Xie Daoyun sighed in relief. Then, her attention returned to the music score as she muttered endless praises.
Zu An nodded while listening. A talented girl really was a talented girl after all. Where did she come up with all these descriptive words anyway? If it were him, he would have just shouted âamazingâ, âawesomeâ, and the like.
â¦
The group returned to the lakefront gazebo. Xie Xiu said curiously, âBig sis, youâre usually so gentle and refined. Why do you like a song like this, so full of killing intent, today?â
Zu An said with a smile, âEven though Daoyun is sweet-tempered and gentle, itâs still mostly because she had no choice but to act that way. As the daughter of a city lord, she was raised carefully in etiquette. Thatâs why she obviously seems a bit more reserved. But even though I havenât spent much time with Daoyun, I can sense a strong passion and longing toward life. I felt she would enjoy a story like this, one of heroes and warriors. Thatâs why I thought of this song. Sure enough, Daoyun liked it as expected.â
Xie Daoyunâs beautiful figure trembled. She looked at him in disbelief. Even she herself hadnât realized that completely. Only now that Zu An had reminded her did she think, So that was it! She suddenly felt as if she had met an intimate friend who really understood her. But how did he understand her that well? They clearly hadnât met that many times before!
Donât tell me weâre really destined to be soulmates? Big brother Zu really understands me! When she recalled the stories she had read before, her heart began to beat even faster.
Xie Xiu was about to mock Zu An, thinking, How could my big sister be like that? But when he saw her expression, he instantly realized what had happened. He looked at Zu An in shock. Does this guy know mind-reading or something?
Meanwhile, Zu An was actually sighing in relief inside. He had just taken a shot in the dark by comparing her to the Xie Daoyun in his previous worldâs history. He hadnât actually expected to be right! He became a bit flustered. Eventually, he snapped out of his daze and said, âThereâs actually another story associated with this song.â
The Xie clan siblings immediately looked toward him. Xie Xiu urged him, âBrother Zu, donât keep us in suspense like that!â
Zu An said, âDuring ancient times, there was a group of hermits known as the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove⦠Among them, one of them was named Ji Kang, who believed in following nature. He usually spent his time playing the zither and reciting poetry in a bamboo grove⦠Unfortunately, the wife he had taken in his earlier years was a princess of the royal family. Later on, the throne was seized by powerful officials. For fear of his prestige, they continuously tried to enlist him into the court to serve as an official, hoping they could use him to restrain the previous dynastyâs imperial clanâs chances of rebellion and bring the world under the control of the new regime.
âJi Kang obviously refused. The new high officials hated him, and yet they couldnât find a way to immediately deal with him due to his prestige. One day, the older brother of one of Ji Kangâs friends acted on his lust. He got his sister-in-law drunk and raped her. In order to prevent the matter from being exposed, the older brother seized the initiative to accuse his younger brother of being unfilial. Because the older brother was a cohort official, he used his connections to throw his younger brother into prison.
âJi Kang was furious over this matter, and he immediately cried out for his friend to receive justice. Since the matter now involved court officials, the high officials thought Ji Kang had ulterior motives, so they used the case to condemn both him and that younger brother to execution.
âWhen they heard about the matter, three thousand students gathered to petition for justice. However, that only made those high officials feel as if Ji Kang had way too much influence, so their intent to kill him was only strengthened further.
âBefore he was going to pass on, he asked for a guqin zither, then calmly played this song, Guangling San. Those present couldnât help but acknowledge his elegance. From that day forth, Guangling San became a song that was passed down through history.â
â¦
After hearing the story, Xie Xiu exclaimed angrily, âWhat an elegant and heroic man! What a pity it is that he died under the hands of those high officials. That despicable bastard who raped his little brotherâs wife is even more hateful. If I ever meet someone like that, Iâll definitely cut off their goddamn head!â
Xie Daoyun was even more moved. âI believe that Ji Kangâs mood was likely very similar to that of the warrior in the poem. Itâs just like the warrior when he infiltrated the enemyâs manor to assassinate that political enemy.â
âDaoyun really is a zither master after all. You were able to surmise his mood just from the song alone.â Zu An clicked his tongue in wonder. There were many people who knew Ji Kangâs story in his previous world, but there werenât many who knew why he had insisted on playing âGuangling Sanâ at that moment. However, Xie Daoyun had been able to sense that just from the zither song! It really was admirable.
