Zhang Shixun said firmly: "When have I ever lied to you? Of course it's true."
"Is that so..." Ding Dusai rolled his eyes and suddenly said, "I'll go call Sister Li over. Since we're going to cry, let's just cry together."
"who?"
"Li Shishi, Sister Li." Ding Dusai said and left.
"Hey! Wait a minute..."
"You wait at home." Ding Dusai went straight away without looking back.
While waiting for someone, Zhang Shixun asked Zheng Yuanyuan and others to start tuning the new instrument.
By the way, let them play the instruments they are good at.
Zhang Shixun listened and thought it was just okay, all at amateur level.
Li Shishi also lived in Jinqian Lane, which was very close, and arrived soon.
She was wearing a lake green silk skirt, a scarlet back, and a cloak. She was graceful. When she arrived at the backyard, she asked before entering the door: "Master Zhang, I wonder if you have any good words to show us this time."
Zhang Shixun came out and said with a smile, "Madam Li, Happy New Year."
"Happy New Year!" Li Shishi bowed. "Saisai said you have a great poem."
"Yes! This poem is of the utmost excellence." Zhang Shixun said as he made way into the house, "It's a pity the author has passed away. Otherwise, I would have invited him to the capital and enshrined him."
Li Shishi smiled sweetly and said, "Oh! For Master Zhang to call it an excellent poem, it must be extraordinary. Please write it down quickly so that we can enjoy it."
"Madam Li, please be patient! Li Yi'an and his wife are coming too. How about we enjoy it together after they arrive?"
"Mr. Yi'an is coming too?" Li Shishi was very surprised.
"Yes, I just met her on the road. She said she was coming."
"That's great. Maybe I can get a good work from her."
As they were talking, Xiaoju brought Li Qingzhao into the courtyard.
Everyone came out to greet them.
"Is Madam Shishi here too?" Li Qingzhao greeted her with a smile.
"Yes! Happy New Year, sister! Shishi is here to give you a gift."
Seeing that she was alone, Zhang Shixun asked, "Didn't you say Mr. Zhao was coming too? Why are you here alone?"
"He went out drinking with his friends, so I had no choice but to come here alone. I couldn't resist the temptation of good poetry."
Everyone laughed together.
Li Qingzhao looked around the courtyard and said, "It's not easy to live in the capital. I didn't expect Mr. Zhang to have such a large house. I'm really envious."
"Haha! I cheated this from Gao Yanei."
"Is the Gao Yanei you're talking about the son of General Gao?"
"That's him."
"To be able to trick him out of something is quite a feat," Li Qingzhao said, then she changed the subject and went straight to the point: "Could you please show me the good poem Mr. Zhang mentioned?"
Zhang Shixun nodded and said, "Yes! Of course. But this poem is best sung."
"Sing quickly! Sir, sing quickly." Ding Dusai had been waiting impatiently for a long time.
"This poem was written for women, so it's best sung by women."
"Then teach us."
"Okay!" Zhang Shixun turned to Zheng Yuanyuan who was standing nearby and said, "Bring the zheng over here."
Then he said to Li Shishi, "Miss Shishi has had a difficult life, so she is most suitable to sing the Song of Burying Flowers. How about I sing a line and you learn a line?"
"good!"
Zhang Shixun stopped talking nonsense and began to tune the strings carefully.
Zheng Yuanyuan gave everyone present a cup of tea.
Li Qingzhao held the teacup and slowly warmed her hands. Although there was charcoal fire in the room, it was still a little cold.
Zhang Shixun tuned the strings and plucked them gracefully. Then, a sad prelude sounded in the room.
Everyone sat upright and listened to Zhang Shixun sing.
I only heard Zhang Shixun singing:
Flowers fall and fly all over the sky, who will pity them when their color and fragrance are gone?
The soft silk thread is tied to the spring pavilion, and the fallen catkins lightly touch the embroidered curtain.
…
Li Qingzhao praised: "It is indeed a good poem!"
Zhang Shixun signaled Li Shishi to sing along.
Li Shishi opened her voice and sang along line by line...
…
Now that you are dead, I will bury you, but I don’t know when I will die.
People will laugh at you for burying flowers today, but who will bury you next year?
Look at the flowers gradually falling in the fading spring, that is when the beauty grows old and dies;
Once spring is over, the beauty will grow old, and no one will know when the flowers fall and people die!
When Li Shishi was halfway through singing, she had already started sobbing, and her singing voice was filled with tears.
When she sang about how spring ends and beauty grows old, flowers fall and people die without anyone knowing, she was already sobbing and could not sing any more.
Her parents died when she was young, and she grew up with Grandma Li.
Who was Granny Li? She was the madam. She supported Li Shishi not out of kindness, but because she expected Li Shishi to make a lot of money for her.
Li Shishi grew up in such an environment, and the sadness in her heart was accumulated in the deepest part of her heart, and she could not tell it to outsiders.
Since childhood, I have tasted the misery of life, the unfairness of fate, and the cruelty of the world.
Every word and sentence in "Song of Burying Flowers" touched the most vulnerable part of her heart, causing her to resonate strongly.
The other women were also in tears.
Li Qingzhao shed tears secretly and took out a handkerchief to wipe her tears quietly.
Without exception, all the women in the room cried.
The culprit Zhang Shixun sat there, looking at this and that, wanting to say a few words of comfort. He opened his mouth several times, but ultimately gave up because he couldn't think of the right words.
There is nothing more to be said.
It was Li Qingzhao who broke the silence, "Shixun, bring me pen, ink, paper and inkstone."
"Okay!" Zhang Shixun winked at Zheng Yuanyuan.
Zheng Yuanyuan went there quickly.
Li Qingzhao said: "This song is refined in terms of sentences and words, and its rhetoric is skillful and clumsy. Listening to it makes one feel that youth is fleeting and life is short."
"Yes!" Li Shishi nodded in agreement. "As I sang, my mind wandered unconsciously, thinking of scenery, emotions, events, and principles. I was inexplicably immersed in them and couldn't extricate myself."
"It's just a poem. Look at how you all are crying, so sad. It's New Year's Day. If I had known it would be like this, I wouldn't have played this song." When Zhang Shixun said "sad, miserable and sorrowful", he glanced at Li Qingzhao and saw that she had no reaction, so he knew that she had not yet composed the world-famous "Sheng Sheng Man".
Li Qingzhao looked at Zhang Shixun and asked, "Mr. Zhang, I wonder who wrote 'Song of Burying Flowers'?"
"This poem comes from a book written by Cao Xueqin."
Li Qingzhao shook her head. "Cao Xueqin? I've never heard of him."
"This book is The Story of the Stone, also known as The Dream of the Red Chamber."
"The Story of the Stone? Dream of the Red Chamber?" Li Qingzhao's eyes turned and she asked, "Do you have this book?"
"This..." Zhang Shixun scratched his head, feeling a little embarrassed. He had the four great classics all in his PDA.
Seeing this, Li Qingzhao thought it was not in his hands and was quite disappointed.
Zhang Shixun took out his palmtop computer, shook it in his hand, and said, "This book can only be found in the Book of Heaven. If Sister Li really wants to read it, I'll have someone copy it down later."
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