Phew, finally we reach chapter 5. There’s still long way to go, though…

Sorry for the incomplete chapter in this post earlier. I forgot to input the finished version. I’m on holiday now, so hopefully I’m able to speed up just a bit.

Chapter 5 She is Unworthy to be Accompanist (unedited)

The banquet officially began. As the maids were dressed like flowers and b.u.t.terflies; the delicious, fine foods and top quality wine were presented out like flowing water. Cheerful and lighthearted ensemble of traditional stringed and woodwinds instruments were played, twelve beautiful and alluring dancing girls in lightweight silk dancing outfit started to dance lightly and gracefully in the middle of the great hall, on the top of the red carpet.

Beautiful people, beautiful music, beautiful dance.

Fragrant wine, fragrant cuisines, fragrant flowers.

This was a beautiful night, she didn"t have any reason not to enjoy all of the beauties and goodness.

Sese lowered her eyes and smiled, a dish of scallop b.a.l.l.s sauté in sticky sauce were arranged in front of her, the colour and fragrance was enticing. Her delicate hands grasped and lifted the jade chopsticks, picked up only one, and put it in her mouth, it"s indeed a delicacy.

"Young Lady Jiang, you actually could still eat?" The one who sat beside Sese was the Minister of Imperial Censor"s esteemed daughter, Liu Ying. She seemed to be very sympathetic with Sese, looking at her with frown.

Sese said while eating: "This imperial palace"s dish is truly a delicacy. Young Lady Liu, you should eat this."

Why did everyone think that she should be feeling sad? For a man who wasn"t her beloved, what"s the use of being sad?

"It is said that the women of the Northern Lu Country are all good singers, Princess Yingxiang"s singing voice is even more of heavenly and ethereal, is the Princess willing to sing a song for us?" Said the Crown Prince of Donggong, Ye Wuchen.

Donggong (东宫): Eastern Palace

Ye Wuchen was presently Empress Ming"s eldest son, the Emperor and the Empress had doted him since he was a child, he was haughty and presumptuous.

At this moment, he wore a bright purple palace attire which was embroidered with cloud pattern and adorned with flowers. The outer lapels were embroidered with gold thread in the pattern of cl.u.s.ter of clouds and soaring dragon through the mist. On his head, he wore a gold crown with purple jade. Sharp eyebrows and clear eyes, distinct and handsome facial features, black eyes with a trace of coldness, unmovingly fixed his gaze on Princess Yingxiang who was immersing herself in joy.

Sharp eyebrows: straight eyebrows slanting upwards and outwards

Yi Yingxiang had apparently been accustomed to this kind of invitation, her long eyelashes trembled as she nodded and smiled.

Ye Wuyan however was somewhat displeased, he seemed to have not antic.i.p.ated that the Crown Prince would give prominence to this thing, he furrowed his brow and slightly frowned, he was just about to state his refusal. But Empress Ming"s ceremonial voice was heard, carried through: "Emperor, this palace also heard that the girls of Southern Lu Country are all good singers, really want to have the fortune of listening to the fullest!"

This palace: ben gong; Employed by an empress or a high-ranking consort when speaking to a person or an audience of lower rank or status.

The Emperor nodded, smiled and said: "Since it is like this, Zhen also really want to listen."

Yi Yingxiang stood up with a beaming smile, the lotus stepped lightly to move, walked up to the middle of the great hall, and said with a smile: "Yingxiang is willing to sing a song for Empress Dowager, Emperor, and Empress, to congratulate and as a toast."

"Wait," the Empress suddenly opened her mouth and said: "This palace heard that Marquess of Ding"an"s esteemed daughter is extremely good at playing qin. It would be better to let Miss Jiang to serve as Princess Yingxiang"s accompanist, wouldn"t it? Presumably, it will be a celestial song." The Empress stated with a smile, her pair of beautiful eyes gazed straightly toward Sese.

Qin: is a plucked seven (or five)-string Chinese musical instrument of the zither family, not to be confused with the guzheng, which is another Chinese long zither, it has 16 (or more) strings and movable bridges.

Sese originally had wanted to calmly and quietly appreciate the delicacies, didn"t want to be the focus of everyone"s attention again. She worriedly sighed in her mind; tonight, she was doomed not to be in peace.

She calmly and unhurriedly put down the jade chopsticks, stood up and saluted.

But Ye Wuyan"s cold, heavy, and piercing voice was heard, he calmly said: "Imperial Father, Yingxiang"s singing voice is suited for a cappella, not suitable to be with instrumental accompaniment. The clashing sound of qin, on the contrary, can make her beautiful voice no longer perfect."

Sese felt somewhat wronged, she blankly raised her head and caught a sight of Ye Wuyan"s pair of good-looking phoenix eyes, straightforwardly gazed toward her.

Piercingly cold, calm, profound, penetrating.

He gazed into her eyes, his expression was without any gentleness.

This was the first time for tonight that Ye Wuyan casted a glance at her, perhaps up to this very moment, he just recognised her now, this woman in simple and elegant blue clothes, was precisely Jiang Sese, his unmarried cefei.

He said that Princess Yingxiang"s singing voice was not suitable to be with accompanist, the meaning was that she didn"t deserve to be Princess Yingxiang"s accompanist, the sound of her qin will tarnish the Princess" beautiful singing voice.

