Chapter 21: Fierce and Powerful

  Mr. Li knew that the old man had three great hobbies in this life, one was playing chess, two was Feng Shui, and the third was a special fondness for ancient musical instruments. In the study of the old man's house, there were jade Xiao, bamboo flute, Erhu, and a Guqin in the style of Fuxi, which looked like the legendary "Shengying" Guqin, but also not quite, because this Guqin had a hint of Liangzhu style mixed in, making it somewhat unconventional, but more importantly, it was majestic and domineering.

  It seems to be a genetic problem of the old Li family, each generation has a unique affection for musical instruments. As for how high the old man's attainments in music are, Li San is not clear, but compared with Wu Xiangru, the 12th generation descendant of the Guangling School who looks like a cow today, it's like one is in heaven and the other is on earth, differing by 108,000 miles. Li San guesses that the old man must be more powerful than Wu Xiangru's master, otherwise he wouldn't be the all-powerful old man in his heart.

  His father's attainments on the instrument Li San Sheng definitely didn't know, but when he was young, he wasn't spared from being forced to practice piano and blow sheng by his old man, just like every day had to hit the spectrum and look at the Fengshui book, it was unshakeable, untouchable, otherwise Li San Sheng wouldn't have dared to be so arrogant today, making everyone think he's a genius from a famous master Wu Xiangru.

  The old man had no particular fondness for any school, and he had a general understanding of the playing styles and characteristics of each school. He also treasured several volumes of lost scores in his hands.

  "Guangling San" is a majestic piece, said to depict the tragic story of Nie Zheng, son of a swordsmith in the Warring States period, who avenged his father's death by assassinating the King of Han and then took his own life. To play "Guangling San" without conveying its heroic and majestic flavor is unacceptable. Li Sansheng believed that Wu Xiangru was not yet skilled enough to bring out the essence of this piece, making it easy for everyone to distinguish between their levels of skill, as "Guangling San" is a relatively large-scale composition.

  Li San Sheng was most fond of "Guangling Melody", because the flavor of tragic, indignant and majestic made him infatuated. It can be described as shocking heaven and earth, crying ghosts and gods. Every time he finished playing "Guangling Melody", Li San Sheng would have a kind of domineering aura that was unmatched in the world, just like standing at the Hukou Waterfall on the Yellow River and standing on the Loess Plateau, it felt refreshing.

  Have to say Li Sansheng also stole a trick.

  No longer smiling foolishly, but with a gentle smile, Li San Sheng looked around at the group of Jiaotong University prodigies standing like fools, and slowly sat down. He took three deep breaths, stretched out his slender hands that could make those who played the piano envious, and lightly stroked the ancient Fuxi zither held by Liu Yi Ran. He felt the information transmitted from the zither, enjoying this feeling as if he was having an intimate conversation with a close friend. Li San Sheng couldn't help but become immersed in his own spiritual world.

  From the moment Li Sanyuan touched the piano, his temperament changed in an instant. Everyone looked at Li Sanyuan with his eyes slightly closed and his hands lightly stroking the strings, and they all had a strange and absurd idea, because at this moment Li Sanyuan was completely different from the silly smiling guy just now, and there was no similarity between the two people at all.

  Yuliran's eyes also suddenly shone brightly at this moment, he suddenly remembered who this man was. Looking at Li Sansheng, who was immersed in his consciousness, like an unborn sage, Yuliran's eyebrows finally relaxed, and he looked forward to the zither competition even more.

  The old man said that when you touch the piano, you are already one with it. Adjust your breath, close your eyes, enter the world of the piano, feel its existence, and tell it what you want.

  "Xiangru, tell him what a real guqin is." He Caiyun looked at Li Sansheng, who she thought was being pretentious, and said with disdain. She didn't believe that anyone from Jiaoda could beat Wu Xiangru, a disciple of Master Mei's, the probability was too small, so small that she thought it was impossible.

  "Start" Wu Xiangru looked at Li Sansheng with a calm and peaceful expression, furrowing his brow in a manner as if facing a great enemy. He could feel the threat that Li Sansheng brought to him. When Li Sansheng played the guqin, he felt the presence of his own master, Mei Laoren, a flavor that only those who had truly entered the realm of ancient zither music would possess.

  Stare

  When Li San played the first note, he had already thoroughly merged into his own world and no longer knew what the outside world was like. "Guangling Melody" is a passionate and generous piece, it's a song with a murderous aura that can capture people's hearts and souls, evoking the deepest anger within the pianist, letting the piano express that anger, Li San wanted to use the piano to express his suppressed anger.

