The Snow Festival Talent Exhibition gave young ladies of noble families the chance to showcase their skills in painting, poetry, calligraphy, music and other areas of the arts. Those who drew or wrote prepared their works ahead of time to present to the empress dowager, while those with performances were required to put on a show for all the officials and royalty alike.

Much to her delight, Mei Yanran was scheduled near the end of the line thanks to her father's rank and position at court. This meant she had both ample time to watch the female lead and her rival perform before she had to go warm up. Li Siyan was Wei Wanru's highest-ranked rival in the social ladder, well-known to the readers as a veritable cockroach who refused to die until the final showdown in the book. She had the dubious honor of being hated by all of Wei Wanru's different shippers by offending each of their male leads in equal measure while escaping any form of punishment whatsoever. In fact, she'd gotten so hard to kill that the original author was forced to foist her off to Ling Fengxiao, who expertly eliminated her in some unspecified manner offscreen.

If he'd done that earlier, he would've saved the male and female leads both some trouble, Mei Yanran thought as she watched Li Siyan rise gracefully from her seat. But then I guess we wouldn't have much of an antagonist left...

There was no unifying theme to the competition because it was set in the dead of winter---too late for the New Year's, and too early for Spring. However, it was a general rule for the ladies to highlight their positive qualities: grace, elegance, beauty, youth, and so on, to earn a favorable impression. Of course, neither could they try too hard, because the empress dowager was a hawk-eyed mistress who loved to check the aspirations of a would-be throne-climber, especially when her first son had a reputation as a playboy.

A stage was set up in front of the emperor, empress, and empress dowager. The officials sitting near the stage already had their tables rearranged before the banquet to accommodate the space, and had the best view of the space aside from the sovereign. Amongst them were the country's highest ranked generals and officials, including Li Siyan's father. By contrast, Wei Wanru's seat was just outside of the privileged circle, as was Ling Fengxiao's. Mei Yanran and her family were even further down. As a result, she had a poor view of the various paintings and calligraphy being put on display, and could only settle for listening and watching the music and dances instead. Most of the latter were the slow, leisurely courtly types typical of ancient times. As lovely as they were, they weren't exciting at all, especially when the performers were clearly lacking in basic dance training.

Well, what can you expect? Noble daughters didn't go to dance academy, after all.

"....the eldest daughter of the head of the Ministry of Rites, Li Siyan!"

Mei Yanran perked up when the familiar name reached her ears. She peered at the stage and saw the Great Rival/Cockroach/Witchy Female #1 glide onstage to bow before the empress dowager. Behind her, four court ladies were busy setting things up---one to clear a low table, another to light the incense, and the third and fourth to place her prized zither on the tabletop.

Naturally, Li Siyan played the exact same instrument as the female lead. But she was far well-known for it in the capital, having been instructed by a famous master and gracing the gardens of her courtyard with her melodious tunes. The fact that her father and teacher spoke often of her skill, or that she held frequent gatherings of friends by entertaining with songs that they spread and shared with other notable nobles in the city, only added to her repute.

"Miss Li, is it not?" the empress dowager smiled kindly upon the girl. "This Dowager has long heard of your talents. It shall be a pleasure to listen to you play in person."

"Many thanks to Esteemed Empress Dowager," Li Siyan bowed with perfect grace, every inch a lady. "Siyan only hopes that my humble attempts will be worthy of such noble company."

Dressed in light pink robes that accentuated her fair, pale skin, the tall and slim Li Siyan took a seat behind her instrument and began to play "Face Like the Peach Blossoms." (人面桃花)

The author had clearly taken creative liberties here, because this was a song based on an famous Chinese idiom. The story behind the idiom told of a Tang Dynasty poet who passed by a village covered in blooming peach blossoms on his way to the capital. Since one of the courtyards had an open door, he went there to ask for water and was met with a lovely girl. The two of them met eyes and fell in love at first sight.

The next year, the poet passed by the village again. But while the peach blossoms were still blooming, the familiar courtyard door was locked. Disappointed with missing the girl, he took out his brush a wrote a poem on the wall, praising the girl for her beauty as lovely as the peach blossoms while lamenting how they bloomed without her. Unknown to him, the girl saw this poem and grew so heartsick that she refused to eat and died. 

When the poet returned to the village a few days later, he knocked on the courtyard door to try his luck again. The girl's father answered the door and spoke of his daughter's unfortunate demise, and how her body was still lying on her bed. Distraught by the news, the poet ran to the room and hugged her corpse, crying that he was there at last.

To his surprise, the girl revived---she had merely fainted from hunger! After that, the poet and the village girl were married and lived happily ever after. "Face Like the Peach Blossoms" thus became an idiom describing feminine beauty and yearning love.

Knowing that Li Siyan had a serious case of Chu Yexuan crushing, Mei Yanran couldn't help but wonder---was Li Siyan the girl waiting for love, or the poet who chased after it against all odds?

Whatever the case, looking at the vision of the musician at the strings, Mei Yanran felt a hint of grudging praise. Fine, so she's a terrible person, but at least her music's alright.

Still, if Li Siyan's this good, how did the female lead beat her in the novel with a shabby zither and a bleeding hand?

She was looking forward to seeing it with her own eyes.