Chapter 169: Writing Love into an Epic

The moment Xu Yunzhou's fingers touched the cold piano keys, the last whispers in the gymnasium vanished.

The second note, the third note, poured out like moonlight and the gentle flow of a stream.

The melody unfolded tenderly, like a midnight monologue, like the gaze of a long-awaited reunion.

"Goodness..."

A student who played the piano covered her mouth instantly.

"Is... is this double-rhythm counterpoint? Such a complex improvisation? The right hand playing a lyrical melody in 6/8 time, while the left hand is using syncopated rhythms in 4/4 time to support the counterpoint!"

The girl next to him tugged at his sleeve and whispered, "What does that mean?"

He took a deep breath, his voice filled with excitement, "It means his left and right brain are operating like two independent CPUs in parallel!"

"One side is emoting and the other is calmly structuring!"

"How terrifying must his control over rhythm and harmony be?"

As if to confirm his exclamation, Xu Yunzhou's hands danced across the keys.

The notes that flowed from his fingers were not just music.

They were time.

They were memories.

His gaze seemed to pierce through the music stand in front of him, looking back more than a decade to the girl who was trembling with fear in a corner of Chengzhou No. 7 High School, scared by a bouquet of roses.

The melody of his right hand suddenly changed.

It became gentle, clumsy, and even a bit cautious.

That was the initial Song Jiaru he remembered.

The left hand added a light, heart-like rhythm.

Then the right-hand melody suddenly accelerated!

It became bright, joyful, and filled with tentative courage!

The notes began to leap, like the first time he half-enticed, half-commanded her to step out of her home and queue up to buy dan dan noodles at a bustling street vendor, despite her sweaty palms, she shouted, "One dan dan noodle!"

The music's mood then took a sharp turn!

The right hand played a series of dissonant chords, tense, anxious, and filled with struggle!

That was her trembling fear when facing thugs, and her tense breathing during her first street performance!

The left hand's bass became heavy and oppressive, like the countless gazes and doubts from the outside world!

Two forces clashed and tore at each other on the keys!

As the music entered the middle section, it became more expansive, free, and full of hope.

The right-hand melody became smoother and more confident, with ornamental notes and rapid runs, like a bird with growing wings, trying to soar in a broader sky.

The left-hand accompaniment also became rich and varied, sometimes like applause, sometimes like waves, supporting the main melody to rise higher.

A jaw-dropping octave jump and a rapid scale!

An inner voice melody that required the left hand to cross over the right hand!

Professional musicians were stunned:

"This... this level of technique and musical expression has reached the standard of world-class professional performers! How much more does he have in reserve?"

But this was not just a display of technique.

Behind each beautiful phrase, one could "hear" the scenes.

It was her stunning turn during the blind audition of "Good Voice of Daxia," her clear voice piercing through the screen;

It was her performance on the Spring Festival Gala stage, adorned with starlight, singing "Stars and Oceans" with tears, her eyes filled with a desperate and deep emotion;

It was her holding the first Golden Melody Award, her dazzling smile hiding a yearning for someone "not present";

It was her journey over ten years, step by step, from the darkest corner to the center of the spotlight!

The emotions in the music continued to accumulate and layer, like a snowball growing larger and heavier.

...

All 30,000 audience members, whether they understood music or not, were completely absorbed by this universe of emotions built purely with notes!

No one spoke.

No one moved.

Not even a breath.

Everyone's soul was pulled into another dimension by that piano and those hands.

There was a person who had been silently watching for ten years;

There was a girl's transformation from mud to the stars;

There were two hearts crossing the virtual and real, time and space, with unwavering pursuit;

There was a love that could be silent for ten years, and then, tonight, declare its existence in the most deafening way to the world.

...

When the final emotional flood reached its peak, the music stopped abruptly after a glorious, suffocating chord.

Xu Yunzhou's hands hovered a few centimeters above the keys, trembling slightly.

The entire venue was deathly silent.

Three seconds.

Five seconds.

Ten seconds.

Then applause, screams, cries, and roars erupted like a volcano that had been suppressed for millions of years!

The sound was so loud it almost lifted the roof of the gymnasium!

