Song Feixiang sits in his throne feeling stunned. He can't tear his eyes away from the woman who has been monopolizing his mind. Feixiang gathers his composure, he knows that if he puts too much attention on her she will be hurt. The schemers will never let her get away. The only way for him to possess her and take her away is through the concubine selection. Feixiang prays that he can legitimately acknowledge her as the winner and taker her for his own. He would rather just bring her to him right away, but his Father and Mother would get involved.
Feixiang turns to the courtier and seemingly lazily says, "let the selection begin". The courtier respectfully bows towards him and announces the criteria for the selection. There are three rounds: the beauty, the arts, and the personal selection. The first round is quite simple, women are immediately weeded out if they are deemed not meeting the beauty requirement. This poses absolutely no problem for Tian Yi, he is the most gorgeous 'woman' here. The arts portion consists of each candidate coming up to show off their talents in music, dance, poetry, singing etc. One by one beautiful women take the stage and dazzle everyone with their skills. There are so many skilled women here, it seems like an impossible task for the palace attendants to eliminate the 'unworthy'. As the line of women heading up to perform dwindles, it is almost Tian Yi's turn.
[Host what are you going to do? Sing or play the qin?]
I will play the qin...Ni Ni do you have a qin I can buy from the store?
[Yes, but why? They will provide a qin here.]
Just show me the options
[There is a high class qin that transmits sound for up to 100 m and it's strings will never break. You also don't need to worry about it getting stolen or broken because it will restore itself back into your space. Luckily, no one else can use it either. But because it has all of these benefits it costs 2000 points. That's half of all the points you have! I told you these people are cheapskates. They'll hustle you out of all of your points! Are you sure you want it?]
Give it to me
[Okay Host]
Tian Yi seemingly takes out a host from behind him. It looks like he has had it all along. Looking up it is clearly his turn, so he gracefully glides up to the stage. When he sits with the qin on the stage he is given many dirty looks and jealous glares from the women. He can hear some of them cursing under their breath for him to fail, but his serene expression doesn't change. The manservant announces that Tian Yi is about to perform and so reluctantly everyone quiets down.
Ni Ni what do I play?
[Host, there isn't much I can tell you, but whatever you play has to connect with them or you won't win.]
What do you mean?
[What is music without feelings? What is music without soul? It may be beautiful to the ear but it is hollow. It may give people shallow smiles, but it is forgettable. Do you have anything you can give that will make you unforgettable? Never lose sight of the fact that you are probably playing for your man. Only play for your man. The rest of these hoes don't mean shit.]
Tian Yi takes a deep breath and places his fingers on the strings. He slowly plucks out a melody that is mellow but hollow but it twists into a light sweet sound that then speaks of deeper and more intense feelings. It incorporates laughter, anger, despair, amusement and grief, and when it ends it is once again hollow. All of the feeling seem to disappear. Tian Yi did the only thing he could, he didn't know how to play with feelings so he used the only thing he had left. All of the feelings that were quickly fading, he snatched them up and stitched them together. He played out his memories of a life that he wanted to keep alive, and as the music faded from the air, the last of his emotions disappeared. He, just like the music, became hollow.
When the music ended you could hear pin drop silence. Tian Yi looked into the crowd and just saw tears soundlessly flowing down people's faces or just looks of pity/sadness. Tian Yi minutely cocked his head in confusion.
Ni Ni...why are they crying
[You played a song that reflected your entire life, and people interpreted it in different ways. So you don't have to care about them, just think about your man!]
Feixiang sat in the seat of honor placed above the stage. He listened to the music and felt a sense of familiarity. As if the song was speaking about him. But there was also a ball of jealousy and anger in his chest. Who was his woman thinking of when she played this song? However as the Crown Prince he trained his face into indifference and signalled for the eliminated to leave and for the rest to proceed to the next stage.
The group that began with hundreds of women had now been whittled down to thirty women. The Crown Prince always decides how many women he plans to take in and it could range from just one to all thirty. It all depends on his interest, so all of the women were preparing to catch his interest. During this stage of the selection, the woman will get to spend some time alone with the Prince to try and impress him. Tian Yi is the last 'woman' on the list to meet with him, so he just relaxes and sits on a bench in the garden, waiting for his turn. Feeling tired from waiting and from hunger he slips into a nap, but he is suddenly woken by Ni Ni telling him that it's almost his turn. There were only twenty minutes left until he had to enter the chamber. To keep him awake and clear his drowsiness Ni Ni chattered about how Feixiang dealt with the other women.
