ATLAS TRANSLATES

It was mainly because she had just finished talking to someone surnamed Jian.

Lu Xiaohan wasn’t familiar with Jian Zhe. They had only met a few times, so she just smiled and said, “Someone I met on short videos.”

She was very guarded and besides the people in Class 15, no one else knew her online accounts.

Met on short videos?

Oh, an online friend.

Jian Zhe nodded.

Bai Lian was sitting lazily by a child’s stool, one leg bent, her posture casual and relaxed.

She held a brush in her hand, writing a character under the child’s amazed gaze.

After finishing, she unhurriedly put down the brush and walked outside to talk with Lu Xiaohan, “You two are still chatting?”

Bai Lian was very surprised.

The guzheng wasn’t her strength. Her skills weren’t considered high. She only played <Bai Yi Xing> well because she was the original author.

Lu Xiaohan shrugged and showed her phone to Bai Lian.

Bai Lian looked down—

Jian Zhongyou: [?]

Lu Xiaohan hadn’t replied to him yet.

Bai Lian scrolled up a bit, seeing their style change from bottom to top.

From [Today?] [No.]

To [1?] [1.]

To now.

They messaged almost daily, though later Lu Xiaohan didn’t ask about Bai Lian every day, especially during the time Zhang Shize had his incident.

But this Principal Jian was truly persistent.

Bai Lian thought for a moment, then returned the phone to Lu Xiaohan. “You can give him my contact info.”

Lu Xiaohan was stunned.

Then overjoyed. She took her phone and sent to Principal Jian—

[!]

[!!!]

[!!!!!]

**

Jiangjiang Music Academy.

Jian Zhongyou was in a meeting room, listening to a group of people have a meeting. His expression was solemn, the wrinkles on his face slightly deep. Though he played guzheng for many years, he didn’t appear effeminate.

As usual, he sent a message to “One Meal One Big Bowl” before putting his phone aside.

After so many days, he almost had no hope left.

He thought today would be the same result.

In the meeting, the principal was still talking about the student program, “We plan to recommend three batches to enter the Royal Academy of Music…”

Jian Zhongyou listened while picking up his thermos on the side, unscrewing it to take a sip.

His phone lit up.

He had set a special notification for “One Meal One Big Bowl”. After drinking his water, he casually opened the page, originally thinking he’d see another “.” today. But unexpectedly when he opened it—

One Meal One Big Bowl: [!!!!!]

Several lines of exclamation marks in a row.

Jian Zhongyou: [!]

Jian Zhongyou: [!!!!]

Jian Zhongyou slammed down his cup with a “bang”, extremely excited. After such a long time of tacit understanding, he already knew what One Meal One Big Bowl meant—

She agreed!

His movement startled the teachers nearby: “Principal Jian, are you alright?”

The teacher glanced over, only seeing several rows of exclamation marks.

Inwardly puzzled, so Principal Jian likes exclamation marks?

He pondered thoughtfully.

“It’s nothing.” Jian Zhongyou shook his head, gesturing for the principal to continue. He held his phone and looked again. One Meal One Big Bowl had sent him a WeChat ID.

Jian Zhongyou squinted and copied it, returning to WeChat to search.

It was an avatar of a city tower—

He directly sent a friend request.

**

Bai Lian saw the friend request and accepted it.

There were several unread messages on her phone.

Dongwu: [There’s an assessment at the end of the year. Do you want to recommend someone?]

Bai Lian replied: [Is that possible?]

Dongwu: [Yes, but they also need to pass the assessment]

Bai Lian naturally understood this point. Ming Donghen was quite far from the mark.

Bai Jian: [Thank you]

After replying, she also greeted Principal Jian, telling him she had no intention of continuing to learn guzheng, then went straight to the library.

Today Jiang Fuli went to a neighboring city.

He wasn’t at home and didn’t come to the library. Ming Donghen was waiting with Jiang He at the bottom of the library building for Bai Lian to arrive.

When Bai Lian got off the bus.

Ming Donghen was on the phone with someone.

“Miss Bai.” Seeing Bai Lian, Ming Donghen put down his phone and respectfully spoke, then handed Jiang He’s backpack to him.

Until Bai Lian took Jiang He into the library.

Ming Donghen turned back to the car and continued talking to the person on the phone, “Yu Shen?”

“Were you just talking to that Miss Bai?” Yu Hongyi asked.

“Mm.” Ming Donghen only responded, not saying much else.

Yu Hongyi didn’t ask further either, “By the way, I heard from Chen Jingyu that you’re also a fan of Mr. Bai. I have inside information that the auction house will have ten more signed photos today…”

“What?!” Ming Donghen exclaimed.

**

Bai Lian took Jiang He to do homework in the library.

