Chapter 54
The plane was descending in the clouds, and through the window, we could vaguely see the ravines between the mountains. The plains are cut into pieces by the mountains, and the river water merges into the main stream, winding out a sleeve of green.
Looking from this angle, my hometown seems to have become unfamiliar.
Xiao Ziyu's feelings towards Shu are actually very complicated.
The master who adopted him has taken root here. When he was just learning to speak, he heard the sound of piano, music, erotic poems and melancholy. He learned how to warm up his voice before he learned to talk. He learned how to walk on the stage before he could run. Before he understood his own life experience, he was already deeply influenced by the local customs and culture.
Later, due to poor harvests and war, the opera house could no longer operate and many disciples left. Those who were willing to stay followed their master and several fellow apprentices and traveled around performing arts, and managed to survive the famine with great difficulty.
Once they were playing music to entertain people on a pleasure boat. Xiao Ziyu was the youngest among the disciples who were traveling with them, but he had solid skills and a flexible body. When he danced in the wind on the river, he was like a crisp, tender and clean new willow. He was noticed by the official on the boat at first sight.
That official was none other than the King of Shu who was traveling incognito to the south of the Yangtze River at that time.
The King of Shu was fond of music and had his own music troupe in the palace. He wanted to bring the person back to the palace. Xiao Ziyu was still young and ignorant, but his fellow brothers beside him were horrified and turned pale. They knelt down and begged the King of Shu for forgiveness.
Xiao Ziyu still remembered his senior brother Xiao Jinchuan's trembling voice, and for the first time he lost his composure: "Your Majesty, Ziyu is still young and needs someone to teach him..."
The King of Shu sat high on the couch, chewing the fruit fed by the maid. Without saying a word, the old eunuch standing beside him scolded, "What bastard dares to contradict the King of Shu? Isn't the music troupe in the palace more impressive than your makeshift troupe?"
That was the first time that Xiao Ziyu felt that he had no choice. Twenty or thirty people from the Pear Garden were forced to move to the capital of Shu. The King of Shu threatened the lives of his fellow disciples and forced him to enter the palace and serve by his side.
However, before everyone could return to the palace, news came from the north that Yuan Heng had rebelled. The old Prince of Liang was placed under house arrest in Changle Palace, and he personally wrote the edict to establish a crown prince.
The King of Shu was naturally timid, and he immediately changed his mind about taking Xiao Ziyu for himself, and gave him a more important task, which was to assassinate the Crown Prince of Liang.
On the day when he was forced to be held hostage in Liang, it was the old eunuch who came to see him off: "Don't worry, Master Xiao, as long as you can complete the task, the King of Shu will definitely not treat Xiao Jinchuan and his ilk unfairly."
At that time, all the people in the Pear Garden had been absorbed into the Music Bureau to hold various positions. Although they did not have to worry about food and clothing, the emperor's mind was unpredictable and people were in panic. Xiao Jinchuan almost wanted to take his men to escape, but one of his legs was broken, and he was only able to survive because of Xiao Ziyu's plea.
The day Xiao Ziyu disguised himself as a hostage, he knew there was no turning back. Once he entered Liang, no one would protect him anymore.
Thousands of years passed in a flash, and he returned to his hometown during the intertwining of life and death, but the old people were gone.
After getting off the plane, Xiao Ziyu was still a little dazed. Luo Li thought he was not feeling well and asked worriedly, "Brother Xiao, you are not going to get airsick, are you?"
Xiao Ziyu came back to his senses: "It's okay... I just had a dream."
"Is it a nightmare or a sweet dream?" Luo Li helped him distract himself.
"I dreamed about some things in the past," Xiao Ziyu recalled the faces of his fellow disciples, "It was probably a good dream."
The program crew's car parked outside the terminal early and set off directly after picking up Xiao Ziyu. Luo Li couldn't help but ask, "Where are the other guests?"
The information of other guests has not been revealed. We only know that there are three other guests besides Xiao Ziyu. The driver kept his mouth shut: "You will know when you get there."
