156. Whose Qixi Festival, and Whose Seven Years

Vienna time, 2:23 PM.
Apartment Lilac, District 9.

Located less than a twenty-minute walk from the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, this apartment building housed hundreds of international students every year. It was truly a haven for students from abroad.

Room 107 was a single studio. The low entryway gave a slightly oppressive feeling upon entering. To the right was a cramped bathroom, and to the left was a loft-style single wooden bed tightly wedged into the corner.

The wardrobe beneath the bedframe, its door standing open, was already completely empty. Two large, flat-lying suitcases beside it occupied half of the room's floor space.

A pure white desk lamp sat on the white writing desk by the window. Sitting at the desk and looking past the lamp, one could gaze out at the Danube River outside.

This was the place where Lin Youyou had spent three years of her life as an overseas student.

"It's a bit small, but it's enough for basic living. It's very convenient to live here," Lin Youyou kindly introduced the place to the girl from Su Province standing behind her. "The landlord is a warm-hearted local and very kind-hearted. Since you just arrived and aren't familiar with the area, if you have any daily life issues, just look for her and she will help you."

"We've discussed other matters many times over the phone, and the situation here is basically like this."

Seeing hesitation on the girl's face, she smiled and reassured her, "No need to rush. Go back and think it over carefully. Just let me know if you have any concerns."

At this moment, the girl before her looked remarkably like she herself had three years ago.

Alone, traveling thousands of miles for her dream to this city historically known as the capital of classical music.

A young girl all by herself in a foreign land, with no family or friends to turn to, naturally harbored all sorts of anxieties about the unknown.

Perhaps infected by Lin Youyou's kind smile, the girl's heart felt much more at ease, though she still needed to go back and discuss it with her family before making a decision.

"Thank you, Elder Sister. I'll think about it some more."

The two returned to the apartment entrance.

Lin Youyou reminded her once again, "You don't need to carry your passport with you everywhere you go. The hotels here are very safe. If you're worried about inspections, just carry a copy or a photo on your phone. Losing your passport here is a huge hassle."

The girl nodded, feeling a bit embarrassed. Before coming, when she was reading online guides for studying abroad, others had emphasized the importance of safeguarding one's passport, leading her to believe that keeping it on her person at all times was the only safe option.

"Goodbye, Elder Sister."

"Goodbye."

Returning to her room, Lin Youyou continued packing her luggage.

Two hours later, she received a positive reply from the girl from Su Province.

People came, and people went.

In seven days, she would bid farewell to this place. Her final task before returning to China was to sublet this room.

Now, she had saved herself a sum of money.

Initially, she had expected to return to China around the end of the year, but she hadn't anticipated that her graduation concert and defense would go so smoothly.

As evening approached, she filled and packed her final suitcase.

Next came waiting for the final flight departure time; she would return to her hometown accompanied by her professor.

If she were asked right now what she wanted to eat most.

It wouldn't necessarily be hotpot.

It might just be the barbecue place by the west gate of the Rongcheng Conservatory of Music.

She remembered it very clearly. Right after the military training at the start of their freshman year, the four members of the Class of 2014 Wei Family had their very first meal together there.

It felt funny thinking about it now.

Someone clearly couldn't hold their liquor yet insisted on showing off, resulting in losing their balance while walking, taking a tumble down the stairs, and becoming the first freshman in the history of the Rongcheng Conservatory of Music to be hospitalized upon enrollment.

Before going to sleep, she took out her phone again and scrolled to that sentence:
"I've signed up."

To be honest, she was quite surprised.
In her memory, Li An was someone with extremely poor stage composure.

Let alone participating in competitions, every finals season he would wrack his brain to trade performance slots with others just to go on stage last.

Not for the grand finale position, but because by the time he went on, aside from the grading teachers, everyone else had already left.

She casually tapped on Li An's WeChat avatar.

Half a year ago, Li An changed his WeChat display name. She had never been able to figure out what "Eighty-One Thousand" meant.

As someone with an otherwise uninteresting life, this puzzle had kept her occupied for quite some time.

Until two photos appeared in Li An's Moments.

Two very romantic photos, and she could tell at a glance that they weren't taken by Li An.

