Chapter 144 - 107: The Towering Eldest Princess

Chapter 144: Chapter 107: The Towering Eldest Princess

"Mhm. Take the pair of Chicken Blood Jade Red Cups from my storehouse and send them as a return gift."

"Yes, Your Highness."

After the palace maid entered the room, it didn’t take long before she emerged, carrying a small, exquisite box outward.

"What Chicken Blood Cups?" Princess Ning’an, sitting on a cushion, watched the departing palace maid, then looked up curiously at the Eldest Princess.

From her low angle, she could only see the high, protruding black fabric that firmly obscured the Eldest Princess’s face.

"Just some worthless trinkets," the Eldest Princess chuckled softly, not caring much.

"Oh, I want some too." Princess Ning’an looked at the Eldest Princess as if it were only natural and said, "Send a pair to my Yongning Palace tomorrow as well."

The Eldest Princess’s expression stiffened slightly. Then, breaking into a smile, she took a deep breath and said, "Alright."

"Mhm."

"That snake soup." Princess Ning’an’s eyes shifted toward a palace maid slowly approaching from a short distance away, carrying a food container.

"Your Highness," the palace maid said respectfully as she arrived before the Eldest Princess.

"Open it and let me see!" Ning’an ordered the palace maid.

The palace maid pursed her lips and slowly raised her head, looking weakly at the Eldest Princess.

"Open it," the Eldest Princess said with a slight nod.

"You impudent slave!" Ning’an ground her teeth in anger, her eyes glaring. "You dare to ignore my orders when I tell you to open it?"

"Why lower yourself to be angry with her?" The Eldest Princess took a soft breath, suppressing the irritation in her heart, and stared at the palace maid.

Ning’an wanted to continue her relentless scolding, but she suddenly caught a whiff of an incredibly foul stench. She instantly frowned and looked at the food container.

A reeking odor of blood assaulted her nose.

"What is that? It stinks!" Ning’an pinched her nose and retreated several steps back.

The Eldest Princess’s face also darkened. With an incomparable coldness in her eyes, she looked into the food container. Inside sat a bowl of bloody snake soup. How could this even be called soup? It was clearly a bowl of raw, bloody snake meat!

The Eldest Princess snapped her head up and looked at the palace maid, her voice carrying a trace of murderous intent. "Are you certain this was sent from the Minister’s Mansion?!"

The palace maid’s body trembled violently. "To answer Your Highness, it was indeed sent by a messenger from the Minister of the Ministry of War! He even said that the meat of this Cyan Viper is the most delicious..."

Cyan Viper?! The Minister of the Ministry of War?!

The Eldest Princess’s eyes abruptly narrowed. She could almost hear a voice saying, "Lou Yingqi is now my lackey. I’ve guaranteed his life! If you have a problem with that, come find me!"

"Did he say anything else?" The Eldest Princess asked expressionlessly, her voice as cold as the dead of winter.

"He said the bowl holding the snake meat is extremely exquisite and needs to be wrapped in Xuan paper from Qishan Road..."

Qishan Road. Xuan paper... The Eldest Princess’s fair hands clenched tightly together beneath her sleeves. At this point, how could she not understand the threat hidden within? Qishan Road naturally pointed to Prince Qi. Xuan paper...

She took a deep breath, her eyes devoid of any emotion, and said coldly, "Have Chi Bufan come see me!"

"Yes, Your Highness."

In the Imperial College, today was yet another beautiful day.

Zeng Anmin and a group of students were currently sitting on an open patch of ground. In front of them sat an elderly figure facing the students. The figure had a white beard and white hair, his face exuding a simple, weathered age. He was the "Music" instructor of the Imperial College, Li Lianting. Furthermore, he was hailed as the number one zither player in the world.

Placed on the desk before him was a Ten-stringed Zither. The zither was incredibly exquisite, its lines flowing with utmost perfection. The students below were arranged similarly, each with a Long Zither placed in front of them. Comparatively, however, their zithers were much more ordinary.

PLINK~

As Li Lianting’s wizened hands gently stroked the strings, an extremely beautiful sound rang out. Everyone subconsciously looked up at him.

"The path of music is not just about music itself. When we Confucian Cultivators study music theory, we do not cultivate music, but ’transcendence’." Li Lianting’s voice carried a leisurely tone that echoed in everyone’s ears. "What is transcendence? The Saints of old said: transcend mountains, transcend water, transcend oneself. These are also the three realms of music theory."

The knowledge imparted by the old man circled in the air and entered Zeng Anmin’s ears, but it simply refused to drill into his brain. At this moment, he was even feeling a bit drowsy.

"I’m really not suited for listening to this kind of stuff," Zeng Anmin thought, stifling a yawn.

He cast a sideways glance at Qin Wanyue, who was listening in a trance. Qin Wanyue’s side profile was exceedingly beautiful. Right now, strange splendor rippled in her eyes. As she listened to Li Lianting’s explanations, she would occasionally nod in sudden realization.

