Chapter Ninety-Three: After the Early Summer Rain

A guzheng melody was flowing, exquisite and clear, like the bright tinkling of a mountain stream over stones, falling upon the heart with a beauty that seemed to strike it awake.

Inside the recording booth, there was only one person and one guzheng.

Yang Qing sat upright before the instrument, ten fingers moving across the strings—plucking, pressing, flicking, and striking.

With both hands working in seamless coordination, a lively and pleasing melody drifted out.

Outside the booth, the sound engineer wore the main headphones and recorded the track, while Qin Xue and the others listened through the secondary set.

As Qin Xue listened, a sweet smile curved her lips, and her gaze at Yang Qing grew faintly dazed.

The buoyant music, flowing and lingering in her heart, could not help but call up in her mind a scene of rain having just ended, the sky brightening, the grass and trees fresh and green, a loved one at her side, children playing in the courtyard, and droplets falling from the leaves with a soothing, carefree grace.

Director Wu, meanwhile, gently closed his eyes. Listening to the guzheng, and thinking of the food scenes being filmed, he could not help but smack his lips.

Fresh, natural, comforting, with pleasant scenery and a pleasant mood: a bowl of porridge, a basket of steamed buns, rainwater dripping from the eaves, birds singing beneath them.

After an early-summer rain, one could savor such freshness and simplicity, and the quiet delight that food brings.

Yang Qing was wholly immersed in his performance as well. He had no choice but to be fully engaged; in a place like this, every extra minute wasted meant a great deal of money squandered. He was a frugal man...

Well, though it was not his own money, he still hoped the recording would succeed in one take.

Mind and skill merged as one. Beautiful, lilting notes poured from the strings. Li Dongning stared in a daze.

His eyes were fixed, unblinking, on the movements of Yang Qing's left and right hands.

As for whether his eyes grew dry, do not ask him. Even if asked, he probably would not answer, because he was already stunned by the technique Yang Qing displayed.

Harmonics, trills, plucked tremolos, rolling ornaments, and close alternation—these were the five techniques used to play the guzheng. Usually, a single guzheng piece would use at most three or four of them, but what was he seeing now?

He was seeing Yang Qing use all five, and the transitions between them were utterly seamless, as though they were born as one.

At that moment, he truly wanted to ask Yang Qing how on earth he had done it.

The other two present, Wang Ming and Fang Du, wore the same expression and shared the same thought.

Their mouths opened uncontrollably wide, and all their words collapsed into a single phrase: damn, incredible!

A few minutes later, the music slowly faded away, and the piece came to an end.

Yang Qing slowly lifted his head, smiled lightly through the partition glass at the others, and then walked out of the inner booth.

"So, how was it? Is it okay?"

He asked with some nervousness. He was hoping for success in one take; otherwise...

"How did you do it? How did you manage the transitions between all five techniques? Tell me!"

Qin Xue and the others were still savoring the guzheng piece in their minds when Li Dongning suddenly rushed up to Yang Qing in great excitement and asked, his face flushed red.

Deep in his heart, he had always harbored a fervent passion for China's traditional instruments—a passion to see them flourish and take their place on the world stage.

Before, he had had no choice, because that rigid, antiquated association had left him with no hope. But now, it seemed he could finally see one.

First the erhu, then the guzheng, and next the suona—Yang Qing filled him with expectation and hope, and the fervor buried in his heart had broken free of its restraints.

"Uh, Dongning... you... calm down a little, and don't stand so close," Yang Qing said, startled by Li Dongning's sudden rush toward him, quickly stepping back. "If you want to exchange techniques, we can take our time later when we're back. Right now we're handling business."

With that, Li Dongning's eager intensity gradually subsided, though he still looked at Yang Qing seriously and said, "We absolutely have to exchange notes!"

"Yes, yes, absolutely," Yang Qing hurriedly agreed, then looked toward Qin Xue and Director Wu.

"Qing, you've become even more charming," Qin Xue said softly, her eyes full of feeling.

Yang Qing froze, and then his face reddened slightly.

That "charm value" he had once dismissed seemed... not so bad after all.

At that moment, applause broke out. It was Director Wu.

"Xiao Yang, you really didn't let me down. This guzheng piece, 'After the Early-Summer Rain,' is wonderful! Perfect! It's exactly the accompaniment I need! Hahaha... this trip was worth it."

Yang Qing gave him a slight nod and smiled, then looked to Wang Ming and asked, "How was the recording? Do we need to do it again?"

