I was born and listened to my neighbor's older sister talk about her family of origin.

Jiang Ye stared at the ceiling all night, lost in thought.

Although he hadn't studied music much in his previous life, his soul, even in his twenties, contained a great deal of knowledge.

My college roommate loved playing guitar and would play and sing in the dorm every day. He picked up a lot of guitar skills from him.

Later, due to work pressure, he bought a second-hand guitar and started playing it haphazardly following online tutorials. His skill level was far from professional, but it was more than enough to fool a group of elementary school students.

The problem is, his hands are only ten years old.

Short fingers mean insufficient span and strength.

The guitar is probably not going to last for now.

Let's choose another one then.

The next day at noon, after Jiang Ye and Ji Xiaoxiao finished eating together, they didn't go to the cafeteria, but instead went into the school's music classroom.

The primary school's music classroom is located in the westernmost corner of the teaching building, and it is almost never used except during class.

There was an old upright piano in the classroom, its lacquer polished to a shine, but its pitch was still passable.

Jiang Ye closed the door and sat down on the piano bench.

I placed my ten fingers on the piano keys and tried a few scales.

The feel is still raw, but muscle memory and brain memory are two different things.

Although he mainly studied guitar in his previous life, he also dabbled in keyboards.

Hao Mei's reference to singing, dancing, and rapping stems from her time playing in a band in a bar when she was young. Although she wasn't very famous, that was part of her youth.

So Jiang Ye only found out about her electronic keyboard when she was in junior high school.

He was interested at the time and studied on and off for two years following video tutorials. He even formed a small band with his mother when he was in junior high school.

Later, due to his busy schoolwork, the band disbanded after less than three months, and he stopped playing, but the basics remained.

In addition, the system rewards him with mastery of all subjects, although music is not included, but it has already made his logical and learning abilities far superior to those of his peers.

It's only a matter of time before I pick it up again.

He closed his eyes, and a melody floated into his mind.

It wasn't some classic masterpiece, but rather an instrumental piece he'd stumbled upon on a late-night radio show in his past life.

The melody is simple, but the layers are distinct. The beginning is quiet and restrained, like a butterfly trapped in a glass dome.

The middle section suddenly opens up, as if someone had punched and shattered the glass.

The ending section is concise and leaves a lingering aftertaste.

He felt that this piece of music was very suitable for Xu Zhiyu.

As the finger touched the ground, the first note resonated in the empty classroom.

It was disjointed and not smooth, like a toddler stumbling and staggering as they ran.

But the direction is right.

He played it again, and this time it went a little smoother.

The third time, the fourth time, the fifth time.

By the time he looked up, most of his lunch break was over.

The fingertips were slightly red, and there were several shallow marks on the fingertips.

That's enough.

He flexed his wrists and stretched out a big yawn.

"Three weeks is enough time."

From that day on, Jiang Ye's lunch break disappeared.

Without fail, he would appear in the music classroom every noon, alone, struggling with that old piano.

He doesn't use sheet music; he relies entirely on his memory and musical sense to extract the melody from his mind, measure by measure, and then refine it again and again.

He didn't tell anyone about this.

But the truth will out.

On the third day at noon, just as he was playing the most intense part of the middle section, the door was pushed open.

Zhou Xiao stood at the door, holding a lunchbox in her hand, with a piece of braised pork between her chopsticks, frozen in place.

As a music teacher, she would occasionally come to the practice room for lunch.

After all, it's quiet here, and no one will bother us.

This helps her immerse herself in her persona as a melancholic woman through music.

Surprisingly, there was someone in this secluded music room today.

He was a fourth-grade boy, and he was playing a piece she had never heard before!

The key point is that she played it quite well.

Which class are you in?

Zhou Xiao walked in, placed the lunchbox on the table next to her, and looked at Jiang Ye with burning eyes.

Upon noticing someone enter, Jiang Ye could no longer continue playing. His rare musical passion was interrupted, and he was somewhat unhappy.

But he still politely said, "Jiang Ye, Class 1, Grade 4."

"Jiang Ye? The one who's first in his grade?"

Zhou Xiao noticed Jiang Ye's displeasure and felt a little embarrassed, but she really just wanted to come in and take a look.

Who knew Jiang Ye was so shy? He stopped playing when someone came in.

"Um."

Zhou Xiao walked to the piano and recalled the fingering he had just used.

It wasn't standard, and it was even a bit unorthodox, but the musicality was excellent, and the control of rhythm was so precise that it didn't seem like that of a ten-year-old child.

"Have you studied piano?"

Jiang Ye lied without batting an eye.

I played a little bit of an electronic keyboard when I was a child.

"An electronic keyboard?" Zhou Xiao's expression became subtle. "Can someone play the piano like this just by using an optical keyboard?"

Jiang Ye scratched his head: "I figured it out myself. I suddenly had a whim and practiced for a few days."

I've been practicing for a few days...

Zhou Xiao fell silent.

She had taught music for several years and had seen many talented children, but to be honest, she had never met anyone of Jiang Ye's caliber.

It's not that his technique is so good, but that he plays with emotion.

The melody played by the ten-year-old child has a calmness and restraint that does not belong to this age, as if it can only be written after seeing something with one's own eyes.

"What's the name of this piece?"

"It hasn't been named yet."

"Did you write this yourself?"

Jiang Ye: "Uh, I guess so?"

Strictly speaking, no, he doesn't remember the composer of that piece of music from his previous life.

But he rearranged it from memory, adjusted the paragraph structure, and added some of his own elements.

It can be considered a semi-original work.

Zhou Xiao's braised pork had gone cold, but she was completely unaware of it.

She looked at the boy in front of her, who was about half a year old. He had a handsome face, good features, and long, slender fingers. Most importantly, he had musical talent.

Zhou Xiao felt like she had found a treasure boy!

"Jiang Ye, play that piece again and let me hear it."

Jiang Ye was somewhat reluctant.

The main problem is shyness. I was just practicing playing the instrument, but now I have to show off my skills in front of a music teacher.

But seeing Zhou Xiao's eager expression, he knew he couldn't refuse either.

He could only turn around again, face the piano, place his fingers on the black and white keys, and start playing again from the beginning.

This time, he played it more completely than ever before.

The melody in the first part is light and slow, like the morning mist flowing on the water.

In the middle section, the rhythm suddenly quickens, and the notes become dense and powerful, as if something is breaking free from its restraints.

The low notes in the left hand steadily support the high notes in the right hand, and the two melodic lines intertwine and rise—

Then, at its highest point, it abruptly stopped.

A blank moment.

Then, the melody of the final section slowly fades away, gentle but not weak, like a person who has finished crying and then looks up to see the light of day.

The last note dissipated into the air.

The room returned to silence.

Zhou Xiao seemed still immersed in the music from before, and remained silent for a long time.

"Jiang Ye, your piece... is absolutely wonderful! While it might not be at the pinnacle of musical achievement, it's certainly good enough. If you could refine it a bit more and upload it online, it might even make you famous!"

After a long silence, she spoke in a hoarse voice, her expression quite agitated.

"Is this really your original work? Who is it for?"