Chapter 6: The Lute and Flute Duet, Overnight in the Rear Palace
In the darkness, there was a complete silence. Liang Xin didn't know what to say or even want to say anything else. Wang Zhao Yi in the darkness also didn't know what she was thinking about and for a long time didn't utter a word.
The room was as silent as death, and Liang Xin could clearly hear the sound of his own heartbeat. After a while, a flame burst forth, and five brass lanterns were lit up, illuminating the entire room as bright as daybreak.
Liang Xin stood up from the ground, her eyes slightly wide. Behind a black ancient zither sat a woman in white clothes, looking around twenty-three or four years old. Without thinking, she was naturally the owner of this Jade Cold Palace, Wang Zhao Yi. Wang Zhao Yi's long green silk was casually tied behind her back, and her white and beautiful face had three parts coldness, three parts loneliness, and four parts sorrow.
Liáng Xīn unconsciously swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and his heart kept saying: "This world actually still has such beautiful women, it's a great blessing to see such women even if only for a glance."
Wang Zhaoyi's eyes were initially fixed intently on the guqin in front of her, then she raised her head and her gaze fell on Liang Xin. Wang Zhaoyi said: "I didn't expect that the only one who could understand my music in the entire palace would be a small eunuch, what's your name?"
"Replying to Your Ladyship," said Liang Xian with a slight bow, "I am called Liang Xian."
"Conscience?" Wang Zhaoyi sneered: "Will people in this world really have a conscience?"
Liang Xian's expression was momentarily stuck, and he could only force himself to explain: "It's the Liang of 'Liang Shang Junzi', and the Xian of 'Xian Huo Xiang Chuan'."
"Is Lord Liang passing on firewood?" This time Wang Zhaoyi really laughed, these eight characters read together aren't they saying that Liang Xian is a thief?
Liang Xin's face changed, and he said gloomily, "It's over. I also told her my usual self-introduction when I was hitting on girls." In modern times, Liang Xin would introduce himself this way every time he hit on a girl, showcasing his humor and uniqueness, easily sparking the girl's interest in getting to know him better.
Wang Zhaoyi didn't cling to Liang Xin's name and instead asked: "Do you understand music?"
Liang Xiao thought for a moment and said: "I have some basic understanding, but I won't play the zither."
"Oh? The palace actually has a eunuch who understands poetry and rhythm, if you can't play the lute then what can you do?"
"I'm somewhat familiar with playing the sheng."
Liang Xian answered and immediately thought of his own miserable past when he thought playing the xiao flute would make him look more talented and charming to girls, so he practiced hard. After mastering it, he wrote "skilled in music, especially fond of playing the xiao flute" on his Penguin ID signature. As a result, within one day, over 300 comrades added his Penguin ID, while the women who were originally on his friend list ignored him completely.
"Blowing the Xiao?"
Wang Zhaoyi stood up and walked towards the wall behind her, and it was only then that Liang Xin saw a jade flute hanging there. Wang Zhaoyi took down the jade flute and handed it to Liang Xin, saying: "Would you like to play a duet with me on the zither and flute?"
"Qin Xiao duet?" Liang Xin was slightly stunned, he didn't notice that Wang Zhaoyi had changed from "Ben Gong" to "I". Liang Xin said: "I only know one piece of Qin Xiao duet."
"Only one? What's its name?" Wang Zhaoyi asked.
Liang Xiaoyu's mouth corner revealed a hint of a smile as he proudly said: "The Smiling Proud Wanderer."
"Laughing proudly... in the rivers and lakes?" Wang Zhaoyi lowered her head, softly repeating these four words. Her beautiful eyes grew brighter and brighter. Then she raised her head and asked Liang Xin: "I don't know, can you teach me?"
Liang Xiao carefully recalled the classic piano and flute duet score from the 1996 version of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, and after confirming that he could still remember it completely, Liang Xiao nodded and said, "Alright, I'll teach you."
Liang Xiao didn't notice either that he had already forgotten Wang Zhaoyi's identity.
Wang Zhao Yi's musical attainments were very high, and both the qin and sheng were excellent. Liang Xin only taught Wang Zhao Yi for half an hour, and Wang Zhao Yi was already able to play the entire "Laughing at the Riverside" fluently. After confirming that Wang Zhao Yi had mastered it, Liang Xin picked up the jade sheng and said: "Good, let's do it together once."
"Hmm." Wang Zhaoyi's eyes shone with excitement as she nodded vigorously in response.
"Alright, ready, start!" Liang Xian pressed down on the flute hole with both hands.
Wang Zhao Yi plucked the strings of her zither, and a rapid melody immediately filled the air. Right after that, Liang Xin's sheng sounded out, and the two people's music blended together perfectly. At first, one playing the zither and the other blowing the sheng wasn't anything special, but when they reached the climax of the song, the two of them unconsciously started exchanging gazes.
