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Marriage of the Di Daughter

Chapter 72 Part 7: Stunning

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Aaaaannnnddd, nope, Jiang Li still hasn’t played in this part XD. She will in the next part, author can’t drag it any longer.

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Just when the boy with the red scarf was about to step forward to remind Jiang Li, without any warning, Jiang Li suddenly opened her mouth.

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“At the beginning of the month, glorious flowers unfolded in the young woods. Lovers playing in springtime, fair lady pulled a gauze garment.”

This was a folk song, Jiang Li’s singing voice wasn’t the usual Yanjing accent. It was more like a dialect from some other place, carrying a lively atmosphere.

“What is this?” Jiang You Yao asked Ji Shuran.

Ji Shuran shook her head, she had never heard this before as well.

“It sounds like a folk song from somewhere,” Second branch’s  Lu-shi ‘s eyes brightened: “Probably Li girl learned this from the people in the mountain when she was at the nunnery?”

It’s actually possible.

Jiang Li wasn’t affected in the slightest and still didn’t pluck the string to play, merely sat before the guqin, singing a totally unfamiliar folk song to the people present. 

“Green lotus conceal the crystal-clear water, the hibiscus fresh and red. The youth see and wish to pick me, my heart wishes for the lotus.”

Her voice was melodious and clear, soft and tender, limpid like the water in a creek that had not been discovered by men, serene yet brisk. Following the spring sun, the spread of snow began to flow in a gurgle, carrying sunlight and morning dew, the morning glow and evening wind.   

It was like a lotus picking girl meeting her sweetheart for the first time. The ignorant affection between a young boy and a young girl sprouted and was on the verge of rapidly growing into lush trees with fragrant flowers.  

“Autumn wind enters through the window, gathering the fluttering screen. Raising one’s head to look at the bright moon, sending feelings a thousand miles away.”

That young girl was engrossed in her lover’s smile, sending her joyful and gentle sentiments through the moonlight. She was indeed simple and cute. Although she was originally happy, love also made her worry.

The feeling of love was really good; love made everything lovely, let people forget the brief springtime and summertime. Autumn was coming and soon it would be winter.

She sang: “In the past, the spring grass was green, but now it is full of snow. Who yearns for suffering, black hair turning white.”¹  

Her singing stopped abruptly.

The seasons changed, the girl singing the song ultimately waited for nothing. However, the splendid years had passed. It was unknown whether the years were wasted away or whether the time slipped by. 

Jiang Li’s voice was very pleasant, her singing voice was even more pleasant to listen to. Unwittingly, all the people in the examination venue had been attracted by this melodious folk song, absorbed in the sweet but distressing dreamland. 

Someone murmured: “What’s the name of this folk song? Why haven’t I heard of this before?”

“Don’t know.” Others shook their heads: “Doesn’t seem like a Yanjing accent.” 

Not far from Princess Yongning, Shen Yurong suddenly raised his head, fixing his attention on the young lady on the stage. This song, he had heard this before…….

This was a folk song widely circulated in Tongxiang called 《The Four Season Midnight Song》. Probably each and every young lady in Tongxiang was able to sing this song. There’s a slight smile in the corner of Jiang Li’s lips, she had also sung this before. 

Off stage, Xiao Deyin knitted her brows, her thoughts unknown. Jianghong fairy was somewhat astonished, Shi Yan remained serious, not showing any expression. But Mian Ju happily and animatedly moved his hands and feet. He unexpectedly said to Jinghong fairy: “This young lady is interesting, in this music exam, what’s being shown was always guqin playing, but she sang a song. This song is still pretty good!”

“That won’t do.” Jinghong fairy explained patiently in a pleasant voice: “Without playing the guqin, she could only be regarded as using a cheap trick, it’s unfair to the other students.”

Mian Ju pursed his lips. He was about to speak when he suddenly discovered something and laughed: “What cheap trick, you see, even the duke was woken up by her song.”

The cause was Ji Heng, who nobody knew since when, had already opened his eyes. His fan was pressed against his lips and he had a subtle expression as he smiled while looking at the girl on stage. 

From the beginning up to now, this was the first time Ji Heng showed a “listening” posture. 

On the other end, Jiang Yu’e said: “Second sister only planned to sing a song, not going to play the guqin?”

Although the song was awfully unique, from the beginning the music tested was on “guqin playing”, not “songs”.

It seemed that Jiang second miss had exhausted her limited abilities, thus thought of singing instead of playing the guqin. In the middle of everyone having this thought, they saw Jiang Li stretched both her hands out and stroked the string of the guqin before plucking.

The first note flowed. 

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Footnotes:

^{1: Poem 1.}

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