### Chapter 380: Only Dreams in Her Mouth
“Have you had enough of your antics?!”
At that moment, Mao Wei Ang stormed out of the practice room.
After several days of pent-up frustration, he finally exploded at Bai Junze, shouting, “I’m fighting for my lifelong reputation! I don’t care if you want to go home or whatever, if you’re not interested in our collaboration, please don’t get in the way!!”
In the hallway, two staff members of different departments passing by looked at Mao Wei Ang with wide-eyed amazement.
They had never seen Teacher Mao lose his cool before.
However, after he roared at Bai Junze’s retreating figure, it seemed Bai Junze hadn’t heard a thing.
He trembled all over and suddenly dropped to his knees in front of Gan Yan Yu.
His hands, shaking with bulging veins, touched the cello.
“Dad…”
Bai Junze murmured softly, biting his lip.
Mao Wei Ang, witnessing this scene from behind, was completely dumbfounded.
“That cello…”
Saturday had arrived.
Moonlight and Cat Studio, along with Mao Wei Ang’s personal studio, jointly announced the time and place for their roadshow.
Though the news had been simmering online for a while, it still sent countless netizens into a frenzy when the official announcement came.
“Are you serious?! You’re not joking??”
“A collaboration between pop and classical music. Are you kidding me? Really making me listen to this?”
“Why team up with Mao Wei Ang? Moonlight Brother, what were you thinking?!”
“Oh no, this is really bad, Moonlight Brother’s reputation is going down the drain, boo hoo hoo. Although he hasn’t debuted long.”
“With this time, why not just prepare for the finals properly?!”
“…”
To their utter shock, even after many furious fans had protested vigorously on various official blogs over the past few days, none of it had made a difference.
Fans still wanted to see their beloved idols mingling with the entertainment world.
But then again, this was to be expected.
If Moonlight and Cat could be swayed by a few words from fans, they wouldn’t be Moonlight and Cat.
Now, everyone felt ridiculously conflicted.
Clearly, Moonlight Brother and Cat could hold a concert, which should be a cause for ecstatic celebration for fans.
But this nonsensical collaboration was genuinely hard to get excited about.
Or maybe just plain infuriating!
But now, there was no turning back.
Seeing the outcome was unchangeable, many fans just had to muster a better mindset and await the event.
After all, such an open-air performance didn’t happen every day.
In fact, aside from a few extreme fans within the圈, the vast majority of passersby were actually quite intrigued by the announcement.
“Whoa. A charity concert? Free entry?”
“Wow, I can see four legends collaborating in one go!!”
“One question—why isn’t Miss Nanaly joining in? I really like her!”
“Ahhhhh, I must get there early tomorrow, or I definitely won’t get a good spot.”
“…”
Even with numerous netizens having such excitement,
The official statement clearly indicated that while it was labeled as an “open-air concert,” it would only be a very brief roadshow.
In this bustling pedestrian street, they would only perform one piece together.
Rather than a concert,
In Moonlight and Cat’s eyes,
Playing was just a format. They simply intended to use this format to express their position to the audience and the music community!
“Are you going to watch it?”
In the office, He Shu Mo threw a newspaper in front of Yao Han.
“The show is tomorrow.”
“I’m not going to the live show. There should be a live stream, right?” Yao Han crossed his arms and smiled.
“You can hold off on going to such a performance?” He Shu Mo asked, astonished.
He had expected Yao Han to choose the best vantage point to witness it live.
“Do you think they can pull it off?”
Instead of directly answering He Shu Mo’s question, Yao Han spun his chair around and asked.
“Of course not.”
He Shu Mo replied matter-of-factly, “Rushing to set the performance date for this weekend was clearly due to the leak we made to the media.”
“In such a short time, they can’t achieve anything.”
“…”
“Right.”
Yao Han surprisingly nodded at He Shu Mo’s statement.
He Shu Mo looked at him in astonishment.
He had always thought Yao Han should have an air of mysterious confidence regarding Moonlight and Cat.
Why was he suddenly so pessimistic?