Seeing that he couldn't get any more information out of him, Luo Li began to instruct Xiao Ziyu: "Brother Xiao, there may be cameras following you as soon as you get off the car. Don't panic, it's just like filming a normal movie."
He was confident in Xiao Ziyu's demeanor, as he was still dignified and elegant when no one was around. He was just worried that he would not be used to the camera since it was his first reality show. Luo Li continued, "Each of you will have a dedicated photographer to follow you, and you will have a one-to-two hour live broadcast every day, during which you can interact with your fans."
Xiao Ziyu understood the live broadcast as a video call and nodded to show that he understood.
After getting off the expressway and turning onto the national highway, we drove along the riverbed towards the village and soon arrived at the recording location, Lanxi Ancient Town.
As soon as they got off the car, Luo Li and Wang Kai were taken to the waiting room. Another staff member came to put a microphone on Xiao Ziyu and took him to another courtyard with green tiles and white walls.
The courtyard faces north and south, with the main hall in the north and two slightly smaller side rooms in the east and west. The staff led him into the room on the west side and locked the door from the outside.
The people in the room came out and asked in surprise, "Xiao Ziyu?"
Xiao Ziyu was deeply impressed by this voice, a low, soft and gentle voice with a slight hoarseness, and a kind of neutral gentleness. He greeted people: "Wen Ci."
When auditioning for "Qing Yu'an" before, Wen Ci auditioned for the role of Fang Jingshi with him. He still remembered the other party's performance, which was both skillful and acting-like, and very vivid.
"What a coincidence," Wen Ci said with a smile, "I was still guessing who the other guests were, but I didn't expect to actually know them. Congratulations on the successful completion of "The Jade Case"."
"Thank you." Xiao Ziyu had a good impression of him and thanked him seriously. Then he looked around and said, "It seems they have locked us in here."
Wen Ci has a lot of experience in participating in TV programs. "It should be that the program team left suspense in the first shot in order to attract the audience. We have to complete the relevant tasks before we can leave."
Xiao Ziyu had already noticed the gimbal in the room. There were four or five cameras alone, and the process of the guests getting to know each other would probably be a highlight.
The furnishings in the room were simple. The square table and the armchair looked quite old. What was shocking was that one of the walls was hung with various musical instruments. Xiao Ziyu took a quick glance and recognized the pipa, guqin, ruan, se... and many other kinds.
What's strange is that these string instruments have no strings.
Wen Ci came in earlier than him and obviously noticed it. He pointed to the two flat bamboo baskets on the ground and said, "The strings are all here."
Xiao Ziyu didn't expect that this would be such a big project. He lowered his head and touched a handful of strings. They were long and short, thick and thin, and of various textures. He could tell that there were silk, sheep tendons, horsetail, and cotton and linen. "We want..."
"It should be about matching the strings to the correct instruments." Wen Ci said helplessly.
Xiao Ziyu rolled up his sleeves and half squatted down: "Then let's classify these strings first."
Wen Ci was stunned: "Do you know them all?"
This is almost an impossible task for artists without professional knowledge. The program crew does this simply to highlight the lack of knowledge among ordinary people about traditional musical instruments and to give the guests a warning. Afterwards, there will definitely be voice or professional personnel to guide them to complete the task.
"I can recognize some of them," Xiao Ziyu said conservatively: "Silk strings are flexible, sheep tendon strings are tough, and cotton and linen are a bit rough."
He picked up a piece of silk and showed it to Wen Ci: "This is the feel of silk."
The two men squatted on the ground head to head, facing two large baskets, and divided nearly a hundred strings into six parts according to material and length.
More than an hour passed without the director team interrupting. Wen Ci held his aching waist and said with emotion, "It's much clearer now than the previous mess. Did Ziyu specially study classical instruments before coming here?"
"I happened to have come across it before," Xiao Ziyu answered thoughtfully, "I can only roughly guess the general idea."
