14.9

Xue Jingyi purposely didn’t take her medication, allowing her health to deteriorate rapidly, but this was just a symptom, once she achieved her goal, she would try her best to recuperate to her best condition so that she could withstand the risk of a heart transplant. Until then, she wanted to get back all that Huang Yi owed her.

She asked Xue Li Dani to let Huang Yi take her place in the competition. Xue Li Dani, who is undoubtedly the most loving person in the Xue family, agreed without thinking and told Xue Rui about it. Xue Rui decides to send a few bodyguards to follow Huang Yi at all times, lest he exposes his identity during the competition.

Xue Jingyi again asked the butler to call Huang Yi over, put on a dying look and said that she wanted more people to remember her, wanted to personally stand on that stage but couldn’t do anything about it, and wanted to leave more or less traces of having survived in this world. This was her last wish, and she hoped that her brother would help her fulfill it.

Zhou Yunsheng laughed coldly inwardly, but his eyes were red and he agreed after considering for a moment.

Xue Jingyi held his hand and thanked him weakly.

Everyone in the Xue family surrounded her, but whenever she asked for anything, they did their best to fulfill it for her, yet when it came to Xue Zixuan, all they got was a cold denial.

“No, this is cheating, I can’t agree to it.” He stared expressionlessly at a songbook, not even giving Xue Jingyi a glance out of the corner of his eye. He hadn’t even traveled to her room to visit her once these days, and he was no longer able to look her squarely in the eye.

“But I heard that Master Yan will be back in a couple days, so if Xiaoyi goes to the competition instead of me she can still avoid him.” Xue Jingyi took out her prethought speech.

Xue Zixuan visibly froze and nodded in silence after a few minutes.

In the past, my brother would never have agreed to this practice. He often said that music was the truest of all and could not tolerate a little bit of falsehood, so he abhorred plagiarism, cheating, fake playing and other behaviors. But now, in order to keep Huang Yi, he was able to put aside all his principles.

If that day really came, I wonder who he would choose between himself and Huang Yi.

Xue Jing Yi couldn’t control her thoughts and couldn’t help but ask, “Brother, do you want me to live?” If I live, Huang Yi must die, what would you choose?

Xue Zixuan looked at her with an extraordinarily cold gaze and walked away without a word. Of course he wanted his sister to live, but only if she could not prey on the life of a teenager. Death was an extremely natural process that everyone in the world could not avoid, it was just a matter of sooner or later. When it really came to that day, calm acceptance was the most comfortable response.

He didn’t see how much resentment filled his sister’s eyes as he turned away.

——————-

Replacing Xue Jingyi in the competition had always been in Zhou Yunsheng’s plans. The Xue family wanted to hide his identity, but he preferred to be famous all over the world, and on the day the truth was revealed, the small Xue family would not be able to control the development of the situation at all.

In order to ensure that he did not come into contact with outsiders, the Xue family had sent a few bodyguards to keep an eye on him. The preliminaries had already begun, and the lounge was filled with teenagers between the ages of twelve and eighteen, among whom there were countless people from prominent families, but not many of them were as high-profile as him, always surrounded by a group of sunglasses-wearing hulks.

Some people were very uncomfortable with his behavior and exchanged comments, while others tried to walk up to him in protest and were stopped by a couple of bodyguards. This action attracted more cynicism for him. Such a high profile before the match has even started, don’t look too bad if you lose later.

Each participant had recorded a VCR and submitted it to the organizing committee, which edited it and played it together in order to let everyone know each other’s level.

The VCR was filmed before Xue Jingyi became ill, and although she was quite talented without having experienced the trials and tribulations of life and death, she could only be ranked mid-upper at best among the contestants. They didn’t see her as a true opponent.

And for such a person with mediocre strength to assume a superior stance, it really made many players feel like someone was foxing around with a sense of authority. In fact, Xue Zixuan’s talent had nothing to do with him.

Thinking this way, many people shook their heads and sneered, actively alienating him. Especially Hannah, the Austrian contestant who had the most hope of winning the championship, brought a small gift for each of the contestants, only leaving out Zhou Yunsheng.

