Chapter 653: Rainbow Robe Trailing Wide Sleeves, Celestial Music Falls upon the Palace Banquet

The main programs of Spring River Flower Moon Night numbered four, all four personally overseen by Zhu Ti; aside from venue restrictions, the other suitable for moving to the palace banquet was .

The fervent foreign Hu Xuan dance had just stepped down, and the shadowy musicians behind the gauze curtain suddenly changed their tune.

The sheng and xiao fell silent, the pipa was lightly plucked, the konghou trickled through the hall, and the Rainbow Robe and Feathered Garment intoxicated before even dancing.

Even laypeople who don't understand music could feel it; this opening was out of the ordinary.

Suddenly, the chime sounded faintly, like a clear spring washing over stones; the xiao and dong flute harmonized, as if a distant wind entered the pines. The divine song Rainbow Robe and Feathered Garment lightly tugged at everyone's heartstrings. After all, given Youzhou's economic situation and the admission fees of Spring River Flower Night, even the officials and gentry of Youzhou lacked the means to daily frequent the low-consumption Spring River Flower Moon Night.

Besides, as Liang Bin would put it: could one ever grow tired of watching the Rainbow Robe and Feathered Garment?

Within the music, a white mist rose from the corner of the hall, slowly and lazily spreading across the floor.

A group of dancers dressed in white-toned rainbow robes, their feathered garments light as if clad in moonlight, drifted out from the mist.

Their faces hid behind sheer gauze, revealing only pairs of carefully made-up, spirited eyes.

The Great King rolled his eyes, looking at the refined-made-up noble ladies in the side hall whose features blurred under the lights. It's time to change a batch of cosmetics tools; we in Youzhou have new styles again!

Their initial movements were extremely slow and gradual—raising arms, glancing back, bending the waist—each pose seeming to freeze yet also flow. When they turned, the long trailing scarf followed, fluttering up to draw a soft arc in the air that lingered without falling.

Men in the hall: dazzled, heavenly music.

Ladies of the side hall: what material is that scarf, so light?! Their movements stopped, yet it floated in the air for a long time!

That was not a dance; it was clouds lingering on a mountain peak, flowers trembling beneath the moon, a dream slowly unfolding within another dream.

After watching for a long time, one could hardly tell whether it was a person dancing or a moon-palace fairy, using this mortal form to speak of heavenly loneliness.

Then came the second chapter, the sixth chapter, the twelfth chapter……

The chime's sound gradually faded, and the sheng and xiao also stopped. The white mist continued to twine on the floor; the hall was utterly silent, a stillness deeper and heavier than that after the Hu Xuan dance ended.

The lights remained bright, illuminating the hall's fragrant sleeves and shadowed tresses, illuminating the worldly utmost splendor. Yet that earlier white and red, hasty and slow, mundane and celestial, were like two different moonshines, simultaneously shining into this majestic hall and into each person's heart.

Everyone remained silent for a long time; only the incense smoke from the Boshan burner lingered, curling upward, upward, dissipating into this endless night.

The hall was first utterly silent, so quiet that a dropped pin could be heard. Yet Wei Shen was the most uninhibited; he suddenly led applause and cheers, and the circle of wealthy youths around him immediately followed, bringing the hall back to life.

Relying on no one seeing, the Great King rolled his eyes behind the imperial crown's tassels, 'How annoying!' He interrupted his observation of the dazed appearance of the courtiers below. From now on, whoever provokes him will have today's foolishness dragged out in detail and thrown back at them!

The dancers withdrew, and the Great King, feigning innocence, asked: 'Why is today's Rainbow Robe and Feathered Garment so short?'

Zhao Bao hurriedly replied: 'Your Majesty, due to the banquet's time constraints, we selected only five of the twelve movements.'

'Like that, then forget it—I'd rather go see Spring River Flower Moon Night again.' Did you hear? Didn't hear? This thing still has seven new chapters viewable at Spring River Flower Moon Night—go watch them all! Same as the palace banquet!

Xie Yuan: ……

Don't think he can't tell; this paragraph is an advertisement.