The music of "Three Variations on Plum Blossoms" is concise and leisurely, with harmonic playing as the main melody and clear and melodious timbre.
It focuses on the plum blossoms in the morning, which are about to bloom, crystal white and fragrant.
At noon, the plum blossoms are in full bloom, brilliant and fragrant, and smiling to welcome everyone.
The plum blossoms in the evening are accompanied by the setting sun, the fallen petals are colorful and the scenery is charming.
At the end of the song, the girl sang softly: "The Taoist is obsessed with meditation, who sent the smallpox to his eyes
"I randomly insert copper bottles and watch the sun go down, and it will be a good fate for people."
Jiang Changning laughed again. This girl might just want the last three words of this poem.
Good karma, good marriage.
Is it a good marriage to enter the palace and become the emperor's concubine
Jiang Changning pulled his hand out of Emperor Xuanzhi's grasp, picked up the teacup, took two sips, and put it back on the small table.
The Queen Mother also asked Emperor Xuanzhi at this time, "How is it?"
Emperor Xuanzhi remained indifferent, "adding legs to a snake."
Just play the piano. Why recite poetry to show off your talent
Hearing this, it was clear that he didn't like this either, so the Queen Mother signaled the eunuch to let the third girl perform on stage.
He was still playing the piano, a minor tune, "Smelling Green Plums".
This tune is adapted from Li Qingzhao's Dian Jiang Chun: After playing on the swing, I get up and straighten my slender hands lazily. The dew is thick and the flowers are thin, and my light clothes are soaked with sweat. When I see a guest coming in, I take off my socks and slip away with my gold hairpin. I walk away shyly, leaning against the door and looking back, but I smell the green plums.
The little girl's voice is like a yellow oriole, her singing is clear and sweet. Listening to the song, it is as if you see a lovely little girl.
The Queen Mother had always felt that her son was too calm and her daughter-in-law too elegant, so she smiled and said, "This one is quite lively, isn't it, Emperor?"
"Noisy." Emperor Xuanzhi was still cold.
The Queen Mother's mouth twitched. Dislike the noise? Fine, I've heard too much from the officials in the court. I really need quiet in the harem. "Next."
Emperor Xuanzhi reached out to take the cup, and Jiang Changning hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, that's the cup I drank from."
"I know." Emperor Xuanzhi did not put down the cup, but put it to his mouth and took a few sips.
The others watched and listened to the music, but their attention was on the emperor and empress. Seeing this, the ladies who did not want to send someone into the palace would smile knowingly, but the ladies who wanted to send someone into the palace felt a sinking feeling in their hearts.
Zhao Xifang curled her lips in disdain. This couple really knew how to act. She simply didn't believe that the emperor and the empress could be so loving.
Like her, there was also a fourth girl who was performing a talent show and the song she played was "The Phoenix Seeks the Phoenix".
Everyone present was stunned by his straightforward expression of feelings.
"Mother, I still have memorials to read, so I will not accompany you to appreciate the flowers." Emperor Xuanzhi said, and stood up and left.
The Queen Mother had no choice but to look at everyone and say, "Farewell, Your Majesty."
Emperor Xuanzhi left, but Jiang Changning had to continue socializing with the ladies of the court.
After the five pieces of music were played, the two girls who were painting finished their paintings.
Both girls painted chrysanthemums, closely following the theme of today's banquet.
A painting of broken chrysanthemum branches in four colors: pink, light yellow, dark red, and white with blue.
The composition is complex, brilliant like brocade, and exudes a sense of wealth.
Jiang Changning could tell at a glance that the girl was imitating the painting "Flying Butterflies Among Chrysanthemums" by Zhu Shaozong of the previous dynasty.
This girl is quite clever. She only painted the broken branches of chrysanthemums without the fluttering butterflies and bees. However, without the dynamic butterflies and bees, the chrysanthemum painting lost some vitality and looked a little dull.
