"Is this the password?" I asked.
"That metronome you're looking for seems to have been taken by the brass band next door," said the female NPC with the doll-like voice.
Leaving the Chinese music room, we walked to the neighboring brass band room.
Fortunately, no ensemble performance was required here; only an NPC teacher was lecturing on music theory at the front. We sat in the back with the other NPC students and listened.
"Wu yi," Zi Qian suddenly called me, "have you been to Beichuan's Cultural and Arts Evening?"
"I have," I nodded. "I go every year."
"Are those performances really that attractive?" Zi Qian looked at me, puzzled.
"You've been in Beichuan for over four years, and you've really never been to the Cultural and Arts Evening?" I widened my eyes in surprise, questioning him.
"I don't know how to appreciate the performance programs at those cultural evenings. I feel like going would just waste the ticket money, and besides... no one ever went with me."
From Zi Qian's expression, it was clear he actually wanted to go to this year's cultural evening.
"How about I go with you this year? Just treat me to some popcorn, how about it?" I raised an eyebrow at him and smiled.
After Zi Qian gave a slight nod, I happily turned to Xin Hui and said, "Xin Hui, do you want to go to Beichuan's Cultural and Arts Evening this year too? Zi Qian says he's treating..."
We looked over to Xin Hui's seat, only to see her listening intently to the NPC teacher's lecture at the front. We exchanged a smile, simultaneously thinking it would be strange if this top student weren't paying serious attention in class.
"Is that teacher going to test us on music theory later?"
Zi Qian had just finished speaking when the teacher at the front suddenly pointed at a symbol, turned around, and said loudly, "You're all daydreaming! No one is listening to my lecture. To master an instrument, you must first master music theory. Let me test you, what is this symbol?"
Back when I learned piano, I remembered this music symbol was called a rest.
"A rest," Xin Hui answered. Truly worthy of being the top-ranked student in the grade.
Just like that, Xin Hui answered all the questions, easily completing this level, but we didn't get the metronome. The NPC teacher said the metronome had been borrowed by the choir, who were currently practicing in Classroom 5, Grade 3, of Teaching Building No. 3.
Along the way, after finally fending off the frequently appearing robots, we finally arrived at the classroom where the choir was practicing. The NPC choir members weren't practicing; instead, they were chatting in small groups of three or five.
"I saw the lost property notice from Xin Qin and realized this metronome was what she lost. I've already had someone take that music score to the music room. Please help me return this metronome to her," said the male NPC wearing black-framed glasses sitting at the piano as he handed the metronome to Zi Qian. "By the way, there's a piece of paper stuck under this metronome. I'm not sure if it's Xin Qin's. Could you take it over and ask her for me?"
I took the paper handed over by that person.
...