New year, new atmosphere; new spring, new scenery.
A carriage drawn by two blue fla drakes was stopped on the official road ten miles south of the southern gate of Celestial Balance Upper City.
After understanding the situation, the coachman inford the passengers inside the carriage, "Dear guests, the official road ahead leading to Celestial Balance Upper City is undergoing floral decorations for the Thousand Flowers Festival, and carriages cannot pass through. Please proceed on foot."
"Thousand Flowers Festival?" The guests inside the carriage poked their heads out and looked ahead. They saw n and won in uniform continuously banking the sides of the drainage channels along the straight and broad road. Further ahead, colorful sights could vaguely be seen.
Fu Manman, with Chan’Er in tow, alighted from the carriage and, after bidding farewell to the coachman, walked onto the official road.
The air was filled with fragrance. This composite aroma was invigorating, seemingly possessing the power to cleanse one’s spirit, instantly dispelling the fatigue and gloom Fu Manman had accumulated from the journey. After traveling another three miles, the road’s sides were found adorned with flowers of various colors, shapes, and temperants.
The flowers together seed to be the makeup applied by an Immortal to the earth. They were definitely not randomly arranged but ticulously planned; hence, despite their vivid multicolored beauty, they did not appear overly garish or vulgar in the slightest.
The person leading this work must have an exceptionally keen eye for discovering and creating beauty.
This reminded Fu Manman of Senior Sister Gu Lan. Senior Sister Gu Lan was like this, not only beautiful herself but also adept at making everything around her beautiful, whether actively or passively.
Chan’Er crouched by the roadside, eyes wide, mouth open, curiously watching a butterfly stationed on a flower.
She glanced left and right, making sure no one was watching her, then promptly swallowed the butterfly whole.
But, as luck would have it, just as she swallowed the butterfly, she was imdiately caught by Fu Manman.
"Chan’Er!" Fu Manman lifted Chan’Er up, "What are you doing? How many tis have I told you, no eating bugs!"
Chan’Er was just like a caught, mischievous cat; instinctively, she started flailing, and after finding it futile, she settled down and dumbly gazed at another butterfly fluttering by, drooling.
"Chan’Er!"
Fu Manman did not usually call her by the full na "Chan’Er". Chan’Er knew that once her full na was called, it ant her sister was truly angry. She quickly cast a pitiful look, indicating she would behave.
Only then did Fu Manman release her.
Passersby who witnessed this scene couldn’t help but laugh.
Fu Manman, feeling embarrassed, hurriedly tugged Chan’Er along to enter the city.
...
March 5, two days before the Thousand Flowers Festival.
As a festival welcoming spring, the Thousand Flowers Festival holds no less significance in Great Li than New Year’s Eve. In most places, spring represents rebirth and hope. The lting of snow and the blooming of a thousand flowers signify spring’s arrival.
Celestial Balance Upper City, as the Imperial Capital, had been preparing early; the entire city, from top to bottom, from streets to alleys, was already adorned with all sorts of flowers. This year is the year of the Imperial Dynasty’s path opening, so the Thousand Flowers Festival is even more grand than usual. Preparations started more than a week in advance, even before the snow on the mountains had completely lted.
In past years, flowers cultivated by the Immortal Agriculture Bureau for decorating the city were usually tid to bloom on March 5, two days before the Thousand Flowers Festival on March 7. They were then picked on March 6 and decorated throughout the city overnight to present the best effect.
However, the scale of floral decorations for this year’s Thousand Flowers Festival is remarkably large. In previous years, decorations were limited to the city gates, street channels, and the surfaces of important buildings. This year, the scope expanded to the city walls, the ten-mile official road outside the city walls, and every building.
The workload increased significantly, so the Immortal Agriculture Bureau had to expedite flower maturation one week earlier and start decorating early to complete this colossal project by the day of the Thousand Flowers Festival.
Zhuo Longxia has been sowhat worried recently.
As the Bureau Chief of the Scenic Design Bureau of the Immortal Agriculture Bureau, it’s natural for her to be incredibly busy these days. Because the additional scenic design for this year’s Thousand Flowers Festival was an interim arrangent, she expended a lot of effort to make the flowers bloom five days earlier than scheduled. Comparatively, designing additional flower arrangents wasn’t that big of a deal.
However, all of this only exhausted her ntally; it wasn’t enough to worry her. After all, she’s one of the top horticultural landscape designers in Great Li, resolving it was a matter of perseverance.
The real headache was the personnel arrangent for the "Flower Dispersal Envoy".
The Flower Dispersal Envoy, known among the people as the Flower Fairy, has the sole duty of performing a Flower Dance atop the Phoenix Perch Platform on the day of the Thousand Flowers Festival, instigating cosmic dust to enhance all floral decorations of Celestial Balance Upper City, achieving a grand bloom that elevates the festival’s atmosphere and emotions to the peak.
This task is crucial, so every year’s Flower Dispersal Envoy is carefully selected three months in advance.
Every year, the flower species differ, the scenic designs vary, and the corresponding Flower Dance also varies. A new dance needs to be choreographed each year, requiring the Flower Dispersal Envoy to practice in advance.
This year’s Flower Dispersal Envoy had long been selected, and the Flower Dance was almost perfected.
The problem arose seven days ago when an order from Li Palace landed. It demanded that this year’s Thousand Flowers Festival be organized to the highest standard, disregarding cost constraints. Compared to before, the floral and scenic designs in Celestial Balance Upper City increased fivefold! Virtually achieving visibility of floral designs anywhere.
The flower species used increased from the previous eighteen to fifty-four.
The Immortal Agriculture Bureau could provide fifty-four types of flowers. For the sixfold scale of floral and scenic designs, Zhuo Longxia gritted her teeth and managed it.
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