The girls who were at the marriageable age took sneak peeks at the emperor while the younger ones who didn"t know much about the world looked the jade-like gentleman Zhou Sheng.When Zhou Sheng had entered the gardens, Ning Fu - who had been sitting at the furthest and the most secluded corner in the banquet, had looked at him with a critical eye.
This boy was supposed to be entered into Ning Clan"s genealogy book and Ning Fu sympathised with the boy for not having the support of a big clan behind him but when he thought of sharing his family with the said person and again watched how His Majesty excused his late arrival without a word of reprimand, he felt unwillingness in his heart.
Meanwhile, the misses around Cheng Ru had been discussing His Majesty in soft whispers.
With the intention to tease Cheng Ru, one of them spoke, "Miss Cheng, you accompanied His Majesty for the rain ritual. The monarch is really a learned man who is elegant in bearing and handsome in appearance. Don"t know what Miss Cheng is thinking?"
Cheng Ru smiled softly in lieu of an answer.
However, when she saw the eager expressions on all the girls around her, she couldn"t help but say demurely, "You all, don"t make fun of me. His Majesty is high above and we are so lowly. How would he have the time to think about me? If someone hears us gossiping like this, it might anger the monarch."
Though her words seemed to distance herself from the monarch, the innate meaning was that she was worried that the emperor might get angry on her if new of her talking about him reached his ears.
Now, if the proud Son Of Heaven"s wasn"t paying attention to Cheng Ru, then why would he get angry?
Everyone who heard these words thought maybe the monarch was planning on bringing the miss from the Cheng clan into the palace.
When Cheng Ru noticed that the monarch hadn"t even looked once at her but had smiled at Zhou Sheng and asked a eunuch to bring a seat for Zhou Sheng so that he could sit a step lower on the dias where His Majesty and the Empress Dowager were sitting, her heart filled with unwillingness.
She gave the bit a look full of hatred.
When it was the time for the various great clans to offer their gifts to the monarch, they sent forth their gifts with either their legitimate sons or daughters.
When it was Cheng Ru"s turn, she presented her clan"s gift but didn"t leave after that.
When the empress dowager saw her still standing there, she asked with a lilting voice, "Miss Cheng?"
Cheng Ru replied, "Since this is the first time everyone has gathered joyously after such a long time, one is willing to add one"s incompetence and make merry."
Her words clearly stated that she wanted to perform something from one of the four arts - Qin, Qi, Shu and Hua.
The Empress Dowager didn"t think it was an excessive wish and gave her nod of approval.
Everyone watched as a eunuch brought out a guqin and Cheng Ru washed her hands in incense.
Then she plucked the strings and played a song called, "Waiting for you."
The song was a popular choice a few years back when the wive"s would perform this song before their husband"s left for the war at the frontier.
The song basically meant that even if the female had to wait for seven lifetimes, they would eagerly do that so as to just catch a glimpse of their beloved.
For Miss Cheng to play this song in such a banquet, everyone could more or less guess that she was playing the along for the monarch.
Everyone knew what The Left Prime Minister"s daughter wanted, her feelings were clear for all to view in her eyes.
After all, the events of the journey to The k.u.mbh Mountains was still fresh in their memories and the lady had been the only female to follow the monarch up to the highest point to perform the ritual.
While all the imperial clan members and the various rank one and rank two ministers were thinking of how they could use this information to their advantage, the melodious tune came to an end.
A second rank minister spoke, "Miss Cheng is truly talented. The young ladies at my learning school do not learn the guqin with such precision."
"The sound was melodious and brings joy and a bittersweet feeling in one"s heart." A furen praised.
Turning towards the Left Prime Minister, another subordinate followed, "Left Prime Minister is truly blessed to have such a talented lady as his daughter. Not only is her appearance akin to a fairy, but she is also learned and talented."
Just as The Left Prime Minister was accepting all the praises with a some on his face, another voice spoke and the atmosphere turned a bit stiff.
The First Prince, Prince Xi proposed, "One doesn"t know what His Majesty think of this performance?"
The words were crude and offensive to an extreme.
First of all, it brought to mind the way His Majesty had been angered because of Miss Cheng all those months ago.
Secondly, by asking if the monarch liked the performance, Prince Xi was comparing Miss Cheng Ru to the courtesans in those brothels who displayed their talents to earn money.
Still, with a mood to watch the unfolding drama, everyone turned their heads to see if the monarch had been bewitched by the beauty or not but they were struck dumb to see that His Majesty seemed to be busy drinking his wine.
This was really what had happened last time as well.
That time he had been lost in his own thoughts and this time he was busy drinking his wine.
Ah!
It seemed Miss Cheng was truly not favoured by luck and she wouldn"t be able to enter the palace.
Being ignored twice was the height of being dismissed as unimportant and not worthy by the monarch.
n.o.body would dare marry a girl who had been rejected in public in such a manner by imperial power.
Cheng Ru became concerned as she saw the eyes that had been looking at her in envy, jealousy and praise turn into faint mockery and pity.
She had thought that maybe the monarch would pay her attention when she performed this song but from the lackl.u.s.tre response, she knew she had miscalculated.
As she watched that n.o.body came forward to extract her out of the awkward situation, her eyes fell upon Zhou Sheng and she focused all her hatred and fear at him.
She collected the tattered remains of her self-esteem and with a shallow smile turned towards Zhou Sheng, "Does Zhou Daren know the piece just played?"
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If Zhou Sheng replied in the negative, he would be labelled as an illiterate and his future carrier prospects would dwindle down fast and his image in the eyes of His Majesty would also plummet.
If he replied in the positive, she would force him on to the stage and see what he could play or sing so as to not lose his reputation in front of all these novel personages.
If he didn"t perform well, it would be seen that he was just a fox trying to exploit the tiger"s might.
As everyone was already discontented with the monarch favouring him over them, it wouldn"t take much for the various officials to bury Zhou Sheng in criticism and make it difficult for him to get any sort of recognition.
Whichever way he answered, she was rue she could pull him down from his high perch and simultaneously make everyone forget about her actions.