The Story of Room 299, A March Promise

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Early Sunday morning, Li An woke up to find an unread message on his phone. He guessed it was from next door.

But when he opened it, it was from Liang Guang.

Liang Guang: Got it, thanks, brother.

These days, it's the lender thanking the borrower for repayment. Well, that's how things are now.

Li An replied briefly with a word of apology and saved a screenshot of their conversation.

Then he clicked on Chen Xuan’s profile and sent a quick “Morning.”

Putting his phone down, Li An reached for his little notebook by the bed. He drew a red line through the entry: [Liang Guang (friend from the dorm next door) 2500], and next to it wrote, “Paid off on August 12.”

A week ago, Liang Guang had messaged him about being tight on cash. Last night, after receiving another round of 3,000 yuan tuition from Ji Yang, Li An transferred the money over.

Now, only the 3,000 yuan he owed to Senior Jia Mingyu remained.

He hoped to pay that back by the end of the month, which would mean all debts to his friends would be settled.

The rest—what he owed “Uncle Ma”—could be repaid slowly.

Time to get up!

After washing up and having breakfast, Li An changed the cat litter for Ba Wan before heading out.

Throughout the process, Ba Wan howled endlessly at his side.

The cat seemed to love its new litter box. For days, it had lounged by it, and whenever Li An approached, it would bare its teeth and chase him off.

Li An had to admit, this pink litter box looked much more dignified than the old washbasin.

The only downside was that it used up litter a bit faster.

Today was the last day of the grading exams. In the morning, Li An accompanied Liu Fengrui to the Yu Dong Children’s Palace for his exam. It wasn’t until he was on his way back to Yu Dong at noon that he received a message from Chen Xuan saying she’d woken up.

Ba Wan Yi: Get up and have breakfast.

Ye Zi: Mhm, have you eaten?

Ba Wan Yi: I’m eating at school.

Ye Zi: Are you practicing piano this afternoon?

Ba Wan Yi: Yes. Will you come by after you’re done?

Ye Zi: No, I’m going home to sleep some more.

...

Because of the exams, students and teachers had all headed to various exam sites. Since Friday, Yu Dong had grown quiet.

At noon, only Wang Panpan was left in the West Office, bored. She brightened when she saw Li An arrive.

“Senior, didn’t you all get the last few days off?”

“I’m just here to practice this afternoon. Have you eaten?”

“I just ordered takeout.”

“Alright, you wait here. I’ll head to the classroom.”

“Did you bring your keys? I’m off at three.”

“I did. Just lock the door when you leave.”

“Okay, bye, Senior.”

Waving, Li An took his mug and entered the classroom.

Ever since the night of the Xiao Bei incident, Li An had sensed that Wang Panpan had grown closer to him than before.

She was, after all, a reasonable girl.

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No matter how much awkwardness there had been between them, that night, Li An had been the one to clean up her mess for the last time.

Wang Panpan must have understood this, or she wouldn’t have invited Li An to dinner that night.

Speaking of that dinner, what was supposed to be a date with Chen Xuan had, by force, become a man accompanying two women on a shopping trip.

But it gave Li An plenty of buffer time. He had already planned the next date with Chen Xuan: August 25.

He had a plan.

Returning to the piano room, Li An picked up the evaluation sheet from the piano.

“Played through smoothly with a strong sense of melody.”

“Clear sound, even and focused with some variation.”

“Approved.”

“Good.”

This was Xiao Bei’s mock exam result, left behind after that night.

Objectively speaking, the results were fair. Of the three children taking the exam, only Xiao Bei was still seeking improvement at the end, and her mindset was the most stable.

She deserved the result.

Five days had passed since then. In the meantime, Li An had reflected on himself, recalling what Xiao Bei’s mother had said.

In the future, he must stop categorizing parents with fixed mindsets. Every family has its hidden side.

The same applies to teaching. There are no two identical leaves, nor two identical children.

As a teacher, it’s one’s duty to discover the most unique potential in every child.

...

After a brief spell of work, Li An set the evaluation sheet aside and lifted the piano lid.

He took out his phone, opened the camera, and placed it to the left of the piano.

Then, he took a deep breath, raised his hands, and let his fingers fall.

A seamless series of movements, free of any hesitation.

Yet, in contrast to his fluid motions, slow notes tumbled out of the piano, one by one.

Listening closely—

It was the third movement of “Moonlight.”

Soon, the not-so-spirited third movement of “Moonlight” gently filled the entire classroom.

Watching his ten fingers dance on the keys, as if playing a children's game, Li An let his mind drift.

He surrendered his hands to muscle memory once more.

After nearly half a month of exploring, it was time to test the fruits of his practice.

He had moved from scales to arpeggios, focusing all his recent practice on building new finger memory.

He would rely neither on his old muscle memory nor on the body’s original habits.

Instead, he aimed to develop a new, compatible finger technique.

It sounded simple, but in practice, it was anything but.

To achieve this, he had to fully relax his mind.

At slow speeds, things went well, but as soon as he picked up the pace, problems emerged.

He’d suffered quite a bit along the way: a finger suddenly refusing to cooperate, or occasional repeated folding of the fingers.

Fortunately, with strong self-consolation, he survived the first week, and things gradually improved.

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Each day, he increased the tempo by a little, feeling how much force each dynamic required from his fingers, observing their movement trajectories at different points of exertion.

Just yesterday, at the Children’s Palace, he’d shown off a bit of Mozart’s K545, drawing a crowd of curious children.

Thirteen minutes later, as a bright, clear two-handed chord rang out, Li An lifted his hands.

He murmured softly, “Brilliant.”

Then, he quickly grabbed his phone and listened to the recording in full.

The result sounded even better than it had during his performance.

He paced the classroom a few times, waiting for his mood to settle, then sat back down at the piano.

Nothing made him happier than seeing the results of his practice.

Most importantly, he was on the right track.

All thanks to Samir’s finger exercises that had inspired him.

The value of a good teacher could not be overstated.

“A true master indeed,” Li An thought again.

He also knew he was ready to move to the next stage.

After a moment, he pulled out Czerny’s Op. 299 from a stack of sheet music.

The previous stage had been moving from scales to arpeggios; the next would be from arpeggios to etudes.

The last stage had been all about exploration. Now that practice had proven him right, it was time to consolidate.

Czerny’s Op. 299 consists of eighty etudes.

In middle school, his second piano teacher had supervised his diligent practice of all eighty for two years.

No matter what else he played, every day, three solid hours of Op. 299 were non-negotiable.

This was why he’d later managed to pass the entrance exam to the Guangzhou Conservatory, ranking third among out-of-province candidates.

For a boy from a tiny county town, that was something to be proud of.

To this day, he could still play all eighty etudes from memory.

But this time, to avoid falling into old habits, he would sight-read the music, using his new finger memory to relearn all eighty etudes.

Three months.

Li An gave himself three months.

He looked forward to this day, three months from now.

Next to the original writing on the first page, Li An marked a new date.

“2021.08.12”

He put down his pen, raised his hands, and let his fingers fall.

Li An began today’s practice.