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Published at 14th of November 2020 11:11:39 AM


Chapter 67

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Princess DanYang’s Zither
After young miss Wang, there were seven other people who performed.

Whether it be song or dance, calligraphy or painting, all of the performances were exceptional. It was immediately evident that they had practiced a great many times.

These girls were all youthful and possessed great beauty. Most importantly, they had extraordinary backgrounds. It was only thanks to this that they would have this opportunity to perform in the imperial palace.

Among them was Yin Shuo’s younger sister, Yin JiYao. She wore a green and white dress with wide sleeves and paired with her slender waist, she resembled a softstem bulrush or a willow by the water.

While she stood there and performed her song, she was beautiful beyond words.

When the seventh person finished performing, the second prince suddenly stood up from his seat and bowed toward Emperor Ning.

“Though daughter may be clumsy, I to perform to pray for a good autumn on father Emperor’s behalf and for our Eastern Ling to have bountiful harvests.”

In the past, a princess had never performed at an imperial banquet, and Emperor Ning hesitated for a moment. Princess DanYang also gave him a look.

That look faintly seemed to drift in Gu ShuBai’s direction.

Emperor Ning understood. Covering his mouth, he let out a faint sigh, “My DanYang has grown up and knows to show understanding for her father Emperor. Since you have such intentions, you may begin.”

Princess DanYang’s excuse was high-sounding, and there were no flaws to pick at.

But there were some who were familiar with things and could guess the reason. Quietly whispering amongst themselves, and reading their lips, the name of Marquis Gu’s heir appeared.

Gu ShuBai held his golden goblet and swept his gaze across the room, taking note of what the people present were discussing.

“Many thanks, father Emperor!”

Her performance was the zither song “Feng Qiu Huang”*. Legends said that Sima XiangRu used this to sway Zhuo WenJun. It was thanks to this that the story of WenJun’s elopement exists.

Eastern Ling favored Confucianism; therefore, they naturally favored the zither.

The zither was a noble instrument, and improvements could be made through self-reflection. The strings could convey the kind feelings of one’s heart.

From Fuxi’s invention of the zither to BoYa’s era, the strings of the zither carried the earnest feelings of the noble.**

Compared to the zither, the performances by the young misses from earlier seemed to fall a tier below.

There were basically no flaws in Princess DanYang’s song. She sat in front of the zither, plucking and tugging at the strings. She was so practiced that there was no need to even look at the strings.

This gave her an aura of being completely tuned into the performance, and it gave the performance a unique flavor.

Her eyes would occasionally glance in Gu ShuBai’s direction, but the latter did not even open his eyes to look at her. Time and time again, this caused feelings of anxiety to well up inside her heart.

Yu Fu slightly furrowed her brow.

With her becoming anxious, the intent behind the song also changed.

The melody that had been steady and reliable now had some unsteadiness brought about by the anxiety.

Those unfamiliar with music could not tell, but those who were musically trained could hear it; her state of mind was not tranquil.

Was the reason that none dared to play this most-refined zither is not just that it was difficult to control? Was it also difficult for people to hide their true feelings?

Otherwise, the seven young misses from noble families before her would have gone and done this first.

The second prince thought to himself that this was not good. She was too impatient.

If she did not perform, it would be the norm; however, if she was to lose face during this performance in the presence of these high-ranking officials and noble families, it would become a big problem!

He quickly gave a look to the palace servants outside the hall.

While the sound of the zither filled the air, a gust of wind suddenly blew into the hall, carrying the autumnal fragrance of rice flowers.

Everyone looked out of the hall and saw a group of colorful butterflies flutter into the hall.

Some of the butterflies gently landed on Princess DanYang’s shoulder as if they had been drawn in by the sound of her music. The people in the hall were exceptionally surprised.

This unexpected occurred had completely covered up the flaws in her playing, and she was able to regain composure.

“The butterflies only came because the princess’ music sounds so natural. This subject is thoroughly impressed by princess’ ability!”

The son of some family suddenly stood up and praised Princess DanYang’s ability, which caused Emperor Ning to smile brightly.

Everyone else hastily began to heap on the praise, completely ignoring the butterflies that had been scattered by the wind. They were like leaves that had fallen on an autumn day.

Imperial Consort Xian’s expression was a little ugly.

She had been wanting to use tonight to put her niece’s abilities on display, but who knew that all of the glory would be stolen away by Princess DanYang.

A butterfly landed next to Gu JiuGe’s foot. He was already a little inebriated and picked it up from the floor.

The butterfly’s wings were tattered. It quivered in his hand but could not fly no matter how hard it tried.

Yu Fu saw his movements and noticed the butterfly. She was instantly consumed with feelings of pity and carefully received the butterfly in her own hands.

“The butterfly is so pitiful.”

Gu JiuGe quietly scoffed and looked at Gu ShuBai slightly jokingly.

“It’s clear that this butterfly was raised by someone to be released at a specific moment. Why would any butterfly hurt itself like this and come to accompany the sound of music?”

These words were not at all tactful, and Gu ShuBai immediately understood what he meant. His graceful brows slightly furrowed.

“To reduce these butterflies to such a sorry state for their own selfishness, this is the greatest offense to the zither.”

Truly playing the zither would be like Bo Ya, who played a very refined “Tall Mountains and Flowing Water”, or like Ji Kang, who played a very free and relaxed “Guangling San” at his execution, or like Liu YuXi, who played with an absolute peace of mind…

It was not a tool to win favor with others.

Princess DanYang was completely oblivious to the conversation between the brothers of the Gu family. She had been praised so much by others that she was rejoicing. It was only when she joyfully glanced over that she found that Gu ShuBai was not looking at her.

At her most glorious moment, why was he not watching?

Gu JiuGe was talking to him about the matter of the butterflies. From Princess DanYang’s angle, it looked as if Gu ShuBai was looking at the butterfly in Yu Fu’s palm, thus a feeling of jealousy welled up.

Of all the times that she could have Gu ShuBai look at the butterfly, she had to do it now. Was this not clearly being done to her on purpose?

“Father Emperor!”

She suddenly cried out and pointed at Yu Fu, saying: “All of the young misses present today have performed, but sister Yu Fu has not!”





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