"Happy birthday!" Three voices echoed in simultaneous union. They were filled with joy and meant it as they glanced at the girl that sat before the birthday cake.The girl"s face was expressionless, yet the smallest glint of joy could be seen in her eyes. "Thank you." Her voice was mature and melodious, very pleasant to the ears.
"Ah, Yunhua dear." An elderly woman, Mrs. Bao, stepped forward and hugged her. "You"re finally eighteen; a mature adult."
"Yes, Mrs. Bao, I"m finally eighteen." Even though Xiao Yunhua had known these three people for so long, she had yet to lose her formal and stiff manner. The reason? She just didn"t want another "Han Mi" incident to happen. Being close to people in her mission... This was a mistake that she would never make again!
Xiao Yunhua glanced at Ni Ming, her eyes reminding the woman of a promise made when she was sixteen and first met them.
"Yes, yes, I haven"t forgotten. But have you been practicing?" Hearing Ni Ming"s voice, Xiao Yunhua nodded.
"I have." Xiao Yunhua cleared her throat and walked towards the piano. The grand, large piano glimmered in the music room. Flashbacks of the seventeenth birthday filled her mind. She had poured her blood, sweat, and tears to learn majority of the instruments in the music room. Of course, to learn so many made her a prodigy above prodigies, but only she knew the truth: the more admiration that she gathered, the more Pretty Points she earned!
To which she exchanged those Pretty Points for more skills! Of course, she had adjusted to her job while learning. Unsurprisingly, she had seen the young master of the Zhou family, Zhou Lang, visit Riverside many times throughout the year. His untamable, playboy ways were truly too unruly. But surprisingly, Zhou Feng hadn"t shown up to Riverside ever again after that one night that she saw him.
The brothers" personalities were really too different. But to Xiao Yunhua, it was only a matter of taming them in different ways.
Snapping out of her thoughts, she sat on the small bench in front of the piano and took a deep breath. She placed her fingers on the piano keys and felt their cool, smooth texture.
She took a deep breath and firmly pressed on the first keys. A soft yet heart-wrenching melody exploded in the air.
Xiao Yunhua closed her eyes and opened her mouth. An entrancing voice laced with sadness filled the air. It was so beautiful that it brought tears to the eyes, especially Ni Ming.
She was proud of the little girl because she had finally discovered the key of making a song sound beautiful, especially with her already peerless, soprano voice. The little girl was pus.h.i.+ng every sad emotion she felt into the heart-wrenching song, like a maelstrom calamity. It was beautiful and enchanting, like one couldn"t help but be lulled in, but the content of her song and her sad voice was so painful to hear.
Ni Ming, along with the other two, felt an indescribable pain fill their hearts. It was as though Xiahu Yunhua was trying to tell them something via her song.
They a.s.sumed that she was only improvising to make the song more mellifluous, but they had no idea that Xiao Yunhua was just incorporating all the hidden pain into the song. Starting from the memories of her previous life to seeing a lifeless Han Mi. Even with her eyes closed, she played the keys efficiently and peerlessly. This was because her photographic memory had memorized the positions of each and every key.
Even with her eyes closed, nightmare-like memories caused tears to stream down both her cheeks.
Grandmother, are you living well? She couldn"t help but think with heartache. Your Yunhua is living only to avenge against wrongdoers.
This was how playing the piano affected her. It consumed her to release all her pent-up frustration and sadness.
When she finished, a hushed silence loomed over all of them. They couldn"t find words to express how lovely yet melancholic the sound they just listened to was. In fact, this was the first time the trio heard a complete performance from Xiahu Yunhua. The young woman would only allow them to listen to snippets and mini-performances to keep them in a suspense for the past year. Now that they"ve heard her, they couldn"t help but get addicted.
"Little Yunhua, you"ve certainly grown! I can metaphorically feel my heartstrings being pulled by your performance." w.a.n.g Yaowan praised as he used a hand to pat Xiao Yunhua"s shoulder affectionately. He had grown to care for her as a younger sister, and so had his fiancée, Ni Ming. Speaking of Ni Ming, she was awestruck and frozen. Suddenly, as though she snapped out of her trance, she leaned forward and captured the eighteen-year-old in her arms.
"I"m so proud of you! I don"t even think it"ll take until your twenty-first birthday to get ready, dear! I"ll let you join me one day as an a.s.sistant." Ni Ming couldn"t help but gush. Xiao Yunhua blushed at her praise and bowed her head shyly.
If she didn"t have a cheat, then there was no possibility of her even getting so far!
Xiao Yunhua smiled meekly and politely, but her eyes flashed with a wicked glint. The game was going to finally start after nearly a decade...