Chapter 46: The Prank Has No Limits

  Zhou Yu continued: Only the modern Western-style pianos and large triangular pianos can produce multiple, complex, and three-dimensional sounds. The tone is just as you said, my sister - like beautiful jade, warm, gentle, and close to the heart, a natural wonder of human beauty.

  And its greatest advantage, like the guqin, is that within an octave of twelve semitones, the "distance value" between any two notes a semitone apart is equal, which is a feature that no other temperament has.

  The superiority of this feature lies in the fact that music can now "freely and unimpededly" change keys, and conveniently apply harmony techniques. Thus, polyphonic thinking in music has soared to unprecedented heights, freely soaring in the vast sky.

  This theory called the twelve-tone equal temperament was actually invented by Zhu Zaiyu, a mathematician, astronomer and music theorist of the Ming Dynasty in China in 1584.

  Let's discuss again what you said earlier about the guqin, a traditional Chinese zither. Perhaps your true feeling is that the guqin is not as good as the Western piano, because nowadays the guqin basically has 12 to 21 strings, and in terms of playing techniques, I haven't seen any musician who can truly interpret its beautiful melodies.

  If you can really play the guqin well, then you will find that the guqin is not just those traditional playing techniques and heavenly sounds that you know.

  The guqin can also play the softest songs in your heart, its sound is like a gentle stream, winding and turning, with a hundred twists and turns.

  It can also interpret the ups and downs of your inner world and the journey of your heart; its sound is like a spring, flowing from your fingers like clouds and water, in harmony with the rhythm of your heart, silently dissolving into your blood.

  The guzheng can play out a hoarse rhythm; its sound is like the residual short and husky resonance, its tone is beautiful, its range is wide, and its playing skills are rich to give you pure and immersive music enjoyment!

  However, the above guzheng performances require some special playing techniques.

  So, in my sister's impression, the piano should be better than the guqin, but I think these two instruments have their own strengths and weaknesses, and are not comparable.

  Sister, are there pianos and guzhengs here? Brother can demonstrate them on the spot for you.

  Yes, it's really great. Hu Mei was excited like a child. Although, in Zhou Yu's eyes, she was originally a green apple loli.

  Humei, who had recovered a bit of physical and mental strength, dressed in formal attire, led Zhou Yu to the Hu family's music room, which was not far from her boudoir.

  As soon as Zhou Yu entered the music room, he found that it was an ocean of musical instruments combining Chinese and Western styles. There were the piano, known as the father of musical instruments, the violin, known as the mother of musical instruments, the classical guitar, known as the prince of musical instruments, and China's national musical instruments such as the erhu, guqin (also known as yaqin, yuqin, or qixianqin, one of China's oldest plucked instruments), guzheng, pipa, and more.

  Under Hu Mei's urging, Zhou Yujing calmed down and used some performing techniques from ancient to modern times, both Chinese and foreign, such as the alternating hand method of pressing and shaking, the mute finger technique, piano performance techniques that Hu Mei had never seen before, to play a piece called "Man Jiang Hong".

  Zhou Yu's moving auditory impression, combined with his enchanting visual impression, formed a highly perfect and unified performance that made Hu Mei listen to and watch him in a state of infatuation, her love and admiration for Zhou Yu surging like the Yangtze River, unstoppable and irrepressible.

  After slightly brewing his emotions, Zhou Yu continued to play a piece of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" on the piano. Here, Zhou Yu used his own understanding of this song, plus the loneliness, isolation, desolation, sadness, coldness and powerlessness that he had at the Shanghai dock at that time, the kind of mood that was out of place in this society, and the feeling of being alone with no one to tell.

  With his unusually agile and nimble hands, he changed Beethoven's slow and solemn Triple Concerto performance method, using a more exaggerated and dazzling playing technique than Liszt, to interpret a Moonlight Sonata with Chinese characteristics.

  When Zhou Yu emerged from his melancholy, with tears still streaking his face, he found himself surrounded by a crowd of people, all of whom had tear-stained faces and red-rimmed eyes staring blankly at him, as if they wanted to devour him whole before they could be satisfied.

  Tears streaming down her face, Hu Mei threw herself into Zhou Yu's arms, embracing him tightly and sobbing: "Zhou...big brother! As if she had suffered a great injustice.

  Helpless Zhou Yu hastily used his hand to gently pat Hu Mei's back, softly advising: Hey! Don't cry, don't cry anymore! Mei'er sister, don't be sad! Big Brother Zhou is fine here!

  It was old and thick-skinned Hu Xueyan who coughed repeatedly in the back, reminding Hu Mei of her own impropriety.

  Jiao Xi's face was redder than ever, she hastily and reluctantly left Zhou Yu's safe and warm arms, stood alone with her back to everyone, and awkwardly stomped her feet.

  Zhou Yu only now discovered that Hu Mei didn't have bound feet like the women of this Qing dynasty era, but was born with a pair of big feet that would be considered beautiful in later generations. Zhou Yu felt an inexplicable joy in his heart.

  Hu Xueyan chuckled and said with a sly glint in his eye: "Principal, you're truly a genius! I'm deeply impressed by you! But in my heart, I'm thinking: this little rascal has already hugged and touched my daughter, if you dare not to marry her, I'll fight you to the death, even if you're the King of Heaven! And with your exceptional talents and skills, both literary and martial, I won't let you go!"