Xie Daoyun suddenly thought of something. Her expression changed. She lowered her voice and asked, âBig brother Zu, where did you hear this story from?â
Zu An was alarmed. He didnât know why she would suddenly ask that question and said, âI read it in an ancient book. Whatâs wrong?â
Xie Daoyun didnât reply, and instead first gestured with her hands to have the servants withdraw. Then she said, âI suddenly thought of something. When this Zhou Dynasty was first founded, those of high status did some dirty things. They were quite similar to the high officials in your story.â
Zu An was bewildered.
âAlso, that Ji Kang you spoke of made me think of someone.â Xie Daoyunâs expression was grave.
âWho?â Zu An asked.
Xie Daoyun opened her mouth, but she didnât say anything. Instead, she dipped her finger into her tea, then wrote on the table.
Zu Anâs eyes narrowed when he saw the word she had written, because what it said was âlibationerâ!
Xie Xiuâs mouth also widened. He wanted to say something, but he felt as if his brain just couldnât keep up.
Xie Daoyun wiped away the mark and said, âThis is only something I heard when my teacher was randomly talking about the academyâs history. That person seemed to have had a deep relationship with the royal family of the previous dynasty. Thatâs why for the sake of not arousing suspicion, he almost never paid attention to the affairs of the world. He even maintained a neutral attitude toward the academyâs teachers and students.â
Xie Xiu felt his throat become dry. âThis dynastyâs ancestral lineage was built through usurping the previous dynastyâs foundation? Why have I never heard about this before?â
Xie Daoyun rolled her eyes. âYour attention is focused on girls day in and day out; of course you wouldnât know about this if you didnât study properly. But actually, this is something you might not have known even if you studied history. After all, itâs not something too glamorous, and the court has always kept it a secret. They destroyed a large amount of books that were unfavorable to their image, and those who did know were told to forget about this piece of history.
âFurthermore, afterward, our emperor brought back a huge victory against the fiend races, so his prestige increased dramatically. Eventually, no one brought this up again.â
â¦
While the two siblings were discussing the matter, Zu An felt all of his fine hairs stand up. At that instant, he seemed to have understood many things. Many of the things he had been confused about before now led to new trails to pursue. But there was still some distance from the final truth.
âBig brother Zu, whatâs wrong?â Even though Xie Daoyun was chatting with her little brother, she still glanced at Zu An from time to time. She couldnât help but ask that when she saw he was acting strange.
âItâs nothing. I was just a bit shocked.â Zu An snapped out of his daze.
Xie Daoyun said in consolation, âDonât worry, as long as weâre careful when talking about these things, nothing bad should happen. Itâs already been a long time since this happened, after all.â
Zu An nodded. âThank you, Daoyun, for your reminder.â
â¦
Zu An got up to bid farewell soon after finishing the meal. Xie Daoyun noticed that he was a bit out of sorts, so she didnât try to keep him. She only warned him to be careful on the way home.
When he left the academy, Zu An hurried toward the imperial palace. He had some important things to verify. It was already getting dark, so the palace gates were already closed. However, now that he had his Armed Escort Division Commander identity, he had much more freedom in entering and exiting the palace.
He changed into his Golden Token Eleven uniform when he entered the palace, then headed straight for the Embroidery House. When he arrived, he just happened to run into Xiao Jianren reading under dim light. Zu An thought, Is this guy trying to ruin his eyes?
âSir Eleven!â Xiao Jianren quickly got up to greet Zu An when he saw him. At the same time, he was confused as to why he would show up at such a time.
âWhere is the archive room?â Zu An asked.
Xiao Jianren said with a smile, âWhat does sir wish to investigate? You can just ask me.âEven though he didnât dare to claim that he had read through everything in the archives, he could easily answer most questions.
Zu An shook his head. âItâs okay. Iâll take a look myself.â
Xiao Jianren shivered. As an Embroidered Envoy, he keenly sensed that the other party didnât want him to know about whatever he was investigating. He obviously wouldnât invite trouble onto himself and led the way. âSir just needs to continue down this way. With your respected selfâs golden token identity, you can view most of the archives. There are only some top secret cases that need the chief commanderâs personal clearance.â
Zu An thought that the things that he wanted to know were probably not at that level. He nodded toward Xiao Jianren, then walked toward the archive room.