Chapter 320
Beethoven Virus
When Su Li urgently contacted Zhao Youyue, she was busy rehearsing again and again in the school auditorium.
Zhao Youyue initially felt that it would be interesting to be the host of the New Year’s Eve, but as time went on, when the novelty of that position wore off, all that was left was the insipidness and how unbelievably boring it was.
In such a situation, she could only activate the “Xu Jing” card to let Xu Jing replace herself, in order to maintain the initial patience that she had. Otherwise, she would have soon given up halfway, due to how torturous it was.
This made Zhao Youyue’s partner, who was also the student chairman, Huang Zongchao admire her. He respected Zhao Youyue’s perseverance, as she was even able to fully immerse herself into being the host, so much so that she did not even need the script anymore.
In actual fact, it was not a must to memorize everything. The hosts were allowed to hold placards as well as the event schedule for reference. However, with the focusing power of the “Xu Jing” card, Zhao Youyue had already remembered everything by heart.
When Huang Zongchao saw that even Lady Zhao could memorize everything impeccably, he knew that he could not afford to lag behind. As the school officials attached great importance to this event, the preparation time allocated for the New Year’s Eve was particularly long. This was to rule out any chances of anything going wrong, all in the pursuit of perfection.
Huang Zongchao decided that he might as well memorize the script. In the beginning, he would still stumble from time to time. However, as the number of rehearsals increased, he got better at it, and was now able to perfectly match Zhao Youyue. This made him feel a great deal of satisfaction.
Deep down, Huang Zongchao was an extremely arrogant person, but the more he understood Zhao Youyue, the more he could not help but become attracted to her excellence.
He was not someone who was easily attracted by good looks, therefore Zhao Youyue’s appearance did not really affect him in any way. What that caught his attention was Zhao Youyue’s profound upbringing, talent, and meticulous attitude.
At this point, Zhao Youyue was sitting behind the stage, looking at the performances on the stage in utmost boredom. She had watched it so many times, to the point where she was nearly sick of it.
She also happened to meet someone familiar. It was “Hang Yongming,” an acquaintance that she had previously crossed paths with during the provincial competition. It was the same guy who wanted to teach Zhao Youyue what ‘real music’ was.
Hang Yongming was already a third-year art student. However, he was more well-known in school for playing the violin, compared to Zhao Youyue.
This was because he had already showcased his violin skills countless times during the school’s New Year’s Eve. The tunes that he played were all his personal adaptations of songs that all the students were very familiar with.
When it comes to classical instruments like this, it is a known fact that to resonate with everyone, one had to play tunes that everyone is well acquainted with. If he were to play tunes that were specifically meant for competitions, nobody would be able to truly understand and appreciate them.
However, if Zhao Youyue was to learn from Hang Yongming and adapt those popular songs, they would appear shallow and mediocre.
This did not mean that Zhao Youyue was inept in adaptations, as a matter of fact, this was her specialty. Do not forget that she is the live streamer “Ah Yu,” and many viewers loved her violin tunes. She could even use the violin to play various trendy songs, or even square dancing songs. The tunes she played would often give the viewers an incredible feeling, which made them laugh out loud as they admired her music. As a result, various gifts had been sent to her, one after another.
Many people were attracted to the way she played the violin. When paired with popular songs, they produced great power. This inadvertently promoted the instrument as well. Many viewers of her live stream channel were impressed with her violin skills and had even decided to allow their children to start learning the violin.
However, this time, Zhao Youyue was not planning to be so casual. She had prepared something really grand, instead. She was going to perform a song from a novel, an original by Chu Luoxun, named “Beethoven Virus”!
This particular violin song was adapted from Rondo Allegro, the third movement in Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 8.[1]
In this dynamic song, the violin no longer carried a gloomy, sullen whisper. Instead, it brought with it overflowing liveliness and passion.
Just by listening to the prelude, anyone’s train of thought would come crashing down as their blood boiled with passion.
In another world, “Beethoven Virus” had once debuted in an e-sports competition and became an instant hit! It almost became the most famous tune in the field of e-sports!
It might be possible that many people have actually heard of this tune, but did not know that it was called “Beethoven Virus,” or that it was played with a violin.
There was no doubt that this tune would evoke a sensational reaction at the party. This tune would not reduce Zhao Youyue’s standing. If Zhao Youyue activated the “Chu Luoxun” card while playing this tune, then, the arrogant Hang Yongming with his superiority complex would definitely be able to understand what ‘real music’ really was.
Indeed, Hang Yongming was still very pretentious in front of Zhao Youyue. He also knew that Zhao Youyue would be performing at the grand party. However, he felt that Zhao Youyue’s style of performing would never appeal to the students and be able to satisfy them.
Therefore, Hang Yongming could not help but criticise Zhao Youyue. He vehemently despised her “human metronome” style that had gotten many awards. He said, “As the New Year’s Eve will be commencing in a few days, I advise you to learn from the live streamer “Ah Yu.” Her playing of the violin is real music. This is because her music is filled with vitality, and is capable of bringing joy to the audience. Isn’t that what our generation of performers are striving for? With your style of music that mainly focuses on getting into the good books of the judges, with all due respect, I’m sure it will not even be able to cause a mere ripple at the party! Please wake up, already!”
Zhao Youyue expressed that she concurred with his views entirely. In fact, she was pretty happy. Little did she know that the school’s violin prince would also be a fan of her sockpuppet identity, “Ah Yu,” and he even respected her so much.
However, during the rehearsals, Zhao Youyue still played the violin casually. Obviously, it was not the killer piece of “Beethoven Virus” that she had already prepared. She only played some tudes[2], which naturally left Hang Yongming disappointed. He felt that Zhao Youyue’s music was beyond saving, and that she had completely lost her musical touch.
Hang Yongming focused his attention on the person he deemed as his “mortal enemy,” which was Wang Shun. He was just as good as him, but he played the Erhu instead.
He liked to tell Wang Shun, “Stop with the nonsense, let’s play. We need to settle it out between the violin and the Erhu!”
Upon hearing this, Wang Shun’s eyes would blaze with passion, and he would want to confront him immediately.
People around them would only feel awkward looking at the two of them that suffered from “sophohigh syndrome[3].”
Right at that moment, Zhao Youyue received a text from Su Li —- —-
“My lady, did something happen to you recently? Were you really involved in a car accident? I’m sorry! I’m the one to blame! I have let you down! Wuwuwu, I’m really, really, stupid. I know I am…”
Zhao Youyue was instantly flooded with questions. This cute Su Li, what was she up to this time, going around making a big fuss, out of nothing.
Translation note :
[1] “Piano Sonata No. 8”, fully “Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13”, commonly known as “Sonata Pathtique,” was written in 1798 when the composer Ludwig van Beethoven was 27 years old and was published in 1799. It has remained as one of his most celebrated compositions.
[2] “tude” is a short musical composition, typically for one instrument, designed as an exercise to improve the technique or demonstrate the skill of the player.
[3] Sophohigh Syndrome. This word originates from a Japanese term (Chunnibyou), which literally translates to “Middle school 2ndyear Syndrome”. And the English word is a combination of, you guessed it, sophomore + high school.