I have regrets in this life.
Logically, the status of palace instructors should be higher than that of court entertainers. However, times have changed. Xue Hongbi was a favorite concubine of the Pei family and was specially sent by the General to instruct the palace entertainers in the White Silk Dance, while Instructor Sun was all alone and had no special person backing her up.
There is a deeper reason: more than ten years ago, Xue Hongbi was the head of the palace troupe and always had the personality of being assertive and outspoken. At that time, Consort Sun was just an ordinary person in the dance troupe. She was used to Xue Hongbi's arrogance and domineering attitude and did not want to fight her every time, so she mostly endured it.
Unexpectedly, Xue Hongbi calmly suppressed her morning rage and said, "I will only say two things. The first is that everyone must do it starting this afternoon."
Sun's wife remained silent, and so everyone in the dance troupe followed suit.
Ignoring everyone's reaction, Xue Hongbi said, "First, wash off that messy makeup. This afternoon, the Shaofu will send over a box of the finest rouge, indigo, and lead powder. From now on, you are not allowed to wear makeup while practicing. As for the makeup for the performance, someone will do it for you. The dancers' faces are the face of the Music Bureau, and you are not allowed to mess with them on your own!"
A Qiu thought to herself, Huang Chaoan must have used some kind of rhetoric to persuade Madam Xue to be of one mind with him so quickly. Logically speaking, one is a favored concubine of the Pei family, and the other is a former musician of the Pei family. There should be several hundred people in the Pei family. How could someone who has finally risen to the position of a lady be so easily united with her former servant?
She couldn't help but admire Huang Chaoan's abilities even more.
Xue Hongbi turned her beautiful face to Sun Neiren and said decisively, "This second point is only aimed at you, Sun Ci."
Sun's wife seemed to have anticipated this, standing silently without uttering a word. But A Qiu could see that her usually ramrod-straight back was now even straighter.
Moreover, it was trembling slightly.
Suddenly, A Qiu felt a strong urge to stand next to Sun's wife.
Just like last time, when Sun Neiren decisively stood in front of Huang Chaoan.
But she knew she couldn't act rashly at this moment. After all, Xue Hongbi hadn't finished speaking. In some situations, the one who strikes first gains the upper hand, while the one who strikes later gains the upper hand.
Xue Hongbi continued, "From now on, I will teach them all their 'body and mind,' not you. Do you understand, Sun Ci?"
Ah Qiu, who was mixed in with the troupe of dancers, couldn't help but shake her quick-witted head. So, apart from the "Body and Mind" course that just started today, which will now be taught by Madam Xue, all the other duties originally belonging to Lady Sun will remain unchanged?
Is that all?
Even Instructor Sun seemed momentarily stunned, asking blankly, "What?"
Anger resurfaced on Xue Hongbi's face, but she forced herself to remain calm and said, "That means you've taught terribly."
The dancers exchanged bewildered glances. In their minds, Instructor Sun had always been an inviolable, god-like figure, and today was the first time they had seen his wife being so thoroughly berated by another woman of similar age.
"You can only teach the most basic things like stretching and spinning," Xue Hongbi explained in detail, raising her voice an octave higher.
The geisha were innocent and naive, and would not have any disrespectful thoughts towards Sun Nai-sheng because of this; they would only feel at a loss.
Although A Qiu had seen more people than they had in the world, she had never seen anyone like Madam Xue before, and she was speechless with astonishment.
This is a type known colloquially as a "shrew." Such women are truly rare even among daughters of prominent martial arts families and noble households, and even among maids. Even when things come to a head, these women still retain a degree of refinement and manners.
"The people you teach are just as stupid as you, Sun Ci! Do you understand?"
Xue Hongbi's last, desperate cry was so high-pitched it seemed to be shouted outwards, its lingering resonance lasting for three days.
A-Qiu suspected that she might have been assigned to the dance department like herself, and that her original major was probably singing.
On this day, the sharp, high-pitched cries of women from the dance troupe of Tangli West Garden were so intense that they completely shocked the musicians and dancers of both the seated and standing sections.
An old musician from the previous dynasty's music bureau heard the first roar and went to investigate. They then exchanged knowing glances, stroked their beards, and smiled slightly: "It's alright, this is more like the dance troupe of yesteryear."
The newcomers were confused. Wasn't the dance troupe always so proper and orderly, like the underworld, with everyone dressed in mourning?
The old musicians exchanged wry smiles. Back then, the dance troupe was a gathering of beauties from Yan and Zhao, a veritable whodunit where none would yield to the others. It was once said that at least half of the greasy, shimmering light in the palace's Lishui River was caused by the dancers arguing, spilling each other's hair oil, and splashing each other's makeup.
The old folks at the Music Bureau still vividly remember those old stories of the dance troupe leaders pulling each other's hair.
Some honest people smiled wryly and said, "Sun Ci is too honest; how could he possibly outmaneuver Xue Hongbi?"
Someone replied, "Back then, she wasn't even in Hongbi's league. She wasn't qualified to go up against Hongbi. She wasn't then, and she's even less qualified now—I guess Hongbi was simply and one-sidedly furious with her stupidity."
All afternoon, like the other dancers, A-Qiu felt her ears ringing and she was extremely dizzy.
