《Universe 2.0》Chapter 18 Making amends & The most beautiful music

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The party remained skeptical of William's plan. William, instead, kept saying "promise" "swear" "absolutely" and so on.

"Ben," Said William, when night had just fallen, "did Mr Wilson say you could make amends for your mistakes?"

"That's right."

"Then the two important parts -- re-dubbing the horns and writing the score -- are over to you!"

"No problem! I have some basic knowledge of music, so composing a simple score shouldn't be too difficult a task." Ben answered confidently, patting his chest.

A moment later he added, "I'd better do it after you're asleep, so I can keep it a secret. As for noise, I will try to keep the volume down. I've heard before that there's a soundproof room, and I'd like to go there if that's possible. I wonder if Sir will agree."

Wilson granted his request. The horns sent by the electric fan arrived at the concert hall at nine thirty. After eleven o'clock, when everyone else was asleep, intermittent notes of different pitches came out of the room, followed by a series of double and triple chords and short segments.

By the time Ben finalized his work, the hands of the clock had reached one thirty. "Well, we're done!" He said proudly.

And so they went through the night, until again the blue light of the mother star touched their faces gently. The party got up one after another and was soon washed.

William said, "Did you say we will begin at eight o'clock, Mr Wilson?"

"That's right. Now we have 1 hour and 45 minutes. It should be in time. Don't worry, miss. Your debut will be a great success."

To William's surprise and delight, Director Wilson now began to support his plan.

Fifteen minutes passed. Wilson put away the series of instruments and took out the tuned horns.

He pulled Maria out of the door. "Miss, I see hidden in this hall, not far below the ceiling, a simple piano composition. What do you think of playing this?" He said, pointing to a score LED light on the wall. In that black staff, hundreds of notes, like naughty children, hopped happily on it. The beams were like bridges built by the notes themselves, and the rests were sandwiched between them, playing hide-and-seek with the notes far apart.

"These lights have never been turned on before." He added.

Maria said happily, "That's a good idea, Sir! Could you please take the piano out again? I can play it first, and then implement William's plan."

So the director took out the piano. Ranran, Photon and Natalie were backstage very early and running around. One moment Ranran was lifting the microphone onto the stage, the next Photon and Natalie were working together to move those complex horns into the background. Under the orderly direction of the director, they had all the necessary articles settled down in less than half an hour. It was seven thirty now.

"It's been 10 minutes since the door opened, but there are a lot of people." The clock pointed to seven forty. William silently parted the curtain a crack and saw that the spectators outside were already well occupied. The hall at this time could be said to be noisy and very lively. About two-thirds of the people attending the concert were middle-aged, along with a few naughty children and a few near octogenarians. The yellow of the light contrasted with the red of the seats. William ran into the light room and turned on a switch that had never been turned on before. It operated the score lights. The hall suddenly brightened a little. Because there were so many regulars in the spectators this time, almost all of them jumped from their seats with excitement when they noticed the new attraction. Some of the music's fans were screaming, others clapping.

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It was seven forty-five. More spectators flocked in. Many of them also noticed the score lights and did everything they could to show their excitement. A little boy of eight or nine years old who knew some music stood up to read music himself after finding his seat!

"Wow, that's really good!" His face was brimming with an excited smile. His father drew him to sit down, but he still stood up and continued to examine the hall, as if he wanted to discover some other new highlights.

Unfortunately, another new highlight -- William's horns in a corner, escaped his observation.

When the last spectator took his seat, there were only three minutes left before the show began.

The curtain rose slowly and the spectators saw Wilson striding onto the stage and saying, "Dear spectators, welcome to our first performance since the concert hall reopened! Today's performer is very special. She's a woman, and this is her first show! Let's give Maria a round of applause and wish her a great success!"

The thunderous applause poured into the hall like the waves of a tsunami. In the applause a comely woman walked slowly on stage. She was still in the same dress. A bright black grand piano stood beside her, and in the background there were horns that couldn't wait to appear.

"Microphone," She signaled William. Then she cleared her throat, and as soon as she spoke, there were screams and cheers from the spectators.

"Ha ha." She smiled shyly, "I know my voice is appreciated by all my friends, but I don't study bel canto. I'd like to apologize for my debut today."

"Apologize?" Some spectators wondered, "What's the matter?" "Who knows? Let's see what Maria will say."

Maria continued, "I had written a piece of music for the show, including piano, trombone and many other instruments. But unfortunately the score was accidentally lost, so this time I will not be able to show my insignificant talent to the new and old spectators. I am really sorry!" She bowed deeply, but there were not many complaints from the spectators. Instead, the boy who had just read music stood up and said, "It's all right, Ms Maria! Under such circumstances, you can continue to hold the show as planned, which means you must have other works! Do not be stingy, and show all your talents as painters show their masterpieces!"

The applause broke out again. "Thank you, little boy!" Maria bowed again excitedly. Then she ambled over to the piano and sat down. At this point, the first note of the score lights lit up while the other notes went out.

The spectators hushed and waited with bated breath for the new musician to play. For a moment, the air froze as if it, too, was waiting for Maria to start playing.

