Chapter 71: Guqin Technique
Xiao Susu"s look stunned Baili Mo. He hadn"t seen Xiao Susu"s face that day so he wasn"t sure if this girl that was sitting on the main seat of the Xiao family was…
That rumored fool.
If she was a fool, would she have this imposing aura? This unique air and this kind of gaze?
That simple gaze made such a heavy impression that he couldn"t erase it from his thoughts.
It was so strong that her beautiful looks didn"t even make as strong as an impression as her eyes.
However, Xiao Susu didn"t look at him any longer and quickly shifted her gaze away. She wanted this man to regret everything that he did.
Today, her goal wasn"t to renew their engagement but to make Baili Mo understand that the Xiao family couldn"t be provoked.
The sound of the guqin continued almost unendingly. Men and women continuously walked up and down the stage. They had all sorts of styles and a variety of skin colors.
However, this didn"t affect the audience below. To these audience, today was a lucky day for their eyes. Only people that were beautiful would dare to go onstage after all.
When it came time for the men in the Xiao family to perform, a hush fell over the crowd.
All the high officials in Hundred Flowers Nation looked towards the stage. It must be known that the men of the Xiao family have always represented Cloud City"s face. Not only were they skilled in performance, their looks were flawless.
And their skill in the arts was always a cut above others.
Every year, the men"s flower crown would go to the Xiao family.
The one who had the highest chance of obtaining the crown this year was Xiao Yan"s eldest son, Xiao En. That was why everyone paid close attention to his performance.
At the end of the song, Xiao En leisurely walked off stage. His manner wasn"t delicate and was actually quite manly, so it caused his score to go down by quite a lot.
However, he didn"t mind. He didn"t care about the Jasper Flower Banquet.
Most of the time, he paid more attention to practicing with weapons than studying the four arts.
Although Xiao Yan strongly opposed his interest in swordplay, Old Madame Xiao had always supported him. Hence, he spend all of his free time studying the sword.
This manly aura caused his score to lower, but still net him a thundering round of applause.
His gentle features combined with that manly touch was so handsome that many young ladies felt their hearts flutter.
As Xiao Susu took this in, the smile at the corners of her lips deepened. This big brother of hers was actually quite popular. She hadn"t noticed that before.
When Xiao En got back to got back to his seat, he rubbed Xiao Susu"s head. "You"re still smiling…"
Which caused Xiao Susu to burst out laughing.
It was Su Qiqi"s soul inside this body. She, who had grown up in great Yan, still couldn"t accept the fact that women were superior to men here.
After all, it was completely opposite from what she had grown up with.
She still needed time to adjust.
"Once Little Bro finishes performing, it"s your turn." Xiao En felt helpless. There was nothing he could do but dote on this younger sister so he just allowed her to laugh. It was fine if he became her source of laughter as long as she continued being able to laugh.
Soon, the words "Xiao Susu" came from the stage.
The name was particular loud, almost on purpose, and everyone immediately quieted down.
Everyone knew that Xiao Susu had been intellectually disabled since birth. In all fifteen years of her life, she had never spoken, never cried, never laughed, never argued…
But she was actually partic.i.p.ating in this year"s Jasper Flower Banquet.
This naturally stunned everyone.
After that moment of shocked silence, there was the sound of jeers and laughter.
All the men and women of Hundred Flowers Nation started laughing and discussing this. However, the people from Unyielding Clouds Nation and Serene Chaste Nation did not join in.
They weren"t aware that a fool like this existed in the Xiao family.
At this time, everyone in the Xiao family just watched Xiao Susu silently. Their eyes contained support, affection, believe, and pity!
Xiao Susu stopped smiling and slowly got up to walk to the white jade stage.
Her movements were perfectly smooth and her expression was indifferent, but also confident.
Once she got on stage, she slowly turned around to face the n.o.bility of the three nations.
On the stage, Xiao Susu was like fallen celestial that still stood proudly despite her plunge. No one could tear their eyes away. Her violet garment swayed slightly in the wind and her hair fell over her shoulders like a torrent of silk. There was only a single carved dragon pendant at her waist. Her appearance was simple but imposing, the definition of refined beauty.
She swept her calm gaze over the people present.
This one glance instantly stopped all the jeering and discussion below the stage.
Nangong Mo"s eyes widened in shock. They had been wrong.
Just the way she stood on stage was superior to the magnificence of the countless other men and women. Xiao Susu"s imposing manner seemed to come completely naturally, no one was able to ignore her.
Even the emperor was stunned.
When had that fool from the Xiao family become so beautiful?
And that gaze, that aura—they clearly weren"t things that a fool would possess.
Old Madame Xiao"s eyes also lit up. Although she had always felt that Xiao Susu was a bright pearl, she never knew that her granddaughter was actually this dazzling.
"She…" Baili Mo hesitated in his words. He currently had no feelings of regret towards breaking off the engagement. It was just that this was hard to accept. Was this really the fool that he had expressed contempt for?
When he heard that the youngest miss of the Xiao family was a fool, he had wanted to just slaughter the entire Xiao family. He felt that the Xiao family was purposefully humiliating Unyielding Clouds Nation"s imperial household.
So after returning the engagement token, he actually felt relief because he was finally free from that fool!
However, there was an unspeakable feeling in his heart now.
Was it like or disappointment?
Even he himself could not tell.
Nangong Mo didn"t dare to look at Baili Mo and continued looking from the side at Xiao Susu, the woman that had taken his breath away that day.
She was actually the youngest daughter of the Xiao family, Xiao Susu.
A trace of a smile flashed through his eyes as if he was planning something.
As of now, Xiao Susu was no longer bound by anything. In that case…
Meanwhile, Baili Mo clenched his fist as he watched Xiao Susu. She slowly proceeded to the guqin and sat down to gently stir the strings.
After adjusting the sound, her slender fingers stroked the surface of the qin.
She had always had a lot of affection for the guqin.
And she had also put plenty of effort into it since childhood.
As the beautiful sound of the guqin slowly rang out, it spread like the tide and filled the entire place.
There seemed to be a white fairy dancing in the wind, or perhaps a dazzling rose that was unfurling, filling the air with its elegant scent.
The sound of the guqin gradually slowed to a teasing fade, then quickened again, like the sounds of beads falling into a jade plate…
The audience"s hearts quickened with the music.
Their emotions were completely captivated by the sound of this guqin.
Next to Hua Ruxue, Lei Yufeng furrowed his brows. He was already impressed by Xiao Susu"s appearance and her beauty so the fact that she was so good at guqin made even deeper of an impression.
However, he suddenly had a feeling that this sound was familiar.
He was currently trying to figure out when he had heard such skilled playing before.
A figure suddenly appeared in his mind, but then he shook his head to stop himself from thinking nonsense. That person had already died a long time ago. Although her corpse hadn"t been found, everyone knew that she was dead.
And the woman on stage did not resemble her in the slightest regardless of whether one was talking about looks or temperament.
The only thing slightly similar was their aura. However, the woman in front of him seemed to emit radiance, while that person had always been cold and indifferent.
He shook his head once again and told himself to calm down.
When he lifted his head again, Xiao Susu was already slowly walking down the stage with the same calmness as when she came.
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Credits: Translated by Chiyomira
[Chiyomira"s Corner]
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Lol, this is pretty late, but when I first finally got this site going, I was going to give a warning to Celestial fans not to use the $1 pledge to read ahead, because it ends on an awful cliffhanger. I… forgot.