1.37 Prelude (2)
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YuLan was silently observing Ji LanBai. The latter was absentmindedly cleaning her guqin with a piece of cloth. The younger girl's brows were slightly knitted as she carefully wiped the underside of the strings and all curve of the zither.

The both of them were currently inside the music room, where they would be waiting until the time of the performance. He Shan and Sun Chen would be letting them know when they had to go to the central courtyard, where their performance would take place.

It was one of YuLan's prerequisites: she wanted to keep her contact as minimal as possible with the guests. 

Ideally, she would just perform, then would quietly leave out of sight. 

"LanBai... ," YuLan finally said after contemplating whether or not she should address her issue.

"Hmm?" Ji LanBai answered in a soft humming voice, without even lifting her head.

YuLan gulped a mouthful of saliva. For some reason, talking to this simple girl was a much harder task than talking to Ji SongLi.

"I... I don't think I will like to be in Prince Zhang GuoFu's estate."

There, she said it.

Ji LanBai's hand paused, and she finally looked up. Then she giggled,

"Oh... YuLan~... ." She smiled widely, "I have asked you a few times. If there is something you saw that you don't like, we can just let Fu-ge know. He will change it for us. Whatever we want to be arranged to be placed in the estate, he'll surely agree!"

YuLan shook her head, 

"No. What I mean ...  I don't want to enter his estate."

Ji LanBai blinked, not comprehending.

"I don't want to live there. At all." YuLan emphasized.

There was silence as Ji LanBai's brows were knitted deeper, trying to understand what she meant. She muttered softly, "Why, YuLan? Don't you like Fu-ge? Don't you want to be with me?"

"I do want to be with you... ." YuLan hurriedly walked towards where Ji LanBai was sitting as the latter was looking quite shaken. She did not understand how to deliver her words better so this girl understand.

"Just... not that way... . And not living in a cage... ."

"LanBai... . I like you. I like Prince GuoFu." She squeezed Ji LanBai's hands in both of her palms, "But... Prince GuoFu also ... likes me."

LanBai blinked, "But, that's how it should be, right?"

"LanBai, Prince GuoFu likes me... that way," YuLan carefully muttered.        

Ji LanBai blinked again, clear confusion on her face. YuLan somehow felt this task was the most difficult task ever; more than her hard work in having to prepare a professional draft for her business presentation in her past life... .

"You will be Zhang GuoFu's wife, LanBai," YuLan softly muttered, "He will be looking after you very well as your husband. But the Prince ... may... have the same intention towards me."

Ji LanBai stared at her for a few breath, then her eyes widened and she covered her widening mouth with her palm. 

YuLan then knew she somehow understood what she had been trying to imply.

"Then, that is VERY good, YuLan~!!" Ji LanBai let out a pure delighted laugh.

It was YuLan's turn to blink, not comprehending.

"If Fu-ge will also look after you like he will to me, as a husband, that means we will truly be sisters, no?"

YuLan's eyes twitched, "Is there something wrong with her brain?"

"It is much better if Fu-ge truly likes you that way, anyway. You will have a high status as well. Yes of course, I will still be his wangfei. But being a first rank concubine to a Royal Prince is also very well respected, YuLan." She grabbed YuLan's hands excitedly,

"And you will have both of my and Fu-ge's affection. Isn't that better?"

YuLan was feeling faint all of a sudden.

Ji LanBai pursed her lips and continuously muttered to herself, but it was loud enough for YuLan to hear,

"Why haven't I thought about this before. I should have made the request to Fu-ge a long time ago, so he can properly propose a formal marriage request towards you as well.. .. I am sure Mothers will not mind..."

"Waiiiiiiittt~!!!" YuLan broke her hands free of LanBai's grasp, and lightly kneaded her own temple to ease her sudden headache.

"LanBai. Are you sure you understand?" She asked warily,

"This means your future husband may have intention towards another woman. Even though that woman is me, why would you even be remotely happy about this kind of arrangement?"

"Why wouldn't I be happy?" Ji LanBai blinked, "Mother and second Mother also share Father... . And they live harmoniously just like sisters."

YuLan's mouth gaped open like a goldfish. She wanted to bang her own head against the wall. 

Well, to be precise, she wanted to bang Ji LanBai's head against the wall, but she was afraid she would do more damage than how the other girl's current state of mind already was.

Ji LanBai was going to chirp further, when the door to the music room was opened. 

YuLan was never more pleased to see his music teacher, HeShan, to appear in front of her.

She needed to put a distance from Ji LanBai. She needed time to collect her thoughts. 

Music was always a good way to calm herself down. Fortunately, it was time to be present in front of the guests, so she could just forget about their prior conversation and focused on their performance instead.

As they made their way to the central courtyard, she noticed the courtyard had been filled by several people. However YuLan only took a wide glance at them, not quite recognizing most of the unfamiliar faces. She could recognize Chao HuiBo and Chao MeiHua, who she had seen when they were at Lian house. 

As her gaze lightly met Chao HuiBo's, he nodded slightly at her as greeting. YuLan was mildly surprised as she remembered the young man's impression of her had not been too favorable previously. But clearly he had not forgotten any propriety, so she nodded back at him, smiling faintly.

