Zi You slowly walked over to the zither and sat down. She looked at Fourth Gongzhu and coldly said, “Please speak cautiously, Gongzhu. The Emperor is the only monarch of the world. You are also just a subject. Chennu did not deceive the monarch. Please do not arbitrarily place a crime on Chennu’s head.”
Then, she no longer paid attention to anyone. She reached out her jade-like soft hands and lightly strummed the silver strings. She drew a beautiful curve on top of the zither. “Phoenix Song” started playing. Suddenly, the clear sounds like a phoenix’s song resounded.
Everyone only saw jade-like slender fingers moved at times slowly and at times rapidly. They were like a butterfly dancing on top of the zither. Accompanying the music, Zi You’s soothing voice started singing. “The phoenix dances, rises and falls; the phoenix sings, solemnly and tragically; the phoenix dances again; the phoenix sings again; a flock of ordinary birds fly over from the sky…”
A voice like kingfishers playing in the water and yellow warblers singing spread throughout. The beautiful singing voice had everyone mesmerized and little animals emerging from their nests.
Gradually, with the sounds of her zither and singing, all kinds of birds flew over to the garden. There were sparrows, magpies, thrushes, swallows, parrots, and finally, two peacocks: one white and one green.
Everyone was shocked. They looked at Zi You as if they saw a fairy descended from the nine heavens. They started discussing in liveliness.
“Heavens! I’ve only heard about such a thing. I thought it was made up. I didn’t expect it to be true. She looks so beautiful. Can she really be a fairy descended to the mortal world?”
“Yes. I thought it was strange when the butterfly landed on her earlier. Now it’s even more shocking. A peacock! Isn’t a peacock a phoenix?”
“Mother! Can you pinch me? Am I seeing things? Did she really bring one hundred birds over?”
At this moment, the garden really had one hundred birds chirping. All kinds of birds flew over Zi You and chirped in pleasant sounds. Some were flying next to her, incessantly chirping at her.
