In her previous life, did Xie Wei ultimately become emperor, or did he pursue that Emei moon?

She thought about it and felt somewhat confused.

But thinking carefully, having done so many things that went against the world’s great taboos and created so much killing karma, if he didn’t ultimately become emperor, his fate probably wouldn’t be good at all, would it?

Since it wasn’t yet time for class, after Xie Wei tested the qin’s sound, he sat down to the side and didn’t say a single word to them.

Logically, this moment was the break between two classes, and everyone could move about and rest freely.

But with Xie Wei sitting there, he naturally possessed a strange deterrent power that made people not dare speak loudly, or even move about casually. Each person very obediently remained in their own position, fearing they would leave him with a bad impression.

As a result, the entire hall was quiet, with a rare peaceful atmosphere.

Not until those two quarters of rest time passed did Xie Wei rise again and stand at the front of the hall.

At this moment, all nine students below, including Grand Princess Leyang, stood up and bowed to him: “We students pay our respects to Master Xie.”

Xie Wei waved his hand: “No need for excessive courtesy.”

A discipline ruler lay on the desk at the higher position.

He lowered his eyes to glance at it, casually picked it up to toy with, and after telling everyone to sit down, said: “What we’re learning today is qin. Xie knows that all you young ladies, including Grand Princess, mostly already have some understanding of this. However, since you’re all now learning qin with Xie, please forget everything you learned before, consider yourselves as never having studied it, and start from the beginning anew.”

Seeing him pick up the discipline ruler, Jiang Xuening felt her fingertips ache.

Hearing Xie Wei’s words again, she only felt there was no difference from her previous life.

When she first heard these words in her previous life, her heart was happy, thinking that if starting from scratch, she wouldn’t necessarily be worse than those young ladies from great families.

However, reality was cruel.

Sometimes, one had to admit that Heaven was very fair: having given her exceptionally good looks, it wouldn’t also give her a comfortable family situation and good talent for qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting.

“The ancients said that Heaven has five stars, Earth has five elements, and the world has five tones. Therefore, legend has it that in the earliest times, Shennong carved tung wood into a qin and used silk cords for strings. There were only five tones—gong, shang, jue, zhi, and yu—matching the five stars above and corresponding to the five elements below, played as sacred music. Later, when King Wen of Zhou was imprisoned at Youli, missing his son Bo Yikao, he added one string called the civil string. When King Wu attacked Zhou, he added another string, which was the martial string. From then on, it was collectively called the ‘Civil and Martial Seven-String Qin.'”

Xie Wei held the discipline ruler but kept his hands behind his back.

He walked down from the hall at a leisurely pace, his gaze sweeping across the faces of those below.

“Learning qin is not easy. It’s like rowing against the current, sometimes even more difficult than studying books. Those who say three years for minor achievement, five years for medium achievement, seven years for major achievement in learning qin are speaking in terms of ‘technique.’ However, learning qin is about the ‘Way.’ Only with the ‘Way’ can one truly be considered accomplished. But you are all young, and in just half a year you truly cannot learn much. If you can grasp the basics and slightly comprehend the technique, that’s already not bad. So today Xie will begin by teaching about ‘sitting’ and ‘fingers.'”

He was accustomed to lecturing in the Wenyuan Pavilion for the emperor and all the civil and military officials. Teaching this group of young girls was really using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. That previous Hanlin Academy Zhao Master wasn’t very patient, but he maintained a calm gait and peaceful speech.

Neither lofty and aloof, nor looking down on them.

Standing in Fengchen Hall lecturing these young girls before him was no different from standing in Wenyuan Pavilion teaching the Son of Heaven.

Everyone had already seen Zhao Yanhong’s impatient attitude when lecturing them. Thinking that Xie Wei was an imperial tutor who conducted classics mat lectures for the emperor and civil and military officials in the previous court, even though they’d all heard that Master Xie had the demeanor of an ancient sage, they inevitably worried he would be as stern and severe as that Master Zhao.

