ECG -Chapter 186 Paying Tribute to the Classics

Lin Hao looked at the fingers flying rapidly over the keys and smiled. This guy wasn’t stupid after all—he knew that in a piano duel, he had to win through speed.

Unfortunately, he had met him.

In his previous life, he had been extremely fond of a movie called The Legend of 1900. The protagonist was named 1900, and Lin Hao could never get tired of watching the piano duel between him and the famous jazz pianist Jelly Roll Morton.

Although 1900 in the movie was a fictional character, Jelly Roll Morton was a very real and extremely important figure in the history of jazz. He was one of the most significant early jazz musicians and a key figure during the transition from ragtime to jazz piano.

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The piece 1900 played at the end, Enduring Movement, was an interlude from the opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan by the Russian composer Rimsky-Korsakov. It was often used for solo violin performances. In the movie, 1900 demonstrated the technique of playing like a one-person four-hand duet and ultimately defeated the arrogant Jelly Roll Morton.

It was this very piece, Enduring Movement, that Lin Hao had once practiced obsessively for half a year. Back then, he had practiced at least ten hours every single day. That was just how crazy he had been—otherwise, his friends in the circle would never have called him “Crazy Chen”!

Qian Xiaoqiang’s performance ended.

The audience below the stage fell silent for a moment. Then, someone started clapping, and soon the applause spread.

However, the applause was not urgent or enthusiastic. Instead, it was filled with polite restraint and reason—a kind of courtesy deeply ingrained in the bones of Chinese people.

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Lin Hao completely understood this applause. Regardless of Qian Xiaoqiang’s character, there was no denying that he had played this finger-speed etude quite well. For someone of his age to still maintain such speed and accuracy was truly not easy.

So Lin Hao also applauded.

Although it was merely a simple display of technical skill, for these non-professional audience members below the stage, this kind of speed was enough to make them feel that it was incredibly impressive.

Qian Xiaoqiang stood up. Sweat had already appeared on his forehead. He first shot a sideways glance at Lin Hao, who was standing beside the piano and applauding for him, then bowed toward the audience.

Strangely, after he bowed, the applause from below the stage gradually stopped.

Qian Xiaoqiang straightened up, his face flushed red.

He understood now.

The applause just now had been for the piece itself!

But when it came to him personally, these audience members suddenly became stingy with their praise.

Lin Hao’s voice came through the speakers:

“Since Doctor Qian wants to compete with me in speed, no problem. Let’s see whose hands are faster!”

After saying that, he walked toward the piano.

The theater quickly fell silent.

Many audience members began feeling uneasy. After all, this young man was simply too young—he was still just a university student. Compared from any angle—age, experience, education—he and Qian Xiaoqiang were worlds apart.

Neither Qin Ruoyun nor Yang Qianyi had ever heard Lin Hao play the piano, so they had no idea what his actual level was.

At this moment, Qin Ruoyun’s palms were covered in sweat.

She cursed Lin Hao in her heart.

Lin Hao, you idiot! Why didn’t you just go up there and slap him a few times? I already gave you the green light. Even if you knocked out a few of his teeth, it would have been fine.

But instead, you went up there to compete in piano? Could this be what you meant by “slapping him in the face”? So it wasn’t actual slapping?

She and Yang Qianyi were both uncertain about Lin Hao’s piano skills.

After all, this was something that required years of practice. He was much younger than Qian Xiaoqiang, and that alone created a huge gap. After all, Qian Xiaoqiang had crossed more bridges than Lin Hao had walked roads.

Lin Hao sat on the piano bench and took a deep breath.

His two fair, slender hands rested on the black and white keys…

The rhapsody Enduring Movement suddenly rang out—

His hands were like two butterflies fluttering up and down. In just a few breaths, the two butterflies seemed to become four.

Then, the four butterflies merged into one blur, turning into countless afterimages.

If Qian Xiaoqiang’s playing earlier had been like two machine guns firing bullets at the same time, then Lin Hao’s performance at this moment was undoubtedly like countless Gatling guns firing wildly all at once.

A dense storm of notes poured out like a violent rainstorm.

Exactly thirty seconds.

Not one second more, not one second less.

