Underneath A Thousand Skies ✔️

18 Favoring Qie Over Wife (18)

After Wen Heng Zhi left, Zhao Cheng went back to the zhengfang to accompany Li Jia. As he was entering her bedchamber, he saw her standing in the center of the room, facing away from him. Her hair fell loose and glossy between her shoulder blades while two first-ranked maidservants picked out the peach blossoms that had gotten stuck on her hair.

Zhao Cheng didn't let the yahuan announce his arrival and walked straight towards her. Ruolan and Minglan, seeing that it was wang ye, immediately retreated.

"Wang ye is here?"

Before Zhao Cheng could hug her from behind, Song Jia had already turned around.

Meeting her eyes that were clear and bright, Zhao Cheng could only curb his inner impulse to hug her. He awkwardly asked, "Is Jia'er feeling bored?"

"Ah?" Song Jia blinked.

"Jia'er climbing a tree, isn't it because Jia'er is lacking for amusements inside the wangfu?" He took courage to finally grab her hand and pull her close to him, "As my wang fei, whatever it is that you lack, all you have to do is ask me. Jia'er doesn't need to hesitate."

Song Jia's eyes curved. "Qie thanks wang ye for his care, but qie does not lack for anything inside the wangfu. This incident was qie's fault, so for this kind of embarrassing thing, qie begs that wang ye will not bother himself with."

"Even so," Zhao Cheng was determined to compensate her for his absence this past month, "I still want to hear Jia'er's wish."

"Wang ye..."

Song Jia sighed. Fine, since you want to appease me so badly for having several snu-snu sessions with sister Bai, I'll entertain you this once.

"Qie wants wang ye to accompany her in going to the Qi Qiao festival."

To sum it all up, Song Jia was bored. Since there was a festival that was going to make the whole capital lively, why wouldn't she go? And a married woman couldn't go out on her own without her husband.

Zhao Cheng didn't think much of it and agreed. "Wang fei's wish, ben wang will definitely fulfill."

Somehow, he became even happier at the thought of spending this year's Qi Qiao festival with her. He led her to a chair and made her sit, "Why don't I spend this day with Jia'er? I don't have to go to court today as it's hsün-hsui."

Hsün-hsui [1] were observed on the tenth, the twentieth, and the last day of the moon. Zhao Cheng could technically choose not to go to court since he was an imperial prince, but it would be deleterious to his reputation. Furthermore, it was just in his character to be hard-working.

Song Jia gave him a beaming smile, "Does that mean qie can have wang ye all to herself today?"

Her words were brimming with happiness, but what was truthfully on her mind, only Song Jia knew.

Zhao Cheng couldn't resist and pinched her cheek, "How can I let Jia'er become bored? What do you want to do?"

Song Jia smiled widely, showing him her teeth, "Qie wants to play the guqin."

There were so-called four arts of ancient China, which included the qin (guqin), qi (Go game), shu (calligraphy), and hua (painting). One of the requirements for being a professional transmigrator was to have an extensive list of talents. Others transmigrators have their special fields, like assassination, stealing, cooking, and being a miracle doctor. But Song Jia didn't have her own special field. Instead, she could be considered as a 'chameleon'.

What others did their best at, she definitely could not compare to, but Song Jia knew how to do it.

If Song Jia could be described in one phrase, it would be: jack of all trades, master of none.

Song Jia brought out her ivory pick as she and Zhao Cheng transferred to the garden and sat inside the waterside pavillion. It was just beside the large koi pond, where blooming red lotus flowers floated on the surface.

Zhao Cheng leaned against the railing as he watched the beauty prepare herself in front of him. Her slender fingers, her delicate face, and the way she concentrated on the guqin in front of her made him feel like he was inside a water painting. If only time could freeze, that would be good.

Song Jia smiled as she plucked the first string.

There were many praises for the guqin throughout history. Beloved of the sages and of Confucius, it was the most prestigious instrument and the most important of the four arts in China. It helped to cultivate character, understand morality, supplicate gods and demons, enhance life, and enrich learning.

As Zhao Cheng watched Song Jia violently shake her head while her fingers danced on the guqin, he thought...this kind of song is really unique.

Even his feet couldn't stop tapping to the rhythm, and the maids around them were starting to follow Song Jia's lead on banging their heads.

After Song Jia played the song on the guqin to an explosive end and the two of them retired back to the zhengfang, Zhao Cheng thought that one more description should be added to the wonderful reviews of this beautiful instrument.

Fierce.

Of course His Highness the third prince Zhao Cheng would find it fierce. Song Jia played Sun Quan The Emperor [2].

[1] Basically an off-day, yay!
[2] A modern Chinese song based on the famous Three Kingdoms period and an epic for one of the emperors, Sun Quan. It's kind of a rock song, very addictive. You can find it in youtube or in Spotify as 权御天下. People say it's better to play this song using the guzheng, but I think it sounds much better on the guqin. If you don't search this song up, I think you would regret it~

**I kind of forgot to add this, but Qi Qiao festival is equivalent to Valentine's Day in China.