Young Master Jiang wasn’t here again today. After two consecutive weeks, Ning Xiao and Tang Ming felt a bit unaccustomed.

In the evening.

Jiang Fuli finally rushed back from the neighboring city.

He lazily parked his car in the parking spot opposite the library, waiting for people to come out of the library before unhurriedly honking his horn to remind Bai Lian he was across the street.

Of course, he didn’t need to remind her.

His own car, there wasn’t a second one like it in all of Xiangcheng. Parking here had already attracted quite a crowd of onlookers.

There were even many taking out phones wanting to take photos.

Jiang Fuli lowered the car window. Those people hurriedly fled with their phones.

“Teacher Jiang.” Ning Xiao and Tang Ming came over to greet him.

Jiang Fuli casually rested his left elbow on the lowered car window, slightly turning his head. His jet-black bangs fell down, his expression unchanging as he asked leisurely: “What’s the ranking now?”

He was asking about the ranking on Jiangjiang University’s app.

Tang Ming instinctively looked at Ning Xiao.

Ning Xiao was very calm: “561.”

Tang Ming was about to cry: “…728.”

Jiang Fuli: “Heh.”

Ning Xiao, Tang Ming: “…”

Every time they felt they were doing well, Young Master Jiang would accurately strike them down.

Study, they must study hard, they must study like their lives depended on it!

Bai Lian opened the passenger door, “You should ask me too.”

Jiang Fuli calmly raised the car window, pretending he didn’t hear that.

In the back seat, Jiang He was squeezed into a small corner by an object.

The car quickly drove to Qingshui Street. Few cars passed by here. Jiang Fuli parked the car in a very spacious spot.

Bai Lian got out of the car, just about to say goodbye to Jiang Fuli.

“Wait.” Jiang Fuli opened the driver’s door and got out.

Bai Lian still had earphones in her ears. She casually swiped away a word, waiting for him.

Jiang Fuli walked around to Bai Lian’s side, opened the passenger door, glanced at Jiang He. Jiang He silently shrank his feet. Only then did he carelessly lift up an inconspicuous gray rectangular bag from the back seat.

Over a meter long, it almost occupied the entire back seat space.

“Take it.” Jiang Fuli handed the item to Bai Lian.

This length, this width.

Bai Lian could tell at a glance it was a guzheng.

She didn’t immediately take it.

Jiang Fuli held the bag strap with his right hand, rubbing his right wrist with his left hand, sighing: “It’s so heavy…”

Bai Lian: “…”

She slowly hooked the strap with two fingers, then bounced it a couple times. The weight of over 30 kilos was effortless for her.

“Oh,” Jiang Fuli looked at her two slender fingers, his expression unchanged, “Just something I randomly found, much cheaper than Little Bird Jiang. Try it out first, if you’re not used to it we can look for something else next time.”

Jiangjiang Art Exhibition.

A crowd of people came to see the exhibition looking at one of the exhibit spaces—

Completely empty.

“Wasn’t the Huanpei guzheng supposed to be exhibited here?”

“Yeah, where’s the guzheng?”

“…”

Many music academy students wanted to come see the Huanpei guzheng.

They wanted to see what a 2.88 million guzheng looked like.

“Oh that,” a staff member came over to take a look, smiling, “It was bought by a client before it could even be exhibited.”

It was already bought?

The group was dumbfounded in the wind. They didn’t even get to see it.

Who buys things at an exhibition without even looking, and just directly buys it?

**

Ji Heng’s courtyard.

Today Ji Heng’s place was a bit lively, the lights on very brightly.

As soon as Bai Lian entered, she saw Lansi sitting dejectedly by the stone table. Ji Shaorong occasionally talked to Lansi. Not far away were Ren Qian and Ren Wanxuan, the two of them talking to Ji Heng.

The clothes Ji Heng made for Lansi were washed today but not yet dry.

At this moment, Lansi was wearing a vintage green long shirt with yellow flowers, and pants of the same color scheme. He looked a bit like a long cucumber.

Ren Qian and Ren Wanxuan were talking to Ji Heng, ignoring Lansi.

Seeing Bai Lian return, Lansi’s eyes lit up, “I’ve been waiting for you…”

He said halfway, then switched to English.

Seeing Bai Lian return, Ren Qian also stood up, smiling and saying: “Ah Lian is back.”

“Let’s go to my room.” Bai Lian glanced at the new cups placed in front of Ren Qian and Ren Wanxuan, filled with tea, but neither of them had drunk any. She only spoke to Lansi.

One look, and she knew what was going on with those two from the Ren family.

“Grandfather, I’m going in first.” Bai Lian followed behind Lansi into the room.

Her room used to be Ji Mulan’s. It had a desk and a small square table. An eight-fold screen separated the outside from the bed, providing a very private space. Lansi sat by the small square table.

