Qin Xiao Duet

Qin Xiao Duet

It seemed he had stared at the woman for too long, and she sensed it. She turned her head to look at him, but the instant her gaze reached him, Baili Qingfeng keenly looked away first, his eyes settling on an antique-style guqin.

After glancing at him, the woman withdrew her gaze and said to the clerk, "Yun Jie, these two."

"Gu Meimei has a good eye. I'll wrap them up for you right away."

The woman dressed like a young matron said with a smile.

The clerk who had brought Baili Qingfeng upstairs also greeted the woman, "Boss."

The woman nodded and led the two girls downstairs.

Baili Qingfeng did not look at them again. He calmly walked up to the guqin and asked, "May I try it?"

"Of course, sir. Please go ahead."

The clerk replied with a smile.

Baili Qingfeng sat down before the guqin.

The qin...

He knew how to play it.

The xiao, too.

Nearby, the two girls had finished buying their things and were about to go downstairs. But when the girl in the denim jacket saw Baili Qingfeng sit down, seeming to carry a faint air of calm, easy grace, she could not help being drawn to him.

After one or two months of grueling training, he had grown to one meter eighty. His Qi Refining Blood Renewal cultivation made him look bright and vigorous. Though he could not be called handsome, he possessed a distinctive temperament. Now that he sat quietly, combined with the artistic refinement from his past life, he truly made for a pleasing sight at first glance.

"This little brother is going to play the qin. Lingying, let's listen first and see whether he's better or you are."

The girl in the denim jacket leaned close to the girl in the sky-blue chiffon dress and whispered.

Pleasing to the eye.

Women could be pleasing to the eye; men could be as well.

The two women stopped at the staircase, watching Baili Qingfeng from more than ten meters away.

"Dong... dong... dong dong dong..."

The qin began to ring, bright and delightful.

The two girls, including the woman dressed like a young matron, all knew instruments. At once, they heard the extraordinary mastery in the piece Baili Qingfeng was playing, and their gazes toward him turned surprised.

In this day and age, it was not as though no one knew how to play the guqin...

But there certainly were not many.

Most people who came to their Musical Instrument Store to buy instruments were amateur enthusiasts. She had thought Baili Qingfeng was one as well, but unexpectedly...

"That sounds so nice, Lingying. What piece is that?"

"This..."

The woman called Lingying thought carefully for a moment. "I don't know."

"You don't know? Wow, there's actually a piece even you don't know? And it really sounds wonderful. It should be famous."

"It is indeed beautiful, but I truly haven't heard it before."

The woman shook her head. After a moment, she added, "But... this piece probably isn't meant to be a qin solo."

"An ensemble? The qin alone already sounds this good. How marvelous would it be as an ensemble? My girlish heart is about to explode."

The girl in the denim jacket giggled dreamily.

At that moment, Baili Qingfeng stopped after playing a short passage.

He raised his head, his gaze falling upon the two women.

"Ah, did we disturb you? Sorry."

The woman hurriedly said.

"No."

Baili Qingfeng's gaze settled on the woman called Lingying—more precisely, on the xiao in her hand. "This piece is a Qin Xiao Duet. If you want to hear the whole thing, I'll have to trouble this young lady."

"A Qin Xiao Duet?"

The girl immediately turned to Lingying and said expectantly, "Yingzi, I want to hear it."

"But... I don't know this piece..."

The woman called Lingying was tempted. She also wanted to know what this piece would truly sound like in an ensemble.

"It's very simple."

Baili Qingfeng glanced at the clerk beside him. "May I borrow some paper and a pen?"

"I have some here."

The woman dressed like a young matron answered. She handed over paper and pen, smiling. "I also hope to hear this gentleman's masterpiece."

Baili Qingfeng looked quite composed. People would believe he was twenty-three or twenty-four, making it difficult to tell his exact age.

Drawing on his memories, Baili Qingfeng quickly wrote out the score.

A few hundred numbers did not take long.

Those unfamiliar with it could not understand this kind of notation, but anyone who knew it could quickly make sense of it.

