### Chapter 397: Let Go of Obsession, Stop Internal Conflicts, and No More Tangles!
Just… just this piece?
Why the sudden attitude shift?
Lin Tian was astonished by Gan Yan Yu’s reaction.
Just a few days ago, when they discussed performing this piece, she spent the entire afternoon deliberating.
But now, when Lin Tian realized that “this piece might actually be unachievable,” and suggested switching to another one, it was Gan Yan Yu who was unhappy.
“Teacher Gan, are you serious?”
“Mm-hm.”
Gan Yan Yu nodded.
“No changes.”
“But it’s the finals!”
Lin Tian was left a bit dizzy by her words.
The crux was that he didn’t understand her motivation.
Previously, he was determined to play the piece despite what Gan Yan Yu thought was difficult, because he had ulterior motives.
Lin Tian had finally come to a clear realization.
The “difficulties” Gan Yan Yu spoke of were insurmountable.
He wanted to find that fluttering feeling with Gan Yan Yu through this piece.
But the key was that the reason they no longer felt that way was exactly because their relationship had stabilized, and this was the perfect time to pursue their dreams.
To perform “Ode to Love” in this state.
It was like a soccer ball kicked in a big circle, smacking Lin Tian right in the head again.
What to do?
The problem Lin Tian wanted to solve was coming from the same root as the issue he was trying to tackle with his methods.
So, Lin Tian thought about giving up.
That’s normal!
Lin Tian wasn’t the type to be stubborn—though he might be occasionally around Gan Yan Yu, most of the time, he was pretty rational.
He’d never disregard the bigger picture just because of a single piece.
“Why?”
He couldn’t help but ask,
“Why does it have to be this piece?”
Hearing Lin Tian’s question, Gan Yan Yu lowered her head.
“There’s no reason.”
She took a deep breath and looked at Lin Tian,
“I just vaguely feel—if we give up this piece here, we’ll lose even more.”
“.”
Upon hearing this, Lin Tian was momentarily taken aback.
Lose even more?
After a pause, a look of relief appeared on Lin Tian’s face.
“Oh, I see.”
Since she said “there’s no reason,” then what can he do?
After all, this was Teacher Gan’s order.
As the accompanying musician, no matter how tough it got, Lin Tian had to accept it calmly.
He patted Gan Yan Yu on the shoulder,
“Okay.”
“.”
Gan Yan Yu raised her grateful gaze.
However, Lin Tian continued,
“But, Little Gan Classmate, you have to promise me one thing.”
“What?”
“Promise me you won’t give up on me, no matter what happens.”
Lin Tian said.
Out of the blue, he brought this up again.
A few days ago, when they officially decided to perform “Ode to Love,” Lin Tian had made a similar request.
“Alright.”
Gan Yan Yu nodded, softly replying,
“I promise you, Lin Tian.”
Time waits for no one.
Even though,
Before this, Lin Tian had gone through a whirlwind of conflicts, and the challenges he faced made him want to give up more than once, leading him to constantly seek solutions from Gan Yan Yu, and causing serious doubts about their feelings for each other.
But now, everything was fine.
With Lin Tian and Gan Yan Yu officially making a new agreement, both had made up their minds.
No more changes!
Just this one piece!
Now, Lin Tian could finally set aside all his doubts and obsessions.
Focus on tackling this piece.
Any issues—let’s deal with them after the competition!
Once, during the Parrot Zither Cup finals, Lin Tian had done just that.
“3, 2, 1, start!”
As Lin Tian’s piano began to play,
Gan Yan Yu’s cello followed closely.
Countless training sessions—here we go!
This time, however, was different from any before.
Having let go of his obsessions,
This time, Lin Tian’s piano evidently softened some of its temperature.
Instead, he infused the piano with other elements.
For instance—
The persistent obsession with winning the Dragon Zither Cup that Lin Tian had always criticized.
A longing for victory and dreams was hidden deep within Gan Yan Yu’s cello.
Once, Lin Tian felt this emotion was troublesome, thinking it could ruin the romantic atmosphere they had painstakingly built.
But now…
It didn’t matter.
Lin Tian thought for a moment, a hint of bitterness at the corner of his mouth.
