Chương 35: 3.6 Star Flute Player

Tian He put away her thoughts and courteously smiled while curtseying to them.

"Younger sister Ming Yue greets many elder sisters." Although she didn't know which concubine was the one who pushed the original owner in the water to drown, she at least had to remained courteous when all of them are gathered like this.

The one that looked like the leader of the group, stepped out from the middle of the them and looked her once over before lightly waving her hand at her.

"Younger sister Ming Yue, no need to be so polite. After all, since you're new, our Lord Husband and mother-in-law would of course pay more attention to you. We wouldn't want them getting news of you acting like this in front of us." Her mild tone carried a hint of being authoritarian.

Tian He didn't bother about the throns in her words and still politely responded to her.

"What elder sister says is correct. Last night, Lord Husband was a bit too rough with Ming Yue, so it helps a lot that elder sisters understand my predicament and I thank you for giving me approval for not curtseying to you anymore. It was actually quite hurtful on the hips for me to have curtsied just now." She innocently smiled at her while slightly leaning her head down to hide her blush.

The leader of the concubines wrinkles her brows a bit and couldn't help but take another glance at this seemingly new yet 'oblivious' younger sister. Her maid had told her that this girl was just a lowly village girl that didn't know the rules and had no education in social activities but now that she heard her speak words that also had hidden meaning in them without batting an eyelid to her earlier speech, she had to renew her impression of this supposably weak and 'innocent' new younger sister.

"Since younger sister is probably troubled with standing for so long, why not join us elder sisters for our noon meal. After all, we would all love to hear younger sister's flute playing skills, they must be quite advanced to be able to catch the eye of our Lord Husband's esteem advisor." Her light tone showed no signs of relenting.

Tian He couldn't help but smirk inside for this concubine's proposal. If this was the original owner, she would probably be too afraid to show her flute playing skills to these concubines that obviously came from prestigious backgrounds, however; since she's here, she won't let the original owner be disgraced. Although she was just a village girl, she could still play a decent song, even if it won't be that advanced, her unique ability to nicely express the emotions of the song would surely not lose out to the skills of these concubines.

Besides, she knew that once she reveals her flute skills, the concubine that pushed the original owner into the lake would probably not be able to hold herself back from murdering her, it will serve as the perfect opportunity to catch her in the act. Although she knew that her husband had some feelings for her now, judging by how cold he was to all these concubines earlier and his consideration for her last night, she still wouldn't be able to get rid of her future murderer without enough evidence.

After all, she didn't want to trouble her husband since all these concubines come from good backgrounds, even if they were below her husband's position, she had always advocated to solve her own problems. Also, even if she wanted her husband to dismiss all these concubines, she knew that it wouldn't be fair to the ones that didn't participate in the original owner's death, their reputations would be affected if she let her pettiness get the best of her.

Tian He looked at the concubine in front of her and shyly spoke.

"Elder sister really knows how to joke. Younger sister is just from a village background, how could my flute playing skills be considered advanced when compared to the many elder sisters here." She waited a bit and after spotting the hint of smugness on that concubine's face, she continued.

"However, since it is elder sister's invitation, it would be rude of me, as your younger sister to refuse. So, when I demonstrate my flute playing skills later, I hope that the many elder sisters won't laugh at me." She shyly looked at them for encouragement.

The leader concubine mildly nodded before speaking, "Younger sister needn't be too worried about that. Since we are a family, it is only polite of us to witness your skills and improve together. Isn't that right, fellow sisters?" She turned to the other concubine besides her while giving them a smile that wasn't a smile.

One of the concubines that was dressed in light yellow with lilies embroidered on her skirt stepped up and came beside their leader who was dressed in pale red with peonies stitched on her skirt encouragingly spoke.

"Elder sister is correct. As fellow sisters, you won't need to worry about displaying your skills in front of us. We as Lord Husband's wives should learn from each other and aspire to quickly treat his sleeping illness." She nicely spoke to her.

Following this concubine, the other six concubines that was just watching until now in the back also stepped forward together to speak.

"What Jing Hua elder sister and Chang Ying elder sister says is right. Since our main purpose here is to help treat our Lord Husband's insomnia, younger sister doesn't need to be shy in demonstrating your flute playing skills to us." A concubine dressed in light blue with small cream-colored butterflies embroidered on her skirt says.

