Chapter 053: Learning To Play The Qin

Xie Wei, in his previous life, ultimately became the emperor, or did he go after that Emei Moon?

She thought about it and felt a bit confused.

But upon careful consideration, having done so many things that defied the norms and committed so many killings, if he didn’t become the emperor in the end, his fate probably wouldn’t be good, right?

Since it wasn’t time for class yet, Xie Wei tried the sound of the qin and then sat aside without saying a word to them.

Logically, this was the break between two classes, and everyone could move around and rest freely.

But Xie Wei sitting there had a strange deterrent effect, making people not dare to speak loudly or move around freely. Everyone stayed in their seats obediently, fearing to leave a bad impression on him.

As a result, the hall was quiet, with a rare tranquility.

It wasn’t until the two moments of rest had passed that Xie Wei stood up again and went to the front of the hall.

At this moment, all nine students, including Princess Leyang, stood up and bowed to him, saying, “Greetings, Master Xie.”

Xie Wei waved his hand and said, “No need for formalities.”

On the high desk, there was a ruler.

He glanced at it, picked it up casually, and after everyone sat down, he said, “Today we will learn the qin. I know that most of you, including the princess, already have some understanding of it. But since you are now learning from me, please forget everything you have learned before and start anew.”

Jiang Xuening felt her fingers ache at the sight of the ruler.

Hearing Xie Wei’s words, she felt it was no different from her previous life.

In her previous life, she was happy when she first heard these words, thinking that if she started from scratch, she might not be worse than those noble ladies.

However, reality was cruel.

Sometimes, one has to admit that heaven is fair: it gave her an extraordinary appearance but did not give her a comfortable family background or the talent for all the arts.

“The ancients said that the heavens have five stars, the earth has five elements, and the world has five sounds. So it is said that in the earliest times, Shennong made the qin from paulownia wood and used silk strings, with only the five sounds of gong, shang, jue, zhi, and yu, corresponding to the five stars above and the five elements below, producing the sacred sound. Later, King Wen of Zhou, imprisoned in Youli, missed his son Bo Yikao and added a string called the wen string; King Wu of Zhou, in his campaign against Zhou, added another string called the wu string. From then on, it was called the ‘Wenwu Seven-stringed Qin.’”

Xie Wei held the ruler, his hand behind his back.

He walked down from the hall, his gaze sweeping over the faces of the people below. “Learning the qin is not easy, like rowing upstream, sometimes harder than studying. It is said that it takes three years to achieve a small success, five years for a medium success, and seven years for a great success, which is based on ‘technique.’ However, learning the qin is about ‘Dao,’ and only with ‘Dao’ can one be considered successful. But you are all young, and in just half a year, you can’t learn much. If you can grasp the basics and understand the technique a little, it is not bad. So today, I will start with ‘sitting’ and ‘fingers.’”

He was used to lecturing the emperor and the court officials in the Wen Yuan Pavilion, so teaching this group of young girls was like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. The previous Master Zhao from the Hanlin Academy was impatient, but he was calm and spoke gently.

He was neither condescending nor did he look down on them.

Standing in the Fengchen Hall teaching these young girls was no different from lecturing the emperor in the Wen Yuan Pavilion.

Everyone had seen Zhao Yanhong’s impatient attitude when he taught them before. Knowing that Xie Wei was the imperial tutor who lectured the emperor and the court officials in the previous dynasty, they had heard of his saintly demeanor but still worried that he might be as harsh as Zhao.

Hearing his gentle manner now, they all felt relieved.

The bolder ones, like Shen Zhiyi, who were more familiar with Xie Wei, tentatively raised their hands. “Master Xie, how many years have you been learning the qin, and what level are you at now?”

Xie Wei glanced at her and smiled. “I started learning the qin at the age of four, and now I can barely say I’ve touched the threshold.”

Everyone was astonished.

Shen Zhiyi counted on her fingers and exclaimed, “That means you’ve been learning for over twenty years and only reached a small achievement…”

Xie Wei replied, “I consider myself slow-witted. If the princess is talented and perceptive, she might not need as long.”

He stopped right in front of Jiang Xuening.

Hearing him call himself “slow-witted,” Jiang Xuening couldn’t help but look up at him: If someone like Xie Wei is “slow-witted,” then who in the world is smart?

However, Xie Wei’s face showed no sign of false modesty; instead, he was serious and solemn.

