Zu An continued, “The sound of the guqin is serene and peaceful, emphasizing self-cultivation. The music often expresses the idea of ​​‘tranquility leading to far-reaching goals’ or ‘transcendence and open-mindedness.’ Logically, it should be played in a secluded and private setting, such as amidst mountains and flowing water. But you, young lady, are playing in this noisy brothel. The environment here is clearly at odds with the characteristics of the guqin, so the tunes you play naturally have a sense of disharmony. This is probably why you feel that you have hit a bottleneck recently.”

Xie Daoyun upstairs let out a soft "hmm" and began to carefully consider what he had said.

At first, Qiu Honglei didn't take it seriously, but as she listened, the polite and fake smile on her face gradually disappeared, and she fell into deep thought.

Those around her, seeing her smile disappear, assumed she was angry and quickly seized the opportunity to flatter her:

"That's utter nonsense. There are plenty of people playing the guqin in brothels all over the world. Who says you have to be in a beautiful mountain and flowing water environment to play it?"

Zu An replied, "The reason why so many people play the guqin in brothels is to cater to you so-called romantic scholars."

"Ordinary girls in brothels rarely play the guqin; they play instruments like the guzheng and pipa more often to please the common people. Those who choose the guqin are often the most sought-after courtesans in each brothel. They need to differentiate themselves because the guqin is elegant, so they use it to raise their status and elevate their image, as if this gives them a touch of otherworldly refinement. However, they never realize that the guqin is inherently incompatible with the environment of a brothel."

The voices that had previously criticized him gradually subsided, as some people began to realize that his words were not without merit.

"To elevate one's status?" Pei Mianman, who was leaning against the railing upstairs, looked at him strangely. Although this guy used vulgar language, it was quite interesting. However, in doing so, he not only offended Qiu Honglei, but also offended all the courtesans in the world.

As expected, upon hearing his assessment, Qiu Honglei's face turned pale and then red, and her chest heaved faster than usual.

Zu An hurriedly said, "Of course, strictly speaking, this is not Miss Qiu's fault, but rather the general situation. Miss, you don't need to worry too much about it."

Qiu Honglei gave him a resentful look: "How could I not care? After hearing what you said today, I'm afraid I won't dare to play the zither anymore."

Upon hearing her words, a series of wails immediately erupted from the surrounding area:

"No, Miss Qiu, your music is so beautiful!"

"Don't listen to that kid's nonsense, he doesn't know anything!"

“Yes, if you stop playing the zither, it will be a loss for the entire Bright Moon City, no, for the entire Great Zhou Dynasty.”

...

Amidst their wailing, these people glared angrily at Zu'an.

Seeing thousands more anger points added to his account, Zuan secretly sneered, "Limping dogs, licking dogs, they end up with nothing."

But without these sycophants, where am I supposed to earn anger points?

Just then, Xie Xiu on the second floor suddenly turned his head slightly, as if listening to what someone was saying inside. He then looked surprised, but still spoke up loudly: "Brother Zu, what you said makes some sense, but just now, Miss Qiu expressed her feelings in the music, and the emotions and the music were perfectly combined. What you said is too broad. Do you have anything specific to say?"

After she finished speaking, she gave him an apologetic smile, clearly embarrassed that she had embarrassed him in front of so many people.

Noticing his expression, Zu'an guessed that these words were mostly spoken by Xie Daoyun through him.

Hearing Xie Xiu say this, the others also got excited:

"Yes, anyone can talk big, but the key is how to make specific improvements."

Zuan calmly said, "The reason why the guqin is out of place in the brothel environment is mainly because its melody is too bland and monotonous. At the same time, its timbre is concentrated in the middle and low range. If it can be accompanied by other instruments to complement it, the overall melody and rhythm will be much fuller and the layers will be more distinct. Then the sense of disharmony with the environment will naturally be eliminated."

Xie Daoyun gave a silent snort and hurriedly sent a telepathic message to Xie Xiu.

Xie Xiu looked helpless, but still spoke up for her: "It's easy to say, but different instruments have different timbres and different tones. In particular, the guqin is relatively soft, and when other instruments are added, it is easy to create noise."

Qiu Honglei nodded and said, "That's right. In fact, many people before us have made similar attempts, but they all ended in failure. I'm afraid the method you mentioned is not practically feasible."

A genuine chorus of boos erupted from the crowd, as everyone watched him make a fool of himself with glee.

"That must be because they haven't found the right approach. Once they find the right path, everything will fall into place." Zuan was somewhat surprised. Was the level of music in this world really that low? They couldn't even solve this problem?

At this moment, Xie Daoyun, who was in a private room upstairs, snorted and was too lazy to talk to him anymore.

You just casually glossed over something that countless masters of the zither throughout history have failed to do.

If only it were that easy!

She roughly judged that the other party was just a layman, at most knowing a little about the principles of the zither. Thinking that she had just been full of expectations to discuss with him, she felt really embarrassed.

At this moment, Chen Xuan had also made his plans. Seeing Zu An suffer a setback, he was in a great mood and took the opportunity to kick him while he was down: "It's easy to say, anyone can do it. You talk so much, why don't you do it yourself?"