world class art fanatic

Harrison Bellew is 96 years old, and in a few days he will be 97.

The calm and serene soul supported his weakening body, which made him open the secret door of the study room every day with great expectation and walk into the same collection room.

There is a ten-string guqin covered with textures.

Bellou has seen it since he was 16 years old. This violin has a rotten appearance that is about to break.

Who knows that 79 years have passed, and even he himself is wrinkled and old, and this guqin is still the same as when he first saw it.

He controlled the wheelchair and approached the piano table.

With a slight lift of his hand, he can use his old and dry fingers to pick the strings lightly and skillfully.

The strings, which are as cold as frost, emit bursts of pleasant sound.

Although it is not a melody, Bellu has the illusion of gradually regaining his youth along with the sound of the piano, returning to the age when he first went to China.

He felt that as long as the piano was still there, he could live on for a long time.

Even if his body is covered with ugly wrinkles and his soul is decayed and withered, he can continue to live with nostalgia for Shen Ling just like this piano.

Suddenly, the assistant's voice came from the surveillance in the collection room.

"Sir, Mr. Dominique is here, and he has brought a young luthier with him."

Bellu came back to his senses, looked at Ya Yun, whose strings were not quiet, withdrew his hand, controlled the wheelchair and walked out of the study.

The assistant who had been waiting for a long time in the study came up and pushed him steadily to the spacious and bright living room of the manor.

Waiting there is the tense Domenic, and the calm Zhong Ying.

Zhong Ying didn't bring a piano case today. He was wearing a simple shirt and trousers.

After all, he is now an experienced luthier who was invited by Domenic to repair Bellou's guqin.

"Oh, Bellew, look what a fine luthier I've found for you!"

When Domenic saw his old friend appear, he greeted him, "When he was in China, he helped many piano shops tune strings and repair pianos. This time, he came to Italy Chinatown to help Guqin shops repair instruments. I happened to see him!"

An experienced pianist, boasting that the bells should come, does not appear at all false.

After all, he really likes to walk around the streets and alleys, and he also likes to go to Chinatown to see the excitement, and he often buys some interesting Chinese gadgets for Bellew to entertain his old friends.

Therefore, Zhong Ying stood quietly at the side, listening to Domenic praise him indiscriminately, and looking at the 96-year-old man.

Bellew is old.

His white hair is sparse, his facial features are covered by wrinkles, and his posture in the wheelchair seems to be dead at any time, and his expression is as serious as a dead wood sculpture, possessing eternal life.

His eyes were cloudy, after listening to Domenique's description, he turned to look at Zhong Ying.

Bellou narrowed his sharp eyes slightly, and repeatedly looked at the experienced luthier.

He was wearing a stiff shirt and trousers, with a serious hairstyle, like an elite wandering in the business world.

However, a pair of eyes are clear and bright, even if Beilu is old and dim, he can still feel the sharpness of persistence belonging to young people.

Bellew was clearly not happy.

"My friend, is the violinist you chose too young?"

Domenic blinked, and explained without blushing and panting: "Is there? I only see that he has rich experience and is skilled in tuning and winding, even if he is only—"

"Mr. Harrison Bellew."

Suddenly, Zhong Ying interrupted the pianist's defense that he almost blew himself up, and introduced himself politely and restrainedly.

"In our business, we never judge the level of a qin master by age. I started to learn guqin from my grandfather at the age of three, I was able to complete the tuning of the guqin by myself at the age of five, I started helping to wind and paint the strings at the age of seven, and I was able to be independent Make your own first guqin."

"In the past 25 years, I have handled not only one hundred but also eighty famous pianos. I wonder what kind of piano you need to tune?"

He speaks straight to the point, even with a touch of a genius luthier who thinks highly of himself and condescends to do such trivial things as tuning.

The tone was very arrogant, as if he was going to leave after tuning the strings, so as not to waste time here.

Bellou looked him up and down, feeling a little confused, "Have you been learning the piano for 25 years?"

Zhong Ying nodded and said firmly, "I am 28 this year, and I have indeed been learning the piano for 25 years."

28...

"Yes!" Domenic nodded solemnly, verifying the age of the young luthier.

"Old Belu, the Chinese are all young, but don't worry, I won't bring unprofessional people here. Those old masters in Chinatown who are 50 or 20 years old have been playing piano for more than ten or [-] years, and none of them have Zhong Ying's practice. It's been a long time! I just invited him here."

Domenic babbled, almost masking a deceptive nervousness with his own chatter.

Fortunately, Bellou's attention was no longer on him. No matter how he explained or gave examples, Bellou remained silent and noncommittal.

