Chapter 48 A celestial melody, "Phoenix Seeks Its Mate," captivates the mortals below the stage!
"Wife, go ahead."
"Let them all see just how amazing my wife, Qin Lie's wife, really is!"
Qin Lie's voice was deep and firm, like a reassuring pill, making the last trace of tension in Jiang Wu's heart disappear.
She smiled at him, let go of his hand, took a deep breath, and walked towards the side of the stage.
At that moment, all the lights on the playground went out.
Only one spotlight pierced through the darkness and shone precisely on the center of the stage.
Within the aperture, there is an antique wooden table and an equally antique wooden stool. On the table, the ancient zither rests quietly.
There was nothing else besides that.
Just as everyone craned their necks to look curiously, a white figure slowly emerged from the shadows of the stage.
Jiang Wu appeared.
She wasn't wearing a military uniform, nor was she wearing the trendy red and green clothes of the time.
She was wearing only a simple white dress.
The dress was made by herself, without any unnecessary decorations, only a perfect cut that outlined her slender figure.
She had long, jet-black hair, loosely tied back with a white hairband.
She wore no makeup, her face was bare.
Amidst the surrounding cacophony of red and green, her appearance was like a drop of clear water falling into boiling oil, instantly silencing the entire noisy world.
She was like a fairy who had stepped out of an ancient painting, untouched by worldly affairs, so pure that no one dared to defile her.
The audience was stunned.
The young soldiers, in particular, gaped with their mouths agape and their eyes wide as saucers.
They had only one thought in their minds.
So this is what women can be like!
Qin Lie stood in the shadows backstage, staring intently at the white figure on the stage.
His heart was pounding wildly.
Half of it was unparalleled pride, and the other half was an intense possessiveness that almost devoured him.
He wanted to hide her away.
He hid in a place where only he could see it.
Jiang Wu walked to the zither table, bowed gracefully to the audience.
Then she sat down.
Her slender, pale fingers gently rested on the strings.
At that moment, her demeanor changed once again.
If she was a serene fairy under the moon just now...
At this moment, a hint of indescribable tenderness and sorrow appeared between her brows.
She closed her eyes and paused for a moment.
Then, a slight movement of the fingertips.
"Zheng—"
The first note, like jade shattering in Kunlun Mountains, like footsteps echoing in an empty valley, struck everyone's heart without any warning.
The voice was clear, cold, and aloof, carrying a touch of desolation that seemed to transcend time and space.
With just one note, she drew everyone into a realm completely isolated from the real world, a realm that belonged only to her.
Immediately afterwards, a series of notes, like flowing water, poured out from her fingertips.
The sound of the zither was like a lament, a yearning, a weeping, a complaint.
Sometimes it's like a lover whispering sweet nothings in your ear, tender and affectionate.
Sometimes it's like a hero singing a tragic song at the end of his road, full of passion and fervor.
Sometimes it's like the drifting clouds on a mountaintop, ethereal and elusive.
Sometimes it is like an undercurrent at the bottom of a bottomless abyss, surging and turbulent.
The audience members below the stage had completely forgotten where they were.
They don't understand music theory or fingering techniques.
But they can understand the stories in the music.
The young soldiers, hearing the clanging of swords and the resounding of war drums, thought of their distant hometowns and loved ones, and their eyes reddened.
Those officers who had weathered many storms, hearing of the vicissitudes of time and the changes in the world, thought of their lost youth and comrades-in-arms, and couldn't help but raise their glasses and drink them down in one gulp.
The families accompanying the soldiers, hearing the sorrow of parting and the pain of longing, recalled their own long wait in their hometowns and the joy of reuniting with their husbands, and all of them shed tears.
Everyone was mesmerized, completely captivated.
This piece of music was a fragment of a musical score that Jiang Wu accidentally discovered in the library of the Hehuan Sect in her previous life.
The title is "The Phoenix Seeks Its Mate".
However, it is not an ordinary "Phoenix Seeking Its Mate" but a celestial musical score that truly embodies Tao and Dharma.
It can directly communicate with people's seven emotions and six desires, arousing the strongest emotions deep in the listener's heart.
This is no longer just music, but a technique that is almost like the "Tao".
A subtle yet powerful art of seduction that can manipulate people's hearts.
Wen Xue sat in the audience, her face ashen.
She still held a sliver of hope that what Jiang Wu played would be a noise like sawing wood.