Hearing him be so generous now, they all couldn’t help but feel relieved.

Those slightly bolder and more familiar with Xie Wei, like Shen Zhiyi, even tentatively raised her little hand: “Then how many years has Master Xie studied qin, and what level are you at now?”

Xie Wei looked back at her and smiled: “I’ve been learning qin since I was four years old. Now I can barely say I’ve reached the threshold.”

Everyone couldn’t help but be astounded.

Shen Zhiyi even counted on her fingers to calculate for him, her mouth involuntarily opening wide: “That must be over twenty years of study, and only minor achievement…”

Xie Wei said: “I’m rather dull-witted. If Grand Princess is naturally intelligent and spiritually gifted, you may not need this long.”

He stopped exactly in front of Jiang Xuening.

Hearing him say the words “dull-witted,” Jiang Xuening couldn’t help but look up at him: If someone named Xie could be called “dull-witted,” were there any intelligent people left in this world?

However, on Xie Wei’s face there wasn’t any of that pleased expression others had when deliberately being modest. On the contrary, he was serious and subdued.

She thus realized—

Xie Ju’an truly felt he was dull-witted, that in the way of qin, over twenty years only counted as minor achievement.

Since everyone was learning qin today, all their qins were properly arranged on their desks.

Jiang Xuening’s qin was no exception.

That Jiao’an was placed right in front of her.

When Xie Wei lowered his eyes, his gaze sweeping past her body naturally fell on this qin. Not knowing if he recognized it, he looked at it for a moment before raising his eyes again to regard Jiang Xuening with a scrutinizing gaze.

The hairs on Jiang Xuening’s back immediately stood on end.

Fortunately, Xie Wei seemed to only look at her an extra time because of this qin and didn’t mean to say much. He soon paced and turned away from in front of her, returning to the front of the hall.

Only then did he formally begin teaching qin.

First they learned sitting posture.

This wasn’t particularly difficult for everyone.

After all, during the palace selection a few days ago, they had already learned “walking, standing, sitting, and lying” with Imperial Concubine Su. Although the sitting posture when playing qin was slightly different from what Imperial Concubine Su taught, all variations stemmed from the same source. In any case, the body couldn’t sway, the head couldn’t move, the eyes couldn’t look elsewhere, the ears couldn’t listen to other things, and sitting had its rules.

In her previous life, Jiang Xuening had at least been through palace baptism. She had already made a great showing before Imperial Concubine Su earlier, so now in front of Xie Wei, she naturally didn’t dare be even half careless.

Xie Wei looked at each one and nodded.

Finally, he stopped in front of her. It was rare for him to have a somewhat impressed feeling, saying: “Not bad.”

Hearing these two words, Jiang Xuening appeared calm on the surface, but in her heart she already wanted to bang her head on the ground.

Xie Wei originally praised her because he thought she did well. Who would have thought that after praising her and looking again, her face inexplicably showed some guilt, her expression forced, sitting before that Jiao’an ancient qin as if sitting on pins and needles.

This frightened?

Although he didn’t know how he’d become a fearsome monster, he only assumed he’d scared her and didn’t think much of it.

Until learning fingering techniques next—

Xie Wei began teaching from the right hand’s eight methods, planning to proceed step by step from easy to difficult, so he first taught mo, tiao, gou, and ti. He first demonstrated once for everyone, then had them follow his example.

Some young ladies from aristocratic families had already learned this, so naturally they understood after one demonstration.

Simple, intermittent qin sounds thus rang out in Fengchen Hall.

However…

There was always one note that was either too rushed or too slow, sometimes short and abrupt, sometimes long and trembling, occasionally mixed with the discordant sound of fingers accidentally touching another qin string.

Xie Wei’s brows immediately furrowed.

