People in the Qin Dynasty, entertained during the Warring States period

Are they betting that he'll be cautious and seek peace?

Li Si gave a cold laugh.

Li Si dared to block Lü Buwei in front of the palace in the middle of the night to recommend himself; he was not someone who valued his life. If he valued his life, how could he have risen from humble beginnings to the stage of the Seven Kingdoms?

Senior brother, you've miscalculated this time. I'm no longer the cautious junior brother I used to be. I know that opportunities don't come twice, and when they arise, I must seize them with all my might.

"nature."

Li Si said, "This envoy is at the Qin state post station, awaiting good news."

Han Fei smiled meaningfully and said, "I won't let Lord Li down."

With his brother-in-law's help, he's bound to win.

"I hope so."

……

Chapter 340 Becoming a Wife

The third floor of Zilanxuan is furnished with extremely elegant furnishings, which makes people feel comfortable.

Cao Ze sipped the tea brewed by Nongyu, admiring the fiery clouds outside the window.

Large, vibrant red clouds floated in the sky, resembling legendary fire-resistant cloth that could withstand fire, revealing a unique beauty.

While organizing the scrolls of information recorded on the bamboo bookshelf, Zi Nu recounted the morning court proceedings.

"No wonder Brother Han kept the capture of Tianze a secret all this time; it turns out he was waiting for Li Si here."

Cao Ze felt it was unfortunate that Li Si had such a senior fellow disciple.

Look at Wei Zhuang's senior brother, always calling him "Little Zhuang" and "Senior Brother." If they weren't on different sides, they would definitely be full of passion.

Zi Nu smiled and said, "If you hadn't captured Tian Ze, things wouldn't have gone so smoothly."

Cao Ze put down his teacup. "I imagine it won't be long before Li Si finds out that his good senior brother has news about Tianze."

Zi Nu said, "Therefore, Li Si only has two choices: either cooperate and reconcile with the king, or return to Qin in a sorry state and end his official career."

Nongyu had beautiful features and radiant skin. She listened quietly with a smile, feeling boundless admiration for Cao Ze.

What puzzled her was why Cao Ze had the scent of Shuying Danxiang on him. Didn't Sister Zi Nu say that this batch of Shuying Danxiang was newly made and hadn't been used yet?

Perhaps it was left by Mr. Cao Ze, Nongyu thought to herself.

Zi Nu stretched out a snow-white jade hand and waved it slightly in front of Nong Yu's eyes. "Nong Yu, what are you thinking about?"

Nongyu exclaimed "Ah!" and looked down at the section of Zi Nu's fair wrist that was exposed. Her pretty face flushed slightly as she said, "I'm sorry, Sister Zi Nu, I was daydreaming."

Zi Nu smiled and said, "Alright, go and get the zither hanging on the wall."

Nongyu paused for a moment, then got up and took down the Yaoqin with only seven strings from the wall, placing it on the table in front of Zinu.

The body of the instrument is vermilion in color, and due to its age, the lacquer surface has developed a layer of fine cracks resembling flowing water.

Zi Nu gently plucked the seven-stringed zither, and the sound was clear and melodious, like striking metal or stone.

Cao Ze couldn't help but exclaim, "What a fine zither!"

Even with his amateurish knowledge, he could tell that this guqin was quite valuable.

Nongyu was already captivated by the zither; she was certain she had never seen it in Zilan Pavilion. It was very likely that her sister Zinu had recently acquired it.

Zi Nu pushed the zither to Nong Yu and said with a smile, "Stop looking at it, come and try it out."

Nongyu gently stroked the strings of the zither and couldn't help but ask, "Sister Zinu, what is this zither?"

Zi Nu cleared her throat and said in a clear, melodious voice, "This zither is called the Wenwu Seven-String Zither. You should know about it."

Nongyu nodded. When it came to her skill in playing the zither and her understanding of it, no one in Zilanxuan could compare to her.

She glanced unconsciously at Cao Ze, who was leisurely drinking tea, and for some reason, a desire to show off arose within her.

