Lang Yuan surprised his music teacher when he was able to play the minuet after seeing his teacher playing it once. The music teacher then played some common variations like Mozart's twelve variations of Ah vous dirai-je, maman, A Little Night Music, Beethovens Fur Elise, and Ode to Joy. Lang Yuan only needed to know the tones the keys could make and copied it without a flaw.

After the piano, they tried the violin. Instead of letting him copy, the teacher taught him the chords and the movements, what this string could make and the angle of the bow. Lang Yuan learned it quickly playing each cord one by one. He was asked to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star by looking at the music sheet. The teacher is satisfied and happy to have a talented student.

But the surprise did not end there. Lang Yuan asked if it is possible to play the music that he was fiddling with the piano earlier. The teacher said yes, telling him that the arrangement would be different to match the note. That's all what Lang Yuan needed to know before he started playing, translating the notes directly from the piano to violin. The music teacher almost fainted, unbelieving.

Though, Lang Yuan never attended the music class. He was an outsider and other kids are jealous at him and drove him away. But before he left that class, Lang Yuan learned to play all the instruments inside that music class with a professional skill. If ever he wanted to touch a music instrument again, he only needed to remember and start playing.

It's not an exaggeration to say that his ability to play is superb.

His brothers often say that his dyslexia is maybe a blessing in disguise. Lang Yuan can't read properly but when it comes to non-letters like numbers and music notes, he can easily distinguish it to the point of just skimming through it is enough. His inability to read letters is maybe the God's way of making him incomplete because he is too perfect to become human.

Right now, the three figures stepped out from the open door connected by a wooden bridge towards a large gazebo. The gazebo is surrounded by a wide lotus pond surrounded by the high mountains. There are various animals living in the pond like the normal fishes, frogs, and dragonflies. Some of the palace workers tending the place cupped their hands when they saw the royalty using the place. JiDan waved his hands to the workers as they floated on their boats cleaning the pond.

JiDan happily jumped up and ran here and there, his childish side enjoying the view. He would crouch down in one corner to look at the fishes on the water, or try to catch the orange dragonfly resting on a lotus pod. He almost falls down to the water if only Lang Yuan did not catch his collar. He smiled up to his mother and promised to behave. He is now sitting down to the corner letting his legs hang while talking to the workers.

"How large is the palace? How can you have a pond in here?" Lang Yuan asked, looking at the wide scenery.

"This pond is connected to the waterways from the mountains. When it rains, the water flows down and stays," Zhong Song simply answered.

Lang Yuan nodded, understanding the answer. To call this a pond, isn't it appropriate to name it as water shed?

When they arrived at the gazebo, a few men are facing their backs tuning the zithers. When they heard the royalty coming, the men quickly kneeled down and bowed to greet. Zhong Song waved his hand and the men sat up. He motioned Lang Yuan to sit on his legs, a position that can makes him face the zither instrument in front of him.

"These are the masters from the music school. They will teach you to play any zither instruments," Zhong Song said. "This is Senior Lao, he will be the one to supervise you."

"Thank you for the honor, Senior Lao," Lang Yuan bowed.

"This humble servant is the one who is honored to teach the Empress Candidate," the old man said,

Senior Lao, Lao JuMin, is a master musician leading the royal orchestra. He can play all the instruments with great precision, teaching his style to the younger generations. He had travelled between the realms many times just to earn experience and to listen music. Due to the abrupt wedding announcement of the emperor is the reason why he is currently here.

Senior Lao asked Lang Yuan what instrument he wanted to learn first. JiDan saw the session starting so he said goodbye to the workers and ran to the side of his mother. The assistants greeted the prince and proceeded to their work. JiDan copied Lang Yuan's posture as if wanting to play beside his mother. Senior Lao isn't stingy enough to also give the chosen instrument to the little child.

"Young Master Lang, please observe this servant first. I will play each cord slowly, then, I will play a simple song from it. Please remember each note," Senior Lao said.

And so, the master musician started plucking the guqin. The assistants watched their master as they muster the eyes of amazement to the wonderful sound Senior Lao is making. His hands danced in between the strings, fiddling and striking each note with a wonderful strength causing smooth vibrations. The sound resounded is calm making anyone who hears it feel peace. The workers who are cleaning the pond anchored their boats for a while to listen.

Zhong Song closed his eyes as he calmly digests the music. As a scholar, soothing music like this makes his mind to work. JiDan is also watching the master musician intently, then, he looks up to the person beside him. Lang Yuan, different from the emotions the people around are showing, is only calm and listening. There is no shine in his eyes; however, his concentration is top notch. Lang Yuan noticed JiDan looking at him and smiled. He caressed the head of the little dragon as if soothing him.

After a few minutes, Senior Lao finished his presentation. His assistance wanted to clap their hands but only bowed to show their sincerity. Zhong Song also showed a pleasant expression praising the musician. Senior Lao is flattered but his stoic face only showed satisfaction. He then guided Lang Yuan to position his hands above the strings.