This kind of off-stage fighting had nothing to do with Zhou Yunsheng, who sat quietly in the corner, looking down at a music score. A few moments later, the sound of huffing and puffing resounded in the lounge, and exaggerated expressions such as ‘Oh my god, I’m going to faint’ could be vaguely heard.

Zhou Yunsheng felt something in his heart and glanced up, but he saw Xue Zixuan walking quickly towards him. He was wearing a gray tuxedo today, with a silk neckerchief with black, white and gray stripes around his neck, and pure white gloves on his hands, looking like an aristocrat coming out of a medieval painting.

In between, people stopped him for autographs, all of which he refused, and when he walked up to the teenager, his face, as cold and hard as an ice sculpture, softened only slightly, and he leaned over and asked, “Nervous?”

“Not nervous.” Zhou Yunsheng shook his head.

“To be fair, I can’t be your judge, but I’ll be watching you from the stage. Believe in yourself, the championship will be yours.” He took off his gloves and stroked the teenager’s cheek, his expression and tone indescribably gentle.

Zhou Yunsheng smiled coyly.

Xue Zixuan still wanted to say something comforting, but he realized that he was extraordinarily rusty in this area, and after wrinkling his brows and thinking for a long time, he couldn’t come up with a suitable sentence, so he could only stand beside the teenager like a statue. He thought he might be able to give the teenager a hug, and was just about to bend down when he saw Xue Yan being pushed over by Xue Lao Si.

He immediately blocked in front of the teenager, “This is the contestant’s rest area, idle people are not allowed to come in.”

“Then how did they get in?” Xue Lao Si rushed at the several bodyguards surrounding the teenager offspring mouth. Watching so closely, treating the teenager as a prisoner?

“Xiaoyi has a heart condition, so in order to prevent him from having an accident, the organizing committee agreed that we should send someone to protect him.”

Xue Yan didn’t say anything and only sneered. Xue Zixuan was still trying to rush the two away when a staff member hurried in, saying that the organizing committee was going to hold an emergency meeting and told him to hurry.

“Go ahead brother, I’m fine, it’s not like uncle will eat me.” Zhou Yunsheng gently patted his arm.

Xue Zixuan repeatedly clenched his fist and coldly glared at the man before walking away.

“You guys go down first.” Xue Yan waved his hand at several bodyguards. All of these people knew Master Yan’s formidable reputation, so how would they dare to disobey, and went out in a line with their heads bowed.

“Brother? That’s a pretty affectionate name. What kind of brother is he to you?” Xue Yan held the teenager’s wrist and smiled coldly, looking him up and down and speaking in disgust, “What kind of clothes are these? Can’t you wear something normal every time we meet?”

Zhou Yunsheng tugged at the pure white dress on his body and helplessly shrugged his shoulders, “This is the uniform clothing issued by the organizing committee, the female contestants are all dressed like this, what can I do. It’s okay, I’ll be able to leave Xue’s house soon, and I don’t have to suffer from this crime anymore.”

Xue Yan pulled him to his side and rubbed his long slender fingertips and said, “We’ll hold an engagement ceremony after the competition, I’ll help you customize a dress, do you like black or white?”

“What color are you wearing?” Zhou Yunsheng came to be interested, crouching – down to lie on his knees, his eyes shining brightly.

“I wear black.”

“Then I’ll wear white.”

“Good, it’s settled.” Xue Yan laughed lightly, fished out a ring from his jacket pocket and set it into his ring finger, speaking slowly, “This is the engagement ring, the wedding ring will be picked out later by the two of us. When the game is over, I’ll help you make up a grand proposal ceremony, do you want me to kneel?”

Zhou Yunsheng opened his fingers to repeatedly appreciate the exquisite workmanship of the diamond ring, and saw his ring finger also wore a style of the same, satisfied smile, “No need, I’ll do the proposal ceremony, to kneel down should also be me kneeling, you just wait on it.” He couldn’t hold back the joy that filled his heart, and hugged the man’s head and kissed him hard a few times, the loud sound attracted everyone to look over curiously.