Light sticks waved wildly, forming a sea of uncontrollable light!

Many people were in tears, but they didn't know why they were crying!

The live stream chat was exploding, the servers nearly crashing:

"This isn't just a performance... it's a miracle..."

"Whoever says July 9th is just a songwriter? This piano skill can easily hold a world tour concert!"

[I declare this the most stunning live performance of my entire life! Bar none!]

[Jiaru, do you see? He wrote an entire world for you!]

[So there really are people who can write love into an epic...]

...

But not everyone watching was lost in purely emotional rapture.

Binzhou City, Jiangnan Province. Provincial Security Department, Criminal Investigation Technology Center, top-floor private office.

Wen Xi had just wrapped up an online case analysis meeting on a cross-provincial serial murder case.

Rubbing her throbbing temples, she casually tapped on the push notification for the "Song Jiaru Concert Live Stream."

When the familiar melody—the one that had been "tapped out" on a shabby wooden desk in her dorm room—thundered forth from a top-tier grand piano and concert-grade sound system, her entire body went rigid.

Her eyebrows shot up. Her gaze sharpened like a blade.

She didn't even need to listen long. She immediately pulled up the encrypted video file from her cloud drive—the one she had never shown anyone.

She clicked play.

The video titled To Sister Xi began to play.

A shabby dorm room, dim lighting, her own self in a tank top, tapping out a magnificent piece on a wooden desk.

She compared it to the live stream—Xu Yunzhou's seamless, effortless performance at that opulent grand piano.

The melody. The structure. The emotional arc. Even several signature virtuosic variations...

Identical.

Wen Xi stared at the two screens—phone in her left hand, computer in her right—for a full minute.

Then.

"Little Zhou-zhou!"

A low growl of suppressed fury squeezed through her gritted teeth.

She clenched her fists, knuckles cracking.

"You... you manuscript-splitting, one-tune-for-two-women... sneaky bastard!"

"And To Sister Xi, huh?"

Beneath the blazing anger was also a faint, hard-to-describe... unsettling feeling of being outdone?

After all, the "original version" tapped out on a desk versus this "ultimate version" on a grand piano—the sound quality and sheer impact were worlds apart.

"The next time I see you..."

Wen Xi ground her teeth, her gaze dangerous, her right hand squeezing into a fist.

"You're not getting away!"

...

Shudian City. A suite in a star-rated hotel.

(TL: Fun fact, Shùdiàn is a fictional stand-in for Héngdiàn, China's famous film and television production base; the joke is the "vertical"(竖) character replacing "horizontal"(横) for the name.)

Shen Mingyue had just finished her night scenes. Wrapped in a bathrobe, she lounged languidly on the sofa, her tablet playing the live stream from the Binzhou concert.

When Xu Yunzhou played the final note and the crowd erupted, her pretty face showed no excitement. Instead, she pouted and tossed the tablet aside.

Then she turned around and complained in that uniquely coquettish, slightly aggrieved voice of hers:

"Master~"

"You're being so mean~"

She hugged a soft throw pillow and rested her chin on it, her eyes full of reproach:

"You actually had me star in the movie adaptation of your love story..."

"Writing Songs for You... when we were filming, I was so invested..."

She raised a slender, fair hand to wipe away tears that weren't there, full method acting:

"And what happened?"

"The script turned out to be reality! The inspiration was you and Sister Jiaru!"

"I looked at the camera, recited my lines, imagined that gifted boy silently giving everything..."

Her voice choked up, and her eyes genuinely went red:

"And all I could think about was you!"

"I thought it was adapted from our story... I secretly felt happy for ages..."

She "sadly" buried her face in the pillow, shoulders trembling slightly:

"Wuu wuu wuu... I'm so upset..."

"In the movie I play out your epic romance for you, and outside the movie I still have to watch you two finally get together..."

"I don't care!"

"You have to properly cheer me up!"

"Otherwise..."

She paused, a sly glint flashing through her beautiful eyes:

"On your wedding day, I'm coming to crash it!"

"I'll wear that wedding dress from the movie, holding a kid!"

"Let's see how the two of you handle that!"