New Year’s Day, Imperial Palace, Daqing Hall.
Emperor Zhao Ji, wearing a Tongtian crown and a square-collared crimson gauze robe, sat on the throne, with four tall and mighty generals standing at the four corners.
The court assembly on the first day of the first lunar month is one of the few major court assemblies in the year.
The new year begins on New Year's Day, and everything is new.
Officials in the capital, royal relatives, and envoys from foreign countries all came together to congratulate, intending to herald the auspiciousness of the year.
Zhao Ji hardly slept last night. He just wiped his face with cold water before going to court. Although it drove away the sleepiness, his head was still a little groggy.
At this time, in the hall, all civil and military officials, royal relatives and nobles were standing solemnly in their crowns and court robes, respectfully.
Envoys from various countries including the Great Jin, Western Xia, Goryeo, Uighur, Khotan, Dali, and the Arab Empire entered the hall one after another to wish the Emperor of the Song Dynasty a happy new year.
Zhang Shixun was just a small commander-in-chief and of course had no qualifications to attend the grand court meeting. At this moment, he had just come out of Li Shishi's house, followed by a group of women including Ding Dusai.
After setting off firecrackers last night, a group of beauties clamored for Zhang Shixun to teach them new songs because they all wanted to participate in the Lantern Festival activities organized by the government.
Zhang Shixun is not good at saying no, especially not good at saying no to women, and even less good at saying no to beautiful women.
He decided to increase the difficulty today and take out "Left Hand Pointing to the Moon" to give them a try.
The song's range spans nearly three octaves.
What is the concept of three octaves?
Ordinary people hum a little tune every day, usually in a little over one octave.
Choir members must have a vocal range of at least one and a half octaves.
Professional soloists must reach a range of more than two octaves to be competent.
As for three octaves, I'm afraid only coloratura sopranos can challenge it.
Ordinary people can only stare blankly.
Even if one can sing it, the difficulty lies in expressing emotions in a layered manner and matching the emotions and artistic conception of the original work, as well as accurately grasping and understanding the song.
In later generations, there are only a handful of singers who can perfectly interpret this song except Sa Dingding.
Zhang Shixun certainly couldn't sing it either, because this song is not meant for men.
But he can tone it down.
Having the maid bring the guzheng, Zhang Shixun gathered his emotions and, under the gaze of the women, officially began to sing:
The left hand holds the earth, the right hand holds the sky.
The palm lines crackled with lightning in all directions.
Time has been quickly exchanged into years,
Three thousand worlds are like nothing you can see.
…
The left hand snaps the fingers, and the right hand plucks the strings.
The boat ferries across the water of the Forgotten River.
When troubles can bloom into a red lotus,
Don't stop, give me distracting thoughts.
Pointing at the moon with the left hand, taking the red thread with the right hand,
Grant you and me the love we wish for.
…
At the end of the song, even though he sang very poorly, he still won the admiration of the girls.
"Don't rush to praise me," Zhang Shixun said, smiling and waving his hands. "This piece of music is too difficult. I had to lower the key to sing it. I haven't even managed to capture a fraction of the original's artistic conception... Who of you wants to give it a try?"
When the girls heard this, they cheered and everyone wanted to give it a try.
As a result of the test, most of the people present failed, and only Li Shishi and Ding Dusai were able to sing.
Although Li Shishi was able to sing the song, the high notes sounded a little pale and she couldn't bring out the charm of the tune.
The most outstanding one is Ding Dusai, who can not only sing the whole song completely, but also show 70% to 80% of the charm.
This reminded Zhang Shixun of the rainy night when he first met her. Her high-pitched screams almost pierced his eardrums.
Li Shishi and others also thought that Ding Dusai was the most suitable person to sing this song.
The crowd was having a great time, their spirits were rising, and no one wanted to talk about the end.
The meeting did not end until dawn.
After bidding farewell to Li Shishi, Zhang Shixun yawned and whispered to Ding Dusai, "Madam Ding, should I go to your parents' house to wish them a happy new year?"
Ding Dusai rolled his eyes at him and asked, "What do you think?"
"Don't glare at me. You know I just came back from overseas and don't know the customs of New Year's greetings in the Song Dynasty."
Feng Yinu said beside him: "Savage, haha!"
Ding Dusai was unhappy and pushed her, "You are the savage."
"Saisai, when can we attend the wedding banquet?" Wang Jingnu hugged Ding Dusai's shoulders and asked in a loud voice.
Sun Sansi and the others also joined in the fun, "Yes! Yes! We are all waiting."
The girls surrounded Ding Dusai, talking in a flurry, and from time to time they flirted with Zhang Shixun and made faces at him.
"A bunch of goblins!" Zhang Shixun muttered, and quickly stayed away from them. He couldn't afford to offend them.
Ding Dusai blushed, pushed her sisters away, jumped into her sedan chair, and urged the sedan bearer to go faster.
Feng Yinu and the others giggled, said goodbye to Zhang Shixun, and got into their own sedan chairs and left.
Zhang Shixun approached Ding Dusai's sedan chair and asked, "Madam, this is my first time visiting you for the New Year. What gift should I buy?"
"It's up to you, just buy some on the street."
"Oh! Okay, okay, I'll buy it right away." Zhang Shixun turned and left.
Ding Dusai asked from inside the sedan chair, "Hey! Where are you going?"
"I'm going back to ride my horse. It's my first time to pay New Year's greetings to my father-in-law and mother-in-law. I have to make it look grand."
"Ah! You are not allowed to call me that. We are still... still..."
"What else do we have?" Zhang Shixun deliberately squeezed her.
"We haven't...hate it! I'm ignoring you."
Zhang Shixun chuckled, "Okay, I won't ask anymore. What do you think I should call your parents?"
"Still calling them uncle and aunt as usual."
"Okay, I got it. You go back first. I'll go after I buy the gift."
"Forget it, I'll go with you. You're too stupid to buy gifts."
Zhang Shixun was overjoyed, "It would be great if you could come with us!"
"Wait a minute, I'll change my clothes."
"Okay, okay, take your time changing."
Ding Dusai was busy in the sedan for a while, then he lifted the curtain and came out.
"You guys go back. I don't need the sedan chair today. You guys should spend the New Year at home."
The sedan chair bearer left as soon as he was told.
Zhang Shixun looked at Ding Dusai. She had changed into men's clothes, a green dress, and a fu hat with a red flower on it.
Zhang Shixun gave a thumbs-up and praised, "Looks great! Beautiful!"
"You're so tongue-tied that you can't even compliment someone... Come here!"
Zhang Shixun hurried over and asked curiously, "I didn't see you taking any packages. Where did this men's clothing come from?"
"Now that I'm rich, I bought myself a sedan chair. Hehe! There's a small box in the sedan chair for clothes."
"That's good. It's convenient to go out."
"This is all thanks to you, Mr. Bai. You go to the Lotus Pavilion to help me every now and then, and the business of the Lotus Pavilion is getting better and better." Ding Dusai said, standing on tiptoe and reaching out to take off the fu hat he was wearing.
Zhang Shixun touched his head and asked, "What are you going to do?"
Ding Dusai didn't answer. He smiled and put a strange-looking silk thing on his futou, then handed it back to him. "Put it on?"
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