A'yun stared fixedly at the guzheng, looking it over from left to right. When she truly could not make out anything unusual, she simply reached out and plucked at it herself.
After confirming there was nothing there, she immediately began cursing without the slightest courtesy.
"You're full of shit! This young lady isn't blind—where did twenty-four strings come from?!"
"Just because you cannot see them, miss, does not mean no one else can.
"If you do not believe me, why not ask these two friends beside you?"
The man smiled calmly, his gaze sweeping over Su Shi'er and Ling Yue Shang.
A'yun froze for a moment before turning back to look at the two.
This time, she looked first at Ling Yue Shang.
"Big Sister, can you see any strings on this guzheng?"
Ling Yue Shang frowned and shook her head. "No!"
She could hear neither the zither's music nor see any strings on it. At this moment, she too was utterly bewildered.
Delight appeared on A'yun's face at those words.
"See? This big sister says she can't see any strings either!"
"Miss, have you perhaps overlooked one person?" The man continued smiling, unhurried and unflustered.
"Him?"
A'yun looked again at Su Shi'er. Hesitation flickered in her eyes, but she still asked, "Can you see strings on this zither?"
Su Shi'er frowned slightly and was about to shake his head.
But the words stopped at his lips.
Thinking of the twenty-four guzheng strings the other party had mentioned, inspiration suddenly struck him. A sharp gleam flashed through his eyes.
"Greed, anger, and delusion; eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind; joy, anger, sorrow, contemplation, grief, fear, and shock; birth, old age, illness, death, meeting what one hates, parting from what one loves, failing to obtain what one seeks, and the