Chapter 92: Desperate Jiang Qian

Chapter 92: Chapter 92: Desperate Jiang Qian

Sitting at the piano, Lin Zhengran played a few simple notes to test the sound. He found that his hands seemed to adapt to this piano perfectly, as if it were an old friend.

Jiang Qian stood to the side, quietly watching his every move.

Judging from his playing technique, this boy had indeed studied the piano for quite some time, though there was an inexplicable rustiness amidst his proficiency.

"You haven’t played in a long time?" she asked.

Lin Zhengran hummed in agreement. "I haven’t touched one in ages. By the way, can I borrow the sheet music you were just using? It sounded quite nice."

Jiang Qian looked at him in surprise, nodded, and handed him her sheet music. She wanted to warn him that the piece was rather difficult, but afraid that saying so might come across as condescending, she kept quiet.

Lin Zhengran thanked her and briefly flipped through the pages. After committing it to memory, he smiled, set the music down on the piano, and gently began to play.

The moment the piano melody flowed from his fingertips, Jiang Qian’s eyes widened slightly, her mouth falling open in speechless shock.

She listened carefully to how he handled some of the difficult sections of the piece, and the more she heard, the more unbelievable it became. Even her professional private tutors had praised her piano talent, calling it exceptionally outstanding. Yet even she would still make mistakes when playing this highly difficult piece.

Not only did Lin Zhengran play without a single flaw, but more importantly, in several sections that she usually played well, his execution was far smoother than hers, making it incredibly easy for the listener to become intoxicated by the music.

The beautiful piano notes echoed through the practice room for a long time. The music reminded Jiang Qian of her previous two defeats. It reminded her of her own arrogance when she had assumed he didn’t know how to play.

The young girl’s fair hands slowly clenched into tight fists.

As the piece reached its climax in the second half, Jiang Qian fully realized that her skills were absolutely inferior to the boy in front of her. And this was supposed to be her strongest forte...

Right at this moment, her assistant Fang Meng, who was out in the hallway, heard the piano and walked over. Seeing the scene inside the room, she was equally too shocked to speak.

Halfway through playing, Lin Zhengran suddenly spoke up out of the blue. "If you handle this part like this, it’ll sound much better. You can give it a try."

He played through one of the sections again.

Jiang Qian stared at him, and Lin Zhengran turned to look back at her. To him, it didn’t matter whether she listened to his advice or not; he was just offering a friendly tip.

Although the girl didn’t say a word, she sat down at her own piano and tried playing it his way. She made a mistake on her first attempt.

Lin Zhengran prompted, "Take the second..."

"I know." She readjusted and played it again. This time, it flowed incredibly smoothly. Jiang Qian was utterly amazed.

She had practiced this section countless times before and tried various methods, yet she had never been able to play it flawlessly. But under his guidance, it took her merely a minute to instantly grasp it, and she could now execute it with practiced ease.

In disbelief, Jiang Qian tried playing it two more times. The result was exactly the same—the melody was near perfect.

Lin Zhengran also marveled at how fast the girl learned. Though he only provided a double learning speed boost when teaching someone he had signed a contract with, his regular teaching still equated to the level of a master instructor. Even so, when he was tutoring Han Wenwen before, he often had to explain many problems twice before she understood them.

But with Jiang Qian, she realized what was wrong before he could even finish his sentence. The gap in natural talent between individuals was indeed massive.

Lin Zhengran praised, "Your talent is really high. You’ll probably achieve great things in this field in the future. Since that’s the case, should we start practicing the duet we’re performing at tomorrow’s gala? Let me see what we’re supposed to play..."

He grabbed the sheet music next to him and found that it was a very simple piece, something even a beginner could learn. "This is easy. Shall we start now?" Lin Zhengran asked.

Jiang Qian didn’t answer. Instead, she stared coldly at the piano, her eyes holding a different kind of emotion.

Suddenly, she stood up and walked toward the door. "Excuse me for a moment."

She stopped at the doorway. "Actually, I don’t think there’s any need to practice anymore. My piano skills are inferior to yours. I imagine playing the simple song for tomorrow’s performance will be a breeze for you. I don’t even feel qualified to have you as my accompanist."

Lin Zhengran blinked at her. He wondered, "Is it really that deep? It’s just a school performance."

Out loud, he asked, "So you’re not practicing tonight?"

