A band, or a battleground?

Ning Qianyu took out her phone, checked it, and said, "The final competition is an offline performance, but it will be streamed online. The performance is on August 28th. That means even if we advance all the way to the finals, it won't interfere with our schooling."

Qiu Mengxue's face lit up with joy: "That's right, you think it's possible too, right?"

Then Ning Qianyu shook her head: "I didn't agree. I joined the band to enjoy music, not to conform to the commercialized entertainment industry."

Qiu Mengxue's expression froze instantly. She looked at her other companion, only to see Jiang Yi also shaking her head.

Jiang Yi whispered, "I don't think it's appropriate for us high school students to participate in this kind of program..."

Qiu Mengxue quickly said, "There's nothing wrong with it! It says here that underage students can participate too, and there's even a special campus audition channel!"

“But we don’t have either…” Jiang Yi stopped mid-sentence.

But Qiu Mengxue could guess Jiang Yi's thoughts. It was nothing more than timidity, the kind of timidity that makes one's hands and feet go cold just imagining standing on a public stage.

The girl looked pleadingly at her last companion, who was also the most unfamiliar to her.

Qi Yuan pondered for a moment and said, "I do think this is indeed a good opportunity. Since it won't affect your studies, what do you have to be afraid of?"

Ning Qianyu said, "But with our skill level, we theoretically can't compete with those professional bands at all. Unless you can write several songs like Blue Lotus. The question is, can you?"

Qi Yuan: "Yes."

The three girls were stunned.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

009 Those Flowers

The second period in the afternoon was music.

Music classes are infrequent, only once a week, so there's only one music teacher for the entire high school, which is perfectly adequate. Fortunately, there's no issue of music classes being taken up by other teachers.

Qi Yuan discovered that compared to his high school years in his previous life, his classmates now were not as academically inclined. Perhaps it was due to the different stages of economic development; China in this world had not experienced as many upheavals in the first half of the 20th century, its development started earlier, and its social classes naturally took shape much earlier.

In other words, social classes have become essentially solidified.

For the teachers and students here, good grades are certainly something to be proud of, but the motivation to work hard is naturally not that strong.

The school bell rang. When Ms. Su, the music teacher, walked into the classroom, Qi Yuan was looking at his history textbook, specifically the section on modern and contemporary history.

Then we heard Teacher Su say, "This semester, everyone has been learning how to appreciate music and has also learned about the two main themes of modern music. Can you tell me what the two main themes are?"

Many students in the classroom exclaimed in unison: "Academic music and pop music!"

Teacher Su nodded and said, "Yes, the academic school has undergone atonal innovation, as well as the resurgence of neoclassicism and neo-nationalism, becoming increasingly novel and diverse, but also increasingly distant from the ears of most listeners. On the other hand, popular music has also undergone a tortuous development, starting from blues and jazz, and what has it developed into?"

"Rock!"

As he shouted, a boy raised his hand and made the classic metal salute gesture—his thumb pressed down on his curled middle and ring fingers, while his index and little fingers stood straight up.

Qi Yuan watched from the back row and felt that the atmosphere in the music class was indeed different; it was clearly more lively than other classes.

Teacher Su smiled and said, "Yes, rock and roll. In the wave of rock and roll, it has also branched out into many subgenres, and given rise to newer genres such as hip-hop and electronic music. So, after so many classes and listening to so many classic works, which bands and which works do you like the most?"

The students eagerly raised their hands. Since nearly a third of them had raised their hands, they couldn't wait for the teacher to call on them one by one and began shouting:

"Echo Wells, Sea of ​​Yesterdays!"

"Yesterday's Sea is the album, but the teacher asked about the songs."

"That song by the Midnight Roarer, 'The Unsatisfied Soul'!"

"Eclipse Heart, the whole album is amazing, the pinnacle of psychedelic rock!"

"It can't just be rock, there's also Nova's 'Crown Yourself'..."

