Well, Fu Zhi faced quite some issues while preparing for her performance.

Perhaps western music was mainstream, and there were fewer people wanting to learn a traditional musical instrument, as the Mu Family could not find a suona for Fu Zhi.

​​

Besides, Song Fang also hoped that Fu Zhi could be a little normal. He told her that he knew she was extraordinary, but she did not have to go to such extremes.

In the end, Fu Zhi compromised and chose to play the guzheng instead.

The Mu Family brought the guzheng from the backstage area. Song Fang then dragged Fu Zhi backstage to check the quality of the guzheng.

"Sister Zhi, do you know how to play the guzheng? It's not like the suona, which you can play just by blowing air. You need at least a few years of experience to play the guzheng."

"Oh." Fu Zhi threw a glance at him. "Now you realize you should ask me?"

Embarrassed, Song Fang scratched his head and said, "Well, my emotions got the best of me when I heard them bad-mouthing you. After all, look at Mu Chenxi. It's very obvious that she's trying to one-up you, so how can I let that happen?"

If Ye Jiu was there, Fu Zhi was certain that things would have gotten even more out of control. In the end, she did not say anything.

*

Meanwhile, inside the dressing room of the banquet hall...

Mu Chenxi and Xu Tongtong were sitting with three reporters. Upon looking at them, Mu Chenxi pitched her voice low and said, "I trust you guys know what you're supposed to do later, but I will run you through it again. After Fu Zhi finishes her guzheng performance, you guys should go up to her and ask if she's Pure Feather. Then, the viewers in the live-streaming room will realize who she really is underneath her mask."

Mu Chenxi was certain that Fu Zhi did not know how to play the guzheng at all. This was because she had never seen Fu Zhi in any institution before, and even if she could play it, Mu Chenxi did not believe that her guzheng performance would be better than her piano performance. After all, she had practiced the piano for 10 years.

The three reporters nodded in assent as they said, "Don't worry. Since we've taken your money, we will certainly do as you say."

After this exchange, Mu Chenxi waved her arms to signal for the reporters to leave. Then, she came out of the room arm in arm with Xu Tongtong. "Just you wait. Today will be the day of Fu Zhi's demise!"

*

A Dunhuang guzheng inlaid with gold and some white jade was placed in the center of the stage by the staff. It gave off an oriental vibe and it looked out of place in the lavishly decorated western-style hall.

The actors and actresses from the Mu Family then began to mock Fu Zhi when they saw the guzheng on the stage.

"A guzheng? It'd be better if she played the suona."

"I'm sure she more or less knows how to play the guzheng. It's just that I'm not sure how well she can play it…"

"I bet five packs worth of chili sticks that she can't play as well as Ms. Chenxi!"

"There's no need to bet. Learning to play the guzheng is a difficult task. Look at her hands. They are so delicate and fair that it doesn't seem to me that she's someone who can endure hardships. Ms. Chensi has been practicing the piano for 10 years, so I can say for sure that Fu Zhi is not as good as her!"

As they were all talking, the prelude of The Battle of Typhoon was played in the banquet hall. The Battle of Typhoon was one of the most famous guzheng solo pieces. Right after the music prelude ended, Fu Zhi began her performance.

As a Chinese plucked zither, the guzheng was pretty versatile. With a single strum or pluck of the string, the performer could convey different kinds of feelings to the audience. As for a majestic piece like the Battle of Typhoon, the moment the first note fell, the audience seemed able to picture the scene of an army of heroic warriors marching into the war zone with well-polished spears and armored horses to protect their country.

The people who looked down on Fu Zhi and mocked her fell silent. They all resonated with Fu Zhi's music, and their skin was filled with goosebumps.

The Battle of Typhoon was not hard to play. In fact, it was much simpler compared to Mariage d'amour.

Mu Chenxi thought that although Fu Zhi was pretty good at playing the guzheng, she was still far behind her.

However, the second this thought took shape in her mind, Fu Zhi came to an abrupt stop and began playing "Glamour", a song written by Addiction.