[Lol Host, there was this one woman from the Gui family who tried to seduce him. She shortened her robe and loosened it to that it slipped over her shoulder. She did the whole 'young innocent beauty' thing. When he saw her clothes he just looked at her and said, "I didn't know the Gui family was so poor they couldn't afford proper clothes for their daughters. I will ask Father to bestow some cloth to your family" pfft, lol her face. She turned so red and ashamed. That was it for her!
Oh and then there was this girl from the Ning Family! She tried the same trick as Yang Xi. She was trying to be the fragile beauty that 'fell' into his arms. I'm almost 100% sure he's your man. He just sidestepped and let her fall on her face! *rolls around laughing* He even told the eunuch to help her back to her home and to tell her family, "Her body seems really too weak for the palace, for her wellbeing you should take her home!" lololol]
When Tian Yi hears about the sidestepping incident a faint smile graces his face. Ni Ni keeps an eye on Tian Yi and smuggly thinks I knew that would cheer him up. Feixiang, you fucker, since you're host's man you better take care of him.
The courtier comes out and calls for Tian Yi to enter the chamber. When Tian Yi steps into the chamber he sees Feixiang standing only 2 meters away from him looking towards him. Their eyes meet and stay locked. Neither of them can tear themselves away as they feel a sense of familiarity. The Crown Prince approaches first and reaches out to grasp Tian Yi's hand. He doesn't even turn his gaze away from Tian Yi's face as he dismisses everyone. Holding Tian Yi's hand, he takes him out to his private garden. They both sit on a bench in a beautiful pavillion. Feixiang breaks the silence first, "Where has a beautiful woman like you been hiding in the capital for so long?" Ni Ni facepalms at the lameass line, but she also snickers at his nervousness. He's clearly too shook to be his normal smooth self.
Tian Yi decides to get it out of the way at the very beginning and confesses, "I'm a man". If Feixiang truly is Yixuan then it shouldn't matter. Feixiang is frozen with shock for a whole minute. "I'm sorry, what did you say?" Tian Yi is unsure whether Feixiang is upset or shocked or genuinely didn't hear him. "I said I am a man". Feixiang sits like a statue on the bench for a while, time is already ticking and there's only another thirty minutes until their time is up. Finally Feixiang breaks out of his shock and searches Tian Yi's eyes. He gently pulls Tian Yi into his embrace, testing something. Feeling Tian Yi's warmth against his chest and that slight lavender smell Feixiang knew that it was over. He could not tear himself away from Tian Yi even if he wanted to.
Tian Yi felt like home, it felt like keeping Tian Yi in his embrace was natural and perfect. Feixiang knew that they were in some way made for each other, but he was still a little skeptical. At the moment he still believes that it might be a temporary thing but he wants to try. Feixiang wants to see if he has finally found his permanent thing. The something that would fill the void within him that he has never been able to fill. "Tian Yi, I don't care if you're a man, I want you to come with me, and be with me. I want us to try, can we?"
For the Prince who is used to getting everything he wanted, he never had to ask. He could have just ordered Tian Yi to be his, but it felt wrong. Subconsciously he knew that there was something important about asking this question. He needed Tian Yi to be willing.
Tian Yi sat there and once again his mind seemed to flash back to a similar moment. In a playground rather than a garden, a man held his hand and asked for a chance, for them to be together. Tian Yi now looks into another man's eyes. He doesn't have the same face, the same body or the same voice, but the expression in his eyes is the exact same. This man has not chased him for months, this man has not stalked him pathetically and been a pushover. But this man has the same desire to monopolize him. This man has concern and a hesitant hope in his eyes. This man who never needs to ask for anything, now puts down his pride to ask for him. This man wants to give him a choice, and Tian Yi wants to try.
Looking at Feixiang gives him the familiar faint throbbing in his chest and Tian Yi wants to chase that feeling.
Feixiang takes him back out to the hall with the rest of the women and stands to announce his decision. "I will only be taking one concubine and it is Tian Yi". The rest of the women begin to weep and throw even more death glares at Tian Yi. Internally they all curse that Tian Yi is a calamitous beauty, but there is nothing they can do so they all leave. The Crown Prince announces to the rest of the servants and the courtier that he will be taking Tian Yi to his personal chambers. The servants give each other knowing looks, of course with Tian Yi's beauty who could be able to resist a taste. It's not surprising that the Crown Prince wants to have 'her' already.
Song Feixiang drags Tian Yi towards his room. He is clearly eager, but before they reach his chambers they bump into a nuisance that they both don't wish to see. Ni Ni thinks to herself, of course the damn plot won't let Host and his man be happy so easily.