You're dumping me, huh? Fine, then I'll just pick up the school beauty and make her my wif

At this moment, Su Qinghe could clearly feel the scorching heat of the spotlight shining on her face.

You could hear the silence that followed the breathless concentration of thousands of people in the audience.

My heartbeat gradually calmed down from its initial rapid pace, and then my fingertips touched the piano keys, the touch cool yet familiar.

It was like an old friend greeting her after a long separation.

Teacher Xie, did you see that?

I am now sitting on the stage of the Peking University Auditorium.

There were several thousand people in the audience.

But I'm not afraid at all.

After silently saying those words to herself, she opened her eyes.

Then, the fingertips fell.

In an instant, the prelude to "That Summer" flowed slowly from her fingertips.

After the sound of the piano was heard, the last rustling sound in the room completely disappeared.

The music was extremely soft and gentle, like someone throwing a small pebble into the water, creating tiny ripples that spread outwards.

From the very first note, the entire piece carries an indescribable emotion.

Su Qinghe's figure at this moment was like a powerful magnet, firmly attracting the attention of everyone in the room.

Jiang Che was no exception.

From the moment Su Qinghe appeared on the stage, his gaze never left her.

He had seen Su Qinghe in many different ways.

The way she looked disheveled and huddled in the corner of the alley, the way she carefully picked up food at his dining table, the way she clung to his arm and said "Ah Che, you're the best," and the way she covered her mouth and had red eyes on the Ferris wheel but tried her best not to cry.

But this was the first time he had sat in the audience as a mere spectator watching her play the piano.

Su Qinghe on stage is completely different from her usual self.

Jiang Che felt that saying he had entered a performance state was not quite accurate.

He felt that Su Qinghe exuded a natural sense of immersion, not a deliberate performance.

Her shoulders were relaxed, her wrists moved smoothly and flexibly, and her fingers moved with ease between the black and white keys.

She sat bathed in spotlight, her moon-white skirt spread out on either side of the piano bench, and her pearl earrings reflected shimmering light as she swayed slightly.

As Jiang Che looked at the photos, he couldn't help but recall Su Qinghe from his first year of high school.

Actually, the performance back then wasn't her own choice; it was her teacher who asked her if she could sign up for a program.

Not wanting to put her teacher in a difficult position, Su Qinghe nodded and said she could.

She is technically flawless when playing the piano, but on stage, her every move exudes a lack of confidence.

She played the piano back then because her teacher made her play it, and because the Su family wanted to extract value from her in the future.

But now she plays the piano because she wants to.

When people do the same thing, the results can be drastically different depending on their motivations.

As the melody progresses to the middle section, Su Qinghe's left-hand accompaniment changes from simple broken chords to a more expansive arpeggio.

Her fingers danced back and forth between the low and mid registers, landing each key precisely and with solid force.

The bass resonance traveled from the stage to the audience, like someone had buried a slowly beating heart under the floor, causing everyone to thump in response.

The main melody in the high register begins to feature a large number of ornaments in this section.

Su Qinghe's handling of these ornaments is quite unique.

She made slight tempo variations on each ornament.

In some places, it was slightly elongated, as if reluctant to leave that note.

In some places, it brushes past lightly, like a dragonfly skimming the water, leaving only a faint ripple.

The audience members were completely engrossed in the performance.

Even Xu Wenbin, who is usually carefree and unserious, became unusually serious at this moment.

He stared blankly at the figure in the moon-white dress on the stage for a long while before turning his head and lowering his voice to say to Song Mingxuan, "Old Song, I always thought that Old Jiang's praise of Sister Qinghe's piano playing was just love blindness, but now I admit that I was being petty."

Song Mingxuan did not respond immediately.

He had also studied piano for several years, which is why he could understand what Su Qinghe's current level of skill meant.

It's not that her technique is particularly dazzling; in terms of technique, she does fall short compared to professional-level pianists.

But once you've mastered a skill, you can always hone it by spending the time.

What's truly remarkable is that she can bring out her own sense of breath in a piece of music.

The transitions between musical phrases are not rigid lines created by a metronome, but rather like the natural pauses and breaths of a person speaking.

This kind of musicality can't be taught.

You are either born with it or you are not born with it.

After a few seconds of silence, Song Mingxuan sighed softly and replied to Xu Wenbin in a low voice: "Apart from students with formal training in music academies, no one else can compare to her level."

Xu Wenbin nodded in complete agreement.

The melody quickly builds to the climax of the chorus.

After the climax of the chorus, the song enters its finale.

Su Qinghe's volume gradually decreased from its highest point, the density of the chords gradually decreased, and the melody line slowly descended from the high register.

It's like the tide receding from the beach, leaving only a thin, transparent film of water.

The song ended.

Su Qinghe remained motionless, pressing the piano keys, until the lingering notes completely dissipated in the air of the Great Hall of the People before slowly withdrawing her hand.

The entire room fell silent for a few seconds.

Then applause erupted like a tidal wave.

Su Qinghe stood in the spotlight, her hands clasped in front of her, and bowed deeply to the audience.

He immediately straightened up, his gaze instantly passing over the edge of the stage, trying to find Jiang Che's figure.

Jiang Che, who should have been sitting in his original seat, had quietly left at some point.

All Su Qinghe could see was emptiness.

The smile that had just appeared on her lips gradually froze.

The applause lasted for a long time before gradually subsiding under the host's guidance.

Escorted by a spotlight, Su Qinghe gracefully exited from the side curtain.

The first thing she did after leaving the stage was to hurriedly walk down the steps, lifting her skirt, wanting to go back to the dressing room to get her phone to call Jiang Che and ask him where he had gone.

But just as she stepped down the steps, before she could even see the scene before her, a bunch of white baby's breath wrapped in light blue paper appeared in front of her.

Su Qinghe abruptly stopped in her tracks.

The bouquet was slowly moved aside, and hiding behind it was Jiang Che's face, a face that was all too familiar to him.

"Congratulations, Teacher Su, the performance has come to a successful conclusion."

Jiang Che smiled slightly and placed the bouquet into the arms of the tearful girl in front of him.

Su Qinghe blankly accepted the bouquet and hugged it to her chest. She looked down at the tiny white baby's breath flowers, then looked up at Jiang Che.

Then, without hesitation, she crashed headfirst into Jiang Che's arms.

She held the bouquet between the two of them, the tiny white baby's breath flowers brushing against Jiang Che's shirt, some of them flattened but she didn't care.

The backstage staff watched this scene from a distance and wisely refrained from disturbing it.