201 Playing the Marimba
Sun Bin was writing feverishly at his desk. Anger flashed in his eyes when he turned his head and saw that Qiao Yue was asleep.
How could Qiao Yue be sleeping? Was he trying to insult him?
Two days of exams passed by quickly. It was Friday afternoon, and time for the music exam.
Qiao Yue wasn’t that confident in her playing skills, but she found a way.
As an assassin, she had the habit of counting time. She broke the rhythm of the music down to seconds, counted the seconds in her heart, and then played the instrument. She should be able to get the rhythm right for the piece, right?
When she arrived at the music room, Qiao Xin was already waiting there.
She had done well in the quiz, so she was the first to take the exam.
She walked up to the stage and gave Qiao Yue a disdainful glance.
She was the most musically gifted in the family and had plans to go into the music industry in future. She was confident that she could do a hundred times better than Qiao Yue in this field.
Qiao Yue was in the limelight during the physical education exam two days ago. Qiao Xin wouldn’t lose today.
Qiao Yue didn’t care about this kind of arts-related exam. Compared to the arts, she was more interested in science and business. To her, the arts were there to enrich one’s life.
Qiao Xin smiled at the teacher from the stage before she picked up her mallets. She took a deep breath and music flowed from her nimble hands on the marimba.
She played “Flight of the Bumblebee”, which Qiao Yue had played previously.
Qiao Xin had practiced hard for a long time and broke several pairs of mallets. She thought that she could easily master this song, but after learning it, she realized that her hand speed couldn’t keep up with the intended rhythm at all.
She hadn’t been revising her academic subjects lately. Instead, she had spent most of her time practicing the marimba. She finally made headway in the past two days and played this piece better. Although she played it a little slower than intended, it was already very good.
Qiao Yue found it interesting that Qiao Xin would actually fight to the death for this song.
Qiao Xin finished playing the song in one breath, and the audience burst into applause. Jin Lu also nodded. Qiao Xin was indeed musically gifted, and she interpreted the piece quite well.
“Next, Qiao Yue.”
Everyone held their breaths as they watched Qiao Yue walk up the stage.
Qiao Yue played “Flight of the Bumblebee” really well the last time. Qiao Yue’s performance in the physical education exam two days ago was also very impressive. Everyone wanted to see what special performance Qiao Yue would give in the music exam.
Qiao Yue chose a quiet pop song.
This was one of the few pop songs she liked, and it was a song from probably more than a decade ago. The tune was quiet and melodious, and the lyrics told the story of a woman who had to support her family alone because her husband was always away.
The story wasn’t a bitter complaint, but a faint sorrow of longing.
She only discovered this song recently and was touched the first time she heard it.
Her mallets struck gently, and notes flowed softly to tell the story of the song.
Everyone was mesmerized, including Qiao Yue, who was playing it on the marimba.
She remembered the dream she had after she was injured. How she saw her mother in the dream, and how she experienced the same type of longing. As the song reached its climax, she felt her heartbeat accelerate slowly.
What kind of magic did this song have? Why did she feel a heartache when she heard it?
Bits and pieces of her childhood memory seemed to appear before her eyes, and she felt tears welling up in her eyes.
She gave up counting time and played the song instinctively. At the end of the song, everyone applauded.
“I thought Qiao Yue was going to take the technical route. I didn’t expect him to take the emotional route.”
“Yeah, it’s really quite pleasant to hear. His performance was so emotional.”
…
After Qiao Yue finished playing, she bowed to the audience. She bowed to hold back her tears so they wouldn’t roll down her face.
This song must have meant something to her.
The music exam was soon over. The other students played ordinarily. Xu Hao even broke his mallet.
Qiao Yue’s mood improved after she watched Xu Hao embarrassed himself.
After the exams, it was time to grade the papers. Harvey had been using computer-assisted grading, so the teachers were able to grade the entire department’s papers in a day or two.
Zhang Cheng, as the head of the mathematics department, oversaw grading of the mathematics papers.
He browsed through the scores for each question marked by the teachers. When he saw the marks for the last question, he frowned.
Didn’t Qiao Yue solve this question? Why didn’t he get full marks?
Zhang Cheng then checked the test paper with the highest marks, but the last step was left out.
Could this test paper be Qiao Yue’s?