Qi Yuan listened to his classmates' chatter, trying to recall these classic songs from the original owner's memories, but unfortunately, he couldn't remember almost any of them. Regarding music, the original owner only remembered background music from short videos, some messy, catchy internet pop songs, and rap.

The original owner had a decent voice, but he was only focused on fighting and clearly had no interest in music.

At this moment, Teacher Su pressed her hands down to signal the students to be quiet, and then said, "Everyone has different tastes, and there are very few standard answers in music. However, since everyone has favorite pieces and favorite bands, have you ever thought about performing those pieces yourselves?"

After he finished speaking, the classroom fell silent; you could hear a pin drop.

We're all high school students, just listening to music is fine, who's thinking about performing classic works? Are we supposed to be in a band on top of attending classes and doing homework?

Teacher Su continued, "Of course, we're not professionals, we're just performing. There's no accompaniment, just sing a cappella, and there's no limit to the length. If you're really embarrassed, you can just sing one or two lines."

Hearing that they could sing only a line or two, the students finally relaxed.

Then, Teacher Su added with a smile, "Of course, besides songs you like, if anyone can write songs, they can also share their original works."

This should just be taken as a joke.

Singing a couple of lines on stage in front of the teacher and the whole class without going off-key is already quite an achievement, let alone writing your own song?

But Qi Yuan noticed that the teacher glanced at him while saying this.

Was she doing it on purpose?

The problem is, if this statement was directed at her, how would she know that she has 'original works'?

Qi Yuan pondered for a moment, then suddenly remembered that this music teacher seemed to be Qiu Mengxue's mother—in that case, it wouldn't be surprising.

Ms. Su had already started calling roll, asking the students to come up to the stage one by one.

Most of the songs sang were the most famous parts, and as long as they weren't too off-key, it was generally easy to recognize which song it was. So, apart from the first three people, Teacher Su suggested that the students who came on stage afterward not say the song title, but just sing it to see if they could guess the song title.

Occasionally, a few students will choose songs that aren't popular enough or sing them off-key, and their classmates will laugh at them for being too off-key...

As Qi Yuan listened to each piece of music, he felt that these classic pieces of music in this world didn't seem so impressive.

Perhaps it's because there was no accompaniment, or the singer wasn't good enough?

Jiang Yi, on the other hand, sang "Crimson," from the verse to the chorus. Not only was she in tune, but her rendition was also quite lyrical and beautiful, earning her applause from the entire class.

This also made Qi Yuan realize that Qiu Mengxue wasn't the only one in the all-girl band he had joined who could sing...

Finally, with only a few minutes left before the end of get out of class, Ms. Su called out that name.

“Qi Yuan,” Teacher Su paused for a moment, then added, “I know you’ve started writing songs recently, but I’ve already heard that Blue Lotus. You have to sing a different one today, and sing it completely.”

Qi Yuan: "?"

Everyone else can sing classic songs, just a few lines, but when it comes to me, even original works are restricted. Are you trying to find fault?

Of course, seeing the surprised looks from his classmates, Qi Yuan understood that this was clearly special treatment given to him.

He walked up to the podium, and in that short distance of less than ten meters, he had already mentally reviewed his entire library of must-sing karaoke songs.

Besides "Blue Lotus," there are certainly quite a few others. Considering it's unaccompanied, a cappella, and the difficulty level needs to be as low as possible, ideally something that can be used for future band appearances on variety shows…

Stepping onto the podium and turning to face the entire class, Qi Yuan had already made up his mind.

There is a song that has almost no high notes, is easier to sing than Blue Lotus, and can even be sung in a lower key without sounding much different.

Qi Yuan stood there and said calmly, "Then I'll sing a song I wrote today, 'Those Flowers'."

Su Wan smiled and said, "Please sing."

Qi Yuan cleared his throat and then began:

That laughter reminded me of my flowers.

"Quietly blooming for me in every corner of my life."

I once thought I would stay by her side forever.

"Today we have departed, lost in the vast sea of ​​people..."

