"If you come to my side, you'll immediately be the chief manager of a large area of the Su estate, with access to all the resources of the Su family's third branch. Whatever requests you have, as long as we can fulfill them, we will. If you can manage these resources well, Second Miss is, after all, just a woman. If she fails to take over the main estate in the future, there will be many ways for you to win her over... My father says you're a smart man, and everyone knows you are. We're sincere here, so there's no need to say more. Just think about it yourself..."

That was Su Wenji's voice echoing in the snow. In fact, he had been preparing to say this for a long time. Among the managers of the Su family's main branch, Xi Junyi was shrewd and capable, always the most dazzling one. Although he couldn't compare to the older managers in terms of seniority, few doubted that he would support half of the Su family's future. Many even said that Xi Junyi was material fit to pass the imperial examinations with honors. The Wu family had spent a great deal of money to invite him, but he had refused. He would stay with the Su family, they said, only for the sake of the Second Miss, Su Tan'er.

Therefore, ever since Su Tan'er's wedding, Su Yunfang and Su Wenji had been trying to approach him, extending their goodwill. Su Wenji knew that he wasn't particularly capable himself, but he always fancied himself as Su Wuji, treating virtuous people with respect and generously rewarding those with ability. His motto was, "I may not have much ability, but I just need to entrust things to capable people." This attitude had earned him much praise from the outside world.

However, after listening to his words, Xi Junyi simply looked at him for a while. After a moment, he forcefully patted him on the shoulder. Amidst Su Wenji's confusion, he still shook his head and chuckled coldly, "Seventh Young Master, don't be naive..."

"This is your best opportunity... You know I'm telling the truth."

Unable to figure out his intentions, Su Wenji was confused by his attitude. Xi Junyi's hand on his shoulder was quite strong, so he could only repeat these words. After a moment, he saw Xi Junyi sigh.

"Heh, Seventh Young Master, treating virtuous people with respect and being generous with your employees are good things. I know the Third Master taught you that. If you can't manage, don't interfere. It's a clever trick. But you don't understand. A person who can truly use people must also be able to control them. If one day two of your subordinates have conflicting opinions, and you don't have the ability or prestige to make a decision, how can you use people!"

Looking at the man before him, Xi Junyi couldn't help but find it amusing. Su Wenji thought for a long while, "At least... wouldn't that be a good thing for you!"

Xi Junyi shook his head, "I, Xi Junyi, won't stand with someone destined to fail."

After saying this, he turned and left. Seeing his figure striding away, Su Wenji hesitated for a long time before finally realizing something, "You're angry! You're angry!"

"That statement is a little progress." Xi Junyi said calmly, then waved his hand without looking back. The snowflakes seemed to explode in the air, "Wake up, Seventh Young Master. You can't defeat Su Tan'er. From the very beginning, she didn't even consider you as a threat!"

The wind and snow swirled. Su Wenji stared blankly as the dark-robed figure strode away. After a moment, he frowned fiercely, suppressing his anger. Although he thought that this was the first time Xi Junyi had lost control and become angry after so many encounters, which should mean a turning point, he still couldn't suppress his discomfort because of Xi Junyi's words. Then, he casually punched the tree trunk next to him.

He wasn't very strong, and normally such a punch would only hurt. He was already prepared for the pain, clenching his teeth and waving his hand a few times in the air. Whoosh! His entire neck was ice cold, and his shoulders were covered in snow. Angrily looking up, his expression immediately became stunned, and a look of horror was about to appear...

From a distance, the figure under the tree punched the tree, and the tree swayed a few times, then... Boom—Swish—

The white and green colors buried the figure, with two hands and one foot waving and struggling on the pile of snow.

After a moment, a maid's voice came from there, "Help! Help! Seventh Young Master is buried in the snow!"

********************

"...Listening to youth, welcoming laughter, envied by many,
The annals, gently unwilling, the writing is too harsh.
Fireworks are easily cold, human affairs easily part,
And you are asking, whether I am still serious...

A thousand years later, deep love through lifetimes, who is still waiting,
And history, how can it not be true, Wei Shu Luoyang City.
As if you are following, passing through the door of the previous life,
Stained with the mortal world, follow me, wandering for life..."

The strings of the zither chimed softly, each note like flowing water. The woman's voice was light, with exploration, contemplation, and doubt in her singing. She combined some single-note singing methods from her usual performances with the transitions that Ning Yi had taught her earlier. The melody was not high, soft and long like mellow wine.