Clearly, much like what she had witnessed over her four undergraduate years, Li An had changed girlfriends again.

This time she wasn't surprised at all, just as she wasn't surprised when she learned that Li An had been quietly hiding away somewhere in Rongcheng all these years.

It was totally something he would do.

He had simply changed girlfriends again, no big deal.

Deep down in her heart, Lin Youyou felt that Li An would eventually get tired of playing around.

She had been waiting for that day, and when that day arrived, she would ask Li An if he was willing to marry her.

If she figured things out for herself before that day came, then she wouldn't ask, and she would treat as if none of it had ever happened.

But until then, at least currently, there were two questions she couldn't figure out.

Question one: What on earth did she like about Li An?
Question two: How much longer was she going to like Li An?

She had long since had her fill of the bitterness of unrequited love; she just wanted a conclusion.

Even if Li An's response to her at that time would be, "Are you out of your mind?"

Four years of concealment, three years apart, she felt it was finally time to face it.

Whatever the outcome, she could accept it.

Closing Li An's WeChat avatar, Lin Youyou put down her phone and fell asleep shortly after.

She had repeated this exact action for two thousand, four hundred, and thirty-one days.

-

On Saturday morning, Li An walked down the hallway of the west teaching area carrying his teacup, and from afar, he saw that his classroom door was half open.

Fine.

Little Liu arrived early today.

Because the tutoring class schedule had changed, Liu Fengrui's father called Li An yesterday morning to ask if the child's class time could be adjusted to Saturday morning at eight o'clock.

That was Xiaobei's time slot.

What could he do? The parent had already asked.

So Li An called Xiaobei's mother and explained the situation. Xiaobei's mother expressed understanding, but besides the 8:00 to 9:30 AM slot on Saturday, Xiaobei also had other tutoring classes, so she asked Li An if they could reschedule to Sunday.

Reschedule to Sunday it was; what else could he do when the two kids' times conflicted?

Since Sunday morning was already taking up one slot, he simply decided to fill up that entire schedule.

Seven children were divided into two groups for classes, wrapped up over Saturday and Sunday mornings, so he could still use his afternoons both days for himself.

After communicating with the parents of the children individually, Li An moved the three children preparing for competitions to Sunday morning.

"Class is in session."
"Class is in session."

Outside the door of Classroom No. 4, the piano teacher and the flute teacher exchanged expressions of mutual encouragement to hold on.

The moment Li An stepped into Classroom No. 4, he caught a whiff of an intoxicating steamed bun scent.

Vegetable-filled, no less.

He thought he ought to post a large sign on the classroom door: Anyone bringing forbidden items such as steamed buns into the classroom will play the D-flat major scale one hundred and twenty times first.

He opened the window to air out the room.

Liu Fengrui returned. "Morning, Teacher. I went to the restroom."

Li An looked warily at the boy's hands—there were water droplets.

Hmph.
"Class is in session."

-

Because of Li An's sudden burst of benevolence during the first three classes, he had promised Little Liu that if he mastered six pieces from Czerny Op. 599, he would teach him how to play *Unsung Hero*.

His initial thought was that the child had so much homework and not that much time to practice the piano usually, so his heart softened and he agreed.

Besides, those six pieces from Op. 599 weren't easy to play either.

Who could have expected this little rascal to adopt a "strike while the iron is hot" attitude, practicing the piano for seven hours every week for three consecutive weeks?

What kind of concept was that?
An average of one hour a day.

This proved that Liu Fengrui was entirely capable of squeezing out time to practice.

Li An felt that his heart had softened far too early.

However, since he had already given his word to the child, he couldn't go back on it.
Furthermore, the boy actually played those six pieces from Op. 599 quite well.

As the music faded from beneath the piano keys, Liu Fengrui looked very satisfied with his performance.

Turning his head, he predictably saw a smiling face and thought to himself, *It's in the bag.*

"Teacher~"

Li An put down his teacup, stood up, walked over to the piano, pulled a brand-new small music folder out of a stack of sheet music, and handed it to Liu Fengrui.

"Practice this."

Liu Fengrui opened it with eager anticipation, only to be dumbfounded.