In fact,
During last night’s practice,
When Lin Tian wanted to kiss and was pushed away by Gan Yan Yu,
He had already figured things out.
Yes,
Only with this rationality could they have made it from the Star Cup to the Dragon Zither Cup finals.
And they’d go even further afterward.
For both Lin Tian and Gan Yan Yu,
This was an invaluable treasure.
No room for doubt.
Thinking it through,
Lin Tian probably had misunderstood Gan Yan Yu’s intentions.
He and Gan Yan Yu had always been a love story where dreams and rationality coexisted.
They were rational before, rational now, and surely would remain rational in the future.
If “Ode to Love” was a piece that couldn’t be achieved through pure rationality,
Then Lin Tian would have to work with Gan Yan Yu to carve out a new path together.
With that thought, Lin Tian intensified his piano playing.
—
In that instant, the music surged.
The cello’s deep calling became increasingly soul-stirring.
At that moment, Lin Tian realized something.
Dreams—why can’t they be love?
Why strive for the championship?
Why aim for the pinnacle of the world?
Because,
Lin Tian wanted to marry Gan Yan Yu.
It was because he wanted to marry her that he had this dream!
Because,
He wished for Gan Yan Yu to be his wife, to wash her feet for a lifetime.
With this perspective, with this feeling to perform,
Surely, surely it could be done!
For this,
Now, Lin Tian was willing to put aside all his obsessions with classical music, abandon all pursuits of music.
Just for this,
Lin Tian was ready to leave all descriptions of “dreams” to Gan Yan Yu!
At this moment,
As Gan Yan Yu felt the emotion in Lin Tian’s performance, her cello sound welcomed its fourth change.
As if in sync with Lin Tian, or perhaps unrestrained, Gan Yan Yu poured more joyful emotions of dreams into her cello.
As before,
Their duet intertwined, dreamy and beautiful.
Now,
All previous distractions vanished, and Lin Tian had never played “Ode to Love” so relaxedly.
So good.
That feeling of no internal strife.
It was like breaking free from a cage bound by shackles.
The duet ended.
Lin Tian withdrew his hands.
To be honest, it had been a while since he had played so effortlessly.
Lin Tian looked at Gan Yan Yu and smiled happily.
Gan Yan Yu smiled back.
But after exchanging smiles, both fell into silence.
“Was that acceptable?”
Gan Yan Yu asked.
“I don’t know.”
Lin Tian bluntly replied.
He really had no idea.
Strangely enough.
Even though Lin Tian had played through the duet so easily, and neither of their music had any problems,
He still had never encountered a situation where, after playing, he couldn’t tell how it felt.
How did it actually go?
“Feeling-wise, it should be pretty good…” Lin Tian rubbed his chin and said.
“Should be?”
“Mm.”
As Lin Tian spoke, he paused, then shook his head.
“It was great.”
Thinking carefully,
He and Gan Yan Yu had done everything they needed to do.
—Without breaking their agreement.
Lin Tian had tied their love and dreams together.
In fact, that had always been what they were both doing.
They just lacked an opportunity to fully comprehend and express this matter.
“Mm-hmm, so it was great, right?” Gan Yan Yu immediately followed up.
“Right.”
“Shall we compete in the finals in this state?”
“Sounds good.”
“Can we perfectly express this piece?”
“We can.”
Each time Lin Tian nodded in agreement.
But he felt a little uneasy in his thoughtful brow.
Something felt off.
As if this was a bit too simple.
Could it really be that his previous obsessions had dragged him down so much?
“Then stop frowning!”
Suddenly,
Gan Yan Yu pinched Lin Tian’s face with both hands, looking serious yet playful, and said,
“We’ve done well, so why not be a bit happier?”
“Mm.”
Lin Tian raised his head and relaxed his brow.
Yeah, isn’t this pretty good?
Even he, who usually had such a sensitive ear for performance, couldn’t find fault in their recent duet.
All this time,
For their duet,
Lin Tian had been methodically, like a computer, thinking about how to inject the right emotions into the music, how to guide Gan Yan Yu better.
This method had served him well up to now.
He believed he was fine.
