Chapter 30: Manuscript Stolen

Great Wu doesn’t have Simplified Character Notation!

After Ding Suian realized this, he raised his arm and gestured, “Miss Jiang, please come in.”

He intended to sit down and discuss it in detail.

But Jiang Yuan looked up at the empty Halberd Hall, then quietly turned to look back, not seeing her younger brother return, so she remained standing.

Her hands were clasped within her sleeves, her head slightly bowed.

Her posture was graceful, like a budding orchid, unblemished and pure.

Ding Suian immediately understood. She was trying to avoid suspicion.

Even in broad daylight, without a third person present, she felt it was inappropriate for the two of them to be in the same room.

Standing outside showed her uprightness.

Seeing this, Ding Suian didn’t insist. Standing outside the door, he asked again, “Miss Jiang, since music is the only method of Cultivation for Law Academy students, I suppose musical pieces are especially important?”

“Mm.” Jiang Yuan nodded lightly, “Especially new pieces, they are particularly important.”

“Are there differences between new and old pieces?”

“Of course. A musical piece is like a jar of water; the more Cultivators draw spiritual Qi from it, the weaker its effect becomes. For example, the ‘Sacred Emperor Breaking Formation Melody’ that emerged in Great Xia three hundred years ago. Historical records state that when the Sacred Emperor Breaking Formation Melody was first played, the courage of thirty thousand Xia soldiers surged, and two hundred thousand enemy troops were defeated in one battle. But three hundred years have passed, and after countless Law Cultivators have drawn from it, its effectiveness is now negligible.”

From Ding Suian’s understanding, it meant they were tired of hearing it.

No matter how good a song is, if you listen to it for three hundred years, you’ll get sick of it!

“So, composers are extremely important to the Law Academy?”

“Yes.” Jiang Yuan quickly glanced at Ding Suian, who happened to be looking at her as well. Their gazes met for a moment, and Jiang Yuan quickly lowered her head, her cheeks slightly red.

This girl is quite shy.

She then softly said, “Brother Ding, if you can introduce that Daoist Hu to the Law Academy, with just the Spell for Clearing the Heart and Universal Goodness, he can become a Law Academy Enshrined, and live a life of comfort and wealth.”

Ding Suian almost asked, ‘Who is Daoist Hu?’

Then he remembered that this was the composer he had casually made up last night.

Not far away, Jiang Xuan, the slightly chubby boy in a flamboyant outfit, wobbled over, presumably having completed his apology mission.

“Miss Jiang, please come in.”

This second invitation, Jiang Yuan did not refuse. She lightly stepped into the Halberd Hall.

With her younger brother present, they were no longer an unmarried man and woman alone.

After Jiang Yuan was seated, Ding Suian took out the note with the Simplified Character Notation again and pointed to one of the characters.

“Miss Jiang, please look at this character.”

This character was divided into two parts: ‘evening’ and ‘Nine’ on top, and a ‘勹’ below it, with a ‘Four’ inside the ‘勹’.

It felt familiar; all the radicals were recognizable.

But what the heck was it when combined?

Ding Suian continued, “‘evening’ represents the left hand’s ring finger, ‘Nine’ is the ninth fret position on the zither, ‘勹’ represents the right hand’s plucking technique, and ‘Four’ represents the fourth string of the zither.”

Jiang Yuan, having been immersed in this Dao for a long time, quickly understood. He was writing down techniques that could previously only be passed down orally, into zither notation that anyone could understand!

Ding Suian picked up a brush and ink, leaning beside Jiang Yuan, explaining as he wrote: “.宀, grass, just, these represent timbre; grass for open string, 宀 for stopped note, just for harmonic. These represent right-hand techniques: corpse for pluck, 乇 for push, Wood for sweep, 乚 for flick, 勹 for hook.”

About a quarter of an hour later, the paper was densely covered with characters and annotations. Jiang Yuan was engrossed; even if she hadn’t fully grasped the complete meaning of the Simplified Character Notation at this moment, she couldn’t help but feel her breathing quicken.

Whether she could learn it concerned Ding Suian’s Cultivation prospects, so he couldn’t help but want to test her. He casually pointed at a character on the Simplified Character Notation and asked, “What does this character represent?”

Jiang Yuan subconsciously looked up, only to find that their heads were quite close due to their side-by-side explanation. She quickly moved back a bit, her cheeks flushing.

