Volume 1: Peaceful Childhood Chapter 43: Guqin (Second Update)

  The guqin was a deep, glossy black all over, with fine cracks on its body and a soft glow emanating from it due to frequent playing. He Lianyang carefully stroked the instrument's body, her eyes taking on an infatuated look. When her fingers touched the strings, they unconsciously plucked them, and the clear "ting" sound startled her awake.

  "Ah, is this a guzheng?" He Lian asked while his eyes were still fixed on it.

  "No, this is a guqin." Yun looked at her with a thoughtful expression, as if the sound had somehow conveyed a sense of understanding between humans and instruments. This guqin was something she had taken out from her storage space, and naturally, it wasn't an ordinary item since it could be stored in that space, already possessing some spiritual connection. After taking it out, she had only played it once, discovering that the instrument seemed to have a subtle aversion to her, so she never touched it again. Fortunately, she usually practiced in her storage space, and this guqin became an object for hiding her true intentions, making it unlikely for anyone to suspect that she was playing the guqin. Besides, there was another guqin in her storage space, one that was found to be the best, able to resonate with her heart's intent, far surpassing this instrument. So, she didn't pay much attention to this guqin either.

  "Guqin! Do you know how to play it? Can you teach me?" Upon hearing Yun Qingran's response, He Lianyang's eyes lit up immediately, filled with anticipation as he gazed at her.

  She actually wanted to refuse, but because of those shining eyes, she still nodded stiffly. "Alright, I'll teach you some basic fingerings first, and then you can practice on your own after you go back. Come back next week at this time and play for me again, and I'll teach you new things."

  Yun Qingran's words made He Lianyang's eyes shine even brighter, but they dimmed in an instant: "But my family hasn't bought a piano yet."

  Looking at He Lianyang's scrunched up face, Yun Qingyan felt that having this disciple wasn't so troublesome after all. This conflicted expression had apparently entertained her.

  "You have a predestined relationship with it, so I'll give you this guqin."

  He Lian Yangguang's heart was moved by Yun Qingran's words, she always felt a sense of closeness to this zither. This was indeed a crazy idea, but when she saw such a zither before, she didn't have such feelings. "But what can you do?" He Lian Yangguang asked with a red face, she really couldn't refuse Yun Qingran's suggestion.

  Yun Qingran looked at He Lianyang's entangled appearance with great interest, a smile in her eyes: "I have other zithers, this one doesn't suit me, I've only played it once, and usually just leave it here as decoration."

  Yun Qingran's words made He Lianyang's face flash with a hint of heartache: "Then I'll take it back, okay."

  What a simple child, putting everything on his face. Yun Qingran smiled and took out a beautiful embroidered piano bag from the storage cabinet in one corner of the piano room for He Lianyang: "This is for holding the piano, pack it up and take it back later. Now I'll tell you some knowledge about the guqin, and then teach you fingerings later."

  He Lian Yang sat cross-legged on the floor beside the guqin, quietly listening to Yun Qingran's words.

  "The guqin's craftsmanship is highly demanding, with the soundboard typically made from paulownia or spruce wood. The strings are stretched from coarse to fine, seven in total, and were originally made of silk but now mostly steel...". Yun Qingyan's voice rose and fell, entrancing He Lianyang as if he was drunk.

  "In the ancient guqin passed down since the Tang Dynasty, there are Fuxi, Lingji, Shennong, Xiangquan, Fengshi, Lianzhu, Zhongni, Lieyu, Lingguan, Shizhong, Yayue, Luoxia and Juye Guoyue, etc. The most common ones are Zhongni, Lianzhu, Fuxi, etc."

  "And this one is the lost pearl of the connected beads guqin..."

  The afternoon slipped away in Yun Qingran's storytelling, and soon He Lianyang's father would come to pick everyone up for dinner. Yun Qingran taught He Lianyang the basic fingerings of the guqin, making sure she memorized them before letting her put the instrument away in its case to take home later.

  In the evening, Sunny Dad drove to pick them up. Cloud Grandma was too tired and wanted to rest, so she didn't go. Only Cloud Grandpa and Cloud Qinger were left together. Sunny Dad took Cloud Qinger to a scenic ancient-style small building, where Sunny Mom was already waiting. Cloud Qinger looked around at the environment, which was obviously a private residence, with a hint of a private dining room.

  After asking about the taboos of Yun Lao Ye Zi and Yun Qing Ran, Yang Guang Da ordered the signature dish from the limited menu options here, and then started chatting with Yun Lao Ye Zi.

  Suddenly, Sunny Dad turned to He Lian Yang Guang: "Yangyang, what did you pick up from the car first?"

  At this moment, He Lian was enthusiastically telling Yun Qianran something when he heard his father's words and was stunned for a moment before reacting: "That is the guqin that Qianran gave me. She agreed to let me come find her every week on today to teach me."

  As for his daughter, Sunny Dad originally wanted to tell Sunny not to disturb Yun Qingran too much, but after thinking about it, he didn't say so. Instead, he changed his words: "Then you should study hard in the future and don't let Xiaoran's efforts go to waste."

  "That's for sure." He Lianyang said with great determination: "I will definitely study hard."

  The dishes were served quickly, and Yun Qingran tasted each one lightly, feeling that the flavors were not bad, but still far inferior to the ones made by the Cloud Manor itself. Even if it wasn't for the cooking skills, just the ingredients alone were far from comparable.

  Yun Lao Ye Zi and Yun Qing Ran, an old man and a young girl, couldn't possibly arrange any activities after dinner, so they directly returned to the Yun Manor. When Yun Qing Ran got off the carriage, He Lian Yang Guang kept pulling her, telling her to come find him next week and not to forget to wait for him at home.

  The next day was the time when Grandpa Yun had arranged for Yun Qingran to go to town for a medical examination, and Grandpa Yun also didn't have any medical appointments, so Yun Qingran naturally stayed at home.

  Recently, there have been various things happening during the day, so to ensure her daily practice time, she has been taking time from her studies. Additionally, with less personal time scheduled for the daytime, Xing Yu Yun suddenly shouted out loud.

  "You've been slacking off these past few days, and I spent half a day preparing everything just for you to learn better and faster..." Xing Yun's words shot out like stars, if she had any saliva.

  Yun Qingran bowed her head, pretending to listen intently, but in reality thinking about the formation she had studied earlier. To be honest, she wasn't really interested in those dance rituals, but under Xing's pressure, she had learned so much already, and it was even touted as a way to relax after studying hard. Heaven knows what constitutes hard studying for her, and if you can't meet her requirements, you have to keep practicing nonstop. Fortunately, she has a good aptitude, and with just two or three tries, she passes the test.

  At this moment, the formation she is studying is a high-level formation, which is the first high-level formation she has learned. As long as she masters it, she can be promoted to a senior formation master. The high-level formation lives up to its name and is hundreds of times more difficult than the intermediate formation she learned. It only took her a month to learn an intermediate formation at the beginning, but she has been studying this formation for more than three months and still doesn't understand it.