All Hail Cousin Brother

141 Cousin, Teach Me to Learn the Zither

Yu Youyao smiled. “Okay!”

She hadn’t really wanted to learn how to play the zither, but now she was looking forward to it because her cousin was going to give her a handmade zither.

Although she did not know when this zither would be ready, she felt very happy to be able to play the zither that her cousin will make.

They went to the study together.

At this moment, a section of the tree at the top was finally cut off. Chang An was afraid that it would spoil, so he had already tied a rope around it and hung it down from the tree.

As soon as Yu Youyao returned to the study, she picked up the famous zither she had found in the library and asked excitedly, “Cousin, do you think this zither is suitable for me to learn?”

Zhou Linghuai knew how to play the zither, so he had naturally heard of the famous ‘Rare Voice’.

Mount Liyang had trees, and they were called Mulberry Trees. With mulberry tree wood as the base and ice silk as the strings, the zither shone brightly like pearls, and had a natural charm. Its sound was like ice breaking and snow falling. It was very clear and sharp.

The zither was naturally a good one, but when he saw the little girl carrying it in her arms, his expression paused for a moment. “You’re just learning how to play the zither, so you don’t need such a famous zither. I have a zither in my house that I use myself. You can use it first.”

Yu Youyao’s eyes lit up. She wanted the zither that her cousin had used. “Did you make it yourself too?”

Zhou Linghuai’s expression was slightly bitter, and a trace of darkness appeared in his eyes. He shook his head. “No.”

He had learned how to make a zither at the age of nine. In order to practice his skills, he had made many zithers, but few of them had been completed. The only two completed ones were given to his mother and Eldest Sister, but they had all turned to ashes during the fire.

The zither he used himself was made of carved lacquer. His father had painted it over and over again over the years, without stopping for a single day. It had taken him three years to finish the lacquer zither.

When the zither was first formed, her father had found some strange silk. This silk was slightly thin, and its color was light golden. It shone like gold and jade. He had hired a zither master to finally add the strings on the zither.

The sound of the zither was like cutting through gold and jade, revealing a sonorous sound. After he received the zither, he named it, “Broken Jade.”

This zither had also been destroyed in that fire.

Zhou Linghuai gripped the armrest tightly, the veins on the back of his hand bulging. “The zither is an old item of a friend. After he passed away, he gave it to me. Although it’s not a famous zither, it’s still a rare good one.”

Talking about the owner of the zither, his eyes darkened!

Her cousin rarely mentioned anything about his past in Youzhou. Yu Youyao was a little curious. She wanted to ask her cousin who this friend was.

However, when she saw her cousin’s subtle expression, she remembered that her cousin’s friend had already passed away, so she changed the topic. “Then is it appropriate for Cousin to lend me the zither?”

Zhou Linghuai nodded. “No one is more suitable.”

He called Chang An over and asked him to get the zither from the Green House.

Chang An’s eyes narrowed slightly, and he was a little hesitant for a moment. However, seeing that his young master’s expression did not change, he did not dare to delay. In a moment, he came over with the zither case.

Zhou Ling personally opened the zither case. “Cousin, look.”

This zither was black and red, and had silk strings. On the surface of the instrument, there were the words “Ru Ling” engraved on it. Below it, there was an inscription, “Thousand rock ridge. On this day, I heard the sound of the wind, and cut wood.” On the left, there were the words, “18th Year of the Yuan Dynasty.”

After reading it, Yu Youyao asked, “This zither is called Ru Ling? Cousin’s friend visited the Thousand Rock Ridge in the 18th year of the Yuan Dynasty and listened to the wind blowing the leaves. With a rustling sound, he cut off the wood on the ridge and made this zither?”

Zhou Linghuai nodded. When his gaze landed on the word “Ling”, his eyes paused for a moment, then flashed across the words “on this day”. “Yes, this friend of mine is a rare prodigy in the world. He could recite books at the age of three, study at the age of five, and study at the age of seven. I learned my zither building skills from him.”

He was arrogant and conceited. There were very few people that he liked. This person was one of them.

Her cousin probably valued this friend very much. Yu Youyao felt a little regretful. “The heavens are really jealous of geniuses.” With that, she squatted in front of her cousin and held his hand. “Cousin, don’t be sad. I’ll definitely accompany you for a long time in the future.”

Zhou Linghuai looked at the little girl’s soft and delicate body, and his heart trembled. “Okay!”

Yu Youyao’s voice was cheerful. “Cousin, quickly teach me how to play the zither.”

Yu Youyao learned the zither from her cousin for an hour every day. Her cousin explained the structure of the zither to her, as well as the five notes: do, re, mi, so and la. Her cousin explained it casually and did not restrict her learning process. Yu Youyao did not feel any pressure learning it.

After learning for a few days, Yu Youyao could already use the fingering technique. She was memorizing the zither score in her room.

Yu Shuangbai covered her face and rushed into the house like a gust of wind. Chun Xiao and Zhen Zhu followed closely behind, but they stood at the door, at a loss, not knowing what to do.

Yu Youyao quickly put down the zither score, stood up, and walked quickly to Yu Shuangbai. “What’s wrong? Who made you angry?”

Yu Shuangbai pounced on Yu Youyao and started crying loudly. Her body trembled from the crying, scaring Yu Youyao.

Nanny Xu’s eyes flickered as she quietly left the room. She went to the small kitchen and instructed the chef to make a few more exquisite and rare snacks.

Yu Shuangbai cried profusely.

However, Yu Youyao was confused. She had no idea what had happened, so she naturally did not know how to calm her down. She simply stopped persuading her and let her cry.

Yu Shuangbai cried for a long time, but the more she cried, the more meaningless it was. She felt aggrieved and uncomfortable, so she said angrily, “Are you just going to watch me cry like this? Don’t you know how to persuade me and coax me? To think that I’ve always treated you as my best sister, but you don’t care about me at all. Do you not treat me as your sister anymore?”

Yu Youyao was stunned by her words. Before she could speak…

However, the more Yu Shuangbai spoke, the angrier she became. “Ever since you recovered from your illness, you’ve become a different person. You don’t even look for me to play anymore. You only pay attention to me only if I come looking for you. Every time I ask you to play with me, you always make excuses. You either want to learn needlework or medicine and tea techniques.”

Upon hearing this, Yu Youyao opened her mouth a few times, but Yu Shuangbai was still in a fit of anger. She said everything she wanted to say, but she did not interrupt.

“… Everyone in the residence knows that you, Eldest Miss Yu, are learning the rules and things from the nanny in the palace. You’re a little older, but you’re also good at managing the house. Even Ms. Ye likes you, which makes it seem like I’m ignorant and don’t know how to improve. Even my mother has been stricter with me recently. She often compares me and…”

Yu Youyao could vaguely guess what was going on and panicked. Once something was said, it was too late to take it back. Even their sisterly relationship was about to be damaged, so she quickly interrupted her—

“What are you talking about? When have I not treated you as my sister? Tell me, I learned from Nanny and didn’t have time to play with you, but when did I make something new and not give it to you? When did Nanny Xu made fresh food, didn’t I remember you?”