Xue Laoshi couldn’t help but laugh every time he listened to the two conversations, and had to sigh with relief that the boss had picked up a treasure this time. Although the teenager was only sixteen years old, anyone with a discerning eye could see how much heart he had bet on this relationship. His love was so deep and unquestionable that once he recognized someone, he would tightly pull that person’s hand and lead him to run towards happiness.

Only such a person could move Xue Yan, whose heart was as hard as iron.

Xue Yan held down the back of the teenager’s head, gave him a passionate kiss with his lips and tongue intertwined, and pinched his fingertips as a sign of encouragement before leaving the lounge.

The contestants were already disdainful of Zhou Yunsheng’s behavior, and now that they were even more determined that he was just a straw man who delayed enjoyment and carnal desires, they all stopped looking at him, and secretly felt sorry in their hearts for Xue Zixuan for having such a sister.

—————————

The competition proceeded in an orderly fashion, with several of the seeded players performing quite well, and the judges giving extremely high ratings. Hannah, in particular, played “Campanella”, one of the most difficult piano pieces in the world, and bringing out such a piece at the preliminaries stage lifted the tone of the competition straight up several notches.

Contestants behind her who don’t have a brighter performance will end up as sidekicks, and the judges may give them lower scores than they actually did given their elevated caliber.

Because of the long-lasting applause, she kept bowing and thanking the audience, and only left the stage after a minute or two. Zhou Yunsheng came out right behind her and was standing at the bottom of the steps looking up.

“Good luck.” She said with a curl of her lip as she staggered past the teenager.

“You changed your entry song temporarily?” Zhou Yunsheng inquired in standard German. He remembered that the track Hannah had reported on the entry list was ‘Pathos’, and her suddenly raising the difficulty would put the contestants behind her in an extremely awkward situation. Of course, if one had absolute strength, this little hiccup was nothing.

“Yeah, you can improvise a change too.” Hannah said with a grin.

“Your proposal is good, I like competitive competitions.” Zhou Yunsheng smiled and nodded, writing a small note and handing it to the judges on stage.

The judges were shocked when they read the note, and after sending someone to consult with the teenager repeatedly and seeing that his mind was made up, they could only nod their heads in agreement. Xue Zixuan, who was sitting a few rows back, saw that the curtain was delayed and went over to inquire about the situation.

“Dear Xuan, your sister has temporarily changed her repertoire, she wants to play ‘To Palochev’. We have exhorted her, but she is not willing to take our advice.So…… “The staff shrugged their shoulders, indicating that they were also helpless.

To Palochev is not included in the Hypertechnique Etudes, but it is as difficult to play as they are to play. It is a little known piece, played by very few, not only because it requires virtuoso playing skills, but also an unimaginable amount of emotion.

The most famous piano player of the last century, Puffalo, suffered a nervous breakdown because of practicing this piece. Since then no one has been able to play it in its entirety. It has been called ‘the devil’s music’ since its inception, requiring the player to strike the keys vigorously, play a succession of dissonant chords, and keep the melody on a high tide throughout.

When the piece was premiered, the audience chose to walk out en masse because they couldn’t stand the excitement of the intense piano sound. From that day on, “To Palochev” was completely withdrawn from the mainstream music scene, and it is only now, a century later, that some musicians have discovered the unique charm hidden in its melody and intend to bring it back to life.

But they invariably failed, and even Xue Zixuan has stated that he could only play the shape of “To Palochev” without being able to recreate its soul.

The devil’s music may only be played by the devil.

This was the reason why the judges shook. They didn’t want to watch a potential contestant get eliminated because he picked the wrong tune. But if he insisted on it himself, they wouldn’t stop it.

The hosts reported out the impromptu changes to the track, and boos erupted from both the stage and the floor. The contestants in the lounge even laughed rather gloatingly and gave Hannah a thumbs up. If it wasn’t for Hannah irritating Xue Jing Yi, she wouldn’t have taken the initiative to seek death. Good, one less competitor.

“Master Yan, Xiaoyi isn’t even on stage yet, what are they booing about?” Xue Laoshi was a rough man who couldn’t understand music.