A melodious, fast-paced song was heard, and the unique timbre immediately pulled people into the bustle of the earthly world.

The atmosphere in the hall changed drastically.

"Brilliant! She can perfectly synchronize her hands!" A guzheng master couldn't help but exclaim.

The rest of the audience was stunned as well.

Everyone knew that "Flight Of The Bumblebee" and "English Country-Tunes" were known as the two hardest piano pieces in the world. Some of the bars of the latter even had 300 notes crammed into them, and the fingers of the pianist were practically flying across the piano keys when he or she was performing this music piece.

As for Addiction's "Glamour", in a sense, it was akin to the guzheng version of "Flight Of The Bumblebee" and it had been praised many times by other guzheng players before.

It was something that not everyone could play, including Mu Chenxi.

"Could… Could she be a guzheng master?"

"I'm sorry, I have to take back what I just said."

"Our traditional musical instruments have a small advantage over western musical instruments. Most youngsters nowadays think they are not cool compared to western musical instruments, so they are reluctant to pick up a traditional musical instrument. However, it's Addiction that changed the game and caused our people to start picking up the guzheng again. I'm truly impressed that this girl can play 'Glamour' so well!"

Mu Chenxi's face was as dark as the bottom of a pot.

She took a glance at the comments section in the live-streaming room. She realized that most of the viewers were praising Fu Zhi, and when she saw that some of them were saying that she knew her own limits and had gotten off the stage to give Fu Zhi a chance to showcase her talent, she was so angry that she nearly passed out.

Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined that Fu Zhi would pay the guzheng at all.

Sitting on the seat, Jiang Zong played with his fingers as he stared indifferently at Fu Zhi.

At that moment, all the lights had converged on Fu Zhi.

The hissing sound of the zither seemed to be narrating the ups and downs of a world. With a strum of the string, the scene of an army of soldiers fighting on armored horses to protect their country seemed to appear before their eyes. Then, with another pluck of the string, the scene in their eyes changed, and they seemed to see a war-torn country rise from the ashes. She moved her fingers across the strings so fast that before they knew it, she had already entered another section of the music.

It was something that they had never experienced before, and this was by far the best performance they had seen.

They were so amazed by Fu Zhi's performance that they could not come around to their senses even after Fu Zhi finished her performance.

It was only when Jiang Zong clapped his hands that they finally snapped back to reality and a round of applause erupted in the hall.

Ouyang Ya rubbed the spot between her eyebrows. She remembered the things Mu Chenxi had told her about this morning and snarled, "This is the surprise you were talking about?"

"No… I didn't know she knew how to play a musical instrument," Mu Chenxi said as she bit her lower lip.

She really had not known that Fu Zhi knew how to play a musical instrument. If she had known about it, she would never have asked Fu Zhi to perform on the stage.

"Ever since I came to Yu City, everyone has just kept saying to me that they don't know whether something is related to Fu Zhi. There are a lot of things in this world that you don't know. Wouldn't you check if you didn't know something? Do you know what kind of consequences you will face if you do something without having any knowledge of it?"

Mu Chenxi's eyes were red as she said, "I… I really don't know."

Ouyang Ya took a deep breath and added, "What's the main point of this gathering? To get Pure Feather out and make Fu Zhi humiliate herself in front of the public? Now what? She even stole the limelight from you! You are the host of this gathering, but you have become her sidekick!"

Mu Chenxi did not know what to say. Since she could not unleash her anger on Ouyang Ya, she could only divert her rage to Xu Tongtong. She glared at her furiously and said, "This is all your fault! If it were not for your lousy idea, none of this would have happened!"

Xu Tongtong did not dare fight back. She just kept her head low and said, "I thought a barbarian like her wouldn't know how to play a musical instrument. Who knew she could play the guzheng so well...

"How about this? Since Fu Zhi wanted to play the suona, let's ask her to play the suona. If she can't play it well, we can say she doesn't respect us at all and she's cursing us!"