Then Chao HuiBo's figure distinctly stilled and he quickly shifted his gaze away.

"He's still rude... ." YuLan sighed, but shrugged it off as she did not really particularly care what the man would think of her regardless.

Only Chao MeiHua could see her brother's cheeks turned just a tiny pinkish. She wondered if the cup in his hand contain wine instead of tea... .

YuLan saw Ji SongLi was already waiting by one of the wooden platforms that were built for today's performers. Noticing her arrival, he nodded and smiled at her. He extended his hand to help Ji LanBai step up the platform, then towards YuLan. She smiled at him in gratitude before also stepping up the slightly raised platform with his assistance.

For that day, Ji SongLi was also one of the male performers, along with He Shan and Sun Chen. While Ji LanBai and Bai YuLan would be the female performers. The male performers were to be seated together on one platform, while the females would be seated on another platform just across it. When they did their performance later, they would be facing each other, not the guests.

The idea was for the males and females to be conversing between each other through their respective melodies, utilizing their instruments. The audience was just silent observers.

In fact, it took quite a bit of convincing on HeShan and SunChen's behalf to get SongLi to participate. After listening to his and YuLan's duet back in Lian house, both enchanting them with the Butterfly Dance song through their guqins, how could they stand having this outstanding young man hiding his talent?

For the past few days, the two Madames had instructed the servants to make the courtyard as spacious as possible, setting aside all stone seats and tables, and also any removable manicured plants. The result was a wide open space adequately hosting roughly twenty people.

That day, there were slightly more people than expected, as there were a few households that had sent more than just one or two representatives in extending their greetings towards the newly arriving Ji family.

But even with the somewhat packed arrangement, it was still set up pleasantly. The aesthetic element was enhance with natural backdrop of a few larger trees, lush with their purple and red foliage. Behind the two platforms, there was a man-made water feature of rocks and waterfall. The rocks were naturally covered with moss that had grown overtime, giving the rocks a lustrous sparkling green color when water droplets fell on them.

Ji SongLi, as the host and current head of the Ji family in General Ji's absence, greeted the audience again, introducing all performers who had taken their respective positions. Then he also sat at his intended position. 

The first repertoire was a piece that was a combined guqin performance between Ji LanBai and Bai YuLan. They had played this piece at Lian house a few times before during spring and summer, as the melody was fitting. It was autumn now, and they thought it was still quite suitable. Therefore, they had collectively chosen it to be their opening performance. The melody gave an uplifting feeling to the listeners.

 

  SONG LINK (YOUTUBE) || TITLE: 浮夢逍遙 (FLOATING DREAM OF WANDERLUST)

 

The musical piece showcased Ji LanBai's skill splendidly. Ji SongLi felt very proud of his sister. And as he did not need to perform this opening piece, he could just simply observe both Ji LanBai and YuLan creating magic through their zithers.

In case of YuLan, he focused his gaze on her fingers, dancing on his zither, which she was currently using.

Looking at how she flawlessly plucked the strings to give background melody to Ji LanBai's qin voice, he could not help but to feel that it was his heart that was being plucked instead.

He Shan, and Sun Chen were pleased to see that their Old Masters were nodding their heads at their seats, stroking their white beards with the faintest smiles adorning their thin lips. They were clearly immersed in the music as their eyes were closed. Liu YangHuan's other hand - that was not busy stroking his beard - was even phantom-miming the guqin's melody through his own fingers. He must be imagining that there was a zither in front of him, and that he was playing the tune.

As the first piece finally ended, the audience tactfully remained quiet - as had previously been requested of them by Ji SongLi.

The second piece was none other than the Butterfly Dance that he had played with YuLan before in Lian house as a duet.

 

  SONG LINK (YOUTUBE) || TITLE: BUTTERFLY LOVERS/ 梁祝 (INSTRUMENTAL)

 

However this time, there were five people playing different instruments.

Ji SongLi and YuLan played each of the parts they were already familiar with, through their zithers. He was using one of He Shan's zithers, the quality of the sound was not inferior than his own.

This time Ji LanBai still played the guqin, but her melody was just an accompaniment to complement Ji SongLi and YuLan conversing with each other. As was He Shan with his erhu, and Sun Chen who could also play a pipa

If Ji SongLi asked, YuLan would reply. When YuLan asked back, he would respond. And all of their exchanges through their guqins were more enthralling than written or spoken words.

She smiled at him from where she was sitting, and him smiling back at her. YuLan felt that she was at peace, that this moment was perfect, that everything was alright in the world.

When they did the Butterfly Dance duet, there was an illusion that colorful butterflies had graced them with their own bewitching play in the air. Only this time, because it was autumn, there was no butterfly. 

 

Yet, the falling purple and red foliage swayed every so gently in the air surrounding them, bringing an indescribable sense of beauty.

In the audiences' eyes, there was a myriad of purple and red butterflies fluttering down from the heavens, obscuring their sights of the platform and the source of the melody. All they could see was these purple and red butterflies. All they could hear was, the butterfly dance.

 

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