The Spirit Martial King Residence's prestige was still quite effective. Before long, they met Ouyang Ku in the main hall of Bitter Tea Studio.
He was a dry, skinny little old man with a sparse goatee, a sallow complexion, and dull yellow eyes. He looked utterly unremarkable, yet he was a renowned master zither-maker throughout Zhongjing.
"Greetings, Master Ouyang." Jing Qianyu bowed in salute, while Lu Zheng and the others cupped their hands.
Ouyang Ku returned the courtesy, took his seat, and looked toward Jing Qianyu's group. Polite on the surface but distant beneath it, he asked, "May I ask why the Princess has come?"
"This is Young Master Lu, Lu Zheng. Having heard of Master Ouyang's great reputation, he wishes to invite you to listen to a zither piece," Jing Qianyu said.
Lu Zheng and the others were not the sort to throw their weight around. Even when Si Lingxi had sought someone to make her a zither back then, she had first played a piece for ten renowned zither-making masters. Of course, the competition among those ten masters afterward had nothing to do with Si Lingxi.
"Oh?" Ouyang Ku looked Lu Zheng over and saw a young scholar who appeared barely past twenty. He could not help but look down on him somewhat, though he still nodded. "As it happens, a friend gifted this old man two tins of Western Region Snow Peak tea. Please, Princess and friends, have a taste."
Because of his reputation, many zither players feared losing face and did not dare come to ask him to make them zithers. After all, modesty was one thing; truly being rejected by Ouyang Ku was another.
Still, anyone bold enough to come knocking had some skill or another. It seemed he would hear a fairly decent piece