Chapter 402: What

"Clang," the elevator door opened, and Yan Zhidong stepped out of the cabin.

Seeing Lan Ling and Xiao Yinan, as well as Li Jingting standing behind them, Yan Zhidong was stunned for a moment.

It wasn't until Editor-in-Chief Lan extended her hand that he reacted, hurriedly smiling: "Editor-in-Chief Lan, I am flattered!"

It was indeed a bit much: it wasn't as if he hadn't been to the dance troupe before, nor was it the first time leaders of the Oriental Group had come specifically to welcome him. But having two editors-in-chief waiting expectantly at the elevator door—that was a first.

Lan Ling smiled: "It's only right!"

After exchanging a few pleasantries, the group walked inside. Hearing Yan Zhidong's slight wheezing, Lan Ling and Xiao Yinan exchanged a glance.

It was evident just how urgent Dean Yan was.

But it wasn't strange: if they hadn't been anxious themselves, would they have waited at the elevator door?

Walking as they spoke, Lan Ling gave a rough overview of the situation.

Yan Zhidong had already heard the general explanation three times: twice from Li Jingting, once from Wan Fengyun; this was the fourth time.

Yet he still felt inexplicably shocked, even half-doubting: one day to translate the score, one day to choreograph, and another day to arrange the music and integrate the dance? From start to finish, Lin Sicheng had only used three days?

Never mind that this was a Yan Music Grand Suite from the prosperous Tang Dynasty, and never mind that this was translating and restoring a musical score lost for a thousand years; even if one were just copying a famous work exactly as it was, could anyone be this fast?

Not to mention, as Zhao Guanghua had deduced: was Lin Sicheng's translation one hundred percent authentic?

Having worked in this industry for over thirty years, Yan Zhidong truly could not fathom: how did Lin Sicheng manage to do it?

While pondering this, the group entered the Classical Dance Troupe's training room.

Along the walls were two rows of glass cabinets displaying all sorts of trophies. Behind them was a mirror wall, and opposite that was a huge electronic screen. In the center was a "mouth"-shaped conference table. Seeing Yan Zhidong, a group of people stood up in unison.

Not many, just the same ones as before: Zhao Guanghua, Wan Fengyun, Ren Zhuo, Liu Hao, Cheng Nianjia...

After a brief introduction, Yan Zhidong sat down next to Lan Ling, and Liu Hao turned on the video recorder.

Suddenly, everyone sat up straight, holding their breath in concentration.

On the main screen, two dancers danced gracefully. In the sub-screen, Lin Sicheng held the pipa, playing with casual ease.

Even though it was the second time watching, and even though it was just a recording, the experts still felt shocked.

Especially Zhao Guanghua.

He had spent half his life researching plucked instruments; anything with strings was more intimate and familiar to him when held in his hands than his own wife.

But this was the first time he realized that a simple five-string pipa could make one perceive that kind of world-conquering, supreme spirit? He wasn't referring to the core of the music, nor the artistic conception, but that level of synergy: strategizing and controlling the entire situation.

Even down to the finest detail, exquisite and nuanced.

Just like the transition from the ninth to the tenth section, right when the five-string pipa was about to stop and the four-string pipa should have been harmonizing, it suddenly went silent.

This section had twelve full scales; strictly speaking, this wasn't just missing a beat, but missing an entire measure. It was clearly because the pipa player wasn't familiar with the score, hadn't memorized it at all, and had lost focus: it was his turn to play, but he hadn't reacted in time.

As the saying goes, one wrong step leads to chaos everywhere; if he didn't move, the Zhazheng and the others behind him naturally couldn't move either.

The music stopped right there; how were the dancers on stage supposed to continue?

Sure enough, when the first note didn't sound, the two dancers clearly faltered. Although they didn't stop due to momentum, the rhythm was distinctly interrupted. If the second note didn't sound after that, the beat would definitely fall into chaos.

But just at the right moment, as things were about to fall apart, Lin Sicheng casually plucked the strings.

Saving a performance isn't difficult; all ancient music troupes have similar tutorials and configurations, and it's not uncommon to use a Guqin to play flute sections.

The instrument in his hand just had one extra string; at least it was still a pipa.

But the hard part was that he managed to compress four scales into three without affecting the melody or the beat.

