Smiling Proud Wanderer Vol 02, page 19
Mr. Yi opened the zither portion of the booklet and glanced over a couple of pages. “Sorry, I don’t know much about this part.” He shook his head.
He quickly skimmed to the flute portion of the booklet, and suddenly his eyes brightened as he started humming along the music score in a low voice and drumming two of his fingers on the table simultaneously. After a while, he shook his head again.
“This can’t be right!”
He continued humming alone, but suddenly the pitch of his voice went very high, and only seconds later, it dropped very low.
“This is impossible! Well…well…I really don’t understand this,” he muttered with a frown.
“Is there anything suspicious about this booklet? Is it very different from an ordinary music score?” Wang Yuba asked with a happy face.
“Oh Master, please look here.” Mr. Yi pointed at the flute score. “This is the Gong major15 here, but it suddenly turned into the Wei minor. That’s totally against musical theories, and it would be impossible for a flute to play. Then from here it suddenly turned into the Jiao major. That’s something I’ve never seen before. It’s simply impossible to play such music using a flute.”
“Humph, you don’t know how to play it doesn’t mean others don’t know how to play it!” Linghu Chong sneered.
“You’re absolutely right!” Mr. Yi nodded. “But if someone is able to play music like this, I would sincerely admire him from the very bottom of my heart! Certainly the very bottom of my heart! Unless…unless it is he in the East Town….”
“You said that this is no ordinary flute score, and some of the tones are impossible to play using a flute, right?” Wang Yuanba cut him off.
“Ah, yes! Definitely not ordinary! Definitely not ordinary! I will never be able to play something like that. Unless it is he in the East Town….” Mr. Yi nodded.
“Which great musician in the East Town can play this music?” Madam Yue asked.
“Well…I can’t guarantee it, but…but there’s this Elder Bamboo-Green from the East Town who can play both the zither and the flute,” Mr. Yi answered. “Maybe he can play it. His skills in playing the flute are way better than mine. Way better indeed! We are not even talking about the same league here! Certainly not the same league!”
“If this is no ordinary music score for flute, then there must be more behind it,” Wang Yuanba said.
Wang Bofen had been listening quietly by the side. He suddenly cut in, “Father, isn’t the Four Ways Six Harmonies Knife Form of the Eight Diagrams Knife Dojo in Zhengzhou also recorded in a music score?”
Wang Yuanba immediately understood. He knew that his son was just making things up. The family of the Eight Diagrams Knife Dojo Head Master, Mo Xing, had been in-laws with the Wang Family for generations. Their Dojo didn’t have anything named the Four Ways Six Harmonies Knife Form. But he figured that since the Huashan Sword School only focused in sword arts, whether another school had this knife form or not, Yue Buqun most probably wouldn’t have known, even though Yue Buqun had good knowledge of the Martial World. So he nodded.
“That’s right! That’s right! In-law Mo certainly mentioned about it several years back. Recording knife arts or sword arts in music scores is nothing unusual at all.”
“Since it’s nothing unusual at all, then would you, Grandmaster Wang, enlighten me and tell me what exactly are recorded in these two music scores?” Linghu Chong asked with a smirk.
“That…Alas, my son-in-law had passed away, therefore, other than you, I am afraid there’s not another one who would be able to understand the secret in the music score.” Wang Yuanba heaved a long sigh.
If Linghu Chong had wanted to plead innocent, he could have simply told the origin of the “Smiling Proud Wanderer” music score, but then inevitably, he would have to mention about how the Hengshan Sword School’s Great Mr. Mo had killed Great Songyang Palm Fei Bin, and that would certainly bring severe consequences; also, once Master found out that the music score was really related to the Demon Cult Elder Qu Yang, for sure Master would have it destroyed right away, then he would not be able to fulfill his promise to the dead. With these in his mind, he held his anger and responded calmly.
“Since this Mr. Yi mentioned that there’s an Elder Bamboo-Green who is an expert in music, why don’t we take the music score over to let him examine it?”
“That Elder Bamboo-Green is a weirdo who acts like a mad man. How can we believe any word out of his mouth?” Wang Yuanba shook his head.