  I don't dare, I'm not worthy, I just made a fool of myself earlier, please don't laugh at me, Mr. Hu! But in his heart, he was responding to Hu Xueyan: Hey old guy, you really got me there, in the future, hugging is normal, and three-pointers are flying everywhere, what a rare and ignorant country bumpkin! I'm magnanimous, so I won't hold it against you. It's really hard for me to say this, Brother Shi is indeed worthy of being called "Shi" (meaning "losing" or "unlucky").

  Luo Si Niang, who came with Hu Xueyan, was more and more pleased with Zhou Yu the more she looked at him. It's just like an old mother-in-law looking at her son-in-law, the more she looks, the more she likes it, the more she looks, the more satisfied she is. Such a wonderful son-in-law, will actually become her own son-in-law, she can't wait to let everyone in the world know about this, only then will she be content!

  Would rather have all his daughters marry Zhou Yu, as for himself, this old Xu is better off being his loyal 'concubine', after all, we Chinese people are more traditional!

  And before that, she had a cold and arrogant attitude towards Zhou Yu's pearl-like head, but her thoughts about Zhou Yu were not pure at all. She no longer had the majestic aura of before, and in her heart, she was filled with evil intentions towards Zhou Yu, wishing to immediately engage in a fierce battle with him to satisfy her cravings.

  After hesitating for a while, Hu Mei walked up to Zhou Yu and asked: "Big Brother Zhou, didn't you promise to teach me how to play the guqin? Why have you forgotten now?"

  "How is that possible? Big brother still remembers! Didn't we just have some free time? Zhou Yu said softly to Hu Mei, as if afraid of scaring her."

  Hu Xueyan took a look and said, "Hey! Got stuck again. I'd better get out of here quickly, don't want to be under this bright spotlight anymore." He gave a signal with his eyes to Luo Si Niang and Zhu'er, and mouthed towards Zhou Yu: "Let's go!"

  He led the way out of the music room, with Luo Si Niang following closely behind him, her small feet pattering against the floor.

  "Our little pearl will not be happy, what's all this! I'm also a beauty! How can this be? Others want to be with Mr. Zhou too, others want to learn 'play the piano and say love' too! Good grief, this big beauty is actually being ignored, just you wait and see how I'll use my charm to lure him in, lure him to death, then you'll all be in for it!"

  Zhu'er pouted, reluctantly following Hu Xueyan and his wife on their good deed, feeling helpless all the way. What can she do? After all, she's just a poor little maid!

  After only Zhou Yu and Hu Mei were left in the piano room, their moods both began to relax. Zhou Yu's relaxation was because he was with Hu Mei, so he felt more at ease, while Hu Mei's relaxation had something to do with her little thoughts.

  In her heart, she couldn't be more willing, just like this, to stay alone with Zhou Yu forever, until the end of time!

  It's a situation where two people, one is carefully teaching and the other is distracted, as a result, Zhou Yu has been busy for half a day, but our clever and resourceful sister Hu Mei hasn't learned anything.

  Zhou Yu was so frustrated that he couldn't help but laugh and cry, so to calm down Hu Mei's mood, Zhou Yu decided to bring out his trump card to soothe her, so she could focus on practicing the piano.

  Then Zhou Yu stretched and said to Hu Mei: "Sister, I think you're a bit tired from studying. I just thought of a song, do you want to hear it?"

  Hu Mei listened to Zhou Yu and suddenly came up with the energy, her own body that had just recovered from a serious illness did not feel any discomfort. She hurriedly urged Zhou Yu to sing the song quickly for herself to hear.

  Zhou Yu stood up and started walking with a swaggering gait, beginning his exaggerated performance:

  He sang his own creation of a parody version of "The Mouse Loves Rice".

  The mouse teased the rice grain with a squeaky voice

  There's an eerie feeling

  Don't let rice take a bath

  Life is no longer wonderful

  The rice remembers its master

  Her name is Hu Meiren

  Rice can only daydream about Yee

  If there really is such a day

  The mistress she will suddenly appear

  The rice is for Iranian people's wonderful dance

  Forever unchanged...

  No matter how many grains of rice the beauty wants to wash

  Everyone will make it happen

  Rice will whisper in the master's ear

  To the host and to others

  Rice loves you~

  Loving you~

  Just like mice love rice

  No matter how much wind and rain

  The big rice will still be good for you

  Rice misses you~

  Missing you...

  No matter how high the mountain is or how far away it is

  As long as it can make mice diarrhea

  Whatever you want me to do, I'm happy to do it

  Love you this way

  Not yet finished with Zhou Yu's rendition of the complete song, Hu Mei was already laughing so hard she couldn't straighten her waist. In Hu Mei's subconscious mind, there had never been such a funny and quirky tune, style, and most importantly, lyrics that were actually related to herself.

  In Hu Mei's impression, Zhou Yu has always been a gentlemanly image with a elegant demeanor. Now, Zhou Yu suddenly changed his previous style and started singing and dancing, dressing up as a clown to amuse himself.

  It makes Hu Mei feel both amused and touched, the amusement comes from Zhou Yu's lyrics and actions, and the closeness is from Zhou Yu's heartfelt care for herself, overflowing with words.