The Exiled Life of the Noble Girl

Chapter 40

"My dear, Miss Li Mingwei said it right that a classmate of mine customized a zither for over a hundred taels," said the son.

Old Lady Wang definitely believed her son's words. She opened her mouth wide in surprise: "What kind of thing is that? Just a long piece of wood worth a hundred taels?"

Liu Yizhu explained: "It depends on what kind of wood is used - pine, camphor, cedar, yellow pear wood - each wood has a different price. Famous artisans also charge a lot for their craftsmanship. Plus, there are all kinds of zither strings of varying qualities, so altogether it can cost hundreds or thousands of taels."

"This is..." Old Lady Wang was puzzled in her heart upon hearing this. There are indeed so many rich people under heaven. She stared at Mr. Jin's zither like a treasure: "How much did Mr. Jin's zither cost?"

"My zither is not that good, just a dozen or so taels."

"That's still pretty expensive." Her son became a successful imperial examination candidate with only twenty-four taels a year. Buying a zither wouldn't even leave him money for food. No wonder he had to borrow from Mr. Jin.

She urged Liu Yizhu: "My son, play it carefully. Don't damage Mr. Jin's."

She really couldn't afford to pay for damages.

Sensing her implied meaning, Li Mingwei sighed. This mother and son really had it hard too. She reassured Liu Yizhu: "It's already damaged to begin with, what's there to be afraid of? Just play as you wish."

"What's damaged about it?"

Liu Yizhu did not have much contact with the zither before. Most of his knowledge about it came from books. He knew the notes gong, shang, jiao, zhi, yu, but not the finer details.

Mr. Jin was also mediocre at best. He could only muddle through.

Li Mingwei closed the window and came downstairs. She signaled Liu Yizhu with her eyes to step aside. Liu Yizhu obediently made way. Li Mingwei pressed the strings with her left hand and plucked randomly with her right. She spoke with extreme dissatisfaction: "Mr Jin, how long has it been since you last changed the strings?"

Mr Jin awkwardly stroked his beard and turned his head away: "This old man hasn't touched the zither for over ten years already. If not for Yizhu wanting to learn, I wouldn't have taken it out."

Over ten years?

Li Mingwei took a look and found that some of the wood on the bottom of the zither had already rotted. Hmm, even if it wasn't ten years, she still wouldn't believe it.

"As a gentleman and a scholar, aside from propriety, you must also learn music. Yet you, a teacher, have abandoned music. Even if you don't play, you should take it out regularly for maintenance!"

Mr. Jin felt embarrassed. "I have to admit this old man dislikes music theory the most when studying in the past. I only reluctantly took a few lessons from my teacher. After coming to Qingshi Town to teach, I had no use for it anymore and cast it from my mind."

"But for a scholar, it is easy to embarrass yourself if you don't even know basic music theory."

She started learning music theory from the age of three. By five or six, she had systematically learned all kinds of musical instruments. In the end, her mother felt she had more talent with the zither and had her focus on mastering zither skills. And not for anything else, only to avoid humiliation.

As a young lady from an official family, if she didn't know some musical instruments, chess, calligraphy and painting, or have one or two outstanding skills to show off, she would feel embarrassed to even step out the door.

In the capital city, appreciating lotus flowers today, appreciating chrysanthemum tomorrow, appreciating plum blossoms the day after, and someone's birthday the next day...there was never an end to banquets and dances.

In case someone called on her on a whim and asked her to comment or perform, she couldn't possibly say she knew nothing. If she did, rumor would spread across the capital city within a day that the young lady from the so-and-so family has no talent or virtue.

It wouldn't just be humiliating for her, but her whole clan would be shamed for failing to teach her properly.

Deep down, Li Mingwei also disliked these social expectations. But whenever she stepped outside, she represented the entire Li family. Her maternal grandfather was the late emperor's mentor who dedicated his whole life to education and teaching. If even his own granddaughter wasn't taught well, wouldn't it suggest his incapability or her incapability?

After marrying Murong Yu, things became even more difficult for her. Even entering the palace, she had to carefully remember which foot to step in first, otherwise people would impeach the imperial concubine the next day for disrespecting the emperor, questioning if she harbored malicious intentions.

Indeed there were too many rules and formalities that she now enjoyed the freedom of her current life, where she could act as she wished without following propriety and no one would find it odd.

Things were different for Liu Yizhu. Having grown up in such an environment since young, there were many things he did not know. To truly step out into the wider world in the future, he would have to learn everything from scratch.

From Li Mingwei's understanding, Anhuai County was not big, with only two academies. She looked up at him: "What's your rank in your academy now?"

Speaking of this, Old Lady Wang stuck out her chest proudly and held up a finger: "First place!"

Li Mingwei raised her eyebrows: "Including the other academy?"

Liu Yizhu smiled. "For the civil service exam, still first place."

"Other than the civil service exam, there is also poetry, music theory, horse riding...?"

"Poetry is fine. Music theory does not have exams. I have not learned horse riding before. My teacher only said I needed more music theory practice. Not to achieve mastery, just to not fall too far behind."

Li Mingwei rolled her eyes. So he was only first because it was just the civil service exam. With this level, passing the provincial examination would be difficult, it would be so humiliating for Anhuai County.

After passing the provincial exam, he would have to go to the capital to take part in the metropolitan exam. He had to make up for his music theory, even if he couldn't play any instrument well, he still needed to know how to appreciate music.

She looked at Mr Jin: "Can other zithers be found in this town?"

There were no musical instrument shops in this town. They could only check if any wealthy households had zithers to lend out. If even they didn't have any, needless to say for the rest.

As Mr Jin was familiar with these wealthy households, he shook his head: "Haven't heard of any."

Then that meant there were really none. Li Mingwei looked at the old zither on the table worriedly. She tuned the strings with some difficulty, then she turned one wooden peg and with a snap, it fell off!

Some unknown yellow powdery substances fell out from inside. Li Mingwei leaned in, originally wanting to stuff the peg back in, but she caught sight of a still wriggling cocoon.

"Ah!"

Goosebumps rose all over her body and she let out a scream. She flung the zither aside and retreated backward. Liu Yizhu had been standing to her left rear. He reached out to catch her as she fell back.

"What's the matter?"

Li Mingwei grabbed Liu Yizhu's hand tightly, shivering as she said: "There was a bug."

Old Lady Wang could no longer remain seated steadily. She had half believed and half doubted the rumors of this woman making advances on her son earlier. Yet now, right in front of her face, this shameless woman still dared to throw herself into her son's arms. Was she tired of living?

She strode over in two quick steps and separated the two. Livid, she scolded: "What about bugs? Haven't you seen bugs before growing up this big?"

"Move aside. Where's the bug? Let me deal with it!"

Still shaken up, Li Mingwei cautiously kept her distance from the zither as she pointed to the hole and said there was a bug there. Old Lady Wang took a look, went to the kitchen to take a small rod, poked the bug out, then stomped on and crushed it sullenly.

"There, it's done."

After seeing the squashed bug's pulp on the floor, Li Mingwei felt a tinge of nausea.

Old Lady Wang looked at her in puzzlement and blurted out tactlessly: "What are you vomiting for? Are you pregnant?"

"Mother, stop speaking nonsense!"

Liu Yizhu looked somewhat displeased at his mother. He went up to support Li Mingwei, gently patting her back while softly asking: "It's alright now, don't be scared."

Li Mingwei gave a soft hmm, and turned her back so as not to look at the floor.

Seeing her son's pathetic state, Old Lady Wang almost spit out a mouthful of blood. As expected, she is a vixen!