The two of them seemed to have both fallen into the atmosphere of the music, and when the song ended they looked at each other for a long time without saying a word.
Suddenly a mouse squeaked twice, and Wang Zhaoyi immediately came to her senses and said somewhat flusteredly: "The... the sky is getting late, you should go back."
Liang Xin was suddenly enlightened and remembered that the beauty in front of him was the Zhaoyi Niangniang from the palace. Not to mention playing the qin and sheng with her at midnight, even thinking about it would lead to being tortured to death if others found out.
Liang Xin's back broke out in a cold sweat, and he nodded silently before turning to leave. As he stepped out of the door, Liang Xin suddenly felt a pang of loss in his heart, faint yet distinct.
As soon as Liang Xin walked out of the Yuhancang Palace gate, he suddenly heard a series of footsteps. Then two teams of guards carrying lanterns came over from the corners on both sides to patrol. Liang Xin was startled and immediately remembered that it was now curfew time. So Liang Xin immediately returned to the Yuhancang Palace and stopped at the palace gate.
"Creak..." The vermilion carved wooden door opened, and Wang Zhaoyi glanced at Liang Xin before pulling her hand to enter the house.
Liang Xiao looked somewhat embarrassed at the outside of the house and then at Wang Zhao Yi, finally only stretching out his right hand to say: "I... I forgot to return your jade flute."
"Pfft~" Wang Zhaoyi covered her mouth and chuckled softly, and Liang Xin was immediately dazed by this one smile.
Wang Zhaoyi pulled Liang Xin's hand and walked into the bedroom, saying: "The curfew has already started. If you wander around the palace, you will be caught by the Imperial Guards and beaten with a board. Why don't you rest in my palace tonight and leave early tomorrow morning?"
"Eh." Liang Xin nodded and walked straight over to sit down beside the bed.
Wang Zhaoyi looked at Liang Xin in surprise and asked: "Are you going to sleep on the bed?"
Liang Xin looked around and found that there was only one bed in the bedroom. He quickly jumped up from the bed and said, "I'll sleep on the floor."
Wang Zhaoyi nodded and pointed to the wooden cabinet by the bed: "There are quilts and porcelain pillows in the cabinet, take care of yourself."
"Oh." Liang Xin went to get the quilt and pillow, and after laying down the bedding, Liang Xin was about to sleep when Wang Zhaoyi asked: "Liang Xin, is 'The Smiling Proud Wanderer' a song you composed? I've never heard of such a song before."
Liang Xin didn't hesitate at all and nodded immediately: "A tune I wrote when I was bored before."
"Is this really your creation? Do you have any other compositions?" Wang Zhaoyi asked Liang Xin excitedly.
Liang Xin thought for a moment and said: "There are many, I don't know if you can bear to hear them."
"Go on, you come and I'll try playing it." Wang Zhaoyi pulled Liang Xin's hand and walked towards the hall, Liang Xin shook his head helplessly and called out in a sad voice: "Please..."
Sitting beside the guqin in the main hall, Liang Xin hummed and sang "A Laugh from the Sea" for Wang Zhaoyi. The lyrics and melody instantly stunned Wang Zhaoyi.
"The blue sea laughs, the waves surge on both shores. Floating and sinking with the waves, I remember this morning. The vast sky laughs, the world's tides are numerous, who loses or wins, only heaven knows...". Wang Zhaoyi murmured these lyrics in a daze.
Liang Xin thought for a moment and said: "Actually, there's another song that you might really like. Let me sing it to you."
"The wind stopped, the clouds knew, love left and my heart naturally cleared. He came quietly, he left quietly. You were not in my expectation, disrupting my peaceful pace... I float, you sway, like rootless wild grass, when the dream woke up and the sky cleared..."
A song of Zhou Xun's "Floating", Liang Xin sang it to her in a similar hoarse voice as Zhou Xun. Soon Wang Zhaoyi shed tears, humming along with Liang Xin this song "Floating"…
And so Cinderella and the prince lived happily ever after...
"Why do they all like to be with the prince? Snow White is like that, Sleeping Beauty is like that, and Cinderella is also like that. Is being a princess really that happy? No freedom, no friends... if I had to choose, I'd rather marry a commoner and live an ordinary life."
"Every life has its difficulties. Life in the palace may not be free, but the lives of common people are not necessarily good either. Commoners have to suffer from the oppression of the rich and officials, work hard for survival, and calculate every penny for a living. Whether it is happiness or not actually depends on whether two people truly love each other, rather than what kind of life they live."
"What is love? What is love?"
"Love is when two people, whether they are together or not, will always think of each other. When the other person is happy, I am happy too; when the other person is unhappy, I am also unhappy... In my eyes, the other person is the most perfect person under heaven... Oh dear, I'm sleepy, let's talk about it later..."
