Chapter 446: Slapping Mu Chenxi’s Face – 5
Well, Fu Zhi faced quite some issues while preparing for her performance.
Perhaps western music was the mainstream and there were fewer people wanting to learn a traditional musical instrument, the Mu Family could not find a suona for Fu Zhi.
Besides, Song Fang also hoped that Fu Zhi could be a little normal. He told her that he knew she was extraordinary, but she did not have to go to the extreme.
In the end, Fu Zhi compromised and chose to play guzheng instead.
The Mu Family got the guzheng from the back of the stage. Song Fang then dragged Fu Zhi backstage to check the quality of the guzheng.
“Sister Zhi, do you know how to play a guzheng? It’s not like a suona where you can play it just by blowing air, you need at least a few years of experience to play a guzheng.”
“Oh,” Fu Zhi threw a glance at him, “Now you know you should ask me?”
Embarra.s.sed, Song Fang scratched his head and said, “Well, my emotions got the best of me when I heard they’re bad-mouthing you. After all, look at Mu Chenxi. It’s very obvious that she’s trying to be one up on you, so how can I let that happen?”
If Ye Jiu was here, Fu Zhi was certain that things would get even more out of control. In the end, she did not say anything.
*
On the other side, inside the dressing room of the banquet hall.
Mu Chenxi and Xu Tongtong were sitting together with 3 reporters. Looking at them, Mu Chenxi pitched her voice low and said, “I trust you guys know what you’re supposed to do later, but I will run you through it again. Now, after Fu Zhi finishes her guzheng performance, what you guys should do is you go up to her and ask if she’s Pure Feather. Then, the viewers in the live-streaming room will realize who she really is underneath her mask.”
Mu Chenxi was certain that Fu Zhi did not know how to play a guzheng at all. This was because she had never seen Fu Zhi been to any inst.i.tution before, and even if she did, Mu Chenxi did not believe that her guzheng performance could be better than her piano performance. After all, she had practiced piano for 10 years.
The 3 reporters nodded in a.s.sent as they said, “Don’t worry. Since we’ve taken your money, we will certainly do as you said.”
After that, Mu Chenxi waved her arms to signal the reporters to leave. Then, she came out of the room with Xu Tongtong arm in arm. “Just you see. Today will be the day of Fu Zhi’s demise!”
*
The Dunhuang guzheng inlaid with gold and some white jades were placed in the center of the stage by the staff. It carried an oriental vibe, and it looked out of place in the lavishly decorated western-style hall.
The actors and actresses from the Mu Family then began to mock Fu Zhi when they saw the guzheng on the stage.
“Guzheng? It’s better if she plays suona.”
“I’m sure she more or less knows how to play a guzheng. It’s just that I’m not sure how well she can play it…”
“I bet five packs of chili sticks she can’t play as well as Ms. Chenxi!”
“There’s no need to bet. Learning guzheng is a difficult task. Look at her hand. They are so delicate and fair, it doesn’t seem to me that she’s someone who can endure hardship. Ms. Chensi has been practicing piano for 10 years, so I can say for sure that Fu Zhi is not as good as her!”
As they all were talking, the prelude of “The Battle of Typhoon” was played in the banquet hall. The Battle of Typhoon was one of the most famous guzheng solo pieces. Right after the prelude of the music had ended, Fu Zhi then began her performance.
As one of the Chinese plucked zithers, Guzheng was pretty versatile. With a single strum or pluck of the string, the performer could convey different kinds of feelings to the audience. As for a majestic piece like the Battle of Typhoon, the moment the first note fell, the audience seemed to be able to picture the scene of an army of heroic warriors marching into the war zone with well-polished spears and armored horses to protect their country.
Those people who looked down on Fu Zhi and those who mocked her fell silent. They all resonated with Fu Zhi’s music and their skin erupted into gooseflesh.
The Battle of Typhoon was not hard to play. In fact, it was much simpler compared to Mariage d’amour.
Mu Chenxi thought although Fu Zhi was pretty good at playing a guzheng, she was still far from her.
However, the second the thought took shape in her mind, Fu Zhi came to an abrupt stop and she began playing “Glamour”, a song made by Addiction.