Lin Sicheng played four notes in a row until Zhao Guanghua glared at him, at which point the four-string pipa player finally reacted, nodded with a flushed face, and finished the remaining eight scales.

To Zhao Guanghua, this was already shocking enough, but there was something even more shocking to follow:

Perhaps because they were affected this time, the dancers lost focus. In the eleventh section, the A-lead, that girl surnamed Yu, was supposed to turn four times, but she turned two extra times.

One turn is two beats, so two turns is four beats. By logic, the rest would definitely fall into chaos: because the music preceded the dance, the musicians would only play according to the score. Missing four beats meant the dancers behind would definitely be unable to keep up.

But after the four turns, the lead five-string pipa had already stopped, preparing to change the melody. The harmonizing flute was about to play, and the B-lead Yang Lin was already prepared to change her dance posture, yet Yu Jingsi was still spinning there.

Just as it was about to fall into chaos, the five-string pipa, which had been silent for less than a second, rang out again, playing half of the Wheel Fingering required for the dancer's spin. Moreover, it started from the second half of the scale, just enough for Yu Jingsi to complete two turns.

With a full two turns of time, no matter how slow Yu Jingsi was, seeing the bewildered Yang Lin beside her, she could react: she had added extra beats. Better late than never.

That was the first point; the second: the lead five-string hadn't stopped, so the flute naturally didn't dare to play. Four beats of time were also enough for the flutist to react: it wasn't that he had missed his cue, but that the lead pipa had added beats.

Naturally, they just played on as they were supposed to.

The key was that whether it was the musicians missing beats, dragging, or the dancers missing steps, such situations occurred more than once. And every single time, Lin Sicheng was able to save the performance in a way that was so astonishing it made one want to applaud.

Otherwise, this dance would have stalled dozens of times over.

Compared to that, what surprised Zhao Guanghua even more was Lin Sicheng's pipa technique:

If you said he was unskilled, he could twist the third and fourth strings. To be honest, there were barely a handful of players in Beijing who knew this technique. Even when using Wheel Fingering, he could play twelve gradient notes in one second?

Even fewer people knew how to do that: at least Zhao Guanghua had never seen one. He had heard of it, but only in legends.

But if you said he was skilled: he played many basic techniques like a novice?

Whenever the lead stopped, he would gesture there, as if pondering how to play the next section. Then, when he played, strange things would happen: sometimes it was Ruanxian, sometimes it was four-string, and at other times, Lin Sicheng would even use Guqin techniques.

Even for the same musical section, the same melody and beat, when playing the second time, Lin Sicheng clearly didn't use the same technique as the first time. The strange thing was, it didn't affect the sound effect at all!

Therefore, even a professional like Zhao Guanghua couldn't judge: did Lin Sicheng actually know how to play this five-string pipa, or did he not?

It felt more like someone who had practiced it a long time ago but hadn't played for many years, leaving them a bit rusty.

He was an instrument expert, so he naturally focused most on the instruments and techniques. As for Yan Zhidong and Lan Ling, they naturally focused on the dance, the music, and the overall effect of the dance and music combined.

To be honest, saying the dancers danced well or the musicians played in unison would be lying through one's teeth.

The dancers had only practiced for one day; how skilled could they be? The musicians were even more extreme; they hadn't even seen the score before, and were just handed a sheet and told to play. Expecting them to coordinate well and play skillfully was purely making things difficult for them.

Therefore, it wasn't strange at all that so many missed beats and timing errors occurred.

What was strange was Lin Sicheng's understanding of the work: it was as if he had studied it for many years, had researched this work to such a thorough degree that there were no blind spots left.

It was as if it were engraved in his heart, impossible to forget even in death.

Otherwise, how could he have performed those incredible, applause-worthy saves in less than a second?

Changing the perspective, if one stands on an objective standpoint, from the angle of a judge, and evaluates it separately: to say this dance is unprecedented, or that this piece of music is so peerless and moving that it touches the soul, that would certainly be an exaggeration.

The dance movements are indeed eye-catching, but if one examines them carefully, one will find that in many documents, and even in many modern classical dance works, the shadows of these movements can be found.

The music is the same: if you close your eyes, you feel, haven't I heard some of these musical segments somewhere before?