Sese didn"t get angry nor annoyed, she merely smiled indifferently, an elegant smile that was serene and carefree just like moonlight on the flowing water.

She lightly raised her eyebrows, her appearance was flowed with an elegant and n.o.ble charm.

"Thanking Empress niangniang for the attention, but Sese"s qin skill is ordinary, to be Princess" accompanist is somewhat embarra.s.sing." Sese turned her sight to the Empress and stated differently.

Niangniang: used when addressing to empress and imperial concubines.

It wasn"t being modest, she really didn"t want to. Since there was someone here who was unwilling for her to be Princess Yingxiang"s accompanist, then she would comply with his wish.

"Oh, Miss Jiang doesn"t need to be modest, Zhen also heard that your qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting doesn"t have a single imperfectness, you are the famous talented girl of the capital city, for you to be Princess Yingxiang"s accompanist, it couldn"t be better." said the Emperor.

qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting: four arts of the chinese scholar

He had demoted Jiang Sese from zhengfei to cefei, his heart still felt guilty. Now that Princess Yingxiang was going to sing a song, he also hoped for Sese to be able to display her talent.

The Emperor had opened his mouth, Sese could not refuse anymore, she had no choice that to moved her body, walked away from her seat and came to the middle of the great hall, in front of a table with qin.

The palace hall became quiet, everyone was staring at Sese and Yi Yingxiang who were in the middle of the great hall.

Sese was calm, beautiful, graceful and restrained, like orchid in the deep valley; Yi Yingxiang was pure, charming, bright and colourful, like the newly bloomed multiflora rose.

In this one instant, every man without exception envied Xuan w.a.n.g"s luck with women and every woman without exception was jealous of the two women"s beauty.

Yi Yingxiang was looking at Sese with a soft and gentle smile, her bright and beautiful, big eyes shone with wit and loveable. She should know exactly that Sese was the former unmarried madam of Ye Wuyan, unexpectedly she hadn"t shown any single of unhappiness.

"Young Lady Jiang, Yingxiang want to sing the most widely circulated song of our, Northern Lu Country, [Princess Fei Ouna], have Young Lady Jiang heard it?" Yi Yingxiang sweetly asked.

Sese looked at Yi Yingxiang"s bright and beautiful, pure, big eyes, there were also those cheeks which was tender and beautiful like cherry blossom after rain, as well as those lips with a bashful smile, she had to admit that this Princess of Northern Lu Country was indeed a charming girl.

Sese lightly smiled and said: "Sese have never heard of this song, therefore, asking Princess to sing it first once, Sese will properly follow the tune as accompanist."

After the two persons discussed properly, Yi Yingxiang saluted the Empress Dowager, the Emperor and the Empress, then, she began to sing with a clear voice.

Listening to Yi Yingxiang"s singing voice for the first time, Sese only then realised that what Ye Wuyan had said then was actually the truth. Yi Yingxiang"s singing voice was really not of ordinary beauty.

Her voice was just as if melting away ice and snow on the top of the high mountain, as if permeating through white clouds in the ninth heaven —clear, melodious and resonant; far in its pureness, sweet in its vastness.

This song"s t.i.tle was Princess Fei Ouna, Sese was not very proficient in the language of Northern Lu Country, but actually knew that Fei Ouna was about the moon, Princess Fei Ouna was precisely about the Moon G.o.ddess. For Yi Yingxiang to sing this song, was she flaunting herself as the northern countries" Moon G.o.ddess? This princess, was actually very confident of herself.

From Yi Yingxiang"s singing voice, Sese could feel the surge of this girl"s pa.s.sionate emotion, this song not only had high note but also complicated tune, really wasn"t a good accompaniment. At this moment, Sese really suspected whether this seemingly innocent Princess Yingxiang was deliberately making things difficult for her, didn"t want to let her be the accompanist.

However, Sese knew, that if she refused, the Dragon would definitely be angry. But if she joined the music play, then she would rob Princess Yingxiang"s limelight.

She didn"t want to fight for favour with her, also didn"t want to show off in front of Ye Wuyan.

Sese thought deeply for a good while, eventually lowered her head to look down, the white hands lightly strummed the strings of the qin, a voiceless consonant flew and raised; she lightly plucked and twirled, like running water pa.s.sing through clouds, jade and pearls dropped on the tray.

The melodious sound of qin was chasing after the singing voice, each and everyone was holding their breath, quietly listening.

Right when the sound of qin was going to be one with the singing voice, suddenly a sound of "snap" was heard, a string of qin was broken.

Everyone was taken by surprise and sounded a sigh.

The qin"s tune hadn"t yet to reach it"s ideal tempo, but the string of qin was undesirably broken, unexpectedly they didn"t have the opportunity to verify the qin skill of imperial capital"s talented girl.

Everyone pitied Sese in their mind, the opportunity to show one"s skill in front of the Empress Dowager and the Emperor, not everyone had it, perhaps Young Lady Jiang was overly nervous that she caused the string to break.

Only Sese knew, the reason that the string break, was merely because she moved her fingernail to cut the string.

T/N: I know it’s like 2 chapters late, but it’s about the characters’ attire, especially the palace’s. Although the dynasty is fictional, but the kingdom really existed in year 204 BC to 111 BC. Based on those timeline, the clothes that they wore were the one that look kimono-ish. They’re the ones that the actors of “Sound of the Dessert” wore.

Here’s one of the example…

Liu Shishi in Palace Attire