Zhong should be able to feel Bellou's caution.

Even if they tried to prove in words that he was an experienced young luthier, he still couldn't seem to impress the questioning old man in front of him.

Zhong Ying thought for a while, stood up and adjusted the cuffs of his shirt, looked directly at Bellou, and asked casually:

"What material is your guqin made of?"

Bellu looked at him silently, his expression was full of scrutiny, and he refused to answer.

Zhong Ying didn't expect him to answer, and said self-consciously: "Guqins are usually made of high-quality paulownia, fir, and pine wood. Because most of the strings are made of steel and nylon, the sound quality of the piano depends more on the material of the wood."

""Mengxi Bi Tan" once said: In terms of Qin, although they are all clear and solid, there are heavy voices and light voices, and there are five tones in the material. What it said is that Guqin made of different woods have different sounds. The difference. What kind of strings you need to tune and what tone you want to get depends on the material of the piano itself.”

"Among them, the paulownia qin is mellow and simple, the fir qin is clear and cool, and the pine wood qin is bright and round. The same wood has its own sound, and the taste is quite different."

"However, people don't live without heart, and the sound leaks out of the tree. I think the best material is never limited to paulownia or fir, but living wood."

"Live wood?" Belu seemed to be a little curious when he heard such a statement for the first time.

Zhong Ying grasped the interest of the other party, immediately with gentle eyebrows and eyes, with the demeanor of a guqin master, and seriously replied:

"Live wood refers to some old wood over a hundred years old among the deep mountain forests bred by the aura of heaven and earth. When they encounter a strong wind, the trunk of the tree stands upright, and the wind rustles and echoes continuously. They are living wood. We always evaluate This kind of living wood, 'the tree is old and the heart is not old, it can become a famous piano'."

Bellu was silent for a long time and frowned.

He even muttered Zhong Ying's words——

"A tree never grows old..."

Zhong Ying could see his wavering.

The old Belu, with shrunken fingers rubbing awkwardly on the armrest of the wheelchair, has been hesitating about something.

It seems to be pondering the sentence that a tree is old and its heart is not old, and it seems to be doubting his interpretation of living wood.

After a while, those cloudy eyes, as if thinking of something, suddenly lit up, staring at Zhong Ying.

"Where did you hear the saying that a tree is old and its heart is never old?"

"That's the lingo my grandpa taught me."

Zhong Ying smiled, and when he mentioned the piano master who had passed away for many years, his tone was full of nostalgia and respect.

He said in a gentle voice: "He is a very good violin maker and understands many principles of our business. He taught me this in the hope that I can inherit his skills and select good talents when chopping the violin. , Take good strings, and make a famous piano handed down through the ages."

"jargon……"

Bellou moved his fingers, and the wheelchair turned slowly, "I seem to have heard the same thing. There are always many rules in your business."

The assistant quickly went to support the wheelchair, and pushed him slowly out of the living room according to Bellou's idea.

Their backs gradually moved forward, and finally a sigh came.

"Come on, young man."

Bellou's voice seemed to be more vicissitudes, as if relying on this sentence "a tree is old and a heart is not old", Zhong Ying's 28-year-old was believed.

"I hope what you say is true."

Bellu's wheelchair led the bell through the wide corridor of the manor and the neat and gorgeous courtyard.

On this short road, Zhong Ying walked heavily, anxiously wanting to see Yayun, but also afraid that the guqin that Beilu asked a violin master to maintain was not Yayun.

Domenique beside him was panting heavily, and silently looked at Zhong Ying several times, with worry written all over his face.

Zhong Ying knew what he meant.

Don't be impulsive and learn to be patient. There are countless bodyguards and security guards in Bellu Manor, and there are hidden defensive weapons surprises. If conflicts are caused here, the Bellu family can definitely judge him to be an illegal intrusion with unruly intentions.

Perhaps it was his extraordinary persistence that caused the pianist to worry like an elder.

While helping him, Domenic took care of him, fearing that Zhong Ying would lose his life because of a piano, and he would not be able to explain to Fan Chengyun.

Finally, Bellu stopped and walked into the study.

Domenic looked confused, looked at a familiar place and asked, "Belu, why don't you take us to the study instead of taking us to the study?"

Bellou let out a hoarse laugh, raised his hand, and touched the edge of the bookcase.Soon, the door hidden in the corner opened a new world with the rattling mechanism.

The unique collection room expands the hidden space of the study.

"Because my piano is right here."

He looked at Domenic, "There is a special collection room inside, I go in and look at it every day."

