Chapter 251: You Play the Xiao Flute?

Hearing Chen Xuan's words, the others readily agreed:"Exactly, it's better to try it yourself than just talk.""Stop with the nonsense; if you're so good, you do it!"

Clearly, everyone was displeased that he was disparaging their goddess. They also worried that Qiu Honglei might actually be swayed by his words, so they naturally spared no effort to undermine him.

Qiu Honglei also grew a little curious. "I wonder what this 'proper method' the Young Master speaks of is. Could you perhaps demonstrate it?" It wouldn't matter if he couldn't answer. She had already made up her mind that this man was far too arrogant and conceited; he would likely be difficult to control, even if they were to cooperate in the future. So, she decided to seize this opportunity to curb his arrogance first.

Zu An said, "There is a method, but what benefit would I gain?"

"Benefit?" Qiu Honglei was momentarily taken aback.

"Exactly," Zu An said with a smile. "I came to the Divine Residence as a guest, to enjoy the ladies' performances. Now I'm being asked to perform myself, and it feels like I'd be losing out if I didn't get something in return." He thought to himself that having watched *The Peerless Steward* previously, he had to learn a trick or two from Third Brother; a good deal like this shouldn't be missed.

"What kind of benefit does the Young Master desire?" Qiu Honglei asked, smiling sweetly. This man truly did not follow conventional paths. Usually, she didn't even need to speak; a mere glance would have countless men falling over themselves. And she had never been refused when making a soft request. Yet this man was actually asking *her* for something in return?

"Miss Qiu, don't agree to him!""That's right, he's just lusting after you!"

The surrounding men immediately grew agitated.

Zu An turned his head. "Hey, you there. Come out. Stop staring. Yes, you, the one lusting after her."

The crowd automatically parted, revealing a young man. The young man felt a little uneasy. "What do you want? Are you trying to intimidate me with the Chu family's influence?" He wasn't afraid of Zu An himself, but he was wary of the Chu family, given that even Brightmoon City was Chu Zhongtian's fiefdom. However, he then considered that this man was a live-in son-in-law out frequenting a brothel; the Chu family would be lucky not to punish him. How could they possibly intervene in a trivial dispute over a courtesan? This thought brought him a slight sense of calm.

"What was your name again?" Zu An inquired.

The man was about to reply when Zu An waved a dismissive hand. "Never mind. An extra like you isn't worth my effort to remember your name."

The man was speechless.

Anger value from Jiang Fan: 233!

"You just said I was lusting after her. Are you not?" Zu An stared at him curiously.

"I..." Jiang Fan instinctively glanced at Qiu Honglei. He had never been this close to her before, and gazing at her captivating, destructive beauty, he felt lightheaded. "Of course I don't!" Despite secretly desiring her immensely, he subconsciously wanted to maintain the image of a gentleman in front of everyone, hoping to leave a good impression.

"Are you suggesting Miss Qiu isn't beautiful?" Zu An asked, looking at him with a puzzled expression.

Jiang Fan replied, "Miss Qiu possesses a celestial beauty, of course she's stunning."

"Then why don't you lust after her? Is her charm not enough to attract you?" Zu An said with an exaggerated expression. "If even someone as unbelievably beautiful as Miss Qiu isn't attractive enough for you, could it be that you're not a man?"

Jiang Fan's face instantly flushed crimson. "Of course I'm a man! I admire Miss Qiu immensely, it's just... it's just..." He struggled for a long moment, unable to articulate his thoughts. *This cursed man!*

Anger value from Jiang Fan: 444!

After previously receiving massive anger values from the surrounding crowd, Zu An no longer thought much of such a paltry amount of anger. Still, he mused, even a mosquito is still meat; no point in wasting it.

"Since you're a man, then there's only one possibility," Zu An sighed. "That you're too hypocritical to even admit your desire for women."

Jiang Fan was speechless.

He felt he had been led into a trap; he couldn't admit to either possibility.

Anger value from Jiang Fan: 666!

Upstairs, Pei Mianman wore an odd expression. *This man truly is... whoever becomes his enemy is doomed.*

Qiu Honglei quickly intervened to ease the situation. "Please don't embarrass him further. Just tell us what kind of benefit you desire."

Zu An stared directly at her captivating face, a faint smile playing on his lips. "I want you..."

A strange noise came from upstairs.

Xie Daoyun frowned, muttering, "This fellow is truly a rogue."

On the other side, Pei Mianman's expression grew even more amused. She murmured to herself, "You brat, do you even know who she is, daring to harbor such intentions?" At the same time, she curiously watched Qiu Honglei, eager to see her reaction.

It was then that the others finally came to their senses, and one by one, they began to curse him vehemently:"Are you insane, daring to be so audacious with such a beauty!""What kind of person is Miss Qiu? How could she ever agree to such a condition from you?""He's a disgrace to all men! Utterly shameless."

Anger value from the onlookers: 999,999...

Only Wei Suo secretly gave a thumbs-up, thinking, *Our boss is truly something else.* However, given the agitated crowd, he dared not speak up or show his support, lest he suffer the consequences.

A dangerous glint flickered in Qiu Honglei's eyes, though she quickly concealed it. She then said softly, "Well, that depends on whether the Young Master's method is effective. After all, this is a problem that countless powerful predecessors over hundreds of years have been unable to solve. I genuinely find it hard to imagine any way to combine different instruments with the guqin."

Hearing her words, the entire hall instantly fell silent. *She's right*, they thought. *So many musical masters couldn't solve this problem; what could this mere rogue possibly do?* With this realization, the crowd's previous agitation gradually subsided.

