Ninety. A Scheme: A Thirty-Day Plan

On the phone, Zheng Haitao first assumed that something had happened to Li An. In the past two years, the number of times Li An had called him could be counted on one hand; most of the time they only exchanged messages and talked about how things were going.

The last time Li An paid him back, he had only sent a text. So when this call came out of nowhere, Zheng Haitao was a little at sea.

Li An did not beat around the bush. In his memory, Zheng Haitao was the one person in this city he could trust most.

“How many students is the professor taking this year for the entrance auditions?”

Zheng Haitao did the math. “About seven. Why, bro? You have a student?”

“Yeah. A kid wants to apply to our department this year.”

Zheng Haitao immediately understood Li An’s predicament. “What do we do?”

Li An sighed. “I’m thinking about that too.”

A silence fell over the line.

After a moment, Zheng Haitao said, “Bro, why don’t you just come clean to the professor?”

Over the past two years, Zheng Haitao had brought this up to Li An more than once, but every time Li An had brushed it off. He still did not know exactly what Li An was trying to avoid.

In truth, anyone with eyes could see it. Among all the senior and junior classmates who had passed through those years, everyone knew the professor had always favored Li An most.

“He’s always had you in his heart,” Zheng Haitao said. “When I went to his house for dinner last week, he even said he should never have scolded you so harshly back then.”

Well then—how was Li An supposed to feel hearing that?

A mixture of resentment and helplessness.

He could understand what Professor Wei had done.

“Teacher’s Day, then. I’ll go see the professor on Teacher’s Day.”

Li An thought about it and decided that was probably the best timing.

By then, the concert would be over, the money owed to Senior Sister Mingyu would be repaid, and the evaluation for the outstanding teacher award would also be finished.

It would be time to settle the matter of his mentor and school.

When Zheng Haitao heard Li An’s answer, he finally felt relieved for him. It seemed Li An had at last seen the light. “I think you should visit the professor alone before Teacher’s Day. Give him a little time to prepare. On Teacher’s Day, plenty of people will go to see him, and some things won’t be easy to say.”

Li An said, “Mm. I’ll think about it some more.”

Zheng Haitao asked, “Do you want me to help you lay the groundwork beforehand?”

“Don’t let anything slip for now. I’ll contact you in a few days.”

“Got it, bro. If you need anything, just say the word. If it comes to it, I’ll go with you.”

“Thanks, Taozi.”

“What are you thanking me for? And if I hear anything, I’ll let you know. I heard your Blue Sky Conservatory is putting on a faculty-and-students concert at Huayang Theater at the end of the month. They’re making quite a production of it.”

“Who told you that?”

“My boss reposted it on Moments.”

“Come by if you have time. One of my students will be performing.”

“Of course. All right, bro, you’re busy—I've got class. I’ll wait for your news.”

After the call ended, Li An felt much more at ease.

Some things, once placed on the calendar, no longer feel so oppressive.

As for how to come clean, he still had not made up his mind.

Perhaps Ji Yang was a good opening.

If, by then, Ji Yang could perform a beautiful piece in front of Professor Wei under the banner of being his student, letting the professor see that all those years of study had not gone to waste, and that what he had learned was now being passed on to another—

perhaps that would bring the old man some comfort, however little.

After all, as the student he had favored most, Li An had not sent him even a single greeting in three years after graduation. If he were in Professor Wei’s place, he too would feel chilled to the bone.

The scoldings and beatings had been no more than anger at his lack of ambition. From the perspective of an outsider, he could see plainly the painstaking devotion behind Professor Wei’s harshness.

After Zheng Haitao got out of class, Li An asked him on WeChat about the level of the few audition students under Professor Wei this year.

The result was not favorable for Ji Yang.

At present, there was basically no child worse than Ji Yang.

Though there were all kinds of variables in the entrance auditions, Li An knew Professor Wei’s temper and character well. If he took Ji Yang over now, they would most likely not even get through the professor’s door, let alone anything beyond that.

There were a little over twenty days left until Teacher’s Day. Even if he counted it as thirty, Ji Yang’s playing had to undergo a qualitative leap within that time.

For Ji Yang’s exam prospects, and for mending the rift between them and Professor Wei alike.

After sorting out his next steps, Li An took out the 299 and began that day’s practice.

Time slipped by. For lunch, he and Chen Xuan hid in Classroom Five and secretly ate takeout mala tang.

The whole thing carried a faint echo of their university days, when they would sneak meals into the practice room in lunch boxes and eat them there.

“You don’t usually wear lipstick much.”

While Chen Xuan was wiping her mouth, Li An suddenly asked.

Chen Xuan did not think much of it. “I wear it basically every day.”

Li An could not tell. It seemed the shades she wore day to day were probably rather subtle.

After lunch, Chen Xuan went back to practicing the flute, while Li An returned to the office and dozed off for a while.

When he woke, he went back to the classroom and began his afternoon work.

He drew up a thirty-day practice plan tailored for Ji Yang.

It was divided into three parts.

The first part was foundational practice, still centered on scales, arpeggios, and etudes.

The second part was a comprehensive practice of the third movement of Moonlight, both hands separately and together, to ensure steady progress.

The third part was to continue refining the Black Key Etude.

Given Ji Yang’s current level, Black Key would unquestionably have to be one of the pieces for his entrance audition.

Li An also intended to use that piece as the key to opening the door to Professor Wei.

The biggest problem with Ji Yang’s performance of this piece at present was its lack of unity and overall shape.

To put it another way, it was like making a stone bracelet: all the materials were there, but he did not know how to arrange them, how to thread them together so they looked beautiful. Ji Yang merely held a few stones Li An had polished for him in his hand.

For these three sections, Li An sorted out every problem, then summarized the practice method and the effect he expected each problem to achieve.

Two hours later, the task was complete.

The plan was set. Now it remained to be seen how much Ji Yang could actually accomplish.

Looking at the several densely written pages before him, it would be fair to say they were worth no less than several thousand yuan.

Next, he would just have to wait and see how Ji Yang’s parents contacted him. It seemed likely to happen next week.

Three knocks sounded at the door. Li An put away the things in his hands. “Come in.”

The door opened, and Lin Pengfei stuck half his head in with a sly grin. “Busy?”

Li An got up to greet him. “Not busy. Come in and sit down, Teacher Lin.”

After coming in, Lin Pengfei complained for a while about the problems with the students’ rehearsal that afternoon. “How are you doing? Is it going smoothly?”

“Pretty much.”

Li An smiled in agreement. Since Lin Pengfei had taken the initiative to come looking for him at this hour, it surely was not just to complain a bit about the students. But since the other man had not gotten to the point, Li An simply stayed quiet and watched him perform a little longer.

Sure enough, after a few more stray remarks, Lin Pengfei had nothing left to say.

After a moment, he asked, “Has Principal Qin not looked for you alone these past two days?”

“No.”

Li An shook his head. “What would Principal Qin want with me?”

Now Lin Pengfei was puzzled. “Brother An, I’m a simple man. Don’t lie to me.”

Li An smiled. “Then tell me your story.”

Seeing that, Lin Pengfei stopped hiding anything.

After a long burst of speech, even Li An found himself growing curious.

“So it really is like that.”