I'm so useless with this speed. Seeking fans.

  ——*——*——

  With wine-steeped ears and flushed face, Pan Yue asked Peony in a daze: "Sister Peony, are there any musical instruments at your place?"

  Peony shook her head: "No." For music and dance, she only brought her ears and eyes, never her hands.

  Pan Xiang let out a disappointed sigh and seriously suggested: "In the future, this Fragrant Garden will still need to raise several skilled geishas."

  The peony just smiled and didn't speak, while Madame Bai frowned and said: "If Dan Niang were a man, it would be fine, but she's a woman, no need to make things so complicated."

  "I just said that, whether you listen or not is up to her. I didn't understand business matters in the first place." Pan Rong had barely spoken when she was interrupted by Madame Bai, feeling bored, she scrunched up her face and downed a large cup of wine in one gulp, looking at Jiang Changyang: "Chengfeng, play the leaf flute for me to hear, I'll sing a song for everyone. Let's just enjoy ourselves."

  Jiang Changyang glanced at Peony secretly, seeing that Peony was only lowering her head and talking to Madame Bai, seemingly not having heard Pan Rong's words, nor did she want to listen to him play the leaf flute, feeling somewhat displeased in her heart, and thus became somewhat unwilling.

  Ke Nai couldn't resist Pan Rong's repeated requests, Ying Niang and Rong Niang cheered on the side, Wu Xilian also said: "I'll join in to add to the excitement."

  The more she didn't want to listen, the more he wanted her to listen. Jiang Changyang thought for a moment and then agreed. Pan Rong hurriedly sent someone to pick bamboo leaves and boasted with everyone:

  You don't know, Cheng Feng has been exceptionally good at playing the leaf flute since he was a child. At that time, we... He paused for a moment, glanced at Mrs. Bai, and continued: Among our group of friends who often played together, no one could play as well as him, and no one could sing as well as me. Today, let's give you an eye-opener.

  Xiao Qian, Ah Tao picked up the bamboo leaves, Jiang Changyang took two pieces and blew a lively tune. Everyone listened with relish. Pan Rong smiled: "Cheng Feng, you play well, better than before. I'll sing too, listen to see if I've regressed."

  He cleared his throat, furrowed his brow and closed his eyes, singing: "What evening is this? A boat in the middle of the current. What day is today? I get to be on the same boat as the prince. Ashamed and humiliated, but not ashamed. My heart is almost broken, yet unbroken... I know the prince. The mountain has trees, the tree has branches (knowing), my heart delights in you, but you don't know..."

  As soon as the song came out, everyone except Jiang Changyang was shocked. Pan Rong's singing voice and his appearance were very mismatched. He originally had a clear brow and bright eyes, dressed in a bright and beautiful attire, but had a charming, slightly hoarse and melancholic good voice, and was very devoted to it, singing with a hundred knots of sorrow, gentle and desolate.

  Wu Xilian was so absorbed in listening that she forgot to applaud, while Peony sighed and saw Jiang Changyang furrowing his brow, looking somewhat uneasy, occasionally stealing a glance at Madame Bai. Peony looked over, but saw Madame Bai sitting there expressionlessly, her eyes cast down at the wine cup in front of her, her fingers gripping the chopsticks tightly, her knuckles turning white.

  "Shameful to be good, not to be insulted and ashamed..." Pan Rong sang one verse and then another, the crisp sound of shattering glass interrupted his singing, but it was Jiang Chang who stood up and knocked over the cup, saying in a low voice: "It's getting late, Second Brother, we should head back."

  Pan Rong seemed to have woken up from a dream, he opened his eyes and there were tears in them. "It's time to go back." He smiled and poured another cup of wine, using the opportunity to secretly wipe away the tears from the corner of his eye, and with a flattering face, he moved closer to Madame Bai: "Madame, did I sing well?"

  Mrs. Bai said expressionlessly: "Sang extremely well, very good indeed."

  He sighed: "Singing well doesn't even get a smile from you, actually it's still not good enough. Do you like it? I'll sing it again for you, Ah Xin?"

  "You're drunk, we're guests here." Mrs. Bai pursed her lips, almost raising her hand to brush him away, and looked at Ni Yu with a low voice: "Take Ah Ju down."

  Jiang Changyang hastily stepped forward and half-supported, half-dragged Pan Rong away, softly advising: "Second Brother, there are children present, don't let the children laugh at you."

  Pan Rong leaned on Jiang Changyang's shoulder, laughing loudly: "A Xian, A Xian, I've lost face again, this appearance of mine, even my son can't bear to look at it, and will be embarrassed for me."

  Jiang Changyang and Wu San quickly sandwiched him in, pulling him out with all their might. For a while, the crowd could still hear his laughter and questions: "A Xian, why did you throw me off and walk alone this morning?"

  It happened suddenly, Rongniang and Yingniang sat aside, embarrassed and didn't know what to do. Peony hastily signaled them to leave, and also signaled others to withdraw. In an instant, the hall that was bustling with noise just now only had Peony, Wu Xilian, and Madame Bai left.

  Madam Bai sat upright, staring blankly at the flickering candle flame in front of her, remaining silent for a long time.

  The peony's intuition was that Pan Rong's singing of this song was absolutely not as simple as it seemed on the surface. The way Pan Rong had cried earlier was definitely not intentionally fake, and Jiang Changyang's worries were also real. But she couldn't ask anything, could only hold onto Madame Bai's hand and comfort her: "Ah Xian, he's just drunk, men are all like this when they're drunk. I've seen even more exaggerated ones than him, he's actually quite good, don't be angry."

