“Owner Li, I’m here,” Wen Fangfei called out.

Hearing her voice, a middle-aged man around his 50s came from an inside room. Although he looked very meager and short, his pair of eyes glowed the way only a musician’s eyes would.

Liu Man noticed how he had a pair of slender hands and knew this Owner Li must play instruments, too.

“Long time no see,” Owner Li laughed, then saw the two girls beside Wen Fangfei, “Are you here to introduce two new customers to me?” Liu Man could tell, from his tone, that he was very familiar with Wen Fangfei.

“No, they are piano majors and are accompanying me to fix my instrument,” Wen Fangfei then placed her Guzheng onto the ground and opened the protection case.

“Oh, no! What happened to the strings!” Owner Li, as if feeling the pain the Guzheng felt, looked at the broken strings. He immediately learned that they got cut, “The person who did this is immoral!”

Owner Li took out a magnifying glass and started examining the actual instrument. He was very discreet and careful; his hands felt it bit by bit, and his eyes dared not to miss a single inch, “Fortunately, they only broke the strings.”

Wen Fangfei felt reassured, “Sorry for the inconvenience, but I need you to help me put new strings on it.”

“It will take a bit of time to change all 21 strings,” Owner Li said, “Are you going to go back and wait for me to notify you once I’m finished, or are you going to wait here?”

Wen Fangfei looked at Liu Man and Li Xiaoru, and Li Xiaoru said, “We’ll wait here. We still need to rehearse after the Guzheng gets fixed.”

Wen Fangfei nodded and told Owner Li, “We are urgent.”

Owner Li showed some empathy, “I will try to finish this process as soon as possible.”

He placed Wen Fangfei’s Guzheng on an empty instrument table and took out a large toolbox from a room inside. When he opened it, they could see many Guzheng strings, all with different thinness. There were also pliers and screwdrivers used specially for instruments.

“Take a seat. You will probably have to wait for two hours,” Owner Li placed three stools in front of the girls and put all his attention on fixing the Guzheng.

Liu Man did not sit. She first watched how Owner Li fixed the Guzheng and realized his methods were the same as how Madam Xu taught her. After all, these instruments came from ancient times and were traditional. They were the same after these two thousand years; nothing was different.

Owner Li felt her investigative look and wondered why a piano major would know about fixing a Guzheng?

Wen Fangfei was also noticing Liu Man’s actions.

Liu Man, after seeing how he was repairing the instrument, walked towards the Guqing she saw earlier on.

The biggest difference between a Guqin and a Guzheng was the number of strings. A Guqin had 7 strings. In the Han Dynasty where Liu Man lived in her past life, Guzheng had only 5 strings. The difference between the two was not as big as it was today. If she had studied and practiced hard, then Liu Man would’ve also been able to quickly learn Guzheng.

However, after two thousand years of revolution, there were more and more strings on a Guzheng. The number of strings varied from 13 to 26, while the Guqin still only had 7.

Compared to Wen Fangfei’s Guzheng with 21 strings, the Guqin looked much smaller. It was like a mini version of a Guzheng.

This Guqin looked very similar to Madam Xu’s. The surface of the instrument’s body was painted with gray ink, and the belly of the instrument also had broken stripes that looked like water. Liu Man did not expect to see such a Guqin in the future, which made her dazed off because it reminded her of Mrs. Xu.

Owner Li, who was fixing the Guzheng, raised his head and saw Liu Man staring at the instrument. He couldn’t help but smile, “Classmate, do you like this Guqin? You know the instruments very well. This one imitated the ‘Lu Qi’ closely. Although it is a copycat, it’s made with high-quality materials and exquisite workmanship. It is very worthy of collection.”

Owner Li saw that Liu Man was still in a daze, so he thought that she didn’t understand his words, “Oh, you are a student of the piano major, and you probably don’t understand ‘Lu Qi’. Let me inform you about it…”

“‘Lu Qi’ is the Sima Xiangru’s Guqin back in the Western Han Dynasty. The instrument was black and faintly green, like green vines entwined on ancient trees, which is why it was named “Lu Qi”. Your Guqin, although black, is not at all green. It’s a bad copy.”

Liu Man’s words stunned all three of them in the shop.

Li Xiaoru was impressed by Liu Man. She had never even heard of “Lu Qi” before.

Wen Fangfei, however, came up with a theory — Did Liu Man know how to play the Guqin?

When he heard someone say that the instrument was not good, Owner Li didn’t have any angry expression on his face. Instead, he asked Liu Man enthusiastically, “It seems that you know a lot more about “Lu Qi” than I do, so you can give me more information about how ‘Lu Qi’ looks like. You have to know that it has long disappeared in the long river of history, and none of us have any luck to see it unless we travel to two thousand years ago.”

How could Owner Li have known he was lucky to meet Liu Man, who did transmigrate from two thousand years ago? Liu Man continued to say, “I do admit that the instrument was made of good materials since it contained the best Paulownia. However, in reality, the ‘Lu Qi’ was made of the marrow of the combined mixture of Paulownia and Catalpa. The words, ‘The essence of Paulownia and Catalpa,” were carved on the bottom of the instrument.”

Owner Li burst into a laugh, “You say it as if you’ve seen it. You even know what was carved on the bottom of the instrument.”

Liu Man smiled but didn’t explain.

She did see “Lu Qi” before. Sima Xiangru was a friend of Madam Xu’s grandfather. He even taught Madam Xu how to play the Guqin when she was young.

When Madam Xu was entering the royal palace, Sima Xiangru, almost dying from his disease, sent “Lu Qi” to Madam Xu. It was a celebratory present because she became a concubine.

Madam Xu let Liu Man play this “Lu Qi” when she began to learn how to play Guqins. She taught Liu Man patiently, and Liu Man grew up playing “Lu Qi.” When Madam Xu passed away, Liu Man requested the servants to bury Madam Xu with “Lu Qi.”

The servants agreed on the outside and left with the instrument and Madam Xu. Liu Man, even until today, wasn’t sure whether those servants kept their promise. She was uncertain whether Madam Xu went to the underworld with “Lu Qi” by her side. These would probably forever be mysteries.

“Man Man, what are you thinking about? Why do you suddenly seem so sentimental,” Li Xiaoru walked up to Liu Man and disrupted her reminisce.

Liu Man came back to reality and smiled, “I was just recalling something that happened in the past.”

The past?

Li Xiaoru was confused. She felt that Liu Man was very carefree and lively in the first two years of college. However, after she fainted last semester, she started acting unlike herself.

She even knew something about Guqins. Li Xiaoru thought and plucked one of the strings on the Guqin out of curiosity, “Hey, this sounds completely different from a Guzheng.”

The other three all laughed. How could Li Xiaoru have known she was the only folksong amateur here? Wen Fangfei explained, “The notes of a Guqin sound heavy and thick, whereas a Guzheng sounds bright and flaunty. They are like the cello and the violin in your western instruments.”

Credits: Sydney