As usual, Bai Lian gave Lansi acupuncture.

Then she unzipped the bag and took out the guzheng.

The brown-black body of the instrument, 21 strings neatly arranged, the strings glinting silver in the light. Bai Lian adjusted the bridge to the appropriate position, tuned it.

Only then did she gently press the strings.

The sound was crisp and penetrating.

…?

Bai Lian opened her phone and sent a message—

[How much was this guzheng?]

Of course she could tell, this tone was exquisite.

Teacher Jiang: [2888]

Bai Lian calculated the price, comparing it to Great Yong’s prices—

[Impossible]

Teacher Jiang: [280 million, pay up]

Student Bai: [.]

The school’s guzheng was indeed a bit rough. This guzheng was a timely rain for Bai Lian. She pressed the strings, inspiration flowing endlessly in her mind. She quickly wrote down line after line on paper.

“What’s that?” Lansi looked over with silver needles sticking out of him.

These characters were completely different from the Chinese characters he had learned. Each character was recognizable when broken down, but put together they were very confusing.

Lansi was very puzzled, wondering if the teacher who taught him Chinese had held something back.

Bai Lian was too lazy to explain something that was basically impossible to explain to a foreigner: “Hemiplegia.”

Lansi immediately sat up straight.

Outside.

Ren Qian and Ren Wanxuan had come in the afternoon. Bai Lian hadn’t told Ji Heng about Ren Wanxuan, so Ji Heng was still quite nice to Ren Wanxuan. At this moment, he even invited the two of them to stay for dinner.

“I haven’t finished my homework yet.” At the mention of dinner, Ren Wanxuan spoke up instinctively.

She found it hard to understand why Ji Heng was still living here. Wasn’t Bai Lian not part of the Xu family anymore? Why hadn’t she taken Ji Heng to move out and live in a better house?

Ji Shaorong didn’t say anything.

Ren Qian looked at Ren Wanxuan, then smiled at Ji Heng, “She still has a tutoring class today.”

Speaking of this, Ren Qian inquired again, “I’ve invited famous teachers from North City. They’ve previously taught students who got into Jiangjiang University. Why don’t you let Ah Lian study together with Wanxuan?”

Beside him, Ren Wanxuan bit her lip and glanced at Ren Qian.

But she didn’t say anything more.

Ji Heng was stunned. This indeed wasn’t a bad thing for Bai Lian, but…

“I’ll ask her.” He put down his embroidery needle and picked up his pipe beside him.

Ren Qian and Ren Wanxuan left. Lansi, wearing the dark green shirt, came out from Bai Lian’s room after removing the needles, very excited: “What are we eating?!”

Outside.

Ren Qian looked back and asked Ren Wanxuan: “Have you seen that foreigner before?”

Lansi’s image was very unorthodox.

Ren Wanxuan was very resistant to the idea of Bai Lian studying with her, “I don’t know him. This area has all sorts of people.”

Qingshui Street had all kinds of people.

If it weren’t for the Xu family, she wouldn’t even want to appear here this year.

Ren Qian was just asking casually.

No one would connect a little old man like Lansi with a surgical genius.

What he should be concerned about was how to repair relations with the Ji family. Fortunately, Ji Heng was very tolerant of his great-granddaughter Ren Wanxuan.

It’s just Bai Lian…

Ren Qian had a headache. He had a feeling that Ji Heng couldn’t control Bai Lian. What about the Xu family then?

**

The theme of Bai Xianjun’s character song was clear.

Writing lyrics and composing weren’t difficult for Bai Lian. She had experienced a lot, mostly things that happened to herself.

Jiang Fuli’s guzheng came at the right time. In just three days, she had completely written the song.

However, there was one point – she used reduced character notation. She hadn’t learned modern music theory, and the original owner’s brain didn’t have knowledge of modern music theory either.

She could learn modern music theory, but there wasn’t time.

Thursday.

P.E. class.

Class 15 was still together with Class 8. Bai Lian sat lazily in the shade, looking at a whole page of reduced character notation.

Her phone lit up. It was a message from Jian Zhongyou—

[What do you think of her playing?]

LA

??????????????—— ????????????? ???????????????? ??????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ????????? ??????????? ??????[??]? ???????????? ????????? ??????????????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????? ??“???”????????? ??????????“???” ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ????????????? ????????????????????????????????? ????????????????????? ??????????? ?????????????? ????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????????? ????????????????? ????????????? ????????? ??????????????? ??????1? ?????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????? ?????????????????? ??????????????????????????? ?????????? ???????……? ??** ?????? ??????? ?????????????????????“?????????……” ??????????????? ??????????????????????????? ??“?????????????”????????????????????????? ???????“??……” ?????demo?????????????????????? ????????????????????????????????????? ??????????“??????????????????????????????????” ??“??——” ????????? ???????????????????????????“??????” ?????? ??????????????? ????????????????????? ????????????????????????????????????? ???????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????U?????“????U??demo?” ??“??”???????????????????????“?????????????” ?????????????????“?????????” ??“?????”???????? ??????—— ??????? ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????…… ?????? ???????~??????????~ ????ps???????????????????????????????????????? ???? ??? ??(???)

