Chapter 43: The finale [3]
1457 Words
Second Princess Beitang Xing is watching at Shen Baiyu as the latter elegantly yet boldly flicking on every string of the guzheng. She saw how her older brother is watching her with such an intensity as he smiles rather too obviously, and it scares her a bit. She then turns her attention to the man that she has loved over the years. When she first met him in the battlefield, they met as an enemy. When she realized that he is engaged to another, it is already too late as she has completely fallen in love with him. There is a guilt that burdens her ever since she knew of her existence. She even feels more guilty when she discovered that he had abandoned Shen Baiyu during their supposed wedding day without ever completing the wedding ceremony. As much as she feels guilty towards her, she is much happier when she founds out that her older brother is taking a liking into her beloved's former betrothed. All is well she thought to herself.
As the first performance comes to an end, there is a moment of silence for a minute or two but then Crown Prince Beitang Moran stands up and thunderously clapping his hands. Shen Baiyu turns her head to look at him and nods her head towards him.
Princess Hong Meigui respectfully bows to the imperial couple and then says, "The second performance will be performed by Second Miss Xiao and Eldest Miss Shen. Time for me to move out of the way like I always did... Isn't that right Wangye? Sisters?"
Princess Hong Meigui smiling as she looks at her husband and his concubines. She walks calmly back to her seat which is next to Third Prince Nangong Zhixiang and in front of her husband's concubines where one of them is staring at her with obvious contempt.
"And, this performance is especially dedicated to His Royal Highness, the Second Prince. Your Royal Highness do rest assured that I want nothing but only the best for her. After all, she is our 'dumpling'. Aren’t that right, young masters?"
Shen Baiyu said with a rather enticing and melodious tone which made Crown Prince Beitang Moran frowned as he watched Second Prince Nangong Heshan and the 3 young masters of the Xiao family who pretended to look the other way around when they noticed the killing gaze coming from the jealous prince.
Within seconds, Shen Baiyu starts as she strums the strings of her guzheng and, Xiao Ke Ai starts when Shen Baiyu looks up at the younger girl to give her a bit of morale boost that she very much needed. Both of them are playing a rather relaxing tone of music which is a drastic contrast from the first performance performed by Shen Baiyu and Princess Hong Meigui.
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Everyone inside the hall is enjoying this rather soothing and relaxing musical performance, and as much as incredulous as it sounds, they can feel that the music somehow heals them from within. From the very first performance and now the second one, the music that they have never ever been heard before. Seems like it is a new composition but who had composed this beautiful music? They continued to watch the performance, but it ends before anyone wanted it to end much to their dismay especially those forlorn princes who are both in love with Shen Baiyu and Xiao Ke Ai. Both Crown Prince Beitang Moran and Second Prince Nangong Heshan softly sigh when the second performance ended and thought that their beloveds should never again be allowed to perform in front of others in the future.
Shen Baiyu laughs and says, "Ke Ai... You're such a gifted one. I only have to show you once and you remembered everything. What a gem..."
Shen Baiyu gently pats Xiao Ke Ai's head with the younger girl watches her in awe, "Older sister Baiyu, you are indeed amazing. What will you perform next?"
"A song? Her Royal Highness will be my duet partner for my third and final performance..."
She gently pats Ke Ai's hand before telling her to go back to her designated seat. She too went back to her own seat before she nods to Princess Hong Meigui who raises one of her eyebrows before she says, "There is a special performance which will be the last one as well... We will sing a song."
This sudden announcement got everyone to suddenly stop their conversation so that they can concentrate on the next performance. Crown Prince Beitang Moran look at Shen Baiyu with a gentle yet loving gaze in his eyes while Third Prince Nangong Zhixiang stares at his wife with a questioning look on his face.
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Song: Unsullied
Singer: Sa Ding Ding
Drama: Heavy Sweetness, Ash-Like Frost
***
>English Translation<
I don't want to get involved in what's right and wrong
The flower in my heart has withered and it can't go back
I hope to wash away the vanity and get rid of the dust
I will toast to you and talk until we're drunk
I don't want to get involved in what's right and wrong
The flower in my heart has withered and it can't go back
Memories go back and forth
It hurts my heart
I wish there is no regret for the rest of my life
A pot of wine, a dusty ash
I have no regrets for the rest of my life
Spring comes, autumn goes
Life and death
We will get drunk again when the flowers bloom
I don't want to get involved in what's right and wrong
The flower in my heart has withered and it can't go back
Memories go back and forth
It hurts my heart
I wish there is no regret for the rest of my life
A pot of wine, a dusty ash
I have no regrets for the rest of my life
Spring comes, autumn goes
Life and death
We will get drunk again when the flowers bloom
May this time of life no longer wither
Wait for the flowers to bloom again
May this of life no longer either
Go back and savour the aftertastes of the wine
A pot of wine, a dusty ash
I have no regrets for the rest of my life
Spring comes, autumn goes
Life and death
We will get drunk again when the flowers bloom
A pot of wine, a dusty ash
I have no regrets for the rest of my life
A memory, life is gone, a heart is gone
Go back and savour the aftertastes of the wine
A memory, life is gone, a heart is gone
Go back and savour the aftertastes of the wine
***
Princess Hong Meigui sings the song with a sudden display of melancholic expression on her face that has been noticed by everyone who is watching her. It is widely known by almost everyone inside the hall that, even after years of marriage, both Third Prince Nangong Zhixiang and her are trapped in an unhappy marriage which became more apparent after he had taken concubines soon after their wedding and when she decided to move into another residence of her own. As the songs coming to its end, tears trickled down onto her smooth cheeks as she looks up into the darkening sky with her eyes closed. She seems to be in tranced for a moment or two before she snaps out of it and continues to act as of nothing has had happened.
For her husband, he noticed every second of her changing expressions, and he knows that her pain and sufferings are caused by him alone and no one else.
Shen Baiyu is watching Princess Hong Meigui realizing that her good friend is singing a song that represents the true feeling of the original owner of the body, a wife who had been forsaken by her husband. If Shen Baiyu is still here, she too will be trapped in a meaningless marriage. She sincerely hopes that Dahlia will make good use of that poor girl's body. Even if she is a married young woman in this lifetime, at least she is living independently on her own without the control and restriction from that Third Prince. She then looks at Xiao Ke Ai and prays that this adorable one will have a happy life with her prince. Herself? She will make the best out of everything that is thrown unto her especially that handsome yet dangerous Moran. She looks at him and then she starts to sing a song for all to hear.
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Song: Blood as Ink
Singer: Zhang Bichen
Drama: Legend of Fuyao
- Writer