"Did your honor remember how I plucked the strings?" He asked.

"Hmm," Lang Yuan nodded.

He placed his fingers above the first string and plucked it. Senior Lao was amused to see that this candidate properly executed the plucking. Some players use too much force that causes moer vibrations, some uses less force making the sound dull. Lang Yuan properly created a sound with no extra note. He proceeded on plucking all the notes.

When he is done, Senior Lao praised the Empress Candidate. Though it is rare, it is not unusual for a student to completely memorize the notes in one go. Senior Lao has a lot of students who can do the same thing so he did not react when Lang Yuan finished it without missing a note. Though, not all people are like him.

Zhong Song was surprised. He knows how to play the zither but this is not his profession so just simply learning a few songs is enough. He studied the instruments for a few years, memorizing the notes after a week of practice. And now he witnessed another miracle happening before him...

Should he still be surprised? Lang Yuan already surpassed the normality of humans. Something like this should be normal.

"Young Master, then, would you play a song for us? Any song will do," Senior Lao said.

"What do you mean? I ... um... I don't know any song?" What he meant is that he didn't know the usual song the people in this world often plays.

"You can copy the song I played earlier. I assume that the Empress Candidate was able to memorize that," Senior Lao said. After all, that song is really very easy. It was slow and only needed a few notes to play. Also, the notes are repeated so there's no way for anyone to not memorize it.

Lang Yuan tried the strings. At first, he did copied what Senior Lao did, but on the latter part, he decided to change the strings. The song is simple and repeating. There is no emotion but plain music. Lang Yuan wanted to play something more complicated, a music that reminded him of the previous world.

He first paused playing as if telling that he is ending the first music. Just then, he started playing again in a different tone. The first music that he played in piano is minuet. Transforming the keys that would fit the guqin is a bit difficult but he managed to match the tone. After playing half of the minuet, he shifted to Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars. He played it twice before ending the play.

Lang Yuan's hand finished with the last string, then, carefully covering the strings with his palms to quiet it down. That's when he look up to ask if he did well. The faces of the listeners are a bit distorted looking at him with wide eyes. Lang Yuan felt like he did something wrong. A small tug beside him made him look down. He saw JiDan smiling.

Lang Yuan: ... ?

"Your Honor!" Suddenly, Senior Lao kowtowed before him together with his assistants. They bowed with a bam to the floor. Now he is worried if they've broken their skulls or something.

"W-what is it?" He asked, a bit afraid.

"Please let us become your disciples!"

... Huh?

He just played the zither, isn't Senior Lao also good at it? But what things did Lang Yuan do that he did not know? First of all, minuet and twinkle twinkle little star is not from this world. Both of the music are popular from his previous world, almost all knows how it sounded or at least play the simple chords. But in this world where ancient music is more common than the modern sounded era, just hearing the jumpy notes made them excited. Senior Lao, who is known for his expertise, can tell the talent before this youth.

Lang Yuan looks sideways to ask help from Zhong Song. The scholar shrugged his shoulders as if saying 'he's asking you, not me'. Lang Yuan sighed.

"Um... I don't know... I'm not sure..." Lang Yuan said.

"Young Master Lang, would you let us hear you play [Twinkle Twinkle Little Star] and [Mary Had A Little Lamp] once again?" Senior Lao asked with puppy eyes.

Uh... wait. Why do those two modern songs existed in this world? Lang Yuan's face showed utter confusion. He played those notes out of whim, just testing if he could incorporate nursery rhymes to the guqin. But to think that those music actually existed...

"Yang master Lang, it was the Great Emperor Chang who composed the music," Senior Lao clarified. "The strings are hard and difficult to play. Only few can keep up with it. But it seems that Master Lang can do it!"

"Emperor Chang...?"

That Chang MingYu?

Lang Yuan already had a gist. He already thought that maybe he's not the only one who transmigrated in this world. If he's not the only one, where are the others? And why is it that Chang MingYu did not even do anything to approach him? He might know why they suddenly transferred to this world, and by chance will know how to return back.

To return... back?

JiDan suddenly felt shivers on his back. He hastily shifted to the side of his mother and clutched his clothes tightly. Lang Yuan was a bit surprised but still accepted the hug. He appeased the worried look of JiDan by massaging the scrunching brows.

Lang Yuan must have been too occupied to think about his position in this world. He was transmigrated, does it mean that he died? Also, he recalled that he can't remember the events before he was brought in this place. He just appeared in the middle of the chaos knowing that he died.

Never did he tried analyzing his position and just went to the flow.

If he can go back... will he really return?

He caressed the hair of JiDan while thinking of these stuffs.

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Yay! I updated. I'll post the next chapters after a while coz I'm still writing it now 😂😂😂