The phone lit up with a message from Jian Zhongyou: “What do you think of her playing?”

Bailian listened to it and wrote her evaluation.

Suddenly, she remembered something: “Do you know simplified notation?”

Jian Zhongyou had been seriously studying the guzheng since he was eight years old. Now, sixty years later, he knew the instrument better than himself. He had written many papers on the guzheng and researched hundreds of historical records.

Dean Jian: “?”

This was a question directed at Bailian.

Baijian: “[Picture]”

Baijian: “Can you translate this?”

Jiangjiang Conservatory of Music.

In the office, Dean Jian put on his glasses and opened the picture Bailian had sent him. It was a sheet of simplified notation.

He glanced at it, then picked up his guzheng and slowly played each note following Bailian’s melody.

After recreating the entire tune, Dean Jian couldn’t hide his shock.

“Dean,” a student knocked on the door outside.

Jian Zhongyou snapped back to reality, “Come in.”

After the student left, Jian Zhongyou hurriedly examined the whole piece. He took a pen and transcribed the simplified notation into staff notation. The simplified notation was only part of his research; after converting it to staff notation, he could string the entire piece together from beginning to end.

After the conversion, he could play it more smoothly.

The entire piece was grand, magnificent, and tragic. It was the first time Jian Zhongyou had heard a piece with such complex emotions.

Getting a good piece of music was everything to a musician.

Dean Jian: “!!!”

Dean Jian: “Where did you get this from!”

He sent the transcribed staff notation back to Bailian.

After PE class, Bailian opened the image and saw the staff notation Dean Jian had sent. She didn’t understand it very well, but she could compare it with the simplified notation.

She didn’t quite understand why Dean Jian was so excited.

Baijian: “Wrote it for a friend”

Dean Jian: “?”

Dean Jian: “You wrote this????”

Baijian: “1”

Jian Zhongyou found it hard to understand Bailian’s calm attitude.

He took a long time to calm down, during which he didn’t even think to ask Bailian why she didn’t use staff notation to record it.

After all, very few people knew about simplified notation nowadays.

He only asked rigorously: “Such a good piece shouldn’t be taken lightly. Who arranged it?”

Baijian: “Don’t know”

Dean Jian: “…”

Friday.

In the Zhang family’s backyard.

Yan Lu was practicing with a gun, while Sister Xin stood in the corner talking on the phone, “Yes, still another week…”

After hanging up, Sister Xin couldn’t help but sigh.

Yan Lu spun around, the gun obediently circling in her hand, smooth and effortless.

“Sister Xin, let’s just use the one you bought last time,” Yan Lu put away the gun, her expression cold and beautiful. They were joining the crew the day after tomorrow, there wasn’t enough time.

Sister Xin frowned: “But…”

She had listened to the demo. In her unprofessional opinion, both the lyrics and music were lacking.

It would be bad enough if An Qi and Man Xi laughed at them, but if Yan Lu’s character song for the show was that poor, she would inevitably face online backlash.

Yan Lu comforted Sister Xin, “I’m not a professional singer anyway. Can I really become famous through singing? As long as I act my part well, the audience will change their minds later.”

“Creak—”

The back door was pushed open.

Wen Qi noisily carried in a flower pot, greeting the two familiarly: “Sister Yan, Sister Xin.”

Behind him.

Bailian and Ning Xiao each carried a pot of flowers.

Sister Xin quickly made way, letting the students put down the flower pots.

Seeing a truck parked outside, she and Yan Lu also helped carry for a few trips. The group finished moving the flower pots in just a few minutes.

Zhang Ma brought in a bunch of Colas from the front.

Bailian opened a can with one hand, and with the other, she took out two casually folded papers from her school uniform pocket, along with a USB drive, and gave them to Sister Xin: “This is the song, and the demo is in the USB drive.”

“Huh?” Sister Xin stared at her hand for a good while, then dazedly accepted them, “You finished it all? You can even arrange music?”

Bailian lazily took a sip of Cola, raising an eyebrow, “I only participated in writing the lyrics and composing.”

“Then who did the arrangement?” Sister Xin asked instinctively.

As for the arrangement—

It was Jian Zhongyou.

On an ordinary day, a top-level collaboration across centuries was born…

With lyrics and music by Bai Xiangjun herself, and arrangement by Jian Zhongyou, the dean of Jiangjiang Conservatory of Music, at the pinnacle of modern music!