Chapter 26, Song 26...
The four of them went boating on the nearest lake.
In mid-spring, willow catkins flutter in the air, roses climb up the embankment, crabapple blossoms droop gently, a white sky hangs over the green lawn, and the lake shimmers.
People were out enjoying the spring outing everywhere. The laughter of children and the barking of dogs echoed each other, and wisps of smoke drifted over.
Yan Zheng pointed to the pedal boat: "Jiaying, is this kind of boat okay?"
Xiang Min smiled slightly and introduced another small boat to Qu Jiaying, which could be rowed.
The small boats recommended by Yan Zheng and Xiang Min can only seat two people.
Le Yi pointed to the inflatable raft: "This looks like a small boat in a painting."
Qu Jiaying nodded. The raft was quite large, and all four of them could sit down.
The four people put on life jackets and listened to the staff's explanation.
Le Yi helped Qu Jiaying sit in the front, and said with a smile, "It's like a pirate ship, you can feel it most clearly when you sit in the front."
He sat down right behind Qu Jiaying. Yan Zheng and Xiang Min didn't have time to grab seats before the order was set.
Everyone took their seats according to the order of the quartet. Yan Zheng sat behind Le Yi and couldn't help but mutter a complaint to himself, while Xiang Min, sitting at the back, smiled gently.
Le Yi, seemingly oblivious to the gazes behind him, smiled slightly as he explained to Qu Jiaying how to row.
Le Yi initially wanted to partner with Qu Jiaying, but she chose Gao Ying instead. So he partnered with senior Ruan Qi. However, Qu Jiaying's attention was still on senior Ruan Qi, and it wasn't easy to win her attention.
At the same time, he didn't want to break the balance. Like Qu Jiaying, he still wanted the quartet to continue, so let him draw the fire.
"Why did you turn? You should go straight!" Yan Zheng shouted.
Xiang Min said, "Everyone should row with about the same amount of force with both hands, otherwise the boat will veer to one side."
“I can control both of my hands,” Le Yi said.
Qu Jiaying remained silent, her right hand exerting more force than her left.
Many tourists were rowing boats. The spring breeze was chilly, and the lake was not calm. Qu Jiaying felt a little dizzy. She had to fight off the waves, control the direction of the boat, and listen to the noise behind her.
"Are you still going to the left? Are you going to spin around in circles?" Yan Zheng continued to shout.
"You didn't use your left hand, did you?" Xiang Min replied.
"I won't use my right hand anymore," Le Yi said quickly.
Qu Jiaying's head was throbbing from the noise: "Now it's turning to the right again!"
With a thud, the bow of the boat crashed into the embankment on the lakeside.
The four men paddled frantically, but they kept spinning in circles. Finally, patrolling staff used long poles to rescue them.
Le Yi looked dejected: "I chose rowing, how did it end up like this..."
Yan Zheng was also unhappy: "I should have come up with a way to move forward much earlier..."
Xiang Min sighed as well: "I should have stopped this unreliable method a long time ago..."
Qu Jiaying was speechless: "Why are you taking all the blame upon yourself?"
The three of them were still quite down, but Qu Jiaying laughed and said, "Okay, thanks for keeping me company. I've finally found my rhythm."
Le Yi was the first to recover: "That's good!"
Qu Jiaying went to return the life jacket, and Le Yi sent Yan Zheng and Xiang Min away, then followed her closely.
Qu Jiaying smiled and glanced at him sideways: "I thought you hated competition."
Le Yi paused for a moment, then scratched his face shyly: "I just don't like participating in competitions."
He wasn't sure whether he wanted to tell Qu Jiaying or not, but she stopped asking.
She said that finding the feeling means you've truly found it.
During the symphony orchestra rehearsal, Qu Jiaying's performance silenced everyone. Despite her flaws, her solo performance better highlighted the storm on the sea. Cai Rui finally nodded: "If you want to practice well, you can practice well."
Ruan Qi also leaned forward and praised her in a low voice.