When his singing began, almost the entire class wore the same expression: shock. It was the kind of shock one feels when you see an elephant climbing a tree and dancing while clinging to the trunk!

The only exception is Jiang Yi.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

010 You didn't really cry, did you?

After rejecting Qiu Mengxue's suggestion at noon, Jiang Yi had been thinking about it.

I wondered if I was being too timid.

She'd watched quite a few variety shows, especially talent shows, including the band talent show "Tomorrow's Band." She'd criticized many of the contestants' disastrous performances more than once, and sometimes even thought that if she got the chance to stand on that kind of stage, she'd be better than those guys, right? At least her bass skills shouldn't be bad among those amateur talent show contestants.

However, these thoughts only flashed through her mind. Now that the opportunity was actually presented to her, her first reaction was to back down.

Of course, this isn't a real opportunity, since it's still far from certain. Even if you register, you might not make it through the preliminary rounds.

But if you don't take the first step, how can you have the rest of the journey?

But going on stage in front of so many people, enduring countless scrutinizing gazes... just thinking about it made Jiang Yi not want to play bass anymore; she just wanted to back out...

Until I heard Qi Yuan's song.

Upon hearing the first four lines, Jiang Yi felt that besides being pleasant to listen to, the song was also filled with a kind of sorrow, not a particularly intense emotion, but a very mellow one.

It's as if a middle-aged person, whose youth has faded, is reminiscing about their youth.

But Qi Yuan is clearly a high school student just like me, in the middle of adolescence, so why should I reminisce?

Then the next few sentences flashed through the girl's mind like a bolt of lightning.

"They must be getting old."

Where are they?

"Fortunately, I was there when they opened..."

Jiang Yi felt she understood.

Qi Yuan wrote these lyrics because he set his perspective on ten or even twenty years into the future!

Imagine the future: high school graduation, classmates gone, and former bandmates scattered. What will it feel like to look back on the youth we spent together?

Especially when the band had the opportunity to go further and stand on a bigger stage, but because of the cowardice of some of the members, they watched the opportunity burst like a summer bubble. What would that feel like?

"La la la la, la la la la, la la la I miss her"

"La la la la, la la la la, is she still driving...?"

The boy on the stage sang with increasing passion.

The students below the stage snapped out of their daze, exchanging glances with their classmates, their eyes filled with disbelief.

That troublemaking, menacing-looking delinquent teenager can actually sing such a lyrical and beautiful song? And judging from his conversation with the teacher, he even wrote the song himself?

how can that be!

"Yiyi, aren't you our class's music representative? Do you think he might have written this song?" The girl sitting next to her asked halfway through, but then realized something was wrong.

Jiang Yi's beautiful peach blossom eyes were now filled with tears!

"Is this song really that moving? It is indeed quite nice, but it's not that exaggerated!"

Jiang Yi shook her head, biting her lower lip: "No, you don't understand..."

The girl felt she couldn't explain it to anyone because the lyrics were like poetry.

As beautiful and subtle as a poem, it hides emotions behind every word and phrase, allowing the reader to only vaguely glimpse the author's intention.

Only someone like myself, a poet within the poem, can understand what he is singing about!

So, will he hold a grudge?

Will they resent the timidity of 'those flowers' that led to their scattering?

"Some stories are left untold, so let's just leave them be."

"Those feelings, over time, have become difficult to distinguish as genuine or false."

"Now this place is overgrown with weeds, and there are no more flowers."

"Fortunately, I once had your spring, autumn, winter and summer..."

Jiang Yi felt that she understood again.

No, he won't hold a grudge.

Perhaps we feel disappointed and disheartened by their stagnation, but that is not resentment. Even after they have scattered, when we look back on this moment in the future, we can say, "Fortunately, I had your spring, autumn, winter and summer."

Jiang Yi covered her cheeks with her hands, and suddenly felt that her fingertips were a little wet.

She then realized that she was actually crying.