Chapter 47: Same Stage Performance

  But it's not some gentle little tune that a lady in the boudoir often plays, this song is passionate and majestic, listening to it makes one's heart and soul shake. It actually gave me a refreshing feeling.

  Princess Jinglin listened, her expression changing from calm to excitement. She suddenly stood up from her chair, ignoring the inquiring gaze of Princess Pingxi, and walked straight onto the stage. With a swift motion, she drew out the sword hanging by her side and pointed it at Xu Mingjin. The crowd gasped in shock. But Princess Jinglin seemed not to notice, following the rhythm of Xu Mingjin's music, she stabbed the sword out with a "swish" sound, then drew it back, performing a series of sword moves on stage.

  Xu Mingjin also saw Princess Jinglin's sword dance on stage, and she was somewhat surprised. She didn't expect Princess Jinglin to come on stage, and a princess, dancing with a sword, was not awkward at all. Every move and style had a sharp killing intent, matching the "Laughing at the Sea" song that Xu Mingjin was singing. It's hard to say whether the music accompanied the sword or the sword accompanied the music, but it created a beautiful picture in front of everyone that no one had ever seen before. Xu Mingjin was not affected by Princess Jinglin's sword dance in front of her, but instead, inspired by Princess Jinglin's dance, she came up with some lyrics that described the "Laughing at the Jianghu" scene, and she seemed to be infected by the atmosphere on stage. She couldn't help but play more energetically.

  "Rivers and mountains smile, distant misty rain, waves wash away all, how much does the mundane world know? Clear wind smiles, after all, quietly, heroic feelings still remain a sunset glow..."

  Princess Jinglin also seemed to be infected by the majestic and turbulent emotions in Xu Mingjin's chest, she danced with her sword, wrapping herself in a whirlwind of knife lights and sword shadows.

  In the eyes of the crowd, on the stage, two people, one blowing a flute in a corner, and one with red clothes and sword flowers flying together, presenting a scene that has never been seen before. The sound of the flute reveals a kind of heroic and uninhibited Jianghu spirit, how could these women from deep houses have ever had the chance to experience this? Every person's mind was shocked.

  As the music ended, Princess Jinglin surprisingly stood up with her sword in perfect sync.

  Everyone was still immersed in the atmosphere of the gang fight and couldn't extricate themselves.

  Until Princess Jinglin took Xu Mingjin's hand and returned to her seat, the crowd suddenly woke up and burst into warm applause.

  The only one who was not happy was the Wudou County Master, she just didn't like Xu Mingjin, she let Xu Mingjin perform on stage, originally intending to make her lose face, but unexpectedly, she ended up stealing the show, this time, if she went on stage to perform, it's uncertain whether she could get the applause of the whole audience, she was annoyed in her heart and glared at Xu Mingjin fiercely, at this moment, Wudou County Master didn't want to go on stage to perform anymore, but her mother, Pingxi Wangfei, had already smiled and said to everyone that it's her turn to perform next.

  Here is the translation:

  Now, Wúsuì County Mistress was in a difficult situation. She didn't want to perform because Xu Mingjin and Princess Jinglin were already ahead of her, and no matter how well she performed, she would still be overshadowed by them. It really wasn't pleasant. However, since her own mother had already spoken up, and today was her mother's birthday, she couldn't just not perform. Thinking this way, Wúsuì County Mistress slowly made her way onto the stage to perform. She walked even slower than Xu Mingjin had earlier. She couldn't help but think: how she had just mocked Xu Mingjin for being timid, and now look at herself - it was her turn to be ridiculed by Xu Mingjin.

  Xu Mingjin, however, did not mock Wu Shuang Junzhu behind her back as she thought. Instead, she was busy responding to Jinglin Gongzhu's words and didn't have the energy to think about those things. This was Wu Shuang Junzhu being narrow-minded.

  After Wú Shuāng Jùnzhǔ took the stage, she thought for a long time and finally decided to perform her most skilled piano art. This was something she had studied diligently since childhood, but Wú Shuāng Jùnzhǔ was still nervous and worried that she wouldn't be able to compare to Xú Míngjǐn's performance just now, and would be ridiculed by the crowd. In fact, Wú Shuāng Jùnzhǔ had fallen into a dead end. She only noticed that the crowd was shocked by Xú Míngjǐn's music, and she herself was also deeply moved, but like everyone else, she overlooked one thing: Xú Míngjǐn's actual skill in playing the guqin was mediocre, and he had simply not made any mistakes. But what made Xú Míngjǐn win was this piece of music itself - it was novel and domineering. For someone as knowledgeable about music as Wú Shuāng Jùnzhǔ, it was normal that she didn't notice this point under the shock of the music.

  Most people didn't notice this, but not everyone was oblivious. Princess Jinglin noticed and pulled Xu Mingjin to sit beside her. When Wuyi County's mistress went on stage to perform, she and Xu Mingjin leaned in close and whispered to each other. Princess Jinglin: "Miss Xu, what is your name?" Xu Mingjin replied: "Mingjin." Princess Jinglin nodded and said: "I'll call you Jin'er from now on. You've just started learning the guqin, right?"

  Xu Mingjin nodded.

  Princess Jinglin smiled and said: "You've actually deceived all these people below!"

  Xu Mingjin was puzzled: "How did I cheat everyone?"

