Chapter 72 Part 2: Stunning
“Then how did you know that she was going to play《Wild Geese on the Shoal》 when she’s only plucked the first string?”
“Look at her movement and you’ll know. Moreover, just a note is sufficient.” Jiang Li said lightly.
But Liu Xu wasn’t relaxed after hearing her. She looked up and down at Jiang Li for a while and spoke in a low voice: “Don’t lie to me, you must have studied the guqin before, right? Maybe your guqin is pretty good? But is there a music teacher in Mount Qingcheng? Or could it be that you are a genius?”
Jiang Li didn’t know whether to laugh or cry and said: “It’s not so difficult.” As she was speaking, she sensed that someone was staring at her. She looked out and directly met Ye Shijie’s gaze who was staring at her from a distance.
Ye Shijie saw her looking his way and swiftly moved his sight away, which surprised Jiang Li.
After Ye Shijie looked away, he felt that his action just now made it more conspicuous and was annoyed for a while. He felt he would burst from worrying that Jiang Li would be humiliated today. But the girl had quite a deep mind, and her hidden trump card emerged one after another. Who knew what outrageous thing she would pull out today which would astound the people. Why should he stay here and meddle in other people’s business?
“Brother Ye, what are you looking at?” Someone spoke from the side. It was the Right Minister, Li Zhong Nan’s son, Li Lian.
Ye Shijie turned around and said: “Just looking around.” After Jiang Li’s reminder that Liu Zimin and Li Lian’s relationship was pretty good and that there might be an ulterior motive for Li Lian to lure him in, Ye Shijie had distanced himself from Li Lian.
Li Lian sensed Ye Shijie’s att.i.tude and smiled without saying anything. But when Ye Shijie turned his head, his gaze turned inquisitive.
On the stage, Jiang You Yao played very well.
《Wild Geese on the Shoal》 describes wild geese flying in the sky in autumn. Sometimes hovering, sometimes looking at the surroundings. There’s an old saying “take the spa.r.s.e quiet autumn, hear the wild geese sound of flying”, “take clear and refreshing autumn weather, the wind is still, the sand is flat, the clouds are thousands of miles away, the sound of flying birds in the horizon, borrowing the lofty ambition of people with n.o.ble aspirations, leisurely writes scholarly aspirations.”
The tune was melodious and flowing. Jiang Li also didn’t expect Jiang You Yao to actually choose this song 《Wild Geese on the Shoal》. She thought with Jiang You Yao, such a well-bred young lady, she would pick an artistic and delicate song to play. It’s not because females couldn’t play such an imposing song, rather, it was because the sound reflects the frame of mind. How could Jiang You Yao’s mental state be so clear and imposing.
However, Jiang You Yao’s playing was quite good.
“This music is very difficult. After so many years, very few people play this music, and those were not ordinary people. Jiang You Yao is the first one to play this well.” Liu Xu murmured: “She could actually execute such difficult hand movements, it didn’t seem unfamiliar to her at all.”
Jiang Li felt strange hearing this and asked: “Is this music so difficult to play?”
“Of course!” Liu Xu promptly replied: “Ming Yi Hall’s top ten guqin songs, the simplest is 《Flowing Water》, followed by 《The Spring Snow》, 《Three Stanzas of Plum-Blossoms》, 《Drunk Fisherman Night Singing》, 《Mist and Clouds over Xiao Xiang River》, 《Question and Answer on the Fishing Reef》, 《Yangguan Sandie》, 《A Song of Guangling》, then 《Wild Geese on the Shoal》. Mentioning it, at that time, Jinghong fairy became famous precisely because of this 《Wild Geese on the Shoal》……. Aiya,” Liu Xu suddenly recalled something: “I was just about to say that Jiang You Yao’s movements were somewhat familiar. As it turns out, it was similar to Jinghong fairy’s……. Could Jinghong fairy be giving pointers to her in private?”
Jiang Li clearly understood the Jiang family’s starting price. Ji Shuran was determined to let Jiang You Yao be in the limelight in this exam, so it’s not possible to invite and move Jinghong fairy.
She asked: “There are only nine songs.”
“The hardest one is 《Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute》. Some people still play 《Wild Geese on the Shoal》, but just couldn’t play it very well. But for many years, n.o.body ever played《Eighteen Songs of a Nomad Flute》 in the exam. Even the most outstanding student in guqin, or even Teacher Xiao, have never played this song.”