Traveling through ancient times: starting with live streaming

Zhou Chang's mind did not move, but Xiao Lan's body moved forward and nodded: "I have composed a song before, but today is a spring banquet, the main purpose is to celebrate and be happy, so the few songs I played just now are all melodious and empty tunes. The "Ancient Love Song" is mournful and sad, and I am afraid it will spoil the elegance of the ladies and nobles."

"That's fine," Imperial Concubine Yi said directly, "Since this is the song that made him famous as a teenager, and I am here, I must play it for everyone to hear."

In this case, Xiao Lan said nothing more. He bowed slightly in his seat and nodded, then put his hands on the strings of the zither.

Zhou Chang has always been content to be a listener.

At first, the tune sounded nothing special, just melodious and graceful, then slowly the sound turned into a low and shallow continuation, and then became a lingering and endless sound.

The song ends, sad and moving, with a sense of loss.

Inside Qiongtai, and even in the entire Imperial Garden, everyone seemed to have entered their own unique world. No one spoke, no one moved, and the air became silent.

After a while, the princess behind the screen choked up and said, "Xiao Sile's song is full of twists and turns, heartbreaking, and expresses all the worries of a young girl. I never thought it could be composed by a man as tall as you."

Xiao Lan had a slender figure and was indeed not short, which was one of the reasons why she could dress as a man for years without arousing suspicion.

Just as Zhou Chang was thinking about how to answer, Xiao Lan's consciousness emerged, and she acted as a "mouth replacement": "Your Highness Princess, you have misunderstood. This song is actually a poem that I came across by chance that year. I was moved by it, so I wrote this song. This is the song that was inspired by the poem."

"Oh, what is that word? Why have I never heard of it?" asked the princess behind the screen.

Zhou Chang recited directly: "What night is it today? I am rowing a boat in the middle of the stream. What day is it today? I am in the same boat with the prince. I am ashamed to be loved, but I do not blame the shame. My heart is almost annoyed but never stops, I know the prince. There are trees on the mountain and branches on the trees. I am happy for you but you don't know it."

This word sounds really familiar. I must have seen it somewhere in my previous life, but I don’t know the author.

But the most curious thing is, why does this plane also have this poem? At least the last two lines, she must have heard it before.

"There are trees on the mountain and branches on the trees. I love you but you don't know it." The princess behind the screen also recited the last two lines.

At this moment, another woman sobbed.

Zhou Chang followed the sound and found a woman in her early thirties in palace dress sobbing with her head down behind a low table on the upper right.

A lady at the bottom asked, "Oh, what happened? Could it be that Madam Pei's problem of crying in the wind has come back again?"

Another said: "There is no wind here either."

Another person added: "That means I was moved to tears."

The women sitting right above him, who were about the same age and dressed in unusually bright colors, spoke in high, shrill tones: "What's going on? Our princess is just beginning to fall in love, and she hasn't married yet, so she's thoughtful and considerate, which is good, but Madam Pei is already a married woman, what is she worried about?"

"No, nothing. I'm just moved by Xiao Sile's superb piano skills." The woman called Mrs. Pei quickly grabbed a handkerchief to wipe her eyes, but because of her panic, she knocked the teacup down.

The brightly dressed woman looked disgusted, but she reached out to help wipe it: "Is it because the age difference between you and your wife is too big that it's hard for you to get along? I heard that you seemed to have some disagreements some time ago. We are all ladies of noble families. If there is really something wrong, you ladies here should persuade them."

Madam Pei was about to deny it, but she heard another middle-aged lady sounding displeased: "Madam Chu is quite an age difference from Lord Chu, the Minister of the Dali Temple. Could it be that the couple can't get along?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Zhou Chang immediately looked at the beautiful woman carefully.

Before this, she and Yuan Qi had not been able to meet Lord Chu, the Minister of the Dali Temple, but unexpectedly, they met his wife here.

Mrs. Chu had a short, pointed face, high cheekbones, small eyes, and thick, donkey-like lips. Her only advantage was her fair skin.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm just concerned about Madam Pei. After all, recently because of the case of the Minister of Revenue, it was the Minister of Justice Pei who made the greatest efforts. My husband can't thank him enough for his hard work." Madam Chu's lips moved, and her whole body trembled.

Unexpectedly, the one who was feeling sad and grief-stricken was actually the wife of the Minister of Justice.

Zhou Chang couldn't help but take a closer look.

Yuan Qi had mentioned before that he had met her once and wanted to get through to her, but I don't know if he had met her yet.

Mrs. Pei has a round face with delicate features. Although her appearance is not particularly outstanding, and she seems to be about the same age as Mrs. Chu, her temperament is cleaner and purer, giving people a sense of elegance and friendliness.

Comparing the two, Zhou Chang began to feel somewhat favorable towards Mrs. Pei.

"Okay, we've strayed off topic." The Imperial Concubine Yi, who was sitting high up in the room, finally came out to preside over the situation, but she looked at Xiao Lan again, "But speaking of matters between men and women, I heard that Xiao Sile is already over thirty, but still hasn't married?"

Hearing this, Zhou Chang, or more precisely Xiao Lan's heart felt like it was being pulled by someone and was in pain.

When she chose this path, she planned to walk it alone to the end, and of course she had no other choice.

But knowing is knowing, and determination is determination.

Whenever I wake up in the middle of the night, although I have Qin by my side and we can be friends for life, the heartache of losing the chance to grow old together still lingers in my heart.

Otherwise, Xiao Lan would not have composed such a lovesick song more than ten years ago.

The occasional masterpiece of ancient poetry was just an excuse. What was contained in it was her inexpressible hatred and sorrow.

There was a hidden pain in his heart, but he didn't show it on his face, and he had answered the question no less than a hundred times.

Xiao Lan even smiled faintly: "I swore to the heavens in my early years that I would live and die for the zither. I wish to be accompanied by the zither every day and hold it until the end of my life. I have no other request."

This is the truth.

However, if she had a choice, she wouldn't have to dress up as a man to achieve this wish, nor would she have to sacrifice her marriage to achieve this wish.

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone started talking about it.

Many people sighed and lamented, and even more people felt sorry for it.

Zhou Chang heard someone else discussing what had just happened.

"I heard that Madam Pei is the second wife of the Minister of Justice, so the two are very different in talent."

"Age isn't a problem, I heard she comes from a humble family."

"Did you have any children?"

"The former wife of the Minister of Justice did leave behind a son and a daughter."

"Well, she's not having a good time then."

"No wonder?"

……

"Xiao Sile, Xiao Sile?"

Zhou Chang was listening attentively and didn't want to be interrupted.

"Thank you, Xiao Sile, for going down and resting first." Concubine Yi said.

"Yes." Zhou Chang stood up and bowed to take his leave.

When this side went down, the Grand Master of Music Gong Ming came up.

Zhou Chang returned to the first floor and took his seat. The performance was basically completed. He could leave the palace as long as he waited for the banquet to be over and was not summoned again.

Although the goal of this trip was not completely satisfactory, mainly because we went straight into the harem and didn't see a single official, but we did get to take a look at all the noble ladies in the entire Dalin Kingdom.

Except for Mrs. Pei, the Minister of Justice, Zhou Chang could not remember almost anyone, but she had a system and believed that the system would remember them for her.

She also remembered that Yuan Qi had mentioned that he wanted to go the inner palace route. She didn't see any officials when she entered the palace today. It seemed that if she wanted to help the Yuan family, she could only find a way from these women today. "Don't listen to the old man, you will be happy for several years."