"Yes, I agree with what Lan Feng elder sister said just now. We would be more than welcome to have younger sister join us, it will be great if we could learn from each other." The concubine dressed in light peach follows her.

The rest of the concubines also spoke in agreement with these four concubines while nicely smiling at her. Their enthusiasm to hear her play on the pretense of learning together was so real that even she had to applaud them for their acting. If it was anyone else that witnessed this scene, they would undoubtingly think that these elder sisters of hers were the most polite and well-meant people she would meet, however; that wouldn't disguise the fact that they knew she was from a village background yet still encouraged her to play her flute, so they could 'learn' from each other.

It was obvious that most of them couldn't wait to see her embarrass herself in front of them. Once that happens, they'll probably try to 'console' her with their mocking tones and ultimately succeed in bringing down her confidence, that way, even if her Lord Husband was seeing her now, she probably wouldn't have the courage to be with him.

Well, these concubines are scheming enough. It was a no wonder that the original owner only saw her husband once and secluded herself in her courtyard to 'improve' her flute playing skills, it was most likely the faults of these concubines. However, that also backfired on her because it was likely that her flute playing skills did improve a bit and combined with how well she could express the emotions of a song, one of these concubines probably saw her as a threat, which resulted in the early death of the original owner.

However, since she didn't know which one did it, she still needed to maintain the façade of an 'innocent' village girl and let that person's guard down before exposing her.

"Since so many elder sisters believe in younger sister, I also think it is a blessing to have so many talented elder sisters give pointers to my meager flute playing skills. Please take care of me then, elder sisters." She eagerly smiled while politely curtseying to them.

Once these concubines obtained the approval from their new younger sister, they politely gestured forwards and guided her towards their leader's courtyard. After passing by a few gardens and buildings, they finally reached a large and majestic courtyard filled with pale red peonies and blossoms. It had one main building for the main hall, many small gardens, and several small to medium-sized buildings for storage and quarters for sleeping.

Tian He guessed that they would be eating outdoors in the back garden after passing by so many buildings and hallways. While she followed behind them and watched them talk to each other with such fake excitement, she really wanted to shake her head in disappointment. If their simple actions were hoping to make her feel isolated and scared, then she couldn't be more bored.

She was at least hoping that they would continue to talk to her with hidden intentions in their words, so she could respond in kind and help her reveal which of them had the most hostility to her. But unfortunately, she realized that she won't be able to figure it out until she shows her flute playing skills.

Finally, they reached the end of this main hallway and dismounted a few steps towards a huge garden filled with stone pathways, rock formations, and a few fake mountains. In the middle of the pale red peonies and blossoms-filled garden, a large elegant pavilion was stationed in the center of a small pond with large coy fishes swimming in it.

After crossing the stone bridge to get to the pavilion, she noticed that plates of food that were covered with silver tops were already placed on the large round stone table inside of it and guessed that these concubines must have ordered them ahead of time while they took their time walking here.

When all of the concubines finally took their seats, she followed them and took her seat. She really had to hand it to these concubines for indirectly torturing her, if she had really slept with her husband yesterday, making her wait for them to sit down before she could, would definitely put some strain on her waist and she would probably not be able to make love with her husband for a while. When that happens, they would naturally take that chance to bed her husband while decreasing her favor. Even the way they slowly took their time to get here was also part of their plan to make her waist ache a bit longer.

Really these concubines, if she didn't want to break her image, she would have already rolled her eyes at their obsolete plans. Since her husband was her lover, he probably wouldn't sleep with them anymore because she was here. There was no doubt that although he didn't have his memories, he still retained the same considerate and possessive attitude towards her, or else he wouldn't have acted so clingy when she just wanted to exit their bedroom to call for help for his supposably 'poison' state last night.

She was certain that he wouldn't do anything that would warrant any thoughts in her of wanting to leave, so with that in mind, she'll eventually pay them back for this act. She was actually looking forwards to seeing their expressions, she wondered if they'll still be able to maintain that polite smile on their powdered faces once they realize that she had taken all of her husband's time and love.