Wang Ming did not answer him, but looked toward the sound engineer instead. The engineer immediately gave a thumbs-up.

Seeing that, Wang Ming laughed. "It recorded perfectly. No second take needed. Amazing, Brother Yang—one take!"

Hearing that, Yang Qing finally let out a breath and smiled. "Good. I was worried I'd have to record it again."

"Haha... now you're just being humble," Wang Ming teased, then asked, "Do we continue with the second piece, or take a break first?"

At that, everyone present looked toward Yang Qing.

"Let's continue," Yang Qing said with a smile. "The second piece is the piano composition 'The Seasons of Work.'"

"Great! Then let's do it!"

Wang Ming nodded, then called over the staff to replace the guzheng in the booth.

Meanwhile, the little ones also left the lounge and followed Xiao Min toward the dance studio.

Xi'er and Qiu'er held little Dong'er's hands as she toddled along with her swaying bottom, and they followed behind Xiao Bai.

Tan Jin'er trailed behind the three small ones as well, mainly because she was afraid her youngest little sister would wander off if she wasn't watched closely.

"Xi'er, teach Dong'er how to walk again," Xiao Bai, walking in front, seemed to think of something amusing and suddenly turned her head, laughing.

Xi'er: "Hmph! Xiao Bai, Xi'er isn't talking to you!"

The little one let out an indignant childish roar. That was a maddening memory in which she had lost all dignity!

"Hoho... silly goose, come and hit me!"

Xi'er: "..."

Qiu'er watched the two little friends making a fuss. Like a tiny grown-up, she smiled and shook her little head, then looked at Dong'er and said, "Dong'er, if you need to pee later, tell your sister, okay? I'll take you to pee. You mustn't wet your pants."

Dong'er stared at her with her black, shining eyes, lifted her little head, and gave a cute nod.

"Mm-hmm... okay... sister..."

In high spirits, the little ones followed Xiao Min to the entrance of the dance studio.

"This is the dance studio, and next to it is the instrument room," Xiao Min explained as she opened both doors at once. "You see, the dance studio and the instrument room are separated by transparent soundproof glass, so..."

As she spoke, she looked at the little ones and smiled. "Which one do you want to go to first?"

"This one!"

No sooner had she finished speaking than two little children excitedly pointed toward the instrument room.

Meanwhile, Chun'er and Xia'er both looked toward the spacious, bright dance studio.

"Xiao Min sister, Xia'er and I want to go to the dance studio," Chun'er said.

"Mm-hmm," Xia'er nodded and smiled. "Our teacher has taught us to dance. My sister and I want to practice."

"Sure, then let's go to the dance studio," Xiao Min said with a smile.

Tan Jin'er and Bai Lingyue's eyes also brightened. They, too, wanted to see the two little ones dance.

They wanted to, but two little ones did not. The instruments in the instrument room had already drawn them in.

"Nooo! Xi'er wants to go in here!"

"Hoho... me too!"

Xiao Bai grinned, then darted into the instrument room, followed closely by Xi'er, who was laughing gleefully.

Tan Jin'er was immediately helpless. Looking at Xiao Min, she said, "Take Chun'er and Xia'er to the dance studio. I'll go watch the little ones."

"Actually, you don't need to," Xiao Min said. She could tell that Tan Jin'er wanted to watch the two little ones dance, and from having taught dance for several years, she could also see that Tan Jin'er seemed to have some training herself, so she smiled and said, "You can see them through the soundproof glass from the dance studio, just without sound. And besides... don't you also want to dance a little?"

The moment she said this, the three little ones, Chun'er, Xia'er, and Qiu'er, all looked toward Tan Jin'er at once. Bai Lingyue also looked at her curiously.

Tan Jin'er's pretty face immediately turned red. "I..."

"Oh, come on, hurry up," Bai Lingyue said, taking her by the hand and leading her into the dance studio. Chun'er and Xia'er followed in smiling.

As for Qiu'er, although she also wanted very much to watch Sister Jin'er and her two older sisters dance, she still held Dong'er's hand and went into the instrument room, because she needed to keep an eye on Xi'er.

"Qiu'er! Come play!"

The moment she entered, Xiao Bai shouted excitedly.

"What are we playing?" Qiu'er asked curiously.

"Hoho... this!"

Then Xiao Bai stood on the piano bench, pressed a key, and a crisp note rang out at once.

"Hiahia... this is fun too! You can hit the little sticks!"

In front of the drums, Xi'er laughed while gripping a pair of drumsticks.