Chapter 24.3

Huoren hurriedly made up a schedule for the last two weeks. He would practice dancing from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day from Monday to Friday, and the rest of the time it would be free time.

He quickly pressed the pen cap twice, and suddenly remembered the skill that Chi Ji had taught him.

Music was a kind of telling.

Some scenes he saw in Shidu Grand Theater floated in front of him, countless actors performed joys and sorrows in his brain, and the feeling of empathy appeared again.

Huoren subconsciously reached out at it as if he had really grasped something and began to create a story for the song.

First there was a story, then there was emotion, and then there would be a story to tell.

He still didn’t understand deep love. It was hard to get into it when he had to express the tenderness between lovers, but he could understand repressed love.

Whether in《Spring Awakening》, 《Hedwig and the Angry Inch》 or 《Mozart l’Opéra Rock》, the repressed love could be used for the plot and it was deep enough to make emotions flourish.

This kind of love may be all for yourself, your lover and to make you treasure everything.

Control, bound, and an undercurrent of emotions.

This was the first time Huoren wrote a story.

The young student fell in love with a model as a pigeon who was fed in a park square. He communicated with her by text message and then confessed his love.

The model is used to travel back and forth and one necklace was enough to cover his two-year tuition. She only wanted to have a superficial relationship, but acted as if it felt fresh.

He liked her sophistication and amorous feelings, her bareness and indifference.

No money, without a garage, just an ordinary student, so clumsy and boring that he was worried about himself.

While they were eating, she would occasionally complain about her work, shake her wine cup and murmur about going to the snow country1.

And he filled her with spirits, carefully afraid of saying a wrong word.

All emotions were closed and repressed, as if they were swallowed with a sigh.

The two met by chance by the fountain and broke up in the same place.

He loved her before the beginning of their story, but didn’t say it at the end.

“Do you remember the gray pigeon?”

Huoren closed his eyes and gradually substituted himself into the perspective of the lovelorn, playing and singing for him.

With the slender and powerful ten fingers covered with the electronic piano keys, the story unfolded slowly.

“It landed on the ferris wheel and looked at the stars in the wind.”

Chords wew like railway tracks, groping for docking and patching up, carrying the music forward intermittently.

“The diamond necklace fell on the bedside table and no one went to get it back.”

“How much you look like that pigeon.”

“Beautiful eyes, slender neck, just don’t remember who I was.”

As soon as the music changed the pace, bass and string flow in together.

The young man’s voice was hoarse and depressed, as if he was holding back his tears.

“You are on the top of the cloud, I am in the dust.”

“Don’t look away from your responsibilities.”

For the first time, Huoren entered such a state, which seemed to be his own experience. At the same time, he cut the phrase and adjusted the lyrics, as if he were a separate creator.

The words should be precise and the feelings should be clear and profound.

Huoren had the arranger and his headphones on. The draft paper of the song was scattered all over the table, and his ten fingers were too busy.

The time value of each note should be in place, and the starting and changing of the four verses should also be linked seamlessly.

His world was completely black and white, the distant footsteps and conversation were completely isolated, and everything was left to creation.

The binocular field of view was divided into five pieces. In the middle was the staggered coincidence of three music tracks on the screen. The lower right piano score and the lower left manuscript were attached to the upper side of the sheet music..

Like an on-the-spot exam, being repeatedly extracted.

Time was like the cold current of the deep sea, holding him. Light and shadow were sad to welcome the lyrics and change of music. The sound of string music was tangled in his ears, singing the dull thoughts of the young.

“It’s a mistake. I should apologize.”

He took a deep breath and went on, relieved by laughing.

“Do you remember the gray pigeon?”

“It flied so far that I can’t see it anymore…”

Suddenly someone knocked on the table twice and pulled him out of his mind.

“Kid.” Mige looked at him on the table and smiled, “Look at you, you’ve been here all day. Have you had dinner?”

The teacher who taught him piano and singing before.

Huoren ignored him, wrote the last paragraph of lyrics he just thought of on the manuscript paper, and then stood up to see him.