The man meticulously peeled the duck egg in this song, the amber color gradually appearing as the shell fell away. In this era similar to the Song Dynasty, the thousand-year-old egg appeared before people's eyes for the first time amidst the music, and then it was placed in the porcelain bowl in front, the patterns in the amber-colored egg white distinct. Listening to Nie Yunzhu sing the *Gālán Rain*, which was quite different from the original version, Ning Yi could vaguely feel a hint of ancient charm.

Even in this era, what he saw and heard was still simple life, simple and monotonous. Walking along the Qinhuai River on weekdays, the buildings and boats were not as beautiful as they were filmed on TV, and the roads were dirty and messy. Ancient charm was a specific state of mind, like the lights in the Su family's courtyard that he looked at every night, like the *When Will the Moon Be Clear* that he taught Xiao Chan to sing that day, like the peace inside and outside the small building during the torrential rain, which could remind him of many years later, then the ancient charm would emerge from his heart. After all, he was a modern person, and this state of mind best conveyed the atmosphere of time, like poetry and wine.

After quietly listening to the song, Nie Yunzhu hesitated to speak. She had never heard such a folk song, but among the songs that could be performed in formal settings, there were no such strange singing methods. For thousands of years, music had followed the path of monophonic music. Even after thousands of years, every local opera pursued its singing methods from the perspective of momentum and rhythm. In terms of change, it was far less complex than modern music that combined various styles. After singing this song, Nie Yunzhu could clearly feel the complex changes pursued in the song with her skill. In a sense, this simple and superficial song pursued extremely complex techniques on the other hand, which was almost heretical, but it did have many shocks and inspirations for her.

On the other hand, the lyrics were too simple and shallow, and some parts seemed to be pieced together... She looked at Ning Yi. Perhaps it was casual, as if he was saying a sentence casually, inadvertently pursuing interesting rhyming methods, and finally piecing together such a song. But even so, it was really too amazing. The scattered and shallow lyrics actually had some vague artistic conceptions, picked up casually like a playful game. Before this, Nie Yunzhu had never thought that one day she would be a little at a loss and disrupted her mood by such a piece of music.

"Young Master, is this singing method usually pieced together at will?" Although it was unbelievable, it could only be the case. If he was really familiar with music, he probably wouldn't turn a folk song into this.

"Can you listen to it?"

"Strange, but interesting." Nie Yunzhu thought for a while, chose her words carefully, and then smiled, "But... I'm afraid it can only be used for casual entertainment on weekdays, or when two or three friends gather to sing casually, uh... I'm afraid..."

She was a little embarrassed to say it, and Ning Yi laughed, "It's not worthy of being in a grand hall, hehe." After a slight pause, "But it was just for my own enjoyment, listening to it myself, and finding it interesting."

Ning Yi always acted casually, and Nie Yunzhu was already used to some of it. Seeing his attitude at this time, those doubts and confusions in her heart had already disappeared. It was just a strange song. As long as it could be sung and listened to, it was probably just to make people happy. She had a deep understanding of music and had some rules and bottom lines that needed to be defended. But at this time, she didn't feel strange about what was happening in front of her, but felt that the other party should be like this.

"Actually, it's nice to listen to." She nodded with a smile, "It's just... I haven't heard such lyrics and music before, so it will take a few days to study it to use all new sheet music..."

Ning Yi nodded with a smile, "Heh, of course, I'm not in a hurry. Actually, I think it's great to be able to listen to it once. It was very nice just now."

"You flatter me, Young Master. In fact, many of my singing skills can't be used..." Nie Yunzhu said, then looked at the duck egg in the bowl, "Why is this salted duck egg like this?"

"This is called thousand-year-old egg. You can name it emerald egg, agate egg, rich egg, or whatever... I'll let you try this jar, and I'll take this jar away. I should be able to make a business selling it for a higher price in the future. There should only be one of a kind in the world, and no branches..."

Ning Yi smiled and introduced the thousand-year-old egg. He had originally asked Nie Yunzhu to pickle two jars, a total of fifty. At this time, he only planned to take one jar away. Anyway, he made this just to eat, and it was the same to sell it to anyone. Nie Yunzhu understood music, and he would have to ask her to compose music in the future, so it was an investment.

After a little reluctance, Nie Yunzhu had no choice but to accept it. After chatting for a while, Nie Yunzhu found a few rice straws from the kitchen and tied the small jar. Ning Yi picked up the clay jar and said goodbye. Nie Yunzhu sent him to the door, and then returned to the room not long after.

"The rain falls, the old home is deep with grass and trees..."

Lightly pondering and humming the music, Nie Yunzhu walked to the table, looked at the paper with the lyrics, then picked up the thousand-year-old egg in the bowl, lightly opened her pearly teeth, took a bite, and hummed the lyrics word by word while chewing.

