"Weird. How is this page torn?" Zi Qian flipped to the last page, where a portion in the middle had been torn out.
"Doesn't this shape look like the paper that male NPC from the choir gave us earlier?" I asked.
I took the paper from my pocket and compared it to the torn part of the music score. Sure enough, the edges of the paper matched the gap in the middle.
After fitting them together,the full content of the page was revealed:
I admire your jealousy of her, I like your hatred for her.
As long as you decipher the following incantation, I will grant you the power to surpass her.
The slow tempo of Adagio
Press down the sustain pedal
The main melody of Moonlight
Open the magic castle
Vent the dissatisfaction in your heart
Xin Hui, who had been listless, stood up with renewed fighting spirit and said, "It seems Xin Qin won't appear unless we solve this incantation."
We took our things and went to the piano on the stage. Zi Qian placed the metronome and music score properly, then sat on the chair, looking quite professional.
"I never heard Auntie mention you could play the piano," Xin Hui said, looking at Zi Qian incredulously.
"How is that possible? I'm completely clueless about music," Zi Qian replied.
"I saw you looking quite the part and thought you had learned it," Xin Hui said.
"Did you forget my younger sister learns piano? Every time I see her take out her music score and metronome to prepare for practice, I slip out for a run because it's just too noisy," Zi Qian said, randomly tapping a few keys on the piano. "What is this thing below for your feet?"
BANG!
The auditorium door suddenly slammed shut, and the line "Press down the sustain pedal" on the music score disappeared.
After a while, the auditorium door reopened, and that line of text reappeared.
"That scared me to death!" I patted my chest and nudged Zi Qian. "What did you do?"
"I just put my foot on that thing on the far right," Zi Qian said, also startled enough to stand up.
"So the sustain pedal refers to this," only Xin Hui said calmly.
Then she told Zi Qian to move aside,sat down herself, and started pressing and releasing the pedal with her foot, causing the door to open and close repeatedly.
Even though I knew covering my ears in a virtual game couldn't really block the sound, I still covered my ears with both hands and said, "Xin Hui, stop pressing it. That door is pitiful. It feels like it's going to break if you keep stepping on it."
"The first line written should be related to the metronome. What's the meaning for bpm? The brass band teacher mentioned it just now, and she even wrote down the names and bpm for each tempo," she asked after stopping her pressing of the sustain pedal connected to the auditorium door switch.
"I forgot what bpm is. But I think I've seen it..."
I thought hard for a while,but I still couldn't remember exactly where I had seen the bpm.
"The musical tempo for this Adagio is between 66 and 76 bpm. Which one exactly could it be?" Xin Hui asked, holding the metronome.
"I didn't expect you to have been listening during that brass band teacher's class! Weren't you chatting with me then?" Zi Qian patted my shoulder.
...