The replay continued.
Another week passed.
Friday evening, during dinner.
Shuying was unusually irritable, and something felt terribly wrong. From composing songs to acting, then writing poetry, she had always believed she had no equal among children her age. She had grown accustomed to standing at the top, convinced that talent alone would carry her forward. But now, for the first time, she had encountered a wall she couldn't simply climb over.
A girl her own age, born into an excellent family and trained from an early age, was improving at an astonishing pace. The girl could already play the piano with both hands while singing effortlessly, her fingers dancing across the keys with confidence.
Meanwhile, Shuying was still struggling through the most basic sheet music, relying almost entirely on her right hand. The gap between them was painfully obvious.
Across the table, the man continued eating quietly.
He didn't mention the piano.
He didn't offer encouragement.
He didn't comfort her.
Nor did he teach her anything.
The silence only made her feel worse.
Thinking about it, she gently set down her chopsticks and her eyes gradually reddened. Watching other children improve so quickly, she suddenly realized something she had never dared to admit. Perhaps... She wasn't a genius after all.
An overwhelming pressure settled onto her shoulders, squeezing her until she could barely breathe. Especially when the man sitting across from her seemed completely indifferent, offering no help whatsoever.
"Oh, right." Yu Ye finished his meal, picked up a package beside him, and handed it over. "This is your courier. The flip phone from Poetry House finally arrived. But remember, you can only use it for ten minutes a day. The rest of your time belongs to your studies."
The moment she heard it was a phone, the sadness in her heart instantly faded, and Shuying excitedly hugged the package and hurriedly tore it open. She had envied her classmates' phones for a long time.
However, after turning it on, she discovered there was no QQ installed. Instead, there was only a music exchange forum.
[Note: QQ is a popular Chinese chat app.]
Curiously, she opened it. Most of the homepage consisted of users recommending popular songs from the era. Many were discussing Under the Sea, praising its melody and lyrics.
As she continued browsing, she noticed that every new account was automatically assigned a profile. Oddly enough, her account was already following someone. The username read "The Flowers Have Bloomed".
The avatar showed nothing but the back of a lone figure overlooking the distant world. It carried an indescribable loneliness and a quiet sorrow.
She instinctively tapped into the profile, and there was only a single post. It simply read, "Call me when the flowers in the south of the city bloom."
Attached beneath it was another picture, the same lonely back standing alone before an endless landscape.
Silent.
Desolate.
Yet strangely beautiful.
At that very moment, back on the program.
Countless girls watching couldn't stop their tears from falling. This... Was the first piano composition Little Shuying had ever created. It had shocked the world of pure piano music, astonishing musicians, artists, and critics alike. More importantly, it became the first work that earned her an official honor, marking the moment she was truly acknowledged by society as a genuine musical genius.
Shuying quietly watched the replay, her emotions growing increasingly complicated. Back then, she had met a patient suffering from bone cancer. The patient had calmly told her the story of his illness, speaking of pain, fear, hope, and acceptance.
After finishing, he smiled and made one final request. "Can you write me a song? Just give it this name."
Shuying had agreed without hesitation. In the final chapter of that patient's life, she completed the original piano composition, "The Flowers in the South City Have Bloomed."
The moment it was released, the piece swept across the internet like a gentle breeze. Millions listened, and millions cried. For the first time, countless people came to know a little girl who seemed almost unreal, a child as pure as light itself.
Now... That very scene appeared once again. Many viewers, learning the full story for the first time, were left utterly astonished. Only now did they realize that this heartbreaking encounter had become one of the starting points of Little Shuying's extraordinary piano talent.
She hadn't merely composed music; she had poured another person's life, sorrow, and hope into every note. Only by completely immersing herself in those emotions had she been able to create something capable of moving the entire world.
Throughout the program, very few people mentioned Yu Ye anymore. It was almost as if... From the day he became seriously ill... He had quietly removed himself from Shuying's life.
Without complaints.
Without explanations.
Without leaving behind even a shadow.
The replay continued.
Saturday morning.
Inside the Piano Room, Shuying quietly watched the children practicing around her. An eight-year-old girl named Nan Nan confidently read the staff notation before effortlessly performing an advanced arrangement of Happy Birthday. Every movement was clean, fast, and technically impressive.
Soon after, another little girl sat before the piano. She clearly disliked practicing, and her face was full of reluctance. Yet despite that, she still played a melancholy melody with remarkable proficiency.
Then... It was Shuying's turn. She slowly sat before the piano, and her fingers hesitated above the keys.
After several nervous breaths, she awkwardly began to play, and every note came out uneven. She stumbled repeatedly while the children around her looked over with puzzled expressions.
Some whispered quietly.
Some simply stared.
Shuying felt as though she were sitting on countless needles as embarrassment burned across her face. She wanted nothing more than to run away.
Then... A familiar voice echoed in her mind.
"Can you learn the piano?"
"I can!"
Shuying clenched her teeth tightly. She refused to lose. She wanted to defeat him. She wanted to prove, to everyone, and especially to herself, that she truly was a genius.
Gritting her teeth, she buried herself completely in practice. Again. And again. And again.
The replay showed Little Shuying training with complete concentration, enduring every mistake, every failure, and every ounce of pressure without backing down.
Then the screen suddenly switched.
Inside another room of the piano academy, Yu Ye stood quietly beside the piano teacher. Without hesitation, he took out money and handed it over. "Please. Do everything you can to make Shuying practice with the best children every single session. Her opponents should always be children around her own age who have already been studying for several years."
The piano instructor, a young literary-looking man wearing glasses, stared at him in confusion. Although Yu Ye had already paid several times before... This time, he could no longer hold back his curiosity.
"You should be Shuying's guardian. So why are you training her this way? You know perfectly well that piano learning follows a grading system. Compared to children who've studied for years, she's far behind. The pressure alone could easily crush a child her age."
Yu Ye merely smiled. Without offering a single explanation, he simply patted the teacher's shoulder.
The instructor sighed helplessly. Accepting the money, he silently nodded.
From that day onward... Every afternoon. Every weekend. He deliberately placed Little Shuying into the academy's strongest class for children her own age.
When the other children fluently read sheet music... She was still stumbling over every line.
When they performed difficult pieces effortlessly... She was still practicing scales.
The teacher never truly understood Yu Ye's intentions. But after accepting the payment... He simply continued following the arrangement. Then, as this scene appeared on the giant screen, no one in the audience had expected it.
Yu Ye... Had never disappeared. His shadow had been quietly protecting her all along.
Watching the replay, Nana spoke with obvious frustration. "How can a father treat his own daughter like this? Isn't this simply tormenting her without mercy?"
She sighed heavily. "Was this because of the side effects of brain cancer? Or was he simply so stubborn that he wanted Little Shuying to give up learning the piano altogether and return to studying like an ordinary child?"
Nana looked disappointed as she watched the footage.
Many of the guests nodded in agreement.
"So after the age of seven, just as Yu Shuying said..."
"He really changed."
"What a pity."
"He simply couldn't keep up with the times anymore."
At that very moment, inside the program production office.
Zhang Cihai smiled quietly. "I knew it. You would never disappoint me."
He stared at the screen with unwavering confidence. "That's exactly the kind of person you are. You knew death could come at any moment and you knew chemotherapy couldn't stop it forever. So the only thing left for you to do..."
His voice gradually became firm. "...was to let her discover her own ordinariness through endless hardship. "Only then... Could she truly understand what it meant to become a genius."
Cihai slowly finished speaking, and the others around him looked utterly confused. No one understood what he meant, and he offered no explanation. Because very soon... Everyone would witness the miracle Yu Ye had painstakingly prepared.