"How many times do you want me to say it? Shame! Shame with a hint of shyness! Turning back, lowering my eyes, turning away! My gaze goes from looking up to looking down, then lingers on the ground, unwilling to leave!"
"Charm! Charm that could eclipse the moon and shame the flowers, make fish sink and geese fall from the sky! It must carry a hint of tenderness and wild provocation, looking directly into the man's eyes. Once you've fixed his gaze on him, you must not let your guard down for a moment, constantly conveying affection, and never let him let his eyes fall on anyone else! If his gaze falls on someone else, then the position of wife will no longer belong to you!"
To be honest, Madam Xue's exquisite beauty, described as "shy as a flower and shy as a moon" and "alluring as a bewitching eye," was truly an eye-opener for these young dancers who had grown up in the palace.
Although they had learned their craft from a young age, they always felt that serving nobles with dance was no different from carrying water, chopping wood, wiping tables, or washing floors—it was essentially a laborious and arduous task. Carrying a load of water would leave them panting and sweating profusely, and performing a dance would have a similar effect.
The instructors used to require them to smile, and if they didn't, they would be punished. This not only made the physical labor more difficult for the girls, but also meant that they had to memorize the movements while simultaneously trying to fake a smile. They would either forget to smile or forget the movements—in any case, they would be beaten.
Later, when Lady Sun arrived, she simply changed the shape of the lips on the makeup to a smile. That way, it was barely noticeable whether the person was smiling or not, but the meaning was the same. The dancers also found this method to be convenient and efficient, and excellent.
It saves the effort of putting in physical labor while having to fake a smile and put on a perfunctory act.
—It can be said that although these young geisha have been learning to dance since childhood, they have never known the true nature of "dance".
Upon meeting Madam Xue, they realized that dancers could indeed "captivate a city with a single glance, and a nation with a second glance," possessing "gentle charm and captivating grace, alluring in their words."
Although A Qiu was not a musician or dancer and had never seen many dancers, she guessed that even the legendary Zhao Feiyan, who could dance on the palm of a hand, and the stunningly beautiful Lady Li of the past, must have been no more than this.
However, a master's excellent teaching does not guarantee that the apprentice will learn it.
The group of young geisha girls simply stared wide-eyed and moved their eyes around, looking at the sky and the ground from left to right. Their clean, unadorned faces, with their dark, bright eyes, were filled with childlike innocence, a touch of naivety, and a hint of bewilderment.
Even the two leading ladies, Zhang Exu and Cui Lüzhu, could not imitate even a fraction of Madam Pei's charm.
A-Qiu is known for her agility, which is considered the best among all the geishas, so she receives fewer criticisms.
But for almost the entire afternoon, the Xiangxie Corridor echoed with Madam Pei's incessant, furious curses.
"Idiots! They're all idiots!"
"Are all of you born with dead fish eyes?"
"You can carve a beautiful woman out of wood, but a bunch of things that are not even as good as wood!"
My wife is actually very protective of her own. After going around in circles a few times, she couldn't stand it anymore and stood her ground:
"I think that a dance in white silk doesn't need to have a seductive or alluring expression."
The dancers, all blockheads, would just stand there dumbfounded when scolded, neither talking back nor arguing. Madam Xue, who had been feeling like she couldn't find a target to vent her anger on, immediately had one. She promptly held the bamboo clapper in front of Consort Sun's face.
"You said that?" was spoken in an arrogant and intimidating tone.
Although Sun's wife had been afraid of Xue Hongbi since she was young and mostly avoided her, when she really got tough, she dared to argue with Huang Chaoan, let alone Xue Hongbi.
Without blinking, she said, "It's not just me who said it. Empress Wen said the same thing back then. 'The white silk dance is an image of shimmering water and moonlight, conveying the idea of a hundred years of life without regrets. It contains the feelings between men and women, but also profound thoughts, without any intention of seduction.'"
Madam Xue's screams were so loud they could pierce the clouds and split rocks.
"So you knew it was the Empress who said it!"
Even the board was trembling with anger; it looked as if she wanted to give Sun Neiren a good beating.
"So you knew too, she's the Empress!!"
The paddle didn't hit Lady Sun in the end, but a slender finger painted with vermilion nail polish poked right between her eyebrows.
"You were just as foolish back then, Sun Ci. Did you believe everything the Empress said?"
It was a roar of exasperation and disappointment.
"The Empress certainly doesn't need to seduce anyone; everyone is begging for her to even glance at them!"
“But are we the Empress, Sun Ci? We’re the lowest of the low, the musicians in the palace, begging for even a glance from others!”
These words struck like a bolt from the blue, or like a bucket of ice water poured from the sky, leaving Sun's wife completely bewildered, yet also as if she were gradually awakening from the cold water.
Xue Hongbi pointed at the courtesans with her bamboo stick and continued her tirade: "Back then, you were just as useless, which is why you stayed in the palace as an old tutor. Do you intend for them all to be like you, so mediocre and stupid, wasting the most valuable years of their lives like wooden dolls?"
"Or do you think that if we don't teach them to fight and just let them stay like this, they can live peacefully in this world forever?"
Sun's wife felt that although Xue Hongbi did not hit her, every question was like a crisp slap in the face, leaving her stunned.
But somewhere deep within my heart lies a long-buried wound that still aches terribly.
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