Qu Jiaying still can't achieve the same level of subtlety as Ruan Qi, but her performance is more powerful.
However, Qu Jiaying was still a little nervous. Her interpretation was completely different from Cai Rui's. After the rehearsal, she hurriedly asked Cai Rui, "Is this okay?"
“Of course.” Cai Rui nodded, puzzled.
“But my interpretation is different from yours. You’ve heard Ruan Qi’s version, right? Hers is similar to yours,” Qu Jiaying said.
A symphony orchestra does not highlight any particular musician, but rather focuses on the conductor. Even the principal conductor must adjust the solo performance in collaboration with different conductors.
Only a soloist can fully realize their potential in a performance.
“First of all, your interpretation is very much in line with the spirit of the original piece. Ruan Qi’s sense of ambiguity is only part of it. From the perspective of a solo performance, your interpretation is very good.” After spending more than half a year in China, Cai Rui’s accent is still very strong. “Secondly, my goal for the school symphony orchestra is to cultivate talent. The more outstanding you are, the better. I don’t see any problem with that.”
Cai Rui admires Qu Jiaying. Even as a competitor, she can face the competition with composure. She has a strong drive and persistence, but at the same time, she understands that music is not a competition. Music is a great product that can be communicated without language.
But the musicians in the provincial symphony orchestra didn't understand this principle.
The conductor could only do so much; he merely changed the phrasing and adjusted the rhythm, yet the musicians of the provincial symphony orchestra refused to follow his instructions.
Cai Rui put in some effort and carefully explained some issues related to the principal's technique, which solved the principal's problem in one go. The provincial symphony orchestra basically calmed down, but there was still one troublemaker.
Yan Jing, the principal viola player, happens to be the father of Yan Zheng, a conducting student. He is technically better than the principal viola player and has more opinions about him.
Cai Rui recalled that during the last rehearsal with the provincial symphony orchestra, Yan Jing mentioned wanting his son to go to the Juilliard School, worried that he might be misled by Yan Jing.
He remembered that Yan Zheng and Qu Jiaying had formed a quartet, and casually asked about it.
Qu Jiaying was stunned: "I don't know, he didn't say..."
After leaving the rehearsal hall, Qu Jiaying summoned everyone who was "missing one" to gather in their quartet rehearsal room.
There haven't been many quartet performances scheduled lately, mainly because Qu Jiaying is very busy. In addition to performances, the school symphony orchestra also has to coordinate with the conducting and composition departments' assignments and exams.
Composition majors in their fifth year have to prepare a graduation piece, and fourth-year students also have to complete a movement, which is performed by the school's symphony orchestra. Conducting majors, on the other hand, have all students from their first to fifth year take an exam, which is similar to a competition, and all pieces have to be practiced.
To accommodate the graduates' schedules, all work must be completed by the end of May.
It was precisely because of Cai Rui's involvement that these assessments were conducted.
Yan Zheng was also secretly busy studying the score and even went to learn from Lü Yueming in private.
Xiang Min, a junior this year, and Le Yi, a sophomore, are the most relaxed. Xiang Min still takes on various performances from time to time. He is handsome and plays many musical instruments, so he is often asked to fill in for others. Le Yi has taken on several students. He is cheerful and can get along well with children while also having a way of keeping them in line. He teaches in the music room every day.
"What's wrong? Haven't you been busy with the orchestra lately?" Yan Zheng asked.
Le Yi and Xiang Min arrived at the rehearsal room a few minutes earlier than him and had already heard Qu Jiaying's explanation. Now they both looked at Yan Zheng.
Yan Zheng took a half step back: "What are you doing?"
"What are you doing?" Le Yi glared at him.
Yan Zheng still looked completely bewildered.
Qu Jiaying asked, "Are you planning to go to Julia in America?"
"What Julia? I have no such plans," Yan Zheng said, puzzled.
"I heard it from Commander Cai Rui. He and Uncle Yan have been working together recently, haven't they? I think I heard it from there," Qu Jiaying said.
