"It's you!" Zhou Miao exclaimed with delight as she walked over.
Zhao Lijia nodded and smiled as she approached, saying, "Are you here for the wedding banquet?"
She noticed that as soon as she finished speaking, the group of young women around her began whispering to one another, some even casting strange looks her way.
Zhao Lijia was puzzled, but seeing Zhou Miao running over with a smile, she set the question aside for the moment.
"Lin Zeyan!"
But Zhou Miao passed right by Zhao Lijia and rushed toward the back.
Zhao Lijia's smile froze on her face. Why did Third Cousin have to show up everywhere? He was like a single piece of rat droppings that could move anywhere!
Lin Zeyan and Lu Qingyou were passing by when Princess Zhaole called out to them, forcing them to stop and bow. "This humble official greets the Princess."
Zhou Miao waved her hand. "I snuck out, so no need for all that formality."
Princess Zhaole was the most beloved princess of the current Emperor, and when it came to the boundary-crossing behavior of her and her brother, the Fourth Prince, the Emperor usually turned a blind eye.
Zhou Miao's eyes sparkled with joy. "Lin Zeyan, why didn't you come to my birthday banquet last time?"
Lin Zeyan replied, "Princess, last time this humble official was busy with a case, so I was unable to attend."
Zhou Miao smiled nonchalantly. "You're my father's right-hand man, after all. You're the busiest one, I understand."
Princess? Princess?!
Zhao Lijia, listening to their conversation from behind, nearly dropped her jaw in shock. She's a princess?!
She hesitated, wondering if it was too late to step forward and pay her respects.
Zhou Miao chatted up front for a while before remembering her new friend. She turned around and said, "Oh, I forgot about you. What was your name again?"
Zhao Lijia froze for a moment, then stepped forward and bent her knees in a bow. "This one greets the Princess."
She lifted her head, her eyes glistening with moisture. "Last time I did not know you were the Princess. Please forgive me, Your Highness."
Zhou Miao laughed, finding Zhao Lijia's manner rather amusing. "Alright, you may rise. I don't blame you. It's perfectly normal that you didn't recognize me since I snuck out to play."
Zhao Lijia was immensely grateful. As she slowly rose, she realized she had ended up standing right next to Lin Zeyan while bowing. From the corner of her eye, she caught sight of the hem of his robe and discreetly shifted a step away.
But this little move did not escape Lin Zeyan's notice. He glanced sidelong at her. "What are you hiding from?"
Zhao Lijia trembled, then closed her eyes briefly, pretending not to know him. Inwardly, she blamed him for being so talkative—couldn't he keep quiet even in front of the Princess?!
Lin Zeyan watched her cower like a quail before the Princess, a far cry from the fiery spirit she'd shown at Zisi Temple that day. He let out a scoffing laugh. "Zhao Lijia, I'm asking you—what are you hiding from?"
Zhao Lijia cursed Lin Zeyan a thousand times in her heart, but forced a docile smile onto her face and slowly looked up. "Third Cousin, were you calling me?"
Lin Zeyan was almost amused enough to laugh in exasperation. He lifted his chin slightly. "What do you think?"
Zhao Lijia blinked with feigned innocence. "My apologies. I thought Third Cousin was speaking to the maid beside you just now."
"…"
She was insulting him in a roundabout way, chiding him for his harsh tone toward her. Lin Zeyan was about to say something more when Zhou Miao cut in, "Lin Zeyan, so she's your cousin."
Lin Zeyan replied, "Something like that."
Zhao Lijia looked at him, her curved lashes fluttering. What did he mean by "something like that"?
Lin Zeyan's lips curved slightly. "Is that not the case?"
Zhao Lijia nodded with a fake smile plastered on her face. "Mm, Third Cousin is right."
Rat droppings! Stinking rat droppings!
Zhou Miao's gaze flickered between the two locked in their contest, and the smile at the corners of her lips diminished by half. "How is it that you cousins start bickering the moment you meet? It's as if no one else is present."