Originally, one qin sound mixed among these many uneven, intermittent sounds wasn’t very obvious. But having studied qin for many years with considerable attainment, he had long trained a good ear. Hearing this one qin sound, he only felt it was like a dull sword cutting beautiful jade, a rusted knife slicing brocade.

Jarring and unpleasant, extremely grating to the ear!

After listening to four or five sounds, he finally couldn’t bear it and looked toward the source of the qin sound.

Who else could it be but Jiang Xuening?

She sat behind that qin. Looking at her posture, it was indeed the posture of playing qin. Especially since she had a face far superior to others—beautiful and bright, and with ten slender fingers, placing them on the qin strings was pleasing to the eye.

However, when those fingers fell on the qin, they were completely without method.

No matter how you looked, they were like chicken claws!

She didn’t know how hard or soft to press the strings. When light, it was like blowing cotton; when heavy, it was as if she could snap the strings!

Xie Wei watched those qin strings tremble and moan under her fingers, only feeling a breath stuck in his chest, his eyelids jumping along with them.

Sitting with such bearing, yet playing like this ghostly manner!

No wonder when he praised her earlier, she felt guilty.

Jiang Xuening didn’t yet know she’d been targeted by Xie Wei. She only felt her pair of hands wouldn’t obey her commands. When applying rouge and powder, they were steady and sure, but once they fell on the qin strings, they lost their accuracy and couldn’t grasp the proper force.

Thinking about it, it actually wasn’t strange.

When other girls were young, they all learned needlework. Only she, at that age, was still running barefoot through the countryside—catching fish in the river, climbing trees to catch cicadas, even taking other people’s chickens and ducks out for walks…

She’d never learned any refined and elegant things.

She had no interest in qin either.

It sounded nice, but that was all.

How could she distinguish any subtleties?

These hands, this heart—making her learn qin wasn’t this taking her small life?

The more Jiang Xuening played, the more she felt her sound was different from others, and the more guilty her heart became. Occasionally lifting her head, Xie Wei was already standing in front of her.

Her hand shook, nearly snapping the qin string.

Xie Wei looked down at her from above and asked: “Haven’t studied before?”

Jiang Xuening felt her entire body had stiffened. Trembling, she replied: “Didn’t Master say to consider ourselves as never having studied, start from the beginning, and begin anew?”

Xie Wei’s eyelids jumped again.

Jiang Xuening thus felt cold air rising from the back of her neck.

Xie Wei held back from erupting. Looking again at the qin under her hands, he only said: “Just sit there. Stop ruining this qin.”

He really had recognized the qin’s origins!

Jiang Xuening’s heart immediately wailed. She thought to herself she should have realized earlier: the one surnamed Xie was obsessed with good qins. Yan Lin said finding a good qin for school would surely please him, but he didn’t know that good qins weren’t for everyone to play. If the person didn’t match the qin, far from pleasing Xie Wei, it would provoke his disgust.

Now she was the one who didn’t match the qin.

Although Xie Wei lowered his voice when saying these two sentences to her, Fengchen Hall was only so big—how could others not hear?

For a moment, the sounds of qin practice around them all became quieter.

Everyone’s subtle and strange gazes fell on her.

Hearing Xie Wei tell her to “just sit,” Jiang Xuening didn’t dare reach out to touch that qin again. But she pondered that since she didn’t match the qin, if she changed to one she did match, that wouldn’t count as ruining it, right?

So she stammered: “Master… Master Xie…”

Seeing her obediently not touching the qin anymore, the string that had been taut in Xie Wei’s mind finally loosened by a couple notches. Just as he was about to turn and walk away, hearing her voice, he couldn’t help but stop.

Jiang Xuening’s heart rose to her throat. Mustering her courage, she said: “How about I switch to an inferior qin?”

“…”

The heavy discipline ruler pressed in Xie Wei’s palm. His slender fingers couldn’t help but tighten by a couple notches. When he looked at her again, even the corners of his eyes twitched slightly, and his gaze also darkened.

He’d thought she had become obedient.

