Chapter 194: The Third Guest
“The Hanfu Goddess’s ability to play both a western instrument and a Chinese instrument is overpowered. Yesterday, she played some folk song music with Shen Mozhen, and today she’s playing some western music with Tang Tu.”
“Anyways, I will never be able to forget the scene where she played “Butterfly Lovers”… She was flexing too much!”
Tang Tu stood on the other side of the stage, so one of them was on the far right and the other was on the far left. He stood very far away from Liu Man. In the last piece, he was very close to Shen Mozhen, and they could have some eye contact. Now, he and Liu Man were so far away from each other that they couldn’t see each other’s eyes at all.
The main lights all got turned off, and there were only two spotlights above the stage left, each shining onto one of the performers and forming a light circle. They stayed in the light circle, one sitting and one standing, like two parallel lines that would never touch each other. At this moment, they, once again, turned into the respective characters they were in the movie.
Liu Man was Ji Ning, and Tang Tu was Duan Nanfeng.
The first piano note sounded, followed by a sad melody that was heartbreaking. Nobody in the audience had the room to continue thinking about Tang Tu and Liu Man’s rumor.
Between life and death, what even was love?
When everyone paid their attention to the girl playing the piano, Tang Tu lifted the violin onto his shoulders with his left hand, and the bow in his right hand was gently placed onto the strings. His left hand had his fingers bent slightly. His posture was incredulously handsome, and he took a look at Liu Man from far away. His expression was complicated but very gentle.
Unfortunately, Liu Man couldn’t see him, and none of the audience noticed it either. Only Shen Mozhen, under the stage, saw it.
Shen Mozhen finally realized that Tang Tu fell in love with Liu Man.
He invited Shen Mozhen and Liu Man to this concert at the same time probably just to apologize to Liu Man, prove her innocence, and protect her. What else was more persuasive having all three people stand out at the same time to clarify?
He protected Liu Man when he risked his reputation.
Tang Tu tried so hard and put lots of thoughts into this.
Shen Mozhen was glad she had already wiped away her emotions for Tang Tu, or she would be crying her heart out right now. Seeing how Tang Tu was treating Liu Man and recalling how he treated herself, she felt like there was too much contrast.
So, Tang Tu had never liked Shen Mozhen. He didn’t remember her hobbies and never cared for her feelings, but he treasured and protected a girl he liked. Even if Liu Man already had a boyfriend, he still respected her.
To be honest, Shen Mozhen still felt a bit sour inside. She was jealous of Liu Man for unknowingly getting the things she attempted so many times before to acquire but never did receive.
Liu Man’s piano playing stopped, and Tang Tu started playing his violin. The playing that sounded great made the audience feel the dismalness of not being able to acquire someone’s heart.
Many comments rolled across the live-stream screen:
“What is this movie about? Why is the theme song so sentimental?”
“Especially Tang Tu’s violin playing. It makes me want to cry. His expression also looks sad.”
“Hey, the style is completely different from that joyful ‘Canon’.”
“I’m very curious about the movie’s content. When it gets released, I will go watch it in a cinema!”
…
They soon reached the last part, where they had to play together. Liu Man started playing the piano again, combining her part with Tang Tu’s violin playing. It was as if the duo had returned to that night when they practiced the piano together in the music classroom of Shanghai Experimental Middle School.
Tang Tu did not think of anything else; his brain only contained the melody and the movie story. He wanted to put all his heart into playing this “Sound of the Wind” and make the entire piece perfect.
Because Tang Tu was clear that in the future, he might not have a chance to cooperate with Liu Man ever again. Even this opportunity was exchanged with a favor.
Both of them had lots of talents. They put aside all conflicts and overwhelmed themselves with the music.
The netizens in the live-stream were engrossed in this performance. Someone sent a comment saying:
“The Hanfu Goddess’s piano playing sounds pure. She probably doesn’t blame Tang Tu at all.”
“Tang Tu was at his prime age when he could be his most arrogant and young self. Meeting Shen Mozhen and Liu Man is the luckiest thing that happened in his life. After he leaves college and joins this adult society full of lies and schemes, he will never find women as clean as them.”
“Mhm. Maybe Tang Tu will find a new girlfriend in the future, but I think she will never be able to be as good as Shen Mozhen and Liu Man.”
…
When “Sound of the Wind” was about to end, a man with a not-so-tall stature got to the center of the stage. Because the lights were off, nobody in the audience noticed him, and neither did Liu Man, who was focusing on playing the piano.
When the lights in the concert hall lit up again, everyone finally realized there were three people on the stage.
The unfamiliar man had two artistic mustaches on his not-so-handsome face. One could see he was an artist at first glance.
Xue Yunfei smiled and reached out his arms to Tang Tu and Liu Man, standing to two sides, to invite them to come over.
Xue Yunfei’s sudden appearance came as a huge surprise for Liu Man. She hurriedly got up from her piano stool and walked to him. On the other side, Tang Tu also walked to the middle, his face full of a smile.
Everyone felt confused when they saw this scene. Which God was this short mustache man? Why were Tang Tu and Liu Man treating him like he was a big character?
Liu Man thought Xue Yunfei was Tang Tu’s third guest. She loved this mystery Tang Tu left!
Xue Yunfei smiled as he watched her get closer. He welcomed her with compliments, “It’s only been half a year since I’ve last since you, and you got a lot better at playing the piano already! You are getting more awesome!”
Liu Man knew her skills. Even if she practiced hard, her piano skills would never catch up with Li Xiaoru’s or Wang Nina’s. However, Xue Yunfei’s compliments still made her feel very glad. She was already glad from seeing Xue Yunfei.
Tang Tu introduced the audience to Xue Yunfei, “He is one of the guests that is going to show up in the third piece. Meet Mr. Xue Yunfei, a famous composer and independent musician. He’s also the composer of ‘Sound of the Wind’, the piece Liu Man and I had just performed.”
Liu Man felt strange when Tang Tu said Xue Yunfei was one of the guests. Was there going to be another person here?
Half a month ago, when Tang Tu and Liu Man’s scandal was at its worst, Xue Yunfei risked his reputation and supported the Hanfu Goddess openly on Wei Bo, leaving a deep impression on many netizens. Xue Yunfei rarely showed up in front of journalists because he knew he didn’t have a good appearance, so he stayed low-profile. Therefore, it was hard to find any of his photos online.
“So Xue Yunfei looks like this! I thought artists all look as handsome as Tutu.”
“You are so superficial. There are many handsome ones on the street, but how many of them are very talented? Look at the handsome dudes around you. Can any of them write such good pieces?”
“It’s a very low-tiered action to judge a book by its cover. Besides, Xue Yunfei’s temperament is much better than a normal person’s. Look, Liu Man is to his left and Tang Tu is to his right, but his aura is not suppressed by these two good-looking youngsters at all.”
“That’s the aura a big role has. He’s a real composer! Someone whom singers kneel to and bootlick!”
Translated by: Sydney