Third Movement - Chapter 4

The doctor said: “It’s lucky that only one ear can’t hear after a major incident like a plane crash. You have the possibility of recovery, wear a hearing aid for a period of time for comfortability first. If you don’t get better after a period of time, consider cochlear implantation.” 1

Hearing aids were fitted. Yuan Xiao couldn’t stand the noise when he put it on. It’s very… Strange. It’s okay in a quiet place, but once he went to a crowded place, the mechanically amplified sound spread unbearably inside. Which made it unbearable and left him with a headache.

The doctor said there would be a period of time needed for adaptation. He had to learn to accept the world’s sound transmitted by the hearing aid.

Bai Wenlin nervously asked him how he felt. Yuanxiao said, “it’s not much different from before.” He tried to be optimistic. At most, he couldn’t be a pianist in the future. He wasn’t made of this material – it’s not that he can’t play the piano altogether…

And this thing is very high-tech. It’s completely invisible, with a natural appearance and an adjustable volume.

He covered his right ear, adjusted the volume and asked Bai Wenlin, “I’ll listen to your words.”

Bai Wenlin leaned over and whispered his name, “Can you hear me?” He was afraid that Yuanxiao couldn’t hear him so he leaned very close, but his voice was light. Yuanxiao suppressed the strangeness and nodded: “I can hear you.” He can’t help but rejoice in the development of science and technology. If this were changed to over ten years ago …

“I wish I could hear you.” Bai Wenlin raised his hand and touched his hair. There was almost tenderness in his eyes. Like he wanted to carefully protect the other.

The driver’s face turned hellish.

Master Royce is a very simple and “devoted” person, only devoted to the piano.

It seems that there is nothing left in his life except the piano. He is self disciplined, but occasionally drinks and smokes a lot of cigars. He is capricious, never accepts students and doesn’t like to hold public concerts. Only holding up to 10 public performances every year, including an annual performance invitation from the White House, the British royal family and the Bellevue Palace…

After old master Royce met royalty he would ask the master: “Princess Beatrice likes you, and Princess Helena likes you too. Which one do you like?”

However, master Royce has no interest in marrying a royal princess. In his eyes, the beauties are worth less than one ten thousandth of the piano. The driver heard that master Royce seemed to care about only one person, who had been dead for many years.

Yuanxiao adapted to the hearing aids after a few days. He searched on Bai Wenlin’s computer about his last life. After he transmigrated, he became a rich young man. Young master Luo’s father, chairman Luo, was a very rich man. When Yuanxiao died, director Luo’s company was listed abroad. As soon as he searched, he found a lot of information, including family information. Chairman Luo’s wife and children… According to the encyclopaedia, Luo Dong has only one 15-year-old son, who is studying in high school in the UK.

According to the photos of the rich second generation on the social platform, Yuanxiao recognized that this should be Chairman Luo’s second son, his “didi”.

There was no trace of his existence, and Yuanxiao didn’t understand the situation.

After all, according to his understanding, the two lives occurred in two parallel time and space. Now he has transmigrated back. It is reasonable to say that chairman Luo’s family should not exist.

Yuanxiao is clueless.

He was about to return to China, but he didn’t dare to tell Bai Wenlin. Because the other party played Beethoven for him every day, as if he wanted to play the owed amount of the past 12 years to him. His Beethoven was full of unspeakable feelings, which was different from before.

In the evening, Bai Wenlin came ashore from the swimming pool and took off his swimming cap and goggles. He only wore a pair of swimming trunks and his upper body was naked. Yuanxiao was lying in the Jacuzzi, so comfortable that he was about to fall asleep, when the calm water suddenly swayed gently. Yuanxiao opened his eyes and Bai Wenlin sat down wearing black swimming trunks.

He felt a little uncomfortable, feeling that half of his Inner Mongolian blood was being challenged by the Germanic people, he covered his legs with his hands awkwardly: “…what are you doing?”

Bai Wenlin also lay down and pressed his arms to his: “We used to do this often.”

“……No?”

Bai Wenlin looked at him sideways, his blue eyes sunk deeply: “When you were blind, I carried you into the bathtub, you called me when you finished your bath and I would carry you to the bed.”

Black lines on Yuanxiao’s face came out: “That’s not the same thing…”

“Forget it.” He won’t quibble about this with Bai Wenlin. Although the estrangement between them has been eliminated, he still can’t treat Bai Wenlin the same as when he was an 18-year-old.

There is a big difference.

Bai Wenlin turned on the LCD TV: “Watch a video?”

