Volume 6, Chapter 20: Extensive Mercy, Great Love (1/2)

Volume 6, Chapter 20: Extensive Mercy, Great Love

<blockquote class="Quote">

On the day of the Lantern Festival in the twelfth year of Tongtai, people did not know the ravages of ere approaching, and so they celebrated the triu a festival at Xuanwu Lake A host of wo to beco theyuan At the ti in thearound her tender body She danced over the waves, the water leaving no s of fairy immortals All vieere intoxicated, and for the next twenty years, no one could triumph over her

Lady Liu, née Qiao, had the milk name Suhua Her mother was Lady Qiao, named Xia She was kind, erudite, and chivalrous, talented as the adopted daughter of Lady Qiao Also brave and intelligent, she could read rather well At fourteen, she took a customer onto the pleasure boat only to preserve her chastity She sirand and noble love that not even ed herself in anger After she was saved and recovered, Lady Qiao feared she would try to coain, so ordered servants to watch her

Lady Liu laughed, saying, “This child will reincarnate after dying I’ve realized the tee your business; set up brocade tents on the river to entertain people with the sound of song and the sensuality of dance”

Lady Liu was elegant and skilled at song and dance, and her rhetoric facilitated it During the banquets every pleasure boat held, the attendees were captivated by her eyes and figure She turned all heads

—raphy of Lady Liu</blockquote>

On the day of the Lantern Festival, the atmosphere inside the city of Jianye reached peak enthusiaseant on Xuanwu Lake was entering its final climax On the top of the dais constructed in the center of Xuanwu Lake, every woman anted to capture the title of most popular courtesan could perfor, she had to ride the pleasure boat and circle the lake so everyone could see her clearly Wherever the boat passed, guests could throw the flower hairpins in their hands onto the boat Whoever received the eant was now entering the third round of competition The three contestants who received thethe second round were the nan, but the three woh the third and final round This final contest would deteryan</eh they were all popular courtesans, the different titles would decide as the Most Popular Courtesan of Jiangnan As a result, this round of competition became even fiercer

As for the hairpins created by the ga dens and brothels of Qinhuai, they were old and copper to harden the peony One hairpin cost one tael All on the lake cruised boats on which people could watch the pageant’s guests sell hairpins

As the first two rounds had been co the title of most popular courtesan were rather renowned Myriad Flowers Tower’s Lady Biyan had a charht Pavilion’s Lady Lingyu was as elegant as an i a tune The last contestant was Liu Ru, who flew her own banner in Qinhuai Myriad Flowers Tower and Moonlight Pavilion were the nan’s brothels, and secretly controlled around eighty percent of Jiangnan’s brothels and gaet selected into the final round of the pageant Liu Ru the final round came purely from the support of the people Quite a few bordello and brothel owners who usually could only eke out a feeble business between the two great powers secretly helped her, hoping Liu Ruyuan</ereat powers

The weakest perfor the previous two rounds, Biyan, ca voice was inferior to the other to As a result, she would perfordian Whirl this ti like clouds; green, damask silk trousers; and red brocade boots She had a colored ribbon of light e onto the brocade felt stage, she looked beautiful and distinguished, her pretty eyes roa there, she was already displaying her natural chare on the pleasure boat, strings and druions¹ burst through the air Biyan stood on the tips of her toes and crossed her feet, her left hand on her hip She lifted her right hand, spinning rapidly with the reifter In the blink of an eye, her face and figure could no longer be seen clearly Spectators could only see her whirling, long sleeves becohtin the wind The jewelry on her person struck each other, creating sounds of crystal that harmonized with the raceful and energetic dancing, roups

Others tried to search their memory for the source of this dance, but they couldn’t redian Whirl, ca the tireat pains the Myriad Flowers Tower took to resurrect the lost Sogdian Whirl At the beginning, Biyan’s reputation aarded her as char, but she lacked a bit of artistic merit With today’s dance on the lake, she dispelled everyone’s notion of her seductiveness

Biyan e thousands of ti her were dazzled They were in aand applause, the uished guests all around her She looked around with charained round after round of applause and cheers

Once Biyan had made a complete circuit of the lake on her boat and returned loaded with hairpins, the Moonlight Pavilion’s pleasure boat approached the dais The crowds quieted and waited for Lingyu, who’d captured the yu was the adht Pavilion Her skin looked as pure and noble as the white lotus, her figure slim and delicate, attractive to all who saw her Her zither skill was second to none, with many skilled zither players ashamed of their inferiority Even harder to s, she had remained chaste to this day nobody could pluck this famous flower even now

After the pleasure boat anchored, the croatched the cabin door, waiting for Lingyu to appear To their surprise, Lingyu never appeared, but a musical phrase fro dew and petal showers, it seeped into people’s souls drip by drip And like the dancing snow carrying winter and innocence, it lightly coaxed people into a mysterious fantasy world no one could free themselves from Once the piece ended, aopened by itself without help froreen robe appeared When Lady Lingyu played the zither in public in the Moonlight Pavilion, white muslin also covered her face Only those she invited into the woh she only had her profile facing people today, the crowd’s entire focus concentrated on her It was al to catch sight of the real face of this wo And even though they couldn’t see her beautiful face,² her delicate and lovely silhouette, snohite skin, and hair black as ink and thick as the clouds had the crowds lost in her infinite beauty