Lyrics and music that she had never heard before, the taste of duck eggs that she had never eaten before, these things poured into her heart. When Ning Yi was there just now, her heart was quiet, but at this time, she didn't know why it had become a little chaotic.

"The mottled city gate, coiled with old tree roots, the echoing sound on the stone slabs is waiting..."

"The rain falls, the old home is deep with grass and trees..."

"The sound of shepherd's flute in the suburbs, falling in that wild village, fate lands and takes root..."

"I heard that you are always alone..."

"Stained with the mortal world, follow me, wandering for life..."

The soft voice hummed softly, but many things came to mind. She thought of the scene when the two of them pushed the cart back together just now. She put down the thousand-year-old egg in her hand, walked to the door, and gently opened it. The wind and snow drummed in from outside. She stood there and looked towards the road in the distance. The figure in the blue robe was holding an oiled paper umbrella, gradually drifting away in the wind and snow, and only a final blurred image remained.

"Stained with the mortal world..."

Her heart was pounding, and she felt like she was standing at the door of the mortal world. Her chest heaved slightly, and her thoughts surged like a tide. Sometimes she felt that the artistic conception in the lyrics was unspeakable, and sometimes she felt that there was something else. Dong dong dong, dong dong dong, knocking desperately on her heart, and then she felt that she was thinking too much.

"Young Master Ning is a gentleman. Those are just lyrics written casually... Nie Yunzhu..."

"Nie Yunzhu Nie Yunzhu Nie Yunzhu..."

The distant figure had long since disappeared into the wind and snow. She closed the door, pursed her lips, walked back to the round table and sat down. She was indeed thinking too much. She rested her hand on her face, tilted her head to look at the lyrics, lightly sang a few sentences, and then趴down, resting her chin on her crossed hands, looking straight ahead, the bite of thousand-year-old egg was placed not far away, a beam of light shining in from outside, rippling with crystal clouds on that amber color.

She was趴down there, staring blankly at the crystal color for a long time, in the dimly lit room, like a little girl...

**************

ps: It seems that some people always think that ancient people are so full of ancient style, and they seem to be filled with the style of classical Chinese between their gestures, so modern songs will never be welcome and will be regarded as heresy in any case. Let me say here, ancient people, in the pre-Qin period, they usually talked in the format of classical Chinese, but from the Tang Dynasty onwards, it basically became vernacular. Classical Chinese is just a form of writing. These vernaculars are actually not much different from what we have now. The vernacular versions of Water Margin and the like can represent some of them, but regardless of whether they are vernacular versions, since they have become books, the way of speaking in these vernacular versions is actually more literary than the real way of speaking at that time. From the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, especially in the Ming Dynasty, government announcements were required to use vernacular. In the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Guangxu's vermilion comments to officials once said that "you governors-general and governors" should do this and that.

So don't really think that ancient people are so different from us. Of course, modern songs can't be performed in grand halls. If you say that mine is elegant, that's impossible. However, it's really not a big deal for two or three people to have private entertainment. Moreover, the lyrics, music, and singing methods of modern songs are different from those of ancient songs. If you compare Peking Opera and Yue Opera, you will find the differences. The direction of ancient singing methods is different. Therefore, they may not be used to more complex and bizarre singing methods, but they should find it interesting and novel in private. There is goodwill first...

I don't pursue pure ancient charm. For example, since you are writing ancient literature, you must follow the ancient methods to give people the feeling of ancient times. Some people even say not to invent this or that, but to maintain the original flavor of ancient times—I don't pursue these. The story I want to write is not a routine "ancient officialdom literature", "ancient hegemony literature", "ancient farming literature", or "ancient martial arts literature". I don't pursue routine things. If you want to define this article, then it's very simple: a series of things that happen when a modern person returns to ancient times... As long as it is possible to happen and I think it's interesting, I will not avoid it. If you return to ancient times, don't you miss the TV? Don't you miss songs? Don't you miss MSG? He must first be a modern person. I will never let the protagonist become an ancient person for the sake of ancient charm, that would be unreasonable. My ancient charm is shown in other aspects. A "modern person" returning to "ancient times" is the dramatic conflict. Modern people and ancient times are equally important.

I only pursue the rationality of human nature. Give him an environment, and I will only let him happen what is possible. Just like what I said above, I let songs appear based on a series of considerations. I have thought about these things, and I know that ancient people speak vernacular, so that's enough.

Of course, as for those who don't want to believe this at all, don't know what limerick is, don't know what folk song is, and think of ancient people as aliens, then I can't do anything.

Well, I believe that until now, I have shaped the ancient charm well.

This is the Wu Dynasty.

Well, that's it, as usual, asking for clicks, collections, and recommendation votes ^_^