As her hands were methodically jumping on the keys, wonderful notes, like lively elves, flew out from the piano sound box, dancing in the hall happily. The score lights, controlled by Ranran in the light room, lit up in sequence according to the melody. Gradually, some of the spectators began to shake their heads involuntarily, with satisfied smiles on their faces. As the music moved on, more and more spectators began to enjoy the sweet sounds created by those dexterous hands. When Maria reached where the sixteenth notes were concentrated, her fingers felt as if they were in a pot of boiling water, only to jump up again just as she pressed the keys. The note elves danced, occasionally trampling on the heads of the lucky spectators. With a little effort, they dashed for the ceiling. Toward the end of the piece, the tone grew higher and the spectators became more and more emotional. Some children jumped down from their seats and danced with excitement. Maria ended the first piece with an arbitrarily extended two-handed C major fourth chord.

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The hall broke into thunderous applause again, even louder than before. From time to time there were cheers. As for the fans, they still scream their excitement. "It's the most beautiful piece of music I ever heard, Ms Maria!" The boy who read music shouted again. Maria dimly saw a few bright tears in his eyes.

"He probably wants to study music, too," She thought, gesturing for a moment of silence. When the applause had died down for a little, she added, "It's a minitype capriccio. Due that the time is short, there may be many imperfect places, and please forgive me!"

But the applause did not stop there. "Thank you! Thank you very much for your appreciation of my works! Time is very short indeed, so today I only intend to bring two works, and I disappointed you!" She made another deep bow.

However, the spectators said, "We are not disappointed! You will never let us down!"

"I'd like to ask you a few questions before I bring you to the final work of the day. How many of you are from other cities?"

About 60% of the spectators had their hands up. "Wow, that's a lot. So how many of you have ever heard some rude drivers honk their horns?"

Almost everyone raised their hands this time. "It seems to be a very serious phenomenon indeed. And are you all very disgusted?"

"Yes!" Said the spectators with one voice. Some laughed, as if they could not understand why they were in such agreement on this issue.

"How disgusted? Will you please give some examples?"

A member of the spectators stood up to take the microphone from William and said, "I could have smashed their car!"

"I want to wear absolute soundproof earplugs!" Said another.

"I'll beat them up and make them crawl home!" It was a big, thick man who said this.

"Thank you all the volunteers. OK, I've heard your views now. So you're all very keen to get those drivers to honk as little as possible. Now, with my very limited knowledge and skills, I'm going to show you the magnificent transformation from noise to music."

Photon and Natalie raised the horns. "Please enjoy the noise first." She honked her horns at random in a maze of lengths. Shortly after, the angry spectators shouted, "How annoying!" "That's awful!" "It's too noisy!" Other conflicting words abounded.

"And then, again, these car horns. I'm showing you the music." Maria started honking again, but this time she was playing according to Ben's score. "Tick, tick, tot -- da da da toot, tick, toot..." This time, the spectators were enjoying it. At the end, she ended with a few high and low harmony of the horns.

She stood up and bowed in greeting. If the applause before the beginning was the waves of a tsunami, then the applause at this moment had a kind of overwhelming momentum where earthquake, volcanic eruption, tsunami and tornadoes hit together. The glittering gold lamps hanging from the ceiling were about to be shaken to the ground, and the score lights, which were controlled by Ranran, lit up and went out in a haphazard fashion.

"Thank you all!" Maria said through her bright tears. Wilson took the stage and was about to announce the end of the performance when several members of the spectators signaled to him that they wanted to speak.

One spectator said, "Miss, although you did it off the cuff, your skill belied it. In my opinion, if a musician can't create good enough improvisation, then he is not a top musician! Even though this is your debut, I think you've already surpassed many music masters! Therefore, please allow me to express my sincere congratulations to you! May your concerts continue to grow, your fans continue to grow, and your skills continue to grow!"

Applause broke out and Maria thanked him.

Then another person said, "Miss, I think you gave one of the most successful, the most wonderful, the most meaningful performances I have ever heard. In fact, I am also a rude driver, and often honk. But when I listened to your performance, I suddenly realized that even noise can be music! I, on behalf of drivers, promise that I will certainly honk less!"

"Thank you!"

The last person to speak was the little boy who read music.

"Miss, although I have never been to a concert before, I remember a saying, 'Art comes from life and is higher than life.' Your final transformation was inspired by the little things in life, but you managed to create something higher than life! You are the greatest musician in my heart, and your works are the most beautiful music! If you don't mind, I don't think these words are enough to express my gratitude, so I would like to kiss your hand to show my sincere respect to you!"

Screams rang in their ears. "Come on! Come on!" Everyone encouraged them both.

Maria walked slowly up to him. He took her hand and gave it a gentle kiss. It felt as if the spring breeze with peach blossom fragrance suddenly blew over.

"Thank you, little boy." She said through sparkling tears.

"Never mind, miss." The little boy looked up at her with innocent eyes, "Actually, I really wanted to study music. If you don't mind, I'd like you to be my teacher!"

Maria just kept nodding. She was sobbing.

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