TL: bluedreamsfairy

PR: Sam Jiejie

“This Lady is a zither teacher who comes from the Capital? Zi… Miss Yan’s current teacher?” Gu Ziyan suddenly turned his face towards Ning Xuemo and questioned her.

“I am her friend and teacher, so I simply gave her some pointers. That’s all”, Ning Xuemo smirked lazilly.

“Miss Yan’s skills aren’t bad. They should be even more outstanding after this Lady’s teachings. I humbly ask if it is possible to give me some advice?”

Ning Xuemo couldn’t help but peek at him. It appeared that this man was profoundly hostile towards her, to the extent of challenging her!

Everyone present looked at each other. Even though Gu Ziyan was a cold person, he was usually modest and amiable and didn’t come across as someone with a competitive heart.

Many people wished to battle with him, but he would always turn them down. However, they didn’t expect that today he would challenge Ning Xuemo… was he provoked?

Yan Ziyuan felt dejected. Gu Ziyan certainly must be unsatisfied towards Rong Yan’s matter, therefore he picked on her friend. Rong Yan was indeed his sweetheart. He even changed his attitude for her.

Everyone harbored different thoughts. But Ning Xuemo just smiled, 4 taels for 1 thousand jin {n}

{solving big issues with minimal effort}

Ning Xuemo replied: “This Lady came to join the match as well. When it will be this Lady’s turn, Your Esteemed Gu, please be so kind as to give me your opinion?”

In response , Gu Ziyan couldn’t say anything further. He only added: “I cannot wait to listen to this Lady’s performance”

The spectators looked at each other once more and slowly began to pay more attention to Ning Xuemo. Regardless of her appearance or clothes, they didn’t find her attractive at all. Especially her small hands, which were a little tanned and coarse, as they weren’t the delicate hands of a highly skilled zither player.

As a result, those bystanders weren’t convinced of Ning Xuemo’s identity as a Zither Master. On the contrary, they believed that Yan Ziyuan most likely found a random street artist, in the Main Street, in order to annoy Gu Ziyan. In fact, their eyes were filled with suspicion and disdain.

{tl: why are they underestimating Yan Ziyuan and Ning Xuemo?}

Some people in the back were even whispering to each other, sharing their disdain.

Ning Xuemo had sharp ears, so she heard everything they said, but didn’t take them to heart. She didn’t care about slander and gossip, instead she relied on herself, not caring about what others thought of her. She ate whatever she wanted, drank whatever she wanted and minded her business, while sitting down to eat watermelon seeds.

She looked around noting that the ship was quite spacious. It was floating on a misty lake, while the twanging sound of the zither could be heard outside, making the water in the lake ripple.

The zither competition commenced and each competitor played according to the schedule arranged by the organizer. As time was limited, each was only allowed to play one short piece. If they were deemed to be sufficiently good, then they could play two additional short pieces.

As Ning Xuemo has been added later on, she had to play last. She cracked melon seeds, between her teeth, drank tea and continued listening to the zither melodies. She would either criticize the player silently or listen to the comments made by the four examiners.

The judges were indeed people worthy of being virtuous and prestigious. Each remark was precise and truthful.

The feedback from Gu Ziyan was concise, sharp, accurate and befitting of the competitor.

Ning Xuemo admired his knowledge. It looked like Gu Ziyan deserved his reputation of being a genius zither player.

After hearing ten pieces played by the competitors, she deemed their skills to be pretty good.