Chapter 116: Wu Sound and Western Tunes

"I came from Jiankang, do I still need you to sing Wu Sound? Change to Western Tunes! I want to listen to authentic Western Tunes!"

"Wu Sound" and "Western Tunes" were both popular music among the people at that time. "Wu Sound" was popular in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, represented by the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions, and *Midnight Song* was a representative tune of Wu Sound. Western Tunes flourished in the Jingxiang area in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.

From the perspective of music theory, both belong to the category of "Qingshang Music," but the rhythm and singing style of the tunes are different.

This situation is a bit like "punk" and "heavy metal." Although they both belong to rock music, the specific styles are different.

Because the Wu area of Jiangsu and Zhejiang was the political and cultural center of the Southern Dynasties, "Wu Sound" entered the upper class very early, and its image gradually became elegant. In contrast, the folk color of "Western Tunes" was still very heavy, and in certain occasions, it was even considered not to be on the stage of elegance.

It is precisely because of this reason that on this occasion of the Prince's banquet and the gathering of scholar-officials, the singing girls chose to sing Wu Sound. First, it was to avoid lowering the grade, and second, to please the Prince of Badong, because the Prince of Badong was from Jiankang and thought he would like Wu Sound more. Who would have thought that the Prince would suddenly want to listen to Western Tunes!

Fortunately, some classic tunes were rehearsed at ordinary times. The first singing girl immediately started singing in the Jingchu dialect: "Where is Mo Chou, Mo Chou is west of Shicheng—"

The singing voice was desolate and melodious, as if it were a call from a distant place, telling an ancient story.

The musicians began to play, and the music was like a cold wind blowing across the wilderness, rolling up the withered yellow all over the ground.

"Where is Mo Chou? Mo Chou is west of Shicheng. The boatman hits two oars, urging Mo Chou to come—"

"Hearing the joy of going down to Yangzhou, seeing off at the head of Chu Mountain. Reaching out to hold the waist and look, the river water will not stop! Reaching out to hold the waist and look, the river water will not stop!"

"Will—not—stop—"

These singing girls had quite good singing skills, and the desolate and sad singing voice echoed in the hall, like the tide hitting the city, impacting the hearts of the guests present wave after wave. The mournful melody made people seem to see a lonely woman watching foolishly on the mountain head.

Wang Yang suddenly thought of a sentence Liu Bang said to Concubine Qi who was crying in *Records of the Grand Historian: Biography of the Marquis of Liu*: "Dance Chu dance for me, I will sing Chu song for you."

Perhaps, Jingchu music has a deep sense of sadness in its bones.

After the song, the Prince of Badong asked: "What is the name of this tune?"

The singing girl bowed and replied: "Back to Your Highness, this tune is named *Mo Chou Music*."

"Who wrote the lyrics."

The singing girl could not answer. Le Zhan said:

"This is a folk ballad, and the author's name was not left behind. It is said that there was a woman named Mo Chou in the Chu land, who was extremely beautiful, good at singing, and made a promise with a neighbor boy. The boy went far away to seek a future, and promised to marry Mo Chou after success, but did not expect that after he left, Mo Chou's family committed a crime, and Mo Chou was also exiled, falling into the Chu museum, becoming a singing girl, and was extremely popular for a time."

Le Zhan sighed, quite emotional:

"Although this Mo Chou was in the singing and dancing field, she kept her body for her lover, never changed her ambition, and could not find her lover after searching bitterly. Her singing voice was often mournful. Ten years later, the lover recognized Mo Chou in the museum, redeemed her, and the two returned to their hometown to settle down, loving each other for a lifetime, thus becoming a good story in Jingchu."

"Ah? There is a follow-up? Then why are these lyrics so simple?" The Prince of Badong asked.

"The flow from ancient times is just these few sentences, singing about the scene of Mo Chou and her lover parting."

The Prince of Badong was a bit disappointed: "The highlight is the meeting in the brothel, it's boring without meeting."

Suddenly someone responded: "What's difficult about meeting? Your Highness is newly governing Jingzhou, why use old singing lyrics?"

The Prince of Badong looked in the direction of the sound and saw Liu Cheng, his eyes drunk and hazy, his face red with wine, his expression arrogant and slightly disappointed.

The Prince of Badong was happy: "I have heard that the fourth son is good at poetry, has quick talent, and can write as soon as he picks up the pen, without any changes. Can you write new lyrics for me today?"

"Yes, but I want him to write with me!" Liu Cheng pointed at Wang Yang drunkenly.