But she never expected that what awaited her would be such a beautiful melody, one that would prevent her from even feeling jealousy.
Looking at the woman on the stage, bathed in light, she felt, for the first time, a feeling of despair from the bottom of her heart.
She and Jiang Wu are from completely different worlds.
Commander Zhang sat in the first row, his hand holding the teacup frozen in mid-air.
The expression on his face changed from initial scrutiny to surprise, then to shock, and finally, only deep fascination remained.
He has attended countless concerts and met countless artists.
But no one's performance could make him feel a tremor in his soul like this young military dependent's.
This is not a technique.
This is talent! This is a miracle!
Qin Lie stood in the darkness, tears already streaming down his face.
He didn't understand any celestial music or Taoist magic.
All he knew was that the music, like an invisible hand, gripped his heart tightly.
Make him feel pain, make him feel joy, make him love, make him fear.
From the music, he heard her loneliness, her pride, her resentment, and her determination.
He also heard her deep and plaintive love for him.
At that moment, he suddenly understood.
The woman he fell in love with was never that ordinary woman from the countryside who only knew how to cook and do laundry.
He fell in love with the one and only soul before him, a soul lost in the mortal world.
"Zheng—"
The last note, like a wisp of smoke, slowly dissipated in the silent night sky.
The music ended.
Jiang Wu's hand remained on the strings.
The entire playground was deathly silent.
Everyone was still immersed in the magnificent musical epic they had just witnessed, unable to extricate themselves.
I don't know how much time passed.
"Smack!"
A crisp clapping sound rang out in the silence.
It's Commander Zhang.
He stood up and clapped with all his might.
Immediately afterwards.
"Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap!"
Thunderous applause, like a landslide and a tsunami, resounded throughout the entire playground!
The applause was more enthusiastic and longer-lasting than any of the previous performances!
Everyone stood up and clapped enthusiastically.
They didn't know how to express their shock and excitement, so they could only use this most primitive way to pay the highest respect to the woman on stage who had brought them unparalleled emotion!
"Great! That's wonderful!"
"This is the most beautiful piece of music I've ever heard in my life!"
"Encore! One more!"
The soldiers shouted excitedly and waved their arms.
Jiang Wu stood up, looked at the excited and sincere faces below the stage, and bowed deeply once again.
Then, she turned around and, amidst thunderous applause, calmly walked off the stage.
She did not return to the audience.
Instead, he walked straight towards the deepest darkness backstage.
She knew.
There, someone was waiting for her.
She walked through the noisy crowd, pushing aside the clamor of applause.
Finally, I saw that familiar tall figure.
Qin Lie stood there, motionless.
His face still bore traces of wet tears.
His eyes, in the darkness, shone like two burning flames.
Jiang Wu walked up to him and stopped.
Neither of them spoke.
They just quietly looked at each other.
A thousand words are contained in this one look.
Suddenly, Qin Lie reached out and pulled her into his arms.
He held her so tightly, as if he wanted to meld her into his very bones and never separate them again.
He buried his face deep in the crook of her neck, greedily inhaling the comforting scent emanating from her body.
His body was trembling slightly.
“Jiang Wu…”
He spoke, his voice hoarse and trembling with lingering fear.
"You scared me to death."
Jiang Wu was stunned for a moment, then understood what he meant.
She reached out and gently hugged him back.
"Fool."
Her voice carried a hint of laughter and boundless tenderness.
"Didn't I come back?"
Qin Lie didn't let go of her; instead, he hugged her even tighter.
"Wife," he said sullenly, "I regret it."
"Regret what?"
"I regret letting you go on stage."
Qin Lie raised his head, his dark eyes surging with an unprecedented, intense, and unyielding affection, and a kind of obsession that made Jiang Wu's heart tremble.
“A treasure like you should be kept hidden away by me.”
"I shouldn't have let so many people see how good you are."
His voice wasn't loud, but it sounded like a solemn vow, imprinted on this noisy night.
It was also imprinted on Jiang Wu's heart.
She looked at him, at the infatuation and possessiveness in his eyes.
A thought that she had deliberately suppressed resurfaced uncontrollably.
Qin Lie.
What kind of person am I that you love?
If you knew, the piece "Phoenix Seeking Its Mate" that I played for you was not a mortal melody, but a bewitching and enchanting celestial art.
By that time.
Will you still think of me as a treasure like you do now?
Do I still feel like I'm a... scary, monster?
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