Shen Qingqiu returned to his room and was still confused.
Gu Yanwei likes her? He actually likes her? How come she didn't notice it?
Shen Qingqiu was so absorbed in thinking about this question that she was unknowingly seen by Gu Yanran who was standing beside her. Gu Yanran came over and said, "Qingqiu, what are you thinking about?" Gu Yanran was afraid that she was still thinking about what happened today, so she wanted to explain, "I really have nothing to do with Dao Yue, and I have never--"
"That's not what I was thinking about." Shen Qingqiu said.
Seeing Gu Yanran's anxious look, he could only sigh and said, "Actually, everything we said today was true. My marriage to him was fake. He can like someone else. Why should I be angry? Is it because that person is you? Then I, Shen Qingqiu, am too narrow-minded."
Gu Yanran breathed a sigh of relief, but then she heard Shen Qingqiu say, "In fact, it was our mansion that owed the Dao family. If the mansion hadn't wanted to find someone to block the emperor's marriage, he wouldn't have had to deal with me. If he had found a girl he liked, he could have gone and asked for marriage."
Gu Yanran was relieved to see that she didn't look angry at all.
Shen Qingqiu added: "In fact, you don't have to worry about me. Dao Yue and I have no feelings for each other. Who he likes has nothing to do with me. But since he is a family member, I have to say that Dao Yue is a good person. If you can become a good friend with him, I think the old lady and the others will be satisfied."
After hearing her words, Gu Yanran thought about it for a long time, and shook her head after a moment.
"Qingqiu, to be honest, no man has ever liked me, so when I first learned of his feelings, I was a little overwhelmed. But the more time passes, the more I wonder what he likes about me. Does he like my withered body, or my appearance that scares ghosts?"
"You——" Shen Qingqiu opened his mouth to persuade her, "Dao Yue is not that kind of person."
Gu Yanran shook her head and said, "I know he is not that kind of person. Besides, what is there in me now that is worth him lying to me. But I am really crying. I think it is good to be alone..."
Shen Qingqiu saw that she was determined to do so, and he had no way to persuade her.
"Let's go home tomorrow, Qingqiu. We've wasted too long here." Gu Yanran said.
Shen Qingqiu also nodded, it was time to go home.
After all, what needs to be done has been done, but the people who need to be dealt with have not yet been dealt with?
——
After returning home, Shen Qingqiu rarely went out. She didn't know how to face Gu Yanwei... and she didn't know how to deal with her marriage with Dao Yue.
If you can't figure it out, then just escape. Anyway, if the sky falls, there are tall people to hold it up. Shen Qingqiu just muddled through day after day like this.
However, she had to go out today because Changhe was back. It was so difficult for her to come back once after she got married. As a good friend, how could she not go to such an occasion?
In order to hold a welcoming banquet for her good sister, the Ninth Princess went to the princess palace she had set up outside the city.
The two of them arrived early and waited for Shen Qingqiu to come, "Qiu'er, you're finally here, I've been waiting for you for a long time!"
Shen Qingqiu was looking at the people coming in one after another, wondering, "Why are there so many people? Aren't we just having a small gathering?"
Princess Changhe rolled her eyes and said, "It was my father's concubine who wanted to find a good husband for her daughter. She had to use my name to hold a banquet. A small gathering of the three of us turned into such a fame-seeking affair."
Changhe's dissatisfaction was about to overflow.
The Ninth Princess advised, "Well, the three of us can just sit together and talk about our own things and ignore them."
Shen Qingqiu nodded. Who would have the energy to cause trouble for their good friends when they were together?
"Alright Furong," Shen Qingqiu said, calling Princess Changhe by her nickname, "You've been away for so long, there are a lot of new snacks in the capital, don't you want to try them?"
"Of course I want to try it, but it's nowhere to be found at such a banquet." Princess Changhe is not a fool. She has attended such banquets hundreds of times, and the food is always the same. No matter how delicious it is, she gets tired of it.
After all, no one comes to such a banquet just to eat, so the foodie Princess Changhe hates such banquets the most in her life.
"I asked someone to bring it here." Shen Qingqiu curled his lips, "I know you like it."
"Qiu'er, you still understand me!" Seeing the food box carried by the maid behind Shen Qingqiu, Princess Changhe's eyes lit up and she quickly pulled the two of them to sit down at the table.
"This is delicious... this is delicious too." Princess Changhe was enjoying her meal.
There was a sudden commotion downstairs, and she raised her head from the food pile. "What's going on downstairs?"
Shen Qingqiu could not help but frown, and asked the servant to ask. After a while, the maid from the Princess's Mansion came up and said to the two masters, "Princess Changping and several marquis ladies were playing music in the pavilion. Princess Changping played the music so well that many people gathered around... Then a few young scholars wrote poems for the princess... Then, there was a commotion."
When the other two heard the name of Princess Changping, they immediately frowned.
"Why is it her again..." I can't leave this woman wherever I go.
"What poem?" Shen Qingqiu asked.
