ECG -Chapter 35 Military Training

The sun gradually rose higher, and the temperature kept increasing. Everyone was still maintaining their standing posture, and sweat began to trickle down.

Lin Hao looked around and cursed inwardly.

Damn! It’s the same old routine. The other classes are all standing around like fools too.

Then he looked again at that dry-as-a-hook Yu. Under the scorching sun, the man stood there like a spear. He was enduring it right along with them, so what else could anyone say?

A girl in the front row called out in a tearful voice, “Instructor, there’s a bee!”

“Don’t move! Wait until it stings you before you move!” Instructor Yu shouted.

“Pfft!”

Several people burst out laughing.

After another long while, some people had already started swaying as if they were about to collapse.

Instructor Yu shouted, “If your classmate suddenly faints, what should you do immediately?”

Everyone looked at each other, not knowing how to answer.

“You! Take one step forward, step out of formation!” Instructor Yu pointed at a short boy.

“You answer. If your classmate suddenly faints, what should you do immediately?”

The boy might have been short, but his voice was not small at all.

“Reporting to the instructor, I’ll slap him first to see if he’s pretending!”

“Whoa—”

This sentence made all the students burst into laughter. Even the nearby classes on both sides heard it and started laughing along.

Instructor Yu clearly wanted to laugh too, but his dark face turned bright red from holding it in.

At lunchtime, everyone had little appetite. After finishing their meals, they quickly found a shady patch of grass and sprawled all over the place in messy rows.

In the afternoon, they began practicing the goose-step.

Only then did Lin Hao finally realize how poor his physical condition was. He secretly made up his mind that after military training ended, he would run every day. Otherwise, with this body of his, he probably wouldn’t even be able to last through one performance on stage in the future.

The next day, Instructor Yu already had a nickname: Dry Hook Yu.

That night.

Dormitory 428.

The four people lay lifelessly on their own beds.

Wu Xiaozhou said, “I finally understand why military training makes us turn left, right, and around now!”

Meng Fatty asked, “Why?”

“Because only this way can we get f***ing sunburned evenly!”

The four of them burst into laughter.

The half-month military training soon ended. Everyone had become at least one shade darker, but they had also grown much stronger.

Lin Hao and Wu Xiaozhou had also become more familiar with their classmates.

On the morning of September 15th, the university’s opening ceremony and military training graduation ceremony came to a successful close on the large sports field. All the freshmen began focusing on their studies.

The piano major’s schedule was quite packed, perhaps because they were first-year students.

From Monday to Friday mornings, there were two classes each day: [Basic Music Theory], [Fundamentals of Computer Applications], [Career Planning for College Students], and [College English]. Only [Physical Training and Dance] was separated into male and female classes; however, most of the male students went once and then became too lazy to go again, so the course basically became meaningless.

In the afternoons, there were classes such as [Ideological and Moral Cultivation], [Legal Fundamentals], and [Physical Education], among others.

There was one professional class every week, while practice time had to be arranged by themselves.

Everyone had a piano practice card. They were required to practice for no less than four hours every day, and statistics would be collected every semester.

A few days later, Lin Hao discovered a serious problem. There were nearly eighty students in their two piano classes, but there were fewer than thirty piano rooms. So practicing required fighting for a room; otherwise, they simply couldn’t get a chance to practice.

Fortunately, he only needed to occasionally move his fingers a little, so he didn’t need to fight these people for a piano room.

That afternoon at two o’clock was Lin Hao’s first professional class.

Ten minutes early, he arrived at the door of the innermost classroom on the west side of the fifth floor of the teaching building and waited there, because this was Fang Gang’s private classroom.

It was said that Fang Gang also had another private classroom for teaching graduate students, but it was not in this building.

The head of the music department, Fang Gang, arrived right on time. He was also holding a thick stack of books in his arms.

Lin Hao looked at him with admiration. Fang Gang was already close to fifty years old, yet every day his clothes and appearance were impeccably neat. His back was always straight, and he looked full of energy.

That kind of temperament came from deep within and was the result of years of accumulation.

Behind Lin Hao was the window on the west side of the corridor. The setting sunlight from the west made it difficult for Fang Gang to see his face clearly.

Fang Gang secretly nodded. This kid knew how to respect his teacher, at least he understood that he should come early and wait here for him.

“Good morning, teacher!” Lin Hao slightly bowed.

Fang Gang smiled. “Have you been here for a while?”

“Just arrived.” After saying that, Lin Hao quickly took the stack of books Fang Gang was carrying.

“Mm.” Fang Gang took out his keys and opened the classroom door.

Lin Hao lowered his head and glanced at them. The top book was A History and Appreciation of Western Music.

This room was about the same size as Lin Hao and the others’ dorm room 428. On the right side after entering was a black three-seat leather sofa. In front of it was a coffee table with a tea set on top, though it was obvious it had rarely been used.

A little farther away from the window on the south side was a Yamaha G7 grand piano from the 1950s or 60s.

Lin Hao placed the stack of books he was holding on the coffee table.

Fang Gang did not say much. He took a piece of sheet music and walked to the piano. After opening it, he placed it on the music stand.

“Lin Hao, take a look at this piece.”

Lin Hao hurried over and stood in front of the piano, carefully reading it.

Piano Concerto No. 1, Composer: Ivanovich.

Lin Hao was stunned for a moment. In his previous life, he had played Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1, but he was completely unfamiliar with this Ivanovich. Judging from the name, he should also be Russian.

Looking more carefully at the score, he smiled. This piece was very similar to Tchaikovsky’s. It seemed that this was probably another difference in this parallel world.

But this piece was also extremely difficult.

The first movement was in B-flat minor, a solemn and composed allegro moderato, with a passionate and sincere theme.

The second movement was a three-part andante in D-flat major.

The first section had the pastoral style of an andante; the middle section was at the fastest possible tempo; and the third section returned to the andante theme.

The third movement was a passionate allegro in B-flat minor. The rondo theme and the two themes intertwined and developed, eventually forming the climax.

The entire piece was extremely lyrical and beautiful, full of vitality, overflowing with youthfulness and an uncontrollable inner joy.

“Have you played it before?” Fang Gang asked him.

Lin Hao shook his head. “This is my first time seeing this piece!”

This time, Lin Hao was not lying.

Fang Gang pointed at the piano bench. “How about you try playing a small section first?”

Lin Hao nodded. After sitting down, he turned his head and looked at him.

“Teacher, can I start?”

Fang Gang nodded.

A solemn and composed allegro began to sound.

Lin Hao’s ten slender fingers danced skillfully across the black and white keys.

This was an orchestral work, so a piano solo performance would naturally sound much thinner, lacking some of the grandeur.

Lin Hao used eleven minutes and forty seconds to complete the entire piece.

Compared with the version from his previous life, this Piano Concerto No. 1 still had some differences. These differences were not only in difficulty, but also because he was unfamiliar with it. Since this was purely a sight-reading performance, there were inevitably some small flaws.

Lin Hao felt a little frustrated. For him, these kinds of flaws were absolutely unacceptable!

Because classical music had profound meaning and was thought-provoking, he was always extremely serious when performing it.

He turned his head to look at Fang Gang, and then he was immediately startled.