“Teacher Mi, why are you here?”

“Do you know what time it is?”

He entered the composition room at eleven o’clock. He looked up to see the time. It was already half past two in the morning.

“All right, get up and leave first.” Mige handed him a smoked chicken Avocado Sandwich with a bottle of freshly squeezed juice: “Have you even had lunch?”

Huoren was a little embarrassed to answer and hurriedly said ‘thank you’.

“Xiao Chi asked me to give it to you. He came to play with you this afternoon. He saw you too busy and left after sitting for a while.” Mige sat down and naturally explained, “I’m just here to help my friends with their songs. I’m curious about what you have been writing all night – can you show me?”

Huoren nodded quickly and felt hungry when he opened the carton.

Without any shyness, he told Mige his general ideas and creative process a little bit.

One bite of smoked chicken made him feel that his physical strength was constantly recovering, and the butter puree had a faint aroma of honey.

Mige finished reading his music score and read the lyrics twice.

Then he turned to look at him: “Is this your first time?”

Huoren nodded and felt ashamed.

Mige asked again: “Did you write everything today?”

Huoren continued to nod.

“Kid, you are completely worthy of your nomination with Uncle Jiang.” Mige smiled and patted him on the shoulder. He said bluntly, “it’s too late today. You go to the office with your U-disk and manuscript paper at 6 p.m. tomorrow, and I’ll help you fix it.”

The boy was almost choked by almonds: “Did you nominate me?”

“Mn, I did.” Mige smiled and said, “didn’t the little champion guess?”

Huoren quickly wiped his mouth, bent down and bowed: “Thank you, Teacher Mi. I can’t believe it.”

“I don’t know if other teachers nominate, but I did with Uncle Jiang two months ago.” Mige appreciated his toughness and ruthlessness, and didn’t mind helping to add to the icing on the cake: “I saw you learn piano and singing very fast before. I heard Teacher Wei say you’re learning guitar recently, aren’t you?”

Huoren was completely at a loss when he was knocked unconscious by praise after praise: “Wei… Teacher Wei?”

Teacher Wei who teaches dancing?!

“His nephew was also in the preselection this time, but he is already considering other options.”

The young man smiled very pretty and was quite optimistic about the unknown student: “I told you last time that teachers gossip and talk about the students when they eat. Kid, sleep well. Don’t worry too much. Cheer up.”

Huoren was still confused when he returned to the dormitory. He didn’t return to the real world for a long time.

Teacher Mige will take the initiative to help me change my composition.

Miss Wei also mentioned me to other teachers.

It turned out that uncle Jiang interviewed me first for that reason

When Huoren opened the door and came in, Longjia was practicing b-box in his nightgown with a mineral water bottle.

“You came back so late today.” He waved the bottle: “I just cleaned the bathroom. The ground may be a little slippery. Be careful.”

Huoren answered obediently, put his things away and walked forward.

After taking a few steps, he suddenly retreated backwards.

“Long-ge,” he said straightly, “Teacher Mige praised me for making great progress in playing the piano.”

Longjia blinked.

Huoren was facing him: “Ge, he praised me.”

He was actually very happy to be praised and encouraged by such a top teacher. Now, although he had made efforts to keep calm, he still showed some little pride on his face.

“He may have, but you didn’t have to brag.” Longjia laughed: “Take a bath.”

-3-

The next day, after class, Huoren took the manuscript to Mige’s office.

The single room was nearly 50 square meters. There wasn’t only a piano but also a blackboard. A row of bookshelves were full of piano scores and foreign language books, and a picture was hung next to it.

He was supposed to help Huoren change his manuscript, so it became a music theory class.

Mige, who was standing around, looked at Huoren, he really changed his face, and even his atmospjere was completely reversed.

“Why do you want to lower B here? Do you have an opinion on B flat?”

“Transposing and then transposing again. If you write love songs, you can’t cut music sentences. It’s not a mixed salad!”

