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[Zixu] «Pure Serenade» 04 - Oh no, it’s a heart-fluttering feeling.


The Eldest Young Master counted on his fingers, he had been in and out of the heart of the lake at Langyuan for less than a cup of tea's time.

In such a short period of time, nothing could have happened, so it shouldn’t arouse any suspicion.


…..right?

It, it probably… should….. be fine….. right?….. Right…..?


But he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to continue using Yue Changsheng as an excuse, so he didn’t know what to do in the future. Since he didn’t have a clue for the moment, it would be better for him to lie down and pretend to be sick until everything died down.

Although he didn’t really catch a cold from such a short fall into the water, with his current haggard appearance, his sick person act was flawless.

He had just laid down and hadn’t even covered up with the quilt yet when the Second Young Master heard the news and came to visit him. The Eldest Young Master immediately felt a bit like he really was seriously ill.


“I heard some actor pushed you into the water.”

The Second Young Master sat down on the side of the bed, lifting up his green tea and taking a small sip. When his voice fell, a stifling silence followed. He held back his anger and rubbed his thumb around the mouth of the cup, stiffly chipping off a piece of the white porcelain and grinding it into fine powder.

The Eldest Young Master sunk into the soft silk and shivered as he gripped the quilt, not knowing what to do.

A mere self-important actor who didn’t know how to appreciate kindness. It was just that his older brother had been delighted, so he didn’t feel like bothering with it at first. But for going as far as pushing his brother, who couldn’t swim, into the water and putting him in danger, he really deserved to die.

After a long time, the Second Young Master’s cold voice was heard: “This Yue Changsheng really has some nerve.”

The Eldest Young Master was deeply convinced that his younger brother wouldn’t have any more difficulty in cutting off Yue Changsheng’s head than he did in cutting off a piece of that porcelain cup.

He was forced to leap from the bed like a carp¹ and vigorously force a laugh: “Aiya it was nothing! I was just so happy to have my dream come true that I had to soak in the cold water to cool off a bit hahaha! I was the one who jumped, it had nothing to do with him ahahaha! I’m going to go continue listening to the music ahahaha goodbye Xiao Xi…..!”

The Eldest Young Master lifted the quilt and jumped down to the ground, draping a loose unlined garment over himself and breaking out into a run.


The Eldest Young Master returned to the Eastern Jade Building deeply worried and sick at heart. He was a frequent visitor here, and had already paid the silver for next year, so the Jade Building was always left empty for him.

The water pavilion maintained its usual silence without a soul in sight, but once he went in, he ran into Yue Changsheng. He sat against the vermilion railing with his knees curled up on the waterfront balustrade, and a completely clear, stringless, coloured glass guqin with no emblems rested between his knees, as his slender fingers with clearly defined joints fluttered to and fro over it like there was music. It was as though he lay within the full moon, he had the vitality of a martial artist and the charm of a performer, and the thin silk fabric poured down, sinking into the lotus pond, gathering the starlight from the Milky Way, flickering in the moonlight.

The Eldest Young Master was instinctually stunned as he watched.

When he came back to his senses, he gingerly moved to the corner and sat down quietly.


Yue Changsheng stopped his hands and pressed them on the body of the qin, then lifted his eyes and wordlessly turned to look at him.

His pupils were deep and serene, and it was hard to tell whether he was sad or happy. The Eldest Young Master was immediately a little nervous: “Did I interrupt you…..”

Most people who saw a stringless, empty qin would be surprised and make fun of it. There was no sound here, so why speak of interrupting? Yue Changsheng asked indifferently: “Oh? Did you catch it?”

The Eldest Young Master shook his head: “The greatest sounds cannot be heard, so the greatest music makes no noise². I am just a common man, naturally I don’t understand.”

Singing to the tune of string music was merely the outer form. As the saying went, ‘If one knows the inner significance of the qin; Why make the effort to put on strings and pluck them?³’. Since he said that he didn’t understand, it meant that he understood the idea.

Yue Changsheng was a little surprised, he originally thought the Eldest Young Master was an ignorant and incompetent loafer, but he unexpectedly knew about the delicate interest and charm of the Stringless Taoqin.


Yue Changsheng’s fingers knocked on the body of the qin, and he pensively said: “It turns out you are not an idiot.”

The Eldest Young Master recalled his own almost mentally challenged actions during the day and blushed with shame, stammering: “This morning’s matter….. could….. you….. pretend nothing happened?”

Yue Changsheng simply said: “Can’t.”

The Eldest Young Master knew it in his heart as well, so he sighed faintly and refused to speak again.

Yue Changsheng waited a bit impatiently, slightly raising his chin and asking: “Aren’t you going to explain?”

