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Throwing Brick to Attract Jade
T/N: Translated by Jen on Broken Jinsei! Please do not repost my translations! All translations outside of Broken Jinsei are stolen and reposted without permission!
Li Hong Yuan led Jing Wan to sit down by the low table.
Afterwards, the others followed in. On their side, it was just Yu Zhong Qing, Li Su Yan, An Yi, Eunuch Mu, the twins, as well as two female bodyguards. Fortunately, Mei Yi had long made preparations, already anticipating the situation that the people Jin Qinwang bring along will be relatively many. She hurriedly waved her hand at the two sides. The two pleasure boats stopped thirty feet away quickly rowed over. The remaining people divided into two. As such, it was still the main pleasure boat that had the most people. Li Hong Yuan slightly furrowed his brows. The more unfamiliar people there were, the greater the possibility of dangers existing. Moreover, even if the pleasure boat is big enough, staying together in this space, in Li Hong Yuan’s eyes, is also quite crowded, also appearing very bothersome to the eye.
As someone following by Li Hong Yuan’s side all year round, how could Eunuch Mu not know, “Owner, this amount of people is a bit too many, trouble you to send some to the other two boats.”
For people like Mei Yi and them, naturally it was paying attention to the esteemed guest’s reaction at all times. If an ordinary guest, even if a certain high official, she would still be able to smile calmly, even flirting a little, yet because this one’s status was honorable, she can’t even openly stare at, further having that ‘strangers do not approach’ air around him, and also that woman in male disguise was extremely likely to be Jin Wangfei. As such, she further could only cautiously take a peek, and seeing Jin Qinwang frowning, she just knew he was displeased, but simply just didn’t know the reason. Fortunately, in the next instant, she just got a reminder, and naturally didn’t dare to slight in the slightest. There were nearly thirty servant girls serving on this boat. Clenching her teeth, she just left behind four, while rest all got sent away.
This time, the amount of people on the pleasure boat, for the most part, just got cut in half.
On the pleasure boat, why was there this many people serving? It was merely because the twelve people following behind Mei Yi previously were the head courtesans that came from the twelve establishments. These people all have two servant girls serving at the side. Then, adding on the people Mei Yi prepared to use in a possible time of need, didn’t one precisely end up with this many people. Originally, she didn’t feel there was anything wrong, but looking at it now, really was lacking in consideration.
As for the various head courtesans not having anyone serving, and in the following period of time, need to do everything personally on their own, in Mei Yi’s eyes, this also wasn’t anything. Setting aside the fact that on this pleasure boat, what matters can there be, moreover, among these twelve people, at least half started out serving others. Although having lived a few years of luxury, it wasn’t likely to not be able to survive in the slightest without servants.
The pleasure boat slowly began gliding on the water surface. The ones pushing along the boat with poles outside were some muscular old servant women. Towards moving the boat, they seemingly were very skilled and exceptionally smooth. And the other two pleasure boats on the two sides were merely separated by five feet, lagging behind at the halfway position of the main boat.
Today’s main guest was Jing Wan. The others were all just accompanying along. As such, naturally it was just whatever Jing Wan says it is.
However, for people like them, they have never kept a female guest company before, so momentarily, also didn’t know what to do. Moreover, it was still fine if an ordinary person, but this one’s status just had to be extremely honorable. They completely can’t afford to offend. As the husband, Jin Qinwang sat by Jing Wan’s side, pouring himself a cup of tea, simply not having the intention of opening his mouth, completely just the stance of an accompanying guest.
In the end, it was Jing Wan that opened her mouth first, breaking the silence, “You all don’t need to mind. Just let it be however it should be. I was purely just curious, thus would appear here.”
Speaking of which, if it gets out, her reputation will be the most severely damaged, and if it spreads back to the capital, she perhaps won’t be able to continue being this wangfei. However, she was unexpectedly the most relaxed. In the end, it was still because of her absolute trust towards Li Hong Yuan.
If able to completely be as usual, it rather wasn’t undoable, but the problem was, as people coming from brothels and pleasure boats, regardless whether it was the music or dance, all carried an erotic appeal, so no matter what, all not too suitable………..