She then realized—

Xie Wei genuinely believed he was slow-witted, having only achieved a small success in the qin after more than twenty years.

Since they were all learning the qin today, everyone’s qin was neatly placed on their desks.

Jiang Xuening’s qin was no exception.

The qin, named Jiao’an, was placed right in front of her.

Xie Wei glanced down, his gaze naturally falling on the qin. It seemed he recognized it, as he looked at it for a moment before raising his eyes to scrutinize Jiang Xuening.

Jiang Xuening felt a chill down her spine.

Fortunately, Xie Wei seemed to only look at her because of the qin and didn’t say anything more. He soon turned and walked back to the front of the hall.

Then the lesson on the qin officially began.

The first thing they learned was how to sit.

This wasn’t difficult for them.

After all, during the selection process a few days ago, they had already learned “walking, sitting, and lying down” from Su Shangyi. Although the sitting posture for playing the qin was slightly different, the principles were the same: the body must not sway, the head must not move, the eyes must not wander, and the ears must not listen to other sounds. There were rules to follow.

Jiang Xuening, having experienced the court in her previous life, had already made a great impression under Su Shangyi. Now, in front of Xie Wei, she dared not be careless.

Xie Wei looked at each of them and nodded.

Finally, he stopped in front of her, and with a rare look of appreciation, said, “Not bad.”

Hearing these two words, Jiang Xuening remained calm on the surface, but inside she was ecstatic.

Xie Wei had praised her because he thought she did well. However, after praising her, he noticed that her face inexplicably showed some guilt, her expression was forced, and sitting in front of the Jiao’an guqin, she looked as if she were sitting on pins and needles.

Was she that scared?

Although he didn’t know why he seemed like a terrifying beast to her, he assumed he had frightened her and didn’t think much of it.

Then they moved on to learning finger techniques—

Xie Wei started with the eight techniques of the right hand, planning to proceed step by step, from easy to difficult. He first demonstrated the techniques of plucking, picking, hooking, and lifting, and then had them follow his example.

Some of the noble girls had already learned these techniques and could do them in one go.

Thus, simple and intermittent qin sounds filled the Fengchen Hall.

However…

There was always one sound that was either too fast or too slow, sometimes short, sometimes with a long tremor, and occasionally mixed with the noise of fingers accidentally touching other strings.

Xie Wei’s brow furrowed immediately.

Originally, one qin sound among the many uneven and intermittent sounds was not obvious. But with his many years of qin practice and deep understanding, he had developed a keen ear. Hearing this one sound felt like a dull sword cutting through beautiful jade, a rusty knife slicing through silk.

It was jarring and extremely unpleasant!

After hearing it four or five times, he couldn’t bear it any longer and looked towards the source of the sound.

Who else could it be but Jiang Xuening?

She sat behind the qin, her posture correct, and with her exceptionally beautiful face and delicate fingers on the strings, she was a sight to behold.

However, her fingers on the qin were completely uncoordinated.

They looked like chicken claws!

Her touch was either too light, like blowing on cotton, or too heavy, as if she could break the strings!

Xie Wei watched the strings tremble and groan under her fingers, feeling a blockage in his chest, his eyelids twitching.

Sitting with such a posture, yet playing like this!

No wonder she felt guilty when he praised her earlier.

Jiang Xuening didn’t realize Xie Wei was watching her. She just felt her hands were out of control. When applying makeup, they were steady, but on the qin strings, they lost their precision.

It wasn’t surprising.

Other girls learned embroidery at a young age, but she was running barefoot in the countryside, catching fish in the river, climbing trees to catch cicadas, and taking other people’s chickens and ducks for walks…

She had never learned anything delicate or refined. She had no interest in the qin.

It sounded nice, but that was it.

How could she distinguish the different notes?

Her hands and heart were not suited for learning the qin; it was like asking for her life.

The more Jiang Xuening played, the more she felt her sound was different from others, making her more anxious. When she looked up, Xie Wei was already standing in front of her.

Her hand shook, almost breaking the string.

Xie Wei looked down at her and asked, “Never learned before?”

Jiang Xuening felt stiff all over and replied nervously, “Didn’t you say to pretend we never learned and start over?”

Xie Wei’s eyelid twitched again.

Jiang Xuening felt a chill down her neck.

Xie Wei held back his frustration, glanced at the qin under her hands, and said, “Just sit there and don’t ruin the qin.”

