Chapter 317: “Four Seasons: Spring”
One week ago.
Inside Grandpa Gan’s café.
“‘Symphony of Fate’?”
After finishing the score, Gan Yan Yu parted her cherry-red lips, her azure eyes sparkling with a mysterious emotion.
“I’m currently thinking about how to present this piece for our concert in the best way possible.”
Lin Tian stroked his chin, deep in thought.
After all, this was the ‘Symphony of Fate’!
As the one in charge, Lin Tian felt it was his duty to ensure its premiere was nothing short of perfection.
The real challenge was helping the audience grasp the emotional depth of the piece.
Lin Tian always had confidence in his listeners—especially when it came to their talent for wildly guessing when they had no clue what was happening.
After all, as musicians, it was unreasonable to expect the audience to fully grasp a composition in one go.
How to convey the music’s essence visually to the audience?
“I think we should have Teacher Gan serve as this material. But we might need your cooperation,” he suggested.
“Sure thing!”
Before Lin Tian could finish his sentence, Gan Yan Yu eagerly replied.
Lin Tian was caught off guard by her enthusiasm.
He had prepared himself mentally for this discussion today.
“I haven’t even said how we’ll do it.”
“As long as this piece can be perfectly presented, we can do it any way we like!”
Unexpectedly, her eyes sparkled like little stars, brimming with excitement.
“Let me think…”
Lin Tian tilted his head back, diving into contemplation.
While he had a rough idea in his head, he still hadn’t worked out all the details.
First and foremost was how to subtly let the audience realize that Gan Yan Yu wasn’t feeling well!
Because the confidentiality around this matter was so high, many fans were completely unaware.
Without this knowledge, there was no way for them to connect her struggles with ‘Symphony of Fate.’
We need a catalyst.
“Actually, there’s a performance format called a stage play,” Gan Yan Yu suggested.
“A stage play?”
“Yeah! Through a narrative, we can display the emotions of the music visually on stage.”
Lin Tian froze.
“You mean we have to rehearse a stage play for the concert?”
That would be an enormous task.
Not to mention finding professional actors; even crafting a script for ‘Symphony of Fate’ from scratch would take a bit longer than a lunch break!
“No need to actually stage a play,” she said.
At this point, a cheeky glint flashed in Gan Yan Yu’s clear eyes.
“Our performance can incorporate elements of acting!”
“…”
Lin Tian shrank back in surprise, his expression turning slightly horrified.
Since when did this girl get such bold ideas?!
“Are you suggesting we put on a performance in front of all those people?”
After some thought, Lin Tian quickly conjured an image in his mind.
“How about we deceive the audience without them knowing?”
“What deception?”
Gan Yan Yu corrected him.
“This is a stage play. We’re performing.”
“We’ll let every audience member witness it. That way, the ‘Symphony of Fate’ will surely leave the most beautiful impression in their hearts!”
She clutched her chest, her eyes shining with dreams and longing.
“Ahem—”
Then the girl coughed lightly.
“Can you not cough before the concert?” Lin Tian asked, shifting the topic.
“It’s not that simple.”
“Hey, if it doesn’t clear up, it’s still manageable.”
Suddenly, it dawned on Lin Tian, catching on to Gan Yan Yu’s train of thought.
“Now that we have this angle, our stage play will have even more persuasive power!”
“Right, that sounds great!”
Gan Yan Yu clapped her hands together, her smile radiant.
“Let’s do it!” Lin Tian officially decided.
—“If one day we must d*e, then performing beautifully on the grandest stage with the most important person in my life, I’d find that a fitting end to my life without regrets.”
In that moment, Lin Tian recalled a conversation with Little Gan about acting.
He vaguely remembered.
At that time, Gan Yan Yu had been smiling, her eyes filled with longing and dreams.
“Thud—”
Gan Yan Yu collapsed on the stage.
The next second,
The audience erupted.