Only then did Zu An speak. "Since that's the case, I might as well address the second problem with your recent performance while we're at it."

"The second problem?" Qiu Honglei was momentarily taken aback, then recalled that he had previously mentioned two fatal flaws. By now, she was less agitated than before and smiled faintly. "I await your valuable guidance, Young Master."

"Your second problem is the excessive intensity of your emotions. While it's excellent to infuse feeling into music, and doing so is usually commendable..." Zu An paused, then continued, "the emotions you expressed were sorrow and anger. These two sentiments not only clash with the celebratory atmosphere of this pleasure house but also do not align with the inherent spirit of the guqin itself."

"Oh," Xie Daoyun murmured from upstairs, "What this man says makes a certain amount of sense. Why didn't I consider that just now?"

Qiu Honglei sighed softly. "The Young Master is absolutely right. However, this piece holds extraordinary significance for me, and just now, inspired by the moment, I couldn't help but play it."

Hearing her words, the crowd began to whisper, wondering if she truly had a secret lover. They mused which man was fortunate enough to be with her.

Noticing the fleeting sadness in her eyes, Zu An thought this was probably one of her rare genuine emotional displays. "Miss Qiu, you are in the prime of your youth. Your mindset should be positive and optimistic, full of sunshine, not filled with such melancholic reminiscence, which leaves your heart scarred and weary."

Qiu Honglei pursed her lips and chuckled, "You make me sound decades older."

Zu An sighed. "Music flows from the heart. Whether that's true for this piece, only you know best, Miss."

Qiu Honglei, who had been smiling sweetly, watched her smile gradually fade after hearing his words, clearly touched by his observation.

"You're supposed to be explaining how to blend music. Why are you rambling on about so many irrelevant things?" Chen Xuan, who was standing nearby, grew impatient, prompting many others to agree.

Qiu Honglei's face instantly reverted to her practiced smile. "Indeed, Young Master. Honglei is still waiting for you to enlighten her."

Zu An asked Leng Shuangyue, who was nearby, to fetch him a xiao. "Miss Qiu, can you play the xiao?"

"Naturally, I can," Qiu Honglei replied with a slight smile. Just then, a series of suggestive whistles erupted from the surroundings. Only then did Qiu Honglei realize the double meaning of his words, her face flushing slightly. She gave him a somewhat reproachful look. "Young Master, are you intentionally trying to tease me?"

"That's not what I meant," Zu An said, a dark expression crossing his face. He shot a sharp glare at the men; they were useless at everything else, but masters of crude jokes.

"Among all musical instruments, the xiao and guqin are the most complementary."

Qiu Honglei nodded. "That's true, but they are only marginally better together than other instruments. The guqin's timbre is so distinct that xiao accompaniment often overwhelms it, making solo guqin performances preferable."

Zu An smiled. "I happen to have a piece that can be performed as a guqin and xiao duet."

"Really?" Qiu Honglei's eyes lit up. Even Xie Daoyun upstairs instinctively leaned closer to the window.

In truth, guqin and xiao duets weren't entirely unheard of in this world. However, usually, either the xiao would overshadow the guqin, or the guqin's sound would be too dominant. Pieces that achieved harmony were often too ordinary and uninspiring, so most people had eventually given up on trying to merge the two. Given Zu An's confidence, could he truly possess an exceptional composition?

"I'll write down the score. I'll play the guqin, and Miss Qiu can play the xiao for me," Zu An said, gesturing to Leng Shuangyue to bring paper and a brush. He had previously met Shang Liuyu through music; with such a beautiful elder sister present, how could he let this opportunity slip away? He had thus specifically studied the musical theory of this world. While not exceptionally proficient, he found it easy to adapt musical scores from his previous life into a format comprehensible to people in this world.

"Good," Qiu Honglei said, taking the xiao. Then, a sudden realization dawned on her, and her eyes darted away as a blush crept onto her cheeks. *This man is deliberately trying to tease me again.*

Zu An, meanwhile, focused intensely on transcribing the piece from his memory. In his previous life, to impress girls, he had mastered playing "Original Scenery of My Hometown" on the Xun. Furthermore, due to his immense fondness for *The Smiling, Proud Wanderer* television series, he had specifically committed that particular piece to memory. He had even specifically joined his school's Guqin Association for this purpose, and while he learned nothing else, he did master this one piece, "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer." This rendition of "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer" was not James Wong's "A Laugh in the Vast Sea," but rather the guqin-xiao duet from the Jackie Lui television series version, composed by the master Wu Wai Lap.

"Oh, this piece seems quite novel..." Qiu Honglei, being an expert, immediately noticed that the score was entirely different from any she had seen before. Could this man truly make a guqin-xiao duet work? Her initial playful demeanor vanished, and her expression turned serious upon seeing the score.

"Miss Qiu, can you play this?" Zu An asked.

"This score is a bit unusual, but I believe I can try," Qiu Honglei replied, noting with some apprehension that many of the musical phrases were quite challenging to connect seamlessly.

"Very well, let's begin," Zu An said, taking a seat at the guqin table, his earlier flippant expression replaced with a serious one. His fingers lightly plucked the strings, and a broad, unrestrained guqin melody instantly filled the entire hall.

Xie Daoyun, who had initially been somewhat dismissive, froze upon hearing the opening melody.

Pei Mianman's expression was peculiar. *This man actually possesses such a peculiar talent. Did Chu Yan know his true nature from the start, and that's why she so resolutely chose him as her husband?*

The other spectators had initially been waiting with mocking expressions for him to embarrass himself. However, when they saw his posture at the guqin, they sensed something was different. Once he truly began to play such an impassioned and unrestrained piece, they all fell into stunned silence.