CH 181

Fang Yun smiled at Cui Mu, waiting for his response.

"I'm still young and don't understand much, so I can only speak of what I've personally witnessed. Last year, when Jing Kingdom was defeated, my grandfather cursed the traitors and his illness worsened. Even the medical practitioners with their medical books couldn't help. This year, when Mr. Fang emerged, my grandfather and father, among others, said that you are the hope of Jing Kingdom and the human race. They were extremely happy. Whenever they heard your poetry, they would write it down and hang it in the study. Every time something related to you happened, our whole family would discuss it after dinner. I think my grandfather was willing to exhaust his talent to create Treasures of Literature for you because he placed the hope of Jing Kingdom's revival and the rise of the human race on you. It was his last contribution to Jing Kingdom and the human race."

When Cui Mu mentioned his grandfather's worsening condition, his eyes reddened, but he held back his tears.

The boy's naive voice was sincere and genuine. It didn't contain any profound truths, but it moved everyone, including Fang Yun.

The old Imperial Scholar, Cui, smiled contentedly.

Fang Yun looked at Cui Mu carefully, nodded, and asked, "Do you regret that the Cui family lost the opportunity to exchange Treasures of Literature for official titles?"

Cui Mu hesitated for a moment.

A middle-aged man next to him sternly said, "Speak your mind! No hiding!"

Cui Mu had no choice but to say, "Of course, I regret it. But my grandfather said a few days ago that your chances of being canonized are even greater than those of Jianmei. If you are canonized, and we, the Cui family, publicize that the Treasures of Literature you have were infused with my grandfather's talent, the benefits will definitely be greater than ordinary official titles!"

Everyone in the room laughed, and Feng Yuanjun laughed the hardest. The child was speaking the truth.

"Have you memorized the 'Three Character Classic'?" Fang Yun asked.

Cui Mu raised his head proudly and said, "I have memorized everything that Mr. Fang has written!"

Fang Yun joked, "Did you also memorize 'The West Chamber'?"

"Ah? Does that count too?" Cui Mu widened his eyes, his face full of distress, finally showing the innocence of a child.

Everyone laughed again.

"Then recite the 'Three Character Classic' for me," Fang Yun said.

Cui Mu immediately recited the 'Three Character Classic' loudly and accurately.

Fang Yun then tested Cui Mu on some basic knowledge and asked for his opinions on some matters. The questions were all spontaneous, and there was no way anyone could have coached him on how to answer.

In the end, he found that this child was indeed outstanding. If he were placed in the Fang family school in Dayuan Prefecture, he would definitely be a top student.

"Good, solid foundation, flexible mind, appropriate responses. You have your own opinions and are not completely influenced by external factors. You are qualified to be my disciple," Fang Yun nodded.

Several members of the Cui family immediately signaled to Cui Mu.

Cui Mu hesitated for a moment, then shyly knelt in front of Fang Yun with a cup of tea, respectfully saying, "Student Cui Mu, offering tea to the teacher."

Fang Yun took the tea with one hand and helped Cui Mu up with the other.

Excitement flashed in the eyes of the old Imperial Scholar, Cui, and his breathing became rapid. The Cui family members immediately came forward to assist him.

Feng Yuanjun said, "Let the old man rest first, we'll go out."

After leaving the old Imperial Scholar's bedroom, Feng Yuanjun helped Fang Yun and the Cui family finalize the matter of infusing talent. Then he asked Fang Da Niu to go back and get the Zhen Dan Qin.

While Fang Da Niu was getting the Qin, Fang Yun chatted with the other members of the Cui family. He found that the Cui family, as a scholarly family that had produced the old Imperial Scholar, was indeed knowledgeable and understanding. Although no one in the family was a Presented Scholar and the highest literary position was that of an Accomplished Scholar, they all understood things very clearly.

Soon, Fang Da Niu returned with the Zhen Dan Qin. The Cui family members all showed sadness, but none of them objected.

The old Imperial Scholar's eldest grandson personally took the Zhen Dan Qin into the old man's bedroom. After a while, a new Zhen Dan Qin was brought out.

The body of the Zhen Dan Qin was originally black, but over the years, the color of the wood had shown through, turning it brown. Due to the vibration of the strings and the sound, slight cracks had appeared in some parts of the Qin body, forming a rare snake belly pattern.

Most of the strings were as white as jade, but some parts that were frequently touched by fingers had changed color.

Compared to the previous Zhen Dan Qin, the new one had a faint luster on its surface, and the whole Qin exuded a profound aura.

Fang Yun knew that this Qin carried the old Imperial Scholar's hopes.

Fang Yun wanted to see the old Imperial Scholar, but the Cui family said that the old man was sleeping and it was not convenient to see him. Fang Yun had to give up, even giving up the idea of playing a song for the old Imperial Scholar.

Before leaving, Fang Yun gave Cui Mu a few instructions and subtly told him to inform him when the old Imperial Scholar passed away.

Without the support of talent, the old Imperial Scholar would not live past August.

The Cui family was very understanding and politely saw Fang Yun off.

Once he got on the carriage, Fang Yun's mood was somewhat low.

Feng Yuanjun advised, "This is your first encounter with such a situation, it's natural to feel upset. However, you can think of it this way, since it has already happened, dwelling on it won't help. Instead, focus on learning to play the qin and harness the power of this Treasures of Literature qin to slay demons and eradicate barbarians. The more you kill, the happier Mr. Cui will be."

