebration is from the events that happened earlier. Turning back time, six hours before the current setting...

[SIX HOURS EARLIER...]

"May the Emperor live and reign for ten thousand years, ten thousand years, ten thousand of ten thousand years!"

The crowd greeted the usual praise for their emperor. Yu XueQin sat on his throne, executing the usual meeting with the officials. The people inside the court listened as the officials discussed about the affairs of their realm and the stuffs related to agriculture and military. Each of the officials needed to report their progress daily to ensure that they are doing their job properly.

The only different in today's Imperial Court meeting is the twenty-one flower arrangements displayed in between the long flight of stairs and the bowing concubines. Each of the flowers has their designated numbers. Lang Yuan had his displayed in front of him earning glances to those who weren't able to witness the contest personally.

After a long while, the meeting is done. The officials retreated on their seats and the following event flowed flawlessly. Zhong Song, as the one who oversees the competition, carried a scroll again holding the total scores for the flower arrangement. The five judges are on the sides revealing no smiles to the expectant people on the court.

Zhong Song opened the scrolls and read the contents. There are no emotions from his eyes as he looked at the scores objectively. Clearing his throat, he announced the winners of the competition with the respected points that each will receive.

"The competition completed the five-hour cycle thus resulting to wonderful works of art. Each of the candidates presented their creativity, showcasing their expertise to the field of flower arranging as well as showing their selves in a disciplined manner. The following names are the winners of this competition. The first five winners will receive two points, while those who belong to top ten and up will get one point. Any candidate belonging to the lower ten will not receive any point."

This point system was decided base on the judges' review and to the spectators' value. The first five that gathered the highest points from the judges will receive one point. Their standing from the spectators' value will also give them another point if they managed to gather enough votes; this means that those who received two points are favored by both the judges and the people. While those who only have one point are either favored by any of the judges or the people.

Of course, there will be a chance that two candidates will have both points. Then the ranking will be decided to the number of votes and scores that was tallied. It means that the one who will get the top score managed to gather the highest score from the judges and the highest votes from the people. If one managed to get the highest score from the judges but wasn't able to convince a vote from the people, then the candidate will fall from the sixth place up to ten. Again, if all have scores, it would be dependent on the number that they received.