This is also not strange: as the most representative Yan Music Grand Suite of the prosperous Tang Dynasty, even if it were lost, it is impossible for it to have left no traces at all.

Moreover, Lüyao is the ancestor of the soft-waist dance; no matter how numerous the techniques of soft dance are, there are only so many joints in the human body, so how much can it really change?

The music is the same: no matter how complex ancient musical temperaments are, they cannot escape the seven tones; no matter how many changes there are, they are still based on the seven notes.

But what is strange is that after the frame-by-frame dance movements and the segment-by-segment music were combined, a kind of miraculous chemical reaction seemed to occur: the overall effect suddenly jumped up several levels.

Just like those two lines of poetry: The song's resonance reaches the clouds, the waist dances lightly like swirling snow.

Apt, natural, perfectly blended, and seamless.

It is as if this dance was born to be paired with this music, innate and beyond doubt.

But the problem is, Lin Sicheng only used three days?

Subconsciously, Lan Ling thought of the phone call Liu Hao had secretly made to her during the lunch break:

Messy data and chaotic documents piled up like a mountain. Lin Sicheng copied a paragraph here and a sentence there. The key is, he wasn't even copying the same thing?

Sometimes he copied music, sometimes he copied the beat, and sometimes he copied the techniques for playing music. Even more often, he would actually copy the translation of specialized classical music terms from a document?

It was headless and tailless, without a clue, and even more aimless. It was as if Lin Sicheng was preparing to do a perfunctory job, preparing to piece things together haphazardly.

It wasn't just Liu Hao who made a secret call; Wan Fengyun also called Yan Zhidong, because the contrast was too great:

Just the night before, Yan Zhidong and Li Jingting had been praising Lin Sicheng as a rare talent, one in a hundred years. It couldn't be that after just one night, he suddenly fell into the mundane world and looked like a layman in every way?

But what was the result?

It is no exaggeration: it shattered everyone's eyeballs all over the floor.

Because no one could have imagined that Lin Sicheng's haphazard piecing together could actually result in an eternal masterpiece: allowing an art treasure lost for a thousand years to reappear in the world. What, you don't believe it?

Come, let's ask everyone present: what is "Hua Shiba"?

No one cared before because they hadn't realized the severity of the problem. But when Zhao Guanghua stated firmly that this segment was the core of "Liuyao" and was not improvised by Lin Sicheng, but translated by him from ancient books, who would dare not take it seriously?

You don't know until you check, and you get a shock when you do:

"New Book of Tang; Treatise on Rites and Music": (Li Longji) descended to the Pear Garden, composed the eighteen beats of "Liuyao," and ordered the palace maids to practice it...

Cui Lingqin's "Jiaofang Ji" (Tang Dynasty treatise on music and dance): Soft dance includes "Lüyao," and "Hua Shiba" has fast beats and rapid strings, with sleeves turning like snow... "Tokyo Meng Hua Lu" by Meng Yuanlao (Song): At the Tianning Festival banquet (Song Huizong's birthday), the dance often used "Santai" and "Liuyao Hua Shiba"... Zhu Zaiyu's "Yue Lü Quan Shu" (Ming): The score for "Liuyao Hua Shiba" is lost; I rely on the remaining characters of "Tang Jie Drum Record" to simulate its rotating modes with the eighteen temperaments... "Tang Yin Gui Qian" by Hu Zhenheng (Ming): "Hua Shiba" belongs to the Yu mode, changing its key seven times within eighteen beats...

More than one document records: "Hua Shiba" is the core of "Liuyao," which is the "breaking section (dance section)."

The reason it is called "Hua" (Flowery) is simply because the rhythm is rich and the melody is varied. The reason it is "Shiba" (Eighteen) is because there are a total of eighteen beats (sections) from beginning to end. Coincidentally, the breaking section of the music newly arranged by Lin Sicheng is exactly eighteen sections. It has the same rich rhythm and varied melody.

And when he left, Lin Sicheng clearly said: This is "Liuyao," although it is only a part of it.

But many people were still half-believing: if this piece of music was not composed by Lin Sicheng, but translated from documents in its original, authentic form, it is even more shocking than if Lin Sicheng had adapted it in three days using "deductive re-creation."

Anyone who understands knows: "translating" is harder than "composing." What separates them is not a mountain, but the galaxy.