"I understand, I'm not upset, just a bit melancholic."

"That's good."

Returning home, Fang Yun placed the Treasures of Literature qin on the stand.

Yang Yuhuan and Nunu were both curious about the qin. Nunu jumped onto the qin and randomly plucked the strings with its little paws. The sound it produced was particularly unpleasant, causing it to cover its ears and retreat far away, whimpering as if to say: terrible qin!

Nunu's antics improved Fang Yun's mood considerably, and he began to try out the qin.

Fang Yun first placed his right index finger on the string and plucked inward, a basic qin technique known as "smearing".

"Hum…"

Fang Yun nodded, the tone was pure, and it had a peculiar force that ordinary qins lacked. If you listened carefully, it sounded a bit like a war drum.

Next, Fang Yun continued to pluck the string with his right index finger, but this time from inside out, this was "picking".

Then he switched to his middle finger, also plucking from inside out, this could not be called "picking", but "ticking".

Fang Yun slowly tested the sound with both hands, first using basic fingerings, then combined fingerings, and found this Imperial Scholar's Treasures of Literature qin increasingly handy.

After trying out the Treasures of Literature qin, Fang Yun and Yang Yuhuan attempted to play a duet of "Autumn Wind Tune" on the qin and se. Although Fang Yun's mastery was not yet proficient, and there were frequent minor issues during the duet, both of them were very satisfied with the feeling.

Nunu was also extremely envious of the two's harmonious qin and se performance. After Fang Yun finished playing, it tried to pluck the strings with its little paws again. As the string vibrated, it shivered all over, showing an unbearable expression, then jumped away from the qin, whimpering as if to say it would rather die than touch this ghostly thing again.

In the evening, a servant came in and said, "Master, there is a man outside who claims to be a servant of the prestigious Bian family. He says he can accept the exchange of one-third of the Dragon King's horn for a talent infusion, but the prerequisite is to accept three disciples from the Bian family as students."

"Oh, I see, let him go." Fang Yun said without lifting his head.

"Yes."

Soon after, General Yu Xingshu sent a letter by carrier pigeon.

Fang Yun opened it and read that the Mid-Autumn Literary Meeting would be held in a month. Due to the Holy Land, it was likely to be the largest literary meeting of the ten nations this year. He suggested Fang Yun to spend more time on Mid-Autumn poetry, and to go to the military camp after returning from the Holy Land, so there was no need to go now.

Fang Yun was worried about not having enough time to learn the qin, so he rearranged his study time. Two hours for sleep, two hours for meals and rest, ten hours for studying the classics of All the Saints, and the remaining ten hours for practicing the qin.

Thus, Fang Yun played the qin in his study, while Yang Yuhuan played the se in her boudoir.

In order to improve his qin skills as quickly as possible, Fang Yun listed all the pieces for the ancient qin grading exams from his previous life, a total of ten levels. Then he wrote out all the music scores for the first and second level pieces, including "Lament of the Xiang Consort", "Ancient Qin Chant", "Good Evening Chant", "Two Cranes Listening to the Spring", and other fifteen pieces without missing a single one.

After writing the scores for the fifteen pieces, Fang Yun memorized the score for "Lament of the Xiang Consort", and then began to play.

Once he started playing, Fang Yun felt an irresistible urge to continue, as he found his fingering and understanding of the qin had suddenly improved by a whole level. His playing was exceptionally smooth, not at all like his first time, but as if he had played hundreds of times.

Unknowingly, Fang Yun became engrossed in his playing, and it was only when Fang Dan reminded him late at night that he realized he had been playing all night, and reluctantly stopped.

Unable to play the qin at night, Fang Yun carefully recalled his playing process, finding his skills becoming more and more proficient, and he was able to express his own emotions, but he always found it difficult to infuse his emotions into the sound of the qin. If he could not achieve this, he would never reach the first realm of the qin, "Sound and Emotion in Harmony".

Fang Yun did not give up, but closed his eyes and thought slowly, searching for his own problems. It took him half an hour to suddenly understand.

"So that's it! I play the qin for the sake of war songs, with a strong desire to win and too much utilitarianism, losing the purest and most essential pursuit of music. To be precise, music, like all kinds of noise, is a kind of sound wave, but music is music because it contains emotions! Yes, emotions! That's the key!"

Fang Yun suddenly opened his eyes, a smile on his face."Playing a piece of music, the score, fingering, and technique are not the most important, and they shouldn't even be the first step. The first step should be understanding the theme and story of the piece, knowing what story it is telling, what scenery it is depicting, and then you can begin to understand the emotions within the music!"

"Understand the composer's emotions, and try to interpret the music with the composer's feelings first, this is the first step."

"Then, after you can play the piece freely, forget the original author's feelings, and re-experience the most primitive sound in this melody."

"Next, based on your understanding of the piece, brew and accumulate your own emotions."

"Afterwards, you can integrate your own emotions into the music. This is probably the first realm of the Way of the Zither, 'Resonance of Sound and Emotion'."

"A higher step, without deliberately thinking or trying to integrate, when you pluck the strings, the strings will automatically convey the sound deep in your heart. When you reach this step, it should be the second realm of the Way of the Zither."

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"Later, when using battle music, the first step is probably to integrate your own emotions. If you can't integrate your killing intent and fighting spirit into the battle music, how can you possibly make the battle music kill the enemy!"

.(To be continued.)