Chi Linyue couldn't help saying, "Xu Lin, you're a piano prodigy, right!"

"Not really, I just said it's the brain's capability!"

"The brain?"

"I learn everything quickly depending on whether I want to learn or not. For instance, earlier you said I play guitar well, and I learned guitar on the spot, just took a few hours from zero to mastery."

"That amazing?"

Chi Linyue was utterly stunned.

"In life, you need some skills, right? Otherwise, how would you pick up girls?"

"You're so unserious!"

Chi Linyue gave him a sideways glance. After a while, seeing Xu Lin could play the piano, she said, "Why don't you play the piece you recorded on video? I quite like it."

"Alright, but let me get familiar with the piano again!"

"Okay, okay."

"It might take some time."

"It's alright, I'll wait for you!"

Chi Linyue brought over a chair.

Over the next hour, Xu Lin played five Beethoven piano pieces, learning from videos online at double speed, memorizing after watching twice, and then playing each piece twice on the piano.

This wasn't because Xu Lin wanted to learn these piano pieces.

He wasn't particularly interested in the piano; playing these pieces was purely to familiarize himself with the instrument.

This method is like learning to write; many people think you need to learn all sorts of chaotic theories first. Actually, you just need to read classic books and then write yourself. The more you read and write, your writing skills will naturally improve over time.

That's exactly what Xu Lin is doing now.

But Chi Linyue, sitting behind him, was quite shaken by Xu Lin's memory and learning ability. During her student days, she saw many brilliant students, those top in elite universities or even the most prestigious ones, but she had never seen someone of Xu Lin's level. Not even heard of it.

Even at Jiangdu University, one of the two top institutions nationwide, someone like Xu Lin might not exist.

Memory, photographic memory.

Learning ability, mastering after a few times, no, it seems more like proficiency!

Piano skills, within these mere two hours, Xu Lin had clearly surpassed the tenth level of piano, reaching performance level, or even mastering it to the point of perfection, seemingly not inferior to those concert pianists.

Chi Linyue couldn't stay calm.

An hour passed.

Xu Lin was already quite satisfied with his piano playing skills.

Since it's not a public performance, for Xu Lin, being able to play for fun was good enough.

"Alright!"

Xu Lin spoke up.

"Are you ready now?"

"Yes, I'll play that piece."

"I'm listening!"

Chi Linyue was looking forward to it.

On the other side, Xu Lin placed his hands on the piano keys, ready to play, while also starting to immerse himself emotionally.

Unlike playing Beethoven's works earlier, which had no emotional connection for Xu Lin.

But playing his own piece was different; he could truly immerse himself.

This piece by Xu Lin had already been dubbed the ultimate emo song on TikTok and was increasingly used by people as background music for short videos.

Calling it emo was truly emo, and calling it depressing was genuinely depressing.

So Xu Lin spent more than half a minute just cultivating his emotions.

Later, Chi Linyue finally saw Xu Lin start playing.

At first, it seemed nothing, but soon, the piece began to carry some sadness, with a gentle melancholy flowing out in the music, diffusing in the air, causing ripples of feeling in Chi Linyue's heart, eventually surging into waves, and towards the end, evoking a feeling of suffocating sorrow.

This piece lasted over three minutes.

When the piece ended, Chi Linyue sighed, blinked, feeling her eyes getting a bit moist.

"Why play such sad music?"

She couldn't help but ask.

"Didn't Yu Hua write 'Living?'"

Xu Lin turned back and said.

Chi Linyue shook her head, saying, "That book was truly not enjoyable, though it's undeniably classic; it makes you doubt life! When I finished it in college, I felt uneasy for several days, and those days eating felt tasteless."

Xu Lin mentioned, "I feel that in human creativity, we tend to create works themed around suffering, using it as a backdrop to celebrate certain human qualities, like familial love, romantic love, friendship, elevating them to grander human emotions, celebrating devotion to one's country, national pride, the human spirit of struggle, and so on."

"That's right."

Chi Linyue listened and realized it might indeed be like that, not to mention those world classics familiar to people since middle school, like 'How Steel is Made,' 'Notre-Dame Cathedral,' 'War and Peace,' etc., are all about suffering themes, then celebrating certain beautiful human spirits based on those themes.

"Let's not talk about this, I want to hear the piano version again!"

Chi Linyue was excited.

"Ok."

Just as Xu Lin prepared to play, Chi Linyue suddenly suggested, "Why not record it, like you did the guitar version, so I can listen to it whenever I want later."

"Alright, you help me record then!"

Xu Lin thought it sounded fine. Then, Chi Linyue brought a phone stand, placed it on Xu Lin's piano, adjusted the angle, making sure Xu Lin's head wasn't visible, only showing the upper half, so the video would only show Xu Lin playing the piano.

"He's handsome, why not show his face?"

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