Xue Yan was using Baidu on his cell phone, and when he saw the introduction to To Palochev, he couldn’t help but raise one eyebrow.

“The devil’s music, so tricky.” Xue Laoshi came over to take a look, his mouth staggering.

As the two spoke, the curtain was drawn back, and the young girl (teenager) in a pure white dress was already seated at the piano, a beam of light focusing on the top of his head, illuminating him in all his splendor. His eyelids were slightly lowered, as if he was adjusting his emotions.

The judges were not rushing. The fact that the young girl had chosen this song already proved his courage, and they were willing to give him a little more time.

Xue Jingyi, who was sitting at home watching the live broadcast, clenched her teeth secretly, unable to figure out why Huang Yi would temporarily change his repertoire. Did he think he could play a tune that even his brother couldn’t perform perfectly? Was he too arrogant or too stupid? If I had known, I shouldn’t have let him go to the competition and screwed it up as soon as he arrived!

Yoon Sung Cho is recalling the background of the composition of To Palochev. It was written by Callans, a musician of no great renown in the last century, who, after the tune was publicly performed and received numerous bad reviews, took poison and killed himself, his body slowly rotting in the small, dilapidated attic where he lived until it was discovered by his landlord a month later.

At the time, the public thought that he chose to die because he couldn’t accept his failure; after all, he had spent seven whole years composing this song, and it wasn’t too much to say that it was a ‘work of his heart and soul’. But Zhou Yunsheng didn’t think so. Why was this piece called ‘To Palochev’? Who exactly was Palochev and what was his relationship with Karans?

The people at the time couldn’t find out and didn’t want to, but Zhou Yunsheng had 008 and it was easy to find the truth. By searching the historical database, he found out that the person Palochev was real, he was a classmate of Karans during his high school days and the two were very close, but when they graduated, Palochev committed suicide because he couldn’t stand the abuse from his family. From the day of his death, Callans spent all of his energy and time composing the piece, and the day after it was completed and performed in public, he similarly chose to take his own life.

What kind of heavy feeling is it to pay homage to a dead soul with your life’s work and follow him to the grave without a second thought? Is it just a simple friend? Zhou Yunsheng didn’t think so, according to the local medical records, Palochev had once been sent to a mental hospital by his family for treatment due to his love for the same sex. In those days, homosexuals were not respected in the slightest and were ostracized by the entire society once they were discovered.

What inhuman torture did Palochev suffer before he chose to die? And how did Callanish, his lover, persevere through endless despair? Why is the melody of “To Palochev” so violent throughout, and is it really just to express the pain of losing a loved one?

No, there should also be resentment, revolt, condemnation, denunciation of a cruel and heartless society that has destroyed the possibility of their happiness and their hope of living. The only emotions intertwined in the raging melody are pure love and hate, both of which merge into one to become destruction.

After the death of his lover Karans really want to do is actually to destroy this cruel world, but he does not have the ability to put into action, can only be endless love and hate composed into a melody, catharsis to all the listeners, and even Palochev, he is resentful, hated him to leave him alone to face death.

When the audience retired in a tirade of abuse because they couldn’t take the excitement, he should have been in a very painful mood, and that’s why he left this world satisfied.

How perceptive the critics of the time were, and they were right, this is indeed the music of the devil, for destruction and death are its main themes.

Thinking of this, Zhou Yunsheng took a deep breath and pressed the first note with force. He had also experienced the most passionate love, the most painful torture; he had also desperately struggled in despair with no end in sight, trying to rebel against this cruel and heartless world. When his lover threw him back to his own body to die alone, he hated him just as much, yet he also loved him with a torn heart.

He empathized with Callanish’s sentiments.

The judges and listeners on stage were waiting for him to chicken out after enduring the long silence, but they didn’t expect him to be so thunderous when he didn’t move. With the first high note bursting out, a section after a section of extremely thick, sharp, dissonant melody like a mountain collapsing general roll on the attack.