“What did you write in this paragraph – how did you get the full score in music theory class? Mordent won’t mess with subordinate chords. Have you ever listened to a class?”

Huoren raised his hand after that: “Teacher, what’s mordent?”

Mige was furious: “Go and copy the music theory book a hundred times!”

“Teacher, it’s really not written in the textbook sent by the company.” Huoren blinked: “I can recite every page.”

He happened to have the book with him, so he took it out and said, “Take a look at it”

Mige, after taking the book, found that they still studied introduction to basic knowledge.

The young man slammed the book and sat back on the sofa and filled a cup with water.

Huoren stood by with a puppy’s expression on his face and remembered him: “Teacher, drink slowly. It’s bad for your health.”

“That’s right.” Mige was also a little embarrassed at the moment: “You have just learned the basic knowledge of music theory.”

He took out a paper towel to wipe his hands, got up and went to the bookcase to find an unopened textbook.

There were two big words, “Shidu Conservatory”, written on the top, and the title of the book was in the middle, old and long.

National general textbook for social art level examination – basic science of music examination course (level I and level II).

“Although this has the basics, it has also the foundation of a professional level at least.” Mige said positively, “If you can’t understand something, ask me. According to your intelligence, it should be no problem.”

Huoren took it and thanked him. He was pulled to continue his class.

“Today I really wanted to tell you the difference between the triad and chord. Take out your notebook-“

At 9:30 on Friday, Huoren went straight back to the recording room, to change and play the song on the computer, and was able to record a demo in the middle of the night.

When he woke up on Saturday, he just had work to do from 7:30 to 9:30 in the morning. The plan was to change his clothes after rehearsing dancing, and then take a bus to Qingxi road.

Huoren and Xie Lianyun just lived together for two months, they knew about the work and rest time of their former roommates. When he came to his door at eight o’clock, he took a lunch box to bring him breakfast, rice wine, dumplings with a bowl of fried noodles, peas and cucumber strips.

Chi Ji opened the door sleepily, with a soft voice: “You came, Huohuo?”

Huoren raised the bag in his right hand and said, “I brought you a sandwich and some soybean milk to drink”

“Wooow, you’re the best-“

There were no curtains in the dormitory. It was dark everywhere. Huoren could vaguely hear the sound of typing on the keyboard.

Xie Lianyun was catching up with the manuscript to meet the deadline in his little bear pajamas, with the words “kill me” written all over his face.

Huoren put the breakfast in his hand. He didn’t want to cause him trouble. He just said good morning and was ready to leave.

“Wait a minute.” Xie Lianyun kept staring at the screen, half of his ears exposed outside: “What did you bring?”

“Fried noodles with sauce, rice wine and dumplings.”

“Uncle Jiang said to control carbohydrates and water intake.”

“That’s why it’s buckwheat noodles.”

“Uncle Jiang asked me to control the sugar I ingested.”

“So I added two spoons for you.”

“Why add two spoons?” Xie Lianyun pushed the keyboard and turned to eat: “What’s the matter with you so early?”

Huoren explained back and forth, making him stay still for two seconds. Then, he pushed his silver rimmed glasses and said in a cold voice, “You said you wrote a song?”

“Yes, it was written the day before yesterday.”

“And finished today?”

“…I’ll show you.”

Xie Lianyun turned to look at Chi Ji: “Xiao Chi, do you hear me? This guy learned composition from me more than a month ago. Now, he can write a song in two days.”

Chi Ji nodded with the hot soybean milk: “It’s Huohuo, I believe it.”

Huoren said seriously, “I’m not in a hurry if you’re busy.”

“Give me the U-disk.” Xie Lianyun stretched out his hand expressionless: “Did you bring the score?”

“I brought one and the scanned one is in the U-disk.”

Xie Lianyun transferred out the documents two or three times, sucked the noodles and listened to his demo. He didn’t speak for a long time.

“… Do you think it’s fine?” Huoren wasn’t very confident at the moment: “I changed some details yesterday, but I didn’t do much.”