“Cat-chan, Cat-chan, nooo!!”
“What the heck? What’s going on??”
“Didn’t we say to stop her from performing?!”
“Where’s the ambulance?!”
In an instant,
The whole place was in chaos.
In the front row, a crowd of audience members jumped up.
Some yelled, others took photos on their phones, while others called security from afar.
“…”
At this moment, Lin Tian stood up and walked over to Gan Yan Yu.
Lying on the ground, she looked like a withered white rose.
A soft greenish light spilled from the dome above, like melted snow water flowing onto the stage.
Her skirt fluttered slightly from the blow of a fan, revealing an underdress adorned with handmade embroidered petals. The girl’s hair sprawled on the ground, and her exquisite face wore a peaceful, serene expression.
“Darn it!”
Lin Tian rubbed his forehead and bit his lip, momentarily taken aback.
He had braced himself for this. Yet seeing Gan Yan Yu so deeply immersed in her role made it hard for him to hold his composure.
Perhaps,
For Gan Yan Yu, this wasn’t acting at all but a total “experience.”
Lin Tian took a moment to gather himself.
Then, in front of the audience, he picked up the microphone and said:
“Here, I’d like to officially announce something to everyone.”
“Actually, our teacher Gan Yan Yu has had a severe asthma condition for a long time and can’t engage in high-intensity performances.”
“And recently, just before this concert, she developed a new illness. I’ve advised her multiple times to rest and not perform, but she wouldn’t listen.”
“…”
What’s happening?
In the venue,
The audience stared blankly at Lin Tian.
As they soaked in his revelations, their minds scrambled into chaos.
Isn’t this—
A eulogy?!
“Wait?? Did Cat-chan d*e?!”
“She’s dead?? No way!”
“She must’ve just fainted, right?”
“When’s the ambulance arriving?! Where are the medical staff? Why are they so slow?”
Some pessimistic audience members lamented aloud:
“Why, oh why, does the cosmic order have to be so cruel to our Teacher Cat!”
“Waaah…”
“…”
Is she dead?
A heart attack?
Or just plain exhaustion?
Countless speculations flew around.
In light of what had just happened, it was hard for everyone to avoid the worst-case scenario.
In this moment,
Zhang Dong, witnessing the chaos, painfully shut his eyes, tears trickling down his cheeks and splattering onto the floor.
Facing off against the already chaotic live stream,
Zhang Dong seemed too drained to respond.
With a voice half-heartedly resigned, he mumbled:
“Our Gan Yan Yu, the great cellist, battled fate for so long, only to fall on stage.”
“Having performed the ‘Symphony of Fate’ means our teacher Gan Yan Yu can finally leave her name in history.”
【No, I can’t believe this is true!!】
【I wanted to see Cat-chan become a world-renowned cellist one day, but not like this!】
【Cat-chan, your performance of ‘Symphony of Fate’ was beautiful! It will surely ensure you and Moonlight Brother’s legacy will shine through. So please, just stay alive until that day!】
Backstage,
The three girls stared blankly at the situation on the big screen, their faces etched with disbelief.
They couldn’t believe it—the very scene they dreaded actually came to pass.
However, just when things seemed to be at their most grave,
In front of all the audience’s gazes,
Having just delivered that lengthy speech, Lin Tian shifted his focus back to Gan Yan Yu on the ground.
With a passionate tone, he said:
“Look at you! How could you be so foolish? I told you. When sick, you shouldn’t get on stage.”
“See? You lost your balance and went down!”
“Sorry…”
Gan Yan Yu murmured softly, slowly opening her eyes.
Huh?
For a moment,
The entire audience stood frozen.
What… fell? What down??
“…”
“Lin Tian, can you help me? I can’t get up,” Gan Yan Yu called softly.
“Get up yourself! Who told you to defy my earlier advice?”
Lin Tian folded his arms, giving her a faux huff.
