A Young Woman's Heart

"Youyou—!" Wang Jiale called out softly as she turned around.

"Huh? Ah!" She suddenly snapped out of her daze, nervously scratching her cheek with her drumstick. "One, two, three, four!"

There was no time for teasing about the mix of Chinese and English, because the performance had already begun.

This is a piece that everyone has practiced many times. Even if you are nervous, you can keep up with the rhythm by relying on muscle memory—it just may not be as perfect.

"Autumn always brings falling leaves!"

Hua Yinyin, as the lead singer, took the lead in singing, while Mo Xueyao provided harmonies for her.

This is a completely original composition, entirely different from those in other classes that have only slightly altered or modified the lyrics.

It really felt like a band.

This was clearly beyond the expectations of the first-year high school students, but after a brief silence, the atmosphere instantly became lively.

Mo Xueyao closed her eyes slightly, enjoying the feeling of playing the music.

Her hands flew across the keyboard keys, as if she had stepped into a painting filled with fallen autumn leaves.

……

Chapter 135 Of all the musical instruments, the suona reigns supreme; it's either ascension to heaven or a wedding ceremony.

The heavy wooden doors of the lecture hall were slowly pushed open, and more late-arriving students walked in.

"Hmm, has it already started?"

"It's been going on for a long time."

"Who's on stage...?"

"They seem to be the senior students from Class 2 of the second year of high school."

Hua Yinyin's lyrics don't rhyme at all, but they are full of youthful energy, and because they are so casual, they are even more approachable.

The sheet music is simple and catchy, and the melody is easy to remember.

The most difficult parts were all played by her pipa, adding a sense of depth to this simple piece.

When the song ended, the audience erupted in applause.

It's not so much that it's highly artistic, but rather that it excites the students and makes them realize that school bands don't all seem so old-fashioned.

"Xiaoxue, it's your turn now!" As she left, Hua Yinyin patted Mr. Xue on the shoulder and walked backstage with the others.

The instruments are left on stage for now, because there will be a duet song after him.

"Hoo..." Mo Zhuyou plopped down on a small stool backstage, her face covered in sweat from nervousness.

"Are you just as nervous this time?" Mo Xueyao asked.

"I feel even more nervous than last time..." She gulped down a few mouthfuls of water, then let out a long sigh of relief. "But I felt completely relaxed after the performance."

"It's not difficult at all, is it?" Hua Yinyin said with a mischievous smile. "Youyou's mental fortitude is really too weak!"

"Do you think everyone is like you?" Wang Jiale rolled her eyes. "After Xiaoxue's performance, are you and Xiaoyao going up together?"

"Of course!"

"Can I not participate?" Mo Xueyao glanced at her sideways. "Or you can find another partner."

"Alas--!"

"How about Lele comes?"

"Okay, okay," Wang Jiale replied without the slightest hesitation.

"Hey, no way, it has to be me and Xiaoyao!"

"Huh, it seems like Xiaoxue has started?" Mo Zhuyou peeked at the stage through a corner of the curtain.

"It seems so..."

Mr. Xue just moved the microphone stand in front of him, and the staff were adjusting it, but it seems they've encountered some problems.

"What's wrong—?" Mo Xueyao called out softly to Mr. Xue.

He seemed to notice the noise coming from this side, so he strolled over leisurely and said softly, "It seems the microphone is broken."

"Oh, is it under repair?"

"Ah."

Just then, the student who was checking the microphones and acting as a staff member rushed over and shouted to the people backstage, "What's going on? None of those microphones are working!"

"Is the speaker broken?"

"How could that be!" Hua Yinyin muttered, hands on her hips. "I brought the stereo!"

"Could it really be that the speakers are broken?"

Another student rushed over: "The fuse for the stage socket has blown! Does anyone know how to replace it?"

"Shouldn't we talk to the teacher about this...?"

"But what if we tell the teacher? Will they cause us trouble?"

"So, why don't you try changing it yourself first?"

The first-year high school students in the audience had already started whispering among themselves.

The students rushed off to get it repaired.

After lending the lecture hall to students, Yukong High School didn't even send a single teacher to supervise it. They're really quite careless...

"Where's the teacher?" a girl asked at that moment.

"I think I went to the bathroom just now..."

It seems there are teachers available, but they're too far away to help in the short term. If you don't want to waste time, you'll have to fix it yourself. Who knows how long the teacher will be sitting in the toilet?

Who knows, he might be squatting there for half an hour right now with a rolled-up newspaper in his hand?

However, the students seemed unable to figure out the problem with the fuse and instead turned off all the power in the lecture hall.

"Huh? Eh? What's wrong?"

"Performance effect?"

"I hope there won't be any accidents."

The students below the stage shouted in either panic or excitement.

Hua Yinyin urged Mr. Xue, "Xiao Xue, hurry up! You should be able to do it even without a microphone, right?"

"also."

The darkness lasted for a full half minute. Although no light appeared, the sound of suona horns was heard.

The most representative and down-to-earth instruments in traditional Chinese music are probably the erhu and the suona.

While the erhu's sound is indeed melodious and capable of depicting the vicissitudes of life, its penetrating power is far inferior to that of the suona.

When playing the suona, one is either filled with great sorrow or great joy—although it is far more than that, this is the impression many people have of it.

Mr. Xue thus began to play the king of instruments.

Before anyone could react to the first note, someone started laughing and shouting, "Holy crap, a suona!"

The suona horn was played for the first time in the lecture hall today.

Mr. Xue wasn't playing a band's tune, but rather a more common one.

It all started with... a prelude to the Spring Festival.

A sense of joy immediately welled up in everyone's hearts. Even though it was only November, everyone had the illusion that the New Year had arrived.

The advantage of the suona is that it can change tune very quickly and very smoothly and naturally, and can switch from a festive scene to a funeral scene in a second.

That's exactly what Mr. Xue did.

Before the students in the audience could even laugh a few times, the music turned into a funeral tune.

The sound of the suona is like a person crying, making people feel sad from the bottom of their hearts.

Mr. Xue, who usually claims to only have a superficial understanding, changed his tune again and became a hundred birds paying homage to the phoenix.

The 'crying' sound from the suona just now has turned into the clear chirping of birds.

Everyone was amazed by the rapid and natural changes in the suona, but that wasn't all.

The tune had just changed, and everyone was a little confused, but then they felt it was becoming more and more familiar.

That's right, this is one of the most popular new songs right now—Jiang Jingru's "Courage".

It's a song with a touch of melancholy—if you don't watch the music video.

But when played with a suona, the flavor just doesn't quite right.

Some people felt the atmosphere had become cheerful, while others felt it was like a farewell ceremony for the deceased.

The power switch wasn't fixed yet, but Mr. Xue had already taken control of the atmosphere.

The advantages of the suona were fully demonstrated in his hands. Rather than saying that this instrument has its own lead singer, it would be more appropriate to say that it sings a cappella.

The students backstage were in a flurry of activity, but thankfully the teacher finally returned from the restroom.

Everyone felt like a savior had arrived—if they could ignore the smell of cigarettes and the peculiar odor emanating from him…

"what happened?"

"Teacher, the power has tripped! It looks like the fuse has blown!"

"Let me see, shine the flashlight on me..."

When the teacher arrived, he found a fuse in the toolbox and quickly replaced it.

"Da da—"

After flickering a few times, the light finally came on.

Mr. Xue's performance was also coming to an end at this point.