Jia Wenhao was truly taken aback by how much Lu Ming knew, far from being as clueless as he appeared.
The fawning girls who adored Jia Wenhao couldn't stand it, and they all shot Lu Ming angry, contemptuous glares.
"What's so great about criticizing others? If you're so capable, play a song yourself!"
"Yeah, if you can do it, you do it. You can you up, no can no be!!"
"I don't know if he genuinely understands or is just putting on airs. It's probably someone nearby secretly told him this piece, right? Otherwise, I really can't see how this bumpkin figured it out."
The girls showered Lu Ming with criticism, all in defense of their piano prince.
Jia Wenhao felt a little better.
It felt good to have supporters.
He stood up and made a 'please' gesture, then said to Lu Ming, "Everyone's right. Criticizing others is easy, just talk. If you're so capable, why don't you play a song?"
He was convinced Lu Ming absolutely couldn't play.
The reasoning was simple.
Anyone could comment on whether a dish tasted good; you didn't need to know how to cook. But if you were to actually pick up a knife and spatula to cook, you might not be as good as someone else.
It was the same principle.
Even if Lu Ming could discern Jia Wenhao's flaws, if Lu Ming himself were to play, he might be even worse than Jia Wenhao!
As long as Lu Ming couldn't play better than Jia Wenhao, everything he said would be meaningless.
Everyone looked at Lu Ming provocatively.
Beside him, Ma Xiaoling, very worried, squeezed Lu Ming's hand and whispered, "How about... we just let it go? We'll call it a day and leave."
To retreat!
But the question was, how could the Dragon Warlord retreat?
Could a mere piano stop the Dragon Warlord? That would make the Warlord rather unimpressive.
"I'll give it a try."
Lu Ming flicked his sleeve, stood up, and walked towards the piano.
Ma Xiaoling watched, filled with concern.
While she knew Lu Ming's character was excellent and he possessed remarkable talents in other areas, piano wasn't something one could master quickly. Without arduous, years of training, it was impossible to play well.
Furthermore, piano was usually learned from a young age.
Pianos were expensive, and most families couldn't afford one. Judging by Lu Ming's background, he likely never had access to a piano in his childhood.
Therefore, by all accounts, Lu Ming was destined to lose.
In reality...
Besides Lu Ming himself, no one else knew that Lu Ming was originally an exceptionally skilled pianist.
Not even his three top generals - Asura, Dragon King, and Physician Immortal - knew.
By the time they followed Lu Ming, he was already fighting on the battlefield.
However, Lu Ming was born into a very wealthy and prominent family. He lived a life of luxury from a young age and received the finest education in the country. If not for the annihilation of his family that year, the entire Lu family consumed by flames, Lu Ming would never have become a fugitive.
It was then that Jiang Dingbian took him in and nurtured him. Eventually, Lu Ming quelled the coalition forces of the ten great empires five years ago, and the Dragon Warlord's name became renowned throughout China.
Jia Wenhao started learning piano at five, but Lu Ming started even earlier!
Lu Ming's prenatal education involved piano music.
While still in his mother's womb, he had heard Chopin, Mozart, and Beethoven; at the age of three, the world's best musicians were hired to teach him piano one-on-one.
Unlike Jia Wenhao, Lu Ming possessed extraordinary talent in piano.
He learned quickly.
And once learned, he mastered it!
By the time Lu Ming was in primary school, he was already invited to perform piano solos at various galas. Such talent was far beyond the reach of ordinary people!
When it came to elegance, that was something Lu Ming had long since mastered!
Amidst the dismissive glances of the crowd, Lu Ming walked step by step to the piano and gracefully sat down.
He placed his hands on the keys, feeling them.
At this moment, he seemed to have returned to his childhood, as if his mother were sitting beside him, his father standing behind him, and with his parents' companionship, he was savoring the warmth brought by music.
The softest spot in the Dragon Warlord's heart was touched.
Yet,
Those fawning girls shrieked loudly, disrupting the atmosphere.
"Stop pretending, hurry up!"
"Acting like you're such a great piano player, what are you putting on a show for?"
"Can't you play it?"
Lu Ming ignored them. He took a couple of deep breaths, steadied his mind, and began to play the piano.
The piece was by the poet of the piano—Chopin's most famous work, the "Barcarolle" in F-sharp major.
Noble, elegant.
As the piano music began, the previously noisy hall gradually fell silent, and everyone began to listen intently to Lu Ming's performance.
From initial disdain and contempt, their feelings slowly turned to admiration.
No one was foolish; it was easy to distinguish good playing from bad.
Although they were all amateurs, they could clearly feel Lu Ming's strong command of the music. In comparison, Jia Wenhao's earlier performance was truly lacking.
Most remarkably, even those fawning girls fell silent.
They had planned beforehand that no matter how well Lu Ming played, they would boo and mock him fiercely to help Jia Wenhao recover!
But they never expected that when they heard Lu Ming's performance, they felt as if they were bathing in a spring breeze.
It was as if they had entered a dreamlike, intoxicating realm.
Pleasant, comfortable.
All fame and fortune were forgotten; there was only pure enjoyment.
To silence these most vulgar and base women, to make them feel the beauty of piano music, one could imagine how profound Lu Ming's skill must be.
Slowly, everyone became engrossed, completely forgetting time, identity, and venue.
The piece ended, the sound stopped.
Lu Ming played the last note and withdrew his hands.
Unlike before, when Jia Wenhao finished, not a single person in the hall applauded Lu Ming. This was because everyone was still immersed in the music, unable to snap out of it.
The silence in the hall was terrifying.
Not a sound could be heard.
One could clearly hear a needle drop on the floor, and everyone's breathing was so distinct!
"Ahem, ahem." Jia Wenhao was the first to recover. He realized he was inferior to Lu Ming, the gap being too immense to even compare.
But even so, he didn't want to admit defeat. He wanted to quibble, to use shamelessness to suppress Lu Ming.
What if he played well?
If I say you're no good, then you're no good!
But just as Jia Wenhao was about to twist the facts, to his utter disbelief, the profoundly silent hall suddenly erupted with thunderous applause!
Everyone had snapped back to reality.
Their first instinct was to offer Lu Ming the most fervent and sincere applause.
Jia Wenhao's attempt to speak was drowned out by the applause.
He wanted to wait for the applause to stop before slandering Lu Ming, but the applause was incessant, and people were clapping excitedly.
One minute.
Five minutes.
Ten minutes.
Twenty minutes!!!
The applause lasted for a full twenty minutes before slowly subsiding, many people's palms turning red.
Jia Wenhao tried to speak several times, but each time he was silenced by the applause.
Finally, he had no choice but to give up.
Because he realized that even slandering Lu Ming would be futile. Such prolonged applause spoke volumes. He had lost, lost completely.
"I... I'm not as good as him," Jia Wenhao closed his eyes in despair.