“Mao Wei Ang and Bai Junze are both not the kind of wild beasts that can be tamed in a short time.”
Yao Han stated, “I know both of them too well.”
“Mao Wei Ang’s view of pop music is deeply rooted; his music is nothing like Gan Yan Yu’s, they won’t be able to cooperate, that’s the core issue. Even Lin Tian can’t change that.”
“Bai Junze is even worse.”
Yao Han chuckled, “This guy is a complete madman; no one can communicate with him.”
“Can you play with someone you can’t communicate with at all?”
Yao Han turned to He Shu Mo.
“Of course not.”
He Shu Mo shook his head.
“You feel that way, and what about Gan Yan Yu’s cello? Is it the kind of presence that can get along well with others?” Yao Han pointed out, “Just these two points are enough to create a deadlock that even Lin Tian and Gan Yan Yu can’t break in such a short time!”
“Exactly!”
He Shu Mo responded, “Then why did you have me leak the news previously?”
For them,
Such collaboration already came with immense pressure.
Now, after his actions, the external public opinion pressure had also been drawn in.
Pressuring them to hasten the performance time.
And they might very well pay a hefty price for it.
He Shu Mo was now feeling an immense sense of shame.
He had somehow sensed the emergence of this situation beforehand, but on one hand, he thought that after the public uproar, Moonlight and Cat might drop the performance.
On the other hand, he believed Yao Han had asked him to do this with a plan in mind.
However,
Now that he saw Yao Han repeatedly talk about “deadlock” and “impossibility,”
It looked nothing like a well-thought-out plan!
He Shu Mo wasn’t feeling too good about this.
After all this,
“Oh no, I’m going to ruin Teacher Gan Yan Yu.”
He Shu Mo couldn’t help but vent, “I shouldn’t have listened to you!”
Even though he had never had much faith in Gan Yan Yu during the competition,
From the Parrot Zither Cup to the Dragon Zither Cup, from the preliminaries to the semifinals, having witnessed their miraculous journey, He Shu Mo found himself unconsciously starting to worry about Lin Tian and Gan Yan Yu.
He was surprised by his own feelings.
Even if they ultimately couldn’t win,
At the very least, He Shu Mo still hoped to see the two have a decent outcome.
“Calm down.”
“Do you have a way out?” Seeing Yao Han remain so composed, He Shu Mo asked.
“No.”
Yao Han said, “This concert will certainly end in tragedy.”
“Then you…”
“But don’t you want to see how Lin Tian and Gan Yan Yu, trapped in despair, will explode with great energy in the finals?”
Yao Han gazed excitedly at He Shu Mo.
Hearing that,
He Shu Mo was stunned.
“…”
“Devil! Teacher Yao Han, you are truly a devil.”
He Shu Mo couldn’t help but murmur, “Is this your plan?”
All of it,
Was a setup to lead Moonlight and Cat into this ensemble performance.
From the very beginning, he was certain that Mao Wei Ang and Bai Junze were entities that Lin Tian would never be able to handle.
The crux of the plan was to sacrifice this performance, to use a catastrophic event to foster a complete metamorphosis for Lin Tian and Gan Yan Yu.
The ultimate goal—
Was the Dragon Zither Cup finals.
“This is terrifying.”
“Isn’t it?”
Yao Han’s expression was exhilarated as he spread out his arms, “When was the last time Lin Tian and Gan Yan Yu didn’t achieve a turnaround in desperation?!”
“If everything follows usual logic and they casually head into the Dragon Zither Cup finals, they will definitely lose! Under normal circumstances, they have no chance of winning the championship!”
“If we want to create a miracle, the process must be extraordinary!!”
Looking at Yao Han’s gradually manic expression, He Shu Mo couldn’t help but feel increasingly unfamiliar with the person in front of him.
When did this start?
Probably from a year ago when he first met Lin Tian and Gan Yan Yu.
Since then,
This person seemed to have stepped onto a battlefield.
Did it have something to do with his brother?
He Shu Mo didn’t know.
He shifted his gaze back to the newspaper on the table.