He picked up a meter-long silk string and said, "This should be for the guqin."
The sound of the silk strings is warm and restrained, which can set off the wide range of the guqin. The two of them hooked the strings and plucked them gently, and they heard a clear and crisp sound.
Wen Ci had seen the Pipa before, and pointed to a bunch of short and medium strings and said, "These should be the strings of the Pipa, right?"
Xiao Ziyu pondered: "This is the Ruan. The Pipa has a softer tone and thinner strings, while the Ruan has a heavier tone and thicker strings."
"Looks like I'll have to take notes seriously," Wen Ci said with a smile.
"I only know the basics," Xiao Ziyu said, not wanting to take credit for it. "The traditional art of playing the qin has a long history, and what I have shown here is just a drop in the ocean."
The two of them spent some time matching the remaining strings one by one, and assembled nearly ten instruments in total. Their fingers were left with red marks from the strings.
The program crew was indeed observing their movements at all times. As soon as the last pipa was assembled, a secret compartment slowly opened on the wooden floor. Wen Ci took out the clue note and read slowly: "Wave your hand for me, and it will be like listening to the sound of pines in the valleys."
He vaguely remembered that this was a poem from the textbook, but was confused by the nonsensical second half: "What does this mean? I remember the first two lines were, A monk from Shu holds Luqi and descends from Mount Emei to the west."
He could barely recite the poem, but had long forgotten its meaning. Wen Ci frowned and asked, "Is there any clue in this?"
"Lüqi refers to the ancient zither," Xiao Ziyu thought for a moment and said, "He may mean that he wants us to play a piece of music."
What kind of music could be hidden in a poem without a beginning or an end? Wen Ci was a little confused: "Can you just play a random song?"
"It's like listening to the pines in the mountains..." Xiao Ziyu murmured, "It's 'Wind in the Pines', a piece by Ji Kang of Guangling."
He took down the guqin, placed it on the square table, and played a short passage based on his memory. At first, he was still a little awkward, but as his fingertips moved over the strings, he gradually got into the groove. The sound of the piano was like pine and bamboo, echoing in the empty room.
When the song ended, Wen Ci couldn't help but applaud: "It's so beautiful. I've only seen Ziyu playing the piano online before, but I didn't expect to hear a live version."
There was a noise from the door lock, and finally a staff member came to open the door. "Congratulations on passing customs. Here are your exchange vouchers."
As soon as they entered the village, their extra belongings were taken away. They had to earn their own food, clothing and other expenses in the village, or complete tasks to obtain coupons, which could be exchanged for corresponding items from the director team.
Wen Ci greeted the camera with familiarity: "Hello everyone, I am Wen Ci, and this is my partner Xiao Ziyu."
Xiao Ziyu smiled at the camera: "Hello, everyone."
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a bang coming from the side room on the east side!
They were both startled, but the noise showed no sign of stopping. The door panel began to shake with the banging sound, and after a loud bang, the door lock was actually shaken away by the person inside.
The MC obviously didn't expect that there would be such a way to break the door. Just as he was thinking about how to smooth things over, the two people inside walked out in a swagger. I heard the voices still complimenting each other:
"Brother Lu is indeed young and as strong as an ox."
"No, no, you are a fighting nation, and the lock wouldn't have broken without your kick."
Xiao Ziyu felt the voice was familiar and turned around to look, but he didn't expect it to be Lu Yan. After the filming of "Maple Grove Evening" was completed, the two had almost no contact again. Later, Xiao Ziyu was injured in the wire incident, and Lu Yan asked about the progress of the investigation several times.
Seeing this on the show, Lu Yan was very surprised and rushed over to hug her tightly: "Xiao Xiao! We are so destined to meet!"
"Then should I get a hug too?" The man who came out from behind didn't sound serious, and there was an uncontrollable smile in his voice.
Xiao Ziyu looked over Lu Yan's shoulder, his eyes suddenly widened, the last guest turned out to be Eric!
Yuan Heng: What Shura Field? (Smile)
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