Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Only then did Li Yuebai realize that he had changed the course of events for the first time.
In the original plot, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince did not attend the Shan family’s celebration banquet.
However, now, in order to fulfil his wish, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince agreed without hesitation to take him to the banquet.
It was true that the Queen and Concubine Hui had opposing positions, but they did not openly tear each other apart. They were still on good terms with each other. The Crown Prince’s visit to the Shan family for a banquet could add some face to the Shan family, and there was nothing wrong with that.
With a little uneasiness, Li Yuebai followed Murong Nan to the table.
His identity was that of a musician, he had no official position and his status was not high, so he could not sit at the table openly, and could only stand beside His Royal Highness the Crown Prince as a personal attendant.
Li Yuebai only wanted to complete the task and did not feel any unhappiness, but His Royal Highness the Crown Prince began to feel awkward.
“Sir, aren’t you the most tired of secular occasions?” Murong Nan whispered, “Why do you have to endure such humiliation for no reason? In my opinion, no one at this table can compare to you, but…”
“It doesn’t matter, I’m very comfortable.” Li Yuebai waved his hand.
“You are comfortable, but I am not.” Murong Nan was slightly angry: “Come here.”
He was young and acted impulsively. He immediately stood up, put his arm around Li Yuebai’s waist, and brought him to his side, wanting Li Yuebai to sit with him directly.
“Your Highness.” Li Yuebai had no choice but to use a ruthless move. He pushed Murong Nan’s hand away and whispered, “If outsiders see Your Highness pulling and tugging at me, I’m afraid they will look down on me even more.”
Murong Nan froze.
It was not uncommon for aristocratic men in the upper class to keep male favorites. If the behavior was too intimate, it would indeed make people suspect that he had the intention of sharing the peach[1] with the man.
Although he did have those kinds of fantasies about Yun Weizhi, he did not want others to look down on Yun Weizhi and regard him as a male concubine who relied on sex to get to the top.
Thinking of this, Murong Nan had no choice but to stop doing anything and let Yun Weizhi stand quietly behind him.
Murong Nan’s seat was at the top, in an excellent position from which he could have a panoramic view of the entire scene. Li Yuebai carefully observed the various people at the banquet and saw Shan Hengxin at a glance.
It was hard not to see him. Shan Hengxin was tall, handsome, dressed in gorgeous clothes, and had an extraordinary demeanor. He was being held in the center like the moon surrounded by a star. It was obvious at a glance that he was the protagonist of this banquet.
Concubine Hui had already taken her seat. She was sitting behind a curtain. Even though her face could not be seen clearly, she looked elegant and imposing.
Li Yuebai looked in another direction and saw Shan Lan and Zhao Ne, a couple.
Shan Lan was Concubine Hui’s elder sister. Her appearance was far less stunning than Concubine Hui’s, but she also had the demeanor of a lady of noble birth. Her husband Zhao Ne was the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard. He had a gloomy appearance, deep-set eyes, a hooked nose, and sharp features, which made people intimidated.
After observing these important enemies, Li Yuebai’s attention was attracted by a maid behind Shan Hengxin.
The maid was extremely beautiful, and when Shan Hengxin was being served by her, his hands would rub against her body intentionally or unintentionally.
At first glance, you could tell that this was the “house maid” in a wealthy family.
But the maid’s expression was not right at all.
This time, Shan Hengxin had clearly made military achievements and was unharmed, and was commended by the emperor, but the maid’s face did not show any joy, instead she had a somewhat sad and indifferent look.
Could it be… that she knew some unknown secrets?
Not far away, several servants of the Shan family were gossiping quietly, and Li Yuebai heard it.
“Tsk tsk, Chun Tao, this vixen, has finally found a rich man. She will be the eldest young master’s concubine in the future and will never have to worry about food and clothing for the rest of her life…”
The eldest young master was of course referring to Shan Hengxin, and Chun Tao was of course the maid.
“Don’t be jealous of her. She was the only one who was brave enough and reckless enough to accompany the young master to the Northwest Army. Do you dare?”
“Oh, of course we don’t dare. The Northwest front is a hell of a place. It’s so cold that people can be frozen to death, and swords and knives are merciless… Chun Tao, this little bit*h, is really not afraid of death. Thanks to her luck, she actually came back safely.”
After a few words, Li Yuebai understood.
Chun Tao was originally a maid of the Shan family. Shan Hengxin took her with him when he went to the northwest to fight. When he returned to Beijing this time, he brought her back again.
There was certainly no love between the eldest young master and the maid. From their expressions, it could be seen that Shan Hengxin only treated Chun Tao as a maid, and Chun Tao was not loyal to the eldest young master at all.
This Chun Tao must know a lot of Shan Hengxin’s secrets. As long as they could win her over, things would be easy.
As for Shan Hengxin, he had been labelled as “greedy for beauty” by Li Yuebai.
After the banquet officially began, Shan Hengxin shifted his focus to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.
Deep down in his heart, Shan Hengxin was naturally the same as Concubine Hui, always thinking about how to defeat the Queen and the Crown Prince. But on the surface, he still had to perform all the etiquette. He first thanked the Emperor for his grace, asked about the Queen’s well-being, and then praised the Crown Prince for his promising young age. After the polite exchanges, he asked the Crown Prince to give a speech at the banquet.
