5 Chapter 5: An ant to an elephant

The little girl stood confidently and replied to the Master. "Father, Yi'er has been practising the zither this month. I would like to play a song for you."

As servants quickly brought in a zither, the girl strode to the centre of the room and sat with the instrument in front of her. Yingyue marvelled at the beauty of the instrument... The wood was a deep, rich hue of brown with cherry blossom carvings along its body - it was a piece of art in itself! In her previous life, Yingyue's music teacher had also owned one that was pretty like that; she never knew that those skills might actually be useful now...

Before playing, Yingyi addressed Master Jiang again. "Father, this piece that I have been learning is called 'Autumn Breeze'. I've enjoyed listening to the song as it is nearly the end of autumn, and wanted to learn it so that you can enjoy it too." Her arrogant expression had changed as she smiled sweetly while explaining. Kids were really still kids... they loved sucking up to their parents.

As the girl, Yingyi, gently plucked the strings of the zither, she formed a melody that somewhat sounded like the chirping of birds and the rustling of autumn leaves.

Yingyue examined the faces of the people who were watching the performance... most people were entranced, apart from the 2nd wife who seemed distracted by her sickness.

Glancing at the upper platform, Yingyue noticed that Madam Cha had an unchanged expression. It seemed that she was really a cautious lady... careful to have any opinions, and careful to show any she might have...

While Yingyue found the melody to be pretty, it was evident that the tune was rushed at times, and many notes were overly accented such that the tune was less of a delicate Autumn dance, and more of a light march. Haha... much like her arrogant personality, it seemed.

Even after she finished playing, it seemed that everyone was still silently appreciating the music they just heard. It wasn't until the 2nd wife coughed that Master Jiang noticed and cleared his throat.

"Yi'er, that was beautiful. Father noticed that you have improved since last month. Keep working hard, alright?"

Seeing Yingyi nod proudly, he dismissed her back to her seat. His eyes, which shone with pride, glanced at Madam Cha, as if in anticipation of some impressed reaction, but only to be disappointed by her straight face.

Although it was obvious that she could see him expecting some sort of reaction, her calm face proceeded to ignore his gaze as she stared ahead. Yingyue laughed internally as she watched him looking baffled as if no one had ever treated him like that before. Even the main wife, who saw this, was unable to hide her emotions.

After a short moment, Master Jiang turned back to the room and addressed Yingyan. "Yan'er, come up here... What have you been learning this month?"

As she stood up, Yingyue could finally see how the girl looked... She was a little short for her age, but still displayed amazing elegance for such a small child. Her air was more so refined than arrogant, yet she still carried herself with confidence.

"Father, today Yan'er will write you a poem to show you the calligraphy I have been practicing." Master Jiang waved and a small table was immediately brought before the little girl. Servants brought out a few other objects and placed them on the table. One quickly sat down and started grinding the ink.

While watching, it suddenly brought back memories for Yingyue. She remembered that when she was little, she was only allowed to sit next to her father in his study if she grinded his ink for him.

Even as a little kid, she was already busy with tutors and music teachers coming to teach her, among the many other odd hobbies that she had chosen, so she rarely had time to sit down.

However, when she did have time, she would always sneak into her father's study and sit by his side, grinding his ink. Of course he noticed her, but he always pretended not to, letting her accompany him.

Oddly, she found peace in watching him set brush to paper as he did his paperwork. His handwriting was incredibly neat so one day when he finished his work, she had asked him to teach her calligraphy (adding to a list of her odd hobbies).

Not being able to resist her puppy eyes, he had given in and set her on his lap as her taught her. Day by day, she would learn calligraphy with him, until her handwriting was just as beautiful and elegant as his own.

Her father, Jiang Siyou, was always a serious man, even in front of his own family, but underneath it, he deeply loved Yingyue, who was his only child. Even then, he refused to spoil her, making her endure hardships so that one day, even without him by her side, she would be strong enough to protect herself. After seeing her grow up, all his effort was not in vain.

Yingyue blinked and realised that there were tears in her eyes. "Father, I miss you..." she whispered as she turned her attention back to the little girl at the centre of the hall.

Yingyan had already started writing her poem, but from her angle, Yingyue could not see the characters clearly. After a few minutes, Yingyan gently placed her brush down, and stepped back from the table. "Yan'er had finished, Father."

A male servant came up to collect the paper from the table and held it up so that everyone could see it clearly. Although Yingyue had been able to learn it with her father at 6 years old, she was still quite impressed by Yingyan's ability.

The characters were not beautiful but they were still neat and easily readable. Apart from that, she had also been able to write out a poem. Although the poem was just about Autumn and not particularly insightful, she would already be considered quite an intellectual in modern society among the average child. However, if she was compared to Yingyue at that age... well, to such a genius, it would be impossible to compare. It was like trying to compare the size of an ant to an elephant... the latter was simply too much larger for one to come up with any accurate numerical value.

"Yan'er, that's amazing. Very good improvement. I will make sure to come to your courtyard when I have time so that you can recite me some more poems." While both mother and daughter gleamed with joy, it was obvious that Madam Jiang was not pleased. Madam Cha, however, still had a blank expression.

While she was lost in her thoughts, a voice suddenly rang out with a sense of impatience that snapped Yingyue back to reality. "Yue'er. You had better been learning properly this month. What are you going to show me today?"