  Wu Xilian hastily nodded: "That's right, my father and brothers often get drunk and go crazy."

  "Exactly. It turns out that this morning you deliberately didn't call him when you went out, and now he's only speaking up about it, which means he's been able to bear it until now. He even sang a song for you, and his singing isn't bad either - I just didn't think he could sing so well."

  Madam Bai sighed faintly, smiled bitterly, and stood up to leave: "I don't mind. Dan Niang, thank you for your hospitality today."

  "Otherwise, you and Seventeen will stay overnight at Fragrant Garden tonight? Let them go back? It's better to go back early tomorrow morning."

  Wu Xilian was somewhat moved, but Madame Bai said firmly: "No, since he's drunk, I should go take care of him. I can't leave him to Jiang Chengfeng."

  Peony still wanted to persuade her, but Madame Bai just smiled slightly and said, "Dan Niang, don't worry about me, it's nothing serious."

  That night, there was no moon, and the outside of the Fragrant Garden was pitch black. Peony ordered people to light up more than a dozen torches and handed them over to Wu San's men to illuminate the way. Pan Rong was drunk and couldn't ride a horse, so he sat in a sedan chair carried by four young servants. Compared to his earth-shaking cries of "Ah Shen" earlier, he was now silent, curled up quietly in the sedan chair without moving.

  Madam Bai walked over with a stern face, but seeing his condition, she still maintained her composure and had Yu Ge take out a cloak to cover him. Under the light of the torches, Peony saw that Pan Rong's eyelashes fluttered slightly, and he opened his eyes into a slit, staring blankly at Madam Bai. He felt Peony's gaze, looked over indifferently, and then slowly closed his eyes again.

  What's going on with this couple? Peony looked at Mrs. Bai, who was sitting on the horse with a cold expression, and Pan Rong, who was pretending to sleep in the carriage, and couldn't figure it out. Looking at Pan Rong's appearance, she didn't seem to be indifferent to Mrs. Bai, and Mrs. Bai wasn't that kind of person either, so why did they end up like this? Pan Rong was unhappy, and Mrs. Bai was also unhappy, but they were tied together somehow.

  Jiang Changyang rode up on his horse and said loudly, "He Niangzi, go back. With me here, you can rest assured." Then he whispered in a voice that only the two of them could hear, "It's late at night, dew is heavy, wind is cold, let's go inside." Without waiting for her response, he spurred his horse forward, loudly instructing the crowd to hold up their torches well, carefully calling out to the women, and telling the sedan chair bearers to walk steadily.

  No words were exchanged that night, and early the next morning, Yu rode over on horseback to bid farewell to Peony on behalf of Madame Bai and Wu Xilian: "The young master caught a chill last night and cannot stay here for long. He has already left for the city. The madam is unable to come personally to bid farewell, so she sent me to apologize to you, Mistress He."

  "Please don't be polite. Is your young master suffering from a severe cold caught halfway? How is your wife?"

  Yu sighed and forced a smile: "Don't worry, it's not that serious. The young master isn't usually like this, he normally gives face to the madam, just these past two days his temper has been a bit off. After a couple of days, it'll be fine." She paused, worriedly saying: "Hei niangzi, if you have time, why not often come find our madam to chat with her, invite her over to play? Yesterday I saw her having a lot of fun here."

  "Of course," Peony hastened to reply, "That's only natural. Please also give my regards to your wife and Seventeen, and ask them to come over and play whenever they have the time. I'll always welcome them."

  The jade-like girl happily said: "I will definitely pass on your words."

  Several days passed in a flash, during which Jiang Changyang never came to the door again, and there was no news from him. Mudan was busy all day long, often busy until nightfall, and as soon as she lay down on her pillow, she fell asleep, feeling that the days were passing by too quickly.

  As the day of her return to the city was approaching, Peony couldn't help but go to the nursery again and have a good exchange with Mr. Li. She asked him to pay more attention and take care of the garden. She couldn't understand most of Mr. Li's gestures and could only guess, making communication very difficult. She tried to use writing to communicate with Mr. Li, but he just shook his head when he saw her writing, indicating that he was illiterate. Peony was at a loss, anxious and scratching her hair. In the end, she had to leave Yuhua in charge of taking care of the garden again.

  As she passed by Jiangjiazhuang, Peony couldn't help but turn her head to look back. As soon as she looked back, she found that the outside of Jiangjiazhuang was no longer as clean as it used to be, and vaguely saw that there were many horses tied to the willow trees, and many people coming in and out.

  Yingniang and Rongniang were very curious, and asked in a low voice: "Auntie Feng, is this the Jiang family's village?"

  Feng Daigne was about to respond when suddenly someone in the distance shouted loudly: "Second Master, slow down! This Zi Xuan horse is not an ordinary horse, it's very cunning."

  Someone shouted loudly: "The dog thing is riding the horse, what's going on?" Then a burst of horseshoes sounded, and three people on three horses rushed out from the fork in the road at Jiang's village, turned onto the main road, and flew towards Peony's direction. The horse in front was indeed Jiang Changyang's purple horse, but the person on it was not Jiang Changyang, but a young man about 17 or 18 years old, wearing a jade-colored embroidered brocade robe, with a small golden crown on his head, skin as white as jade, and a full face of heroic spirit.

  The peony hastily signaled everyone to dodge to one side and give way to him.