“But we must get to the bottom of this matter,” Madam Yue replied. “Chong is our apprentice and Pingzhi is also our apprentice. We can’t grant favor to either side. To find out who’s right and who’s wrong, we might as well ask that Elder Bamboo-Green to give a judgment.” She didn’t want to say that this was a dispute between Linghu Chong and the Golden Blade Wang Family, so she conveniently replaced the Wang Family with Lin Pingzhi.
“Mr. Yi, would you please send a wagon for this Elder Bamboo-Green?” Madam Yue requested.
“Well, this old gentleman is a very eccentric folk. When people ask him for favors, if it’s something that he doesn’t care, he won’t pay any attention to it even if you kowtow to him at his door. But if he decides to intervene, you can’t even push him away,” Mr. Yi replied.
“That sounds just like us martial people,” Madam Yue nodded. “I suppose this Elder Bamboo-Green must be a senior master in the martial arts society. Senior apprentice brother, we have certainly been really ignorant.”
“That Elder Bamboo-Green is merely a craftsman skilled in making baskets and floor mats with bamboo strips. He is no martial master,” Wang Yuanba replied with a smirk. “He plays the zither and the flute well and also paints pictures of bamboos. Many people buy his paintings. He is just an old craftsman posing as a lover of art, and does attract a certain local crowd.”
“It would be a pity if we don’t pay a visit to such a figure while we are in Luoyang. Grandmaster Wang, would you please be kind enough to accompany us and pay a visit to such an elegant craftsman?” Madam Yue asked.
Seeing that Madam Yue was quite determined to go, Wang Yuanba had to agree. So led by Mr. Yi, Wang Yuanba, his sons and grandsons set out for the East Town with the Yue Buqun couple, Linghu Chong, Lin Pingzhi, Yue Lingshan, and other Huashan apprentices.
The group went through several small streets and came upon a very narrow alley. A large bush of bamboos occupied the end of the ally. Swaying gently in the breeze, they set an elegant tone to the surroundings. As soon as the group stepped into the alley, dim sound of zither play echoed in their ears pleasantly – someone was playing a song. The alley appeared to be so refreshing and peaceful that it almost seemed as if this was an entirely different world totally isolated from the crowded city outside.
“This Elder Bamboo-Green certainly knows how to enjoy life!” Madam Yue whispered.
Suddenly, a clank echoed as one of the zither strings snapped, and the zither play halted abruptly.
“Respectful guests have arrived at my humble shack. Is there something you want to see me about?” an old voice rose from inside.
“Elder, we have this odd zither and flute music score. Would you be kind enough to examine it for us?” Mr. Yi announced.
“You have a zither and flute music score and want me to examine it? Ha-ha, you really flatter an old craftsman,” Elder Bamboo-Green answered.
Before Mr. Yi even had a chance to respond, Wang Jiaju had already shouted out, “Grandmaster Wang from the Gold Blade Wang Family is here to visit.”
He had thought that because his grandfather was a very important figure in the city of Luoyang, as soon as he mentioned his grandfather’s name, the old craftsman would for sure rush out to greet them, but all he got in return were Elder Bamboo-Green’s sneers.
“Golden Blade or Silver Blade, it’s no better than the old craftsman’s rusty iron blade. An old craftsman doesn’t need to visit Master Wang, and there’s no need for Master Wang to visit an old craftsman, either.”
Wang Jiaju was infuriated. “Grandpa, this old craftsman is a moron with no manners. We don’t need to see him. Let’s go home,” he said loudly.
“Since we are already here, we might as well ask Elder Bamboo-Green to take a look at the music score,” Madam Yue insisted.
“Hmm!” Wang Yuanba snorted as he handed the music score booklet to Mr. Yi, who, in turn, took the booklet and walked behind the bush of bamboos.
“You can put it down here,” Elder Bamboo-Green’s voice rose from inside.
“Elder, is this a real music score or some kind of secret martial arts manuscript with formulas and techniques written in disguise in the form of a music score?” Mr. Yi asked.
“Secret martial arts manuscripts? Are you out of your mind? Of course this is a music score!” Elder Bamboo-Green reproached, and moments later, sound of zither rose again, graceful and pleasant.