As for the big bad wolf, Gan Yan Yu, Lin Tian just needed to use scientific methods and proper guidance to achieve the performance they wanted.
Thanks to this approach,
With Lin Tian guiding the accompaniment and Gan Yan Yu giving her all,
They had repeatedly created miraculous performances on stage.
But now,
Facing “Ode to Love,”
When the music divine compelled Lin Tian to focus on the feelings between him and Gan Yan Yu,
He found himself at a loss.
So much so that when he achieved the piece using his usual methods with Gan Yan Yu, he ended up feeling insecure.
Yes,
Now it was Lin Tian who felt “insecure.”
“.”
“Why aren’t you talking?”
Seemingly sensing Lin Tian’s change in mood, Gan Yan Yu let go of her grip and stared at him.
Her voice softened,
“What are you thinking, Lin Tian?”
“Is it something you can’t tell me?”
Gan Yan Yu’s gentle inquiry made Lin Tian suddenly lift his head.
“I…”
“Lin Tian, I don’t know if it’s just my illusion,”
Gan Yan Yu cast her eyes down, playing with her hair,
“Since we started practicing this piece, I feel… like you’ve been hiding something from me.”
“This morning too, you went to have breakfast with He Zhi Chen, right? What did you talk about? Who did you meet? Why didn’t you tell me anything?”
“Lin Tian, are there still things between us that can’t be said?”
“.”
Looking at Gan Yan Yu’s string of questions, Lin Tian was dumbstruck.
Before he could respond,
Gan Yan Yu laughed softly again,
“It’s okay, Lin Tian, I know you must have your reasons for not wanting to discuss certain things, I trust you, so I won’t pry.”
“Just that…”
“Just that what?” Lin Tian couldn’t help but ask.
“Mm, it’s nothing.”
Gan Yan Yu shook her head, pouting slightly, and then complained.
“You were supposed to come to my place today, you see? I didn’t even have time for breakfast because you rushed me to come play.”
“I’m so sorry!”
Lin Tian instantly scratched his head, saying hurriedly,
“I’ll call the hotel right now to have breakfast sent over.”
“Do you see what time it is?”
Lin Tian looked up and saw that the clock on the wall was already pointing to “11 o’clock.”
“Time for lunch.”
Gan Yan Yu pouted.
“Sorry.”
Lin Tian laid his hands down and said,
“Then what do you want to eat? I’ll take you out.”
“No more training?”
“We still have the afternoon, right?”
“Fine, but that stuff isn’t important, you have to promise me one thing first.”
“Ah?”
Lin Tian couldn’t quite grasp Gan Yan Yu’s rapid topic shifts today; he had no idea what she was trying to say.
“If you didn’t come this morning, then let’s change the time—how about the night after tomorrow, come to my place to practice?”
“Night after tomorrow?”
Lin Tian calculated.
The day after tomorrow was the finals.
The night before the finals?
Lin Tian didn’t understand why Gan Yan Yu was so insistent on dragging him over.
Later wouldn’t work; they’d have to pick another day.
“Right.”
Gan Yan Yu said,
“This time, no getting out of it with random excuses.”
“Alright.”
Lin Tian agreed.
“Mm-hmm~”
Gan Yan Yu clasped her hands together and beamed.
For the next two days,
Lin Tian and Gan Yan Yu maintained this practice routine.
After Lin Tian had thought it through completely, their internal conflicts ended, and there were hardly any more little hiccups along the way.
By the final day, Lin Tian even thought it might be nice to rest the day away, to adjust his state for the finals tomorrow.
But remembering his agreement with Gan Yan Yu,
Lin Tian decided to honor the commitment and show up tonight.
Right before heading to Gan Yan Yu’s apartment,
Standing in front of the mirror tidying himself up, Lin Tian casually glanced at the living room sofa.
Unknowingly, he recalled that earlier encounter on the sofa with Gan Yan Yu.
Okay.
Lin Tian admitted; being pushed away by a girl really could linger in his mind for a long time.
Even knowing it was Gan Yan Yu who had done it, and that she had returned the favor with a knee pillow.
That girl had been obsessively wanting him to come to her house after that.
She better have prepared some surprises for him at home.
(End of Chapter)
