A low sneer drifted by, but Princess Chengping seemed not to hear it. She still stared intently at the other woman and then asked, "What's so good about it?"
Li Wanming lowered her head and racked her brains. After a long while, she said, "That qin looks quite expensive. She should play it well..."
How could she know where the woman played well? She didn't understand music at all!
Years ago, when her eldest sister was learning the qin, she had asked Li Wanming and her second sister to listen in. But the two of them sat there like monkeys, fidgeting and unable to learn a thing. Lady Yuan saw that they were really not cut out for it, so she had to give up on them.
Now, suddenly being asked to comment on the qin - playing skills, she really had nothing to say.
Princess Chengping smiled. "Songyuan has been learning the qin at Zangshan Academy for many years, under the tutelage of Master Zhou, the master of music. Her qin - playing skills are extraordinary, the sound is gentle and melodious, and it's unmatched in the capital."
Hearing this, Lü Songyuan stood up and gave a slight bow. "Your Highness flatters me. I'm really not worthy of such praise. But this lady..."
She looked at Li Wanming and said softly, "My qin is an antique from the previous dynasty. It's made of the finest hanging bell paulownia wood, with strings twisted from the silk of ice silkworms from Yunzhou."
"This lady can see its finesse at a glance. You must be a qin - lover. I wonder if we have the honor to hear you play a tune?"
Her tone was gentle, with a smile on her lips. But for some reason, Li Wanming felt a chill in that smile, as if there were cold blades hidden in it.
"I can't play the qin..."
But Lü Songyuan walked over. "Madam Cheng, don't be so modest. You chose your husband from the list of successful candidates in the imperial examination and even beat the drum at the court of justice. Now everyone in the capital knows about you!"
She warmly grabbed Li Wanming's hand and led her to the qin.
"I've long heard of Madam Cheng. Seeing you today, you're really a charming beauty. I'm sure you're a talented lady. My Green Lute would be honored to be played by you."
"But, I really can't..."
Lü Songyuan pressed her down on the qin table. "Madam Cheng, are you rejecting me because you think my qin is not good enough for you?"
Li Wanming looked up, seeking help from Princess Chengping, only to see that the princess was also staring at her, with a familiar coldness in her eyes.
Here it comes again! That look of suspicion and scrutiny!
Li Wanming had no choice but to grit her teeth and raise her arm to gently pluck a string.
Weng...
The sound of the qin was no longer as elegant as when it was in Lü Songyuan's hands. Instead, it was hoarse and unpleasant, like a crow flapping its wings or a carpenter sawing wood.
Another burst of sneers came from around.
"I thought the famous Madam Cheng in the capital was really something. Turns out she's a qin - ignoramus!"
"Qin - ignoramus? I heard she can hardly read a single character. She's an illiterate good - for - nothing..."
"Really? Can't be..."
"Think about it. If she weren't so ill - bred, how could she have snatched a man under the imperial list?"
"Alas, it's really a pity for Sister Songyuan's qin to be played by such a person..."
Lü Songyuan sat under the corridor, sipping a cup of maple dew tea. With a half - smile, she said, "Madam Cheng, have you been so busy selling wine these days that your qin - playing skills have become so rusty?"
She didn't know Li Wanming, and they had no grudges. But Cui Yan, the former magistrate of the capital who was dismissed from office and imprisoned in the grain - buying case, was a student of her father!
This woman, Li Wanming, instead of selling her wine properly, had gone to the magistrate's office to beat the drum at the court of justice!
Not only had it cost her father a capable subordinate, but it had also made everyone in the capital live in fear, afraid that the matter of hoarding grain would fall on them!
Yesterday, her mother had gone to the palace to discuss the matter of appointing a queen with the Empress Dowager. But the Empress Dowager had said that the emperor was busy investigating the grain - buying case and focusing on rectifying the officialdom, so he had no time to think about the wedding. She told her mother to be patient and wait...
Wait, wait, wait! She had to wait again! She had been waiting for almost two years. How much longer did she have to wait?
Did she have to wait until she was old and haggard before wearing that phoenix crown? Wouldn't she become the laughingstock of the Great Sheng Dynasty?