Once Jing Hua saw that her new younger sister had taken her seat, she gestured towards the servants nearby and they respectfully curtsied before moving towards the table to lift up the silver covers, revealing the variety of foods inside. There were many meat and vegetable dishes, as well as two flavored soups.

"Younger sisters, please enjoy. I had the main chef make all of your favorites, however; since Ming Yue younger sister is new, I didn't know what you would like, so I just had them make some dishes that are popular here in this large kingdom. I hope you'll find this kingdom's specialties tasty and take your time to savor them, after all, the small kingdom you're from doesn't have the resources to make these dishes." She politely smiled while waiting for what kind of expression this younger sister of hers will make.

Tian He almost wanted to scoff at her for her obvious tactics to make her feel inferior by mentioning her background, but since she was already pretending to be an oblivious village girl, she'll keep that up.

"Elder sister Jing Hua is being too courteous. Just looking at these delectable dishes is enough to make Ming Yue feel hungry. I'm sure they'll suit my tastes very well." She didn't wait for her to reply and picked up her chopsticks to grab the nearest braised meat dish.

"Mmm." After she swallowed the braised meat with white rice, she looked up innocently at Jing Hua, while excitedly smiling.

"It's really delicious. Ming Yue has to thank elder sister Jing Hua for letting me get a taste of this kingdom's dishes." Since she was a bit hungry because she skipped breakfast, she didn't talk with this Jing Hua anymore and continued her meal.

Some of the concubines had on uneasy expressions after spotting Jing Hua's almost cramped expression, but most of them just ignored this Jing Hua's plan to show her authority to their new younger sister and chatted amongst themselves while eating their meal.

After Jing Hua saw that talking anymore would be useless, she also picked up her chopsticks to eat. When she finished eating some vegetables and few pieces of stir fry meat, she grew a bit impatient watching the seemingly oblivious yet happy new younger sisters of hers. She had a hunch that her husband and mother-in-law treated this one quite differently, her woman's intuition was telling her that this 'innocent' girl from a village in a small kingdom was going to be trouble, no matter what, she'll decide what to do with her after she hears her flute playing.

She turned towards Chang Ying who was still eating next to her and smiled, "Younger sister Chang Ying, since I have finished, why don't we head into my courtyard and pick out which flute I should play with later."

Chang Ying heard her voice that left no room for refusal and politely smiled before getting up from the table.

"Younger sisters, please take your time. I will be heading inside first to pick out my flute with younger sister Chang Ying." After seeing them nod in acknowledgement to her speech, she walked ahead with two of the servant girls wearing plain light red following her.

Chang Ying also nodded towards the other concubines before rushing with her servant girls who also dressed in plain light red to keep up with Jing Hua.

Tian He noticed how Jing Hua's arrogant attitude totally ignored Chang Ying's opinion, but it also looked like Chang Ying didn't mind it and obediently let her drag her along. Although she disliked this Jing Hua's haughtiness, she felt even more dislike to this Chang Ying who acted like she was inferior and had to follow Jing Hua's orders. If she doesn't express her opinions, her self-esteem and confidence would only decrease, and living in this large mansion where they had to share their husband would only make it worse on herself. However, since this Chang Ying wanted to be subservient, it wasn't her place to say otherwise.

Finally, they were all done eating and the servants cleared the table. Once they were finished with wiping their hands and mouths properly, they had their servants bring in their own flutes from their courtyards to get ready to compare their flute playing skills. Tian He's temporary servant girl also fetched her jade flute from her husband's bedroom before she followed the rest of the concubines towards the outdoor wooden seats that was set up earlier near one of the fake mountains on the right side of the pavilion.

Jing Hua looked at all her younger sisters sitting in a circle besides her and politely smiled before speaking, "Since we are all trying to learn from each other, everyone should play to their best of abilities and show our new younger sister our skills." She briefly looked at everyone before her gaze landed on her new younger sister.

"Younger sister Ming Yue, we shall play our songs first and once you have gotten use to the melody, feel free to join us anytime." Since it was natural for instrumentalists to know a song once they've heard it a few times, she wasn't worried that her tactics to put this younger sister of hers in her place would be exposed, especially since she was invited to be her husband's concubine to treat his insomnia.

