Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 "New World", second movement, Adagio.The style of this movement coincides with the theme of "Remembering Hometown". Although it's just a piano solo, the melody keeps evoking these two lyrics in my mind, and the background must be a sunset scene.The phantom-like sphere slowly descends, forming a clear crimson in the sky, which makes people feel the flames of flames at all, as if it is about to disappear to the other side of the mountain, and the inner side of the clear-cut ridge line is like a silhouette. dark. Is this image from my own memory, or is it the complex information that this body has received and accumulated over thirty years?I can't say for sure, the only thing I can say is that in the city where I grew up, there is no mountain that fits this kind of landscape, nor any idyllic scenery that can be elegantly described.

——On the green carpet in the narrow playroom, folding chairs are lined up in rows, and a group of old people are sitting on them. Looking at their small backs, I instantly feel that they are part of the fantasy scene.These old people are wearing tea-brown or mouse-gray cardigans or padded vests. The clothes are different, but they feel very coordinated. The backs of less than thirty people seem to be integrated with the air.The audience listened quietly and without moving. In front of them was a stage that was only about twenty centimeters high.Red satin curtains were hung on both sides of the stage, the hem was pulled wide, and there were two distorted but legible golden characters on it.

No matter where you go, the scene remains the same. A concert piano was placed on the stage, and in front of the piano sat a girl wearing a black silk blouse and black velvet skirt that did not match the occasion.There is no music score on the piano, the girl just stares at the keys seriously and keeps playing with both hands. Soon, the last main theme of the piece ended, and the sound of the piano gradually weakened until it stopped.After the final chord sounded, the slender fingers and red shoes quietly left the keys and pedals.The length of the ending beat, except for Chiori, who knew it from the performance record of this piece for the first time, is only known to me present, and these audiences should be listening to her performance for the first time today.

Not only today, no matter when and where, when Qianzhi plays the last note, the beat length will not exceed even one second, and there is no need to use a stopwatch to time it. At least I have a little idea of ​​this little thing. The girl stood up, took a blunt step, and bowed deeply towards the auditorium.After about half a second, there was thunderous applause from all around.They responded with unreserved applause for the soul-stirring performance in a short period of time.If the music comforts them, making them immerse themselves in happy memories of the past or forget the oppressive feeling that this building brings to them, I think it is all thanks to Chiori.

Chiori, these are all compliments for you, you deserve it. Just as I was thinking this way, Chiori, who was standing alone on the stage, had an uneasy and timid expression on her face. So I walked from the door of the playroom where I was standing—to the central aisle about one person wide, and quietly raised my gloved hand.A smile appeared on the girl's face, and she rushed down from the stage and ran to my side.I have told Chiori countless times that she must exit from both sides of the stage at the end of the performance, but Chiori still cannot understand this. "Great play, Chiori." I stroked Chiori's head as far as my shoulder, her left braid just caught on my ring finger.

The eyes of the old people focused on me following Chiori who was flying out, probably guessing our relationship!Some people were full of surprise, but most of them showed kind expressions.It is indeed embarrassing to be looked at like this, but I have long been used to it. Just now, out of nowhere, the scheduler in charge of this concert came to me. It was a woman about forty years old. "Mr. Kisaragi, thank you very much. The grandpas and grandmas seem to like this concert very much." "Where, it's really great." "Chiori, you play really well!" Chiori was afraid of this unfamiliar voice, so she hid behind me for a long time, her hands still clutching my coat desperately.

"Why is this, Chiori? Be polite!" As I was talking, I suddenly became a little flustered. Although I had talked to the other party several times, I suddenly realized that I couldn’t remember the other party’s name at all. Fortunately, Qian Zhi obediently showed her small face from the right side before I lost face, and nodded. Head, immediately divert the other party's attention. "However, after listening to the performance, I still can't believe it, isn't Qianzhi—" the other party suddenly felt embarrassed and kept silent. When encountering such a situation, I continued without caring. Not only was it easier to continue the conversation, but most importantly, I was not sure whether Chiori, who was the center of the topic, understood her situation.

"Well, that's true. Chiori has a congenital mental retardation, but it is because of this that she discovered her talent today. She is very lucky. Although she is fifteen years old, her every move in daily life is different from that of three, A four-year-old is no different, and her strength is not small, and it is full of headaches. The main thing is language, because we have no way of knowing whether she can fully understand us, so if she is not sitting at the piano, I don't know what she will play. So, thank you for accepting my selfish insistence." Because the program list is printed, please inform me in advance of the planned performances, etc. Whenever I am asked, I have to keep repeating these instructions to the other party, but there is no way to do it, it is the way it is.And the other party always said with a smile, it doesn't matter, please don't care.

"As long as I can let Qianzhi know that what I do can make others happy, I feel very gratified, but I have never been able to determine her thoughts. I only know that she doesn't hate playing the piano in front of everyone. Maybe, it's okay. Say I like it a little bit! That’s why I took Qianzhi to play the piano everywhere. For her, she is the one who has to thank everyone. If everyone likes it, it will really kill two birds with one stone.” "Please don't worry about this. When other entertainment activities were held in the past, these grandpas and grandmas seemed to be bored, and it was obvious at a glance that they were not watching the show at all, but today is very different, and even we were shocked Woolen cloth!"

"That's such an honor. That's great, isn't it, Chiori?" I turned to Chiori, who was still clutching the corner of my shirt, and gave her an encouraging smile, "Everyone compliments you very much!" Chiori looked up at me blankly, a look of joy appeared in her wide-open eyes, but disappeared in an instant.It took me a long time to understand that this was Chiori's happy expression. "Chiori seems to be saying, thank you for willing to listen to her performance." Hearing what I said, the other party also bent down and said to Chiori, "Where, thank you." Then he took us to the lounge.

The staff invited us to have lunch together, but I declined on the grounds that the next concert venue was far away.Because I have to drive all the time in the afternoon, otherwise I may not be able to reach my destination before the evening. The next performance will be tomorrow morning, as long as we arrive before tonight, we should be able to make it in time, but to be honest, the schedule is really tight, although it will not be too forced, but I feel a bit rushed, and after tomorrow's performance, there is still a long way to go. Gap, the conclusion is that my itinerary has failed too much.well!I'm such a lousy agent! Besides, because the concert ends before ten o'clock, it's actually a little early for lunch now. I asked Chiori, and she doesn't seem hungry yet. It's not that Chiori can't understand other people's speech at all. There are no problems with her vocalization and hearing function, but she can't speak fluently. As long as she gets used to it, Chiori can understand almost everything I say.But she doesn't like others to look at her in a strange way, so except for me and my mother, Chiori hardly speaks in front of others.And it would be very troublesome to explain this kind of thing to others one by one, so most of the occasions I took this topic as a matter of course, and I won’t explain much.Therefore, many people I met so far thought that Chiori couldn't speak, and this female staff member was one of them, so she stopped talking to Chiori. After receiving the reward, the greetings were almost over. Although it was still early, we still left first, because I wanted to catch up while the sky was still bright.The female staff also escorted us to the entrance with others. "That... Mister Kisaragi—" After nodding to each other several times, she hesitated to speak. "What's the matter?" I led Qianzhi out of the gate, turned around and said. "Mr. Kisaragi, have you stopped playing the piano?" It was a harmless face, but I couldn't help but look like trouble on my face.I pretended that the shoes were not on properly, bent down to adjust them, and looked up as if nothing had happened. "I can't play the piano anymore." I raised my gloved left hand and shook it, so it should go without explanation.Just look closely and you can see the unnaturally dimpled tip of my ring finger.At that time, the smile on my face must have been as blunt and unnatural as Chiori's!