  "You're not very good at playing, but you can write such a great song. Everyone thinks you must be proficient in music, but no one has discovered that you've just learned." Jinglin Princess pointed to the stage where Wudou County Princess had already begun to play the piano: "Look, you've even fooled her. She's not like you, she's been studying hard since childhood and has already made great progress in music. In the capital city, she is known as the 'First Talented Woman' and is on par with your older sister Xu Mingxia's dance skills. Now, however, she's been unsettled by that one song of yours, but she's also quite impressive. Listen, her playing isn't bad at all!"

  Xu Mingjin heard this and couldn't help but concentrate and listen carefully, and indeed, just as Princess Jinglin had said, the piano skills of this Wu Shuang County Master were extraordinary. In fact, Xu Mingjin didn't understand music, but she thought that Wu Shuang County Master's playing was very pleasant to hear.

  Xu Mingjin thought for a moment and said: "Princess, how did you find out?"

  Princess Jinglin smiled slightly and said, "As it happens, I'm also proficient in the guqin. One listen and I can tell you're a beginner who's just started learning. However, that piece of yours really suits my taste."

  "Your Highness, please don't praise me anymore, I'm getting embarrassed."

  Princess Jinglin said with a straight face: "That tune is really good, I like it very much. By the way, what's the name of that tune?"

  Xu Mingjin said: "A loud laugh in the vast ocean."

  Princess Jinglin heard this and said, "Indeed, it's quite domineering." As she spoke, the faintly revealed royal demeanor made Xu Mingjin suddenly become more courteous. Princess Jinglin was someone who could immediately detect Xu Mingjin's change, and she couldn't help but restrain some of her own aura.

  "Don't be afraid of me," Princess Jinglin said: "I regard you as a friend."

  Xu Mingjin smiled wryly, but didn't dare say anything. Being friends with a princess? It was unimaginable to her. But Princess Jinglin wouldn't give up, and she asked Xu Mingjin again if she was willing to be friends. Seeing the princess's persistence, Xu Mingjin feared that not agreeing would anger her, and the consequences of a princess's anger were not something Xu Mingjin could handle. She had no choice but to agree.

  Princess Jinglin was delighted: "Who taught you to play the guqin?"

  Xu Mingjin said with embarrassment: "There is a maid in my house who knows some. I also thought it would be troublesome to ask Master, so I let her give me some guidance."

  Princess Jinglin glanced at her and said: "Well, you can play like this, it's really fortunate. How about it? Now there is a ready-made master, do you want to worship?"

  Xu Mingjin blinked her eyes, initially somewhat perplexed, but upon seeing Jinglin Princess's expression, she immediately understood that the ready-made master referred to by Jinglin Princess was herself.

  Xu Mingjin said: "Good! Why don't you kowtow."

  Princess Jinglin smiled and said: "I was just kidding you. I can teach you, but there's no need to be so formal."

  Xu Mingjin said with a straight face: "You want me to be your master, I'm delighted!"

  Princess Jinglin said: "I can teach you, but there's no need to become a disciple."

  Xu Mingjin nodded.

  At this time, the peerless county lord finished her performance and received a warm applause from the crowd. After all, the title of number one talented woman was not called in vain. The peerless monarch secretly let out a sigh of relief, fortunately, she did not humiliate herself. She looked at Xu Mingjin, but unexpectedly saw that Xu Mingjin was also looking at her, with admiration and appreciation in his eyes. The peerless county lord's disgust towards Xu Mingjin suddenly faded away. She returned to her seat and no longer rejected her as before.

  At this time, the banquet had already been served. Xu Mingjin first went through Mrs. Xu's affairs and was again bullied by Wushuang County Master. Her stomach had long been growling with hunger. However, she still ate slowly and elegantly, one small mouthful at a time, thinking to herself: In her previous life, in order to lose weight, she often had to savor her food slowly. Now it was good that she could only eat like this, just consider it as losing weight!

  Xu Mingjin was just about to take a sip from the teacup in front of her when the maid standing behind her hurriedly served her dishes and accidentally bumped into Xu Mingjin's elbow. Xu Mingjin's hand shook, and the water in the teacup spilled out, splashing all over her clothes.

  The maid saw that she had made a mistake and hastily threw down her chopsticks, knelt on the ground and begged for forgiveness.

  Xu Mingjin couldn't bear to see her like this, and besides, this was in the Pingxi Wangfu, that maid was a servant of the Pingxi Wangfu. As the saying goes, "when beating a dog, one must consider its master", taking into account the face of Princess Pingxi, Xu Mingjin decided to let it go, swallowing this bitter humiliation herself. So, she signaled for the maid to get up.

  But Princess Pingxi did not let the maid off, she sternly said: "Today's guests at the palace are all noble guests, you're so careless and lucky that Miss Xu Liu is kind-hearted and doesn't mind, but what about next time? If I meet a troublesome master, won't my face be lost because of you?"

  After she finished speaking, she ordered her guards to drag the maid out and behead her.

  The maid didn't know why, but the one who was supposed to be executed was Princess Pingxi, yet she kept kowtowing to Xu Mingjin and begged: "Please spare me, Sixth Miss Xu! I won't dare again!" As if it were Xu Mingjin who wanted to kill her.

  Xu Mingjin was speechless.

  The ladies around stopped eating and looked over here with curiosity.