Xie Lianyun didn’t speak. He turned on the lamp and looked at the score twice.

“Have others made changes to the score?” He picked a pencil and circled: “The skills here are obviously not yours, at first sight I just know it’s from an experienced person.”

“Mn, Teacher Mige gave me a lesson yesterday.”

“Are you going to sing this at the presentation?”

“It’s not just singing this.”

Xie Lianyun picked a red pen.

He could really see Huoren’s aura and ideas. He had done his homework well.

In the future, if Huoren studied more than two years, he would be able to make an album all by himself.

Xie Lianyun wrote very quickly, and his thinking speed completely catched up with his writing speed.

While erasing redundant notes and marking the score, he would continue to talk with Huoren.

“If you want a complete performance on the 15th, you must finish the mixing tape. A piano solo isn’t enough, there must be bass, otherwise some emotions can’t be conveyed.”

Huoren felt a little embarrassed at the moment: “I was going to do it with computer software and I’m still watching a tutorial.”

Xie Lianyun stretched out his hand and circled four sections to write revised reference notes. In his busy schedule, he glanced at him: “You wanted to simulate a Philharmonic Orchestra with a computer? Longjia could be the bass and Xiao Chi in the harmony, his voice is soft and can help you with it.”

Chi Ji nodded happily, “I’m in!”

Huoren was stunned and said, “Sorry for the inconvenience…”

“It isn’t an inconvenience.” Xie Lianyun said coolly, “we are your teammates and what would be troublesome is not helping you.”

They went to Qingxi road in the evening. The four people sat in two rows.

Bo Jue only came back on the 31st to attend the cross annual meeting of SPF. However, he received a text message sent by Xie Lianyun early in the morning and agreed to cooperate quite fast. Then, he called from overseas and scolded Huoren: “Do you still need me to tell me this? You are my student and I will definitely help you, alright?”

Huoren said, “I don’t want to give you more trouble.”

Then, he sneezed.

Bo Jue remained angry: “I sent you this sneeze! Longjia is used to come to me, and I’ve helped him every day. He’s not polite, but you are. It’s foolish to live with him!”

Longjia, who was listening nearby, immediately grabbed the phone and hung up before he could finish the sentences. He looked at Huoren with a lingering fear.

“This swan… It’s said that they all love talking about people.” He murmured along, “We’d better not provoke him at peaceful times.”

As soon as they got off the bus, Teacher Lu rushed over with the program list.

“Long Jia – Long Jia, wait, the program!”

The company next door temporarily brought two groups of artists, and one of them just happened to pick the song selected by the Long-Ren group this week.

“They’re also from a friend company. It’s not good to dance with them whether you lose or win,” teacher Lu said hurriedly. “Don’t you know anything else? I have an alternative program list here. If you can avoid doing the same song, do it. If you can’t, just come back next week.”

Huoren looked back and forth and found one: “I can do ’wolf teeth’.”

Xie Lianyun raised his hand: “I know that song too.”

“What about Xiao Long?”

Longjia hadn’t heard most of the songs, but suddenly was happy: “Lollipop luxury? Isn’t this a new popular song in the United States?”

“Yes, it just came out, and many dance studios are practicing this song.” Teacher Lu wasn’t afraid that the four of them couldn’t reorganize. He circled the two songs with a pen: “And Xiao Chi?”

“Yes,” Chi Ji nodded. “Please register me in that one, teacher.”

Teacher Lu said a few thanks and rushed to the preparatory group to rearrange the order.

The four of them were walking slowly at the end of the line.

“In other words,” Long Jia looked down at the beautiful and slender Chi Ji: “the dance is pretty erotic, Xiaochi, are you sure?”

The lyrics of this song were explicit, so it was full of sexual hints from the beginning.

Before Chi Ji spoke, Xie Lianyun smiled instead.

“Longjia, you haven’t seen him on the stage.”

Xiao Chi looked at him. He was really pure and clever at the age of 16, but when he danced, he was the embodiment of human desire.

Footnotes

It refers to Japan.