Chapter 6, Song 6...
For Yan Zheng, the breakup happened more than half a year ago.
Yan Zheng was still organizing his thoughts; he didn't really know what to ask.
He also started learning the piano from Teacher Xia Xiaolei when he was five or six years old. It was all one-on-one lessons, so he rarely met Qu Jiaying, but he had heard of her name since he started learning the piano.
Yan Zheng's parents always talk about how amazing she is, how quickly she can learn difficult skills, and how she never needs her parents to supervise her practice.
Knowing that his parents were like that, and that he also had similar "other people's children" in terms of academic performance, he didn't resent Qu Jiaying. He was just a little curious. Moreover, he knew that his talent in playing the violin wasn't that high, so he switched to learning the viola when he entered junior high school.
As he grew older, he gained a better understanding of the music and the composer, which enabled him to make it to the finals of the competition and finally meet Qu Jiaying.
With the competition approaching, Ms. Xia Xiaolei wanted to provide more guidance to their performance, but she only had so much time and also had her university job, so she invited both of them to her home to teach them at the same time.
What he didn't expect was that Qu Jiaying also knew him. Perhaps her parents or teacher Xia Xiaolei told her, but he didn't know what they said. When they first met, her attitude wasn't very friendly.
Qu Jiaying taught the class first, and Yan Zheng was immediately captivated by her skills. Her pitch was perfect, her tone was beautiful, and her voice was very powerful. She looked at him with considerable pride.
Next up was Yan Zheng. His technique was lacking, but he paid great attention to every detail. Teacher Xia Xiaolei praised him a couple of times, but Qu Jiaying looked unconvinced.
After the final rankings were announced, Qu Jiaying's attitude softened considerably, as she won second place in the viola group and third place in the violin group.
Qu Jiaying probably agrees with these rules, but Yan Zheng knows he took a shortcut. There are very few viola players, which is why he was able to rank higher.
In the following years, the two often competed together, and before the competitions, they would learn to play the piano together at Teacher Xia Xiaolei's home.
One day during their senior year of high school, both Yan Zheng and Qu Jiaying were preparing for their music academy entrance exams at Ms. Xia Xiaolei's house. Yan Zheng was practicing the piano in the next room, while Qu Jiaying was taking a class. During a break, Yan Zheng overheard Ms. Xia Xiaolei saying something to Qu Jiaying.
“After one of your senior classmates had a relationship, she changed completely and became more captivating in her performances.”
A few days later, he confessed his feelings to Qu Jiaying.
Yan Zheng didn't know when he fell in love with Qu Jiaying. Maybe it was after hearing her name many times before their first meeting, or maybe it was the friendship that grew from their time practicing the piano and competing together.
He felt that Qu Jiaying would probably listen to the teacher, so he should seize the opportunity.
While Yan Zheng despised her own despicable actions, she was secretly delighted that she had accepted her confession.
However, he underestimated Qu Jiaying's passion for music, or rather, misjudged her commitment to the relationship. Once he realized that the relationship was not helping her acting much, he broke up with her.
Qu Jiaying is not someone who likes to look back.
Not to mention that this relationship had been over for several years, and she had long since let it go, but Yan Zheng's silence reminded her of the past.
Teacher Xia Xiaolei has many students, but at that time, there was only one Yan Zheng who was the same age as Qu Jiaying. Not to mention that their family situations were similar. Yan Zheng's father was a member of the provincial symphony orchestra, and his mother was a music education major. In the classical music world, such families are more standard and more likely to produce soloists.
Qu's parents don't like to compare, and Teacher Xia Xiaolei only mentioned that there was such a boy, but Qu Jiaying herself has a strong competitive spirit and cares a lot about him.
However, I couldn't run into him, not even at the entrance exam for the junior high school affiliated with the music academy.
Qu Jiaying's academic performance was average. She was even more depressed after hearing from her teacher, Xia Xiaolei, that Yan Zheng had been admitted to the best middle school in the city. She was even more determined not to lose to him in violin playing.
They finally met before an important competition. Although he had changed to playing the viola, it didn't matter.
Teacher Xia Xiaolei also praised Yan Zheng for his excellent handling of details, and Qu Jiaying had to admit it. Later, he won awards in competitions one after another for his delicate performance.
As for dating, Qu Jiaying has never had such thoughts. There are quite a few male classmates in the affiliated high school of the music academy, and of course some of them pursue her. But in her eyes, those who are not good at playing instruments are not good enough, and those who are good at playing instruments are all competitors, regardless of gender.
As for the boys from other majors, some of them met her standards for playing instruments, so she agreed to go on dates with them, but none of them ended up working out because she had to practice her instrument and didn't have much free time for other things.
Therefore, even his only friend is Gao Ying, who is from a different major and has a good level of expertise.
When her teacher, Xia Xiaolei, suggested she date, she was working incredibly hard to prepare for the music academy entrance exam, but she became increasingly stiff and awkward.
She also wanted to improve this situation, but music academies were extremely difficult to get into. Just when she was worrying about what to do, Yan Zheng confessed his feelings to her.
"Maybe I can help you."
Qu's parents often told her to balance work and rest. Besides, Yan Zhengqin played the piano well, studied well, and was also very handsome. The two of them had common interests, so what reason did she have to refuse?
Qu Jiaying said, "Okay."