“If wangye and gentleman does not disdain, this slave will first place a piece for you all.” Amidst the silence, Fu Xiao stood up, holding the pipa curtsying.
Jing Wan landed her gaze on Fu Xiao. Among these people, her impression towards Fu Xiao was actually quite deep. Compared to the others, Fu Xiao, in terms of temperament, was more prominent. Perhaps it’s because of this profession, but the others more or less all have some air of windblown dust[1]. Even if right now, regardless of whether it’s the attire or conduct all restraining as much as possible, but some subtle movements still had this bit exposed. If not knowing that they were in this profession, perhaps one won’t notice, but Fu Xiao completely didn’t have this kind of feeling on her. Also, another thing, just now, after they sat down, and these people entered, they naturally were able to see their appearance. Even Mei Yi’s eyes all flashed with astonishment, let alone the others. Even now, there were still gazes nonchalantly landing on a certain someone, but only Fu Xiao alone just had that initial glance, and afterwards, just completely restrained her eyes. Moreover, there wasn’t the slightest ripple in her eyes, just like as if this person was the same as the others that she’s met, nothing special.
For this kind of person, there was two kinds of possibilities, one, it was truly ‘the heart like still water’, or even ‘the heart like dead water’, and two, for the sake of attracting attention.
“Allowed.” Jing Wan smilingly nodded.
TN: All translations outside of Broken Jinsei are stolen and reposted without permission!
Fu Xiao walked towards the little stage directly in front of them, quietly sitting down, her fingers strumming the strings. From the start, one just knew, this wasn’t the decadent music that was popular in the land of fireworks[2]. It was light and relaxing, and similarly also bright and beautiful, seemingly adding a breeze over the cool and refreshing river surface.
Not only so, Fu Xiao’s movement in playing the pipa was also very graceful, and more importantly, she was very focused, to the point that seemingly the entire world just had the pipa in her hand remaining.
The Fu Xiao right now made Jing Wan think of her sister-in-law, Sun Yi Jia. Having a prostitute compared with a duke manor’s di born noble daughter, definitely was an insult to the latter, but if just discussing the facts, Fu Xiao was even a level higher.
What got attracted wasn’t just Jing Wan’s attention, even Li Hong Yuan somewhat focused his attention. It can be seen, this skill level truly has reached a considerably high level.
Jing Wan propped up her chin, quietly listening. This wasn’t too likely to be someone with ‘the heart like dead water’. Could it be that it really was for the sake of attracting their attention? Of course, Jing Wan won’t come to a conclusion this subjectively. After all, some people, towards other things, are all indifferent, forever just focusing on that one thing.
As one song concludes, Jing Wan couldn’t help but clap, genuinely exclaiming in admiration.
Seemingly, because of this clap, Fu Xiao finally returned to her sense, getting up, curtsying, and retreating back to her original position.
Setting aside what kind of look the others gave Fu Xiao, whether or not thinking she was deeply full of schemes, she from beginning to end just remained quiet.
However, with Fu Xiao taking the lead, the others also roughly knew what they should perform. However, not everyone all had this capability like Fu Xiao. Among them, there were dancers that have never learned any ‘ordinary dance’ before, yet also could only harden their head and go forward.
[1] Windblown dust – a literary way of referring to prostitution
[2] Fireworks is another one of those words that alludes to the brothels and red-light district. The word for red-light district in chinese is 烟花柳巷 which literally just translates to ‘fireworks and willow alley’.
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I have a suspicion that before it was realized that Jing Wan had come along, Fu Xiao wasn’t planning on competing for attention, because my impression of her is that she has resigned herself to her lot in life. But once she knew that Jing Wan had come, and seeing how much LHY dotes on her, she might be planning to win Jing Wan’s appreciation through her talents alone. After all, there’s a chance Jing Wan will take a liking to a girl’s musical skill and buy that girl’s freedom. And being a Wangfei’s personal performer is much better than being a prostitute.
LHY can be so childish and petty but at the same time adorable like an small kid. Love how he treats JW like the apple of his eyes. Wonder will there be an assassination attempt at this pleasure boat and what surprises in store for the couple? Looking forward to read the next chapters.