“Just help me a little,” Gan Yan Yu extended her arms, lying on the ground, looking adorably pitiful as she gazed at Lin Tian with a hint of a pout.
“There are so many people watching.”
Lin Tian quipped back with her earlier words.
“It’s fine.”
Gan Yan Yu’s cheeks flushed as she spoke.
In the next second, Lin Tian swiftly grabbed her by the arm, yanking her up from the stage and pulling her into an embrace.
Then,
Lin Tian turned to the audience and flashed a smile:
“Sorry, our teacher Gan Yan Yu just had a cramp and fell, which delayed our performance.”
“Cramp my foot!!”
Zhang Dong couldn’t hold back any longer, shouting out loud.
What the hell, are we just going to skip to the end like this?!
His tear-streaked face from earlier still hadn’t dried off!
“I just prayed for you, and you tell me it was just a fall?!”
“Crazy!!”
At this moment, the audience, witnessing the lovey-dovey exchange between Moonlight and Cat, couldn’t help but crumble.
“Wait, what was I just crying about?!”
“Did I just watch a skit?!”
“Unbelievable! Here I was worried about Cat-chan, only to be served a plate of dog food!”
“Huh? What are you guys acting out now?!”
“…”
Realizing they’d gone from watching a serious performance to witnessing mushy antics,
Audience members who were relieved mixed in with those who were confused and angered.
Especially media reporters present who, many turned to one another, wore expressions that screamed, “Are you seriously joking with me?”
Just moments ago, several reporters had urgently submitted “Gan Yan Yu fainted at the concert” news articles and photos.
Now, they were likely in the publication process.
And in a matter of minutes, they pulled this stunt?!
“What is going on? A faux performance during a concert?!”
An enraged music critic from the front row erupted.
A similar sentiment echoed through the many “music industry personnel” present.
Soon, more and more live articles began circulating.
Especially from NobleQuest, their words even bolder:
【Mocking the audience with artistry—Is this the arrogance of genius?】
【Deceiving the crowd’s tears—This is a concert, not a playground for your little games!】
Yet many audience members were still too shell-shocked to process.
In the next moment,
Lin Tian had already picked up the microphone again.
“The performance just now, you can consider it a stage play.”
“I sincerely apologize for any confusion it caused.”
“Please, don’t be alarmed.”
“Next, we’ll be moving on to a new piece, which will be our recompense for that ‘stage play.’”
Spreading his arms wide, Lin Tian announced solemnly:
“The name of this new piece is, ‘Four Seasons: Spring.’”
After Lin Tian finished announcing the piece,
He offered no time for people to react.
In an instant,
All the stage lights went dim.
Suddenly—
*
The sound of the cello blared forth!
As the lights flickered back on,
Lin Tian and Gan Yan Yu were already seated at their spots.
Gan Yan Yu sat precisely where she had collapsed, gripping her bow tightly.
—The orchestra, let’s accompany!
The girl’s bow sliced through the strings with vigor, unleashing a cascade of jubilant notes as if rivers of ice had suddenly thawed!
Gan Yan Yu’s fingers danced on the strings, completely free from the earlier frailty.
In this joyful allegro rhythm, the cello imitated birds chirping, thunderstorms, and the shepherd’s flute, with the air alive with the scent of fresh green grass.
This feeling swept through the audience in no time.
It was so rapid, like a tornado—no one could escape its raging winds.
All previous emotions,
Were splintered to pieces in this whirlwind.
Down below,
Zhang Dong looked at the duo and couldn’t help but chuckle:
“Well, Lin Tian and Gan Yan Yu certainly pulled a fast one on us!”
“All that preparation for this moment?”
The bright melody flowed throughout the concert hall.
From the earlier ‘Symphony of Fate’ to this ‘Spring’ piece.
From the poignant knocking of fate’s door to the vivid green spring life surrounding them.
Many audience members felt as if they had stepped into another realm.
As if taking a wild roller coaster ride.
