Chapter 14 - Novelty (1/2)

The music test was conducted in the late afternoon in the Imperial garden. They had set up an outdoor venue in a wide open space surrounded by flowers all around, with a pavilion in the center of it, there was a small platform set some distance away in front of the pavilion for the performances.

In the pavilion, there was a table set with snacks and tea with two seats where the emperor and the empress dowager sat. While at the two sides of the platform, tables settings placed around for the officials. After the table settings for the officials, there were rows of table settings were the candidates were sat directly facing the pavilion.

The performances today were divided into four instrumental categories; Konghou, zither, erhu, and the pipa. It seemed that the candidates had only chosen these four instruments and so to make it easier to set the stage, the performances will proceed by instruments in the order of erhu, pipa, konghou and zither.

The erhu and pipa were instruments that were played on the lap, so the performers only required a stool, while the konghou and zither were provided with a pillow to sit on and a low table for the instrument.

** (Konghou is basically an ancient Chinese harp. Erhu is basically a 2-stringed violin (played on the lap though) and the pipa is basically a guitar) **

Lei Xing was in a good mood, she was leisurely enjoying the snacks and tea as she listened to the relaxing erhu music.

The atmosphere was perfect, you could hear the faint sound of streaming water in a distance, the air carried a wonderful fragrance of flowers, birds happily softly chirping, the cool summer breeze and warm late afternoon sun shining down.

{...See, with some good food and good music, this garden is even more enjoyable, I could stay like this forever...the person who arranged this has good vision...Now if we could just get rid of all these people, then it'd be truly perfect...}

Lei Xing had chosen to perform the zither, not because she is skilled in it, she has never even touched one before.

She chose it for one simple reason: it's easy...or at least easier than the rest. She had seen it played in several historical dramas, and frankly half of those times, the music lacked any steady rhythm to her, and the notes sounded random.

{...Isn't it just sitting there looking dignified, plucking a string every 2-4 seconds?... I can do that...inspiration will come...}

After going through lovely performances of the erhu, pipa, and kongzhou, it was finally time for the zither performances, which was the category with the most candidates, there were 10 of them who chose to play it. The performances were going in order of how they were sat and Lei Xing was first.

She got up and approached the platform and took her seat in front of the table with the zither.

{...I can't tell if this is good or bad...}

She grazed her fingers over the strings, took a deep breath and began to play, copying the mannerisms of the characters she had seen in historical dramas.

{...It sounds okay...I think?...}

Lei Xing got more confident as she listened to her music and her movements became more confident, it seemed she was creating a rhythm, in her mind.

Of course, this was in her mind only, the spectators were completely lost on her tune, which seemed to be all over the place.

When she finished, she looked up to find the spectators looking at her blankly. She stood up and bowed and was ready to head down.

”What piece is this?” The empress dowager suddenly asked.

{...What piece?! I don't know...What do you mean what piece? Why am I getting questioned, when everybody else just got a ”Very good, you can go.”?!...You can keep the ”very good” just give me a ”you can go” ...please?...}

Lei Xing was annoyed, she stalled for a bit and said, ”It is called fluttering heart.”

”Fluttering heart? I have not heard of it before...who is the composer?”

{...Composer?! -_-)'...}

Lei Xing bowed her head respectfully and said, ”I composed it myself.”

”Ahh...”

{...Can I go now? -_-)...}

Some of the ministers started whispering and Lei Xing could hear some of their words, they weren't exactly trying to be quiet.

”No wonder the piece seemed to be all over the place, you composed it yourself.” One of the ministers said.

”A piece can only be a reflection of its composer's soul.” Another minister said while shaking his head.