Chapter 27: Diao Chan

  Since they already knew the outcome of Cao Cao's assassination of Dong Zhuo, Long Fei did not take the bait set by Wang Yun and Cao Cao. That night, everyone stayed at Wang Yun's mansion. The mansions of high-ranking officials were indeed much better than inns, with spacious rooms, complete facilities, and even dedicated servants.

  At midnight, a burst of piano music woke up Long Fei. When he entered the door in the afternoon, someone was playing the piano in the pavilion on a cold winter day, and Long Fei thought it was strange. Now that it's late at night again, it must be someone who loves the piano like his life. Long Fei didn't understand music, he only knew how to sing those military songs he learned in the army camp, and he didn't want to get out of his warm bed. But the continuous piano sound made it impossible for people to sleep.

  Treading on the thick snow, following the sound of the guqin to the backyard. Not very far away, the sound of the guqin was coming from the pavilion in the bamboo forest. Separated by the dense and windproof bamboo forest, the sound of the guqin floated in the air, surrounded by darkness, this scene was somewhat terrifying. Long Fei searched for a path, taking deep and shallow steps towards the pavilion in the bamboo forest.

  "Hey! What's with playing the piano in the middle of the night!" Several dozen meters away, Long Fei saw a black figure in the pavilion playing the piano with their back to him.

  The music stopped abruptly, and the black figure suddenly got up, hugged its own piano, and quickly ran along the other side of the pavilion. Long Fei shouted twice, but the person didn't look back, hastily leaving, and disappeared after turning around a fake mountain. Judging from the silhouette, this person should be a woman, but why was she playing the piano here in the middle of the night? Who was she? These two questions remained in Long Fei's mind.

  In the next few days, several people lived comfortably in Wang Yun's mansion, enjoying a life of luxury and leisure. They would take casual strolls or practice martial arts with Zhao Yun and Taren in the courtyard. Since that night, Long Fei had not heard the sound of the guqin again. He asked the servants who attended to them, but everyone shook their heads, indicating they didn't know anything about it.

  That noon, Long Fei was explaining blood, muscle and cells to Hua Tuo when Wang Qian suddenly patted him on the back and pulled him aside: "I've checked all the places in the mansion that I can check, there's no trace of Master, do you think it's possible that guy deceived us?"

  Long Fei shook his head: "It won't work, this Situ Mansion is so big inside and out, it's easy to set up a secret room somewhere, no one will be able to find it. This matter isn't urgent, wait until Wu Fu and Cao Cao's assassination attempt fails, when they need us, the master will come out himself!"

  "How did you know they would fail? What if they succeeded?"

  Long Fei smiled and said: "I say he fails, he will definitely fail! By the way, do you still remember the sound of the guqin in the bamboo forest when we first came?"

  Wang Qian nodded: "Remember, what's wrong?"

  "Haven't you heard recently?"

  Wang Qian glanced at Long Fei: "Wasn't it you who scared her away? In my opinion, the one playing the piano should be a woman!" When saying this, Wang Qian's face was full of jealousy: "Honestly confess, have you taken a liking to that girl again?"

  "You're up too?"

  Wang Qian coldly snorted: "It's not just me, but also my second brother and Zhao brother, they've all woken up. With such a loud zither sound, who can sleep?"

  Long Fei smiled slightly: "You guys are too ungrateful, you all got up and didn't even greet me. However, I heard some problems from that woman's piano sound, it seems like there's something difficult to say. Since nothing is wrong now, why not start from here? Maybe we'll have an unexpected gain!"

  "Do you understand music?" Wang Qian was quite surprised.

  "Who doesn't understand this?" Long Fei raised his head: "Not only do I understand the rhythm, but I can also sing! Listen, we soldiers are different,..."

  This loud voice shocked Zhao Yun, Talen, Wang Wei, and even Hua Tuo who was thinking about blood and cells. Although they didn't know what Long Fei was singing, it was completely different from the songs they had heard before. But as soon as they heard this tune, their blood boiled with excitement. Even if Long Fei's voice wasn't great, his singing still conveyed a sense of vicissitudes. Everyone stared at him with wide eyes, shocked, completely shocked! Long Fei became more and more mysterious, from medicine, martial arts, military affairs, to music now, these things that were not related to each other, he actually surpassed ordinary people in all of them, leaving only worship in the eyes of the crowd.

  "......, that's it!" After finishing the song, Long Fei glanced at Wang Qian: "How is it? Don't you think your husband is very impressive?"

  Everyone was intoxicated by the dragon's flying sand and hoarse voice in a military song, when a maid came hastily and bowed to the crowd: "Dragon young master, my lady has an invitation!"

  Long Fei was taken aback: "Miss?" He hastily turned his head to look at Wang Qian, but Wang Qian had already turned her head and walked away.

  Wang Yun's daughter is none other than the famous Diao Chan, and if I can catch a glimpse of her, this trip to the Three Kingdoms won't be in vain. Following the maid, they turned around the bamboo forest and entered a small two-story building at the back. It was called a small building, but it was actually just a house with an additional roof on top, looking like two stories from the outside, but actually only one story, just with a slightly higher roof.