"This zither is seven inches wide, two inches thick, and three feet six and a half inches long, which corresponds to the number of the celestial sphere."

Nongyu pointed to the long, narrow body of the zither, and Cao Ze, who showed interest, explained: "The upper part is round, representing heaven, and the lower part is flat, representing earth. The body of this zither is shaped like a flying phoenix, complete with a head, neck, shoulders, waist, tail, and feet. The five strings in the middle represent the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, and the five notes of the pentatonic scale (gong, shang, jiao, zhi, yu). It is said that the upper string was added by King Wen and is called the Wen string, and the lower string was added by King Wu and is called the Wu string. Together they are called the Wenwu Seven-String Zither."

Cao Ze nodded repeatedly. He didn't know much about music theory and piano theory, but after listening to the lecture, he learned a lot.

Seeing that Cao Ze was affirming her, Nongyu worked even harder.

Her voice was clear and melodious. “Mr. Cao Ze, look at the hardwood on the head of this zither, which we call ‘Lin Yue’. The two grooves at the bottom of the zither are called the Dragon Pool and Phoenix Pond. The hardwood next to ‘Lin Yue’ is called ‘Cheng Lu’, and on both sides are the Phoenix Eyes and the Peg Guards.”

"The wood with grooves carved at the tail of the zither is called the dragon's teeth, and the sides are decorated with crown horns and burnt tail. Below are goose feet, with the seven strings gathered together to form the image of the Big Dipper."

As Nongyu spoke, she carefully turned the zither over.

"Inside the body of the zither, there is a tongue hole and a sound pool above, and a resonance pool below. Opposite to the sound-absorbing area, there are two pillars, Heaven and Earth. When the sound is produced, it is narrowed and lingers, so that the aftersound can linger around the beams."

The more Nongyu appreciated the seven-stringed zither, the more alarmed she became; this zither was no ordinary instrument.

Zi Nu narrowed her purple eyes and nodded repeatedly.

"Looks like I was right, I found a genuine item."

Nongyu couldn't help but ask, "Sister Zinu, what kind of zither is it?"

Zi Nu didn't keep them in suspense and said, "This zither is called the Boya Zither. I only recognized its quality by chance after seeing a portrait of it; otherwise, this zither would have been buried in obscurity."

Cao Ze asked curiously, “The ‘Liezi: Tang Wen’ records that when Bo Ya played the zither, his thoughts were on high mountains, and Zhong Ziqi said, ‘Excellent! Lofty like Mount Tai!’ When his thoughts were on flowing water, Zhong Ziqi said, ‘Excellent! Vast like the rivers.’ Whatever Bo Ya thought of, Zhong Ziqi understood. After Ziqi died, Bo Ya said that there was no one left in the world who understood him, so he broke his zither and cut its strings, never playing it again for the rest of his life.”

"Logically speaking, the Bo Ya Qin should have been destroyed long ago."

Nongyu also looked at Zinu, who was familiar with this story and knew that there was no way that Boya Qin could survive.

Zi Nu smiled charmingly: "This is not the Bo Ya Qin in Bo Ya's hands, but a contemporary qin master who, out of regret for Bo Ya's destruction of the qin and admiration for Bo Ya's destruction of the qin, said to have spent thirteen years visiting Bo Ya's qin friends and, based on their oral accounts, after many years of experimentation, finally made three Bo Ya Qin."

"It is said that due to the decline of the family and the war, the three Boya Qin were lost. I never thought that I would be able to find them again more than a hundred years later."

Nongyu gently stroked the strings of her zither, glanced back at Cao Ze, and murmured softly, "High mountains and flowing water, seeking a soulmate..."

Zi Nu coughed lightly and said with a charming smile, "Let's play a tune, and who knows, a kindred spirit will appear."

Nongyu's face flushed, her soft body felt hot, and her fair skin was rosy. Bathed in the glow of the sunset through the wide window behind her, she looked charming and alluring.

"Okay, Sister Zi Nu..."