Yuanxiao said “Oh”. His whole body was soft with bubbles and their bodies touched uncontrollably.

In the silence, the brisk “Goldberg variations” suddenly sounded. Yuanxiao suddenly remembered glimpses of a familiar video and opened his eyes: “Do you still keep these videos?” Yuanxiao thought that according to his character, he would lock all these black histories into a small black house.

Bai Wenlin answered. Not only does he keep it, but he watches it almost every day – thanks to Yuanxiao’s little hobby.

At that time, Yuanxiao just got to know young Bai Wenlin. Who knows where he found a DV machine, fixed it on a tripod facing the piano, recording all day, and a whole box of batteries. He sat next to the piano, sometimes took the DV off the tripod, took pictures by hand, especially aimed at hBai Wenlins fingers and face and recorded a lot of close-ups.

While recording, he sighed: “This is art.”

At that time, his idea was simple. When Bai Wenlin became famous, these were precious materials.

Bai Wenlin was puzzled at first. Yuanxiao said, “After you become a famous pianist in the future, won’t these videos be interesting memories?”

“I won’t be a pianist.”

Yuanxiao said seriously, “you are a genius. A genius like Mozart and Camille Saint-Saëns2 is destined to reach the top.”

Bai Wenlin shook his head. It seems that he has no interest in being a pianist. If he liked it, it didn’t mean he had to do it.

Yuanxiao still remembers the time of this video. It should be that Bai Wenlin was 15 years old.

——

Bai Wenlin has shown amazing talent at that age. Yuanxiao dares to promise that if those masters find him, they will scramble to take him as an apprentice.

Bai Wenlin liked to practice some very, very difficult pieces at that time. He would listen to Liszt’s 12 super skill etudes once. He never makes mistakes in the pieces that ordinary pianists stay away from, which makes people wonder if he has three hands.

These pieces are undoubtedly very difficult for students who have only studied for three years. They are absolutely beyond the outline! It’s impossible for students to play smoothly even if they’re hands become useless. But Bai Wenlin was too stubborn when practising the piano. In order to practice his skills, he pulled open the piggy bank Yuanxiao bought him. Every time he practised, he took out a coin and put it aside until the piggy bank was empty.

And he can spend a whole month doing nothing, only practising left-hand skills. Just because he feels that his left hand is not as dexterous as his right hand and the sound of touching keys is not beautiful enough.

What gives Yuanxiao a headache is Bai Wenlin’s problem of adding decorative sounds and making self-righteous adaptations.

He plays an etude, which is absolutely correct for the first time. It is as smooth and accurate as if he had practised many times. There will be no wrong sound, but if he plays it for the second time, there will be a lot of “mistakes”.

In other words, the second time he did not read the music, he would wantonly add some decorative sounds and make adaptations. Yuanxiao is a recording student. In fact, he hates the random adaptation of classical music, but this is an important part of Bai Wenlin’s future style. He asked gently, “Is it a little too much?”

Bai Wenlin will appropriately reduce some of the colourful skills and ask him, “Does that sound better?”

Yuanxiao nodded. No matter how he listened, Bai Wenlin’s performance was smooth and clear, like a pearl falling on velvet.

He said in his heart, you have the same problems as Liszt. Fortunately, he knew the future, otherwise he wouldn’t dare to let it go on like this.

After lunch, the two continued to learn the piano. Yuanxiao could only play for a little more than three hours a day. Any more would burden his heart. When he had nothing to do, he climbed into the attic, wrote some messy music, or sat on the sofa next to Bai Wenlin, drank tea and played with a portable camera.

Listening to Bai Wenlin’s performance is definitely an enjoyment. When he becomes famous, he can’t enjoy it no matter how rich he is. After all, only royal families can have the honour to invite him to play at home with the exception of the White House.

While the tea was boiling on the table, Yuanxiao went downstairs to make Bai Wenlin a cup of hot cocoa and brought it up. There were two chocolate doughnuts baked by the chef.

“Wenlin, have a rest and something to eat?”

Bai Wenlin looked at the doughnut. His eyebrows seemed to twist faintly. Then got up and took the donut and put it aside: “I’ll eat later, gege. Come and help me with this chord.”

He opened the score and pointed to a certain section of stave.

Yuanxiao came over and saw that it was actually “Goldberg variations”. He almost lost half his life practising this. Bach madly insisted on thirty wonderful variations on the basis of only 32 notes on the bass line.

Yuanxiao only looked at that chord and felt numb. This is a twenty-eight variation, which is mainly aimed at the practice of vibrato.

