Chapter 27: First Sight at Shixue Pavilion

Night, the beginning of the hai hour.

Ding Suian skillfully and easily climbed into Huguai Garden. He could clearly feel the silence within the Prince Lanyangs Estate. The estate originally had over two hundred servants, maids, Nannies, and house guards. After Lin Hansu’s purge yesterday, those who were sold off were sold, and those who were dismissed were dismissed. Now, including the An Squad guards, only about forty people remained in the estate.

With so few people scattered across the hundred-plus acres of Prince Lanyangs Estate, you might walk for half a day and not run into a living soul.

On the way to the study, Ding Suian habitually glanced toward Ji Pavilion. It was pitch black.

According to Wang Xigui, who was on duty at the estate gate, Lin Hansu’s elder sister came to visit relatives in the evening. She was probably hosting guests somewhere in the inner quarters right now.

The study of the Prince’s Estate was called Shixue Pavilion.

It wasn’t the kind of study Ding Suian imagined—just a single room with a few rows of bookshelves—but rather a two-story library spanning three open bays.

Usually, few people came here. Since Ding Suian came to borrow books the night before last, Lin Hansu had ordered the servants to light the underfloor heating in Shixue Pavilion.

Pushing the door open, a wave of warmth washed over him.

Ding Suian blew on his fire starter and lit a candle, momentarily stunned. On the desk lay a zither and a guqin.

The guqin had a paulownia top and a catalpa bottom. The Yue Mountain and Dragon Gums were both made of rosewood. The strings were formed by gluing together multiple strands of silkworm silk and Jiao-moth silk, and the board was inlaid with mother-of-pearl, making it look extremely valuable.

The characters ‘Cangliu’ were engraved on the guqin’s forehead, which must be the instrument’s name. Beside it was the inscription ‘Cangliu Zai Yuan’.

Ding Suian stretched out a finger and plucked the strings, moving upward in reverse order. The seven strings gradually hummed. The first string was deep and heavy, the third and fourth were full and rich, and the seventh was clear and penetrating. The lingering sound was loose, clear, and long, without the slightest hint of a scratchy noise.

It seemed the owner of this Cangliu Guqin took very good care of it.

It must be something highly treasured.

Ding Suian, feeling a sudden urge to play, used his right thumb to pluck and his middle finger to hook, striking two open strings as an introduction. His left index finger then continuously plucked two strings to execute the’Six-String Diejuan’.

The open notes sank low, and the silk strings trembled.

Deep within the five courtyards of the Prince’s Estate was Qiyuan Garden’s brightly lit warm hall.

At the dining table in the center of the warm hall, Lin Hansu and her elder sister, Lin Fuyao, sat in the main seats, while a pair of young teenagers sat in the lower seats.

The young man was about fourteen or fifteen, fair-skinned, and slightly plump.

This was Lin Hansu’s nephew, named Jiang Xuan.

The girl was named Jiang Yuan. She was two or three years older than Jiang Xuan, tall, with Phoenix eyes, a delicate nose, and cherry lips. She bore a seven-tenths resemblance to Lin Hansu, but lacked the latter’s mature charm—that seamless blend of elegance and allure.

In the main seat, Lin Hansu probably wanted to ask her elder sister about the recent happenings in the capital, but she didn’t want her niece and nephew to be exposed to such matters too early, so she found an excuse to send the two children away.

“Waner, Xuan’er, your mother and I need to talk. If you two are bored, feel free to wander around the estate.”

Jiang Xuan, who was already full and feeling completely bored, felt as if he had been granted a general amnesty upon hearing this. He immediately stood up and said, “Maternal Aunt, this estate is much bigger than where we live in Central Heaven! I’ll go check out the front courtyard!”

Before Lin Hansu could reply, the little fatty had already bolted out.

Jiang Yuan, however, remained seated properly, her hands clasped in front of her abdomen. Her tableware was clean and tidy, and even the fish bones she had eaten were neatly arranged on the bone plate.

She carried herself with great refinement.

“Granny Zhang, follow Xuan’er and bring him a thick robe,” Lin Hansu quickly instructed. Only then did Waner gracefully rise, offering a slight bow first to Lin Fuyao and then to Lin Hansu. “Mother, Maternal Aunt, Waner will take her leave now.”

“Mm, go ahead. You’ll sleep with me tonight. It’s been a long time since I had a proper heart-to-heart talk with Waner.”

Lin Hansu’s eyes were full of doting affection.

Although she and Jiang Yuan were Maternal Aunt and niece, they were only seven years apart. Before Lin Hansu was married, her niece spent nearly half of every year by her side, and their relationship was very deep.

Jiang Yuan, whose temperament was usually somewhat distant, rarely showed a smile. She lightly nodded her head and replied, “Waner misses Maternal Aunt too.”

“Good girl, go on. We’ll talk later.”

Jiang Yuan left Qiyuan Garden accompanied by Yi Huan.

Winter was desolate, and even a luxurious place like Prince Lanyangs Estate didn’t offer much to see.

After wandering aimlessly for a while, Jiang Yuan suddenly asked, “Yi Huan, where was my guqin placed?”

“When we received the Eldest Miss’s luggage this evening, Wansu and I temporarily placed your guqin and zither in Shixue Pavilion.”