Tian He knew what Jing Hua was implying but didn't show any uneasy expressions and politely nodded in agreement with her arrangements. Although the original owner had only taken a few lessons by the village elder on flute playing, she still had the talent in that learning a new song just hearing it once wouldn't be much of a problem.

However, that didn't mean that she approved of what Jing Hua was doing, she was sure that the information she gathered on her did not include her flute playing skills, or else why would she suggest this kind of arrangement. She was most likely hoping that she wouldn't be able to keep up, thus embarrassing her.

If she had just arranged for her to play her own song, she would probably have some confidence, but actually asking her to learn a new song while connecting with her affinity for the water element was just not leaving her any room to salvage herself. This would have been a huge blow to the original owner's confidence after witnessing all these concubines' flute playing skills.

She almost was going to suspect this Jing Hua for being the culprit that killed the original owner but after looking at her and not spotting that much hostility, she couldn't be sure. After all, this amount was too small to warrant murder, her perceptiveness didn't catch any murderous intentions coming from her at all. She was also paying attention to the other concubines, but they were either apathetic or just expressed a hint of dislike like this Jing Hua here, she realized that it's too soon to make any judgements.

After Jing Hua saw that this Ming Yue didn't argue with her arrangement, she signaled the other younger sisters around her and brought her flute's mouth hole towards her lips to begin playing. This song she is playing was this kingdom's Hall of Fire's main song, since they were their Lord Husband's concubines, they should all naturally know it.

It is a song that told the tale of the fire element's headquarters' creation, it's fast tempo and short-notes expressed the feelings of excitement for the founders' courageous fighting spirits. Since becoming one of the rulers of these lands required strength, it was only natural to have a song that dedicated to their well-fought battles.

Once Jing Hua began to play, the other concubines after realizing what song it was, followed along her. Their playing could be said to be good in that they followed each note perfectly while trying to express the song's feelings of excitement for establishing a foothold in this world using strength as its medium. Soon, their playing synchronized with each other and Tian He saw appearances of fire-like peonies, water-like butterflies, earth-like and wind-like flowers. They all floated besides their respective flute players, some of them circling them, while others excitedly floated in front of them.

Tian He was listening to the song and when she figured out the melody of it, she also placed her flute's mouth hole near her lips and began playing. Jing Hua and Chang Ying had been paying attention to their new younger sister's movements and couldn't help but be a bit surprised that she had already memorized the melody. However, their surprise didn't end there when they saw her form many water-like swans and tigers, they not only circled around her but moved left and right around each other, as if the swans and tigers were happily dancing with each other.

They wouldn't have been so astounded if it was just the swans, but after seeing the manifestations of the tigers that looked almost like their husband's fire manifestations of tigers when he played the flute, their trembling hands almost dropped their own flutes because of the shock.

The other concubines also witnessed the water-like tigers and were equally surprised. They knew that one's affinity to their element was due to their own playing skills and emotions expressed when playing, but the forms of manifestations were related to one's own choice, however; that didn't mean it was easy to form whatever they wanted, on the contrary, it was even more difficult to master.

It was believed that the first manifestations of the instrumentalists were related to the affinity of one's soul. Although the founders of the four elemental halls only partially succeeded in their research about it, they were able to conclude that the first manifestations were decided based off one's soul at birth.

Since this new younger sister of theirs was only a village girl and her flute playing skills were just good enough to keep up with them, it was impossible that she had reached the stage where she could change her manifestations, meaning that the water-like swans and tigers they saw before them were forms that appeared due to her soul's affinity for them. The resemblance of the water-like tigers to their husband's fire-like tigers were so perfect that some of them couldn't help but think that maybe this younger sister's soul was somewhat compatible with their husband's.

However, right now wasn't the time to speculate on this because their song was almost ending, and they didn't want to be an embarrassment for messing up it up. Jing Hua also didn't bother with looking at this Ming Yue anymore and concentrated on finishing the song, it was still more important for her to not lose her leader's status by maintaining her best flute playing skills.

However, Chang Ying was still in a state of shock because her playing had faltered a bit, causing the melody to have some discrepancies, but after hearing the odd sounds of her playing, she immediately renewed her attention on the song to fix her playing. But nevertheless, she still didn't take her eyes off of this new younger sister of hers, especially those water-like tigers that circled around her.

