"Calm down, calm down, don't bother with these keyboard warriors. After a while, play a piece and upload it to let them see what real classical music is."

Lu Zheng comforted Si Lingxi, drawing an elegant curve and even playing a ripple.

Si Lingxi chuckled, unimpressed, then brushed Lu Zheng's salty pig hand away.

"I'm not angry at all." Si Lingxi shook her head and said, "If these words could make me angry, I would've been mad a long time ago."

Humans don't care about the insults of ants.

Phoenixes don't care about human boasting.

That said, if a small bug bites a human, or a human really angers a phoenix, their outcomes might not be much different.

Comparatively, small flying insects can fly, but humans possess intelligence, making them more irritating, especially now that the internet aggregates vast amounts of information...

Thinking about it, humanity's demise might not even be due to nuclear winter or artificial intelligence!

...

On the other side, Gu Tingting received a reply and quickly opened it, Si Lingxi's cold critique started playing through the speakers.

"Don't mention the Mental Realm, this piece is far from achieving it."

"The tail notes are too monotonous, overly crafted."

"The transition between scattered and overtone is not smooth."

"The tapping is weak, trills are heavy, lacking understanding of the music."

"Technique deviates when handling rhythm, making it hard for listeners to immerse."

"..."

The comments played one by one, sweat started to appear on Gu Tingting's forehead, as her mother sat nearby, her face dark and somber.

Gu Tingting felt a chilling fear, wondering if finding her dad's hidden 20,000 yuan stashed money ever made her this angry?

Moments later, the comments finally finished playing, Liu Jingqin looked at Gu Tingting, "Is she the one who's been giving you guidance?"

Gu Tingting nodded repeatedly, "Yes, you've heard 'Phoenix Seeking Phoenix,' right? It's really impressive."

Liu Jingqin nodded, thinking to herself if it hadn't been for hearing 'Phoenix Seeking Phoenix,' and noticing your improvements, would I have listened to these critiques?

Liu Jingqin, the chair of the folk music department at Hai City Music Academy, proficient in all folk instruments like guqin, zither, pipa, erhu, xiao, flute, especially skilled at guqin and pipa, not just anyone is qualified to critique her performance.

As her daughter, Gu Tingting came from a musically rich family, showing her talent and love for music from a young age, later on successfully passed the Hai City Music Academy with flying colors, making Liu Jingqin extremely satisfied.

With Gu Tingting's ability, she could easily advance to postgraduate studies, then under Liu Jingqin's arrangement, continue teaching at the school, joining the folk music group, all naturally progressing.

Therefore, Gu Tingting pleaded with Liu Jingqin, expressing her desire to perform outside, which she agreed to.

From Liu Jingqin's perspective, although Gu Tingting's performance level was slightly raw and not fully theater-ready, performing in ordinary places was perfectly fine.

It could even increase her proficiency and gain performance experience, plus honing her skills socially would be beneficial, a win-win situation.

Moreover, Liu Jingqin helped Gu Tingting choose the Dark Night Star Bar because the bar owner often invited people from the music academy, maintaining good relations.

Then…

The story unfolded where Gu Tingting's performance at the bar turned into mere background noise.

But after watching the video, Liu Jingqin also noticed the two musicians in the video had truly high-level music skills, 'Phoenix Seeking Phoenix' was captivating, even to her folk music professor's ears, she found the new piece quite classic, after some time, it may be as well-regarded as 'Liang and Zhu.'

This was indeed high praise!

Unfortunately, after inquiry, no such young duo was heard of in the domestic circles.

With these two remaining mysterious, no one could find them, and without industry titans endorsing the piece, after its initial hype faded away, aside from a few small circles, the piece nearly vanished silently.

This is the difference between amateurs and the proper establishment.

Liu Jingqin felt it was regrettable, but only that, as there were too many buried talents, it wouldn't lack these two, and since they themselves weren't proactive, would anyone beg them?

So Liu Jingqin put this matter aside and started comforting her supposedly hurt daughter.

Days passed with her comforting Gu Tingting, only to find her daughter showed no signs of distress, and went about joyfully and cheerfully, almost making Liu Jingqin think Gu Tingting was overstimulated.

Soon after, Gu Tingting showcased her greatly improved zither skill to Liu Jingqin, and only then did she realize her daughter was continuously in contact with the two mysterious young people!

"Who are they? What are their names? Did they learn folk music themselves or have formal training?"

Liu Jingqin's series of inquiries left Gu Tingting with no defense, because she didn't know any of the answers.

Indeed, she didn't even know Lu Zheng and Si Lingxi's names, only that Si Lingxi's WeChat nickname was "Si Huang," and she addressed her as Sister Huang when contacting her.

Then, under Liu Jingqin's request, Gu Tingting recorded a piece of Liu Jingqin playing the guqin 'Drunken Fisherman's Evening Song' and sent it over, wanting to see Si Lingxi's critique.

As a result, when it was sent, Si Lingxi had already returned to Southern Border Phoenix Mountain, naturally unable to receive it.

Until ten days later, when Gu Tingting suspected Si Lingxi saw through that the piece wasn't played by her and ignored her, feeling somewhat upset, wanting to explain, Si Lingxi's reply arrived.

Just as Liu Jingqin was by her side.

So Gu Tingting hurriedly opened Si Lingxi's voice message.

And the first words she heard were "You didn't play this, right? It's better than yours."

Subsequently, even before Gu Tingting's admiring gaze and Liu Jingqin's smile had faded, the following harsh critique hit like a storm.

Gu Tingting: (°ー°〃)

Liu Jingqin: (▼へ▼メ)

After listening to a dozen comments, the two exchanged a few words before falling into an awkward silence.

Gu Tingting dared not speak, while Liu Jingqin took a couple of deep breaths, then arrived at her home's instrument room beside the guqin.

"Zheng——Zheng——Zheng——"

Following Si Lingxi's critiques entirely, she played 'Drunken Fisherman's Evening Song' again.

Hmm, a bit stiff, not even as good as her previous play, just...

Liu Jingqin's eyes shimmered, continuing to play over and over.

Until darkness fell, a hundred lights shone, she finally finished the final tail note.

Looking up, she saw her husband standing at the door, wearing an apron and smiling at her, "Played really beautifully, felt better than your last performance on the show, so captivating, my wife is amazing!"

Liu Jingqin took a deep breath, utterly shocked.