Domenic was stunned, "I have known you for 40 years, and this is the first time I know!"

As he said that, he eagerly wanted to drag Zhong Ying in, but when he turned his head, he saw that Zhong Ying was looking at the wall next to the door of the study, and raised his head slightly.

"What are you looking at?" he asked.

Zhong Ying's eyes fell on the glass decorative frame on the wall of the study, he stared at the clearly written Italian inside, and refused to believe what he saw for a long time.

"This is... a letter from Mr. Shen from Italy."

He said it with certainty, even though he tried his best to cover up the shock in his heart, he couldn't cover up the astonishment in his tone when he mentioned Shen Ling.

Because he studied Shen Ling's diary since he was a child.

The letter he sent to Italy was repeatedly mentioned in it.Those letters disappeared without reply, and Shen Ling didn't even know whether they had successfully reached the other side of the ocean.

But here, in Bellu's study, he actually saw the real thing!

On the letter paper inlaid behind the glass, it is written word by word in clear Italian——

"I hope our friendship will not fade with time, and it will last forever like the ocean."

"I sincerely wish you good health and good luck in everything in China."

The letter carried a peculiar foreign accent after translation, completely different from Zhong Ying's handwritten diary.

He sensed a tone of gentle flattery haunting these letters.

The inscription at the end is indeed "Shen Ling" in Chinese, but the handwriting has no resemblance to the handwriting of Shen Ling that Zhong Ying saw, and there is a note next to it that "Luke, the ambassador of the Republic of China to Italy, translated on his behalf"!

Zhong Ying didn't believe that this letter was written by Shen Ling himself, and he didn't even believe that Luke translated it according to the content of Mr. Shen's letter.

No matter whether the letter was sent to Harrison Bellew or to Bellew's father, it was impossible for Mr. Shen to have such a deep friendship with a strange Italian businessman whom he had no impression of.

What's more, there are six sheets of letter paper on the wall, none of which mentions the return of Yayun!

Zhong Ying's face darkened, he felt that these letters looked like forged fakes.

Just like the imitation piano of Qingling Lake, it came from the hands of some extremely hateful guys.

He was furious and frowned, but he heard Bellu's old and curious inquiry.

"You know Shen Ling?"

"Yes."

Zhong Ying's eyes were sharp, looking at the white-haired old man, he almost gritted his teeth.

"No one in the country is ignorant or unaware of the fact that you donated the ten-string elegant rhyme to Master Fan Chengyun. I have checked the relevant information, and of course I know about Shen Ling."

There was something in his words, with a hidden condemnation, "I also know that the ten strings and elegant rhyme is Shen Ling's guqin!"

However, Bellou didn't panic at all, he laughed out loud, his old face glowing.

"Yes! Shixian Yayun is Shen Ling's piano. We are friends. When he was in China, he often played the piano for me, and he used Yayun. I swear, it is the most beautiful piano sound in the world, and it is also the most beautiful in my life. Great memories, no matter how many years pass, I will never forget them."

The old man felt happy and happy because someone knew about Shen Ling.

Zhong Ying only felt pain.

He clearly knew that Shen Ling didn't know Bellu.

How could it be possible for Shen Ling to play the piano specially for someone she didn't know at all and become friends.

But Beilu obviously became excited, and the serious expression of repelling and questioning Zhong Ying's lack of qualifications before was all for Shen Ling to restrain himself.

He raised his hand to beckon, and urged almost eagerly: "Son, you are indeed the person who is suitable to help me tune the strings. Come and help me to see the piano, it happens to be made by someone I found to imitate the ten-string elegant rhyme Xinqin, you will love it."

When Zhong Ying heard that Yayun was imitating the piano, she didn't care about arguing about the authenticity of the letter on the wall, and quickly followed the wheelchair into the suddenly enlightened collection room.

The collection room is quiet and spacious, with countless guqins and countless calligraphy and paintings hanging on the walls as decorations.

When he walked in, he thought he had come to a piano shop in China, full of the quiet meaning of piano, chess, calligraphy and painting.

In the middle of the collection room, the "imitation" ten-stringed violin lay quietly on the piano table.

Surrounded by Guqin and calligraphy and painting, the dark ebony has the unique luster of antler lacquer, and the ten ice strings reflect a distinctive soft light, which is thicker than the imitation Qin that Zhong Ying saw in the Qingling Lake Museum.

He approached briskly, lest he disturb Ya Yun's rest.

This violin is covered with snake scales, and the tail is dotted with plum pattern patterns. It is indeed exactly the same as the Qingling Lake one. Even if it is placed together, it is impossible to easily distinguish the authenticity from the appearance.