  Li Sansheng thought of his own life, which was more comedic than a third-rate movie. In his childhood, his grandfather's teachings had placed all the hopes for the future of the Li family on his shoulders, and the pressure on a young child was terrifying. From a young age, he had started to make his way in society, just to survive and not starve, as long as he could simply eat his fill and drink enough.

  In his student days, he was full of naive and laughable ideas about this colorful world and this wonderful society, thinking that he would definitely make a difference when he entered this tempting world early on. However, when he was battered by the harsh realities of society, Li Sansheng finally understood what the old man meant by those words.

  Li San Sheng chose "Guangling Melody" because he had been suppressing his emotions for a long time and needed to express them, or else they would suffocate him.

  Li San Sheng may not know that at this time, the people outside had their mouths agape in astonishment. Wu Xiang Ru had already stopped playing, looking at Li San Sheng with a mixture of admiration, envy, jealousy and discontent, who was still playing the piano with his eyes closed.

  Wu Xiangru knew that he couldn't play "Guangling San" at all, because his master had said that without a story and experience, one can't bring out the true flavor of "Guangling San", and most of those masters who could play "Guangling San" were after the age of 40.

  He Caiyun and the members of the Guqin Society were all stunned, Li Sansheng's qin skills were so profound, his techniques so intricate, and his artistic conception so vast, just like those great masters, he was not a person, he had merged with the qin, this is the highest realm of guqin.

  Unlike everyone else, Liu Yiran also closed her eyes, because she calmed down to listen to the meaning that Li Sansheng wanted to express in his piano, the unwillingness to life, the rebellion against fate, and the self-mockery of life. Unconsciously, Liu Yiran had already merged into Li Sansheng's world, as if she had read through Li Sansheng's piano, as if she could see Li Sansheng standing on the Loess Plateau, looking up at the sky and roaring in anger. How tragic it was, how heartbreaking it was, and yet how magnificent it was, just like Nie Zheng stabbing King Han of Korea, or Jing Ke stabbing Qin Shi Huang, with a sense of desolate sorrow.

  Liu Yiran didn't know what Li San Sheng's life was like, nor did he know what kind of ups and downs this young man, who was about the same age as himself, had experienced in his short twenty years. But someone without a story couldn't possibly play such a majestic, indignant, passionate, and heroic "Guangling Melody". The " pent-up emotions", "thunderstorms" and "clashing of swords" in "Guangling Melody" were all performed by Li San Sheng with great skill.

  Finally, when Li San Sheng's last note faded away, his hands slowly fell, and everyone was left speechless in shock.

  It was clear that those who understood the piano already knew who won and lost. Li San Sheng, who performed "Guangling San" with great skill, and Wu Xiang Ru, who couldn't play for a short period of time, were not on the same level at all. The two people didn't have any comparability.

  Li Sansheng took three more deep breaths, all of which were taught by the old man. The previous three deep breaths were to enter the realm, and now the three deep breaths are to be able to exit, so as not to let oneself continue to indulge in the spiritual world, which would cause great harm to one's own heart and affect one's real life.

  "A thousand years later, listening to this song again, I couldn't help but think of Nie Zheng and imagine Xi Kang." Yuliran also opened her eyes and looked at Li Sansheng in front of her, who was muttering to himself like a superior being.

  Just as she had just thought Li Sansheng was an extraordinary person, this guy who was still showing off his prowess half a second ago instantly destroyed such an atmosphere.

  Facing everyone's astonishment, Li San Sheng revealed his white teeth and laughed unscrupulously, laughing with a radiant smile. When Li San Sheng smiled like this, the people of Guqin Society also couldn't help but laugh at this absurd and ridiculous scene.

  Everyone laughed at Li San Sheng, and Li San Sheng also laughed at everyone. In an instant, they had already forgotten that the silly-looking boy who had just popped out was the one who had played the "Guangling Melody" that shook their hearts. They didn't know how to associate two people with completely different personalities together, which is a helpless thing.

  It was just that Li Sansheng's smile, smiled in a way that touched Liu Yiran's heart with something unknown, it was a kind of pain that captured the soul, so painful that she didn't know where it hurt, because Liu Yiran read from Li Sansheng's eyes this man's disdain for everyone, read out this man's sadness and tragicness, as well as a hint of self-mockery.