He was a little unsure: “So… Do you want me to play it for you?”

Bai Wenlin had this intention and pulled out the piano bench next to him.

Yuanxiao took off his coat and sat on one-third of the piano bench. He first picked up the music score and studied it for a moment and then turned to look at Bai Wenlin.

Bai Wenlin was already taller than him. The young man has been exercising a lot, his sleeves are slightly rolled up to reveal his strong forearm muscles. At the moment, he was looking down at him. After the two people looked at each other, Yuanxiao coughed and began an unreliable “demonstration”.

He tried to play that vibrato again. Because it was too difficult, he had never practised and he was not familiar with the music, so he made mistakes several times. Then he played twice more and hummed in a low voice – this is his little habit. He would hum louder when no one was around and shut up when someone was around, but he couldn’t help it because he was familiar with Bai Wenlin.

The whole variation is only lasts a minute,

After several times, he felt as if there was nothing wrong with his playing. Then he quietly asked Bai Wenlin: “am I right?”

Bai Wenlin’s heart knew it was wrong, but he said softly, “there should be no mistake.”

Yuanxiao knows that his skills are not perfect. If he is given time, he can practise it accurately. But there are too few people like Bai Wenlin who can play after hearing it once. Yuanxiao was ashamed: “Come on, or I’ll forget it.” He was about to get up, but Bai Wenlin pressed his shoulder and said, “let’s play together.”

The two sat together. Yuanxiao plays the bass part and Bai Wenlin plays the treble part.

He deliberately made another mistake where yuanxiao played incorrectly before and then turned around and asked Yuanxiao, “am I wrong here?”

Yuanxiao got up slightly, looked at the music score and nodded gently: “it seems to be wrong, um… It should be like this.” He raised his hand.

Bai Wenlin looked sideways at his focused demonstration and made a faint hum that no one could hear. He couldn’t help laughing silently and his eyes bent slightly.

——

Seeing this, Bai Wenlin smiled again. It was a happy memory for him. Every time he watches, he will laugh and then there is overwhelming loneliness, because he always watches alone and the person who can accompany him to recall memories is long gone.

His music has been appreciated by countless people, but the first person is gone.

Yuanxiao didn’t pay attention to these details at that time. It turned out that he was so close to the DV that his humming voice was clearly recorded. His face turned red, as if a very private secret had been peeped at: “Gould also has this habit.3  Why do you laugh!”

“I’m not laughing at that.” His deep and cold eyebrows melted as he lowered his head.

Yuanxiao suddenly saw him show such a gentle state and a strange feeling filled his heart. Once his understanding of Albert Royce came from encyclopaedias, magazines and news. No matter where he got the information, he was a great devil who never smiles. He is so cold that the orchestra’s he worked with are both excited and terrified.

“It’s said that Royce is more terrible than the conductor. He can play after he picks up the score. When we in the orchestra play, if something goes wrong he will immediately hear it, react faster than the conductor, lock on in a second and stare at you!”

“He can play like an angel himself, but as long as you ask him questions, he will be very irritable. His requirements are different every time and he doesn’t like to follow the score and he has to have the final say in everything. So fickle…”

This is what Yuanxiao heard.

But he knew that Bai Wenlin in his youth was not like this. He was polite and never fierce

When his gentle face pressed down, Yuanxiao’s face turned red unconsciously. No one could resist intimate contact with this man. Even if it was a child he raised with one hand, it felt different. Now, Bai Wenlin is familiar, yet also parts that felt unfamiliar. He stammered: “Then, what are you laughing at?”

“I’m laughing because…” he lowered his eyes and put his lips close to Yuanxiao’s cheek. His voice came into his left ear wearing a hearing aid: “Because of you, my little prince.”

1 A cochlear implant is a small, complex electronic device that can help to provide a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard-of-hearing. The implant consists of an external portion that sits behind the ear and a second portion that is surgically placed under the skin.

2 Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns = a composer chiefly remembered for his symphonic poems—the first of that genre to be written by a Frenchman—and for his opera Samson et Dalila. Saint-Saëns was notable for his pioneering efforts on behalf of French music.

3 Initially acclaimed as a pianist of prodigious talent, Gould had a remarkable career that included recording, television, film, writing and producing radio documentaries, and composing and writing scholarly and critical work. Glenn Gould had become a legend as a concert pianist before he was 30.

Gould was widely known for his unusual habits. He often hummed or sang while he played, and his audio engineers were not always able to exclude his voice from recordings. Gould claimed that his singing was unconscious and increased in proportion to his inability to produce his intended interpretation on a given piano.