Lin Hao ended this astonishing performance with a fierce burst of chord strikes.

Everyone in the theater held their breath.

Those notes seemed like real bullets, all shooting straight into their hearts. Every person stared blankly, completely dumbfounded.

The entire venue was deathly silent.

Even the children who had occasionally been making noise earlier were now tightly held in their parents’ arms. Some people were still holding up their phones or home DV cameras, yet they remained frozen in the exact same recording posture, not moving an inch.

During Lin Hao’s final explosive super chord finale, it seemed as if hundreds of hands had appeared on the keys!

At this moment, everyone felt that this piano might fall apart at any moment—or perhaps in the next second, it might simply explode.

The entire venue was still completely silent…

Qian Xiaoqiang stood there dumbfounded, his mind completely blank.

He couldn’t believe it, nor could he accept it. How could this possibly be a student of Fan Gang? This performance had absolutely crushed his own, as if Lin Hao had stepped on his face with leather shoes and kept rubbing it on the stage.

In the midst of this maddening silence, Lin Hao slowly stood up. Since he wanted to pay tribute to his favorite The Legend of 1900, how could this scene possibly be missing?

He pulled out a pack of soft-pack Yuxi cigarettes from his pocket, took one out, and held it in his hand. Leaning forward slightly, he reached over the keyboard and pressed the cigarette against the piano strings.

Everyone was staring at him, not understanding what he was doing.

A wisp of smoke slowly drifted out from inside the piano case. Lin Hao pulled his hand back, and the cigarette was already lit—

The mouths of the thousands of people present instantly opened in unison. None of them understood how he had done it.

Holding the cigarette between his fingers, Lin Hao walked in front of Qian Xiaoqiang and gently placed it into his mouth. In a deep voice, he said:

“Good and evil always come full circle. Heaven never lets anyone escape.”

“Tell Ai Xinnan to live well. Wait for—me!”

After saying those two sentences, he lightly patted Qian Xiaoqiang’s shoulder like an elder would, and didn’t say anything else.

Apart from Qian Xiaoqiang, no one else heard what he said.

At that moment, it was as if a tightly wound spring had suddenly been released. A wave of sadness suddenly surged through Lin Hao’s heart. He didn’t know why, but he suddenly felt that everything had become meaningless.

He no longer paid attention to Qian Xiaoqiang, who looked like a fool. Instead, he looked down at Qin Ruoyun and Yang Qianyi below the stage and softly said:

“Sis, let’s go home!”

Qin Ruoyun and Yang Qianyi stood up together. The moment their applause began—

“Crash!”

Everyone else stood up as well. The sudden eruption of applause made Qian Xiaoqiang on the stage tremble as if struck by lightning.

Lin Hao gave a slight bow toward the audience, then walked off the stage with his hands behind his back.

The applause continued without stopping. Everyone watched the three of them leave the theater together.

At the theater entrance, there was a table set up, with two girls standing behind it. On the table were two thick stacks of promotional flyers, probably introductions to Qian Xiaoqiang’s company.

The three of them walked out of the lobby. It was already dark outside. Qin Ruoyun took off her oversized sunglasses.

“Let’s get into Qianyi’s car first. If the audience comes out later, you won’t be able to leave.”

Lin Hao knew she was right. Those audience members hadn’t reacted yet, so they had politely seen them off with applause. But after all, most of them were parents of piano students. Once they came to their senses and saw him again, there would definitely be a bunch of questions they wanted to ask. At that point, leaving would be difficult.

The three of them had just gotten into Yang Qianyi’s Audi when Lin Hao’s phone rang. At this moment, the audience had already started gradually heading toward the parking lot.

“Hello, Han Ying.”

“Teacher Lin, I saw that the show has ended. We’re waiting by the roadside.”

“Wait a little longer. Once most of the audience has left, drive to the parking lot on the right side of the entrance and pick me up.”

“Okay!”

After hanging up, Lin Hao jokingly said in a polite tone:

“Why don’t the two leaders come have dinner with me?”

Yang Qianyi giggled.

“I can tell you’re not sincere at all. Forget it. If we went, Han Ying and the others wouldn’t feel comfortable either!”

Lin Hao nodded.