Meanwhile, on the distant Dreahtly furrowed her slender brows “Bravo, Moonlight Pavilion This truly is an original and creative arrange would have lost this round to her for sure”

Yulun was standing before the , his hands folded behind his back Gazing at the Moonlight Pavilion’s pleasure boat, he said, “I may lurk in the brothels, but sadly, yu’s real face Lady Lingyu’s skill playing the zither is unparalleled, and she doesn’t need to rely on my lyrics to attract clients However, the few tih they are the entle pieces, she plays them with a particular sorrow and resenthed and said, “I once yu by chance I felt she had a fir of, it’s no wonder little sister Lingyu has a noble and chaste nature How else could she endure a career in the brothels? This kind of lifestyle truly isn’t soirl like her could bear”

Yulun could hear the sincerity in Liu Ru’s voice, as well as a lack of any self-pity It was just like the previous Lady Liu, and a dash of joy passed through him “Don’t quit today’s co, okay?” he said with a s’s face as she said with a s I won’t concede” By this ti stood up and said, “It’sa pink, eown adorned with lotus leaves Heron the waves, touching people to the core

A hint of sadness flashed through Yulun’s eyes He retrieved his flute ently stroked it Of all the instruments, his favorite was the bamboo flute Because the timbre of the flute was rueful, he could lay bare his heart

After enjoying Biyan’s and Lingyu’s outstanding perforaze of the crowd full upon the Drea had come out first place in the previous two rounds due to her new lyrics for the two traditionalHowever, as the other toths in this round of co would likely receive the runner-up title of enious Aaze, the Dreah, the croere curious about the four dinghies rowing behind the pleasure boat, shadowing it When it reached the dais, twenty-four wo walked out of the cabin of the pleasure boat Each carried a different instruhies surrounded the dais A stately wo of the strings sounding like the thunder of cavalry Following, the fe athe lake began to discuss a’s setup wasn’t a rules violation, the three woe ht at this time, someone pointed at the ?” The crowd focused their attention there and sahite vapor and ht breeze on the lake today, but the mist didn’t scatter and instead condensed In the blink of an eye, it cloaked the dais Ahies swathed in ue, a heavenly voice drifted out of the lows thereen hazeBut ill praise them for their aroma?And this year’s red floither and fallI wish to be entrusted to Jewel Lake”^3,⁴</blockquote>

The listening croere absorbed in the singing Co exuded aIn an instant, the masses felt sure that an immortal had descended fro herself It was like they asof the heavenly i ended and the crowds hadn’t gotten their fill, the mist on the dais fell away andto thein the clouds Her long sleeves fluttered as she danced Pink yration of her narroaist and her every movement were full of bold and unrestrained beauty and allure Frostresses accoue and hazy illusion

<blockquote class="Quote">Peeking out of the water tall and straightA pair of bloo flowers add the red”⁵</blockquote>

Along with the singing, the sound of a flute floated out froant timbre sounded not of the hu, revealing the true face of the dais in theto the flute attracted everyone’s attention Her rapid, complex dance moves dazzled the crowd, for her every step was lithe It was like her graceful, charht She leaped and spun on her slender toes on the brocade felt Her dancing rese lotus swaying in the wind The other pipe music had diminuendoed into silence, so only the sound of the one flute faded in and out The flute and dance fused into one and became inseparable While the croere captivated, theover the dais and covering the thin silk gown adorned with lotus leaves

<blockquote class="Quote">The sweet s around the dance clothesThey would be of oneco on the stage grew ain enveloped the dais, and the singing petered out The croatched the gorgeous dancing gradually get hidden by the ht Even after nothing could be seen, they focused all their attention on the lier any suspense as to who the yuan</ee on the shore, a wo intent flitted through her eyes The woman’s face was caked with htness and beauty moved people If soant and poised lady was the ht Pavilion

At the saed oblet in his hands, looking a tad melancholic The black-robed Confucian scholar next to hiratitude If he hadn’t been looked after by you all these years, his flesh and bone would likely have already turned towin first place Lord, you hed softly, however, and said, “This isn’t a bad thing No ht Pavilion, we’ll both gain an overwhel winning is not at all detrimental to us You also know hatred has been sown between Liu Ru struck out on her own, several brothel women on the Qinhuai River hadn’t received her care and kindness This tiht Pavilion cut corners and coerced those women to work for thee against the Moonlight Pavilion? However, they feared the background of the Moonlight Pavilion, so could only get angry, not speak out With Liu Rueant, the scattered brothels and pleasure boats est powers, us and Moonlight Pavilion, are co behind, but now that Liu Rue for us As for Song Yu, he may have pushed it a little far this time, but we can’t harm him Brother Chen entrusted hi his survival”

The black-robed Confucian scholar knew this “Brother Chen” was very important Theto construct the Myriad Flowers Tower, he gained the ot et to this point As a result, the scholar only gave a dry chuckle He had planned for Biyan to capture the title of Biyan learn the long-forgotten Sogdian Whirl He hadn’t i a silk jacket lifted the curtain and entered the cabin He spoke a feords to the Myriad Flowers Tower Lord A playful s on the face of the lord of the Myriad Flowers Tower, he said, “Looks like Song Yu has run into trouble”