He hadn’t expected that she wouldn’t think at all about how she could match the qin, but instead wanted to switch to an inferior qin to match herself!

His face turned cold. He only raised that discipline ruler, pointed toward outside the hall entrance, and said: “You go out first.”

Jiang Xuening was stunned.

Following the direction Xie Wei pointed, her mind went boom with a sound, completely blank.

Like someone who’d lost their soul.

Even though her belly held ten thousand questions and ten thousand grievances, facing Xie Wei she couldn’t say even one sentence. For a moment her eye sockets even reddened. Not until she rose and walked out from the hall to stand beside the outer corridor pillar did she figure out where exactly she had offended him again to be punished by him to stand outside, losing all face.

Even in her previous life she hadn’t suffered such grievance.

Jiang Xuening hadn’t slept well last night, worrying about the Marquis of Yongyi’s household matters. This morning learning qin with Xie Wei, she’d tightened her nerves even more, fearful of angering him. Now standing in the corridor, the more she thought about it, the angrier she became.

Never mind losing You Fangying from the previous life. Never mind using Zhou Yinzhi for the Marquis of Yongyi’s household matters. After being reborn, she still had to be held under Xie Wei’s scrutiny, but in this life she hadn’t done anything truly bad.

Why treat her so harshly?

What was originally three parts grievance became ten parts as she thought about it.

Jiang Xuening didn’t know which part was touched, but all the sorrows of past and present lives came pouring out. Her eyes heated, and teardrops pattered down.

She raised her sleeve to wipe them, wanting to hold back.

But the tears only increased the more she wiped them, completely disobeying her commands.

What Xie Wei said was “you go out first.” He only planned to first say a few words to the others, instructing them to practice, then go out to talk to her alone. But who would have thought his instructions were only half finished when he heard faint sobbing sounds from outside.

He turned to look outside the hall and immediately stiffened.

That brightly colored young girl wore a snow-blue ink-splattered skirt today. Her figure was slender. Standing beside the corridor pillar, as if she’d suffered the greatest grievance, she cried while wiping her tears, truly making people feel both annoyed and amused.

It was just that when they were attacked on the road back to the capital that year, falling covered in mud, she didn’t seem to have cried…

Xie Wei looked at her and felt somewhat tormented. He raised his hand to lightly press his brow, couldn’t help but soften his voice somewhat, and said: “Stop crying. Come in.”

Jiang Xuening’s sobbing immediately stopped.

She felt her crying actually had nothing to do with Xie Wei. It was just that this small grievance triggered a greater grievance. In her heart she only thought the one surnamed Xie had a heart of stone and would probably make her stand outside for a full shichen.

Who would have thought he’d suddenly call her in?

Besides surprise, she also felt caught off guard and bewildered.

Jiang Xuening’s expression became somewhat strange.

In the rapid electrical turns of her mind, a thought had already swiftly swept through: No way, Xie Wei actually falls for this?!

She somewhat didn’t dare believe it.

However, carefully thinking back, had she cried in front of Xie Wei in her previous life?

No.

Not even once.

Jiang Xuening’s mind stirred. After her tears stopped for a moment, she actually choked up again.

Truly able to cry at will, coming as soon as called.

Only this time, it looked real but was actually false.

Sure enough, Xie Wei showed some more pained expression and said to her: “I didn’t really mean to punish you. Come back and sit down.”

It worked!

Jiang Xuening almost laughed out loud in her heart.

Who could have thought Xie Wei’s weak spot was actually here?

She only thought she now knew the method to deal with Xie Wei. Thinking this person’s prestige in two lives would ultimately fall into her hands, she couldn’t help but feel extremely pleased. But her face still showed a grieved appearance. She softly said “oh” and walked in from outside the hall, returning to her position to sit down.

Then Xie Wei glanced at her and said lightly: “After class ends, you stay behind alone.”

Jiang Xuening: “…”

I’m too young. I was happy too soon.