Zeng Anmin immediately felt a profound respect for Qin Wanyue. He would never be able to achieve the attentive state of such a good student in this lifetime. It had been the same during music class in his past life. As long as it was just singing, he would howl louder than anyone else. But the moment someone started talking about "Do-Re-Mi-Fa-So-La-Ti," he would immediately fall fast asleep.

"This is the essence of music theory. Have you all memorized it clearly?" Li Lianting’s gaze swept across the area.

Then, he spotted the Little Fatty Crown Prince, who was already sprawled on his desk, fast asleep. In front of him sat Zeng Anmin, staring blankly ahead. On the other side was Liu Xian, his head drooping as he dozed off. These three had been like this since the start of class, and with class about to end, they were still the exact same.

Li Lianting’s eyelids twitched slightly. He took a deep breath, a flash of coldness passing over his face. "How about this old man plays a piece for you all?"

Hearing this, the faces of all the students lit up, their eyes filled with utter anticipation. It was said that Instructor Li’s zither music could make birds lose their way. Today, they would finally get to witness it!

Li Lianting slowly inhaled, his wizened hands slowly reaching out to stroke the zither.

PLINK~!!

An incredibly piercing sound rang out.

"Huh?"

The Little Fatty Crown Prince was instantly jolted awake by the sound. He snapped his head up, not even caring to wipe the drool from the corner of his mouth, his entire body trembling. Liu Xian’s drowsy head also shot up, the sleepiness in his mind vanishing in an instant.

"What the heck?!" The incredibly flashy begonia flower tucked in his hair fell to the ground.

Fortunately, the sound of the zither was loud enough to overpower their noise, so no one noticed them.

PLINK!!!

In the next moment, an aura of severe murderous intent rang out from Li Lianting’s zither. It sounded like waves of clashing armies, causing goosebumps to rise all over everyone’s bodies.

GASP!

Zeng Anmin drew in a sharp breath of cold air, unable to stop himself from snapping back to reality as he looked toward Li Lianting.

"This instructor actually has some real skills!" he thought.

PLINK, PLINK, PLINK~

The zither notes continued uninterrupted, rising and falling with extreme crispness. Li Lianting’s wizened hands fluttered incessantly over the strings like raindrops. Everyone felt an extreme sense of oppression weighing on their hearts as they listened.

Finally, the last note landed!

PLINK!!!

It sounded like the sharp clash of weapons. The zither music came to an abrupt halt.

Li Lianting looked at all their dumbfounded gazes, the corners of his mouth curving up into a slight smile. "How was it?"

"Instructor Li’s zither music is unparalleled in this world. We have benefited greatly today," Qin Wanyue said, her tone carrying a hint of utter admiration.

"Heh." Instructor Li slowly stood up. "That segment I just played, each of you will play it back for me."

Everyone’s eyes flickered with a flash of bewilderment.

"This old man has risen and fallen with the zither my entire life. The way I see it, the ’Music’ of the Six Arts is a comprehension of the heart and soul; it has nothing to do with the actual notes played. And this piece, *Border Moon*, is the most suitable for comprehending ’Music’." Li Lianting looked calmly at the crowd and said, "Therefore, whether you play it beautifully or not is unimportant. What matters is whether, while playing, you can release a murderous intent from your heart that aligns with the melody."

Very profound.

Naturally, these words sparked a flurry of whispering among the crowd.

"Who will go first?"

"I’ll go first!!"

The first to speak up was none other than the person sitting behind Zeng Anmin... Liu Xian. A trace of confidence shone on Liu Xian’s face. He gently stroked the Ten-stringed Zither in front of him, which was no inferior to Li Lianting’s. "This piece, *Border Moon*, perfectly matches this ’Array Playing Zither’ in my hands. Allow this student to offer a humble demonstration to get things started!"

"Heh, then give it a try." Li Lianting looked at Liu Xian with composed self-assurance.

"Array Playing Zither?" Zeng Anmin looked curiously at the instrument in the boy’s hands.

The zither was pitch-black all over, yet a bright luster shone through the darkness. Its overall lines were incredibly smooth, and every single string exuded an aura of extravagance.

"The Liangyou Chamber of Commerce sure has deep pockets. Liu Sanjiang is certainly willing to spend heavily to support his Confucian Dao cultivation."

The Crown Prince was sitting very close to Zeng Anmin. Looking at that "Array Playing Zither," a hint of pity appeared on his face as his voice slowly rang out.

Hearing this, Zeng Anmin’s brows abruptly furrowed. He looked at the Crown Prince and asked, "Liu Sanjiang? Liangyou Chamber of Commerce? He’s Liu Sanjiang’s son?"

"Mhm." The Crown Prince nodded slightly.

Zeng Anmin looked at Liu Xian, a single sentence slowly surfacing in his mind:

"If we only have the Ministry of Revenue’s ledgers without the Liangyou Chamber of Commerce’s ledgers for comparison, what credibility could they possibly have?"

It was precisely what his old man had said to Assistant Minister Lou yesterday. Sunlight shone on Zeng Anmin’s face, revealing that his gaze as he looked at Liu Xian was growing brighter and brighter...