But elegant rhyme is elegant rhyme, and there is only one thousand-year-old ten strings left in the world.

Even if it is the same ebony and the same ice strings, it can't imitate the ancient sound played by Shen Ling himself.

Zhong Ying didn't care about it, raised his hand and hung on the elegant string, first picked and then picked, both strings vibrated, and a sound of "Zheng!" was made.

"What are you doing!" Belu was furious suddenly, his old body almost jumped out of the wheelchair!

Zhong Ying lowered his eyes and ignored him. Bellu in front of him was just a thief who was not worth asking.

He raised his hand up again, the sound of the piano continued to reverberate, and the deep sound penetrated into the wood, making the simple sound of a wooden fish that he thought about day and night, echoing for a long time like a wooden clock.

The trembling of the strings has not stopped, Zhong Ying's right fingertips hooked the strings one by one, and the left hand slid across the ten strings in turn, playing the sound of elegant and deep sleep with the momentum of vibrating the rope and ringing the bell.

Domenique was terrified when he saw it, and reminded him aloud: "Zhong Ying..."

Zhong Ying didn't raise his head, and continued to press the strings calmly, and said in a very professional tone: "The strings of this piano are loose, and no one has played it for a long time. Although there is no dust, the half-box body Needs a good cleaning. And the tone of the string—”

He picked up the strings continuously, struck a few times, and swept out a pleasant melody, and then touched the strings briefly, making a double flick of a jackdaw pecking at the snow, revealing the unique lingling sound of the ten-stringed qin.

Domenic listened carefully, and Bellou stared at him as if he was facing an enemy, and no one stopped him.

Zhong Ying stopped, and asked patiently like a teacher: "Have you heard it?"

A pianist present, a senior music lover, even if he didn't hear it, he still had to put on a dignified look.

Domenic nodded, "Well, it's really not right."

Bellou was deaf, his brows were tightly frowned, "It is precisely because of this that I invited you here."

Zhong Ying raised the corners of his lips, thanking them for their cooperation.

He said: "It's right to ask me to come. The piano is a good one, and the imitation is good. Unfortunately, the strings are too loose, and no one has been playing it, which leads to the sound of the strings and a waste of a good body. Slow down."

The bell should be tuned slowly, starting from playing.

The chaotic and rapid melody just now disappeared and turned into a gentle caress. He had enough time to verify whether this piano was the ten strings that he had longed for.

His attitude is solemn, his posture is professional, and the sound of the qin comes out out of tune. It seems that he is indeed confirming the status of the guqin, and even Beilu will not stop him.

After all, Bellew had met many luthiers.

Those people kept secret about the ten-stringed qin, and when they talked about the ten-stringed qin, they all looked sad and tried to explain to him——

This is an obsolete guqin shape, even if it is a modern remade ten strings, it is only used as a prop for stage performances, and no one will use it for solo performances.

Because it is not necessary, it is even more cumbersome.

Moreover, some people asked Bellou: Why should you stick to ten strings when you can perform with seven strings?

However, the 28-year-old young man in front of Bellu is so handy, he will not argue with him about the theory of guqin, nor will he complain about the number of strings.

Zhong Yingmo is picky and picky, and she is serious and meticulous in everything.

With both hands picking, hitting and fully supporting, the posture is elegant, and the fingertips are like the wind sending light clouds, which is pleasing to the eye.

The gray-haired old man, leaning on a wheelchair, was almost insane.

He stared blankly at the young violinist in front of him who was focused on tuning, and it was easy to fall into his own memories.

Bellou clearly remembers the first time he traveled long distances and took a boat to an unfamiliar China. The streets were dirty and muddy, and he was exhausted. He resisted his father's decision and only wanted to return to Italy as soon as possible.

Then, he met a handsome man.

The man was wearing a light blue moon white gown. He was neither extremely beautiful nor young, but he was intoxicated by playing this piano to this day.

Shen Ting in Bellew's mind came alive as the bell rang the piano.

In the gray Chinese-style house, only Shen Ling is full of light, like a lotus standing in the mud, blooming with beautiful and beautiful flowers, which is far more unforgettable than any other works of art.

The collection room rang intermittently, sometimes intensely and sometimes soothingly.

Zhong Ying tuned the strings and didn't bother to pay attention to the silent Bellou. Under Domenique's curious gaze, he checked the situation of Shixian Yayun to his heart's content by virtue of his habit.

