A Young Woman's Heart

"We are trying to obtain publishing rights so that we can print and publish our own products."

What about the distribution channels?

"I haven't decided yet. Right now, I'm thinking of... launching them around the main urban area of ​​Hangzhou first."

How do you plan to obtain the publishing rights?

"We bought it from someone else, and we've already contacted several small publishing houses that are interested in transferring ownership."

Mr. Xue nodded: "Hehe, if you need to learn to draw, Hua Yinyin can teach you a class."

"Is that the girl with the braided pigtails?"

"Correct."

"Haha, Boss Xue, can't you draw?" someone teased.

"I only know a little bit about it, but if it's just the basics, I'm happy to teach you."

"Then let's start with the basics? That's exactly what we need."

"Okay, whenever I'm free."

"When are you free? Haha, the weekend? It would be better to set a fixed time, right?"

"Let's do it on Sunday..." Mr. Xue's voice gradually faded, and when everyone looked at him, they realized that he had already fallen asleep.

The tall Li Zhixing stood up, reached out and turned off the brightest light in the room, leaving only a dim incandescent bulb emitting a yellowish glow.

The dim lighting allowed Mr. Xue to relax his tightly closed eyes a little, and he slid down further, burying his head in the back of the sofa.

The rain was still falling outside the transparent shop window; it was late at night, and there were only a few lights still on.

The streetlights on the street looked somewhat lonely.

The rain streaks drifted obliquely, dispelling the heat that had accumulated over the past few days.

The weather seems to have suddenly gone from summer back to early spring...

……

Chapter 233 Advance Notice and Arrangements

(One)

On Monday morning, Mo Xueyao still got up very early.

I went to bed at midnight yesterday and woke up at 5 a.m., which means I only slept for a maximum of five hours.

She almost instinctively groped her way to wash up, and when she put on her pantyhose, she even put them on backwards. If Li Wanyan hadn't reminded her, she wouldn't have realized it at all.

She was standing at the door, still looking a little sleepy, leaning against the shoe rack, watching Li Wanyan take the packaged breakfast from her mother, and yawning several times.

"Sleepy--"

"Go to the car and get some sleep."

"Yeah, right now I just want to get to the station as quickly as possible..."

Although the weather had cooled down considerably due to yesterday's rain, the sky was already bright at 5:30, though dark clouds still lingered, making it look like it was about to rain at any moment.

Mo Xueyao arrived at the station almost in a sleepwalking state. As soon as she boarded the train, she found a seat near the exit door, pressed her cheek against the window next to her, and fell asleep in less than two seconds.

The gently swaying bus is the most comfortable cradle at this moment.

The smell of diesel fuel even had a somewhat pleasant quality, adding a sense of reassurance and comfort.

Li Wanyan was also a little sleepy, but unlike Mo Xueyao, she didn't fall asleep as soon as she got in the car.

She just squinted her eyes slightly, relaxed, and would occasionally turn her head to look out the window to make sure the two of them hadn't missed their stop.

The bus drove along the road full of gravel, making a 'clattering' sound as it bumped along.

A train whistle sounded from the nearby railway tracks, and people in the train leaned out of the windows to breathe in the city air.

It was clearly a slow train.

Not only did it carry people, but it also transported goods; the last few carriages were filled with coal and river sand.

And the school is getting closer and closer.

The car seemed to be driving exceptionally fast today.

"Yaoyao, wake up, we're here."

"Mmm..."

……

(two)

Whether it was the nap in the car that had an effect, or the cold air that made Mo Xueyao less sleepy, it's hard to say.

She could have easily lay down and taken a nap in the band room all by herself, but she was surprisingly wide awake—she had just yawned twice.

This contradictory feeling was puzzling, but there was no point in delving into it, so she picked up her electronic keyboard and placed it on the keyboard stand.

But when sitting in front of the electronic keyboard, he didn't want to press the keys, looking like he didn't want to start at all.

When people are bored, they tend to rummage through things.