Or maybe it was because there was not enough time, the petals and leaves, which require fine drawing and coloring, were not drawn well, and the three-dimensional effect was not enough.
Of course, considering this girl's age, it's already pretty good to be able to draw like this.
"Thank you for the compliment, Your Majesty." The girl and her mother were very happy.
Jiang Changning turned his head to look at another painting. This painting did not use so many colors. The chrysanthemum leaves were painted with thick ink, and the petals were outlined with a fine brush.
This painting also shows that the artist learned the painting techniques of famous artists of the previous dynasties, but the artist was still young and not yet able to easily create the shapes, which reveals a sense of craftsmanship.
The painting fails to capture the chrysanthemum's lingering charm and lofty artistic conception.
But as I said, the girl is still young, and it's pretty good that she can draw like this.
After looking at the paintings, it was the turn of the last girl, Wang Miaoyun, to play the zither.
After Emperor Xuanzhi left, Wang Miaoyun lost interest in performing, but she had to continue performing.
Wang Miaoyun played "Lotus Emerging from Water", which is also an ancient song with simple and elegant tones, beautiful and lyrical.
In terms of fingering, fancy long-finger strings are rarely used, and short-finger strings are mostly used.
This piece of music mainly expresses the noble character of the lotus, which grows out of the mud without being stained, and washes in the clear water without being coquettish.
Jiang Changning raised his eyebrows slightly. The songs chosen by the girls all had their intentions. Was this Miss Wang trying to express that she was a lotus in the prosperous age
The girls have finished showing off their talents, and the chrysanthemum banquet can also come to an end.
The empress dowager treated all seven girls equally and gave them the same things as rewards: a pair of necklaces, a golden ruyi, a piece of brocade, a box of new palace flowers, and a pearl bracelet.
She gave them a reward, and she even asked, "Queen, what are you going to reward them with?"
Jiang Changning smiled, "My reward is not as much as my mother's, I'm afraid they will despise it."
"How dare they?" the Queen Mother laughed.
Jiang Changning smiled, and Xiulan handed the prepared things to the seven girls.
The girls thanked him and left the palace with the ladies of honor.
"Mother, your daughter-in-law will take you back to the palace." Jiang Changning stretched out her hand to support the Queen Mother.
The Queen Mother patted her hands gently and said, "Queen, you were a princess in the palace before, so it was okay for you to act a little eccentrically. But now you are the queen who rules the country, so you can't act so petty."
Jiang Changning's eyes flickered slightly, "My daughter-in-law understands, and I will listen to my mother."
The Queen Mother nodded slightly with satisfaction, "Which of those seven girls do you think is the best?"
"Mother, they are there to serve His Majesty. Whoever His Majesty thinks is good is good." Jiang Changning would never choose personally.
"You are right. I will ask the emperor during dinner." The empress dowager was determined to get someone into the palace.
Jiang Changning calmly helped the empress dowager onto the phoenix sedan chair and sent her back to Ciren Palace.
After leaving the palace, Zhao Xifang did not return to Prince Yu's Mansion, but returned to her parents' home. She wanted to persuade her parents not to dream of sending someone to the palace to compete with Jiang Changning for favor.
But before she could say anything, Lady Zhao said, "If I had known that Prince Jin had such great fortune, I should not have let your grandmother go to the palace and tell the Queen Mother to marry you to Prince Yu."
Zhao Xifang was stunned. "Mother, what do you mean by this?"
"When you entered the palace for the selection, you knew that the palace was going to arrange marriages for several princes and crown princes. Your grandmother thought that the Prince of Jin was marrying a concubine who was not worthy of you, so she went to the palace to ask the Queen Mother to arrange you for the Prince of Yu."
Zhao Xifang was stunned. "That is to say, if grandma didn't go to the palace to ask the Queen Mother, the Queen Mother would point me to Prince Jin, right?"
"yes."
"Why, why don't you ask me about this?" Zhao Xifang asked with great sorrow.
(End of this chapter)