To Be A Virtuous Wife novel · Chapter 7 of 24

Chapter 7: The Zither

Lady Tao's birthday was the grandest day in the Anbei calendar.

By afternoon the front court was strung with paper lanterns, and two hundred guests sat at low tables eating crab.

Elders of the clan sat to the right.

Ladies of the court sat to the left, in silk that rustled.

Yuwei sat beside the prince at the high table, and he did not speak to her.

She had learned that this was how he showed he was on her side.

He passed her the vinegar without looking.

He moved a plate of fish toward her, then another.

He was very bad at being subtle, she thought, and she hid a smile in her cup.

Zhiqing arrived late, in pale plum and pearls, with a tray of tea for the Dowager.

She was thinner than she had been a week before, and two spots of color burned in her cheeks.

She did not look at Yuwei once.

Then, when the crab was cleared and the wine was poured, she stood up with her hands folded.

"Aunt, may I offer something?"

"Please, child."

"Our new sister was famous in the capital for her playing. Before the wedding, I heard her 'Autumn Geese' was the best in the western ward." Zhiqing smiled around the room. "On such a day, will she not honor the Dowager with a song?"

Yuwei's stomach dropped through the floor.

Dongmei, standing behind the table, gave a small choked sound.

The old Yuwei had played.

Of course she had.

Every scholar's daughter played.

Yuwei had not touched a musical instrument since the recorder in grade school.

Two hundred faces turned toward her, bright with polite hunger.

At the head of the table, Lady Tao tilted her head.

"Yes, daughter. Let us hear it."

A servant was already carrying a long zither toward the front, its dark wood polished like water.

Yuwei stood.

She did not know what she was going to do, so she did the only thing she knew how to do.

She walked to the instrument and looked at it.

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