Composing herself, she looked at the character at Ding Suian’s fingertip, thought for a moment, and replied, “The upper part ‘big, seven’ represents the left thumb, seventh fret note; the middle ‘勹’ represents the right-hand plucking technique; the ‘one’ inside the ‘勹’ represents the first string of the zither.”

“Clever!”

Ding Suian was very pleased. A good student catches on quickly.

But Jiang Yuan heard this handsome young man, not much older than herself, praise her in the tone of a teacher, and she found his attempt to act mature rather cute.

Ding Suian then bent over the desk, writing a combined character with ‘few’ on top and ‘Heart’ below. “Next are characters representing speed and rhythm. This character means’slight pause,’ indicating a brief stop.”

The teacher was still explaining intently, but the student’s mind wandered slightly. Her Phoenix eyes, similar to Lin Hansu’s, seemed to be staring at the paper on the desk, but her peripheral vision repeatedly drifted to Ding Suian, who was bent over the desk a foot away.

Her eyelashes trembled slightly.

She was full of curiosity. Wasn’t he just a military family’s son?

How could he be so proficient in the Dao of music? It wasn’t that his technique was good; after all, Jiang Yuan had personally witnessed Ding Suian playing the zither last night, and it was clearly clumsy, his technique barely passing in her eyes.

Yet, he could ingeniously create this Simplified Character Notation to pass down zither pieces.

It’s no exaggeration to say that if this method were popularized, it could even solve the problems of ancient melodies being lost and the high cost of transmission.

‘Thump, thump, thump~’

Ding Suian, who had been speaking voluminously, suddenly rapped his knuckles on the table, “Focus! Look at the notation, why are you looking at me?”

…

Her beautiful face instantly turned a pig-liver color.

After a long while, she retorted in a sticky, kitten-like voice, “I wasn’t looking at you!”

The morning hours quietly slipped away.

Near noon, Ding Suian organized five full sheets of paper and handed them to Jiang Yuan, “Go back and practice diligently, and find more people to listen, so you can discover shortcomings. If there’s anything you don’t understand, you can always come and ask me.”

Jiang Yuan took them with both hands, unsure what to say for a moment.

Heaven, Earth, Emperor, Parents, Teacher—based on what Ding Suian had taught her this morning alone, he was certainly worthy of being called ‘Teacher’.

If he were older, Jiang Yuan wouldn’t mind performing a grand bow to Ding Suian to express her gratitude.

But… he was simply too young.

After a slight pause, Jiang Yuan earnestly bent her knees and performed a solemn ‘wanfu’ bow, softly saying, “Brother Ding’s kindness in imparting knowledge, your younger sister will engrave in her heart. In the future, if Brother Ding returns to the capital, please do not hesitate to speak if there is anything your younger sister can do to help.”

Ding Suian thought for a moment, then smiled, “As a matter of fact, there are some things I need to trouble you with right now. Recently, I want to deeply understand the Divine Abilities of the Three Teachings and the history of the current dynasty, but the Imperial Study Pavilion’s collection of books is vast, and I don’t know how to choose. How about Miss Jiang helps me select some books in her free time?”

“Good!”

Jiang Yuan readily agreed, then bowed again and left with Jiang Xuan.

Noon sunlight streamed into the Halberd Hall, and dust motes danced in the light beam.

Ding Suian leaned back in his armchair, feeling satisfied.

The Dao of music was viable; as long as Jiang Yuan spread the zither pieces in the Law Academy and helped him absorb Protective Aura, the difficulty of Cultivation would surely decrease significantly.

Coupled with the Imperial Script, working in tandem.

Thinking of the Imperial Script, Ding Suian unconsciously looked towards the desk, then his eyes froze.

The book he had placed on the desk to weigh down his manuscript had shifted slightly.

Ding Suian got up and walked over, removing the book, only to see… the manuscript that had been hidden underneath was gone!

Damn it, when did a thief get into the Halberd Hall?

Ding Suian was about to go out and ask Chest Hair and the others, but then he remembered that since this morning, no one had entered the Halberd Hall except for him and the Jiang siblings!

Could it be Jiang Yuan?

This thought flashed through his mind, then was quickly dismissed.

Jiang Xuan!

It must have been that little fatty!

He secretly stole it while Ding Suian was teaching the Simplified Character Notation!

Thanks to reader: Yu Changluo for the reward~

Thanks to reader: Guyue oooo for the reward~