What was this? he wondered inwardly. First he checked the key signature—four sharps. Then he looked at the opening measures; they were all rhythmic chords, and the counterpoint was uneven. Finally, he looked at the top of the page—there wasn't even a title.

"What are you waiting for? Are you waiting for Mozart or Bach to possess you?"

At that moment, an irritatingly teasing voice came from behind him.

Little Liu was indignant, feeling he had been deceived.

"Teacher, this isn't *Unsung Hero*."
[Liu Fengrui's Teacher-Student Index dropped to 71.]

He felt aggrieved!
He wanted to ask Li An if he had any idea how he had managed to squeeze out practice time over the past three weeks just to learn *Unsung Hero*!

Li An clicked his tongue and shook his head. "You've been studying with me for over half a year, and you still can't read a score?"

Little Liu wouldn't accept it, but didn't dare show any displeasure, only muttering softly, "Teacher, I want to play my sheet music for *Unsung Hero*."

Ah.
Another person who couldn't recognize true value.

Li An helplessly sat down at the teacher's piano. Arranging this score and producing it on the music notation software had actually taken him some time.

He lifted the piano lid and brought both hands down together.

Li An couldn't be bothered to play the intro and jumped straight into the chorus melody.

*Clang, clang, clang!* Three explosive, swelling chords instantly rushed out of the doorframe and poured into every classroom in the west teaching area where a lesson was in progress.

The jaw-dropped Little Liu instantly felt that his version of the *Unsung Hero* sheet music was absolute garbage.

Then, a surge of emotion rose within him.

Next door, Lin Pengfei's student stared blankly at the wall—that invincible *Unsung Hero* was coming from this very piano!

"Teacher, I want to play *Unsung Hero* too."
The student expectantly turned and asked his Teacher Lin.

Lin Pengfei's face darkened, and he replied dismissively, "Figure yourself out first before talking about anything else."

Hearing this, the student turned back, shrugged, and continued playing the etude before him.

Lin Pengfei then savored Li An's *Unsung Hero*, his heart filled with envy.

If you gave him this sheet music to play, he could produce this effect too.
The problem was, without the sheet music, he couldn't pull off such an arrangement.

He lacked Li An's core skill: arrangement.

Ah.
As expected of the person second only to me.

-

Li An withdrew his hands and looked triumphantly at Little Liu.

Little Liu flattering smiled, rubbing his hands together. "Teacher, let's not waste any time, shall we?"

Li An chuckled. "You get it now?"

Little Liu nodded. "Understood, understood."
[Liu Fengrui's Teacher-Student Index increased to 73.]

"Practice on your own."

-

This time Little Liu didn't find it difficult anymore. Working through it bit by bit, he realized it really wasn't as hard as it looked.

The moment he thought of the intensely fiery passage the teacher had just played, his entire body filled with strength.

So what if it was hard? He was an unsung hero, after all.

Li An returned to his chair, picked up his teacup again, and watched Little Liu practice.

Seeing the child's drive, his heart was filled with gratification; his painstaking efforts hadn't been in vain.

Based on Liu Fengrui's current ability, he had incorporated some chord-tone practice segments into the arrangement, figuring that if Little Liu could master this version of *Unsung Hero* he had written, his chord-playing technique would improve quite a bit.

Of course, he had also played a little trick.

When demonstrating for Little Liu earlier, he had changed a middle section that was originally a single-note melody into octaves. Combined with his performance technique, this elevated the melody into an intensely passionate auditory experience.

Wasn't this also to enhance its appeal?

An hour passed, and Little Liu finished practicing drenched in sweat, thoroughly exhilarated.

Before leaving, Li An told him to wipe off his sweat before heading out. "It's getting cold outside, don't catch a cold."

At the elevator doors, Liu Fengrui asked him, "Teacher, can I start practicing the full version of *Blue Bird* now?"

Why would he ask that? Li An was baffled. You are still far from ready.

Liu Fengrui thought otherwise and said earnestly, "When I saw you playing earlier, Teacher, there were a lot of octave notes in the score. Since you're letting me practice this score now, it means I can play those octaves, right?"

This...
"Hey, the elevator is here. You go on first, we'll talk about this later."
"Tell your dad to send me a message when you get home."
"Goodbye."

Before the elevator doors could even close, Li An turned and walked away.