  Upon entering the house, all sorts of daily necessities were neatly arranged in their proper places, and the room was spotlessly clean. Near the back wall stood a bed, with cabinets on either side; a copper washbasin sat at the entrance, and a loom was placed beside the window. Under the left-hand wall, a low table held an ancient zither, while beside it a censer emitted wisps of fragrant smoke.

  A woman with a veil sat behind the piano, a pair of jade-like hands emerged from her sleeves and intimately touched the strings, playing the same song she had just sung, "The Soldier's Song". It sounded quite different. She must be Wang Yun's daughter. Long Fei hummed along to the rhythm of the music.

  As soon as the music stopped, the young lady got up gently, her movements were like a spring breeze blowing through willows, and her voice was like a yellow oriole's chirping: "The humble girl has finished playing, Dragon Young Master's one song is worth an army of men, singing makes millions of men's blood boil, the humble girl has never heard such beautiful music before, dare to ask Dragon Young Master who composed this piece?"

  Looking at her slender figure, listening to her gentle voice, Long Fei felt dizzy. This was Diao Chan, unfortunately the veil covered up her beautiful face, and Long Fei couldn't see her stunning appearance. "Ah!" Long Fei sighed: such a beauty would be ravished by someone like Dong Zhuo, just thinking about it made him feel sorry.

  "Why did you sigh, young master?" the young lady asked.

  Long Fei hastily said: "Nothing, I just thought that the composer of that piece is someone I've never met before, so I sighed!"

  "Oh! What a pity!" The young lady said: "Listening to the young master's song, this tune should have seven notes, which is very different from the five notes of the worldly music scores. I think the composer must be an extraordinary person. Does Dragon Young Master know any other tunes besides this one?"

  "Will! Of course will!" Long Fei immediately replied: "Like what, I am a soldier, from the common people, and also, unity is strength, this strength is iron, this strength is steel,……” Long Fei sang almost all the military songs he knew in one breath, and finally said: “Apart from these, I also know what, Little Swallow, Wearing Flowery Clothes……” After saying so much, not seeking anything else, just hoping to take a glance at Diao Chan's appearance, one of the Four Great Beauties.

  The young lady hastily stood up and bowed: "If Young Master Long has the time, would you be willing to teach these songs to me? I am eternally grateful!"

  "Of course, of course, no problem!" Long Fei immediately agreed: "I can only sing, I don't know how to write!"

  The maid smiled and said: "No need for you to write it down, just sing it once and our young mistress will remember!"

  The whole afternoon, the young lady's boudoir was filled with Long Fei's hoarse and unpleasant voice. One after another, Long Fei sang all the songs he could sing, would sing, or even just knew a line or two. His throat was sore from singing, and it hurt to speak. The young lady, on the other hand, wrote quickly, using the gong, shang, jue, zhi, yu notes to record the songs Long Fei sang, replacing the missing sounds with some symbols.

  When Long Fei returned to his room, he couldn't say a word and picked up the teapot on the table for a big gulp. Wang Qian stood by and gloated: "Not bad, continue tomorrow, sing a few more days, and don't think about speaking for this lifetime!"

  Long Fei smiled slightly and said in a voice that was almost gone, "We live here, eat their food, use their things, they have requirements, we should help. Besides, I know Wang Yun's daughter is a peerless beauty, can't help but take a look at her peerless face? I swear, I just want to take a look, absolutely no other intentions!"

  "Peerless beauty?" Upon hearing this, Wang Qian not only didn't get angry, but instead laughed: "Hahaha... Peerless beauty! Hahaha..." Laughing as she opened the door and left. Leaving Long Fei looking at her back in confusion.

  Just as Wang Qian had left, Zhao Yun walked in with a bowl of black medicine: "Big brother, this is special medicine for your throat, prescribed by Old Man Hua. Drink it while it's hot!" After putting down the medicine, Zhao Yun turned around to look at Wang Qian who was still laughing wildly: "What's wrong with Big Sister?"

  "She's just jealous! Jealous of the beauty of Miss Wang from the royal family, never mind her!" Long Fei lifted the bowl to his mouth and took a big gulp. The scalding hot medicine made him jump up and down, Zhao Yun hastily found something to help him cool down, while helping Long Fei wipe off the medicine from his body, he said: "Miss Wang isn't some kind of beauty! Everyone in Luoyang knows that Wang Yun's daughter is ugly beyond compare, how come? Did big brother see something different today than what people say?"

  "What? Is Diao Chan ugly beyond compare?" Long Fei looked at Zhao Yun.

  "Diao Chan? The young lady of the Wang family is not called Diao Chan, but rather something like Jin Ling'er. Her ugliness is renowned throughout Luoyang!"

  "No wonder I didn't see a mirror in the young lady's room!" Long Fei was completely stunned: "That's not right! Wang Yun's daughter should be Diao Chan, one of the four great beauties, how did she become Jin Ling'er? Where is Diao Chan? Without Diao Chan, how can we kill Dong Zhuo?"

  "I know who called Diao Chan!" Wang Wei stepped into the house.