The banquet hall had an unusual layout.
"About the size of a rice paddy, I'd say."
That was Raohan's older brother's assessment. It was exceptionally large for a single room.
A large circular stage sat at the center, surrounded by round tables.
Yao and the others were still getting ready and remained in the detached quarters. It was a little worrying, but with the guard and the eccentric strategist left behind, there shouldn't be any risk of getting entangled with anything strange. Besides, Yanyan was fairly good at handling the eccentric strategist.
Maomao headed to the venue ahead of the others with Raohan and Raohan's brother.
"This arrangement doesn't make you conscious of upper seats and lower seats, huh."
Raohan said.
Maomao thought the same. With a stage at the front, the clans seated in the back were inevitably going to feel overlooked. It was a sensible call. That said, there were still two rows—one in front for families with zodiac characters, one in back for the remaining characters—so the hierarchy was clear enough that nobody should have any complaints.
Not even half the guests had arrived yet. The empty round tables stood out. There were tables marked "Horse" and "Jade," but nobody had come to those either.
There were roughly twenty tables. Each could seat eight, though most would never be completely full. Interestingly, the seating combinations were similar at every table.
(Lots of pairings of elderly men who seemed to have retired with young people.)
Maomao and the others took their seats at the table marked "Ra."
Maomao poked Raohan.
"Hey."
"What is it?"
"Could this place be a matchmaking venue?"
"That's part of it. They bring talented people or beautiful women from branch families and pitch them to other houses—it happens more often than you'd think. It's not just blood relatives; there are people who want to forge connections with prominent families, and they bring those kinds of people along too. Of course, there are some real duds mixed in. Oh, and apparently Father and Mother first met at a gathering like this."
(Isn't that seriously messed up?)
Maomao wasn't the only one who felt it was a bad idea to bring Yao and the others along. Raohan felt the same way. He had brought young ladies from another household to what was essentially a matchmaking venue, so if they got upset about it, he'd have only himself to blame.
However, the matchmaking venue was only one aspect of it.
"What about the other aspects?"
"Showing off the next heir, building connections, business deals, political interference — there was plenty Grandfather loved about it, apparently. He used to attend every single one."
Raohan glanced outside the banquet hall.
"There are private rooms prepared, each built so sound doesn't leak. If you want to have a secret conversation, help yourself."
That was probably Raohan's real objective. Well, when it came to finding a bride, the elder brother might be the more serious one, but he'd already brought an eccentric strategist along, so he might as well give up.
"You haven't been pulling any shady moves, have you? Telling me you'd introduce me to someone nice…"
Raohan's brother cornered him. Sure enough, it seemed he'd lured his elder brother there under the pretense of finding him a bride.
"Brother, you know I only want to look at beautiful things, right?"
"That's true, but there's something fishy about you."
"Yeah, fishy."
Maomao nodded.
"Looks like he'd commit fraud."
"The kind of marriage swindler who uses a plain face to put you at ease, then strikes when you let your guard down."
Maomao added.
"What a terrible person. May the ship I invested in sink, sink, I say!"
"The poor sailors, though."
Maomao sympathized with the innocent sailors.
"Then may you stub your little toe."
"Why are you and Maomao closer than you are with me, your own brother?"
Raohan bristled.
Each round table had a servant standing by, ready to prepare drinks at a moment's notice. Tea was brought for Raohan, and fruit wine for Maomao and the elder brother. The fruit wine had been steeped with herbs to aid digestion.
Raohan instructed the servant to bring out dim sum as well. It was partly to feed the eccentric strategist, but also because he didn't want their upcoming conversation to be overheard.
"My goal is to get close to a certain someone."
"A woman?"
Maomao looked at Luomen with cold eyes.
"No way. Look, that table to the upper right."
Maomao shifted only her gaze to the upper right. Five people sat at a round table. A considerably elderly man, a middle-aged woman assisting him, and three from the younger generation. One was a man in his twenties, and Maomao recognized him. She didn't recognize the remaining two, but one was a woman and the other was still a boy of about ten. The table bore the marker "U."
(This is...)
Maomao wondered whether this was a blessing or a curse. Not only would she have to deal with Yao and the others— Bashan— she might even end up dragged into his troubles whether she wanted to or not.
(She mustn't let Luomen notice.)
Maomao did her best to feign disinterest.
"Old man?"
She said it flatly.
"You mean 'sir.' Say 'sir,' won't you?"
Luomen admonished her gently while sipping his tea and picking at the sweets placed at the center of the table.
"And then, the upper left."
When she shifted her gaze again, there was an elderly woman. One man who seemed to be her assistant, and five from the younger generation sat there. The table bore the marker "Tatsu."
"Granny?"
"I said 'ma'am'—say 'ma'am,' won't you?"
Luomen corrected her in a reproving tone.
"What about the two elderly people?"
"Those two families have been feuding for about forty years. They used to get along, apparently, but after the previous heads got into a massive argument, the whole families turned against each other."
"Those previous heads—are they the two elderly people?"
"No, the woman is the wife of the previous head. That said, she'd know well enough about the circumstances of the time."
Had the previous head passed on?
"What caused the fight?"
"One side had a family heirloom stolen, and the other was the suspect. The one who was stolen from was Tatsu, and the suspect was U."
"Wow, that sounds like a real headache."
And from forty years ago, at that. It wasn't as though a family heirloom was going to surface now.
"It's not like a feud between two families has anything to do with you, does it? I know that sounds cold, but—"
Raohan's brother spoke in a low voice as well.
"Normally, yes. But right now the U clan is weak. There are plenty of unsavory people looking to take advantage of that."
Raohan explained in simple terms, as though teaching a child.
"The Zi clan hasn't been gone for that long. In the midst of all that, they'd want to avoid losing yet another named house, wouldn't they?"
"So the plan is to patch things up between two houses that don't get along and restore the U clan's influence? That doesn't exactly sound like it would go smoothly, and more importantly, do you really think you can solve a forty-year-old case?"
Maomao nodded at Raohan's brother's words.
"That's the usual way of things. But here's the thing—the Tatsu clan is still searching for their heirloom. If it could be found, just imagine what kind of favor that would buy."
"That's the real objective."
Maomao said, sipping her fruit wine. It was rather good.
"There's one more thing bothering me. Remember how there was a hanged corpse in Adoptive Father's office before?"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"What if I told you that all three of the culprits came from families connected to the Tatsu clan?"
"..."
Maomao silently finished her drink.
"Solving a forty-year-old case won't be easy. But with Maomao, my brother, and Adoptive Father—and ideally Grand-Uncle Luomen, though that wasn't possible—we might just manage. After all, three heads are better than one."
It was an unusually level-headed assessment from Raohan, but Maomao had to agree. She wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing she'd just watched the U clan get crushed without lifting a finger.