Kade is obviously changing the subject, but Lan Wangji lets it go easily. There are many things he wouldn't care to discuss with a relative stranger. If he feels any surprise at this tale of a flute that can be heard only by the dead, it extinguishes itself before it can make any alterations to his expression. "My husband plays the dizi," he says. "His dizi and my qin together lead to stronger musical cultivation."