The maid in the princess's mansion knew it was not a good idea to avoid it, so she asked the loudest people to copy a copy. After Shen Qingqiu read it, she suddenly knocked over her wine glass, and the paper was soaked with wine. She squinted her eyes and looked at Changping who was surrounded and worshipped by the crowd, and her eyes became more and more dangerous.
Seeing her like that, the Ninth Princess and Princess Changhe also hurried over to look.
After reading it, they all looked furious, "They just use some clichés, and use the tricks in the palace here."
The Ninth Princess raised her hand and was about to throw it away, but Gu Yanran, who was sitting at the table, picked it up.
Shen Qingqiu brought Gu Yanran to the banquet today because he was afraid that she would be bored, but he never expected such a thing to happen at the banquet. The Ninth Princess also hurriedly said, "Sister Yanran, don't look!"
But Gu Yanran had already picked it up. After flipping through it, she found that the poems of those people were not as excessive as she had imagined. There were no obscene lyrics or songs. They just implied that she was the legitimate daughter of the marquis's mansion, who had lost her virginity and was driven out of the mansion and was not worthy of going out to see people. They also implied that Qingqiu was a princess who was not good at literature and whose beauty was soulless.
He also claimed that his music was too high-brow to be appreciated by many people, and said that beauty was like dry bones, and only those with both talent and beauty were truly beauties, which was tantamount to praising Princess Changping again.
Gu Yanran smiled, Shen Qingqiu looked at her, "You're not angry at all?"
"There's nothing to be angry about. Outsiders don't know anything." Gu Yanran was not really angry. "You were scolded too, but you weren't angry either. Besides, most of these poems were written by poor scholars. Except in occasions like the princess's mansion, they will never have the chance to meet me in their entire lives. Don't worry about it."
Princess Changhe had not been in the mansion for a long time, and had not seen Gu Yanran often, so she thought she was the same as before. But now not only had her appearance changed, but her temperament seemed to have changed drastically, so she looked at her with some curiosity.
"But are we going to let Changping continue to be so proud and ruin the reputation of your mansion?" The Ninth Princess was unhappy, as if Changping was ruining her reputation.
"Of course I have to care about it." Shen Qingqiu didn't hate others for stealing her limelight, nor did she hate others for stepping on her for the sake of limelight, but she hated others for hurting the people around her. Seeing Changping being praised for a song, "This bitch is rampant!"
He called Jin Cai, "Quick, go get the fourth lady's [Double Phoenix], it's just a trifle, what's the point of showing off!"
Gu Yanran’s piano skills are not much better than hers.
Gu Yanran saw that she seemed to be a little drunk, "Qingqiu..."
"No, I have to get over this today!"
Even the Ninth Princess felt that Shen Qingqiu was a little strange today, but she didn't think much about it. After all, Shen Qingqiu had always been like this in the past.
Shen Qingqiu drank sip after sip of wine beside him, but he just wanted to forget what Gu Yanwei said.
Gu Yanran saw Shen Qingqiu drinking non-stop, thinking that he was irritated by Changping's words. Seeing Jin Cai coming over with her double-phoenix pipa, Gu Yanran hesitated a little. The Ninth Princess said gently, "Sister Yanran, just think of it as playing for us sisters, something cheerful. We have been feeling a little gloomy these past few days."
Gu Yanran nodded slightly, tuned the strings, and a moment later, an extremely elegant and graceful piece of music flowed out. At the beginning, the Ninth Princess and Shen Qingqiu poured each other wine, but after a while, Shen Qingqiu propped up his chin and listened carefully to Gu Yanran's playing.
Her piano skills were quite good, and she played songs that could please both men and women.
If a song like this was played for a long time, Shen Qingqiu would definitely not be able to understand it, but today, for some reason, she seemed to understand the song.
Listening to the lovers in the song going their separate ways due to various opportunities, her eyes were slightly moist and soft, and after a while she couldn't help but let her tears flow. After a while, Gu Yanran's strings became brighter, as if the knot between the lovers had been resolved, and she actually felt a lot more relaxed.
When Changping played the piano just now, it caused a sensation among the crowd. Some came to watch her play, or to discuss her skills, but now most people were immersed in the music. Those who had previously strongly argued that Gu Yanran and Shen Qingqiu, a woman with no talent, should come to such an occasion now kept silent.
When it comes to music, experts can't hear anything, but when an expert is compared with a national player, the difference is obvious.
Changping smiled but her heart was not. Was she going to challenge her? "Go write a letter to the Seventh Prince Gu Cheng and ask him to meet behind the rockery." She said coldly.
Since you are against her, she will make Gu Yanran embarrass herself.
"Yanran is the daughter of the Marquis's family. Although I don't like poetry, calligraphy and painting, she was raised by our old lady and is proficient in everything." At this point, he staggered and stood up again, "Come on, Yanran, let's have a drink!"
"Qingqiu, you're drunk." Gu Yanran half-supported Princess Shen Qingqiu, and she suddenly fell sideways. The Ninth Princess and Princess Changhe next to her didn't drink as much as she did, but now they were also a little dizzy. She glanced at the maid in the Princess's Mansion next to her, and bowed, "I will support the princess, and the princess will go to the backyard to rest for a while. You can leave tomorrow morning when you sober up."
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