âBut for many years, nobody ever playedăEighteen Songs of a Nomad Fluteă in the exam. Even the most outstanding student in guqin, or even Teacher Xiao, have never played this song.â
Teacher Xiao naturally referred to Xiao Deyin. Jiang Li thought, actually, Xiao Deyin could play it. Itâs just that she overly pursued flawlessness. Moreover, her ăEighteen Songs of a Nomad Fluteă was always a little bit worse. So she simply refused to show it to others. In order to play ăEighteen Songs of a Nomad Fluteă well, Xiao Deyin had practiced hard for many years in private. She even consulted her before.
But Xue Fang Fei was already dead. No one knew these matters anymore.
Jiang You Yao was still playing and thereâs a feeling of the geese soaring forward and circling around. The flying form of ups and down, gliding and gathering, being startled and having their spirits back. In Jiang You Yaoâs guqin sound, the various moods of the geese were unexpectedly captured and slowly unfurled, making people feel as if it was that autumn day, where the vast sky was blue and the geese passed by without leaving any traces.
In the examinersâ place, Xiao Deyinâs expression changed slightly, Jinghong fairy looked at Jiang You Yaoâs movements and a trace of satisfaction flashed in her eyes.
Someone spoke from the side: âDonât know when did fairy accept a disciple?â
It was the court musician, Mian Ju. Mian Ju was now in his fifties, but he looked like a happy 20 years old young man, laughing happily all day long. He wore a white coarse hemp cloth and did not resemble the emperorâs musician in the slightest. When he said this, thereâs ridicule in his tone, totally disapproving of Jinghong fairyâs actions.
When Jinghong fairy heard this, her ears turned red. Jiang You Yaoâs finger techniques couldnât be concealed from an expert like Mian Ju, she also knew since earlier. Itâs just that being pointed bluntly like this was still somewhat humiliating. But since she had been redeemed and taken as a wife, many things had changed. Her husband, the son of the tea merchant, was just an ordinary businessman, really wasnât a wealthy family. She couldnât show her face, but after all, they needed firewood, rice, oil and salt. The silver that Ji Shuran gave was enough to let the old and young in the family be worry free for a few years. Thus, she wasnât able to refuse and gave directions to Jiang You Yao in private.
Fortunately, Jiang You Yao was quite a good seedling. Teaching a disciple with ingeniousness was always better than those with mediocre aptitude.
She further heard Mian Ju continue saying: âBut your discipleâŠ. Is really nothing great.â
Although Jinghong fairy had a good temper, she also felt uncomfortable at the moment and asked: âMister, please advise.â
âFairy donât blame this old man for being polite,â Mian Ju grinned and said: âThis Jiang third miss only acquired fairyâs form, but didnât acquire fairyâs spirit. Your disciple was almost able to fully play the hundred forms of the group of wild geese inăWild Geese on the Shoală. But this leisurely, bright and generous feeling still fell short by a lot.â
Jinghong fairy was upset, but she knew Mian Ju was right. She was aware of this problem in Jiang You Yao, she had also exerted great effort to help her. However, the thing with music was, the teachers could only teach them the fingering and techniques, but the students had to understand the heart of guqin themselves, nobody could help them with this. Thereâs no way around it if Jiang You Yao couldnât comprehend the heart of guqin.
âAftar all itâs still a young girl, age is still small and has no worries. Itâs normal not to comprehend this kind of artistic mood. Able to play like this is already very good. If thereâs nothing unexpected, perhaps this young lady would be todayâs number one.â Mian Ju smiled and added.
Jinghong fairy felt better upon hearing these last sentences from Mian Ju. She had never received any disciple, nor gave directions to any other person. If Jiang You Yao, whoâd gotten her guidance, in the end was still unable to come first, when this spread out, it would become a laughing matter.
When the two of them were talking, neither Xiao Deyin nor Shi Yan, the music teacher, said a word. Itâs usual for Xiao Deyin to keep to herself and didnât speak much. Shi Yan had an arrogant nature and was too lazy to pay attention to them.
On the contrary, Ji Heng, who was on the side, supported his chin with his fan while narrowing his eyes slightly, as if he was dozing off from boredom.