Ch.186 Marriage alliance with Beiyan (3)
Qin Jiu followed the melodious sound of a lute to a small lake in the middle of the garden. The afterglow of the setting sun softly sprinkled the surface of the lake, as the clear water sparkled with much radiance
On the clearing by the lake, the ladies gathered in groups, some talking, some feeding the fish, some playing, or merely just enjoying the music…...
The liveliest section of the whole banquet was at the water pavilion by the lake, the Bifeng pavilion, it was crowded with people, all dressed fancily.
The second princess, Xin'an, was also at the Bifeng Pavilion. She was the hostess of today's banquet. She was surrounded by many noble ladies, as they chatted along happily.
After Qin Jiu went over to greet Xin'an, they went to listen to the storytelling performance that was going on.
A female performer in a rose-red palace dress was sitting in the southwest corner of the water pavilion, with a lute in her arms. She strummed on the lute as she sang along.
Her voice was clean and angelic, as it ingeniously matched with the melodious and crisp sound from the lute. She seemed to be talking, but also singing at the same time.
It was the first time that Qin Jiu ever saw someone storytell with a lute, and only felt that both her singing and the sound of her lute were indescribably beautiful, a match made in heaven.
She was so fascinated by it that she didn't even notice the third princess, Changning, coming to her side.
"Third Lady Qin." After the song, Changning called Qin Jiu softly, along with a soft and delicate smile on her face.
A servant came over to give Changning some scented tea, and also got Qin Jiu a new cup of tea.
Qin Jiu came back to her senses, she stood up and greeted: "Third princess."
Changning gave Qin Jiu a helping hand, then urged her to take a seat before shyly saying: "Third Lady Qin, I have always liked you, but I have a weak body and I always fall sick, so I never dared to come to you."
"Your Royal Highness, it’s really easy to catch a cold in this freezing weather, you should take good care of yourself." Qin Jiu picked up the scented tea that the servant had just sent over, "This osmanthus rose tea is the best for this season. Osmanthus can help nourish your stomach, the rose helps to remove blood stasis and also helps with your breathing, you should have more.”
Changning then picked up the scented tea beside her and took a sip.
She was about to say something, but the mellow sound from the lute sounded again, and with the ethereal voice from the performer, she began to sing the second song.
Seeing that Qin Jiu was particularly interested in lute storytelling, Changning started to talk more about it: "Third Lady Qin, I heard that there is a theater troupe in the capital called the Lijia Troupe. The leader of the troupe actually invited someone from Qin to perform lute storytelling for the opening scene."
"I have never been to their shows in person, but everyone who did all says that they’re really good. If you like lute storytelling, you should give it a try when we get back to the capital."
Qin Jiu nodded occasionally.
As the two were talking, a girl in pink came over, bowed to Changning first, then smiled and said to Qin Jiu: "Third Lady Qin, the second princess is going to play Touhu, do you want to come along and join?"
The girl in pink pointed at an open space outside of the Bifeng Pavilion. There were a few binaural iron kettles laid on the ground. Many people were throwing bamboo arrows at the iron kettle. The scene was very lively.
Qin Jiu remembered who this person was. At the Qianqiu banquet last month, she introduced herself as the third lady from Weiyuanbo Manor, her name was Jiao Niang.
But what was her surname?!
Qin Jiu thought about it for a while, but couldn’t recall. She politely refused her invitation. After all, she knew nothing about the games that the noble ladies played.
Yun Jiaoniang was rather disappointed.
Changning helped ease the situation: "Third Lady Yun, Third Lady Qin promised that she would accompany me through this lute storytelling performance......" Her smile was gentle and soft, and her way of speech was very sweet.
At this moment, a disdainful laugh interrupted Changning.