“There’s nothing to explain.” The Eldest Young Master sighed, “Just treat it as me being a mentally obstructed person with bad intentions.”


Yue Changsheng was silent for a long time, suddenly asking in a low voice: “Are you afraid of something?”

The Eldest Young Master didn’t want to implicate other people, so he had originally made up his mind to not say anything, but unexpectedly, he was suddenly fgured out, and his hackles raised: “No! Absolutely not!”

Yue Changsheng gave a shallow laugh: “It seems I hit the nail on the head.”

The Eldest Young Master: “……”

“How strange.” Yue Changsheng looked away, turning to look down at his stringless qin, “Here in the Central Plains, everyone blindly follows Zhongli Court, you are obviously the Eldest Young Master of Zhongli Court, so who in the Jianghu wouldn’t fear you to some degree? Not to mention, you also have an all-powerful younger brother…..”

The Eldest Young Master’s heart thumped. He thought he’d hidden it flawlessly, he never would have thought that Yue Changsheng would immediately guess the edge of the answer after only meeting him twice, so he said: “No more guessing! Today’s matter has been exposed, I’m doing this for your own good, so as to avoid bringing disaster to——”

“…..You wait first.” Yue Changsheng suddenly cut him off, leaning over the railing and pulling on a length of hemp rope, lifting up a dripping wet thing from the lake and throwing it in front of him, “When you say ‘disaster’, could you be referring to this?”

The thing he threw over was actually a drenched young man whose hands and feet had been bound by tight knots, choking and coughing repeatedly.

The Eldest Young Master was startled: “Ze Que?! Why are you here?!”

It was no wonder he hadn’t seen Ze Que at all when he returned home today, it turned out he’d long since been tied up here. Ze Que’s lungs were filled with water, so he couldn’t respond, he just looked at his Young Master with a pair of tearful reddened eyes, not knowing if he was angry or aggrieved.

The Eldest Young Master quickly patted his back to help him breathe, trying to untie the knots for him in a fluster, but he couldn’t find a way, so he had no choice but to lift his head towards Yue Changsheng and ask him for help: “Can you let him go?”

“This person suddenly broke into Langyuan, disturbing my peace with obscenities, should I just let him go because you say so?” Yue Changsheng grabbed a silk handkerchief and slowly wiped the water from his hands, calmly asking, “Could it be that I look like a good-natured person?”

Yue Changsheng had been revered like a moon surrounded by stars since he was young, many noble aristocrats had painstakingly asked but been unable to meet him, so he had never suffered such an insult. The fact that Ze Que could still breathe in and out at this moment could already be considered him being a very good-natured person.

Ze Que was finally able to catch his breath, and called out in a stammering voice: “Young Master…..”

The Eldest Young Master helped him up, helplessly saying: “What did you come to find him at Yefang for?”

“He, he was unreasonable towards Young Master cough cough, he even pushed Young Master into the lake, I wanted to avenge Young Master cough cough cough cough, cough cough…..”

As expected, he himself was to blame. The Eldest Young Master was very ashamed, he couldn’t help but say: “You can’t blame Young Master Yue for this, it was my bad, I was the one who acted discourteously and crossed the line with him.”

Ze Que was stunned: “Ah?”

The Eldest Young Master reluctantly explained: “I wanted to force him to sleep with me, I even tore off his clothes….. cough.”

Ze Que slapped the floor angrily: “No matter what the Eldest Young Master wanted to do to him, it would be his good fortune! He should just happily accept it!”


The Eldest Young Master was depressed: What was the problem with my education methods? How could Ze Que’s three views be so distorted?


Hearing this, Yue Changsheng laughed, and suddenly his mood was not so bad. He waved his hand: “Forget it, I’ll spare him this time. I’ll call someone to send him back.”

Yefang’s lone boats would not fit three people, so he first untied Ze Que and sent him back on a boat.

After the boatman took Ze Que on the boat and left, Yue Changhseng suddenly said: “The little guy likes you.”

The Eldest Young Master denied it at once: “Don’t talk nonsense, there’s no such thing.”

Yue Changsheng spoke again: “Oh….. seems like you don’t like him.”

The Eldest Young Master recited with a blank face: “Of course, because the one I like is you.”

Yue Changsheng smiled in satisfaction: “Then your eyesight is still normal.”

The Eldest Young Master forced a smile: “Naturally.”

“You not wanting to see me, was it because you were afraid your little guard would give me trouble?” Yue Changsheng spoke again, “His gongfu is actually not bad, if I was an ordinary guqin player, the one in the water this time would have been me——it’s just a pity that I was even better.”

The Eldest Young Master heard that his words carried an implicit meaning, and was a little puzzled.

Yue Changsheng glanced sideways at him, gently asking: “Can your fears and doubts be dispelled?”