Along with the music, the four young girls in delightful dresses were coming out and swaying their soft bodies.
The mayor narrowed his eyes. "They are..."
"Respond to Master Wu; they are my daughters," Yang Fu said.
"Oh!"
"This is their first performance. If there are any mistakes, please forgive them."
"I think they are excellent."
Hearing the praise, the lips of Yang Fu extended like the Yellow River's. "Thank you so much," he said, and then he peeked at Longwei. At that time, the young fellow was watching the performance. Though he didn't say a word or show a smile, as Yang saw his eyes, he believed one of his girls was attracting him. It was great, and in his mind, he did not care if it was his eldest or youngest daughter as long as she could get married to Wu's son. But all his women imagined differently. Each Yang madame desired her own daughter to be the consort of Wu's heir; however, Lady Ju and Lady Xu did not dare cut in because they were just the second wife and the third wife.
The first wife of Yang was Lady Fan. Since she was standing next to Madame Wu, she hurriedly took the chance to introduce her girl.
"Madame Wu, she is my daughter." She pointed to a girl that was whirling before the other three girls. "She is the eldest. This year, she is nineteen years old."
"Um." Lady Chen nodded with a smile. "She is pretty. Her movement is very good."
"She worked very hard for this performance. Even Teacher Bai Yuyan admires her as great among students that she ever teaches."
"Bai Yuyan? Dancing teacher for the royal family?"
"Yes, it's her."
"No doubt that this performance is great like this."
As she heard it, first Yang Madame's face bloomed bigger than a crow's seeing food.
It seemed to be a long time that the guests had been standing. Afraid that the high minister's legs would not be well, Yang Fu hurriedly invited him and family: "Master Wu, Madame Wu, please be seated in the honorable seats."
In return, Wu Guang waved his head before he stepped, following Yang's lead; afterwards, Lady Chen and Wu Longwei moved, escorted behind by guests and assistants and guards. Only Lantian was not bothered and did not even follow her family to special seats. Instead, she went to stand far away where there were no people—with her private maid, Xiaolan.
"Young ladies of Yang dance very well," Xiaolan said.
In the throat of Lantian, she expressed, "Huh," and her eyes moved away. Towards Yang's presentation that was applauded by all people, she found it tasteless.
'All events have the same shows.' She thought.
Because it was really boring, the high lady thought of a work to do, and as she looked around, at once she thought of exploring the garden of the new millionaire of Lin'an. But before making a move, she watched her mother first. When she saw that she was utmost cared for by wives of the rich, she felt confident to leave feet towards the wooden bridge before her.
"Miss, where are you going?"
Nonetheless, Lantian did not respond; she crossed the bridge, and Xiaolan hurriedly ran after her.
The garden of the millionaire was really the garden of the millionaire. It was not only huge but also elegantly designed and decorated. In the space, Lantian perceived high trees, small trees, bushes, water, flowers, and stones; it looked like Yang collected everything to store inside his house.
'This family's wealth is not small.' She thought.
Since this yard was interesting, the high woman continued walking along a small path between big and tall rocks.
Behind Xiaolan walked closely to her lady with eyes not resting. The way was very quiet. It seemed to have only two of them walking on, and this made her feel disturbed. In contrast, her lady was not having any fright, not even a bit. She moved on bravely until she arrived at a small stream.
"Um," Lantian wagged her head, and then she moved to the water flow. She stopped and looked at her feet; after that, she looked up and saw big trees around. "This place is shady," she claimed. "Very good."
On another side of the stream, there was a large rocky hill designed with a cave. Lantian inspected the hard chamber without taking her eyes off it.
"Miss," Xiaolan came to stand next to her, "what are you looking at?"
"In that cavern," Lantian held the head of the fan and pointed the top of its leaves to the pothole that was before her. "It seems to have people inside."
Following her pointing, Xiaolan tried to watch, but she did not find anything besides a big dark spot.
"Ignore it," Lantian stated, and then she moved out.
Still, the journey was carried on. Further and further, Xiaolan felt the coldness capture her spine. As she could not hide her fear anymore, she hurriedly called, "Miss, we have walked so far. We should go back."
"Are you afraid?" Lantian asked.
"Yes." Xiaolan nodded. She hugged herself and ran hands over her arms. "This place is quiet."
Lantian giggled, "Fine, let's go back."
After saying it, she rotated her body in preparation to return. Suddenly, her eyes caught something on the ground by the rock.
"What's that?"
She went to pick the thing up and scanned it. It was hanging with a white jade pendant of a mandarin duck.
"This should be a property of a woman," she said.
Xiaolan came to stand nearby her, asking, "Miss, how do you know?"
Lantian gave the pendant and described it while Xiaolan was looking at the object: "The mandarin duck of this hanging is female; moreover, its model is for women; hence, this should be a lady's thing."
"It should not belong to Yang's young lady."
"Why do you think like this?"
"I know little since I stayed with you for many years. This jade is not good at all. The Yang family is rich, so they will not give poor jade to their daughter."
Lantian nodded her head. "You're right. It was not the good one, and its price was not high, but it was not the lowest either. I think it should be a belonging of someone from a wealthy family—because although the jade was not expensive, it was made by a good jeweler; if they were not rich, they could not have the cash to pay to engrave such jewelry."
At that moment, a soft tone appeared behind, "Excuse me, this is mine."