Yunning was very nervous about the response of everyone in the room. Her mother before she came emphasize how important was for her to perform well and surpass her older sister. Of course Ming Yunning ignored the last part. Her sister level is just to above hers that if she could be equal to her she would already be happy, don't mention surpass her. But because she once heard her sister and father talking about making her mother the second wife for her sake, Yunning knew that she needed to impress her Grandmother, who didn't like her Mom.
Seeing the nervousness of her Meimei, Ming Shu grabbed her hand.
"Don't worry, you did great. Was the best performance you did until now"
As to confirm her words, the people that women up from their reverie started to clap their performance.
"Good, good! I just knew that my granddaughters wouldn't disappoint. I'm sure that your Master will give you full marks for the beautiful songs you came up with! Someone come and bring the jade bracelet set and gift our two Young Misses for their performance"
"We thank Grandmother for the reward, but for us the best reward is your compliment"
"Ming'er your mouth is become sweeter as the time passes"
"Tsk. Boot licker, agar is so great about this song anyway"
Ming Shu looked at the owner of this whispered comment.
"Grandma, It seems that cousin wants to show us her superior skills on music"
"Is that so? Huan'er, go. I'll be delighted to hear you too"
"I-I"
"Don't be nervous cousin. Me and Yunning are very excited to see your music skills! Since you already practice for 2 years and we are just beginners, I'm sure that your skills are much better than ours and we can learn something with you"
Huan knew she couldn't deny to play anymore, but still tried to minimize the damages.
"Is it as you say cousin, but I practice the qin more than these two instruments, so I may be unfamiliar with them."
"Is that so cousin? There's no problem though, our Master left other instruments besides the pipa for us to familiarize ourselves with them. We couldn't play a lot on it, but now that cousin will showcase her abilities with the qin we will learn more about it, right Yunning?"
Yunning looked at her Jiejie, who was lying through her teeth's without stuttering, and was amaze by her shameless. Her Jiejie knew how to play all the instruments by the next day that the teacher left the instructions. By the end of the week she played well enough for her to play a song in front of others. But is not like their cousin need it to know this, Yunning wanted to see what her beloved Jiejie was trying to do.
"Yes"
'My sister is truly adorable'
Opening a smile to her Meimei, Ming Shu ordered the servants to bring the qin.
"Here it is cousin, you don't need to follow the theme of our songs since it will be unfair to you. Please play your best song and open the eyes of novices like us"
'Ming Shu just you wait! I'm going to show you a real talent'. Even though she thought like that, Ming Huan knew that her music was way inferior to both of the sisters. But right now she was riding a tiger and need it to play. She could feel the stares of everyone in the room, but mainly the ones directed by her parents were very heavy. Because the ones she was 'competing' with were from the main house, if she showed something not on par or superior she is sure that she will be punished once they got at their courtyard.
Taking a deep breath Ming Huan started to play her best song. To say that the song was bad was wrong. The song was a good song, but compared to the ones play previously it was only beautiful and didn't touched anyone. It felt mediocre. Is not that Ming Huan was playing bad, her skills was on par with Ming Yunning skills on the pipa, but different from Yunning, Huan didn't have an amazing song to follow after. After she finished, she just wanted to find a hole and hide herself in it.
Ming Shu got up and started to clap her cousin's performance. She put a naive face filled with longing so that they would believe that she really did mean what she said.
"Thank you for the amazing performance cousin! Although I couldn't quite pick up anything for your performance I am sure is because my level is too low. Why about you Yunning?"
Yunning had to contain her laugh that was threatening to come out because of her sister performance. With her lips twitching she answered
"I couldn't pick up anything either... maybe is better to call Cousin to our class so that Master can pinpoint to us the superior techniques that were used. What you think Jiejie?"
'Fufu~ besides cute my Meimei is mischievous'
"Is a wonderful idea. Cousin can you come?"
Ming Huan couldn't take anymore and explode. What superior play, what superior technique are t this brats just mocking her? To hell with all of this.
"Shut up! Who wants to go to your class, if you want to learn, learn by yourselves"
Ming Shu has her eyes filled with tears and Yunning, tht learned fast her sister's performance, out a bullied face and hided behind her sister.
"Ming Huan! Instead of bullying your young sisters you should be training more. Your skills counts hold a candle to theirs, even though they just begun and you already practice for 2 years. You should be ashamed of the joke you just should us. Second Child how are you raising your daughter that in addition to bully our young ones doesn't have the talents to be showcased when she debuts? A week from now I hope to see a transformed Ming Huan, do you understand?"
Ming Shu could see her Second Uncle gritting his teeth.
"Yes Mother"