Vol 1 Chapter 2 (2/2)
Soon, the carriage had left the city gates
The carriage was put down and Mrs Hua respectfully beckoned, “My Lady, we’ve arrived”
Lady Hua answered back and led Pingting outside A , welcoular visitors
The housekeeper and the foot and Lady Hua were allowed to do so They locked the door behind them
“Mrs Hua occasionally looks through the , so put on lowered, “Re If they can’t hear the qin, the et suspicious and come in to check on you”
She said this while hurriedly putting on her pre-prepared scholar clothes She wiped theinto a handso and winked She was very fast so shebefore
“I’ht” She went to a corner and soly, “Only him and I know about this door, no one else”
Pingting had also seen secret passageways in Jing-An Ducal Residence It see house would have so her head, while Lady Hua’s eager figure disappeared
She sat where she was asked to, hands lightly touching the qin
The strings beneath Pingting’s five fingers had a welco touch
She loved to play the qin The faster the notes were, the more it resembles top-quality wine; which possesses the ability to intoxicate the drinker fully
In Jing-An Ducal Residence, she was a legendary girl Not many had personally seen her before, but everyone knew of her battle tactics, needlework and her spectacular qin skills…
Even the King knew that there was an all-rounded -An
Zeng…
Pingting lightly plucked a single string, leaving the bass note hanging in the air like a bewitching appetiser before a grand feast
Deep, not blunt Light, yet highly melodic
After the deep notes carets flapping their reen forest at daybreak
The corners of Pingting’s ers danced across the strings The h in pleasure
She was already tired after a piece Pingting reached for her handkerchief and wiped the sweat away froave a bitter s the qin, even until your hand breaks from the tiredness That just sho little she knows about qin”
Suddenly she heard a man’s voice outside the door
“I have never heard such heavenly music in my entire life May I see the divine face of the Lady who is able to play such music?” His voice sounded well-educated and made one feel relaxed
This personfor me to finish this piece He must be someone who knows a lot about music
Pingting ihtly flustered because she had te, just what are you doing in the ene her lover, so if this person comes in, our covers will be blown”
She used her thu However, before she could refuse, that person suddenly cut in, “My Lady’s qin sound is full of regret As it seeain, then I can only wait for a destined day”
Such a polite gentleman
Pingting waited for a an to smile Silence She tiptoed to theand peered out No one was there
“Has he already left?” A look of penitence flashed in her eyes as her pulse began to calm down
While Pingting looked out the , she saw that Mrs Hua was looking her way and hurriedly lowered her head
By evening, Lady Hua had coe Her face was flushed and she looked as if she had a really happy day Lady Hua and Pingting swapped clothes and inforo back to the Residence
In the carriage, Lady Hua chattered to Pingting about her lover in a lively ot to the happiestmerrily
Pingting sa happy she was and felt really happy for her
“Sigh, the day passed too quickly” Then Lady Hua sighed again and said, “Wouldn’t it be nice if I didn’t have to marry?”
Pingting thought about how strange that was “Sir really cares about My Lady, so why did he engage you to the Chen fas first?”
Lady Hua’s face darkened at the e “Daddy may love me, but this business is in competition with the Xu family There’s no way he’d let me marry the son of the person he hates the most Don’t tell this to Daddy or he’ll make me marry even earlier”
“My Lady, your wedding is rapidly approaching You won’t be able to hide it er
“Yeah I know…” Lady Hua sighed and looked at Pingting Suddenly she had another thought and grabbed Pingting’s hand, pleading, “If you don’t finishclothes, doesn’t that ood idea, justclothes every day and make Mother Chen and them work more, please?” She fluttered her eyelashes, clearly pleased with herself
Pingting laughed and rolled her eyes at this childish idea She was about to tell Lady Hua that that wouldn’t hen the carriage stopped
A crowd of unknown men circled them and slowly closed in There was about ten of them, and they were all on horses
Thesepeasant clothes but their expression was far too educated, while their actions were too collected
The sun was starting to set and the Hua carriage was still outside the city There were no other travellers on the road The footmen knew that if they were attacked by bandits, there was no way to defend thee, barely e, her chubby face twitching as a young ot off his horse “Mister,from the shrine so we have donated most of our money There’s not much left…”
The youngan air of importance and he sa the housekeeper had stahed, “Missus, you haveto the carriage, he spoke again, “Please excuse my rudeness, My Lady, and accept this”
Lady Hua wasn’t sure what exactly was going on but she was very ive me?”
“My Lady’s qin technique was spectacular Master has asked uqin to My Lady”
Pingting nition and suddenly remembered the man who had wanted to see her She leaned forward to whisper in Lady’s ear
“Who is your Master?” asked Lady Hua
The ive me, My Lady Master wishes to keep his name a secret for now But Master did say that when the ti this, he bowed again and carefully gave the guqin to the housekeeper Then he got back on the horse and left
The others saw hiradually followed suit
The housekeeper saw that they had all left and iuqin inside and chuckled, “That was surprising, hehe, My Ladyreally well today to have attracted such a richwell today too It was !”
The Lady blinked at Pingting and whispered, “So you’re good at the qin huh? I couldn’t tell”
Pingting bent over and studied the guqin The qin’s body wasit with er left a sonorous sound
Pingting suddenly paled “Phoenix Paulownia-Guqin?”
Phoenix Paulownia-Guqin was extre that even her Master’s money couldn’t buy The previous owner of this iteive away such a precious iteift
“A good qin for a beauty huh I unwittingly picked up a talented girl Interesting, very interesting” Lady Hua declared, looking really happy and she nudged Pingting, “That person said that he will come to see you, I’ Lin were rich cities and wo about love
“Interested in ered the qin
Her heart thumped and she wasn’t sure what to do
That person was indeed very sly, his actions were not too fast and not too slow First quietly listening to the qin, then asking toher an expensive qin Everything was clearly calculated with different motives, just like the art of war
Although they hadn’t ’s curiosity
“Hong,” the Lady nudged her and giggled, “look at you and your dazed look”
Pingting laughed sheepishly in response, but her eyes never leaving the guqin
“Dong Lin isn’t a playground, I have to stay alert”
Translation Notes:
Qin: A traditional Chinese instruuqin” references “Gu” uqin”to write in most cases, so it has been left untranslated