"We can just go straight on stage tomorrow," Jiang Qian replied. "I know with your skill level, there definitely won’t be any issues."

With that, she left the classroom. Fang Meng, who was standing in the corridor, had naturally heard everything.

Others might not know, but she understood that although Qianqian seemed to care about nothing on the surface, she was actually extremely competitive. It seemed this was the only way she could feel worthy of the heavy financial investment her father had poured into her upbringing. Only then would she feel she hadn’t wasted her family’s resources.

However, as a boy from an ordinary family, Lin Zhengran’s academic and athletic achievements could be excused as luck or natural physical aptitude. But when it came to the piano—Jiang Qian’s greatest specialty—she knew there was no luck involved in this field. Being crushed meant being crushed.

It might have seemed like they were playing the same piece, but to a master’s ears, the difference in their skill levels was worlds apart. Not to mention, the other party was already capable of teaching her.

"Qianqian! Are you okay?"

Jiang Qian glanced back at Fang Meng and continued walking forward. "Let’s go home. I want to go back to my room and have some peace and quiet."

A Rolls-Royce soon arrived and parked at the school gates. Jiang Qian and Fang Meng, who was also a student at the same school, got into the car and headed home.

Lin Zhengran sat blankly in the classroom by himself, listening to the rehearsal sounds coming from a few rooms down. Since they weren’t practicing anymore, he figured he might as well go back to reading his book.

In the car ride home, Fang Meng looked at Jiang Qian’s gloomy expression.

"Qianqian?"

Jiang Qian was already tuning everything out.

At sixteen years old, Jiang Qian had never encountered such a formidable opponent in her entire life. He was so powerful that, remembering the piano piece Lin Zhengran had just played, she had no idea how she could ever defeat him.

As soon as she got home that night, she locked herself in her room. THUD. The Second Miss flopped onto her bed, her vacant eyes staring blankly into the distance.

Early the next morning, Jiang Qian walked out of her room wearing the exact same clothes.

Fang Meng realized what had happened. "Qianqian, you slept with your clothes on last night..."

"Because I didn’t sleep at all."

Fang Meng was speechless. "...Is it really that serious?"

Jiang Qian was currently in a zombie-like state. She numbly went through the motions of eating, washing up, and taking the car to school step by step. Then, she sat in a daze in the practice room, waiting until the school’s official freshman welcome ceremony began that evening.

"It’s almost your turn to go on stage," the homeroom teacher said nervously. "Jiang Qian, Lin Zhengran, are you two ready?"

Lin Zhengran nodded. "No problem, sir."

Jiang Qian, her eyes vacant and her whole body radiating an aura of despair, whispered, "Don’t worry, sir. There definitely won’t be any problems."

A drop of cold sweat slid down Lin Zhengran’s forehead. He wondered, "What’s wrong with her? It feels like she’s a completely different person today compared to the past few days."

Fortunately, the speech went smoothly. Despite Jiang Qian’s poor state of mind, once she stepped onto the stage, she refused to bring shame to her family. As the freshman representative, her speech was impassioned and highly effective at rallying the crowd’s emotions.

The subsequent piano duet was also performed smoothly and elegantly. All the freshmen in the audience applauded and cheered when they heard the beautiful piano melody.

In Class Three’s seating area, Xiao Heqing stared jealously at the two of them standing side by side and bowing to the audience, her small hands clutching together.

Jiang Xueli also gritted her teeth and clenched her small fists. She wondered, "Why do those two look so much like a couple? Damn you, Zhengran!"

Only Han Wenwen, who was skilled at observing people, had listened to the entire thing from the backstage contestant area. She blinked curiously. "Hmm? It feels like this Jiang Qian girl has suffered some sort of major blow. What happened?"

She looked back at Lin Zhengran, her sensitive nerves tingling as she muttered to herself, "I suddenly have a bad feeling about this..."

After Lin Zhengran and Jiang Qian stepped off the stage, Jiang Qian’s aloof gaze instantly shifted back to despair. During their duet, she had once again heard the vast, gaping disparity in skill between her and Lin Zhengran.

Following the freshman gala, Jiang Qian took three consecutive days of sick leave to rest at home.

It wasn’t until the morning of the fourth day that the Second Miss finally woke up from under her covers. Lying on her pillow with a thoroughly flushed face, she wore a bashful, girlish expression.