‘Musical Genius’
“That is right. You have never even played the piano or taken a graded exam before, and yet here you
are questioning everything. You might get people thinking that the piano association belongs to your
family!”
The group of women kept making mocking remarks as they made ‘Anastasia’ sound as worthless as
possible.
Onyx’s expression grew more and more dark with every word they uttered. I shouldn’t have brought
Anastasia here!
In the end, it was the vice president who broke up the fight. “Alright now, just let it go. Those who don’t
know are innocent. The elder Young Miss of the White Family is not ashamed to ask questions, which
means she has a mind that loves to think. Surely she has gotten the trait from Mr. White. Since her
question did no harm, let’s put it behind us. We should get on with what is important.”
“The vice president is right. Let’s not waste everyone’s time and go in for the exam,” Onyx agreed. He
didn’t want to continue being an embarrassment out in the public like this.
They then went straight to the location the exam would be held at.
After a simple preparation, Adelpha sat in front of the piano and began to play the exam pieces.
The sound of the piano soon filled the entire hall, making even the air feel elegant all of a sudden.
She calmly played through the pieces, and when she reached the climax, she even showed different
emotions along with the music on her face.
After she was done with the piece, the vice president and the dozens of women behind him started
applauding.
“That was the sound of heaven!” The vice president stood up excitedly. He was extremely grateful
when he shook Onyx’s hand again. “This is exactly the musical genius the association is looking for,
Mr. White. I pronounce Adelpha the official member of the association from today onward!”
Even though Onyx couldn’t tell how wonderful Adelpha’s piano skills were, a proud smile had appeared
on his face as the vice president’s reaction had spread joy to him.
Lyra, on the other hand, was so excited she ran over to hug Adelpha.
The whole hall was filled with joy and harmony.
Of course, Elise was the only one who couldn’t relate to them.
She sneered as she looked at the absurd scene, the corners of her mouth curled into a sarcastic sneer.
Adelpha is a ‘musical genius’ who made her piano playing sound like ‘the sound of heaven’ just by
playing half of an entry-level piano piece with several wrong notes?
In that case, wouldn’t most people who play the piano be musical geniuses as well?
It was obvious that they were trying to cheat their way through under the guise of being from the Piano
Association.
“I am going to the washroom,” Elise announced before quietly walking toward the lavatory. When she
reached her destination, she recalled the number of the Piano Association headquarters from memory
and made a call there.
By the time she returned to the exam hall five minutes later, the vice president was still in the middle of
showering Adelpha in compliments.
“I am not bragging, Mr. White. With Adelpha’s talent, I will be able to cultivate her within two years to
the point where she can perform at the Sydney Opera House for the world to see her face!”
Oh, I got that wrong! Elise concluded. He is showering himself with compliments.
She then smacked her lips and walked over to them.
What Onyx cared about most was his reputation. He was already over the moon after being deceived
by the vice president, so he immediately exclaimed, “I’ll leave Adelpha to your care then, vice
president. Don’t worry about the fees. The Whites are generous people!”
“No rush on that. I will let Adelpha know about the fees later. You can discuss it privately among
yourselves. Let’s issue Adelpha her certificate first.”
Acting reserved, the vice president pretended as if he didn’t care and changed the topic of the
conversation.
Soon after, one of the women from the group took out an exquisite-looking certificate from her bag and
handed it to the vice president.
The vice president immediately handed it to Adelpha. “Good luck, Adelpha. Keep up the good work. I
have confidence in you!”
“Thank you, vice president. I will work hard!” She took it with both hands.
She hadn’t even opened it up to see it when Elise’s voice rang out, instantly bringing the mood down.
“As far as I know, the exam certificates from Tissote Piano Association are issued once every half a
month. Today is not the day that the certificate should be issued. I sure am curious about where the
vice president got this certificate from.”
The place fell into an eerie silence once again at her words.
As everyone looked at each other, the initial harmonious atmosphere had instantly been replaced by
awkwardness.
The group of women quickly stood up again to protect Adelpha.
“What the hell? Don’t you know this is how we do things around here?!”
“Rules may be inflexible, but people aren’t. Of course the association will make an exception to issue a
certificate for a student as talented as Adelpha. Do you think the association would just watch a talent
slip through their fingers?”
“You seem like a jealous older sister to me. Are you only going to be satisfied after you sabotage her
future?”
Adelpha was a little guilty at first, but after hearing her friends so confidently defend her, she suddenly
felt like she was being bullied. With her nose sore and her eyes wet with tears, she sobbed in a low
voice, “Anastasia, I know that you hate how much Poppa loves me. Even so, I have never done
anything to hurt you. Do you really hate me so much…”
“Ha! As the saying goes, the insider knows the ropes, while the outsider just comes along for the ride.
Since you are an outsider, Miss Anastasia, you should just watch from the side and not express your
opinion so that you don’t get criticized. What do you think, Miss Anastasia?” the vice president asked
as he put on an act of being concerned about Elise.
Elise let out a smile then, but it was a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “I have called the Tissote Piano
Association just now. They told me that you are not the vice president of the association. Should we
head over and sort things out now?”
Hearing that, the vice president immediately stopped smiling as his face fell.
“You lunatic! How dare you question everything? You think this is a TV show? Even if the vice president
is acting, do you think it is possible for all of Adelpha’s classmates to put on an act as well?!” Lyra threw
her arms around Adelpha. “Onyx, take a good look at your daughter! She is deliberately trying to ruin
Adelpha! Are you really not going to do something about this?!”
On one side, Onyx had his wife, daughter, vice president of the association and the daughters from
famous families while on the other side, he had his unfilial, rebellious daughter. It was a choice that
anyone could make with their eyes closed.
Onyx was no exception to that.
He raised his cold gaze and looked at Elise in disappointment as he bellowed, “It was a mistake to
bring you. I want you out of here!”
“Hold on,” a magnetic voice came from upstairs.
Everyone looked up at the same time then, only to see two noble, handsome men walking down the
stairs in a graceful manner.
“It is Alexander and Brendan Griffith!”
“I can’t believe I am seeing them both at the same time!”
“…”
All the young women were so excited they started squealing at the sight of the men.
After Alexander walked toward them, he blatantly glanced at Elise before stopping at a spot on her side
that was not too far from her.
“I am a member of the Tissote Piano Association, but I have never heard of neither the vice president
or these women.”
His voice was loud and firm, and it somehow poked at anyone there with a guilty conscience.
“Alexander Griffith is a member of the Piano Association?”
“I don’t know. I have never heard about this.”
“It is possible. After all, he is gifted. He can easily pick up anything he wants…”
“Possible? That means it has a possibility of it being fake as well. It is too much of a coincidence for me
to believe!”
The woman who suggested Adelpha to drug Anastasia before stood up then. “We are all certified by
the association. How can we be imposters? You must have been brought by Anastasia to make
trouble!”
So what if Alexander was a handsome man? She knew her priorities. She was aware that she wouldn’t
be able to get any pocket money if the truth about the ‘association’ was exposed.
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