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On the next day, Liu Man went to Shen Mozhen’s practice room.

Shen Mozhen had called her, inviting her to discuss the piece they would perform on stage together.

After seeing Shen Mozhen, Liu Man first told her about how she would be participating in Tang Tu’s concert, just in case Shen Mozhen thought too much. If Shen Mozhen disliked her actions, Liu Man would be able to leave both of their concerts in time before another scandal happens, and they could also have time to find another guest.

Unexpectedly, Shen Mozhen was not surprised at all, “Tang Tu had already told me,” she also said, “I will also be performing at Tang Tu’s concert.”

Liu Man felt confused, “You don’t mind?” Wouldn’t she felt strange to support her ex-boyfriend?

Shen Mozhen shook her head, “I was the one who asked for the break-up, and I was the one who first gave up on this relationship. Tang Tu and I are just not fitting as a couple, but it doesn’t mean we now hate each other.”

Shen Mozhen didn’t tell Liu Man that her parents told her to keep her social connections with Tang Tu. Even if they weren’t a couple, they could still be friends. Tang Tu and her couldn’t have possibly broken all contacts. Even if she wanted to, her parents wouldn’t agree to it.

Liu Man still felt it was necessary to give Shen Mozhen a clear explanation, “Professor Qiu Jing’s requesting Tang Tu and I to partner up at his graduation concert to advertise the movie. We are going to play the movie’s theme song, ‘Sound of the Wind.’”

Liu Man didn’t mention how Tang Tu helped her father. It was a private matter, and she was not familiar enough with Shen Mozhen to the point they told each other secrets.

Shen Mozhen nodded. To be fair, no matter if Liu Man decided to explain, she wouldn’t mind at all. After so many incidents, she didn’t have any feelings for Tang Tu left.

“How are your fingers now?” Shen Mozhen asked.

Liu Man reached out her hands to show her. Excluding a slight trace of pink, one couldn’t spot any other injury. After resting for more than ten days, her nails had grown one to two millimeters long, and it was enough for her to play the Guqin. At least her fingers wouldn’t be scratched and bleeding.

Shen Mozhen was worried for Liu Man, “You need your nails to be long when you play the Guqin, but you can’t have long nails when you play the piano. You only have one pair of hands, so how will you manage to do both?”

Liu Man laughed, “Fortunately, your concert is before Tang Tu’s. After performing with you, I will cut my nails short.”

“What about in the future? You are a piano major, after all. The piano is your main instrument, but Guqin is what you are most talented at.”

Shen Mozhen thought if this contradiction didn’t get resolved, it would influence Liu Man’s future a lot.

Liu Man was not thinking of this question right now. What stressed her out the most was how she would successfully pass this end-of-semester exam to ensure she wouldn’t get exiled from school.

Such an outstanding graduate like Shen Mozhen would never know the worries of a student with bad grades.

Liu Man said, “I’ll just have to solve the problems I encounter right now. Springs in the mountains are always winding and complicated, and if you follow you can get lost easily. Just as you worry about not having a path to walk, willows and flowers point you another way to the village. I believe there will always be a solution if you dare to explore around.”

Shen Mozhen laughed. In the modern era, who would add such rare poetic phrases into their conversations? It would seem very pretentious.

But Liu Man looked very serious. It seemed strange and interesting at the same time as if Liu Man was reciting poems for the sake of it.

How could Shen Mozhen have known she predicted the truth?

After the ensemble concert came to an end, Liu Man memorized English vocabulary in the daytime and memorized Tang and Song poems in the evenings. She also needed to practice writing the calligraphy. There was no way not to do all of this, for Professor Su always tested her on these things. Last night, she just so happened to start memorizing poems and songs written by Lu You, and she subconsciously combined his poetic phrases with her words. Her mind did felt a bit messy; it was full of too many things, including English vocabulary words and ancient Chinese poems.

Shen Mozhen listed a few pieces she chose already, “‘Mountain Stream’, ‘Pingsha Luoyan’, and ‘Three houses in the Plum Blossoms’. Which one are you the best at?”

The last two songs came out after the Han Dynasty died. Liu Man didn’t know how to play them, not to mention she had never even heard of them before. She chose “Mountain Stream” without any hesitation. There was only a week left until Shen Mozhen’s concert, and Liu Man did not have any spare time to learn a new piece. She said: “I’m more familiar with ‘Mountain Stream.’”

To Shen Mozhen, these three pieces were not different from each other; she was equally good at all of them.

“Then bring your Guqin over tomorrow. We will rehearse for three to four times, and that will probably be enough.”

When Li Xiaoru learned Liu Man would take part in both Shen Mozhen and Tang Tu’s concerts, her mouth formed an “O” shape and didn’t return to normal for a long while.

“This world is too magical,” She mumbled to herself, “What happened to the dog blood, the dramatical triangle love relationship? Why is it that you and the other two people in this scandal are now holding hands with each other and becoming best friends?”

Liu Man explained, “We don’t count as friends. We just met each other because of fate,” She liked chatting with Shen Mozhen. Shen Mozhen was a very sophisticated girl; not only did Shen Mozhen specialize in ancient pieces and folk song music, but she also read countless books and could recite poetic phrases easily. She was a real daughter from a rich family. Liu Man didn’t understand why Tang Tu didn’t like such an excellent girl.

“I give up. High-tiered people’s world cannot be comprehended by the mundanes, like me,” Li Xiaoru didn’t understand this scene. Shen Mozhen didn’t care, Liu Man didn’t care, but Tang Tu didn’t care either?

But Man Man already had a boyfriend!

Capital Music University’s graduates’ concerts were always very low-profile and had a little audience, for they usually only spread around in a small society. Most people who came to watch these concerts were the performers’ family and friends. Even students from lower grades wouldn’t intentionally come to watch. Besides, mediocre graduates could only perform for around twenty minutes.

Even if they were outstanding graduates and could host their concerts which could last more than one hour, their audience still wouldn’t be big. Only a few more professors and teachers would come and watch.

But this year was different. Among this year’s graduates were Tang Tu and Shen Mozhen.

Even if they were in a scandal before, Tang Tu’s fame only grew instead of decreasing. Even the low-profile Shen Mozhen got more attention. Now, Shen Mozhen had more than 100k fans on Wei Bo just because she sent a fair and objective post supporting the Hanfu Goddess.

There had long been information regarding these two people’s concerts on the internet, clearly telling everyone the dates and the locations.

Because they thought of Tang Tu’s identity — a currently popular idol, celebrity, and number one in the violin major, and putting into consideration Shen Mozhen’s identity — Tang Tu’s ex-girlfriend and the National Folk Song Orchestra’s soon-to-be Guzheng first chair, the school had decided to sell tickets of Tang Tu and Shen Mozhen’s concerts. They didn’t get sold at a low price; in fact, the price could be compared to the price of tickets to first-tiered singers’ concerts.

Even so, the tickets to both of these concerts got quickly sold out.

Time soon jumped to seven o’clock in the evening, on May 30th.

A huge banner that read “Capital Music University Guzheng Major Outstanding Graduate — Shen Mozhen’s Personal Concert” was hung up on the outside of the third concert hall.

There was a huge line at the entrance of the concert hall. Everyone could only enter if they had a ticket.

Liu Man came backstage very early with Li Xiaoru and Tao Zhiyao. What was most surprising to her was Tao Zhiyao called Miao Xiaomei over to put makeup on her.

Translated by: Sydney