Once he had finished, Baili Qingfeng stood and handed it to the woman.

"Then... I'll give it a try."

Baili Qingfeng made a welcoming gesture, then began tuning the instrument at the side.

The mellow sound of the xiao rose.

The woman's skill was exceptional. Her first attempt was halting and broken, but the second was noticeably smoother. By the third, she made very few mistakes.

In just half an hour, she had nearly mastered the piece. Her talent was plain to see.

"A very fine piece."

The woman dressed like a young matron said it sincerely.

She could already faintly hear the piece's exceptional quality.

"Well?"

The girl in the denim jacket asked expectantly.

"Don't laugh if my accompaniment isn't good."

The woman called Lingying said.

"Come on, come on, start already! I can barely wait."

At this moment, the woman dressed like a young matron told the clerk, "Don't receive customers upstairs for now."

Then she and the girl in the denim jacket brought over chairs and sat down, looking every bit the audience.

The woman named Lingying also sat at Baili Qingfeng's side, one meter away from him.

"Please guide me."

Baili Qingfeng said.

"Please forgive me if I play poorly."

Lingying said somewhat awkwardly.

After all, they were still strangers.

Baili Qingfeng signaled for them to begin.

The qin sounded first.

The xiao followed, weaving itself into the qin.

The qin's lingering notes drifted into the xiao.

"Dong dong..."

"Ding ding..."

"Woo woo..."

The qin and xiao played together, and an atmosphere of unrestrained ease, broad-minded openness, and grandeur came rushing toward them, accompanied by birdsong, fragrant flowers, lofty mountains, and endless waters.

For a time, not only were the woman upstairs and the two girls immersed in it, even the clerks and cashier downstairs were drawn in by the Qin Xiao Duet.

There were even three or five passersby taking a shortcut along the roadside. Hearing the ensemble, they involuntarily slowed their steps, stopped talking, and looked up toward where the music came from.

One blew, one played...

Baili Qingfeng plucked the strings with a smile on his face.

The woman accompanied him with her xiao, the lapels of her pale blue dress fluttering.

Though it was their first collaboration, their coordination was seamless. Often, a single meeting of eyes, a slight turn of the gaze, was enough for them to understand each other's meaning with ease. Their cooperation became flawless, bringing the piece's beauty and grandeur to life in full, vivid measure.

At last...

The qin's notes gradually faded, and the xiao's tones slowly sank.

The piece came to an end.

Baili Qingfeng, Lingying, the woman dressed like a young matron, and the girl in the denim jacket remained immersed in the world the ensemble had created, savoring it carefully, unable to return to themselves for a long while.

Until...

"Wonderful!"

At some point, Gule had come upstairs and shouted loudly. He wanted to praise the piece with elegant words, but after thinking for a long time, countless words condensed into just a few: "It sounds great, truly great!"

"Clap clap clap!"

A burst of applause followed.

The atmosphere in the room was immediately shattered.

Naturally, the woman dressed like a young matron and the girl in the denim jacket greeted him with resentful stares. They frightened him into rapidly lowering the sound of his clapping until it stopped altogether.

"It really was very good. I'm telling the truth."

Gule lowered his voice and said weakly.

"As if you need to say it. Yun Jie is the vice president of the Xia Ya Ancient Musical Instrument Association, and Yingzi is a professional too. How could they fail to tell good from bad?"

The girl glared at Gule.

Beside them, Baili Qingfeng smiled calmly and turned to the girl at his side. "You played very well."

"You played very well too."

The girl smiled, then introduced herself. "My name is Gu Lingying. I'm a first-year student at Blue Sea Conservatory of Music."

"My name is Baili Qingfeng. I'm a second-year student in the School of Social Sciences at Xia'er University."

"I'm certain this isn't an ancient piece available on the market. Did you compose it?"

"I happened to hear it somewhere."

Baili Qingfeng shook his head.

"Then... what is it called?"

Baili Qingfeng paused slightly. "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer Song."

(Strongly recommend the Qin Xiao Duet from Lü Songxian's 1996 version of The Smiling, Proud Wanderer Song.)