The headlines were boldly displaying photos of Gan Yan Yu and Mao Wei Ang, along with the time and place in eye-catching print.
Sunday, 8 PM.
Fish Roe Square.
Sunday, 7:12 PM.
Bai Jing City, Fish Roe Square.
Residents nearby, out for an evening stroll after dinner, noticed an unusual situation as they approached the usually bustling pedestrian street today.
There were clearly many more people than usual, and the deeper they went, the denser the crowd became, nearly getting squeezed in the throng.
Numerous police officers were also present to maintain order.
Even at the entrance, security checkpoints were set up to ensure only those who passed inspection could enter the pedestrian street.
This puzzled the residents.
Such a situation usually only occurred during New Year’s Eve activities, right?
But today was just a regular day!
They had lived in this area for over a decade and had never seen anything like it.
As they moved deeper into the crowd, they found—
Right in the central square, at the intersection with the highest foot traffic,
A stage had been built without anyone noticing at some point.
Beside it, a temporary tent had been set up.
All the university students who came there were gathering around the stage.
A curious lady couldn’t resist tapping the young man next to her,
“Young man, what’s going on here today?”
“Don’t you know, Auntie?” the young man exclaimed excitedly while raising his hand, “The most amazing classical musicians in the country are performing here tonight!”
“Classical music?” the lady paused in surprise.
“Oh my, don’t you have to go to a concert hall to hear that? Is there an admission fee?”
“You’re so out of the loop, Auntie.” The young man smugly replied, “Because they are the greatest performers! So no ticket is needed!!”
Meanwhile,
Behind the stage that had been set up on-site, staff members were frantically preparing.
The four performers were also using their last moments to practice.
Listening to the noise of the crowd outside the tent,
Gan Yan Yu nervously began to fidget with her fingers, “Isn’t it only 7:30?”
“Showing up at 7:30 is already late.” Lin Tian commented.
Normally, showing up at 7 AM to grab a spot would be typical.
This is why top-tier stars generally don’t hold performances like this.
It wasn’t an issue of whether or not they charged admission.
Just the unpredictable factors at the venue and the crazed fans were enough to make things chaotic.
Lin Tian held the announcement of the performance time and place until last night to dampen foot traffic.
But the results felt rather mediocre.
After all, this news had been brewing for several days, and many people had been waiting expectantly on the official blog for its publication.
Thinking about it,
The ideal approach for this kind of performance would have been to not announce it at all.
Just appear randomly on any street in Bai Jing and start the roadshow.
Perform until everyone was caught off guard and then pack up and leave.
But in doing so,
Lin Tian wouldn’t be able to convey the music to the audience he wanted to reach.
“Teacher Lin.”
“Mm?”
“Do you remember our first street performance?” Gan Yan Yu softly inquired.
“I remember.” Lin Tian chuckled, “Back during ‘One Step Away.'”
He recalled that time,
When Gan Yan Yu hit a bottleneck while performing this piece.
It was her who proposed they go out for performances to find inspiration.
Back then, Lin Tian had sighed in admiration: Ah! She’s grown up!
This girl was finding solutions on her own, no longer needing Lin Tian to carry the brain overload.
The two of them had performed together for an entire afternoon on the riverside pedestrian street.
There weren’t many spectators, but everyone listened attentively.
In a flash,
That was already last year.
Lin Tian reflected on this.
Back then,
He and Gan Yan Yu were mere partners.
Now they were… still partners.
How annoying!
Having thought of this, Lin Tian felt a wave of petty emotions wash over him.
He turned his head to stare at Gan Yan Yu.
After watching her for a moment, she flushed.
“What are you doing?”
“What do you want to do after the finals?” Lin Tian asked.
“What do you mean?”
“When we win the Dragon Zither Cup, what do you want to do?”
Lin Tian said, “After winning the championship, there’s a few months of downtime, right?”
The Cole Cup’s competition would likely be held early next year.
In this span, Lin Tian and Gan Yan Yu would be free for several months.
Of course, they would enter university.
But even when in school, it was likely they wouldn’t often hang around campus.
