Jasmine was one of the most basic pieces, and Li Xiaoru could not be more familiar with it. However, this was the happiest she had ever been when playing the piano. She played it again and again, and the smile on her face never faltered.
Jiang Chengfeng sat on the soft couch beside her, and like an idiot in love, all he could see was Li Xiaoru. Li Xiaoru was the prettiest when she played the piano! He could not stop staring at her.
As the piece ended, there were a few rounds of applause. Li Xiaoru and Jiang Chengfeng raised their head and looked up at the second floor towards the origin of the sounds. The upper half of the living room was empty so the second floor could be seen. The four girls were standing there in a row and were admiring Li Xiaoru as she played the piano.
Liu Man, wearing a peach-colored Hanfu, was prominent. Li Xiaoru exclaimed, “Man Man, your dress is so pretty!” Liu Man’s peach clothes made people feel refreshed.
Liu Man corrected her, “It’s Sis Peach’s dress.”
“Haha, we are very close enough, it doesn’t matter.” Tao Zhiyao wanted to gift Liu Man this set of Hanfu because when she wore it, it looked horrible… Compared with letting it stay in her closet without seeing the sun, it was better to let someone fitting wear it.
“Xiaoru, you should come upstairs to choose your clothes, too,” Tao Zhiyao said.
“All right,” Li Xiaoru stood up.
Changing and getting a costume set up was the girls’ job, and Jiang Chengfeng was left in the living room, eating and drinking, having a good time.
Li Xiaoru picked a white formal dress with an irregular-patterned hem.
After they picked their clothes, next came Miao Xiaomei’s job.
Miao Xiaomei gave Liu Man a “bitten lips” makeup that was very trendy on the internet. Peach-colored eye-shadow, peach-colored blush, peach-colored lipstick, and even the ribbon and the hairpin she chose for Liu Man were peach-colored.
It was the hottest summer day, but Liu Man’s costume was as if bringing everyone to spring when flowers bloomed everywhere.
Li Xiaoru’s makeup was still featuring her natural self. Miao Xiaomei put all her hair up on the back of her head, and her formal dress, which revealed her shoulders, matched her long neck and her good body type. She looked refreshing and elegant, like a beautiful, white swan.
The early stage of preparation was done, so next came the filming.
Tao Zhiyao got her video camera set up.
Li Xiaoru sat down in front of the piano.
Liu Man sat on the carpet behind her in a cross-legged posture and put her Guqin on her knees.
This time, she did not use the Guqin desk and the shelf. Since Tao Zhiyao wanted there to be a sharp contrast between the Guqin and the piano, the ancient past and the modern era, then it would be more fitting to play the Guqin in the most initial and classic way.
Her unrestrained posture left Sun Weiwei and the others, who were onlooking, speechless.
Miao Xiaomei said in a soft voice, “I feel like Hanfu Goddess’s every action is even more on spot than those actors and actresses in TV shows featuring the ancient past. It’s such a pity that she’s not an actress.”
Sun Weiwei said, “Don’t you know? She has participated in a movie named ‘Sound of the Wind’. It’s about to come out.”
“I know about that, but it’s a modern movie. I feel like if she acts as an ancient woman, she would definitely become someone like a film empress.”
Jiang Chengfeng started laughing, “You are exaggerating too much. How is it that easy to become a film empress?”
But Sun Weiwei thought Miao Xiaomei had a point.
Because Liu Man was clearly an ancient Chinese!
Sun Weiwei knew Liu Man ever since they were in kindergarten. They were friends for fifteen years, and in this world, excluding Zhang Pei and Liu Chengyu, no one knew Liu Man better than she did.
It was stupid of her to lie to herself before, saying Liu Man only had a dissociative identity disorder. If having a dissociative identity disorder made one have talents no one else had, then please go ahead and let Sun Weiwei have it!
If she couldn’t spot such blatant evidence laying in front of her, she should really apologize to her over-130 IQ.
No wonder Uncle Liu did not look happy despite his regain of freedom. No wonder Aunt Zhang, who had always adored Liu Man so much, allowed Liu Man to move out and live alone.
Strangely, even Sun Weiwei could tell Liu Man was not the initial Liu Man.
Then Aunt Zhang and Uncle Liu should be able to tell even earlier. Why did they so willingly accept and quietly swallow the fact that their biological daughter had been changed?
More exaggeratedly, Aunt Zhang could not be treating this Liu Man even better! It was as if she was her biological daughter.
This is so strange!
Sun Weiwei was feeling ambivalent on this thought, and meanwhile, Liu Man and Li Xiaoru’s performance started, too.
The video length was limited to four minutes, and “Jasmine” itself was a short and concise song. The piano played it once, and Guqin played it once, and the duo played it together once. It was exactly four minutes long.
“Jasmine” was a famous modern folk music piece, so Liu Man naturally didn’t know how to play it. Luckily, the music sheets were easy to be played. Liu Man had been learning it these past two nights and quickly got hold of it.
She was an old partner to Li Xiaoru. The two cooperated flawlessly when they played “Butterfly Lovers” together, and naturally, “Jasmine” was nothing to them. However, the two still practiced it a few times before they recorded it.
The fresh and beautiful melody flowed from the living room to outside the house. The Tao family’s butler, servants, driver, and the guards could all hear it clearly.
It was strangely nice!
The private car of the Tao family’s young master drove into the garden. The driver allowed himself a “hm?” before saying, “It’s rare for the young miss to be in the nice mood to play the piano.”
Tao Zhiwei laughed, “She’s tone-deaf and can’t even tell the difference between ‘C, D, and E’. How can she play the piano?”
“Then who is playing the piano?” The driver was surprised.
Tao Zhiwei would also like to know the answer to this question.
Ever since their parents went on a vacation, or more specifically, half moved to Europe, Tao Zhiwei normally worked every day until 7 p.m. He came back home only after dinner. She was eight years older than Tao Zhiyao, and their relationship didn’t really count as harmonious but rather neutral. Even if they had a meal face-to-face, they would find no topic to talk about.
Besides, Tao Zhiwei often had to go on a business trip, so he didn’t have the time to bond with his younger sister.
Tao Zhiwei got off his car, and the piano playing coincidentally stopped. He was just planning on entering the house when the sounds of a Guqin sounded in the next second. His hand, which was initially ready to twist the door handle, froze…
The butler, seeing the young master’s sudden return, hurriedly rushed over, wanting to explain about the visitors in the living room. Tao Zhiwei lifted his left hand to make a stopping gesture. Right now, he only wanted to quiet down and finish listening to the “Jasmine” played by this somewhat unfamiliar-sounding instrument.
It looked like he hadn’t been communicating with his younger sibling for a long time. He didn’t know when she, with such an unsociable and eccentric personality, managed to befriend such an elegant friend with such good tastes.
After the Guqin playing stopped, a round of applause came from inside the house along with several youngsters’ voices.
“This is brilliant. Why is your duet so shockingly beautiful!”
“I also recorded this with my phone!”
“Hahahaha, Weiwei, Chengfeng, hurry up on editing the video and sending it onto the internet. I can’t wait to see the netizens’ reactions. I’m waiting for our account to explode with popularity!”
This was Tao Zhiyao’s laughter. Tao Zhiwei, at this moment, finally knew that his sister could laugh loudly like this. He felt very unbelievable. At home, in front of him and their parents, his sister had always talked in a soft voice. She didn’t even show her teeth when she smiles, and her movements were always perfect like any standard rich daughter. She had always been commendable at her etiquettes.
Translated by: Sydney
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