She felt quite happy dating Yan Zheng. Yan Zheng practiced very diligently, so they could understand each other. After practice, they would go on dates together, talk about the difficulties they encountered in practicing the piano that day, and occasionally they would book a private room at a karaoke bar to play together.
Qu Jiaying then discovered one of Yan Zheng's abilities: he had perfect pitch.
She was both excited and regretful at the time, and casually joked, "It's such a waste that you practiced the viola. If anyone in the symphony orchestra is out of tune, with your personality, you'll definitely say it, and you might even keep looking in that direction during the concert. That would be too obvious. You might as well just be the conductor and keep an eye on people from the front."
Yan Zheng said helplessly, "If I still get the pitch wrong at the performance venue, wouldn't that drive me crazy?"
Qu Jiaying sighed softly as she recalled this.
She wasn't sure if she was the one who first mentioned to Yan Zheng that he could be a conductor because of his perfect pitch. In any case, he took the entrance exam for the conducting department, but she didn't know about it until she received the acceptance letter.
She only found out when Mr. Qu, Mrs. Qu, and teacher Xia Xiaolei were having dinner at her house and they casually mentioned it.
Aren't they a couple? Why didn't he tell her? Even friends would mention it, right?
She only had this one reason for breaking up, but Yan Zheng never explained it, and she doesn't care anymore.
Qu Jiaying glanced at Yan Zheng beside her. It seemed he still didn't intend to explain why he was hiding it. She couldn't help but ask, "What exactly do you want to talk to me about?"
Yan Zheng's thoughts raced through his mind, but in the end he simply asked, "What do you mean by saying I won't agree?"
Qu Jiaying said, "I think you don't appreciate my style, so I won't agree. What do you think it is?"
Yan Zheng thought that Qu Jiaying was also still upset about the breakup, which was why he thought he wouldn't agree. He realized he was overthinking it. He pursed his lips and said, "It's not that I don't appreciate it."
"So you agreed to my joining?" Qu Jiaying asked immediately.
Yan Zheng gazed at her and nodded slightly.
Le Yi received the news immediately, added Qu Jiaying to the group, and promptly notified everyone to gather for a meeting.
Qu Jiaying glanced at the address; it was in the composition department's teaching building. She waited for Yan Zheng downstairs in the boys' dormitory for a while while he went to get his instrument, and the two of them walked over together.
Yan Zheng opened the door of the teaching building and said, "I don't know how the school divides its departments, putting the conducting department and the composition department in the same college."
“Shouldn’t a conductor understand the composer even more? Understand all those things like musical form and structure? Not to mention you’re all on a five-year program, so it’s quite suitable to put you all in one place,” Qu Jiaying said.
Le Yi, carrying his violin, emerged from the stairwell: "I heard your voices as soon as I got to the second floor."
"So you came down again? Couldn't you have just waited for us on the second floor or upstairs?" Qu Jiaying asked, puzzled. "How did you find this place?"
Le Yi smiled and said, "The practice rooms are all too small. The classrooms are often occupied by students taking classes. The larger rehearsal halls are all occupied by juniors, seniors, or master's and doctoral students. I didn't really find this place. To be precise, Xiang Min found it first. I just discovered that he was practicing the piano here."
Qu Jiaying pointed at Yan Zheng: "Then where did you find him?"
"He didn't close the door properly in the small music room. I heard it as soon as I went over," Le Yi explained.
"Is Xiang Min also a freshman?" Qu Jiaying asked.
“He’s a sophomore now, he’ll graduate with you all, and then I’ll be the only one left,” Yan Zheng said.
Le Yi patted his chest and assured, "We will continue to play together even after we graduate."
Qu Jiaying and Yan Zheng glanced at each other, neither of them saying anything to spoil the mood.
Le Yi walked at the front and pushed open the door of the rehearsal room: "Xiang Min, you've arrived. Let me introduce you. This is Qu Jiaying. You two haven't met before."
Xiang Min was adjusting the sound in the fourth chair when he heard this. He looked up at the only girl among the three and raised his eyebrows slightly in surprise.
He first leaned the cello against the chair, stood up, extended his right hand, and smiled gently: "Hello, my name is Xiang Min, you should already know that."
Qu Jiaying kept a straight expression, nodded slightly, shook hands with him, and sparingly said two words: "Hello."
She withdrew her right hand, her palm itchy; it turned out to be 旻 (min), not 明 (ming).
Xiang Min took out his phone: "I've added you. Please accept my request. After all, we'll be in a band together from now on."
Qu Jiaying paused for a moment before opening her phone and accepting the friend request from the group chat.
Yan Zheng keenly sensed that something was off between the two of them, yet their behavior suggested it was their first meeting.
"Wow, you two are so formal," Le Yi said with satisfaction. "Xiang Min, I haven't asked for your opinion yet. Although it's useless, you previously thought her performance wasn't good enough, but now do you agree to her joining?"
Qu Jiaying drawled, "Oh? You think I didn't play it well enough?"
Xiang Min smiled, not flustered at all: "You may also look down on my playing, but that doesn't affect the quartet, does it?"
“You three are probably very good in your own fields, but here, I am the most professional musician.” Qu Jiaying nodded in acknowledgment.
She then looked at Xiang Min: "However, I haven't heard your cello yet."
Xiang Min's smile was like the warm spring sunshine. He returned to the fourth chair in the rehearsal room and set up his cello.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