The ten ice strings are intact, and the sound of the qin is three-pointed. He only needs to play it to know that the quality of this guqin is excellent, far surpassing the imitation in the Qingling Lake Museum.

It has been in the collection room for decades, and Zhong Ying only needs to tighten the strings a little, and he can play directly on the stage, showing the peerless style of the famous piano through the ages.

However, Zhong Ying deliberately sighed and said: "This piano is too old, I have to remove a few strings and reattach them."

Specifically speaking to Bellu, before Bellou agreed, Zhong Ying carefully lifted the body of the piano.

He is not for breaking and winding the strings, but for confirming the most important engraving of the ten strings.

The thick body of the piano was held upright in his arms by him.

When Zhong Ying slowly removed the strings from the qin, he could clearly see the engravings on the belly of the ten-stringed qin that "represses the complex strings and revitalizes the elegant rhyme".

The eight large fonts are round, with deep chiseling marks, and the paint traces that have been wiped off alone are covered with small and small cracks, and the ancient vicissitudes visible to the naked eye are coming.

Zhong Ying held the body of the piano in his arms, and slowly touched the engraved words with his sensitive fingers, the joy of Shen Ling when he first got the piano gradually rose in his heart, and the silent words left by Shen Ling could not get rid of in his mind.

He said: The seal script is majestic, thick and calm, and it must come from the hands of famous masters!

He said: The writing marks are like a chapped river ditch, just wait for one source to moisten, and the dead tree will surely be full of spring!

This is indeed elegant rhyme, this is indeed Mr. Shen's ten-stringed zither.

Zhong Ying involuntarily breathed a sigh of relief, and his tense body relaxed accordingly.

When he goes out from here, he must contact Master quickly. Whether it is to seek explanation from Belu or the embassy in Italy, they all have clear goals. It is impossible for Belu to make another fake piano for a while. come out.

Now that Beilu publicly promised to present Shixian Yayun to Master, as long as the Qingling Lake Museum issues the identification result of the imitation piano, they can go to Beilu Manor again and have a good talk with this cunning and hateful thief. Qin stay or stay.

Zhong Ying was full of joy, carefully put the ninth and tenth strings of the guqin back on the body, and continued to pretend to be working hard.

Even if he was asked to let go of the piano, he would be extremely reluctant.

However, Qin is here, and the opportunity to bring Qin home is here. He can hold back the impulse, leave immediately as if nothing happened, and plan carefully.

The strings return to the piano body, and the piano body returns to the piano table.

Zhong Ying evoked a slight smile, he was in a very good mood, and was planning to have a few polite words with Bellou.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at the decorations in the collection room directly opposite the piano table.

The familiar glass frame and familiar letters are completely different from those hanging in Bellew's study.

Zhong Ying's attention, which was completely captured by Shixian Yayun, was finally able to distract these letters and read them word by word.

The more he read, the lower his happy mood just now fell, and he even felt the non-existent cold wind blowing from the collection room, piercing his back as cold as if struck by lightning.

Because, it was Shen Ling's own handwriting, and the handwriting was no different from the diary——

"If Mr. Bellou is Aiqin, it's okay for me to play for you when Yayun comes back."

"Shen's family is well-off. If you return this piano, you will be rewarded with a lot of money. I will remember the kindness of the Italian righteous man in this life."

"If someone else asks, just tell him, Shen will do his best to relieve your worries, and he will not dare to refuse."

Words and sentences, like a silent cry, linger in the collection room that traps ten strings and elegant rhymes, spanning nearly 80 years and endlessly.

That's not a letter.

That was Shen Ling's plea before she died.

He was praying that Bellu, who took away the elegant rhyme, would be merciful and return the piano to him. The despair between the lines, as the letters are sorted from left to right, deepens layer by layer, but still maintains the character of a literati, tactful and gentle .

Zhong Ying felt that his fingertips were numb and his eyes were dry.

The letter that Mr. Shen has been thinking about has indeed reached Italy, and it has indeed reached Bellou's hands.

But he will never know until he dies that he begged and promised again and again, because of the enthusiastic translation of the ambassador of the Republic of China, it became "Our friendship lasts forever" and "Good health and good luck" in Italian!

Seeing Zhong Ying's shocked expression, Bellu also looked up at the decorations that had hung on the wall for decades.

He smiled when he saw it, his face was kind, and he said with a look of nostalgia: "These are the original letters that Shen Ling sent me all the way back then. If you know Chinese, you should know that we are really good friends."

Beilu and Shen Ling are not friends, and he can't even have a good word with Shen Ling.

But he still insisted, "He is the bosom friend I will never forget in my life."