Nongyu lowered her head, her slender fingers resting on Boya's zither.

A clear and melodious zither melody rose gently, its sound graceful and elegant.

The thumping heart of Nongyu was quite different from her flushed face.

Cao Ze's gaze remained fixed on Nongyu's slender, beautiful fingers as she played the zither. Listening to the gentle, flowing music beneath her fingers and watching her dancing fingers, Cao Ze abandoned his idea of ​​learning the zither.

He picked up his wine glass and listened intently to the zither music. His mind seemed to melt away in the music, trembling with the vibrations of the strings. He felt as if he had escaped the bustling city and was alone on a towering mountain. Soon after, he was in a forest with a babbling brook at his feet, which made him feel relaxed and content.

"How wonderful..." Cao Ze sighed, his heart not in the tea.

Zi Nu wasn't as deeply involved as Cao Ze, and chuckled softly, "Didn't you realize that Nong Yu cares about you a lot?"

Cao Ze gave a wry smile. "What do you think?"

Zi Nu smiled charmingly, "Don't you want to? I don't mind, and I don't think Princess Hong Lian would mind either."

In this era, any nobleman with some ability would have no shortage of wives and concubines as part of their dowry.

Furthermore, feudal lords could use this as a basis to marry nine women.

The Gongyang Commentary records: "What is a concubine? When a feudal lord marries a woman from one state, two other states send women as concubines, including nieces and younger sisters. What is a niece? She is the son of an elder brother. What is a younger sister? She is a younger sister. A feudal lord may marry nine women at once."

It is not uncommon for sisters and nieces to marry at the same time in this era.

But if her mother minds, she'll mind her mother too... Cao Ze muttered to himself, then said, "Let it be. Some things can't be forced."

For Nongyu, it's either being a wife or a daughter.

As for being both a daughter and a wife...

Hmm~ The difficulty level is a bit high. I wonder if I can beat He Xie and Shen He.

Cao Ze let go of his distracting thoughts and let his mind wander.

Zi Nu was slightly surprised and confused as to why Cao Ze deliberately avoided talking about Nong Yu.

Based on her understanding of Cao Ze, this was very strange.

Nongyu continued to play the zither with her head down, seemingly lost in some kind of mood.

She was graceful and elegant, like a delicate lotus flower. At this moment, she lowered her head slightly, her two fair hands constantly playing the seven-stringed zither, and her jade-like skin seemed to glow.

This drew frequent glances from Cao Ze and Zi Nu.

Normally, Nongyu is gentle and compliant, like a magnolia tree growing deep in the mountains, living a life of peace and quietly exuding fragrance.

When Nongyu plucked the strings, she was different from usual; she became confident, pure, and radiant.

Cao Ze muttered to himself, "Now I believe it, serious people really do shine..."

Zi Nu glanced sideways: "What's glowing?"

Just as the song "Nongyu" was coming to an end, Cao Ze asked, "Is this the song 'High Mountains and Flowing Water'?"

"The mountains are majestic, the waters are vast." Zi Nu said with a smile, "Nong Yu, your playing of 'High Mountains and Flowing Water' on this zither is more than twice as good as before. Is it because of the Bo Ya zither?"

Nongyu glanced at Cao Ze secretly, her eyes slightly alluring.

"Sister Zi Nu, it's not entirely because of the zither..."

The girl's voice was clear and melodious, like a string of jade beads flowing from her lips.

Zi Nu was slightly taken aback, then smiled sweetly, "Little girl, you've started talking back to your older sister."

Nongyu secretly stuck out her little tongue at Zinu.

She had only mentioned Mr. Cao Ze's feelings to Sister Zi Nu, and she knew that Sister Zi Nu would understand what she meant.

Cao Ze pretended not to notice and continued drinking his tea.

Seeing that Cao Ze remained silent, Nongyu was somewhat disappointed and dejected.

Zi Nu patted Nong Yu's little hand and said with a smile, "Come and help your older sister with the letters."

Nongyu hummed in response, her dejection clearly palpable.