Numerous couples embraced, laughing and crying as they immersed themselves in the joy of survival after a near disaster.
The music critic in the front row shook his head and couldn’t help but sigh:
“Using the tragedy of ‘Symphony of Fate’ to set the stage for the vitality of this ‘Spring’ piece?”
“Moonlight and Cat…what a brilliant satirical duo!”
“Lin Tian, do you know why I wanted to do this?”
Back in the café, as the performance wrapped up, Gan Yan Yu leaned back on the couch with a look of wistfulness.
“What are you talking about?” Lin Tian asked, puzzled.
“This whole stage play concept.”
Gan Yan Yu gently buried her head, hugging her knees.
“Didn’t expect I would want to do something like this on stage?”
“Uh, well, I wouldn’t say I didn’t see it coming.”
Lin Tian hesitated, forcing a wry smile.
Gan Yan Yu relished experiencing various new things, immersing herself in wondrous life experiences because, well, she was Gan Yan Yu.
And she was willing to do everything to perfectly present a piece of music she loved to her audience.
Because she was an artist.
However,
Lin Tian thought Gan Yan Yu might have taken another, better route.
This time, he truly hadn’t anticipated it.
Gan Yan Yu chose such a mischievous way,
—A stage play.
It was a complete prank on the audience.
“In truth, I dislike being regarded as a tragic idol.”
Gan Yan Yu turned her head, a bitter smile adorning her face.
“For me, I don’t fancy sympathy.”
“All I want is to share my music with everyone so that they can enjoy my classical music.”
At this moment,
Gan Yan Yu tilted her head, showcasing a relaxed smile:
“This time, I want them to know.”
“Those things will never hold me back.”
“Actually, Little Gan goes beyond smiling and even dabbles in—mischief.”
In the front row, Xu Yong and Su Ran leaned against each other, still reeling from the earlier events.
Su Ran’s handkerchief was soaked through with tears from her earlier emotion over ‘Symphony of Fate.’
At this time,
With the delightful and joyful melody as a rhythm,
A lady beside them couldn’t help but point at the stage in shock:
“Look at her dress!!”
—On stage, as Gan Yan Yu turned her cello, the petals on her skirt scattered light onto the ceiling.
In an instant, the entire concert hall was enveloped in a shower of cherry blossoms.
At that moment,
Every audience member glimpsed something.
Rebirth.
The elderly professor from the music academy beside them trembled as he took off his glasses, appearing to wipe them down gingerly.
Just three minutes ago, he’d been scribbling in his notebook that “disease was marketing art.”
Now, his pen was scrawling wildly across the pages:
“She’s not just playing spring; she’s tearing herself into a million pieces, letting each shard grow new flesh.”
From the lament of ‘Symphony of Fate’ to the revival of ‘Four Seasons: Spring.’
Thus,
Everything had come full circle.
Backstage,
Watching the big screen, Nanaly was both furious and amused, utterly speechless.
“So they both staged this whole act to fool us all?”
“I guess… yes.”
Bai Xi propped her chin and pondered thoughtfully.
“What about her cough?! She’s clearly sick!”
Nanaly exclaimed as she noticed the cello case on the table.
There wasn’t time to hesitate anymore; she quickly rushed over, rummaging through the bag.
Eventually, she unearthed the medicine from earlier.
“Amoxicillin, Levofloxacin.”
Nanaly counted them off before placing them on the table.
On their own, these won’t reveal much,
But collectively, they led to one conclusion—
“Bronchitis?”
Yun Qiu Qiu tilted her head and said.
The others recalled Gan Yan Yu’s condition over the last few days—coughing, fever, rapid breathing.
It indeed resembled bronchitis quite a bit.
This bronchitis isn’t serious, but it can still be quite bothersome. During an acute episode, one could cough badly for days on end.
But to say it’s life-threatening…
“Seems Teacher Gan Yan Yu wasn’t lying after all.”
Bai Xi chuckled.
