The Dean Sima's Excitement and Confusion (Continued)

Since Dean Sima had been able to become the director of the largest museum in the country, he had certainly seen quite a lot. Thus, after a moment, he put away his shocked expression and became somewhat excited instead.

"Old Fei, I remember that no ancient text ever mentioned what material the Rao Liang Qin was made from. Could it be that its material was so special that it could survive for more than two thousand years without changing much?"

"I think so too!" Old Fei nodded repeatedly. "Let's analyze it this way. First of all, later generations had a very high opinion of King Zhuang of Chu. Yet a person like that became 'obsessed' with an ancient qin. Just how good must the sound quality of that qin have been?"

"And for a qin with such excellent sound quality, how likely do you think it is that it was still made from paulownia and catalpa wood? Although paulownia and catalpa were relatively common materials for making qins, that doesn't mean there weren't other materials that could be used instead. For example, there are records of qins being made from pine long ago."

"To sum it all up, I think the Rao Liang Qin was made from a special kind of wood. It's also possible that this wood could remain unrotted for a long time..."

Chinese guqins had traditionally been used mainly for personal enjoyment or, to a lesser extent, as accompaniment for qin songs. Unlike instruments such as violins in Western orchestras, they were not required to have a relatively uniform sound and tone color. Therefore, whether qins were made in the imperial court or among the common people, materials were often sourced locally. For example, old materials removed from thousand-year-old corridors or ancient residences, or even worm-eaten wood,