A melodious and fast-paced song sounded, and the unique timbre immediately pulled people into the bustle of the earthly world.
The atmosphere in the hall changed drastically.
“Brilliant! She can perfectly synchronize both her right and left hands!” A guzheng master couldn’t help himself and exclaim.
The rest of the audience was stunned as well.
Everyone knew that “Flight Of The b.u.mblebee” and “English Country-Tunes” were known as the 2 hardest piano pieces in the world. For the latter, some of the bars even had 300 notes crammed into them, and the fingers of the pianist were practically flying across the piano keys when he or she was performing the music piece.
As for Addiction’s Glamour, in a sense, it was equivalent to the guzheng version of “Flight Of The b.u.mblebee” and it had been praised many times by other guzheng players before.
It was something that not everyone could play, including Mu Chenxi.
“Could… Could it be that she’s a guzheng master?”
“I’m sorry, I have to take back what I’ve said just now.”
“Our traditional musical instruments have little advantage over western musical instruments. Most of the youngsters nowadays feel they are not cool compared to western musical instruments, so they are reluctant to pick up a traditional musical instrument. However, it’s “Addiction” that changed the game and caused our people to start picking up guzheng again. I’m truly impressed that this girl can play “Glamour” so well!”
Mu Chenxi’s face was as dark as the bottom of a pot.
She took a glance at the comment sections in the live-streaming room. She realized that most of the viewers were praising Fu Zhi, and when she saw that some of them were saying that she knew her own limit so she got off the stage to give Fu Zhi a chance to showcase her talent, she was so angry that she nearly pa.s.sed out.
It was never in her wildest dream that Fu Zhi knew how to pay a guzheng at all.
Sitting on the seat, Jiang Zong played with his fingers as he stared indifferently at Fu Zhi.
At this moment, all the lights had converged on Fu Zhi.
The hissing of the zither seemed to be telling the ups and downs of a world. With a strum of the string, the scene of an army of soldiers fighting on armor horses to protect their country seemed to have appeared before their eyes. Then, with another pluck of the string, the scene in their eyes changed and they seemed to have seen how a war-torn country rose from the ashes. She moved her fingers across the strings so fast that before they knew anything, she had already entered another section of the music.
It was something that they had never experienced before, and this was by far the best performance they had seen.
They were so marveled at Fu Zhi’s performance that they still could not come around to their senses even after Fu Zhi had finished her performance.
It was only until Jiang Zong clapped his hand that they finally snapped back to reality and a round of applause erupted in the hall.
Ouyang Ya rubbed the center of her eyebrows. She remembered the things Mu Chenxi told her about this morning and snarled, “This is the surprise you were talking about?”
“No… I didn’t know she knew how to play a musical instrument,” Mu Chenxi said as she bit her lower lip.
She really did not know that Fu Zhi knew how to play a musical instrument. If she knew about it, she would never ask Fu Zhi to perform on the stage.
“Ever since I came to Yu City, everyone just keeps saying to me that they don’t know when the thing is related to Fu Zhi. There are a lot of things in this world that you don’t know. Wouldn’t you check if you don’t know about something? Do you know what kind of consequences you will face if you do something without having any knowledge about it?”
Mu Chenxi’s eyes were red as she said, “I… I really don’t know.”
Ouyang Ya took a deep breath and continued, “What’s the main point of this gathering? Get Pure Feather out and make Fu Zhi humiliate herself in front of the public, but now what? She even stole the limelight from you! You are the host of the gathering, but now you have become her sidekick!”
Mu Chenxi did not know what to say. Since she could not unleash her anger at Ouyang Ya, she could only divert her rage towards Xu Tongtong. She glared at her furiously and said, “This is all your fault! If it were not for your lousy idea, none of this would have happened!”
Xu Tongtong did not dare to fight back. She just kept her head low and said, “I thought a barbarian like her wouldn’t know how to play a musical instrument. Who knows she could play a guzheng so well.
“How about this? Since Fu Zhi wants to play suona, let’s ask her to play suona then. If she can’t play it well, we can say she doesn’t respect us at all and she’s cursing us!”