But the problem is, they watched the recording several times and listened with their eyes closed several times, yet they couldn't find any logical principles or basis? It is also because the score of "Liuyao" is too fragmented, so fragmented that it is impossible to compare at all.

Looking again at the data Lin Sicheng copied or translated, it was even more confusing: whether it was Li Jingting, Wan Fengyun, Ren Zhuo, or Xiao Yinan, or even professionals like Lan Ling and Yan Zhidong, they couldn't find any relevant clues at all.

To put it bluntly: they couldn't judge what kind of connection existed between this final piece of music and the data, documents, and translated score characters that Lin Sicheng had checked and copied.

Several people put their heads together and researched for a long time, but it was useless: not only did they not figure it out, but they became even more confused.

Zhao Guanghua sat on the side, anxious: No... why don't you ask me?

Although I am not a professional choreographer, and although I am just a player of the zither, I am at least an Expert; do I really have so little presence?

Just as he was scratching his head in anxiety, Yan Zhidong and Lan Ling looked at each other and pushed the data over: "Teacher Zhao, please give us some guidance!" This is more like it, right?

Zhao Guanghua couldn't wait: "Are you very curious why, when Lin Sicheng said this was Hua Shiba, I believed it without a doubt?"

Yan Zhidong paused: Don't mention it, he really thought that.

"Because I am a zither player; I don't understand other things, but I understand the zither best..." Zhao Guanghua took a deep breath, "And more importantly, because this music newly arranged by Lin Sicheng... oh no, this music newly translated, relies on the Five-String Pipa!"

"Dean Yan, Editor-in-Chief Lan, look at this..." Zhao Guanghua opened the Folder, "Look at these two fragments of scores!"

He was referring to the last two volumes of the three volumes of "Dunhuang Musical Scores," the ones that were so fragmented they were untranslatable and have not been fully translated to this day: P. 3539 and P. 3719.

The former is a bit better, written on the back of the "Record of the Buddha's Original Acts; Upali Chapter": besides twenty Yanyue Banzi pipa score characters, there are also many annotations for fingering.

The latter is even more fragmented: written on the back of the plain text of "Erya," with only ten score characters and a small amount of musical content.

Although there are some auxiliary symbols, no one knows what they mean.

Although after decades and the research of countless scholars, there is still no definitive conclusion on these two fragments: some Experts believe these are the rhythmic structure and performance form of Tang Dynasty Grand Suites, while others believe these two are themselves musical scores.

Even more Experts believe: these two are just "Ban-Yan" marks, that is, the rhythm and beat of the music.

But no matter which one it is, they all unanimously conclude: these two are documents related to the pipa score.

Yan Zhidong's eyes lit up: "Teacher Zhao, you mean: this piece of music was translated by Lin Sicheng from these two fragments?"

Zhao Guanghua was stunned for a moment, not knowing how to say it: Dean Yan, you also know these are fragments?

There are only thirty or so score characters on here, but how many sections does this piece have?

Hua Shiba plus the six sections of the prelude, a total of twenty-four sections; even if Lin Sicheng ground his head into the ground, he couldn't translate it.

"He translated the fingering of the Five-String Pipa." Zhao Guanghua flipped back, "Just this..."

Yan Zhidong looked closely:

Shao: Rapid Masking, press and release quickly. ^: Linked Brilliance, double-string plucking (four tones). Qian: Snake Movement, single-hand pitch sliding (three-fret shift). 、: Mi, ten strings in one second. Yu: Staccato, rapid pause and vibrato...

About twelve score characters, all like this: right-hand fingering plus the fret/position that needs to be pressed by the left hand, as well as the sound effect produced.

There is more behind it: Qian, Yu: Starting Posture, Snake Movement Probing the Formation → Staccato Power Accumulation. Shao, 、、、, Shao: Conflict Section → Rapid Masking Triple Strike.

??,? Ling,:: Climax Section → Sixteen Linked Pearls.? Ling, Kou: Transition → Trembling Branch Falling Flower. T, Xie: Closing → Converging Breath Closing Posture. It is as if Lin Sicheng combined these score characters and adapted them into new playing techniques. Looking at the words "Starting Posture," "Conflict," "Climax," "Transition," and "Closing": this should be the main structure of a complete piece of music.

