I have an interview tomorrow and I’m sleeping at 1 AM… Wish me luck-

Owner Li couldn’t resist but stop his work and admire the music. Liu Man was the most skillful Guqin player he had ever seen, and he had seen lots of students in his shop coming to buy Guqins. Of course, this wasn’t just about skills. She seemed to have completely understood how to make the best sounds on a Guqin — by creating an artistic mood. She could easily peel her audience away from reality and insert them into a world she created.

She was definitely skilled!

A few passersby who were near this shop also heard this “Butterfly Lovers” that sounded completely different. They subconsciously stopped walking and quietly listened.

However, the sound of the Guqin stopped abruptly when the piece reached its climax.

Liu Man lowered her head to look at her fingers. There were red marks on them, caused by plucking the strings so hard, and her fingers hurt as if there were needles poking them.

“You don’t have long nails, so you should’ve worn Yijia to protect your fingers. Why did you not listen to me?” Wen Fangfei was worried, “They look so red. It’s lucky you’re not bleeding.”

Li Xiaoru also felt worried, “You still persevered through half of the piece. You should’ve stopped as soon as you felt uncomfortable.”

Liu Man smiled, “So I’ve stopped playing now in case I hurt my fingers and hinder our performance.”

Owner Li said, “It is pretty awkward to learn piano and the Guqin at the same time. You can’t have long fingernails when playing piano yet the Guzheng requires long nails. Next time, you should really wear Yijia, or fake nails that are popular amongst teenage girls. Though the sound wouldn’t be as good, it’d still protect your fingers.”

Li Xiaoru laughed lightly, “Fake nails? That’s preposterous!”

Liu Man and Wen Fangfei both laughed as well. Liu Man felt the pain lift from fingertips when she felt them.

“Man Man, you’ve never told me before that you know how to play the Guqin,” Li Xiaoru asked her curiously.

“You’ve never asked me before.”

Liu Man knew very well, she needed to let the people around her slowly adapt to her changes. If she suddenly showed off all her talents, she’d be busted in a matter of seconds.

“Fine,” Li Xiaoru accepted the explanation. It’s not her problem that she doesn’t like to ask much like Wang Nina, “but, you’re way too good!”

“Then, tell us. Who is the better player, me or Man Man?” Wen Fangfei threw out the question she set before.

Li Xiaoru felt ambivalent.

She wanted to say they were equally good.

But, Wen Fangfei read her mind, “You can’t say we’re both good, there has to be a winner!”

“Fine, fine,” Li Xiaoru had no choice, she said to Wen Fangfei, “You’re better.”

“Where’s your reason?”

Li Xiaoru didn’t know whether to cry or to laugh. She told Wen Fangfei, “I never knew you are such a competitive person.”

She thought and continued, “I have two reasons, the first being, Man Man didn’t finish “Butterfly Lover”, so it basically can’t compete with yours. Second of all, due to the stiffness in the beginning of the piece when Man Man played, I think that it’d been a while since she last practiced. Besides from that, I still think there’s something missing, but I can’t pinpoint what.”

You can’t forget Li Xiaoru was also a top student in piano, she had a keen sense of hearing.

The reason why she felt something was missing was because Liu Man didn’t give her very best. First of all, this was only for practice and fun, there was no need for her to be competitive; Second of all, she didn’t have long nails and it was indeed quite painful.

“Then I won without much fight,” Wen Fangfei smiled at Liu Man, “After you grow your nails out, you have to compete with me again.”

She liked Liu Man more and more, after all, there weren’t many girls who were interested in the same things as her in the modern world.

The three girls stayed at Owner Li’s shop until noon before they returned to the practice room and continued.

After the practice, Wen Fangfei brought the Guzheng back to her dorm just in case.

The next week, Liu Man felt the sudden intense atmosphere, everyone’s discussing about:

“How has your practicing been for the performance?”

“There are so many classes today. Are we still rehearsing tonight?”

“Do you think you can get into the top ten?

…

It was just a performance that didn’t affect their grade much, but because it was also rumored to determine who was going to play on the Year-end anniversary Concert, everyone was nervous.

Plus, this concert was being talked about all over the internet, obviously a lot of people would come and watch. If they mess up and a video is uploaded, it’d be so embarrassing. How will they ever live up to their expectations as the top students in music?

Liu Man and Li Xiaoru were calm, they still attended all their classes and never missed because of practice. For example, 80 percent of the students didn’t attend English class for practice. Even though Li Xiaoru didn’t want to go, Liu Man still insisted and even sat in the front row, taking notes seriously. The English teacher appreciated her focus.

She even thought that if Liu Man still couldn’t pass the English final exam, she’d still give her 60 points.

Knowing Wen Fangfei’s strings were very likely to be cut by Wang Nina, Liu Man and Li Xiaoru had to lay low until there was solid proof. So, they chose to avoid Wang Nina in general.

They planned to confront Wang Nina after the concert.

And Wang Nina didn’t do anything more.

A week passed without anymore drama.

This weekend, Liu Man didn’t have to go to Professor Su for her class, so “Shi Senpai” had to be on hiatus for the week.

“Happy Guo Guo” also made a special announcement video addressing this. He Qisi transformed into Shi Senpai and said to the camera, “Since my goddess has a very important performance next Thursday or Friday, I won’t be harassing her this week!” He made a very ‘caring’ face, he still looked wretchedly funny, “Well, after the performance… We’ll be continuing… Hehehe….”

“Stop snickering you muffin head.”

“I will pay 5 RMB to whoever beats him up!”

“But hey, Hanfu Goddess will also be taking part in Capital Music University’s ensemble concert! I want to watch her perform so much.”

“Me, too! She’s so beautiful and knows how to play the piano. I can’t even imagine how pretty she will look with an actual formal dress on the stage.”

“Liu Man from the third class in the piano major. We can just look at the program list then to know when she will be performing according to this information.”

“Mhm, I agree. I’m only going to the concert for Hanfu Goddess. In order to ensure that I do not miss her performance, I will go on both Thursday and Friday until I see her perform.”

“666666. You’re stubborn enough.”

“Bro, when you watch Hanfu Goddess’s performance, make sure to film it and post it on Tik Tok!”

“Of course.”

Translated by: Puppxteer/Yutong & Sydney