Chapter 901: Chapter 720: Playing My Beloved Rustic Pipa "Hey, young man!"
Just after starting to sing a verse, Huai Shi felt that something wasn’t quite right. His fingers paused as he looked up at the inexpressible expressions of the audience, "Sorry, lost track—let’s start again."
His fingers slipped on the strings, turning the original dense and strange melody into a scattered nursery rhyme, gentle yet poignant: "Two tigers, two tigers, running fast, running fast, one missing a finger, one missing an eye, so strange, so strange..."
In plain sight, the one-eyed brawny man beside him, missing a pinky finger, began to look visibly displeased.
Seems like another mistake.
But it’s no big deal—
Huai Shi shook his head indifferently, his fingers leaping over the strings of the shamisen. The melody instantly became sorrowful and solemn, making people want to cry upon hearing it.
After playing a few bars of the Great Compassion Mantra, he seamlessly switched to the Wedding March, followed by a segment of Carmen, and finally an adapted version of "One Step Away."
He played with flair and enjoyed himself thoroughly.
If it wasn’t for the fear of exposing his identity, Huai Shi would’ve loved to perform Paganini’s exploit of playing an entire piece on a single string right there.
Except the instrument in his hand wasn’t quite right, with a narrow range that made it seem too light and difficult to control when it exceeded its limits.
Otherwise, he could’ve performed a Northwest folk song.
After five minutes of study, Huai Shi paused, feeling like he had fully mastered this type of instrument.
When his fingers pressed down again, a sharp sound erupted from the strings beneath the pick.
High-pitched and piercing, like the clash of steel.
Unlike a typical shamisen performance, it was almost noise, but noise didn’t have this kind of melody and rhythm, oscillating between pleasant and painful, brutally shredding all irrelevant noises, overshadowing the clamor, covering all eardrums, mocking and tormenting.
Soon, the intense cacophony turned into a deep, lonely sound.
The low resonance, unlike a shamisen, resembled more of a pipa’s steel strings, scattered and desolate.
"The bell at Gion Monastery rings, telling of life’s inherent uncertainty. The flowers of Sal trees fade, the prosperous decline like old age..."
Huai Shi squinted, softly chanting. Under the pick, a melancholic echo burst forth: "Pride cannot last, like a spring night’s dream; strength meets annihilation, like dust in the wind."
This excerpt is taken from "Gion Monastery" in "The Tale of the Heike," a traditional performance skill in Yingzhou.
It narrates the story of how the once flourishing Taira clan fell into demise under the fierce attack of the Minamoto clan, ultimately disintegrating and facing annihilation.
To say the least, it’s quite unlucky.
Before finishing the song, people on both sides were already glaring at him.
Soon after, their eyes seemed to touch electricity, quickly avoiding them and bowing respectfully.
Only when Huai Shi finished the whole piece and intended to play another ’To the Death on Atsumori’ did he notice the strange looks.
And the gentle breathing behind him.
Forehead suddenly went cold.
Even though his source substance was sealed, someone could still approach within three steps to trigger his senses?
If harboring ill intentions...
His fingers on the pick moved, slowly turning his head, seeing the pure white skirts on the tatami, with finely crafted Yuzen dye outlining the silhouette of pear blossoms.
Pure white petals spread in a blue background, inexplicably harmonious.
Under the Japanese Hairstyles’ shoulder-length short hair, the approaching individual lowered her exquisite face, looking down at him, and suddenly smiled slightly, patting his shoulder:
"Huaizhi Gang, this is an Arakawa Family banquet, don’t go too far...or else the host here will show you their power."
Tobio Lihua smiled slightly, turning her gaze to some originally unfriendly looking individuals intending to argue.
Under her gaze, those originally disgruntled individuals lowered their heads and bowed respectfully.
Trouble dissipated invisibly.
Lihua, satisfied, retracted her gaze, looking down at Huai Shi, "Bored? How about sitting over here? Coincidentally, I’m sitting alone and pretty bored myself."
Her smile was filled with mirth, unreservedly showing her friendliness and goodwill.
But for some reason, Huai Shi felt a strong sense of repulsion and unease in his heart, like sensing an indescribable danger from her.
Being looked at by her fox-like slender eyes, all secrets seemed exposed.
Instinctively on guard.
But Tobio Lihua didn’t care about Huai Shi’s intentions, and went ahead, taking her seat in the front of the hall, then beckoned to Huai Shi, pointing to the seat beside her.
Huai Shi was completely dumbfounded.
What’s the meaning of this?
With all eyes on him, he hesitated for a while, then resignedly picked up the ’earth pipa’ he had taken and walked over to sit down obediently, feeling the envious and resentful gazes from below, as if sitting on pins and needles.
"Shamisen, you play it quite well, have you learned it before?" Lihua suddenly asked.
"Ah, it’s okay... just picked up a bit randomly."
Tobio Lihua nodded and curiously suggested, "Then play ’Paradise Pure Land’, let’s see, I noticed you didn’t quite like it."
"..."