The teenager struck the keys quickly and violently, veins popping out on the backs of his hands from the sheer force of it, a grim and pained expression on his face. His spine was suddenly taut and then bent in dismay, his hair tracing a path through the column of light as he bobbed his head. His fingertips quickly slid from one end to the other, striking out each of the three hundred or so notes that crowded a bar with a speed so fast that it was hard for the naked eye to discern.

The high piano sound continuously hit the listener’s eardrums, straight into the heart, making them feel fearful and uneasy at the same time, but also feel painful and depressing, as if there was a pair of hands covering the mouth and nose, causing them to fall into a desperate asphyxiation.

The teenager was obviously in more pain and despair than they were. Because he was deep in the sound of the piano, his face was covered with liquid that he didn’t know whether it was sweat or tears, spilling onto the backs of his hands and the keys as his head bobbed, glittering with crystalline star points in the columns of light.

He clenched his teeth and pressed down heavily on the last note, as if the music from hell had come to an abrupt end. His hands lay helplessly on the keys, and his ragged gasps spread out from the earpiece, echoing in every corner of the recital hall.

Under the stage is quiet as a pin can be heard, some people cover the chest full of fear, some people pursed lips silent tears, there are people into a stagnation can not be extracted. Until today, they really realized that the original music really has the power to hit the soul, he played every note can make their souls feel the pain and therefore trembling.

“Diao! Diao exploded.” Old Xue was dumbstruck. Even he, a big old man, could be shocked by the teenager’s music, not to mention the hall full of professionals.

Xue Yan was the first to applaud, and after him, the applause was sparse until it intersected into a thunderous roar. The eight judges stood up in unison and shouted loudly, their cheeks reddening from excitement. To be able to hear such a pure “To Palochev” in their lifetime, they had no regrets in death.

Xue Zixuan squeezed through the audience around him and ran onto the stage, embracing the teenager so tightly in his arms that every cell of his body shivered. He was overcome by him, from body to soul.

“Encore!” The audience offstage stood up in batches, the cheers mingling into a monstrous wave.

Zhou Yunsheng pushed Xue Zixuan away from him and bent down to salute everyone, with a slight look of pain still on his face. Xue Zixuan took off his white gloves and wiped the beads of sweat from his face before warmly embracing him once again with a proud smile the whole world could see.

Xue Yan was stuck in the audience because of his limited mobility, and could only stare at the stage with a grimace.

“I need to heal my leg.” He gave a short explanation.

“Huh? Didn’t you say you don’t want to be cured?” Xue Lao Si was first stunned, and when he saw Xue Zi Xuan, who ran onto the stage and stood side by side with the teenager, he naturally understood everything.

“Okay, we’ll go back and get you scheduled for surgery.” He smiled as if relieved. To have someone who loved to heal life, even the most unfortunate life would slowly become fortunate.

The players huddled in the aisles, their expressions extraordinarily brilliant. The teenager was already on par with the best musicians in the world, both in terms of technique and expression. After Hannah raised the standard of the competition, the teenager even pushed it to heights unattainable by ordinary people, not to mention the youth group, even in the adult group, he was also the deserved champion.

And now that the competition has just begun, what will he bring to the table in the next semifinals and finals?

The judges had the will to give the highest score. Perfection, they couldn’t give anything else but perfection. The teenager thanked the audience and was about to leave the stage, but was warmly called back, they liked him too much and wanted him to play another song, but this was obviously not in line with the rules of the competition. Zhou Yunsheng could only thank the audience again and again, and only after five minutes did he return to the rest room under Xue Zixuan’s protection.

The contestants who came out at the back no longer had much hope, so they performed with extra relaxation. They knew that they couldn’t surpass the teenager no matter how hard they tried. The competition had only just begun, and the winner had already been decided, unless something happened to the teenager in the meantime that prevented him from participating in the competition properly.

Sitting in front of the television, Xue Jingyi swallowed a heart-saving pill with her hands full. The teenager’s unrivaled talent had seriously exceeded her predictions, and now she was beginning to panic, unsure if she could climb to the same height as the teenager after obtaining his heart.

Standing on the stage he was like a star in the sky, so far out of reach.