The next day, at the Moonlight Pavilion.
When Xue Ke stepped into the classroom, almost everyone's gaze fell on her and Tang San, who entered just behind her.
Although the imperial family had suppressed news of the previous night's kidnapping, rumors had already spread through certain circles.
Xue Ke took her seat and could not help looking again at the figure quietly arranging his sheet music in the back row.
Tang San sensed her gaze, raised his head, and met her eyes.
He did not deliberately smile, merely nodding politely. His eyes held a trace of serenity absent when he had faced danger yesterday, and even a hint of concern, as though asking whether she was all right.
Warmth bloomed in Xue Ke's heart, and she returned a faint, grateful, tender smile.
At that moment, an unspoken understanding seemed to form between them.
The ordeal was like a peculiar bridge.
Class began, and Tang Yuehua taught them a rather difficult musical passage.
Many of the students struggled, their fingering clumsy and their rhythm confused.
Even Xue Ke occasionally furrowed her brows, repeatedly practicing the sections with complicated transitions.
The atmosphere in the classroom grew somewhat stagnant.
Just then, from a corner in the back row.
A stream of fluid, precise notes, already beginning to reveal a personal interpretation, suddenly flowed out like a trickling spring, breaking the dullness of practice.
The sound was not loud, yet it was exceptionally clear.
Each note was like a polished jade bead, falling smoothly upon their hearts.
Xue Ke and several other sensitive students could not help turning toward the sound.
It was Tang San.
His eyes were lowered, his attention fixed on the harp in his hands.
His earlier "clumsiness" and deliberate mistakes had vanished without a trace.
In their place was an