“I want to eat good food.” Gan Yan Yu tilted her face up and smiled.
“Who asked you that?”
Lin Tian lightly rapped the top of her head, “Of course, after the competition, we’ll eat good food; I’m asking if you have plans for this time.”
When Lin Tian said this,
He swallowed hard.
He gazed at Gan Yan Yu’s face, his own cheeks slightly flushed.
“I do, of course!”
Gan Yan Yu raised her index finger and earnestly said, “Think about it, if—I’m saying if—we really win the Dragon Zither Cup, that would be an unprecedented success in classical music history!”
“By that time, how many people would come to listen to our classical performance? It would surely inspire more musicians to see hope in classical music, leading to more people willing to engage in classical music performance and creation, and more competitors willing to use classical music in competitions!”
“Think about it, with our influence so high, how could we slack off?”
Gan Yan Yu turned around, adopting a serious expression.
“At that point, we would have to become even more diligent!”
“I will practice the cello harder. I feel like there are still many areas where I need to improve, Lin Tian, you should also practice your piano well. It’s been a long time since you made any progress, right? Since you’re going to accompany the Dragon Zither Cup champion, you should definitely work harder! And, if possible, could you teach me composition? I want to help lighten your composition pressure, so that I can assist you more when you’re composing in the future…”
Gan Yan Yu seemed to be talking about something she envisioned but felt incredibly real, as if she had been planning each aspect for a long time.
“If we do this, we will definitely do better before the Dragon Zither Cup comes! Let our music be heard by more people around the world!”
After she finished speaking, Gan Yan Yu beamed brightly.
“…”
Lin Tian was taken aback, and after a moment, he smiled and nodded, “Yeah, sounds good.”
Then,
He turned his head away.
A hint of bitterness began to creep onto his face.
It was all dreams.
Every word Gan Yan Yu spoke and everything she envisioned were their dreams.
Nothing about Lin Tian.
Even if she could have expressed a hope to go see the Great Wall with “Lin Tian” after the competition, or have a nice outing together,
It would have made him happy.
But there was none.
Everything related to him
Was nothing but music, nothing but their struggles.
It should be this way.
Nothing wrong with that.
Gan Yan Yu had always been like this.
She loved herself.
But perhaps she had her own way of expressing it.
Or maybe, in the face of “liking,” there were more important things at the moment.
Lin Tian sighed deeply within.
He had nothing to be resentful of.
For the sake of their dreams,
To set romance aside for now.
This was the agreement from the beginning, and they had been diligently practicing this thing, always maintaining that line of “partners.”
But it was Lin Tian himself,
Who often found his heart fluctuating, sometimes thinking just a bit too much in unguarded moments.
—Dreams should come first, more important than anything else.
Hadn’t that been settled from the very beginning?
Why did he still feel an emptiness in some corner of his heart?
Their relationship had maintained this way.
For a long time now.
To think about “just being partners” now, what would that mean for all their efforts in the past?
“What’s wrong?”
Gan Yan Yu leaned over to look at Lin Tian, “Why aren’t you talking?”
“Ah?”
“Wow, I told you so much, and you just respond with an ‘mm’ and ‘okay’?” Gan Yan Yu widened her eyes and said with an air of disappointment.
“What else should I say?”
“What do you want to do after you win the Dragon Zither Cup?” Gan Yan Yu inquired.
“Probably something similar to you.”
Lin Tian chuckled.
“What else could we do? By then, we’ll be the greatest classical musicians in Tianchao for the past 20 years! Who knows, some might even think we’re the greatest in history and become superstars, so we definitely need to push ourselves harder.”
“Yeah!” Gan Yan Yu nodded earnestly, “I will learn more and ensure I take on more responsibilities!”
“Good.”
Lin Tian smiled.
He decided to halt the earlier frivolous thoughts.
As a man, during this crucial time of chasing dreams, Lin Tian absolutely could not drop the ball!
“Time’s almost up.”
At that moment, He Zhi Chen walked into the backstage area and said to the others,
“Get ready to go on stage!”
(End of Chapter)