He recognized the qin’s origin!

Jiang Xuening felt a pang of regret, thinking she should have known: Xie Wei loved fine qins. Yan Lin said bringing a good qin to class would please him, but a good qin wasn’t for everyone. If the player didn’t match the qin, it would only annoy Xie Wei.

Now she was the one unworthy of the qin.

Although Xie Wei spoke softly, the Fengchen Hall was small, and everyone could hear.

The surrounding qin sounds quieted down.

Everyone’s subtle and strange gazes fell on her.

Jiang Xuening, hearing Xie Wei tell her to “just sit,” didn’t dare touch the qin again. She thought if she wasn’t worthy of this qin, maybe she could use a lesser one without ruining it.

She timidly said, “Master Xie…”

Xie Wei, seeing she obediently stopped touching the qin, felt a bit relieved and was about to walk away when he heard her voice and paused.

Jiang Xuening, heart in her throat, mustered the courage to say, “How about I use a lesser qin?”

“……”

Xie Wei’s heavy ruler pressed into his palm, and his long fingers tightened slightly. When he looked at her again, his eyes twitched, and his gaze darkened.

He thought she was obedient.

Unexpectedly, instead of thinking about how to match the qin, she wanted to switch to a lesser qin to match herself!

His face turned cold, and he pointed towards the hall door with the ruler, saying, “You, go out first.”

Jiang Xuening was stunned.

She followed Xie Wei’s direction, her mind going blank with a loud buzz.

She felt like she had lost her soul.

Even though she had a thousand questions and a thousand grievances, she couldn’t say a word to Xie Wei. Her eyes reddened, and she stood up and walked out of the hall, standing by the column outside. She couldn’t understand what she had done to offend him, to be punished and humiliated like this.

Even in her previous life, she had never suffered such an injustice.

Jiang Xuening hadn’t slept well the night before, worried about the Yongyi Marquis’s household. This morning, learning the qin with Xie Wei had her on edge, fearing to anger him. Now, standing under the corridor, the more she thought about it, the angrier she became.

Without the previous life’s You Fangyin, and using Zhou Yinzhi for the Yongyi Marquis’s matters, she was now under Xie Wei’s scrutiny. Yet, she hadn’t done anything truly wrong in this life.

Why was he so harsh on her?

What started as a small grievance grew into a larger one.

Jiang Xuening didn’t know what triggered it, but all her sorrows from past and present lives surged up, and tears began to fall.

She tried to wipe them away, but the more she wiped, the more they flowed, uncontrollably.

Xie Wei had originally said, “You go out first,” intending to instruct the others to practice before speaking to her alone. But halfway through his instructions, he heard faint sobbing from outside.

He turned and looked out, freezing in place.

The brightly dressed girl wore a light purple skirt today, her slender figure standing by the column, crying and wiping her tears as if she had suffered a great injustice. It was both infuriating and amusing to watch.

Yet, when they were attacked on the way back to the capital, covered in mud, she hadn’t cried…

Xie Wei looked at her, feeling a bit guilty. He raised his hand to press his brow, softening his voice, “Stop crying, come back in.”

Jiang Xuening’s sobbing stopped abruptly.

She felt that her crying had little to do with Xie Wei, but this small grievance had triggered a larger one. She thought Xie Wei was heartless and would make her stand outside for an hour.

Who knew he would suddenly call her back in?

Surprised and caught off guard, Jiang Xuening’s expression turned strange.

Her mind raced, and a thought flashed through: Could it be that Xie Wei actually fell for this?!

She couldn’t believe it.

Thinking back, had she ever cried in front of Xie Wei in her previous life?

No, not once.

Jiang Xuening’s mind shifted, and after stopping her tears for a moment, she began to sob again.

She could cry on command, and this time it looked real but was fake.

Sure enough, Xie Wei showed a slightly pained expression and said, “I didn’t mean to punish you, come back and sit down.”

It worked!

Jiang Xuening almost laughed out loud.

Who would have thought Xie Wei’s weakness was here?

She felt triumphant, thinking that this man, despite his two lives of authority, would eventually fall into her hands. But she still looked aggrieved, softly saying “Oh,” and walked back inside to her seat.

Then Xie Wei glanced at her and said calmly, “Stay behind after class.”

Jiang Xuening: “……”

I was too young, too happy too soon.