Wang Yang frowned.

"Ashen! You are drunk!" Liu Cheng's brother tried to stop Liu Cheng.

Liu Cheng broke free from his brother's obstruction, swayed and stood up, and said loudly: "Wang Yang! Do you dare to bet on poetry with me?"

To be precise, this is a bet on "singing poetry."

"Singing poetry" is a type of ancient poetry, used for singing with music, like the Yuefu poetry of the Han Dynasty, the "New Yuefu" of the Tang Dynasty, and the "Midnight Song" and "Mo Chou Music" that the singing girls just sang, all belong to the category of singing poetry.

Although singing poetry at this time still has a certain distance from orthodox poetry in status, this is the most popular form of musical lyrics among the people before the rise of Song Ci. It can be understood as the lyrics of today's pop music. Although in most cases, lyrics do not enter the field of serious literature, if they are written particularly well, they will also be praised by mainstream literary criticism. For example, Bob Dylan.

This is also one of the reasons why most scholar-officials, whether it is Liu Cheng or those in the past, will not exclude writing singing poetry.

Liu Cheng's body tilted from time to time, and it seemed that he might fall at any time, his red eyes staring at Wang Yang.

"Your Highness, my younger brother is drunk and has offended you, I will take him back first—"

"Eh! The fourth son of Liu is true-hearted! Besides, the two great talents of Wang and Liu betting on poetry is also an elegant thing, how can it be an offense!" After the Prince of Badong finished speaking, he said to Liu Cheng: "However, fourth son, your question is not very good. Wang Yang is a dignified Langya Wang family member, a descendant of a famous family, how can he dare not?"

Wang Yang did not need the Prince of Badong to fan the flames. Liu Cheng provoked him in public, coupled with the previous matter of checking the household registration, the grudge had long been formed. With so many people present today, if he didn't teach him a lesson, he would think he was a soft persimmon! He immediately asked: "How to bet?"

Liu Cheng said loudly: "You and I each write a poem to decide the winner. If you lose, you will kowtow to me three times and clearly admit that you lost!"

Everyone was a bit surprised. Betting on the outcome of poetry is a common thing, but scholar-officials value face the most. Kowtowing by the loser is unheard of! If Wang Yang really loses, and this kowtow is made, how can he stand in the future?!

Xie Xinghan knew that Liu Cheng's poetry talent was agile and had the ability to write as soon as he picked up the pen. She was worried that Wang Yang would be provoked and fall into Liu Cheng's trap, so she opened her mouth to stop it: "Both of you are children of great families, why imitate that—"

Before she finished speaking, she heard Wang Yang say: "Yes. If you lose, I won't let you kowtow, just give me your ox cart, and you, Liu Cheng, are not allowed to ride an ox cart from now on!"

The four tables were all shocked!

Thinking that this Wang Yang is ruthless enough!

Riding an ox cart can be the dignity of a scholar-official. Not being allowed to ride an ox cart is equivalent to being excluded from the scholar-official class! What kind of humiliation is this?! If he really doesn't ride an ox cart, how will he travel in the future? Could it be that he really rides a horse cart like those commoner small surnames?

Wang Yang didn't care much about humiliation. The main thing was to get a cart. It was not appropriate to borrow the County School's cart every time he went out.

But if he bet on the cart directly, it would seem a bit low. After all, he is a child of a gentry family. If people found out that he was aiming for someone else's cart, it would be too low. So he added a clause "not allowed to ride an ox cart."

In the eyes of others, this bet is naturally the main purpose.

But only Wang Yang himself knows what his real purpose is.

The Prince of Badong was excited: "Big, big! This time it's a big game! Sure enough, it's a child of a noble family, if you want to play, play big!"

Kong Zhangyu looked at his master's happy appearance and wanted to cover his face.

Although Liu Cheng was drunk, he had not completely lost his reason. He heard Wang Yang admit that he "could not write poetry" with his own ears a few days ago, so he was determined that Wang Yang would not dare to bet. Now seeing Wang Yang actually agree without any fear, he could not help but hesitate.

Seeing Liu Cheng's stiff expression, Wang Yang smiled: "If you are afraid of losing, sit down quickly, don't stand here and lose face."

Liu Cheng was arrogant and would not show weakness: "Wang Yang! Today your kowtow is set!"

Xie Xinghan was extremely worried about Wang Yang. Hearing Wang Yang say this, and observing Wang Yang's expression carefully, she suddenly felt that he seemed a bit... insidious?? ===== CHAPTER 117 =====