Lin Zeyan clearly disliked the phrase "as if no one else is present." His mouth flattened, and he bowed. "Your Highness, forgive me. This humble official has matters to attend to and will take his leave first."
Zhou Miao opened her mouth, the light in her eyes dimming. She regretted what she had just said. She looked at Zhao Lijia, sullen and displeased. "You've driven your third cousin away."
Zhao Lijia: "?"
She could only offer a slightly apologetic smile. "Your Highness, forgive me."
Zhou Miao had lost her enthusiasm. She toyed with a corner of her shawl. "Fine, I forgive you." Having said that, she smiled again and linked her arm through Zhao Lijia's. "Where is Lin Zeyan's courtyard? Take me there."
Zhao Lijia shook her head, alarmed. "This…"
Zhou Miao studied her expression. "Just take me to look. I'll only look from the outside and then leave."
Zhao Lijia's face scrunched up with difficulty. "Your Highness, I don't even know where my third cousin's courtyard is…"
Zhou Miao's face brightened. "Really?"
Zhao Lijia could not fathom the princess's thoughts. She nodded. "Really."
"Alright then." She pursed her lips. "Oh, right—what's your name?"
"Zhao Lijia."
Zhou Miao led her along. "That's a lovely name. You're General Zhao of Liangzhou's daughter?"
Zhao Lijia nodded. Zhou Miao said, "I'd long heard that a young lady from the Zhao family had come to the Duke's estate. I never expected it to be you. What fate. Oh, right—didn't you say last time that you'd call on me next time you went out to play? From now on, when you want to play, just have your third cousin pass me a message."
Zhao Lijia smiled on the surface, but she was suffering inside. Just playing with this princess of unpredictable moods already had her anxious enough; would she dare have her third cousin pass messages? Did she think her life was too peaceful, her days too comfortable?
She realized she had been pulled along by the princess quite a distance. "Your—Your Highness, where are we going?"
Zhou Miao smiled. "To listen to music and watch dancing, of course."
When they arrived at Danyi Water Pavilion, Zhao Lijia saw some young women playing instruments and others dancing, and only then did she relax. Otherwise, she truly feared the princess would drag her off to find her third cousin's courtyard.
Lin Zeyan had drunk quite a bit earlier. He and Lu Qingyou had drifted away from the crowd, walking slowly to sober up. Lu Qingyou kept glancing at him, which irritated him greatly. "Do you have something to say?"
Lu Qingyou smiled and rubbed his nose. "Was that really your cousin just now?"
Lin Zeyan nodded. "Why do you ask?"
Lu Qingyou's eyes glinted with teasing light. "So even Sanlang can chat and joke with young ladies."
Lin Zeyan frowned. "I think you've gone blind."
Seeing his sour expression, Lu Qingyou grew curious. "What, you don't like this cousin of yours?"
He had seen that this cousin was beautiful and lively, the kind that made a good impression at first glance. He could not understand how Lin Zeyan had ended up with such a relationship with a cousin like that.
Lin Zeyan: "Don't mention her. The moment I do, my head aches."
"That symptom sounds rather serious."
"Then shut up if you know."
The two were not of the same mind, yet they chatted as they walked. Just then, they saw Lin Congji emerge from a small path screened by flowering shrubs. Lin Zeyan straightened up. "Eldest Brother."
Lin Congji nodded. "What are you two doing here?"
Lin Zeyan thought to himself that this was the question he should be asking, but he still answered honestly. "We're sobering up."
Lin Congji: "Where's your second brother? Has he gone back?"
"They went back early—didn't drink a single drop. I drank it all."
Lu Qingyou smiled and said, "I was there too."
Lin Congji thanked Lu Qingyou: "There's hangover soup at the banquet. Or would you care to stay the night at the estate, Lord Lu?"
Lu Qingyou smiled and declined: "My wife is waiting for me at home, so I won't stay the night."
The group chatted as they walked back the way they came. The music reached them as they rounded the rockery.