It wasn't until the song ended that she looked away from them by dipping her head downwards to stare at her skirt to hide her jealousy-filled eyes away from the rest of these concubines. She couldn't believe that this Ming Yue's soul was compatible with her husband's, perhaps, if it was her, she could actually heal their husband's sleeping illness that she and the rest of concubines failed to do.

Just thinking about how thrilled her husband would be when he finds out made her unconsciously clench the flute she was holding, but after a short moment, she controlled herself and looked up from her skirt. Her eyes returned to normal while politely smiling to everyone and following them in nicely complimenting their flute playing skills.

Tian He saw that all the manifestations disappeared and also politely smiled to each of their praises for her, in return, she also spoke a few words or two on how well their flute playing skills were. She had registered that most of them weren't too happy or were just neutral in realizing that her flute playing skills were decent enough to tap into her affinity for the water element and form manifestations of her own. She also realized that their dislike for her had increased a bit, judging by some of their expressions, but since it was just that, she didn't pay it any mind.

Although most of them didn't properly express the song's feelings, they still played each note perfectly, it goes to show what money and power could do to help improve one's playing skills. However, her thoughts weren't occupied by this, although it was minuscule, she sensed huge hostility when her water-like swans and tigers appeared while she played, when she slightly glanced around earlier, she was able to pinpoint who directed it at her before it quickly disappeared.

She observed this Chang Ying elder sister of hers who was currently amiably talking with Jing Hua elder sister next to her and couldn't help but admire her a bit. Although she was bewildered by why this Chang Ying elder sister suddenly became so hostile to her, as compared to the other concubines, she still decided to keep her guard up against her. People like Chang Ying who hid their thoughts so deeply with such accuracy were the ones she needed to watch out for.

The control Chang Ying elder sister had over her emotions and actions were top-notched, it was no wonder that the original owner didn't have her guard up against her, she was too good at hiding her real emotions.

Suddenly, she saw this Chang Ying elder sister walk towards her direction with the kindest smile and immediately knew that she wanted something from her. However, before she got the evidence that she was the one that murdered the original owner, she'll keep quiet about her findings and play along with her.

Chang Ying reached out her hands and gently encircled her new younger sister, "Younger sister Ming Yue, I have to admire your playing skills, the water-like swans and tigers you manifested were beautiful to look at."

Tian He didn't refuse her overly friendly gesture and replied in kind, "Chang Ying elder sister is wrongly praising me. I only know how to play so well because the melody that several elder sisters played was so perfect, it was easy of me to follow along." She slightly blushed while shyly dipping her head a bit downwards.

"Younger sister Ming Yue needn't be so modest, your good flute playing skills that could express this song's feelings just goes to show that you deserve to be here. In fact, to help you improve yourself faster, why don't you accompany me in my flute lessons later, the teacher that I've hired could be said to be one of the best flute players in this kingdom."

Tian He was a bit surprised by her offer, originally, she was just going to ask her husband to hire a teacher for her but now looking at how earnest this Chang Ying was to get into her good graces, she decided it would be better to follow her. After all, she wanted to find out if this Chang Ying was the one who pushed the original owner into the lake, if she wasn't, then she'll just keep searching, but if she is, then she could be by her side to catch her in action and expose her faster. It only worked in advantage towards her if she found this murderer sooner than later.

She kindly smiled with a bit of expectation in her eyes while looking at the concubine holding her arms, "Chang Ying elder sister, how kind of you. I've always wanted to take part in proper flute lessons. If elder sister doesn't mind my company, I would love to be with you and improve our flute playing skills together."

"Younger sister Ming Yue is really polite. Since I made this offer, of course I wouldn't mind your presence. Once I send a message to my teacher and gain her approval, I'll have my servant girl bring the news over to you, then we can begin our flute lessons together." She gently wrapped her younger sister's arms while still donning a kind expression.

Tian He really wanted to smirk at her fake kindness and remove her arms from hers. If she's really the murderer, she wondered if this kind smile of hers would still be there once she exposes her, it would most likely contort, or would she be shocked instead? Either way, she was looking forwards to this play, how long will she remain kind and generous towards her before her patience runs out and she couldn't control herself anymore from making a move on her? She grew a bit excited inside for the future's good show, I hope you make it worth my time, Chang Ying elder sister.