“Shixue Pavilion?”

“Yes, the Prince’s Estate study.”

“Take me to see it.”

Following a secluded, winding path and turning past a rock garden, Shixue Pavilion suddenly appeared before them.

“Huh, why is Shixue Pavilion lit up with candlelight tonight?”

Just as Yi Huan finished speaking, a faint sound of a guqin drifted out from inside Shixue Pavilion.

.

Jiang Yuan recognized the sound immediately: it was Cangliu. For someone who loved their guqin, their instrument was an untouchable treasure!

Normally, she wouldn’t even let her own brother touch it. Hearing someone carelessly strumming the strings now, she couldn’t help but feel angry.

Her footsteps immediately quickened, but after only a few steps, the previously discordant guqin music inside the study suddenly changed. Harmonics clustered and leaped, small clusters of notes lightly tapped down like stars falling into a cold pool.

“Miss?”

Yi Huan, who had rushed to catch up when she saw Jiang Yuan quicken her pace, looked confused when she saw her suddenly stop again.

“Shhh~”

Jiang Yuan signaled Yi Huan to be quiet, even uttering the’shush’ sound extremely lightly, as if worried about disturbing the person playing the guqin.

After listening for a moment, Jiang Yuan, herself a master of the instrument, could sense that the player’s technique seemed a bit clumsy, but the tune itself—which she had never heard before—was truly captivating, broad, lighthearted, yet filled with Zen meaning.

Unable to resist her curiosity, Jiang Yuan unconsciously walked a few more steps, arriving just outside the open door of Shixue Pavilion.

She didn’t even look at the person’s appearance first; her gaze fell directly upon the hands playing the guqin.

Plucking the sixth string, hooking the second string in succession, the thumb flew, sliding from the seventh stud toward the open space beyond the thirteenth stud.

Immediately following, the left hand used a kneeling finger to lock the third string, and the right hand continued hooking.

Rolling fingers created rain, and plucked notes formed hail.

The pace suddenly shifted from slow to fast. The ten fingers retracted their posture like a Kunpeng folding its wings.

Harmonics rose from the tenth stud of the fourth string.

Jiang Yuan entered a mysterious Realm she had never experienced before. In the Void Realm, she faintly saw images of a thousand monks chanting scriptures and moonlight illuminating the spire of a stupa.

It was as if she had touched a certain threshold.

Unexpectedly, at this critical moment, the ringing and humming abruptly ceased.

Inside Shixue Pavilion, Ding Suian, who had just satisfied his urge, noticed the visitor outside the door out of the corner of his eye. He looked up: the woman wore a light yellow ruqun, her black hair styled into a tassel bun, fastened only by a single green jade hairpin.

If relying only on her simple attire, Ding Suian probably wouldn’t have been able to determine her identity.

But after one look at her face, he immediately thought of Lin Hansu’s relative who had come to visit the estate today. The two women looked too similar.

However, the young girl outside the door was far less voluptuous than Lin Hansu, and much more youthful.

She was practically a pure version of Lin Hansu!

When the guqin music stopped, Jiang Yuan subconsciously looked up at the owner of those hands: Ding Suian, dressed in a moon-white brocade robe, tall and straight, with red lips and white teeth.

???

Jiang Yuan was full of questions. How could there be such a handsome young man in her Maternal Aunt’s inner quarters?

Which family’s Young Master was he?

Why was he here?

It was late at night, and since they were similar in age, Jiang Yuan turned to leave to avoid any impropriety. But after only one step, she couldn’t resist the curiosity in her heart. She turned back, lowered her head, bent her knees, performed a hasty Wanfu Bow, and softly asked, “May I ask, Young Master, what is the name of this piece of music?”

“Spell for Clearing the Heart and Universal Goodness.”

“Spell for Clearing the Heart and Universal Goodness?”

“Yes.”

“…Was it composed by the Young Master?”

“Uh…” Ding Suian shook his head and smiled, “It was composed by a Daoist named Hu.”

Let me chat a bit with all the esteemed readers.

The new book period is tough, but thanks to everyone’s support, we made it onto the New Book Ranking today, and the category ranking also squeezed into the top twenty.

Thank you!

I’ve received a lot of encouragement these past few days, as well as many suggestions.

Let me clarify one thing first: this book has multiple female leads.

After twenty-something chapters, I can sense some issues. Sometimes, in order to flesh out and highlight the female lead’s character design, I gave some of the male lead’s highlight moments to the female lead, which made it feel less satisfying.

Moving forward, I will try my best to balance the screen time between the male and female leads.

In order to construct a complete world view, some of the narratives interspersed within the plot might not seem very interesting.

I will try a more interesting way of storytelling when constructing the world view later on.

Various issues are mostly due to my limited writing skill, and I will seriously consider everyone’s criticisms and suggestions.

It is entirely thanks to your support that this new book has a chance to stand out. Regardless of the results, I absolutely promise not to have a botched ending or abandon the story; I will certainly present a complete story to everyone.

Voiceover: “This is my bottom line as a person!”

In summary, the thunder, rain, and dew from my esteemed readers are all sovereign grace!

Finally, I wish everyone a Happy New Year and a joyful wedding.

Thank you once again!