At first it was just a thread of sound—clear and cold as a spring beneath ice, plucking and murmuring, rising from the depths of the night. Lu Qingyou stopped and said, "That's 'The Joy of Tilted Canopies.'"
Lin Zeyan and Lin Congji followed Lu Qingyou's footsteps around the rockery, their gazes crossing the corridor to rest on the waterside pavilion at the center of the pond.
The night was dark as ink, the pond water still and black, reflecting the cold half-moon in the sky. Only the entire pavilion was bathed in a warm, soft glow, filled with laughter and cheerful voices.
In the middle of the pavilion, Zhao Lijia cradled a Ruanxian, playing the lively latter section of the piece. Some young lady—it was unclear whose family she was from—danced along to the music, answering her in rhythm.
Zhao Lijia rose with the instrument in her arms, and the dancing lady raised her chin step by step in challenge.
Refusing to be outdone, Zhao Lijia swayed gently from her waist as an axis while playing the intricate melody, her goose-yellow skirts rippling outward like water waves. At the most impassioned passage, she leaned all the way back, her goose-yellow hair ribbon flying behind her, and raised an eyebrow at the lady with a smile in return.
The lady refused to yield, clapping and twirling in circles around her. Zhao Lijia followed her, her fingers flying rapidly across the strings, producing a bright, spirited flourish.
As the piece reached its long, lingering finale, Zhao Lijia sat down and played slowly.
"Your cousin—she's truly radiant and captivating…" By now Lu Qingyou had completely sided with Zhao Lijia, thinking that if anything had happened between her and Lin Zeyan, it must have been Lin Zeyan's fault.
After all, everyone appreciates beauty, and since one shouldn't judge without knowing the full picture—well, he had seen the full picture, so he was entitled to his opinion.
Lin Zeyan disagreed: "Raucous and grating to the ear."
Lu Qingyou thought Sanlang was really a mood-killer. Lin Congji was about to scold him too: "Sanlang…"
But when they both turned to look at Lin Zeyan, they froze in unison.
Lu Qingyou was startled: "Sanlang, you… why are you crying?"
"Crying?" Lin Zeyan didn't understand the word. He felt something cold on his face, and when he touched it, his hand came away wet with tears. He froze.
He couldn't believe it: "Is it raining?"
Lu Qingyou and Lin Congji exchanged a glance. "No."
Lin Zeyan's eyes trembled: "No, it's…"
He looked toward the young lady laughing and chatting in the pavilion.
Zhao Lijia felt goosebumps rise on the back of her neck, for no reason she could discern.
Zhou Miao marveled: "So you really do know how to play the Ruanxian." She reached out. "Let me see that Ruanxian of yours."
Zhao Lijia handed it to her. Zhou Miao saw that the instrument was made entirely of rosewood, its soundboard decorated with an inner painting of blue butterflies holding peonies amid trailing vines. The inner painting was inlaid with extremely thin Raden Mother-of-Pearl and luminous shell to form the patterns, and at the tip of every vine branch on the headstock and sides was set an amber stone. When light played across it, it was like a river of stars pouring down.
Zhou Miao couldn't bear to put it down: "Does your Ruanxian have a name?"
Zhao Lijia said, "Amber."
Zhou Miao paused. "Why that name?"
Zhao Lijia pointed to the amber on the side of the instrument. "My mother named it because there are so many amber stones inlaid along the sides. This Ruanxian was passed down to me from her."
Zhou Miao said "Oh," then clung to the Ruanxian without letting go, and with a joking tone said, "I have many precious pipas, but not a single ruan. Why don't you give me Amber?"
Hearing this, Zhao Lijia was first stunned, then her heart tightened. She forced a smile, "This is my mother's keepsake…"
Zhou Miao burst out laughing, and handed the Ruanxian back to her. "I was joking. Did you think I really lacked your Ruanxian?"
She poked Zhao Lijia's cheek, leaving a dent in Zhao Lijia's round, soft cheek. "You're really no fun."