Right at this time, a sorrowful xiao music slowly sounded. However, compared to the guqin sound, Qiu Honglei’s playing wasn’t as proficient.
Xie Xiu said with a bit of confusion, “This doesn’t seem right? With Qiu Honglei’s skills, her skills in playing the xiao shouldn’t be much inferior to the guqin. Why does her playing sound so… so ordinary?”
His wording was actually already extremely polite. The playing was actually not smooth at all, with even some hiccups along the way that even he noticed. If it was someone else, they would have long been chased off the stage.
Xie Daoyun said with a frown, “It might be because she is unfamiliar with this song…”
Eventually, her voice also couldn’t help but become quiet. There was no way an expert would mess up this badly, right?
Screech!
Following a sharp wrong note, Qiu Honglei finally couldn’t take it anymore. She lowered the xiao with a red face. This really was too embarrassing! She actually couldn’t play the song!
However, no one else doubted her skills. All of them instead rushed to reassure her:
“If not even a master like young miss Qiu could play it, then this song was probably just randomly thrown together!”
“Precisely! Brat, don’t drag down lady Qiu with you if you don’t know how to play it yourself!”
…
However, there were quite a few people with discerning eyes here. After all, Zu An’s guqin was played like moving clouds and flowing water, not like something recklessly put together at all.
Wang Yuanlong couldn’t help but nudge Chu Yucheng, saying with a sigh of admiration. “I was also deceived by the rumors before. I thought that your clan’s young master was good for nothing. Who would have thought that he actually had this type of skill! No wonder first miss Chu chose him.”
Chu Yucheng also had a strange expression on his face. He nudged Chu Hongcai next to him. “Did you expect this scene?”
Chu Hongcai shook his head. A bit of bitterness appeared on his face as he watched how close and intimate Qiu Honglei and Zu An were.
Chu Yucheng seemed to have guessed what he was thinking. He immediately consoled him, “You don’t have to feel too discouraged. They are only playing a song together. It doesn’t mean anything more. Even if we take ten thousand steps back, even if they do end up doing something, letting Ah Zu get the chance is better than letting someone else. We should keep the blessings within the family!”
Chu Hongcai: “……”
What keep the damn blessings in the family? Should I be thanking you?!
Zu An also stopped. He consoled Qiu Honglei and said, “This song is a bit difficult, the melody in some areas are a bit abrupt when put together, the jumps quite big. It’s hard to play out if you aren’t familiar with it.”
Qiu Honglei revealed an appreciative expression. Even though she normally carried the appearance of a world toppling beauty, she was still a young lady deep down. She had never encountered such an embarrassing predicament before, leaving her in a bit of a daze.
He explained some of the easiest problems, as well as some areas to take special note of.
Qiu Honglei gradually calmed down. She closed her eyes, and then she read through the entire song from start to finish. She finally understood why she kept messing up.
“Let’s try it again.” Qiu Honglei’s face was full of expectation. The first reason was that she needed to redeem herself from her embarrassing performance. The second was that this song really was too amazing, so she wanted to see what it would sound like when it was played properly.
“Alright!” Zu An smiled. Seeing that she was ready, he began to lightly pluck the guqin.
Qiu Honglei’s red lips blew gently, her ten fingers moving along the xiao as if they were dancing.
The mid range zither sound, accompanied by the beautiful and serene xiao, made the music even more moving. The zither and xiao seemed to be going back and forth like a conversation, leaving the men here in endless envy. If they were the ones who could do this with lady Qiu, then that really would be incredible.
Xie Daoyun was already standing by the window, her eyes glued to the two that were playing this duet. She remarked, “This song’s pairing is indeed quite good, but it doesn’t have that distinct effect he was bragging about either.”
When her voice just sounded, the zither sound gradually grew louder, while the xiao sound slowly became quiet. However, the xiao sound didn’t fade away, continuing to sound like wisps of wind. An even greater soul-stirring feeling was brought out.
“This…” Xie Daoyun’s beautiful expression changed. She muttered to herself, “Turns out the zither and xiao can have this type of pairing… it truly is flawless.”
Suddenly, knocking sounds were released from the guqin, as if a war was starting. However, the xiao sound remained as gentle and mellow as before.
A while later, the zither sounds also became gentle, the two sounds taking turns being louder and softer. Suddenly, the two instruments’ sound changed again. It was as if there were seven or eight zithers, seven or eight xiaos that were performing at the same time.
Even though the zither and xiao’s sounds were complex and constantly changing, every single sound rose and fell in cadence, beautiful and moving.
Xie Daoyun sighed in admiration. No wonder even with Qiu Honglei’s abilities, she still failed several times. The song seemed complex just from listening to it, let alone the difficulty for the actual musician.
Everyone here originally had expressions of disdain, but when they heard this song, they only felt as if their blood began to boil. They couldn’t help but stand up, feel as if they were currently on the battlefield, fighting for their families, fighting for their country, fighting for this world.
As the song went on, the guqin and xiao changed again. The xiao took the lead, while the guqin only played in accompaniment. However, the xiao’s notes climbed higher and higher.
Everyone felt a mysterious wave of sorrow, unknowingly starting to shed tears.
Suddenly, a loud noise sounded. The zither sound came to a sudden stop, the xiao’s sound immediately ended as well.
All of Immortal Abode entered a state of silence. No one said anything for a long time.
Qiu Honglei was also completely shocked. She almost didn’t believe that she was the one who played that moving melody.
She lowered the xiao to look at the man sitting in front of the guqin table.
She originally planned to back him in secret, but who would have expected that he would bring her this type of pleasant surprise?
“Young master Zu, does this song have a name?”
Zu An slowly stood up. “This song is named ‘The Proud, Smiling Wanderer’. I will give this song to the lady as a gift in hopes that the lady can let your sorrows go, to instead be proud and smiling like this song.”
“You really are giving it to me?” Qiu Honglei’s face was full of pleasant surprise. After all, in a brothel, a good song was enough to even push an obscure girl to the sea of courtesan queen.”
Even though she was well known in Brightmoon City, there were too many high level courtesan queens. But with this song, her name might become well known throughout the world.
“Of course I am.” Zu An said with a smile. It was just a song, so what was she getting so emotional for?
“This guy really doesn’t skimp out when chasing after girls.” Pei Mianman released a snort. Watch me rat on you to Chuyan. She really needs to keep a tight leash on this husband of hers!
However, she really never expected this fella to have this type of skill. She’ll definitely have him make her a song some time in the future too.
Xie Daoyun also began to mutter to herself, “Given time, Zu An will definitely become renown throughout the world.”
Xie Xiu’s face was filled with shock. “Is it really that big of a deal?”