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Music is supposed to be colourless. Play exactly as the composer intends. Win this competition. Don’t let your emotions get the better of you.
His mother’s teachings played in Lan Zhan’s head over and over. His fingers slid over the keys gracefully, his foot pedaled with impressive precision. A bright, glaring stage light shone down on him, making the audience area seem so dim and uninteresting in comparison.
Lan Zhan knows he shouldn’t be prideful, but his playing is exceptionally beautiful today. The judges are impressed, based on the look of quiet admiration on their rigid faces.
However, there’s only one person Lan Zhan really wanted to impress…
His eyes flicker briefly to his mother, her expression as solemn as always.
Lan Zhan smiled at the sight of her. His amazingly talented mother, who spent countless hours teaching him how to play his piano. His mother, with her very strict training and even stricter rules. His mother, who used to be a pianist herself before she fell sick. Sometimes she yells too much, hits him too hard, calls him some names, but it's ultimately for his own good. She assures him after every beating that she is just trying to push him to do his best.
Under her guidance, Lan Zhan has won competition after competition. A prodigy with a bright future in classical piano.
After all the contestants had performed , Lan Zhan gathered his sheet music and headed to the lobby, where his mother would be waiting. There she was.
Is she happy? Is she proud of me?
Thwack!
Something hard and metal smacked Lan Zhan’s left cheek. His tears welled up as his mother screamed in front of the gathering crowd. Her cane delivered blow after blow. A drop of blood rolled down his chin.
The crowd whispered to each other. Is that Lan Wangji? She’s so hard on him! That kid’s covered in bruises, no wonder he wears long sleeves all the time! She’s heartless!
Lan Zhan trembled. Was he not good enough? Had he not worked hard enough? Lan Zhan knew that was not the case! He knew what people said about him. Prodigy. First-place. Talented. So then, how dare his mother humiliate him like this, in front of so many people, for seemingly no reason?
Fury surged through his veins. Lan Zhan hurled the sheet music he’d been holding at his mother.
“How dare you throw that score!” His mother shrieked. “You should be ashamed of yourself!”
Lan Zhan gave her the most hateful glare he could muster.
“I just wish you would die.” He said.
Two weeks later, Lan Zhan’s mother died in surgery.
Lan Zhan, being the most punctual one in the group, arrived first. The park was full of laughing children and polite dog-walkers, all coming to enjoy the sun. Cherry blossoms littered the trees, a reminder that spring is finally here.
However, Lan Zhan was not here to enjoy the weather, for he had more pressing issues at hand.
Lan Xichen had wanted to set Jiang Cheng, Lan Zhan’s best friend, up for a blind date after discovering that one of his classmates showed an interest in Jiang Cheng. Xichen quickly slid into the role of matchmaker and arranged for Jiang Cheng and said classmate to meet up in the park, at noon, for a date.
Lan Zhan had some reservations about his brother being a matchmaker. He was not known for making great decisions with his own love life.
Lan Zhan suspected Xichen was trying to fill a romantic void in himself after being freshly dumped by the school fuckboy, Jin Guangyao.
His brother’s breakup with Jin Guangyao was not something Lan Zhan liked to think about. The painful memories of Lan Xichen obsessively scrolling through Jin Guangyao’s pictures, sobbing into the couch cushions, and writing sappy poems about love and other disgusting emotions had been forever scorched into Lan Zhan’s mind.
But the most memorable moment following the breakup came from a late-night conversation with Xichen, on the night of said breakup.
“What does being in love feel like anyways?” Lan Zhan muttered. He doesn’t understand why Xichen was so heartbroken over Jin Guangyao. In Lan Zhan’s humble opinion, Jin Guangyao was a red flag factory and the outcome of their relationship was highly predictable .
Then again, he’s never been in love, so what does he know?
Lan Xichen tossed him a wistful glance, eyes misty and face puffy.
“When you’re in love the whole world just starts looking more colourful.” He whispered.
?
Lan Zhan spotted a pair of red sneakers dangling from a tree branch. In fact, they were the cutest pair of sneakers he had ever seen in his life. A cartoonishly adorable bunny pattern lined the laces.
Since the others showed no sign of arrival, he ventured further into the park to seek the owner of the bunny shoes. He’ll ask them the whereabouts to purchase such fine footwear.
Further into the park you go, the more people you see, Lan Zhan thought to himself. Even over the noise of human chatter and shouting children, Lan Zhan could distinctly recognize those notes, the harmonious toots of a melodica, and “Pazu’s Fanfare”.
Whoever was playing decided to sprinkle in a healthy amount of extra staccatos, making the piece much more extra and energetic.
Despite this mysterious melodica player not sticking to the style of “Pazu’s Fanfare” the original, - Lan Zhan would have been yelled at to no end if he had dared to play this way in front of his mother - Lan Zhan finds it delightfully charming.
The notes move as if they were alive, breathing, and flourishing! This mysterious melodica player is very talented!
For the next five minutes, Lan Zhan wandered the park, looking for this person, who had the ability to give life to simple notes. Finally, he reaches a bend in the park path and turned. And he saw him.
The mysterious melodica player swayed on his feet playfully, eyes closed, expression serene.
Lan Xichen’s words washed over him.
The moment I met him, my life changed.
The mysterious melodica player had thick, unruly black hair, tied in a messy ponytail.
Everything I saw, everything I heard, everything I felt…
His bright red hair ribbon fluttered in the wind. Lan Zhan's heart fluttered along with it.
All the scenery around me started to take on colour.