It was customary for the person with the highest status to speak first at a banquet.
But His Royal Highness the Crown Prince just smiled and said nothing.
Li Yuebai thought to himself that this was not good – the child was starting to act up again.
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was a very arrogant person, so asking him to pretend to give a speech was really a bit too much to ask.
Moreover, he came here solely to help Yun Weizhi and really didn’t want to give a speech.
Shan Hengxin couldn’t put down the wine glass he had raised, and the scene became a little awkward for a while.
Li Yuebai was afraid of more trouble, so he had to speak up to explain: “General Shan, the Crown Prince has ordered me to play a song for you to express his congratulations.”
“Oh?” Shan Hengxin smiled and quickly took the opportunity to put down his wine glass: “Your Highness the Crown Prince is indeed thoughtful. I am very grateful.”
When Concubine Hui heard that Yun Weizhi was going to play a song, she smiled across the curtain and praised Yun Weizhi to everyone, introducing him just right.
Soon, everyone fell silent.
Li Yuebai’s original intention was to ease the embarrassment, and he really didn’t want to become the focus of everyone’s attention. He was a little worried for a moment but soon calmed down.
Ever since the moment he awakened His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, he had become a thorn in Concubine Hui’s side. Now it made no difference whether he was the focus or not.
Why not take this opportunity to find out the true strength of the maid Chun Tao?
Li Yuebai borrowed the zither from the musician at the banquet and played a song called “Song of White Snow”.
“Song of White Snow” was a frontier music piece. Its prototype was “Song of White Snow to Send Judge Wu Back to the Capital”. However, the focus of that poem was farewell, and the length was not enough. So the musicians added “Song of Luntai” and “Zou Machuanxing” written by the same poet and collectively called it “Song of White Snow”. Hundreds of years had passed, and generation after generation of music players had added a lot of new content to the music. One of the sections was a scene of soldiers fighting bloody battles with the enemy in the snow, which was very tragic.
The sound of the guqin was melancholy and lofty, which was extremely suitable for this kind of music. Li Yuebai deliberately increased the strength of his hands until both his hands were numb from the shock. The guqin was almost not a guqin anymore, but turned into a weapon, making the sound of metal and stone.
The drums beat on all sides and the snow surged up, the three armies shouted loudly and the Yin Mountains shook.
The enemy’s soldiers were so energetic that they were as high as clouds, and bones were entangled in the grass on the battlefield.
At the end of the piece, Li Yuebai changed his mind and shifted the focus to mourning the war dead. The sound of the instrument became lighter and lower, like weeping and complaining, depicting the piles of bones on the vast snowy field, nameless graves, handfuls of yellow earth and snow, all of which covered the lovers in the dreams of the boudoirs.
The song ended with a lingering sad ending.
Li Yuebai opened his eyes and looked towards Chun Tao.
Chun Tao was just an ordinary maid. She had not been trained in the harem like Concubine Qian. So she did not know how to conceal her emotions like Concubine Qian. By now she had already begun to sob. She covered her cheeks with a handkerchief and tried her best to lower her voice so as not to disturb the nobles.
“This song is dedicated to General Shan and all the soldiers on the battlefield.” Li Yuebai whispered.
Then he returned the guqin and walked away.
Shan Hengxin looked serious. He raised his glass and said a few words to commemorate the soldiers. The nobles also sighed. After a while, the banquet became lively again.
Li Yuebai kept thinking in his heart – why was Chun Tao crying? Maybe after the banquet, I’ll have a chance to ask her.
After a while, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince got up and left the table, using the excuse that he was drunk, and planned to take a walk in the garden.
“Sir, would you please walk with me?” Murong Nan said without hesitation.
His tone did not allow Li Yuebai to refuse at all.
However, Li Yuebai still refused.
He didn’t mean to anger Murong Nan, but he really couldn’t do it – such a good opportunity, to be able to see so many enemies directly while ensuring his own safety, how could he not observe them for a while?
“Your Highness, please go first. I…” Li Yuebai said, “I will stay here. Maybe I can do something for Your Highness.”
Having said that, his eyes were always fixed on Shan Hengxin.
This made His Royal Highness the Crown Prince very angry. He didn’t bother to argue anymore and just walked away.
“…” Li Yuebai watched him leave and was unable to stop him. He could only wait until later to coax him.
“System.” Li Yuebai asked helplessly: “Has Murong Nan’s favorability towards me decreased?”
“No, it’s still 100%.” The system replied: “Host, please rest assured.”
That’s good.
Li Yuebai breathed a sigh of relief that his favorability did not drop, but he felt a little distressed for Murong Nan in his heart – Murong Nan really liked Yun Weizhi, but it was a pity that he could not respond.
Before he had time to think more about these romantic things, something unexpected happened.
Concubine Hui behind the curtain called a personal maid over and whispered a few words in her ear. The maid immediately sneaked through the crowd, leaned close to Shan Hengxin’s ear, and passed the words on.
Shan Hengxin’s face froze, and after hesitating for a moment, he nodded.
Immediately afterwards, several servants quietly pulled Chun Tao away.
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[1] The love between two men has been referred to as ‘the sharing of the peach’ in ancient Chinese culture.