Read on mobile

As the song came to an end, a female student wiped away her tears and turned to run toward the classroom of the Department of Traditional Music.

"Wait for me! I'm going too!!"

Two anxious students ran off together to figure out how to register for an elective course in the erhu. Seeing that Ji Fanxing had no intention of stopping, the majority of the students remained standing in place, reluctant to leave.

They always say there is no soul that the suona cannot drive away, nor anyone the erhu cannot pull away.

Yet, this is actually a misunderstanding that people harbor about erhu music.

The timbre of the erhu closely resembles the human voice, possessing a strong lyrical quality and a sense of storytelling, capable of expressing rich emotions and artistic conception.

It is not merely limited to expressing sorrow; it can equally display joyful, passionate, and even dramatic emotions.

Ji Fanxing then played another piece, *Zhaojun Crossing the Frontier*. This tune was originally a pipa piece composed by Abing, and was later adapted into an erhu solo.

The unique timbre and playing techniques of the erhu vividly and thoroughly showcased the folk's deep admiration for Zhaojun's noble spirit.

It also allowed all the audience members to experience a completely different side of the erhu.

More and more people poured into the livestream room, long since going beyond Lu Sange's fans.

At this moment, the room was filled not only with Ji Fanxing's fans, but also with many uncles, aunts, grandpas, and grandmas whose usernames had a distinctly vintage vibe.

[A Meter of Sunshine: This is played extremely well.]

[Sunset Glow: [Emoji: Thumbs up × 3]]

[Flowers Bloom with Wealth: What instrument is the young lass playing? Does the university for seniors teach it?]

[Old Yang: This little girl plays this tune with such authentic flavor; it sounds even better than what I heard when I was a child.]

In the ancient Chu family residence, Elder Chu was painting a wash painting in his study.

Suddenly feeling that the surroundings were a bit too quiet, he instructed the housekeeper to play some music.

The antique gramophone spun slowly, the stylus gently resting upon the grooves of the vinyl record, and a strains of mellow classical music drifted through the air.

Elder Chu frowned after listening for just a few minutes. Having listened to these pieces for so many years, it was inevitable that they had grown somewhat tedious.

He raised his head and asked the housekeeper, "Did that brat Chu Hao compose a few more songs? Find them and let me listen."

"Master, are you certain?" The housekeeper hesitated slightly.

Across the three generations of the Chu family, the pursuits of each generation were entirely different, and their personalities were all exceptionally stubborn.

Aside from what they personally liked, they looked down on everything else.

Almost every time the Elder listened to the young master's songs, he would finish them while cursing and swearing.

The fact that the Elder was still willing to acknowledge Chu Hao as his grandson only showed that the power of intergenerational affection was far too strong.

"I'll listen. Once I listen a bit more, I'll be able to understand what kind of nonsense he's singing."

Elder Chu put down his brush, took out his phone, and began browsing himself.

For some reason, he swiped right into Lu Sange's livestream room.

He frowned and was about to close it, but the finger hovering over the close button somehow refused to tap down.

The young lass in the video possessed exquisite skill, and the pieces she played were unheard of before, yet they struck a chord deep within his heart.

Elder Chu simply sat down in the official's hat armchair and closed his eyes to enjoy the performance.

Inside the livestream room, the piece Ji Fanxing was playing was an erhu solo adapted from the prototype of Yue Fei, titled *Listening to the Pines*.

This time, the style was majestic and grand, and the undulating melody meticulously depicted the fierce intensity of war and the unwavering determination of a hero.

These pieces of differing styles provided the audience with a thoroughly delightful erhu feast.

[Holy crap! Turn out this instrument is so awesome! If I had known, I wouldn't have refused when my grandpa wanted to teach me back then!]

[God Ji, you are my eternal god!]

[The malleability of the erhu is just too strong! It can express any kind of emotion, and can even mimic the sound of weeping.]

[I've only just realized that I seemed to have a huge misunderstanding about the erhu. Suddenly, I really want to learn more about it.]

