A Lady’s Tranquility Chapter 20.1

Chapter 20 (1): Starting with the Qin

The Qing Yuan Earl Mansion was declining day by day which Yan Lin as the son of a noble family was clear of. Everyone knew about the matter of the daughter of a concubine ‘falling into the water’ on the Double Ninth Festival banquet that day, not to mention Jiang Xue Ning’s shocking words.

An old maidservant punishing their lady, a servant bullying their master.

Qing Yuan Earl Mansion was completely disgraced.

To prevent others from gossiping that their mansion treats shu daughters* harshly, on the surface they naturally didn’t dare to make things hard for this shu daughter but she most likely suffered worse in the shadows.
*[Daughter of concubines]

He was the only legitimate son in the Yongyi Marquis Mansion and was also favored in the palace so he never experienced any of the shady tricks from the back residence. But although he hadn’t experienced it himself, he’d seen it and understood what kind of fights went on there.

After all, his father also had concubines and shu daughters.

He felt that Ning Ning cared too much about this shu daughter from the Earl mansion that she had met unexpectedly so he couldn’t help but persuade her, “You’re too kind hearted. There’s too many people who are stupid, clumsy and disappointing. It’s enough to have saved her, do you expect her to be reborn as well? You must know that there are reasons for people to be in their situations and if she had the ability, then she wouldn’t have fallen to her current state.”

Jiang Xue Ning returned her gaze, “It’s precisely because I saved her that I care more about her than any other person and hope that she can become better. However, what you say is right, I’ve already done my best so how can I care anymore?”

After saying that, she lightly let out a breath.

As if wanting to use her breath to let out an unpleasant feeling in her heart.

Then, she said to Yan Lin, “Let’s go in to take a look at the qin.”

As could be told from the name, Youhuang Pavilion was specially designed for the qin.

Although the location was still in the bustling city in a prime area, but you had to go into an inconspicuous street and walk up the stairs to the second floor until you saw an elegant and simple bamboo plaque.

The words, “Youhuang” were written in plain ink on the plaque.

As the qin was a cultured item, those pretending to like qin were pretentious and wanted to be artsy while those who truly loved the qin didn’t want to be somewhere lively so this type of environment and style was a good fit for both.

It clearly wasn’t Yan Lin’s first time there and he led Jiang Xue Ning in with familiarity.

A man who was dressed as a scholar was in front of an incense burner in the corner of the room, using incense chopsticks to stir the incense furnace.

What was being burned was the finest Polu incense.

A light fragrance floated throughout the Youhuang Pavilion.

That scholar turned his head when he heard their footsteps. When he saw that it was Yan Lin, he smiled, put down the incense chopsticks gently then walked to the copper basin on the side to wash his hands, “The Young Marquis is finally here. I’ve been thinking if you didn’t come any time soon, I’d place those qins out for sale.”

Yan Lin laughed, “This is a qin parlour, can you get rid of that stink of money?”

That scholar didn’t take it seriously, “Do you think I’ve opened a qin parlour as charity? Playing the qin requires bathing, cleansing your hands, burning incense and a good qin. Which one of these actions doesn’t cost money?”

Jiang Xue Ning felt that this person was strange and couldn’t help but look at him a few more times.

That scholar was thin and ordinary looking. He also glanced at Jiang Xue Ning then realised, “It’s this young lady who needs a qin right?”

Jiang Xue Ning didn’t say anything.

Yan Lin unhappily said, “Stop talking nonsense, where’s the qin?”

The scholar raised his eyebrows. He could easily sense that Yan Lin treated this girl differently but he didn’t look away, instead, he glanced at Jiang Xue Ning a few more times before turning to walk into the inner room to take out four pieces of qin that were hidden inside, one by one. He lined them up on a long table in the middle of the parlour then opened up the qin covers and asked Yan Lin up to take a look, “I originally found five qins. One was newly made by Jiang Ning Gu but we were too late, by the time my people had gone over, he had already given it to Xie Ju An.”

Qin Maker Gu was the current most famous qin maker.

Usually, the process of making a qin was very cumbersome. From selecting the wood to the stringing and sound testing, it took at least a year to make and at least two to three years to make one that was detailed and exquisite.

Qin makers were considered craftsmen and dedicated their lives to the craft.

They would naturally starve to death if they produced a piece of qin every two years so many qin makers would prepare a good piece of wood and create ten or twenty qins at the same time. Although the piano making process still took two years, they could create many qins in the two years.

But Qin Maker Gu was already over 60 years old and was close to approaching his 70s. He didn’t have the same energy as younger qin makers and couldn’t make many at the same time so he only produced one to two qins every two to three years.

People tended to pursue rarer things.

In the past tow years, countless people had pleaded for a qin but no one would’ve expected that the old man would directly give the qin to Xie Wei before the qin even surfaced and the strings even sounded.

Yan Lin practiced martial arts and wasn’t considered to be a qin lover but he had heard of Qin Maker Gu’s prestige so he was stunned for a moment, “As a gift?”

“Ah, for nothing.” The scholar finally revealed some dissatisfaction and give a sneer then gloated, “Didn’t the King of Pingnan’s rebellion party assassinate an imperial official in the Capital a while ago? Xie Ju An’s qin had been in the making for three years. He had chosen a few good strings from me that day and was planning to wind them on for a sound test while he had some free time but on the way back, he somehow ended up on that Ceng Xiao Tower and encountered a rebel. He was fine but before that new qin had even been stringed up, it was broken with a cut of a sword. Tsk, I don’t know whether he’s angry or not inside but word is that he hadn’t gone to court for two days after. After Qin Creator Gu heard about this matter, he called for someone to send this qin to the capital to him all the way from Jiangning. Isn’t this backwards!”

“It’s not that qin that you’re concerned about right?” Yan Lin said.

That scholar snorted coldly, “I can mark up the price of that thousand gold qin by double to sell it to you but Xie Ju An cut off my path to wealth!”

“Cough.”

Yan Lin coughed, wanting to say “Does this Young Marquis look like an idiot that’s easy to fool”, but after thinking about it, he didn’t answer.

Xie Wei was the Crown Prince’s Imperial Tutor and at present, was in charge of the daily lectures in the palace so he was considered half a master.

The other party though, was different.