"My dad?" Yan Zheng was taken aback. "I've never heard him mention me."
Xiang Min calmly said, "Although Cai Rui has many problems, he wouldn't lie about something like this."
"I'll go back and ask him right away." Yan Zheng left in a hurry.
Le Yi looked at the worried Qu Jiaying: "Are you worried about him?"
Xiang Min also looked over, and Qu Jiaying sighed: "I'm worried that it will really become 'three players short of one'."
"Yan Zheng probably wants to stay as well, right?" Xiang Min wondered.
“You don’t know Uncle Yan, nor do you understand the way Yan Zheng and his father get along,” Qu Jiaying said with a wry smile.
Xiang Min turned her head away; it was so glaring. She knew Yan Zheng so well.
Le Yi remained optimistic: "Yan Zheng can be quite stubborn sometimes, but he should be fine."
Qu Jiaying still had no expectations. Yan Zheng had always avoided the issue before. He had only shown his resistance a few times during his time with the quartet, and seemed to have grown a bit, but in the end, he was always persuaded by her.
Yan Zheng returned home immediately. His father, Yan Jinggang, had just finished teaching a class and, seeing that his son had returned home on a holiday, frowned and asked, "Why did you suddenly come home?"
When did I find out I was going to Julia?
Who told you that?
“Teacher Cai Rui,” Yan Zheng replied.
Yan Jing complained, "That commander talks too much..."
"If I hadn't asked, when would I have found out?" Yan Zheng asked again.
“I was planning to tell you soon, since I need to prepare for the exam,” Yan Jing explained.
“I thought that even studying abroad meant pursuing a master’s degree,” Yan Zheng said.
“I don’t trust Cai Rui’s abilities. It’s better for him to leave as soon as possible. Your mother and I are processing your transfer. With your abilities, the exams shouldn’t be a problem,” Yan Jing said.
Yan Zheng didn't know whether he should be grateful to his father for recognizing his abilities or angry that his father didn't care about his wishes.
"I want to go after I graduate," Yan Zheng said.
"It's settled. Just focus on your exam." Yan Jing left no room for negotiation.
Yan Zheng has never opposed his parents' decisions since he was a child, whether it was learning the violin, switching to the viola, or even switching to conducting.
"Why didn't you ask what I thought first?" Yan Zheng said in a low voice.
Yan Jing frowned: "What good would it do to ask you? We're all doing this for your own good. You're not particularly talented at playing the violin, but you're such a good conductor. How can you let a conductor whose style is rejected by the classical music world lead you astray?"
Yan Zheng lowered his head; he no longer had the strength to refute.
Qu Jiaying's voice seemed to be right next to my ear. Once, the two of them were chatting and talking about their common shortcomings.
"Both you and I lack individuality."
Yan Zheng laughed self-deprecatingly, realizing that Qu Jiaying had already found her own path, while he had long since fallen behind her.
It was like that from the very first meeting.
How can I, who has just given up, have the right to stand beside her?
Yan Zheng slowly raised his head.
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Author's Note: Please add "Perfect Match" to your favorites for pre-order!
Synopsis: Ji Chun lived for over twenty years in the interstellar era. Suddenly, she dreamt that she had transmigrated into a cannon fodder female supporting character in an interstellar novel. In order to obtain residency on the central planet, she had to participate in gene matching. As a result, she was targeted by rebel spies who altered her matching score. In the end, the spies were exposed, and she was implicated and imprisoned. All of this was just the background for the love story between the male and female protagonists in the original book.
Ji Chun had a headache. She had already signed up for gene matching, but seeing that she couldn't stop the original plot from happening, she turned around and bumped into her college friend He Yue.
Ji Chun was overjoyed: "Shall we get married?"
He Yue extended his hand: "It's a pleasure to cooperate with you."
No one could have imagined that He Yue, known for his coldness and ruthlessness, would chase after Ji Chun a year later, begging her not to leave.
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