Volume 1 Chapter 2 (Part 3)

The sound of the Guqin stopped.

The ovation and sounds of cheer in Pin Hua Building as loud as thunder.

Ruge silently returned to the main hall and found out that with Youqin Hong"s help, Feng Xixi had finally brought the house down and was in the limelight, making the other young ladies cast a sidelong glance at her out of indignation.

Feng Xixi had a tender voice and the cheeks covered under the white gauze was coquettishly pink. Her charming beautiful eyes quickly scanned the whole venue. When she saw all the customers focused on her as if they were obsessed and intoxicated, she could not help but be jubilant. However, she immediately sat in a more dignified manner and displayed an awe-inspiring and inviolable deportment.   

Ruge silently said, "Miss, congratulations. The t.i.tle of today"s most popular courtesan has to belong to no one other than you."

Feng Xixi glared at her briefly but her heart was full of joy.

At this moment, someone at the venue suddenly stood up.

She was clad in a light green tight-fitting silk dress with rounded embroidery design*. The outer garment was a pink and transparent fine gauze. She had almond eyes with arched eyebrows and her facial features were incomparably beautiful while her bearing was pampered and flamboyant. It was precisely Young Lady Feng Huang who ranked number four in Pin Hua Building that month.   

*T/n: There are many designs but this is one example:

Feng Huang laughed loudly. "Why are my sisters tonight so worthless? You only sing, dance and paint. There"s nothing novel at all. Don"t let the customers doze off! Let me perform something thrilling and stimulating to raise your spirits, how about that?"

"Good!!"

The sound of applause was everywhere.

However, the other young ladies in Pin Hua Building all turned to glare at her.

Feng Huang wanted to perform "Hundred Steps Flying Dagger!"!

In order to make it more exciting and enjoyable, she ordered the servant girl, Xiang Er, to stand properly at a distant place with an apple on her head to serve as a target. But how would Xiang Er have done something like this before? She was frightened until her face was deadly pale and her legs trembled. The apple on her head also swayed to and fro, making Feng Huang unable to aim precisely.  

Feng Huang was annoyed and with a lightning move of her hand, she slapped her. "Useless fellow! If you tremble again, I"ll shoot through your brain!"

Xiang Er"s tears streamed down as she shut her eyes and did not dare to speak.

At the other side, Dao Liexiang could not endure it any further. She berated, "Hey, what"s with you bullying a little girl! Why did you have to hit her!"

Feng Huang derided with her arms akimbo, "What, only you, Miss High and Mighty is allowed to slap others while I can"t?! Furthermore, this is my servant girl. How is it your d.a.m.n business whether I want to beat or rebuke her!"   

Dao Liexiang was furious until she almost fainted. She lambasted, "Just now, I was punishing a b.i.t.c.h but you want a pitiful little girl to accompany you to play by risking her life. How can they be the same?"

"Pitiful?!" Feng Huang reached her hand out to pinch Xiang Er"s face and pinched it until it became pale. "Xiang Er, you say, how are you pitiful, did I not give you food or not give you clothes?! I only let you hold an apple on your head and you already cry like a figurine made of tears as if someone is abusing you. You"re deliberately making me lose face right?!"   

Xiang Er gritted her teeth and held her tears back as she sobbed, "This servant doesn"t dare."

Feng Huang rolled her eyes at Dao Liexiang. "Did you hear that? This is something between us master and servant. It has nothing to do with outsiders!"

"You!"

When had Dao Liexiang suffered like this before? She immediately wanted to act to discipline her but was pulled back by someone. She used force to fling the person away but to no avail. Only then did she realize that the one who stopped her was Eldest Brother, Dao Wuxia.

Dao Wuxia smiled. "This young lady, even if she is your servant girl, it"s also not appropriate to randomly hit and rebuke her."

Feng Huang seemed to have completely no interest in him and coldly snorted, "As long as she is my servant girl, I don"t need you to care about this!"

Dao Wu Xia gazed at Yu Zihan who quietly sat at a distant location. When he saw that his expression was gentle and his eyes seemed to bear a complimenting look, he could not help but be inwardly delighted and waved his fan as he lightly smiled. "What if I buy her?"

××××××

That night.

All the courtesans in Pin Hua Building contended to show their beauty and novelty, wanting to attract the Eldest Young Master from Tianxia Wudao City, but beyond everyone"s expectations, he ultimately picked a very pitiful and inconspicuous little servant girl——Xiang Er. When he embraced Xiang Er in his arms and announced all his power, all the young ladies" minds buzzed and they saw the word "failure".  

