Chapter 41: Joy

Editors: Snowy, Divine

The crowd didn’t expect the speaker to be a parakeet with a red beak. No wonder why they couldn’t find the speaker.

But what the parakeet said was really shocking!

What was “no good”?

What did it mean by “heard something better”?

Some people under the platform felt that Yellow Hair was interesting and shouted loudly, “Little Parakeet, who is the one you said that plays the best?”

The man actually just wanted to tease Yellow Hair, but he didn’t expect Yellow Hair to get angry. He shook the yellow feather on his head and said furiously, “I am not a little parakeet, I am a phoenix, phoenix! Durian plays the best music!”

The crowd roared with laughter, they didn’t expect the parakeet to be so intelligent. He was able to answer people’s questions without hesitating, and he also said he was a phoenix.

“Who is Durian?” Someone shouted again.

Durian was lost, he just heard Qin Jiu and Yellow Hair mumble something concerning him, but he didn’t expect it was about playing music. Did they want him to play music on the stage?

Durian looked at Qin Jiu in surprise and saw the evil woman stretch her body and smile at him.

Durian sweated.

How did the evil woman know that he can play musical instruments? He hadn’t played any after joining the Heaven Sect.

The evil woman was scary and shameless.

She was probably jealous since she could not play any musical instruments, and thus recommended him to disgrace himself on stage.

Yellow Hair circled in the air gracefully and triumphantly. Finally, he landed on Durian’s shoulder and flapped his wings, “Go and play a song.”

Durian was standing in front of Yan Yu’s wooden shed, which was in the front and easy to spot. Everyone’s eyes soon fell onto Durian with Yellow Hair on his shoulder.

He was a handsome young man who looked less than 15 years old. He was dressed in a grey attendant’s outfit and was not very tall–it seemed that he was not fully grown yet. He had a good-looking face, although somehow dull, but his black eyes were extremely clear, with threatening righteousness and pride.

Durian had never been looked at by this many people before, and those who couldn’t see him were still hopping around. Durian panicked because of the attention, waving his hands and crying, “I can play musical instruments, but I am not here to participate in the Snow Festival.”

But Yellow Hair had used  big words to praise his musical skill to the public, and all the women participating in the Snow Festival were offended. A few women strongly demanded Durian to play in front of Menghuai.

Menghuai thought it was nonsense to listen to a small parakeet, how could people take its words seriously.

But the Palace musician Xiao Lebai said quietly, “The little parakeet flew out of His Highness Yan’s shed.”

Menghuai wiped his sweat and allowed Durian to play. So now, Durian had to go on stage. Before he went, Qin Jiu stopped him, “Durian, you will win, right?”

Durian looked into Qin Jiu’s smiling eyes and nodded.

Yan Yu leaned on the couch, his dazzling black embroidered garment with bright red patterns drooped down. A cup was held in his hand, and he was full of languid and frivolous feelings. He watched all of this with cold eyes and didn’t say much, but his charming eyes narrowed and scanned Qin Jiu from the top. He seemed to see through her from inside out.

Durian slowly got on the stage and sat on the stool. First, he looked at the guqin, then adjusted his breath and moved a single hand over the seven strings from top to bottom, and then from bottom to top. He paused for a moment and suddenly raised both hands and dropped a string of joyful sounds.

At this moment, he  changed to a completely different person.

His entire being seemed to be immersed in the music, and there was no longer any trace of a dull man. His pair of eyes were clear and intelligent, both hands and fingers fluttered exceptionally fast on the strings.

The music that came out of his fingers was smooth, gorgeous, and joyful.

Like a warm wind that gently blew, suddenly making all the flowers bloom; and like a beautiful woman twirling elegantly, sleeves fluttering upwards.

The music gradually grew exciting like the flow of water, splashes flying up like pearls and jades.

The clouds in the sky drifted; the forest flowers swayed.

The music came to a point that no one knew where the music even came from, as if it was from the still surface of Mirror and Flower Lake, as if it was from the flower petals.

(DL Scanlations)