"Shuang, it seems you are a beauty in the making." Mom looked at Shuangshuang with the veil covering her face, her eyes crinkling with a smile.
"Mom, do you have golden decals?" Shuangshuang stared at those charming eyes, feeling something was missing. Maybe it was a touch of color, or maybe not.
"No need, Mom." Shuangshuang smiled slightly, picked up the eyebrow pencil, and gently dotted under the eyelid of her left eye in front of the bronze mirror. Immediately, a beautiful teardrop mole appeared under those phoenix eyes, adding a hint of sadness and melancholy to the seductive eyes. From a distance, it couldn't help but arouse a trace of pity.
"Oh, you little enchantress. If you were in my Hualou, I'd make you famous all over the place."
"Thank you for your cultivation, Mom." Shuangshuang nodded in satisfaction and stood up. When her peripheral vision swept over the bronze mirror, her eyebrows suddenly furrowed. Looking carefully into the mirror, she indeed found purple marks on her fair chest — left by that bastard Xiao Yunxuan.
"Shuang, you..." The middle-aged woman also noticed the purple marks on Shuangshuang's chest.
"Mom, can you paint a lotus flower?" Shuangshuang had a sudden idea. If there were a fiery red water lily on her chest, it could not only cover the scars but also make her look more charming.
The pipa melody suddenly stopped in the rapid and stormy strings, and warm applause erupted around the stage, like a surging tide.
Xiao Yunxuan put down his wine cup, looked at the empty stage, and suddenly asked, "Has the emperor arrived?"
"Your Highness, the emperor arrived a long time ago. He's in the side box and just looked your way." The man in black behind him replied respectfully.
Xiao Yunxuan smiled slightly, his eyes as deep as ever. He propped himself up and was about to stand up when sonorous and powerful drumbeats suddenly sounded on the stage, followed by another round of cheers from all around.
"Yushan, Yushan..." The shouts, applause, and drumbeats intertwined, but the stage was still empty. After a long time, the lights suddenly dimmed, and a red silk ribbon hung down from above the stage, landing in the middle.
"Boom, boom, boom." The big drum rhythmically sounded three times, and then everything around fell silent again, as if the whole world had come to a standstill.
At that moment, a charming blue figure suddenly appeared in mid-air. Before everyone could see her face clearly, the soft body suddenly hung on the red silk, spinning and floating in the air. The red silk wrapped around her waist and arms seemed to be on the verge of breaking or loosening at any moment.
The people under the stage watched the figure swaying left and right high in the air in fear, their hearts in their throats. The beautiful women accompanying the guests were already turned pale with fright, closing their eyes repeatedly and collapsing into the guests' arms.
"Boom!" The drumbeat sounded again, and the figure slid down with the sound, then stopped.
"Boom!" The drumbeat sounded once more, and the figure fell again.
"Boom, boom..." The drumbeats got faster and faster, and the woman fell faster and faster! At the same time, the audience's hearts beat rapidly with this rhythm.
Just when the audience thought that the charming blue figure would slide to the ground with the rapid drumbeats, the figure suddenly stopped again, hanging in mid-air.
There were gasps from the audience, but no one dared to let out a breath, fearing that a single exhalation would suddenly break the red silk.
"Boom!" A loud noise pierced through the entire Hualou, and then the blue figure suddenly leapt and spun, and the red silk that had stabilised her body fell off instantly!
"Ah!" Seeing her falling rapidly, the audience couldn't help but cover their eyes and scream, no one daring to look at the upcoming bloody scene.
But... the drumbeat started again, but with a touch of tenderness.
Then came a series of rhythmic and clear bell sounds. Ring once, stop once. Two quick beats, one slow beat... And the drum also sounded with this increasingly lively rhythm, slowly relieving people's tense nerves. It wasn't until then that many frightened spectators looked up at the stage again.
In the middle of the stage, a woman in transparent tulle, with a blue veil on her face and a delicate and charming figure, shook the bells in her hands while spinning continuously to the cheerful rhythm. Her snow-white bare feet stepped out gorgeous dance steps on the cold stage.
The blue veil covered her face, but couldn't hide the flowing light in her eyes under the rising lights, like the brilliance of fireworks exploding, or the ripples of golden light reflecting on the blue waves.
Her slightly slanting peach blossom eyes were as misty as water, as if drunk and smiling. When her eyes turned slightly, it was like a breeze passing by, exuding infinite charm and a coquettish demeanour.
The teardrop mole under her lower eyelid suddenly added a touch of plaintiveness and melancholy to her charm.
The people off the stage held their breath, looking up at the blue figure on the stage, at her white bare feet, at the dancing tulle dress, at her round waist with a misty luster, at the bells on her waist jumping with a cheerful rhythm, at her faintly visible chest, and the blood-red red lotus on her chest that seemed to be reborn from the fire, and...
Those eyes that made everyone intoxicated.
With each spin, her gaze quickly scanned around... Finally, it locked on three people.
Xiao Yunxuan, with a calm face and deep eyes.
The man in purple with a handsome face and a charming smile.
And the man in white beside the man in purple, who had shown no expression from start to finish.
The drumbeat suddenly stopped, and the deep blue figure also lay prostrate on the ground, ceasing to dance. Her sensual chest, painted with blood-red lotus flowers, rose and fell with her rapid breathing, provoking the last remaining sanity of the spectators.
Once again, there was silence all around... except for her faint breathing.
After a moment, the listeners gathered outside Hualou suddenly heard thunderous applause and cheers from inside.
"Yushan, Yushan, Yushan..."
This was the most lively time in the history of Hualou.
The thunderous applause was like a tide, rising wave after wave. Xiao Yunxuan stared at the dazzling blue figure on the stage, unable to come back to his senses for a long time.
"Your Highness, Your Highness, should we reward Miss Yushan?" The man in green beside him called out in a low voice.