Under the luxuriant banyan tree.  

Youqin Hong was fully dressed in white and playing the zither while sitting cross-legged.

Ruge was at his side with her chin resting in her hand as she sat on the verdant gra.s.s. Her eyes were staring blankly and it actually seemed like she did not hear that graceful zither sound at all.  

Youqin Hong glanced at her. "What are you thinking about?"

Ruge came back to her senses. She stuck her tongue at him and smiled embarra.s.sedly. Ever since that day when she went out of the building to buy something, she would occasionally meet Youqin Hong who was practicing his zither in this woods and it had already been half a month. In this half a month, she often came to listen to the zither and also gradually became familiar with Youqin Hong. She discovered that Youqin Hong was not as cold and estranged as he appeared.

"Sorry, I didn"t pay attention to you playing the zither just now." Ruge apologized carefully, hoping that he would not be angry.

Youqin Hong calmly said, "Tell me what you are thinking about."

Ruge hugged her knees and raised her small face to look at the azure sky. "I am thinking that some things are really very strange."

Youqin Hong waited for her to continue.

"That time, it was when Dao Wuxia appeared in Pin Hua Building for the first time. I saw many young ladies put in the effort and strived very hard to grab his attention and obtain his affection. Young Lady You Lan has a unique talent in painting and calligraphy and has an outstanding temperament; Fei Cui is charming and romantic and has remarkable skills in singing; Young Lady Feng Huang carried out a surprising move and wanted to use flying daggers to stand out from the crowd; Young Lady Bai He was bold and out of place, having the power to make crazy for her; Feng Xixi also spent a whole afternoon to meticulously dress up and purposely wore a veil to appear mysterious and n.o.ble in order to attract people"s attention. She even invited you to play the zither to accompany her…"   

It was a cloudless azure blue sky.

Ruge sighed. "But, all of them failed. The one who succeeded was Xiang Er who did not have any preparation at all. Why was it like this? Is hard work not needed? Can one succeed without hard work? Or should I say that even if one works hard, one wouldn"t succeed?"

Youqin Hong remarked, "Why would you lament so much. It"s just luck."

"Luck?" Ruge suddenly said sorrowfully, "But luck is so hard to fathom."

"Every person has their respective fate."

When Ruge heard that, she turned her head to fix her attention on him. She questioned closely, "Will working hard be useful?"  

Youqin Hong still played his zither and lowered his head. "Sometimes useful, sometimes useless."

Ruge smiled. "Such an accurate sentence. Sometimes useful, sometimes useless. But who would know when it would be useful and when it would be useless?" After a while, she shook her head. "One should still work hard. Even if one doesn"t succeed, one also wouldn"t regret."

It was as if Youqin Hong was moved by her words. He stopped playing his zither and gazed at her fixedly. "What you said makes sense."

When Ruge heard him agree, she was extremely ecstatic and smiled. "It"s just like you. Because you are constantly working hard to practice playing the zither, that"s why you could become Zither Sage whose fame spreads throughout the world!"  

Youqin Hong looked at her. "You"re wrong. I"m not Zither Sage."

"What?" She was flabbergasted. "You"re not Zither Sage?!"

"I"m only Zither Sage"s protege."

Under the verdant banyan tree.

Youqin Hong who was dressed in white was unhurried and beyond the mortal world. He was refined and peerless. Ruge really did not dare to believe. If he"s not Zither Sage, then what kind of a figure would be the bona fide zither sage? She could not help but look forward to it.

The sound of zither.

Youqin Hong reminisced, "That year when I met Zither Sage, I was twelve years old. Zither Sage was fully clad in white and was spotlessly white like the snow from the snow mountain. He was more dazzling than the sunlight and simply made people unable to see his appearance clearly."

Ruge asked curiously, "Is his zither skills more outstanding than yours?"

"I can"t even compare to a fraction of him."

She did not believe.

Youqin Hong smiled. "At the very least, when he"s playing the zither, your mind definitely wouldn"t wander off."

Ruge"s face turned red from embarra.s.sment. "I have already apologized."

Youqin Hong smiled even more leniently.

Ruge muttered, "Zither Sage… I don"t know if I would get the chance to meet him once…" She already did not have much time.  

"Zither Sage will come to Pin Hua Building once every year. Calculating the time, it should also be soon."

Youqin Hong"s voice also seemed to show that he looked forward to it very much.

Translator Corner:
Alright, I"m back haha. I"m not sure how many of you read my announcement last time but anyway, there"s a new  so do check it out for the "ma.s.s" release and updates.