TCN: Mei Gongqing

Chapter 32: A Phoenix's Love Song (1)

Chapter 32: A Phoenix's Love Song (1)

Though Chen Rong's gait was seemingly relaxed, in reality, she was walking very fast. By the time Nurse Ping and Old Shang chased out, she had arrived at the main hall.

There was heavy traffic here, with both vehicles and people flittering to and fro. Not ones to dare raise their voices in such location, Nurse Ping and Old Shang could only pick up the pace and secretly try to dissuade Chen Rong.

The banquet had gone on for four hours by now. The night sky was illuminated by a bright moon, chilled by a passing wind. The feast would probably end within another hour.

Chen Rong kept her head low. At the time she left, she had deliberately powdered her face to make it pale. Her diminished liveliness, in turn, gave her a touch of demureness.

Chen Rong arrived outside of the main hall. Seeing Nurse Ping and Old Shang nearing, she ordered: "Prepare a table for me."

"Miss!"

"Quickly!"

"But miss –"

Listening to the pair of them steadfastly dissuading her, Chen Rong sighed as she was forced to explain: "Nurse, Old Shang, I heard today from my uncle that the clan means to give me as a concubine to the Prince of Nan'yang."

Her servants covered their mouths, uttering a low gasp.

Fortunately, the three of them stood in a shaded area and did not call attention to themselves.

Chen Rong smiled wryly. "You must've heard about the hundreds of different women in his inner quarters. As if that's not enough, he adds more to his collection each day! My life is as good as gone if I join his harem." She sighed and barked, "Go, I have my plans."

"B-but..."

"Say no more. Think about it, have I made a wrong decision in the past few months?"

These words were actually justified. They looked at each other and then retreated.

In only moments, Nurse Ping had moved a table and placed it under a large tree.

Chen Rong raised her head and stared at the lighted hall. There, ringing laughter and merry music filled the air. The people inside all seemed to her an unearthly type, as though they never had any worries or troubles like her.

Chen Rong lowered her eyes and slowly knelt down by her table.

And then she slightly lifted her hands.

Forthwith, a series of flowing notes wound their way around strands of autumn wind and gradually rose.

Like the melancholic season, the music lightly came and lightly went. Besides softly tickling its listeners, it did not leave behind any other message.

Gradually, the zither notes deepened and soared to the sky. They passed through layers of clouds and across marshes and fields, and then abruptly, a shadow came into view. Thereupon, the song's spirit was no longer the same, as if the heart was finally old...

Chen Rong was playing "The Phoenix's Love Song" (1) that Sima Xiangru had played to court Zhuo Wenjun long ago. But because their circumstances were different, her song had an overwhelming melancholy of one who yearns for the unattainable and the despair of one who admires from afar and never to join wings.

鳳求凰 (lit. The Male Phoenix Seeks The Female Phoenix) – known in history as the song that famous poet Sima Xiangru of Western Han played to court his wife, the widowed Zhuo Wenjun.