“She really did have inflammation.”
“Then how could Lin Tian act so oblivious?!” Nanaly retorted.
“Perhaps to create a sense of empathy, Gan Yan Yu didn’t disclose her exact illness to Lin Tian, and out of trust for her claiming ‘it’s just a small issue,’ he never pressed further and simply eased his mind for the plans?”
Bai Xi explained,
“Before going on stage, Lin Tian genuinely checked whether Gan Yan Yu was managing her medication because he worried she might have an episode.”
“…”
Bai Xi’s analysis strung together practically every detail from the events beforehand.
Regarding that,
Yun Qiu Qiu remarked:
“Quite the elaborate act.”
“Those two certainly scrambled to prepare for this script!”
As Bai Xi pondered more, she found the whole affair to be exceedingly amusing, unable to resist laughing.
“However, they technically didn’t deceive anybody.”
“The cough was real; performing with an illness was also true, and Gan Yan Yu genuinely couldn’t handle intensive playing.”
“It’s just that they chose the ‘Symphony of Fate’ for the audience, allowing numerous misconceptions to blossom, ultimately leading to this grand stage.”
“Such a great duo!”
Bai Xi exclaimed with glee.
Upon hearing this,
Nanaly finally had her frustrations dissipate.
She turned back to the big screen again.
“Gan Yan Yu.”
Nanaly bit her lip.
Her eyes reflected a blend of resentment and relief.
Regardless,
It turned out to be a false alarm, and her health wasn’t at risk.
That’s good.
As the music soared to its final climax!
Gan Yan Yu’s left hand frantically danced over the fingerboard,
Her right arm extracting a continuous stream of sixteenth notes — the booming thunder of spring awakening the earth in Vivaldi’s composition.
As the girl’s cello once again mimicked the “shepherd’s flute,”
A mother noticed that her child was stretching out their palms, catching the imaginary “raindrops” — which were merely light reflections from the dome onto their retinas.
Yet the child, still stubbornly innocent, raised their head and chirped: “Mommy, I caught spring!”
In the audience,
The once frenetic crowd finally calmed down during this piece.
And in place, they replaced it with a different kind of “frenzy”:
“Wow, I totally got tricked by Cat-chan this time!”
“Don’t know why, but even though I got played, it felt really refreshing! Darn it!!!”
“So thrilling! If every concert had this kind of small drama, I’d be a loyal follower of classical music from now on!”
“Although the fall was a bit of drama, Cat-chan’s story was real. Seeing that truly moved me.”
As tears brimmed in the audience’s eyes,
‘Four Seasons: Spring.’
Finally, descended its curtain.
The audience erupted into thunderous applause.
Only now did many audience members realize they had been leaning forward the entire time, with their leather seat cushions becoming warm by their anxiousness.
Some felt their knees go numb yet didn’t want to sit down; others had crushed their tear-shaped earrings that had fallen.
“Truly beautiful.”
Gazing at the duo taking their bows, Bai Xi’s gaze was dazed.
She stretched, unable to hold back her murmurs,
“With a pairing like that, who could ever win against them?”
“…” Nanaly remained silent, merely staring at the screen, lost in thought.
However, back behind them, Yun Qiu Qiu stood at the table’s edge, glancing at the medications that had just spilled out of the cello case.
Amoxicillin, Levofloxacin—used for bronchitis.
Budenoside Formoterol—this treats asthma.
And that bottle… what kind of medicine was it without a label?
Yun Qiu Qiu tilted her head at the smallest vial.
One hour later,
NobleQuest’s top music media printed a captivating snap on their front page:
After the performance of ‘Spring,’ Gan Yan Yu’s bow was held high over her head like a victorious banner.
Behind her, Lin Tian ran toward her like he was trying to outrun the world.
With a caption that read:
“Today, Moonlight and Cat’s concert claimed no lives—except our prejudices against art.”
(The end of this chapter.)
