Chapter 458: Chapter 298: Pingyang_2
“The ‘Guanshan Yue’ that you played, it was taught to you by Xiao Yuezhi, right?” The old Lady put down her teacup and looked at Ran Yan.
Ran Yan replied, “Indeed it was.”
“The plum blossoms mirror the Guanshan Yue, the flute lodies still linger around the Phoenix Platform… I too often played this tune back when I was in Longxi, already forty years gone by now, it’s been so long since I last heard the lody, and hearing it today suddenly brings up the past. Would you be willing to play it once more for this old lady?” The old Lady leaned forward slightly, with a hint of a request in her posture.
Ran Yan didn’t expect the old Lady to be so courteous and hurriedly returned the courtesy, “It is Ran Yan’s honor to play the flute for the old Lady.”
The old Lady’s smile was light on her face, yet Ran Yan felt that she was actually quite delighted.
“You, you do remind of An Ning,” the old Lady exclaid nostalgically.
An Ning, Princess Pingyang’s given na, everyone knew that the old Lady also carried the Li surna, likely of the Imperial Family, and with close ties with Princess Pingyang, as sisters and comrades, thus she always called her by her na.
“The old Lady flatters ,” Ran Yan replied.
As the old Lady carefully observed Ran Yan a bit longer, she found more similarities between them, not in appearance but in the intrinsic nobility, the composed deanor, and the straightforward character. Lowering her gaze, the old Lady then changed the subject, “Pay no mind to their words, just stay at the Zheng residence peacefully until your wedding day.”
The old Lady truly disdained the sches of the Du family mbers, seeing them as re petty household maneuvers that sotis couldn’t even qualify as plots.
Initially, the old Lady would force herself to manage the affairs of the household, but as it increasingly bored her, she eventually couldn’t be bothered to ddle.
Among the old Lady’s peers were many heroines who stood shoulder to shoulder with n.
The wives of the ‘Lingyan Pavilion’s Twenty-Four Scholars’ were no ordinary won. Born from tis of chaos, so had strategic minds like the old Lady Li, so were as bravely valiant as Lady Shu, and others as venerable as the old Madam Xiao, won who basked in glory despite having lived through several dynastic changes. They strategized for the world, fought for the people, possessed broad minds and foresight, and were a generation tempered through bloodshed, incomparable to the petty squabbles of confined household won.
Ran Yan nodded lightly. Her reception today from the old Lady was noticeably warr than before, and she was unsure whether it was because of that one tune “Guanshan Yue” or her performance today, but anyhow, she seed to have inexplicably earned the old Lady’s favor.
In her past life, Ran Yan was often favored by the elderly when she dealt with official duties. She hadn’t expected that even in this new life, she would still catch the favorable eye of the elders.
Monts later, Wan Lu returned with the flute in hand. Ran Yan smiled faintly upon seeing the flute, tested a couple of notes, and then said, “I have exceedingly poor musical comprehension and can only forcibly rember the lodies. If I don’t play well, please do not take offense, old Lady.”
The old Lady Li twisted her prayer beads and smiled slightly, “Good.”
“Guanshan Yue” was the first piece Ran Yan learned while practicing the flute, and with her unfaltering determination, she had played it well over a thousand tis. She could play it naturally without even thinking, let alone now when she was fully focused.
The old Lady listened quietly with her eyes slightly narrowed.
The lody was brief, and although the tune soon ended, the old Lady remained imrsed in it. After a long while, she remarked, “Your finger technique is pure, and you have certainly grasped so essentials.”
Ran Yan was sowhat embarrassed, knowing she indeed lacked musical talent.
The maid Ping Yi, standing aside, smiled faintly and said, “Lady Yan, the old Lady is an expert herself and has not praised anyone for quite so ti!”
Understanding the situation, Ran Yan realized that the old Lady’s praise stemd from recognizing her effort. Ran Yan responded, “As the saying goes, diligence can compensate for clumsiness, though I also know that certain things rely on talent, and no amount of hard work can reach the pinnacle.”
“Why then do you go through such effort?” The old Lady, satisfied with Ran Yan’s humility and composure, asked.
“Simply for the love of it,” Ran Yan replied. She had always been like this: once she decided to do sothing, she would put in her utmost effort until she did it to the best of her ability before she would stop.
The old Lady nodded in approval. Aging brings a sense of fate and she couldn’t help feeling that Ran Yan’s arrival was ant to soothe her regret over Princess Pingyang’s premature death. “An Ning was full of wit and strategies on the battlefield, yet in the end, she could not return wrapped in horsehide but died in childbirth, which is to say… for won…”
Hearing this inexplicable sigh, Ran Yan’s heart filled with a tinge of lancholy. She sat silently for a while and, noticing the old Lady’s weary expression, she got up to take her leave.
Stepping out of Pingyang Hall with Wan Lu, they saw Xing Niang waiting at the entrance. When she saw Ran Yan, she gave a look full of concern and inquired with her eyes.
Ran Yan shook her head with a smile, and without saying a word, the three of them went on their way.
Upon returning to her quarters, a waiting maid relayed a ssage, “Lady Yan, the Slave has co to inform you that the Zheng residence invites you to choose your wedding dress fabric and style at the embroidery shop tomorrow. If it’s inconvenient for you, Master Ran has said he will arrange for soone to deliver it to the residence.”
With the variety of fabrics available, only by going in person could one truly find sothing satisfactory. Otherwise, it would an troubling the embroidery shop to haul several cartloads of fabric to the Zheng residence. Ran Yan, staying as a guest in soone else’s house and having almost been forcefully given a chambermaid, naturally did not wish to cause any further inconvenience, so she said, “I will go out tomorrow.”
“Understood,” replied the maid with a slight bow before Xing Niang discreetly slipped a bag of coins into her hand, “Thank you for your efforts.”
The maid’s humble eyes lit up subtly, “It’s what the Slave ought to do.”
Once inside, Xing Niang didn’t ask about what had happened with the old Lady but said, “Lady, Sanlang sent over the dowry list this morning. Please take a look.”
“My dowry was provided by my uncle?” Ran Yan, taking the list, expressed her surprise. The Ran family wouldn’t be so stingy as to begrudge even a small dowry, would they? (
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