Housekeeper of the Hundred Blossom Palace - Chapter 181: Hopeless Lute Musician

The girl was supposed to become a palace courtesan because of the recognition of her skills in playing the lute. Thus, Xu tried to reform her. She would catch the girl when she escaped, and she would try to talk some sense into her.

However, the girl said these words to her at that time.

“I’m sure my fiance will save me and take me out of here!”

Xu seemed to see herself in that girl as she watched her cry while spitting those words out.

However, unfortunately, reality was different. The fiance of the girl quickly abandoned her failing family, and was engaged to the daughter of a different house.

It seemed that he already told the girl about this before she became a courtesan, but she didn’t believe him.

No, perhaps, she did know about it.

Xu understood the feeling of being unable to accept reality, to the point that she could painfully empathize.

That’s why, she counseled the girl with these words.

“Even if he were to save you, it doesn’t mean the formalities and procedures are finished right away. It’s not strange even if it took many years before it’s done. So what now, do you want to spend all that time moping around?”.

Instead of refuting the girl and saying “no help will come”, she rephrased it to “it will take time”.

It wasn’t really a lie.

Even if it was just in name, they were courtesans who were considered possessions of the emperor, so they also needed his permission for them to be free.

That wasn’t something that could be accomplished in just a day or two.

“At any rate, there’s nothing you can do about it, so you can just play the lute to kill some time, right?”

The girl didn’t resist Xu’s words, and she decided to obediently practice the lute.

‘Well, if people around her kept on opposing her, she might rebel, even if she knew what’s wrong and right.”

That was Yui Mei’s impression after listening to Xu’s story until now.

The girl didn’t resist reflexively because Xu didn’t tell her that her fiance wouldn’t save her, and instead listened to her advice.

She started to play the lute, albeit absentmindedly, and she eventually stopped talking about her fiance.

She was quite skilled with the lute, and Xu taught her wholeheartedly. Eventually, she was frequently summoned to play solo at the banquets she attended.

And so, her original personality and manners gradually became more apparent.

In other words, her characteristics as someone born as the daughter of a powerful nobility would show through.

It was a while after she started her solo gigs. She started to think that Xu was being meddlesome when she wanted to take care of the girl.

Xu also didn’t have any plans to attentively attend to her forever, and the people from the Jiaofang also decided that the girl should be more independent, so this was quite welcome as Xu wished the same.

In order to build the girl’s confidence and gain experience, Xu had refrained from playing in the forefront, but now that her charge was independent, she decided to return back to keeping to herself as a solo lute player.

It was then that the difference in abilities of the girl and Xu, who had been half-heartedly playing the lute because she had devoted herself to training the girl, became apparent.

Ever since Xu returned back to being a full-fledged lute musician, the role of solo became hers, and the girl became just another support, always playing behind her.

The girl apparently believed there was no other lute musician who could best her in this palace, so her pride had been crushed thoroughly.

Xu had noticed that the girl had become quite flippant, so she wanted this to be her final lesson as part of her training.

She hoped that it would stimulate the girl’s desire to become better and would lead her to devote more time into practice.

However, the girl didn’t do that.

She didn’t believe it was a matter of skills. She couldn’t accept that the bigwigs who should’ve leaned towards her, the princess of a powerful nobility, had favored Xu, a mere daughter of a merchant even if their business was huge, and she was exasperated.

“Xu, you have been envious of me from the start, so you planned all of this so that you can stop me from standing out in the name of ‘training’, right!?”

Of all things she could do, she accused Xu of such things.