Linghu Chong listened to the music and soon remembered the melody – the same melody Liu Zhengfeng had played that day. The music was the same, but the previous player had long perished. Linghu Chong couldn’t help but feel mournful.
Not far into the music, the pitch of the zither sound suddenly went higher and higher until it almost sounded like a shrill whistle. Clank, one of the zither strings snapped. And as the sound went even higher, another clank echoed when another string snapped. Elder Bamboo-Green uttered a cry of surprise.
“This zither score is really odd. I don’t understand.”
Wang Yuanba and his two sons and two grandsons exchanged looks among themselves, all looking content and triumphant.
“Let me try the flute score,” Elder Bamboo-Green muttered, and soon the sound of a flute rose from behind the bamboo bush.
At the beginning, the flute sounded melodious and pleasant, depicting a romantic scene. But then the pitches of the flute sound turned lower and lower till it was almost impossible to recognize. And after several more notes, the sound became hoarse, and turned into very unpleasant noises.
Elder Bamboo-Green heaved a sigh. “Little brother Yi, you play the flute yourself. Don’t you know it’s impossible to play anything with such a low pitch? The zither score and the flute score aren’t necessarily fakes, but the composer is certainly being deliberately mystifying, and perhaps is playing jokes on us. Why don’t you go home first and let me ponder over this a bit more?”
“Sure!” Mr. Yi answered and then walked out from behind the bamboo bush.
“Where’s the sword arts manuscript?” Wang Zhongqiang asked.
“Sword arts manuscript? Oh, Elder Bamboo-Green wants to keep it for a while so he can ponder over it some more,” Mr. Yi answered.
“Go get it back, quick! This is an invaluable sword arts manuscript. Do you have any idea how many people in the Martial World want to get their hands onto this? How can we leave it in the hands of someone totally irrelevant?” Wang Zhongqiang admonished hurriedly.
“Ah, alright!” Mr. Yi replied and turned around to head back toward the back of the bamboo bush, again, when Elder Bamboo-Green’s voice suddenly rose again.
“Auntie, why have you come out?”
“How old is the Elder Bamboo-Green?” Wang Yuanba asked in a whisper.
“In his seventies. Close to eighty years old I guess,” Mr. Yi answered.
“If an eighty-year old man still called her his auntie, then this old granny had to be at least a hundred years old,” everybody thought of the same thing.
A woman’s voice acknowledged with a muffled “hmm.”
“Auntie, please take a look at this. This music score is very strange,” Elder Bamboo-Green explained.
The woman acknowledged again with a muffled “hmm.” Then sound of strings being plucked rose. Apparently someone was tuning the zither. Then it fell quiet for a moment as the snapped strings were probably being replaced with new ones. After some more tuning sounds, the granny started playing. At the beginning, it sounded the same as how Elder Bamboo-Green had played. Then the pitch of the zither sound went higher and higher, but this time it somehow transformed into a higher scale smoothly and pleasantly as if it were never difficult to start with.
Linghu Chong was half surprised and half joyous. He could vaguely remember that this was exactly the same melody he had heard Qu Yang play that night. The melody sometimes sounded impassionate and moving yet sometimes turned elegant and gentle. Although Linghu Chong didn’t know anything about music, he could still tell that the artistic conception this granny had interpreted was quite different from what Qu Yang had interpreted, even though they were playing the exact same melody. The granny’s play sounded placid and gentle, making the listeners truly appreciate the exquisiteness of good music, but it lacked the exciting surges Qu Yang’s play was able to bring out. After a long while, the music gradually slowed down as if the music was drifting further and further away, and the zither player had slowly walked away, hundreds of feet, and then miles away. The notes became so subtle that it simply faded into the gentle breeze.
Just when the sound of the zither was about to fade away, a couple of very low and delicate flute sounds rose next to the sound of the zither. The sweet sound of the flute circled in the air and turned louder and louder, as if the flute player had walked closer and closer, while playing the flute continuously. The sound was clear and melodious, sometimes high and sometimes low, sometimes gentle and sometimes loud. When everyone thought that the sound was already at its lowest, after some twirls, it would turn even lower. Although subtle and mild to the extreme, every syllable was still clearly recognizable.
