I walked up to the stage from the side and slowly approached the back of the curtain. I gently plucked the strings of the qin. Although this qin is not as good as the one my mother sent me from the Shangshu Mansion, the sound is still decent. I honestly didn't expect to find such a qin in a place like the Lanshan Tower. I nodded slightly towards Cuicui on the stage through the curtain, and then my fingers began to play with the strings. Maybe it's because I haven't played the qin for a long time, or maybe it's because I'm not used to playing the instrument in a place like this for the first time, or maybe it's because I suddenly switched to a different qin and found it a bit difficult to play. At the beginning, I played a few wrong notes, something I have never encountered before. I glanced at Cuicui from the corner of my eye. She was wearing a white veil, her sleeves fluttered lightly, and her dance steps were graceful. Her movements flowed smoothly, without any pause due to my wrong notes. The bells on her ankles jingled crisply with her movements, striking my heart, one after another. She seemed to notice my gaze and smiled at me when she turned around. That smile seemed extremely unreal amidst the fluttering clothes, but it highlighted the crimson mole between her eyebrows even more clearly. The cheers from the audience below grew louder, and I quickly lowered my head, fully focused on playing my qin, no longer daring to look at Zhongcui.

I was originally extremely familiar with the "Ni Chang" piece, to the point where I used to be so arrogant as to believe that I could accurately play it even with my eyes closed. However, today I made more than ten mistakes and struggled through the piece. I couldn't help but feel embarrassed, with my face turning red and my head hanging low, too afraid to look at Zhong Cui. Originally, the plan was for me to quietly leave the stage from the side after playing the piano, but due to my shame, I completely forgot to do so and sat there at a loss.

"Aying, Aying, come quickly." Vaguely, I heard Zhong Cui's voice coming from the stage below. I hastily collected my thoughts and followed the sound, only to see Zhong Cui covering half of her face with a white veil, waving at me in an inconspicuous spot below the stage. It was then that I noticed a new group of women whom I didn't recognize on the stage already. I hurriedly gathered my gown, cradled the qin in my hands, and walked towards Zhong Cui below the stage.

"Aying, didn't we agree that you would come down after playing the piano? What happened?" Cuicui saw me approaching and quickly reached out her slender hand to take the piano from me. With her other hand, she held onto mine and asked, while pulling me towards the side door and heading towards my room.

From the main hall of the Lengshan Tower to my room, one needs to pass through a garden, leading to a small pavilion within the garden. Without saying a word, Cui Cui pulled me into the pavilion and came to a stop. Then, she placed the zither on the stone table inside the pavilion and spoke again, saying, "Aying, don't worry. I just noticed that all the people below were looking at me, nobody noticed you." As I listened to her words, I was momentarily stunned, only belatedly realizing that she had mistaken my silence for fear. That's why she said these things, attempting to comfort me.

Looking at Zhong Cui's extremely beautiful face and listening to her comforting words at this moment, not only did she not blame me for messing up the song, but she came over to console me. I lowered my head and whispered, "I know, it's just that I played a few wrong notes earlier, and you..." Speaking up to this point, I raised my head and glanced at Zhong Cui's expression. Just as I was about to speak again, Zhong Cui held my hand and said, "Aying, it doesn't matter. Most of the people in this kind of place are spoiled children. How many of them truly understand the piano and sheet music? Even if you played a few wrong notes, they wouldn't say anything. All they care about is whether the girls are pretty or not."

Although I know that Zhong Cui's words were mostly meant to comfort me, my heart still feels much lighter. Finally, I lifted my head and looked at Zhong Cui. Her smile was incredibly beautiful, as if it had drained all the color from the flowers in the courtyard.