"Looks like this trip was another wasted effort. Hongyu's questions are getting harder and harder. But a fifty-stringed se... that really is rare!"
A young man in a dark blue robe shook his head regretfully. Ses usually had only twenty-some strings; fifty was indeed rare...
"Not difficult... Do you think you can meet Hongyu whenever you want? Besides, isn't Hongyu skilled at the qin? Why did she suddenly decide to collect ancient ses?"
Hearing the young man in the dark blue robe, the Young Master beside him, who was clearly from a wealthy family, could not help mocking him.
"Hongyu is unmatched in talent. What is strange about her knowing how to play an ancient se?"
"I even prepared several poems and lyrics that I thought were pretty good. I thought I might get the chance to meet her..."
"No matter what, let's give it a try first."
Although this question was rather unexpected, according to their predictions, Hongyu's question today should have been related to lotus flowers. No one knew why it had become an ancient se instead.
Still, they had come all this way... so they could only try their luck. Everyone took brushes, ink, and paper from the nearby maidservants and began considering how to start writing.
"A se as the theme..."
Fu Hua stood to one side, looking at the question ahead.
"A se is a stringed instrument whose strings are stretched taut and resonate."
The se was an ancient plucked string instrument with a wooden soundbox, though the origin of its name was unknown. It was generally used in court ceremonial music, often played in harmony with the qin.
The qin was wider at one end, with its strings extending from the narrower end and fanning out toward the other. Its curved upper surface