Absolute Pitch

Seeing the pleased look on the worker's face, Azul could easily understand that whatever this kid have with him must be something of great value. The worker explained with a smile, "A Gu Zheng have existed for thousands of year in the past. During that time and place, the eastern region is known to create instruments and music that can sway and heal the souls of those who listens to a piece played from these instruments. It was one of the many masterpieces created from the ambitions of talented musicians and scholars. However, two thousand years after its creation, the region was plunged into a war that lasted for a hundred years. The goal was to unite all of the smaller kingdoms under one ruler. When that was achieved, the ruler, the first emperor, wanted to erase all of mankind's history and achievements. Then, he would later start a new history with himself as the first ruler."

"There was such an event back then?" Jade looked to him in surprise.

"To think that there are humans capable of thinking something this crazy..." Azul's eyes widen in disbelief.

The worker nodded, "If you look into books that talked about instruments of the past, there are some that speak of those instruments and era. All of the scholars that tried to protect the history books and literature of those years were burned alive in pits with those books. It was an era of violence and massive change. It also just so happened that the first emperor also despised music as he had a bad history with it. So, he destroyed all of the instruments of that era and those associated with it were slaughtered as well. The few who survived lived undercover till the Emperor's second son overthrew the crown prince and restored what was left of the art of music. However, another thousand years later, the nation was conquered by outside forces and assimilated into other countries. When I was little, my grandfather obtained one of the manuscripts on how to build one of these instruments and played it throughout his entire life once he picked it up. Though the instrument was sold with the manuscript later, I still remember the sounds and how to tune them. But, how come you have one as well?"

Lotus said hesitantly, "I used to have a neighbor that makes this for a living a long time ago. He came from a line that used to do this for a living. I watched him construct it often as a child and came to understand the entire process. I later had my foster parents hire someone to help me build one. All of his teachings was done through words alone. There was no writings because this was how his ancestors kept the teachings alive during those days. I've been told those tales that you knew like a bed time story, but I didn't think they were true."

"That emperor." The worker pointed out with a scowl, "Would you know what happened to him later in life?"

Lotus wore a small yet scary smile on her face as she said, "He found a religious person trying to figure out how to make potions from alchemy and tasked him to create an elixir of immortality. As this was back then, the man had little knowledge of what was safe and what was not. He ended up slowly poisoning the emperor with drops of mercury mixed into the potions. So, rather than living a long life, he had an early death. The second son took advantage of his death and forged a letter in his handwriting to trick his elder brother to commit suicide leaving him as the successor to the throne."

Azul shuddered nervously in horror as he heard all of this details and grumbled regrettably, "What a vicious cycle..."

Lotus shrugged, "A long time ago, the world was a harsh place that was harder than our current society. The only way to live a good life was to gain more power, so one of the traits that was important to have during those days was ambition. By having the ambition to succeed or live, those people are more likely to survive into a long life and die a natural death. This Gu Zheng was the product of that man's heritage, you could say. Of course, he had no surviving family as they all died from an accident many years ago. He passed away before I left my birth family."

Lotus brought out a stool and said, "Mister worker, can this Gu Zheng be used to help test the tuning of the piano?"

"It can." The worker nodded, "I remember the notes of the Gu Zheng by heart."

"Great!" Lotus laughed, "Looks like it was a good thing that I came out with it today!"

"Yeah, yeah. We get the history lesson Can we start now?" Floyd questioned with a scowl impatiently, "How many do you bet Ren can get right?"

"Huh? I didn't say it?" Lotus said with a look of surprise before she smiled wide and said with great confidence, "All of them!"

Hearing her words, the others looked to her in shock and disbelief!

"Hah?" Floyd cried out in confusion, "Can this guy really get all of the notes?"

"Well, why don't we see?" Lotus said with an expression of excitement, "But... I wanna also see the structure of the piano and how you tune it!"

Azul looked to the worker hesitantly. After all, he paid a lot just to get a piano into this lounge. What is she breaks it or snaps a string?

However, the worker had no worries at all and nodded his head with a wide smile, "Sure, just ask the owners of it."

No way!

Hearing this, Azul was in disbelief and knew that it would be nearly impossible for him to persuade Lotus to keep away from the piano without the worker's support. In the end, he could only give in as well. He heaved a deep sigh of defeat and nodded his head as he pleaded, "Fine... Just be careful... please?"

"Okay!"

Lotus was ecstatic that she finally get to see the structure of a piano! She had always wanted to see how something so large could create such tender-sounding notes. Now, she finally gets the chance to do so!

Actually, almost all of these things she spoke about with the workers were just something she made up along the way as she listened to his story! She knew of the history of the emperor through the books in her family's library of ancient books and she learned how to make the Gu Zheng from an old human man many years ago in her previous life. However, it wasn't just the Gu Zheng. Gu Qin, Zither, Pipa, bamboo flute, Pan flute...

She knew how to make them all! But, it's not like she can tell this man that... right?

Seeing the mischievous smile on her face, Ren knew that this little guy was up to something again and the edge of his mouth instinctively twitched. This child only knows how to create a commotion and enjoy it! However, despite thinking this, why is it that he just isn't bothered by this at all?! That was the biggest fact he still didn't understand!

As for the worker, he found it all rather amusing anyway, so he wasn't too worried about it. Besides, this was his last shift of the day, so he can stay for a bit longer before going back home.

Lotus examined the structure of the piano and waited for Ren to finish tuning under the watchful eye of the tuner. The group watched Ren tune the piano, which he found was really out of tune in shock! As Lotus thought this from the moment she heard this note, Azul quietly grumbled to himself as Jade slipped over to him and said quietly, "It seems that things have gotten really fun in the end."

Azul sighed and shook his head in dismay, "I'm just worried about Floyd's reaction when he learns that he lost."

"Oh?" Jade looked to him in surprise, "Azul has this much confidence in him?"

"It's not about confidence." Azul grimaced, "Ren's ability is special. He has a perfect pitch. Do you remember what our teacher back in middle school told us once?"

Hearing this, Jade was confused, "Did we have a conversation regarding perfect pitch before?"

Azul nodded, "Back when one of our classmates was found to have a perfect pitch. They said that some people are born with a rare ability of a person to identify or re-create a given musical note without the benefit of a reference. A week before winter break, I overheard a recording of a piece Riddle played from his vice-dorm leader's phone. I thought the piece sounded a little off at some point, but Ren was nearby and overheard the song. He immediately could tell which note was off and what he played instead."

"Ah, I remember now." Jade smirked wide displaying his sharp teeth as he recalled that topic, "I believe it was also called... Absolute Pitch."

If it was like this, then it was obvious that Floyd would be at a disadvantage from the start and Lotus's choice would've been a better decision to make!