But the structure alone is useless: there are only techniques, no musical score; where did the music come from?

"Dean Yan, Editor-in-Chief Lan, you look at this again..."

Zhao Guanghua pointed again, pointing at the fingering annotations at the very end of the first piece of the incomplete score, and the pitifully small amount of musical score content.

Yan Zhidong and Lan Ling suddenly realized: fingering (left hand) plus frets/positions (right hand) could produce musical notes. Adding the musical score content could then form complete musical segments.

However, no matter how much it was Jianzi Notation, no matter how simplified, these thirty score characters could at most translate into three or four segments of music.

The newly composed dance music had six segments of prelude, plus eighteen segments of the breaking section, a full twenty-four segments; how did Lin Sicheng translate them out?

Zhao Guanghua pointed again, pointing at those two lines of special symbols at the very end of P. 3719: "These should be the beat markers!"

Beat markers, rhythm... so what about that?

Even if you added the rhythm, you still couldn't piece together twenty-four segments.

Just as this thought was turning in their minds, Zhao Guanghua laughed again: "But Lin Sicheng can follow the traces to find the source, searching for ancient musical pieces that share the same structure and rhythm..."

Yan Zhidong and Lan Ling were both stunned again: following the traces to find the source, isn't that still just piecing things together?

As if by tacit agreement, they both remembered what Li Jingting and Liu Hao had said on the phone: Lin Sicheng had transcribed the rhythms of many musical segments.

Among them were several of the twenty-five pieces translated by music historian Chen Yingshi in the first volume of the "Dunhuang Ancient Scores."

He didn't just copy; he also modified, but he didn't change the melody or the pitch, only the rhythm.

He even translated several segments of classical pieces that were lost domestically but remained in foreign literature. Similarly, he only translated the rhythm. It was useless; if rhythm is the bone, then melody is the flesh. With bones but no flesh, it is still just an empty frame.

Immediately, Yan Zhidong remembered something else: No, what Lin Sicheng copied and translated was not just rhythm.

He also copied many musical segments:

The Tang Dynasty secular music of the Jiaofang, "Luoyang Chun," the Tang Dynasty soft dance accompaniment "Chun Ying Zhuan," and a selected segment from the Yuan Dynasty zaju "Rain on the Paulownia."

As well as a selected segment of "Yu Meiren" from the Song Dynasty "Biji Manzhi," and a selected segment of "Bomei; Xizi Ci" composed by Dong Ying,

And the sanqu melodies from the Qing Dynasty "Jiu Gong Da Cheng Nan Bei Ci Gong Pu," the fourteen-pitch guqin pieces from the "Lü Lü Zhengyi" compiled during the Kangxi era, and a selected segment of "Yan'er Ta."

Also, the musical segment of the Tang Dynasty Tuyuhun music and dance "Qinghai Bo" preserved in Japanese Yue classics, and the erhu segment of "Diao Sang" from the traditional Puxian Opera of Putian, Fujian.

And compared to these, he copied even more from the "Dunhuang Musical Scores": he transcribed at least half of the twenty-five pipa pieces translated by Chen Yingshi. After copying, he started to modify, but he didn't change the melody, likewise only changing the rhythm...

Why did Lin Sicheng only change the rhythm?

Looking at the lines of pipa fingering on the document that Zhao Guanghua had just pointed to, a flash of light seemed to pass through the minds of Yan Zhidong and Lan Ling. They finally knew how Lin Sicheng's twenty-four segments of music were pieced together:

First, determine the fingering: which pieces used the combination technique of Rapid Masking + Linked Plucking + Snake Movement + Mi + Staccato.

Then, determine the frets and sound effects: which pieces contained the four-tone double-string plucking, and which were single-hand glissandos at the third fret.

Then, determine the musical structure: which pieces started with Snake Movement Probing the Formation, which pieces contained the conflict segment of the Rapid Masking Triple Strike, which pieces had the climax segment of the Sixteen Linked Pearls, and which had the transition segment of the Trembling Branch Falling Flower...

Checking document after document, searching for piece after piece, anything that met these three points was completely extracted.