  What kind of experience must a man have had to have such complex eyes, Liu Yiran didn't know, he just inexplicably saw the silhouette of his grandfather from Li Sansheng's body.

  "Hey, can you take off your glasses and duck tongue hat so I can take a good look at you?"

  No

  "Big sister, at least I just helped you get back the scene, that heroic guy who saved the beauty, in movies aren't all beauties devoted to him afterwards? How come it's different with me?"

  "Whatever"

  Yuri finally realized that this man who had been following her was absolutely more despicable than any street thug, from the moment she kindly asked him to have some tea at the Guqin Society until they were on the road. This man kept asking her to take off her hat and glasses, which made Yuri absurdly think that he was not the same person as the one who had just played the guqin.

  "What's your name?" Liu Yiran saw that the guy next to him was no longer speaking, and with great interest, he wanted to know what kind of man would have such a vicissitude.

  "Li Sansheng, Sansheng Shiwan's Sansheng," Li Sansheng said with a chuckle.

  Li San Sheng, who played "Guangling Scatter", was broad-minded and had been venting his grievances for a long time. Otherwise, he wouldn't have wanted to tease the gentle beauty Liu Yiran, who had just stood up for him.

  "I'll call you Yiran, and you can call me Sansheng. How's that?" Li Sansheng said with a shameless and lewd smile to Liu Yiran. The talented students on the campus who knew Liu Yiran's great name looked like they had seen an alien for the first time when they saw Liu Yiran walking with a boy in the schoolyard, which was even more ridiculous than whether tomorrow would be the end of the world or not.

  And our San Sheng brother will still face those boys, showing off his white big teeth with a silly smile, looking very cool. Isn't it just a fresh flower inserted into cow dung? I'm the cow dung, and it's smelly too. You guys don't believe it, let this flower be inserted, damn it, he's just short of raising his middle finger.

  "Do you understand the guqin?" Liu Yiran asked a very silly question, and as soon as she spoke, she felt how boring her words were. Someone who doesn't know music can play the shocking "Guangling San", it's estimated that in no time, there will be rumors circulating around Jiaotong University about a mysterious man who challenged a guqin master from Xi'an Music Academy for Liu's beauty and won, spreading like wildfire, but what can you do? Such things are not rare. Liu Yiran just smiled faintly.

  "What do you think?" Li Sansheng threw the question back, and stopped teasing Liu Yiran. The matter had gone too far, and would only have an adverse effect if it continued for a long time. Using unorthodox methods could be effective, but if used for a prolonged period, it would become heretical and deviant.

  "Who taught you guqin?" Liu Yiran really wanted to know who the extraordinary person was that had taught him such exquisite qin skills. Liu Yiran thought that his own guqin skills were only possible because he had been fortunate enough to receive guidance from a renowned master of the Chuan school, but he didn't think that someone dressed and looking like a country bumpkin would have had such an experience.

  "My grandfather," Li Sansheng said with a dull gaze.

  "Ah" Seeing Li San Sheng's infatuated appearance, he curiously sized up the boy with great interest, thinking to himself that he must only look so mysterious when he is being serious.

  "When I was a child, my grandfather would often sit under the ancient locust tree in our old mansion, take a sip of Du Kang wine, leisurely smoke his homemade tobacco, and play a tune on an already forgotten ancient melody. Li San Sheng thought back to when he was a child, Grandfather teaching him guqin, teaching him erhu, the scenes were vivid, but now they have fallen into dust."

  "Li Sansheng!" Liu Yiran called out.

  "Uh-huh"

  "Why are you following me inside Jiaotong University?"

  "You look beautiful, I like you and want to chase after you. So many people want to chase after you, but it's not obvious at all. How could I, a wolf who has no immunity to beauties, possibly resist?"

  "When I saw you on the highway, why didn't you dare to look me straight in the eye with that unbridled gaze of yours, compared to your companion who had a watermelon-shaped head?"

  Li Sansheng's face had unknowingly turned red, like someone had grabbed his weak point, and he couldn't utter a word, fiddling with the prayer beads on his wrist.

  Your face is red

  "Uh-huh"

  "You haven't told me the answer yet"

  "Tense" Li Sansheng finally made up his mind and went out with a "I don't care about losing face" attitude.

  "Hahaha" Liu Yiran laughed out loud for the first time in front of Li Sansheng, laughing so hard that Li Sansheng stared blankly.