Chapter 81

81 Compete

Very quickly, the Sun family’s servants brought out the tools they had for music and painting and set it down.

“So how do we go about it?” Someone asked curiously and Rong Yue spoke up.

“Since the tasks are mildly varying, we can allow the people competing in music start at the same time with the painting.

Once they are done with their presentation, we would also stop the painting.”

A lot of people looked at the people beside them in thought while Sun Yan nodded in agreement to show that he supported the idea.

“It not only saves time, it also sets the mood tone for the artist also.” He added, sealing her suggestion in stone and the girl who had shouted that she wanted painting scowled as she looked at Rong Yue with pure dissatisfaction.

The two teams immediately arranged themselves and brought out their representatives. While Wu Hao took the zither, something that a lot of people felt would be mismanaged by him, after all the softness of a zither didn’t go in line with that of a man. The other team decided to play the piano.

Since it was also not a competition that was to fight to the bones, many words weren’t said and Rong Yue went to sit by her painting stool.

“Any rules?” The girl asked, eyes up in the air with an impression of being the better person between the both of them.

.....

“When the audience see the works, they will know the winner.” Rong Yue said with a shrug. She held her hand to her stomach as a low rumble sounded from it and she sighed softly.

She was slowly starting to regret skipping lunch and coming here. After all, Sun Li had invited her for lunch, making her think that there was going to be a lot of food of various varieties.

Now that they had used close to two hours with nothing yet, the foodie in her was already greatly dissatisfied.

Wu Hao and the person he was competing with, decided that playing together was also the better way for them.

And so the girl sat in front of the piano and took in a deep breath before she allowed her fingers to move over the keys of the piano.

The air in the garden changed with two more keys as it felt like she was trying to move an Angel over to her. Every note and key was soul stirring, surprising even Rong Yue slightly.

For a place like this, she had certainly not been expecting much.

More importantly, she was worried that Wu Hao would find her hard to beat.

The tempo of the zither was also like a wind, feeling like it was not much trouble but was still fleeting.

Wu Hao took in a deep breath before continuing, after all, he hadn’t expected that the girl could play so well.

To everyone watching, they felt that the girl’s skills had rendered Wu Hao out of the game automatically and her family used that opportunity to gloat even more.

Wu Hao, however, understood that the girl was trying to suppress the chances of him entering as every key she played went in a different direction from the previous one.

But no matter the skill, what was needed was practice and expertise.

Within minutes, Wu Hao found the best place to enter and with one strike of his string, he shattered the well maintained balance that the girl had built up until this point.

Eyes closed and focused, his fingers moved deftly over the strings of the zither, sending heart stirring notes into the air that made it hard for the girl to follow. With just his entrance, he had changed the narrative of who was leading this performance!

The girl steeled her emotions as her fingers raced across the keys, eager and desperate to catch up.

On the other hand, Rong Yue’s hands moved swiftly across the paper in front of her as she looked at Wu Hao from time to time.

At that moment when the final note ended, she dropped her brush with a small smile.

“Well done.” She muttered as eyes met with Wu Hao searching for one’s. It was almost as if he was playing for her as his shoulders sagged with relief and a smile spread through that originally still face as he read her lips that commended her.

Their interaction was brief and silent. But for Sun Yan who had kept his entire gaze on Rong Yue as she painted, his heart fell a little slightly.

“Are they together?” He asked, thinking it was still Sun Li who was beside him and clapping.

“I’d like to believe it’s one sided.” Song Jian replied, looking up to meet Sun Yan’s shocked gaze.

Sun Yan said nothing and then walked towards Rong Yue curious to see what she had painted.

As the winner for the music was already clear, everyone already gathered around the two girls. Curious to see what both girls had painted.

“Lou Lou’s painting has gotten even better.” The mother of the girl who was competing with Rong Yue exclaimed as she stood by her daughter’s work.

One of the aunties hurriedly directed the servants to place each painting side by side.

“Wow! Did you paint this in less than twenty minutes?” Someone exclaimed looking at the half finished work that Lou Lou had painted and the full canvas that had been done by Rong Yue.

The work was perfectly done and more importantly, she had done a painting of the exact scene that was here.

It was almost like she had taken them back to that moment when Wu Hao had gotten to the peak of his playing.

Not just the bystanders, even Lou Lou and her mother gave up without an argument and she glared at Rong Yue.

“Who’s your teacher?”

“It’s just a game, how is that any of your business?” Rong Yue asked calmly, her eyes piercing as if she could see her soul.

Before it could get out of hand, Sun Li pulled Rong Yue away.

“Let’s go and eat, I’m starving!” She exclaimed and then sat at one of the tables.

Without waiting for anyone, the both of them started loading their plates with food. Song Jian and Wu Hao joined them very quickly as they started their own food party.

“If you keep using every chance to look at her from afar, you would probably never be more than her friend’s brother.” Sun Fan teased as he looked at his brother who had his eyes trained firmly on Rong Yue.

“If I talk to her now, that’s still going to be the only impression she would have.” Sun Yan retorted and then walked away. His shoulders taut and tight.

After a long afternoon meal, the celebratory lunch finally ended and Rong Yue bid everyone goodbye as she left with Song Jian and Wu Hao.

Just as she got outside, her phone rang with a familiar number.

“Master.”

“My dear disciple! You have to hurry to the capital and save your master.” Master Wang exclaimed.