Lü Songyuan had been holding a lot of anger. When she saw Li Wanming today, it instantly ignited her temper.
She decided to play a good trick on this wine - selling woman to vent her anger.
As soon as the words "only busy selling wine" came out, the noble ladies beside them exclaimed, "What? She sells wine?"
"How can a wine - seller be qualified to attend the princess's flower - viewing banquet?"
"You don't know. She used to be the daughter of General Xuanwei. But she was so shameless that she went under the imperial list to snatch a man. Now she has to make a living by selling wine..."
"I heard that although her husband's family is poor, he's a legitimate successful candidate in the imperial examination. It was after marrying her that he had to resort to selling wine."
"Among scholars, farmers, artisans, and merchants, merchants are the lowest! Her husband is really unlucky to have such a jinx of a wife!"
...
Their fathers all relied on Grand Tutor Lü, so they were on good terms with Lü Songyuan. When they saw Lü Songyuan pulling Li Wanming under the pavilion, they already knew that she was going to make her look bad.
Of course, they followed suit to add insult to injury, so that Miss Lü could vent her anger more smoothly.
Li Wanming frowned and instantly became impatient.
These wealthy ladies in the capital! They were so full that they had nothing better to do than gossip. They were really idle!
They should be made to run five kilometers every day with Caiwei and Qinglan. Then they wouldn't have the energy to talk nonsense here!
Just as she was about to speak, a sharp rebuke suddenly came from beside her. "Madam Cheng has already said that she can't play! What, don't you have ears? Didn't you hear?"
The speaker was a round - faced girl. She was not very old, only about fourteen or fifteen years old. She was wearing a bright green dress with pale yellow silk trim, looking like a chirping oriole on a branch.
She walked over and pulled Li Wanming up. "Don't mind them. They're used to pretending to be deaf and dumb and fawning on the powerful. They're just deliberately bullying others!"
Lü Songyuan sneered. "Sister Fang, you've wronged us. I kindly offered my Green Lute for Madam Cheng to play. Who would have thought that she really couldn't play..."
"So what if she can't play!" Fang Zhi was angry. "Who says that a woman must know how to play the qin?"
Lü Songyuan glanced at her sideways. "It doesn't matter if one can't play the qin. But what about poetry, painting, singing and dancing, and needlework... I wonder which one Sister Fang is good at? Surely you're not good at nothing?"
"You..." Fang Zhi's little face was flushed with anger, but she couldn't say a word. Because she really wasn't good at anything...
"Don't be so smug!" Fang Zhi saw Xiao Yingchu sitting beside her and had an idea. "No matter how good your qin - playing skills are, you can only play Guangling San."
"Sister Xiao has already learned Pingsha Luoyan. Even Master Zhou praised her after listening to it!"
"What's the point of competing with me? Do you dare to compete with Sister Xiao, the number one talented lady in the capital?"
Lü Songyuan's face changed, and the knuckles of her hand clutching the handkerchief turned white involuntarily.
She had always been at odds with Fang Zhi, but the real threat to her was Xiao Yingchu.
She was good at the qin, but Xiao Yingchu played even better. She could paint, but Xiao Yingchu's flower - and - bird paintings were even more lifelike.
...
In the annual competition among the disciples of Zangshan Academy, she had always lost to Xiao Yingchu. Being called the eternal second - place finisher, how could she not hate?
If it weren't for her father's warning not to offend the Xiao family, she would have taught Xiao Yingchu a lesson long ago!
Hearing Fang Zhi mention her, Xiao Yingchu blushed and quickly declined.
"No, I'm not that good. It's all just rumors... I really can't bear the title of the number one talented lady..."
She was being modest, but to others, it sounded a bit like unintentional showing off. At the same time, it made Lü Songyuan seem even more shallow, arrogant, and overbearing.
Lü Songyuan's face looked even worse.
Fortunately, the palace attendant came out to break the awkward situation. "The princess has an order. The flower - viewing banquet is about to start. Please ladies take your seats."
Li Wanming turned her head and only then noticed that Princess Chengping, who had been under the building just now, was gone.