Chapter 63: Playing ‘The Untrammeled Traveler’ on Piano
And with a “beep,” the tsundere roommate B hung up.
The college student, who was only half awake, was stunned for a moment. Then, abruptly, he leaped up from his bed and logged onto the live-stream application into Princess Man’s live-stream without even bothering to put on some clothing.
On the other side of the screen, Princess Man had already sat down in front of the piano.
“Phew! I’m not too late,” he patted his chest as he sighed in relief.
“What pieces do you want to hear?” Princess Man asked for everyone’s opinions.
Everyone had a different answer.
Some replied with Beethoven and Mozart songs, some said they wanted to hear modern light music, some said they wanted to listen to the 1900s songs that made celebrities famous, some said cyber songs, and some even said European electronic music.
Liu Man said helplessly, “Some pieces are not meant to be played by the piano. At least, for now, there’s no way for me to do that.”
“Stop giving sis a hard time, she doesn’t have a way to play what everyone wants to listen. Why don’t we do another poll here in the live-stream to see what everyone wants to listen to?” — Otaku Boy
“We can only comment here, so how do we do a poll?”
“I’ll say a basic outline, and everyone can comment below me. Firstly, does anyone want to listen to classical music, such as Fur Elise? Classical music also includes piano concertos. So, yes, or no?”
“No.”
“No.”
“No.”
…
As expected, the fans weren’t particularly interested in these high-tier pieces.
“I don’t want to listen to these either, so we’ll pass this for now. Continuing, do y’all want to listen to pieces from China or in other countries? Typing in a ‘Y’ means from China, and typing in an ‘N’ means from other countries.”
Otaku Boy was a genius at computer science. He even used his coding methods here.
“Y.”
“Y.”
“N.”
“Y.”
…
“Most of you chose to listen to pieces from China, so we’ll just skip pieces from other countries. Now, let’s narrow that down a bit more. ‘Y’ means you want to listen to old songs, ‘N’ means you like newer songs.”
…
After many rounds of voting, they narrowed it down to the new cyber songs from Tik Tok. This answer was normal because everyone loved such prevalent songs that were easy to sing.
Liu Man thought of Coco as she thought of new cyber songs from Tik Tok. The only cyber singer she knew at that moment was her.
Coincidentally, she had just accompanied Coco not long ago and remembered some music sheets.
Right at this moment, a fan said,
“You should play one of Coco’s songs. She’s very popular right now and is number one on the cyber singers’ leaderboard. I love all of her songs.”
“That’s not right… When Coco live-streamed in that Shanghai pedestrian mall, the video of Hanfu Goddess accompanying her went crazy. Don’t you think we will start to compare between our Princess and Hanfu Goddess if she plays Coco’s songs? This is wrong, no matter who’s a better piano player.”
“So, you guys think our live-streamer cannot beat Hanfu Goddess?” — Peach is a fairy.
Peach, who knew Princess Man was Hanfu Goddess, said in a tone as if she was putting on a prank.
“Of course, we didn’t mean it like that.”
“They have different styles. I believe our Princess will always be the best!”
“Yeah, sis. There’s no need to be afraid.”
Everyone’s support made Liu Man feel a bit bad. She knew she shouldn’t have hidden away her identity as Hanfu Goddess, but she felt like if she suddenly broke the news to her fans, everyone would think of her as a fraud.
Peach is a fairy, as if realizing what Liu Man was thinking, sent over a WeChat message:
“Whatever you do, don’t reveal your identity right now. You are keeping a sense of mystery right now, you know? Every celebrity in the entertainment circle likes to do this. So, just let it go. You know how when you watch a suspense movie when the truth gets disclosed in the end, everyone would feel surprised but feel it was within expectations? Real fans won’t blame you but will be surprised and glad. Trust me.”
Peach was very persuasive, and Liu Man stopped worrying. She trusted Peach.
So, Liu Man told the audiences, “Before, I wrote ‘The Untrammeled Traveler’ by Zhuang Zhou. So today, I’ll play Coco’s most famous song, ‘The Untrammeled Traveler.’” When Coco was live-streaming at the pedestrian mall, Liu Man had skimmed through the music sheets for ‘The Untrammeled Traveler,’ but she didn’t accompany Coco on that piece.
“All right! -Grabs a front seat-”
“Everyone, stop arguing. Be quiet and listen!”
“This is Princess Man’s first time live-streaming herself playing the piano! I’m going to screen record this.”
…
Liu Man stopped saying anything else and placed her hands onto the keys. The music sheets for “The Untrammeled Traveler” appeared in her head. She thought about it for a few minutes before the melody jumped out from beneath her fingertips.
Before, Liu Man accompanied Coco with an electro piano. This time, she was using a professional grand piano, so the effects were completely different.
The difference between accompanying and playing a solo was very different. At that time, she had to play everything according to Coco’s style and pace, and now, she could improvise extemporaneously.
A folk song that was prevalent and easy to sing became graceful and high-leveled when she played it.
“Your playing seems so… High-tiered. I didn’t even recognize it was ‘The Untrammeled Traveler’ until I heard the middle parts with the main melody. This solo feels like it belongs in the New Year symphony concert I watched last month…”
“That’s because our live-streamer revised the music sheets and added in some chorus only pianos had. She also revised the intro and made it into the sharp major. It sounds like a song that’s supposed to be played on a piano. With this melody, you won’t be able to sing along,” A fan who also knew how to play the piano said.
“Music theories are too profound; I don’t understand them. I only know that this song is amazing, and I love listening to these kinds of quiet songs when I’m alone.”
“I like how sis plays the piano; she plays it like how she writes calligraphy. She completely overwhelmed herself in her world, and her mind went calm as water. This somehow satisfies me; she looks so peaceful!”
“Before, when I listen to this song, I always feel like I want to become a free hero traveling across the world and experiencing everything. Now, after I heard the live-streamer’s piano piece, I feel like it’s good enough to live a simple, normal life with my family.”
“What should I do? I have no resistance for girls that play the piano.”
…
The audiences all expressed their thoughts about this piece, like how a thousand readers reading the same book would mean a thousand different perspectives and thoughts on a book. Different people listening to the same song would mean different afterthoughts.
It was true that Liu Man’s piano playing couldn’t satisfy her professors, but it was comfortable to listen to for amateurs, and this was already enough. Most people couldn’t tell if different pieces had better quality. If they felt like it sounded good, then it was good. As for those pieces that were good but hard to understand, nobody wanted to listen to it.
Under the elegant melody, gifts were spammed in waves as expected.
…
Credits: Sydney