For the next few days, Song Qingshu lived like an immortal. At night, he helped Ren Yingying examine her body, using treatment as a pretext to consummate their marriage. Ren Yingying had originally been shy and bashful, not very willing to let him fool around, but she could not withstand his coaxing and pestering. Besides, thinking that they were already husband and wife, she half-reluctantly let him have his way.
During the day, Song Qingshu played the qin while she played the flute. Because of the original story, Song Qingshu could not help feeling a little jealous, and he insisted on pulling Ren Yingying into playing a duet of "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer."
As the name suggested, a qin-and-flute duet meant one person played the qin while the other blew the flute. But thinking of the other meaning later generations had given "blowing the flute" online, Song Qingshu refused to choose the flute no matter what. That left him with only the qin.
With Song Qingshu's nearly tone-deaf musical ability, performing such a difficult piece as a duet should have been extremely hard. Fortunately, the foundation Zhao Min had taught him in Liao Country made Ren Yingying see him in a new light.
When Ren Yingying first heard his request for a duet, she found it both funny and exasperating. But after witnessing his rapidly improving qin skills, she could not help being tempted. What young woman did not wish to make beautiful music in harmony with her beloved?
Of course, with Song Qingshu's current skill, he still could not play "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer." But with Ren Yingying, a master of the qin who was also good at teaching others, all difficulties naturally melted away.
"When should I have Zhao Min and Ren Yingying compete? They're both qin masters,"