Gradually, some high-pitched notes would occasionally break out from the low-pitched melody, like pearls falling into a jade plate and bounced back and forth, short and brisk, as one fell down, another one would bounce back. Then more and more sounds joined and echoed each other. First, it was like a spring streaming down the mountain path, echoing as the little waves splashed over the narrow banks. Then it turned into a garden full of colorful flowers, each blossoming so vividly in a competition to earn a glance from the dancing butterfly. There was also the choir from the many kinds of birds, echoing each other here and there, praising the efforts of the various blossoms, and singing joyously about the beauty of the season. Then gradually, the many birds flew away one after another as the spring season quietly stepped away and the petals from the withered blossoms swirled in the air, performing their sad dance falling toward the ground. Then the rain came, which painted everything in a color of gloom and made the leaves rustle. It was now cold and dreary and lifeless. All there left was the drizzle now, so tiny that no one could tell when it went from on to off and then from off to on again. And finally, everything fell into an ultimate silence.
Only a long while after the flute had stopped playing did everyone realize the silence. All felt as if they had just come out of a dream. Although Wang Yuanba, Yue Buqun and the many others didn’t know much about music, they all found themselves deeply intoxicated by the magic of the music. And Mr. Yi simply froze there in a trance, as if his soul had faded together with the music and was no longer inside his body.
Madam Yue heaved a sigh in great admiration. “Admirable! Very admirable! Chong, what’s the name of the music?”
“It’s called the ‘Smiling Proud Wanderer’ song,” Linghu Chong answered. “This granny has such incredible skills, and it is even rarer that someone could have such supreme skills in both zither and flute.”
“The composer certainly did a fantastic job writing the music, but it sure takes someone like this granny with such superb skills to be able to bring the best out of it. It must be the first time for you to listen to such wonderful melody,” Madam Yue remarked.
“Actually, no! Last time when I heard it, it sounded even more spectacular,” Linghu Chong replied.
“Really? How can there be anyone with even better zither and flute skills than that granny?” Madam Yue asked in surprise.
“Not necessarily better than this granny. But when I heard such wonderful music the last time, there were two players. One played the zither and the other one played the flute, and they were also playing this ‘Smiling Proud Wanderer’ song….”
Before he even finished his sentence, three plucking sounds came from behind the bamboo bush as the granny whispered something in a very low voice. Vaguely, it sounded like that she had said, “Zither and flute playing together? Where can I ever find the other one?”
Elder Bamboo-Green’s voice rose again, loud and clear. “Mr. Yi, this is indeed a music score. My auntie has just played it. You can take it back now.”
“Yes.” Mr. Yi replied. He stepped behind the bamboo bush and soon returned, holding the music score booklet with both hands.
“Such fine work of art as this one recorded in the booklet is very rare and very hard to come by. Such wonder should never fall into the hands of vulgar people. And you should never have the wishful thinking of studying this music piece recklessly. It would only cause you more harm than gain,” Elder Bamboo-Green added.
“Yes, yes! I would never even dare!” Mr. Yi replied sincerely, and then handed the music score booklet back to Wang Yuanba.
Wang Yuanba had heard the spectacular performance himself and knew that it couldn’t have been a fake. Returning the booklet back to Linghu Chong, he said in an awkward tone,
“Nephew Linghu, we are truly very sorry!”
Linghu Chong answered with a sneer and was just about to add some satirical words when he saw Madam Yue shaking her head at him, so he swallowed them back down.
Feeling so embarrassed, Wang Yuanba, his two sons, and the two grandsons left before everyone else. Yue Buqun and the many apprentices also followed. But Linghu Chong remained. Holding the music score booklet in his hands, he stood there like a statue.
“Chong, aren’t you going back now?” Madam Yue asked.
“I just want to stay here a bit longer,” Linghu Chong answered.
“Don’t be too late. Go back and take a good rest. Oh, be careful with your arms. They were dislocated pretty badly. Don’t try anything heavy.” Madam Yue exhorted.
