"The prettiest girl in our school isn't just good looking. She's also talented. How do the rest of us live!?"
"Don't you remember what Yi Shiqiong said just now? She said once a zither is damaged it's done. And it cannot sound nice again. My god, she sure slapped herself in the face!
"Exactly! If what she said was true, then what does it mean if the girl can play a fixed zither better than she can?"
"Her zither playing skill is obviously much better. I originally thought Yi Shiqiong was good at playing the zither. Now that I've listened to Qiao Qing, I finally know what's really good!"
"That's me as well! After listening to Qiao Qing's and comparing it to Yi Shiqiong's, I now know what it means to be night and day. I now no longer want to listen to Yi Shiqiong!"
"What a joke! A fourth-year bullying a new student. The result slapped her own face! She blames the zither for poor playing. Should bad chefs blame their knives?"
"She obviously is treating us like we are fools since we don't know how to play the zither. She definitely didn't think she'd meet someone who knows more than she does!"
"..."
Yi Shiqiong listened to everyone discuss this and she was furious.
What the audience realized, she realized as well.
Qiao Qing's zither playing skill was far superior!
She was insanely jealous because of this!
If she knew since the beginning that Qiao Qing knew zither, and knew it so well, she never would've given her the chance to play.
But Qiao Qing had played. If she pulled her away now, people would talk even more.
Qiao Qing was completely unaware of what everyone was talking about. She put her entire concentration and her heart into playing the zither.
It was as if she wasn't in a clamorous performance hall, but an untainted and white hospital room.
It was as if her father was the only audience. He didn't praise her, didn't deject her, and obviously, wouldn't be impatient towards her.
As she played on and revealed more and more emotion, the loud conversations disappeared.
Everyone was now in awe as they stared at the beautiful silhouette who put her all into music.
The graceful and somewhat sullen music washed through the performance hall. Like the strings on the zither, everyone's heart rose and fell alongside her plucking fingers.
After Qiao Qing finished her song, the audience remained silent. Nobody could snap back to reality right away.
After a long time, someone finally dabbed at her wet cheek, "Why did I cry?"
"I shed some tears too. The middle, in particular, was tear inducing. I couldn't stop!"
"This is the first time I've been touched by zither playing. The emotion put in that song was insane!"
"So the girl has stories!"
"My god, not only was she technically good, but she was also so emotionally immersed. What amazing heavenly music!"
"I like zither music normally, but how come I've never heard of this song before? I tried using Shazam and it didn't recognize it."
"Mine didn't either. Could it be that she composed it?!"
"My god! If she composed it, then she must be so talented! Thank god I recorded it! That was beautiful!"
Just as everyone complimented Qiao Qing, a girl stood up, "No matter how good she is, she cannot erase the fact that she broke senior Yi's zither!"
"That must be her intention. First, break the zither, then fix it. She knew senior Yi is a perfectionist and wouldn't play a broken zither, so she planned to play in her place and get all the glory!"