Chapter 164: Domineering Command "Talent"!

If Gu Ci were merely an inexperienced conductor who showed a willingness to learn, they would not have felt such strong resentment toward her, even after what had happened previously.

However, the situation was different now. Gu Ci was acting far too ambitious!

In their eyes, it was akin to a toddler who had not yet learned to walk, yet desperately wanted to fly straight up into the heavens!

Gu Ci...

A trace of patience laced her voice as she said, "I am telling the truth. If you don't believe me, bring that instrument over here first."

Seeing this, the few of them assumed Gu Ci was still being stubbornly unrepentant. One of them angrily walked over to the female student, exchanged a few words with her, and brought her instrument back, plucking the strings right in front of Gu Ci.

"Tell me, what is wrong with this?" The girl was so angry that she didn't even lower her voice, addressing Gu Ci directly.

She hadn't intentionally raised her voice, but the fact that the group had formed a circle clearly drew the attention of the others around them.

In an instant, everyone's gazes shifted toward Gu Ci, filled entirely with utter confusion and incomprehension.

Listening to the sound of the instrument, they couldn't detect anything wrong with it either.

"Do you have anything else to say now?"

Just then, however, Fang Che slapped his forehead.

"Wait a moment!"

Hearing the sound of the girl plucking the strings, he suddenly remembered. Strictly speaking, the tuning of this instrument met standard criteria, but due to the girl's personal playing habits, a specific adjustment was required in a particular section.

It was just that during the earlier tuning, he had inadvertently forgotten about this detail.

"There really was a spot that wasn't adjusted," Fang Che said as he took the instrument from the girl's hands and began tuning it right in front of everyone.

Yet the others still assumed Fang Che was simply trying to save Gu Ci from losing face in front of everyone, thereby giving her a graceful way out.

Still, they didn't say anything; their original intention hadn't been to embarrass Gu Ci, but rather to demand a proper attitude from her.

Seeing Gu Ci's current demeanor, however, some of them had already secretly decided to have someone politely ask her to leave after the morning session concluded.

Right at that moment, the girl whose instrument had just been taken walked over.

Seeing that Fang Che was already tuning her instrument, she looked surprised. "Brother Che, I was just about to mention this to you. You're already helping me tune it? Brother Che, you're getting more and more considerate!"

Hearing this, the girl who had gone to fetch the instrument widened her eyes in astonishment, looking at Gu Ci in sheer disbelief.

So... this wasn't Fang Che giving Gu Ci a way out after all, but rather... the truth?

At that thought, the girl found it utterly unimaginable. After all, she and the other female student had been in the orchestra for over a month now, and they had even gone together to take the Musicians Association grading examinations!

Yet... something that even she had remained completely unaware of was picked up by Gu Ci the very first time, amidst so many people?

Just thinking about it made it seem completely unbelievable to the girl!

And yet... this appeared to be the reality.

The girl cast a mixture of shock and doubt toward Gu Ci, recalling the various points Gu Ci had instructed her on moments earlier.

After a moment of reflection, she couldn't help but pull out the individual score for their current symphony.

Studying it intently for a few seconds, she recalled the first time she had played that particular passage under the previous conductor's direction. She realized that the modifications Gu Ci had asked her to make seemed designed to better align with the musical score this time...

During their previous rehearsals, several discordant spots had emerged. Looking back on it now, one of those issues apparently stemmed from her own habit of emphasizing certain beats while playing!

With that realization, Gu Ci's image in the girl's mind underwent a complete transformation!

Her eyes shone with awe as she bowed deeply to Gu Ci. "I'm sorry, Master! I was blind before!"

Everyone instantly turned to look at the girl, then cast puzzled glances at Gu Ci.

Gu Ci felt a throbbing between her brows and stopped her from bowing further. "Just call me Gu Ci."

The few individuals who had questioned Gu Ci earlier also offered their apologies one after another, their attitudes exceptionally sincere.

Those standing around, upon hearing that it was Gu Ci who had pointed out the need to tune the girl's instrument, still found it somewhat hard to believe.

It must have... just been a lucky guess, right?

Otherwise, how could it possibly be?

By this time, Fang Che had finished tuning the instrument, his gaze toward Gu Ci tinged with a mixture of shock and uncertainty.

No matter what, Fang Che could not bring himself to believe that Gu Ci had accurately identified the problem with the girl's instrument purely by coincidence.

The odds of stumbling upon a one-in-fifty chance like that were simply far too slim, weren't they?

In fact, it was practically impossible!

Just then, Gu Ci singled out two more people from the crowd and asked them to tune their instruments.

She called every single one of them correctly.

At this, the rest of the room could not help but feel a sense of wonder.

They had no idea what level of mastery a conductor needed to possess to achieve such a feat, but based on their previous conductor, accomplishing something like this was utterly out of the question!

One had to remember that Gu Ci had only listened to a well-rehearsed section of their symphony once, and the entire process had lasted less than ten minutes!

Furthermore, how old was Gu Ci? She was merely a young woman who had just reached adulthood, younger than the vast majority of people in their orchestra!

Yet, such a young girl possessed conducting talent that was this... overbearing?!

Yes, truly overbearing!

Gu Ci's sensitivity to everyone's pitch was so acute that it could almost be described as "automatic positioning." Aside from "overbearing," the group could not think of a more fitting word to describe her talent!

As Fang Che continued tuning instruments, he couldn't help but recall what Gu Ci had told him earlier.

She had said...

Her teacher was "Qin Jing"...

"Qin Jing"... Could it really be the Qin Jing he was thinking of?

Could it be?

How could the student of the President of the Conductors' Branch of the Musicians Association possibly come to an obscure little orchestra like theirs to take an entry exam?

Yet, when he thought of Gu Ci's practically terrifying, pinpoint-accurate ability to identify pitch... Fang Che felt that... perhaps, possibly, maybe, just maybe, Gu Ci really...

Fang Che hurriedly forced himself to cut off that train of thought.

No... he couldn't keep thinking like this. If he did, he felt his knees would go weak!

In fact, Fang Che was now too nervous to even dare ask Gu Ci for the exact characters of her teacher's name...

Looking back at Gu Ci, Fang Che's gaze was now laced with a trace of inhibition and restraint.