The Double-Chapter 491 - 152: Attending the Banquet_7

"What do you mean?" Mother Shen smiled and said, "It’s an honor for our residence that Her Highness the Princess has come to visit."

Princess Yongning tenderly replied, "Madam Shen is too kind. Please don’t mind me, carry on as you were before." She naturally took a seat next to Shen Ruyun.

Shen Ruyun acted as if she had received a great honor, sitting up even straighter, holding her head high.

To Jiang Li, however, this sight was nauseatingly revolting.

"The Shen family is almost groveling," Liu Xu said quietly, "Lord Shen seems like a man of integrity, so why are his family members..."

"You can know someone’s face, but not their heart," Jiang Li simply said. After all, she knew best whether Shen Yurong was truly a man of integrity.

Princess Yongning glanced over at Shen Yurong as if nothing was amiss, but upon noticing that she wasn’t paying attention, a flash of disappointment crossed her eyes, which she quickly concealed before resuming her elegant conversation with the ladies present.

Those eager to please Princess Yongning were not few. Madam Jiang the Elder and Lady Lu, however, remained seated without moving, not even bothering to greet the Princess. Since Princess Yongning was Prince Cheng’s sister and he was in league with the Right Chancellor—who was an adversary of the Jiang Family—there was naturally nothing to be said.

The banquet seemed to be a delightful affair for all involved. The ladies were busy engaging in warm chatter, exchanging glances where appropriate, and fawning over others. After the meal, they were to admire the snow from a small building in the courtyard.

Although it hadn’t snowed today, the Shen residence was renowned for its elegance, and they had specially refurbished the snow-viewing pavilion. The long corridor and pavilion itself were a sight to behold. Liu Xu seemed somewhat uninterested, and while the other young ladies followed Shen Ruyun around the courtyard, she didn’t fancy joining the excitement and instead chose to wander around the garden with Jiang Li.

After walking for a while, Liu Xu wanted to visit the lavatory. Jiang Li waited outside for her, idly strolling until she unexpectedly saw an open room with a zither placed on a table.

This ancient zither was clearly precious, likely intended for a woman’s use, extremely delicate and thin, with flowers and birds carved at the bottom of the zither’s surface. When she was Xue Fangfei, she had brought a zither with her, a gift from Xue Zhao, which had burned along with her death. Shen Yurong would never play such a feminine zither, and from the first glance, Jiang Li knew it was a gift from Princess Yongning.

Princess Yongning also played the zither, and though perhaps her skills were not exquisite, there was no shortage of people in the world to praise her and cheer for her. Jiang Li entered the room, approached the zither, and gently ran her fingers over its surface. A precious zither like this undoubtedly felt smooth to the touch, unmistakably refined. She could imagine Shen Yurong sitting here in the past, watching Princess Yongning play the zither, perhaps performing a duet, or simply smiling as she watched. These thoughts triggered a wave of nausea in Jiang Li.

Nevertheless, she sat down.

Without lighting incense or washing her hands, she tried it out and immediately started to play.

She played "Moon Closing."

The zither music wafted through the air, eventually traveling a great distance. The Shen residence was not as large as the Duke Residence, so the sound of the zither wouldn’t just vanish along the way, and it slowly reached the pavilion above.

At first, no one paid attention, assuming it was a zither master playing. But gradually, as listeners were captivated, someone said, "Who is this zither master? ’Moon Closing’ is being played so divinely... who is playing it?"

"Exactly, exactly, hey, Mr. Xiao, you know the zither, don’t you? This zither music is extraordinarily fine, isn’t it?" someone asked.

Caught off guard by the question, Xiao Deyin, who had been in a trance, took a moment to come back to reality. She saw someone beside her gently tugging at her sleeve, "Mr. Xiao, what’s wrong with you?"

Xiao Deyin then regained her composure, forcing a smile and replied, "Yes, it’s played excellently." No one noticed her palms were clammy with sweat.

Others could only hear the zither music, not the musical heart, but she distinctly felt that the person playing was familiar, as if it was that person—the one who shouldn’t exist... Xue Fangfei?

How could that be!

Xue Fangfei was dead, and the person playing must be someone whose zither music resembled hers—it was surely just a mistake on her part. Thinking this way, Xiao Deyin eagerly asked Mother Shen, "May I ask Madam, who is playing the zither in the residence, and could we invite them over for a chat?"

Mother Shen was also puzzled, saying, "A zither master? We did not invite any zither masters to our residence."

"If no zither master has been invited, then who is playing the zither?" the crowd wondered, "Could it be one of the visiting young ladies?"

Shen Ruyun was also present; considering this, she said, "There is only one zither in the residence, which belongs to my elder brother, and it’s kept in the tea room of the West Garden. If someone in our residence is playing the zither, they can only be playing that one, so we only need to send someone to see who it is. Ladies, don’t worry, I will have a servant go check who the zither player is and then invite them over." Saying this, she commanded a maid to go.

"Moon Closing" continued to play, becoming more stirring as it reached its climax, causing someone to exclaim, "This zither music is almost as good as Mr. Xiao’s."

Hearing this, Xiao Deyin felt an outburst of anger. There was a time when she was hailed as the first zither master in Yanjing City, especially after Immortal Jing Hong got married and she had no rival. But within just half a year, first it was Jiang Li, and now this inexplicable person. It was as if everyone could claim to be the first zither master!

Beyond anger, in the depths of Xiao Deyin’s heart, there was also profound fear.

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She still remembered the first time she had heard Xue Fangfei play "Moon Closing" and how shocked she had been, unwilling to believe that anyone in the world could achieve such a realm of performance. At that moment, she had also bitterly realized that her own zither skills truly did not measure up to Xue Fangfei’s.

Fortunately, Xue Fangfei was dead.

But who was this person?

The servant girl whom Shen Ruyun had sent to find the one playing the zither had arrived at the room in the West Garden. By then, the zither music had stopped. The young maid entered the room and saw the precious floral bird zither properly placed on the table as if no one had been there.

The air was left with only a faint scent of fragrance.