Yan Zhengming was still wondering how the piece of music ended up in someone else's hands when he turned around and saw Shi Qian sitting lazily in the back. There were several people standing in front of Shi Qian, blocking his view, and Yan Zhengming almost didn't see him.
Yan Zhengming strode over, and everyone made way for him when they saw the president coming. He walked to Shi Qian's side and patted him on the shoulder.
"I've finally found you! Wasn't that song yours? How come you gave it to someone else?"
Shi Qian looked closely and realized that the old man looked somewhat familiar, but he couldn't quite place him. He then removed the old man's hand from his shoulder, as Shi Qian didn't like physical contact with others.
Seeing that Shi Qian had no reaction, Yan Zhengming spoke again: "It's me, a street performer."
When Shi Qian heard the words "performing on the street," he finally recognized the person from his memory. Today, Yan Zhengming was dressed smartly and had even gotten a haircut; he almost didn't recognize him.
"Is the contact information you gave me fake? I sent you a message but you didn't reply."
Shi Qian remembered receiving a text message from an unknown number before, but he ignored it because it looked too much like a spam message.
Everyone was surprised to see Yan Zhengming and Shi Qian acting so familiar with each other. Principal Xu stepped forward and said to Yan Zhengming, "Is this the student you're looking for?"
"Oh yes, this is the young student. It seems your school really produces a lot of talented people."
Yan Zhengming found Shi Qian, and his mood improved considerably. This time, he couldn't let the kid get away.
"What are you doing here? Practicing the piano? Play it for me again."
Shi Qian rolled her eyes inwardly. This old man was just as arrogant as before, immediately asking her to play the violin. Shi Qian wasn't in the mood for that right now.
"In no mood."
Shi Qian refused outright. Chen Qian cursed inwardly, thinking, "This country bumpkin really doesn't know anything. What a great opportunity for him to show off! Shi Qian actually refused!"
Who is Chairman Yan? How dare he use such an attitude?
Chen Qian thought Yan Zhengming would be angry, but to his surprise, Yan Zhengming didn't take Shi Qian's rejection to heart and just cheerfully said that it would be okay next time.
"But that student didn't play as well as you. Did you give him your piece? I think there's a part in the middle that's not quite right."
Upon hearing this, Chen Qian thought Yan Zhengming had misunderstood and quickly stepped forward to explain, "This is not the piece by the student in front of you. This piece is an original composition by Shi Yan, the student who just played it."
"We came here today to resolve this issue. This student, Shi Qian, stole the sheet music from our student, Shi Yan. I originally asked them to come here so that both sides could communicate properly and Shi Qian could return the sheet music to Shi Yan. However, this student's attitude was extremely bad, so we had no choice but to call the police."
"Call the police?" Yan Zhengming didn't expect this to happen. He had already decided that this was Shi Qian's song, so how could it be considered stolen?
Besides, Yan Zhengming can roughly figure out a person's skill level just by listening to them play once. He can learn the techniques in a piece of music, but he cannot imitate a person's musical style and the inspiration in their performance.
Shi Yan played quite well; even a layman could tell it was a good piece.
However, Shi Yan's playing was stiff, with a formulaic feel that lacked soul.
Therefore, Yan Zhengming did not believe Chen Qian's claim that Shi Qian stole the sheet music. Someone had already brought over a chair, and Yan Zhengming sat down next to Shi Qian, saying, "Is that so? Shi Qian, you tell me yourself."
He seemed determined to support Shi Qian, and everyone present dared not utter a sound.
When Xu Wenbing heard Chen Qian mention calling the police, he frowned. From the few words Chen Qian had just spoken, he roughly understood what had happened. It was just a minor squabble between students, so how did it escalate to the point where the police needed to be called?
"Teacher Chen, it's one thing for the students to lack sense of propriety in these little things, but don't you have any sense of propriety either?"
Xu Wenbing's meaning was clear: he was blaming Chen Qian for making a big deal out of a small matter. Chen Qian had previously said that calling the police was only to threaten Shi Qian, and he never really wanted to take it that far.
Faced with the principal's questioning, Chen Qian could only smile apologetically and explain, "It was the students' request, and I had no other choice."
Yan Zhengming didn't care about reporting it to the police at all; he just wanted to know what was going on with the music. How did it suddenly become stolen?
“Tell me everything.” Yan Zhengming tapped the back of Shi Qian’s chair, signaling him to speak.
Shi Qian didn't want to say anything. He felt there was no need to explain to those who were already prejudiced against him.
These kinds of people don't actually want the truth; they just want to verify their own suspicions. Even if Shi Qian says he didn't steal it, they won't believe him at all. They'll just keep looking for evidence to prove he's lying.
Shi Qian didn't want to get caught up in this pointless self-proof, so the best way was to call the police and let them investigate.
But given the current situation, he couldn't remain silent, so Shi Qian sighed and finally spoke.
“This student, Shi Yanshi, gathered a group of people early in the morning and asked me to hand over the sheet music that I stole from him. Then this teacher, Chen, called us over here and immediately threatened to call the police if I didn’t hand it over. So I called the police. That’s what happened.”
Upon hearing Shi Qian's threat, Chen Qian hurriedly explained that he hadn't meant it; he was just trying to reason with Shi Qian, but Shi Qian wouldn't listen.
"Is this supposed to be reasonable? The teacher just said that I'm a jealous person with bad character, and that my parents didn't raise me well. Is that part of being reasonable?"
"I didn't... I didn't..." Chen Qian watched as the principal's face grew increasingly grim, inwardly groaning.
Yan Zhengming didn't want to listen to Chen Qian's rambling explanation, so he asked Shi Qian directly, "Is this piece yours?"
"yes."
"Um."
"I think it's possible that Shi Yan accidentally took someone else's sheet music. It's all a misunderstanding. Shi Yan and this teacher did something wrong. They slandered their classmate and student without investigating the matter properly. This is very bad. You should apologize to Shi Qian and let's just let it go."
Yan Zhengming was only gentle when he spoke to Shi Qian. At this moment, he became serious, and his voice carried a hint of coldness.
When Chen Qian heard the accusatory tone in Yan Zhengming's words, his legs went weak with fear. Shi Qian seemed to have a good relationship with Yan Zhengming, and it was clear from Yan Zhengming's words that he was supporting Shi Qian. How did he offend this big shot?
Chen Qian only joined the Beijing Musicians Association last year and is just a junior member. If he offends the president of the association here, he might be expelled tomorrow.
He knew what was more important, so Chen Qian didn't dare say anything more. He walked up to Shi Qian with a fawning expression, ready to apologize.
But to everyone's surprise, Shi Yan, who was standing behind him, suddenly spoke up, his tone filled with indignation: "Why should it be his music just because he says so! That's not fair!"
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