Then, based on those special symbols representing beat markers in P. 3719, he adapted them... This final new piece of music came about this way. At first thought, it seems so simple: follow the vine to find the melon, trace the source. But you have to calculate: from the Tang to the Qing, how many musical forms and genres are there, and how many musical pieces?

To say the least, it must be in the "hundreds of millions." If anyone thinks it's simple, try it first.

To be honest, this is even harder than finding a needle in a haystack.

But why did Lin Sicheng not only succeed, but do it in just one day?

While pondering, Yan Zhidong and Lan Ling looked at each other: honestly, except for Lin Sicheng, it is impossible for anyone to know, let alone do it. But they at least knew what this meant:

Consequently, this shows that "Liu Yao" was not truly lost in the real sense, but scattered throughout the long river of history, absorbed and adapted by various musical themes in every dynasty, eventually forming one classic after another.

It further shows: the last two volumes of the "Dunhuang Ancient Scores," which have not yet been translated and have no definitive conclusion to this day, are part of the "Liu Yao" score.

Thinking of this, Yan Zhidong suddenly felt a jolt: "Old Li, Old Wan, come help..."

Lan Ling also reacted and called out to Xiao Yinan and Ren Zhuo.

One look and they knew what they wanted to do. Just as the few of them gathered together, Zhao Guanghua picked up the pipa: "I'll help..."

Indeed, they needed a musician's help.

There was no time for pleasantries; Yan Zhidong nodded in thanks and then opened the Folder that Lin Sicheng had given to Jing Zeyang.

Before, some people were wondering: with Jing Zeyang's level, if he were given this, would he be able to understand it?

Now they knew that the reason the Folder was so thick and the data so complete was not for Jing Zeyang to read at all... The seven people had a clear division of labor: Yan Zhidong, Lan Ling, Xiao Yinan, and Li Jingting were responsible for restoration, that is, changing the rhythms Lin Sicheng had adapted back to their original state; Ren Zhuo and Wan Fengyun were responsible for finding the sources; and Zhao Guanghua was responsible for playing and comparing.

Lin Sicheng had annotated it very clearly, the data was complete enough, and the difficulty was not high.

The first segment, a selected segment of the Tang Dynasty Tuyuhun music and dance accompaniment "Qinghai Bo" preserved in Japanese Yue: following Lin Sicheng's annotations, Yan Zhidong and Lan Ling changed the rhythms back, while the other four compared them with the original piece.

Confirmed to be correct, they let Zhao Guanghua play it.

And as soon as the pipa sounded, the seven people were all stunned: only the rhythm was changed, but the tune and melody remained the same?

They had just heard it, and not just once; isn't this the third segment of the "San Xu" in Lin Sicheng's new piece?

The group was stunned for a long while.

Yan Zhidong flipped to the back: "Again!"

The second segment, the Qing Dynasty "Lü Lü Zhengyi" fourteen-pitch guqin piece, "Yan'er Ta" selected segment. As soon as the pipa sounded, the seven people were stunned again: the section at the end of the ninth segment of the new piece?

It was exactly the section where the Four-String Pipa master missed a beat.

Again, the Tang Dynasty soft dance accompaniment "Chun Ying Zhuan": another coincidence, the eleventh segment was exactly the section where Yu Jingsi was too nervous and turned two extra circles.

Continuing: "Dunhuang Ancient Scores"; "Slow Tune"... "Dunhuang Ancient Scores"; "Slow Tune; West River Moon"...

Still "Dunhuang Ancient Scores": "Urgent Tune," "Slow Tune," "Qingbei Yue," "Changsha Nü Yin," "Sajinsha," "Yingfu." The first volume of the ancient scores translated a total of twenty-five pieces, and Lin Sicheng's new piece contained selected segments from as many as fourteen of them.

The group of Experts looked at each other, stunned and speechless.

What does this mean?

Does it mean that many musical segments of the twenty-five guqin scores in the first volume of the "Dunhuang Musical Scores," which have been translated into more than one version by Chinese and foreign scholars, were adapted from "Liu Yao"?

This is even more significant than completely restoring "Liu Yao" or fully deciphering the last two volumes of the "Dunhuang Ancient Scores."

It can be said: just based on the data in this Folder, as long as it is submitted, there is no need to pull strings or use connections; at the very least, it would be a major project of the National Social Science Fund for Art Studies.

So, what is a ministerial-level gold award?