Were kids nowadays turning into little monsters?

-

Three hours flew by in a flash.

At twelve o'clock, Little Muzi's class ended.

"Not bad, Muzi. Your left hand is getting better and better at applying pressure."

Li An offered words of encouragement while helping the little one tidy up the sheet music.

Before even half a rotation of the curriculum was up, Little Muzi would soon need to switch textbooks.

Song Sheng, who had been waiting at the door, hurried over as soon as Li An came out. "How did this rascal do today?"

Li An: "Very good. Next class, Muzi will be changing textbooks."

Song Sheng didn't understand, but hearing that they were changing textbooks made him happy. Changing textbooks meant the child was advancing to the next stage, right? "Tell me what textbook to get, I'll buy it right now."

Li An: "No need, I have ready-made ones right here."

He might not have much else, but he had a stack of textbooks and could grab one at will, even though buying one himself wouldn't cost Song Sheng much money.

A mutual favor was part of it, but more importantly, that time at Blue Whale, Song Sheng had given him an immense amount of face.

Seeing this, Song Sheng didn't stand on ceremony. Li An's approach made him feel very comfortable; although a book wasn't expensive, the attitude was right there.

And this was his son's master, after all.

"Going out for a smoke?" Song Sheng asked.

Just as Song Sheng was speaking, the door to Chen Xuan's classroom was pushed open.

Song Sheng nodded and smiled at Chen Xuan, and Chen Xuan returned the smile.

"Alright, you go ahead."

Song Sheng pulled Muzi over, half-bent down, and instructed the boy, "Quick, say goodbye to your master and Teacher Chen here."

Muzi was already familiar with Li An and said in a milky voice, "Goodbye, Master."

Then he looked at Chen Xuan and felt a little scared.

Seeing the child's awkwardness, Li An stepped forward to defuse the situation, but Song Sheng wouldn't have it. "Muzi, how did we teach you? Say it."

It even made Chen Xuan feel a little embarrassed.

Unable to withstand his father's threatening glare, Muzi softly muttered, "Goodbye, Teacher Chen."

Ah, that was more like it.

Song Sheng waved goodbye to the two of them. Li An made a move to see them off, but Song Sheng waved his hand in refusal.

Taking his son onto the elevator, Song Sheng patted the boy's head and said, "Silly boy, that's your future master's wife. She graduated from a top-tier music university. You better work hard, and when the time comes, your master's wife can introduce you to go to college in Beijing."

Muzi nodded blankly; right now, he just wanted to eat a hamburger.

-

The two of them returned to the office. Finding it empty, Li An took out his phone and saw in the group chat that the three of them had teamed up for Shaxian Snacks.

"Did you already arrange that ahead of time that night?" Chen Xuan suddenly asked.

Li An smiled helplessly and then explained,

"No, no, I didn't expect it either. When we walked out of South City Alley, wasn't I thinking we needed to have a real meal? It was our first official date with Teacher Chen, we couldn't possibly not even have a proper meal. Since we didn't have anywhere else to go at the time, I just sent him a message to ask if he had space."

Chen Xuan smiled. "How would I know? You're so good at tricking people."

As the two joked around, they unconsciously recalled that night once again.

Chen Xuan: *A Qixi dinner I will never forget for the rest of my life.*
Li An: *Brother Song, don't worry, I will never forget your kind intentions, please rest assured leaving the kid in my care.*

-

After lunch, Li An began his practice session for the day.

With his mindset corrected and guided by Qin Yong's prompts, validated through the past two days of practice, he approached from the angle of tempo and once again discovered the marvelous subtleties of this piece.

Aside from the first two movements of K.466, his transposed Czerny 299 exercises, which had been paused for a few days, were put back on the schedule.

When his piano practice ended in the afternoon, his new 299 had reached Etude No. 24.

"Tomorrow afternoon, it's time to try out *Farewell*."

He had seen Lin Youyou's message in the group chat.

Barring any accidents, in ten days he would be able to attend Otto's masterclass.

Little Lin did a great job.

Looking forward to it.

-

Early the next morning, which was supposed to be Che Lin's first class, Li An walked downstairs to Yudong Building and spotted Wang Xiaohu.

"Hey, did you get the time wrong?"