[It's not just useful as an accompaniment instrument—a solo can actually be this breathtaking! How have I never heard of this before?!]

[I remember now. Last time in the park, I ran into an old grandpa playing the erhu. As a result, a few bratty kids ran up and put a broken bowl in front of him, pointing and mocking him until that old grandpa was angered into leaving.]

Lu Changhe had already taken out his phone and recorded every single piece.

By now, he truly believed it—Ji Fanxing had not been talking nonsense at all.

To him, these tunes were quite literally treasures.

He suddenly thought of Professor Yang Yinliu from Ji Fanxing's story. Although he had never heard of this name before, and although the story might have been fabricated...

Lu Changhe was still deeply ashamed. He had fancied himself a staunch defender of the Dragon Country's erhu, yet he did not know that inheritance and promotion going hand in hand was the true way of safeguarding it.

Lu Changhe was startled to realize that he had actually been taught a lesson by a young lass.

Realizing this, not only did he not feel angry, but he also shed a layer of his prejudice against Ji Fanxing.

Having heard from Gu Huaiyuan that Ji Fanxing wanted to form a ethnic music band...

Lu Changhe thought to himself that if his granddaughter Lu Sange was willing to join, then so be it. Young people had their own affinities in life, and he would no longer stand in their way.

At the same time, on Weibo, gossip accounts leaked the news that Zhao Dezheng and Yuan Bingbing, a powerhouse vocalist from Golden Tiger Leopard Company, were going to collaborate on a new track during the first week's music audition of the exchange convention.

As soon as the news broke, it instantly captured everyone's attention.

As a rising powerhouse vocalist, Yuan Bingbing was renowned for her unique voice and her extraordinary ability to interpret songs, earning her the affectionate moniker "Three-Line God-Tier" among netizens.

[Is this real? Zhao Dezheng and Yuan Bingbing are collaborating on a new song?]

[It should be true, right? Didn't Bingbing post some live photos from the Dragon Country Music Exchange Convention just two days ago? With how talented she is, she definitely participated.]

[I heard Yuan Bingbing's fans can't stand Ji Fanxing. We're going to have a good show to watch now.]

[Ji Fanxing became a viral sensation by covering songs on her debut stage in *The Almighty Singer*, and Yuan Bingbing also rose to fame through covers, so some people compared the two of them. Back then, Yuan Bingbing's fans cursed Ji Fanxing for a long time.]

[I remember that too. Later, Ji Fanxing went down the singer-songwriter route and wasn't in the same lane as Yuan Bingbing, so they dropped it.]

[With Yuan Bingbing and Zhao Dezheng joining forces, how is Ji Fanxing supposed to survive?!!]

[Isn't she livestreaming erhu performances to make a living? Let's go ask her about it.]

Not long after, Lu Sange's livestream room ushered in another wave of netizens.

These netizens clearly weren't here to listen to the music.

[Ji Fanxing, Zhao Dezheng is collaborating with Yuan Bingbing. What are your thoughts?]

[I heard Yuan Bingbing's fans used to curse at you, saying you were riding on her coattails for clout?]

[The tunes are lovely, but can you stop for a moment and give us some time to eat melons?]

...

Ji Fanxing had just finished playing the piece and noticed that Lu Sange was looking at her with a hesitant expression.

The expressions on the faces of Fang Zhijing and Lu Changhe, who were holding their phones, were also less than stellar.

Without changing her expression, she put away the erhu, walked over to Lu Sange's phone, and flipped the camera to the front-facing lens.

Putting on an expression meant for interacting with the audience, she was actually reading the barrage comments in the livestream room.

A massive wave of [What are your thoughts?] scrolled endlessly across the top of the video.

This spectacle had no impact on Ji Fanxing whatsoever.

"What are my thoughts? Naturally, I'm watching it with my phone."

She maintained a smile on her face, her tone calm and indifferent, betraying no emotion whatsoever.