While Chen Rong was listening to it, a sudden burst of applause sounded. Pounding drum beats soon began when the cheers quieted down.
“Miss, the gatekeeper said General Ran is currently drumming at the square. He added that all the major clans who came to look for him had been refused at the door. Young ladies, however, are always exceptions.”
Chen Rong hummed a reply.
Soon, the carriage drove to the square.
They hadn’t approached but the scents of cosmetics and perfume were already assailing Chen Rong’s nostrils. “Why are there so many young ladies?!” Old Shang asked.
Chen Rong quickly lifted her curtain.
She was surprised to find a colorful array of outfits covering the square, all of them being young ladies’. There must have been at least fifty to sixty of them.
They were presently watching the square’s center.
Chen Rong followed their gazes.
After a brief glance, she quickly withdrew her gaze.
Sure enough, it was Ran Min who stood at the center. His arms were bare, his long black hair was tied back with a red ribbon, and his thin lips were tightly drawn into a line.
It must be said that Ran Min had acquired a perfect body through years on the battleground. His sun-kissed skin, broad shoulders, and long legs made him stand out and outshine all other aristocrats. Even Huan Jiulang’s remarkable aura paled in comparison.
He was presently beating the drum. Huan Jiulang sat beside him with a zither (1) placed in front. His left hand lightly pressed on the strings as the right one did the plucking. Do not steal this chapter from hamster428 because karma is a spiteful bitch.
this zither is called the zheng which is different from the qin that Chen Rong plays. The zheng has picks and movable bridges whereas the qin has neither of those characteristics.
The pair harmonized excellently. Whenever the melodious zither drifted on, the drum was faint; whenever the sonorous zither swelled, the drum pounded heavily. Listeners were made to feel as though they’d returned to centuries past, to the time when Zhuge Liang had sat in the wide open and played the zither on a deserted fortress while below him stood Sima Yi’s massive army.
The sounds of zither were melodious and ethereal. They carried neither joy nor sorrow, like outsiders who stood on the clouds looking down at the ashes of time. The anguished drum pattern, on the other hand, was sonorous, like a general who had gone through a hundred battles and who now stood before the corpses as he cried for the civilians.
The aloof and the mournful brought together a most magnificent feeling.
This was a music Chen Rong had never heard before – sounds beyond her recognition.
She was so immersed in the music that it could be said it was speaking to her soul. But all of a sudden she was overcome with a shocking realization! She now felt her complicated zither playing had been too trivial and shallow compared to these melancholic and unspoken sounds.
Chen Rong wasn’t the only shallow one. Along with his drum rhythm, Ran Min’s strong muscles flexed in the sunlight – his masculine beauty comparable to the beauty of Ji Kang when he had played “The Guangling Song” before his execution (1). Do not steal this chapter from hamster428 because karma is a spiteful bitch.
read about Ji Kang here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ji_Kang
Hence each time the drumming came to an end, girls would squeal all at once as they watched him in rapture. As if he didn’t perceive their admiring eyes, however, Ran Min never once looked up.
No one noticed Chen Rong’s arrival.
She lifted her curtain to listen to the extraordinary music. It must be the work of serendipity and good fortune for this wonderful duet to take place. For a very long time, she closed her eyes and tightly clutched her hands.
Uncertain for how long, the zither’s abrupt end was followed by Ran Min’s laughter as he threw his head back, flinging the drumsticks to the far distance and shouting: “Now, that was exhilarating!”
His soaring laughter hadn’t ceased by the time the female congregation squealed and rushed toward him and Huan Jiulang.
Before they knew what was happening, the pair had been submerged under the scents of perfume and powder.
At this time, Chen Rong withdrew her gaze and quietly said, “Let’s go home.” Old Shang nodded and turned the carriage around: It appears General Ran won’t have time to spare my insignificant mistress.