She rummaged through her schoolbag and found that she still had last semester's test papers. In the corner of the schoolbag were several pens that she hadn't been able to find—some of them had already leaked ink, and the entire transparent pen casing was covered in black ink. Fortunately, the ink hadn't leaked outside, otherwise the schoolbag would have had to be washed.

"Ah...this..." Finally, she found the 'treasure' in her schoolbag. It was a flute in a knitted bag, or more accurately, an Irish whistle.

It was a birthday gift from Li Wanyan. Mo Xueyao kept it in her schoolbag, always thinking that she would take it out to learn how to play it when she had time, but in reality, she probably took it out no more than three times.

Gradually, it was forgotten in my schoolbag. Even though I saw it every day when I flipped through my books, I would selectively ignore it.

In terms of musical instruments, the electronic keyboard is the simplest one.

Wind instruments, on the other hand, are generally more difficult to learn.

At least with an electronic keyboard, you press a button to produce a single note, but with wind instruments, if the technique is incorrect, you might not be able to produce any sound at all, or you might only be making a lot of noise.

When I took it out again, I realized I had almost forgotten the techniques I had learned last time.

Mo Xueyao pondered for a while longer before finally getting it to make a sound again.

It was as if many gusts of wind were passing through the bamboo forest, gently rustling the leaves and bamboo.

Unlike the ethereal quality of the bamboo flute, it seems to naturally carry a sense of everyday life, as if one were in a lively tavern.

After playing the electronic keyboard for a long time, trying other instruments occasionally can be a novel experience.

After blowing on it for a long time, it always feels like there's a lot of saliva inside...

"Good morning." Mr. Xue walked into the band room with a refreshed look and waved to her.

"Ah, Xiaoxue, you're here? Are you sober now?"

"Of course." He looked exactly the same as usual, except his hair was slightly damp, as if he had just taken a shower.

"Xiaoxue, when you play the flute and suona, do you get your saliva all over them?"

"It will happen."

"What should I do?"

"Wash it."

"Such a simple answer. So—what would happen if you didn't wash it?"

"It will smell bad."

Mo Xueyao immediately thought of the smell of bad breath, and quickly turned the whistle upside down and shook it, as if it already smelled bad.

"Would you like to try playing a duet with my bamboo flute?"

"Huh? I'm not very good at it yet..."

Let's start with simple tunes.

"Hmm, two tigers or little stars?"

“Neither,” Mr. Xue smiled. “It’s an etude I wrote myself, for warming up before practice.”

"Oh, is that the one I often hear you play? That piece sounds a bit like it's being played while standing in the wilderness."

"Yes, wait, I'll put the musical staff..."

"Write down the sheet music! Write down the sheet music!" Mo Xueyao rested her chin on her hand. Although she had learned how to read standard musical notation, she still preferred to read simplified notation. She would only read standard musical notation if the piece was so complex that it would be more convenient to use standard musical notation.

“Okay, musical notation…” Mr. Xue picked up his pen and wrote a string of numbers representing musical notes on the draft paper.

The advantage of simplified musical notation is that you can hum the tune the moment you see it.

Moreover, when reading and playing at the same time, the speed of reading the score will be faster.

"Hmm, it does look easy."

"Xiaoyao, are you still not proficient in sheet music?"

"Ahem... um... because Yinyin usually gives us simplified sheet music to take care of us..."

"Haha, it's still good to get familiar with it. The versatility of numbered musical notation is too narrow. Once you're proficient with staff notation, it's not that difficult."

"Okay—I'll get used to it gradually..."

It's not that Mo Xueyao can't learn it. It's like when you get used to something convenient, it's not only inconvenient when you first start using it, but you might even perform worse than when you used the tool before. People naturally resist that.

Another thing... is probably the inertia of learning.

After all, it's good enough for now.

Moreover, unlike going to school, where you have to learn everything, it's normal to slack off on extracurricular activities.

In addition, she has a special talent for sound, and often she can create beautiful melodies even without knowing how to read sheet music, so she has even less motivation to learn sheet music, which is not too difficult for her.

—Sometimes, talent can actually be an obstacle.

……

(three)