Chapter 184 Who is the Protagonist of Today's Banquet
This is one of the segments of tonight's banquet.
And it was Bianca who took the initiative to add it in.
She had finally waited for this moment.
Hearing the host's voice, Abigail couldn't contain her excitement and thrill.
"Finally! The part I've been waiting for is finally here!"
She leaned close to Bianca's ear, "Bianca, let Isabella see clearly who the real star of tonight's banquet is!"
Bianca smiled brightly.
She was really looking forward to it!
The guests' attention had already been completely drawn to the fact that Bianca was going to play the piano, and they all turned their eyes toward her.
"I didn't expect the banquet to have this kind of arrangement today?"
"I heard Bianca plays the piano very well. We can finally see it for ourselves today."
"..."
Bianca lifted her dress and walked toward the expensive piano in the center of the banquet hall.
Her piano skills had always been impressive.
So Bianca held her chest high and her neck up, confident like an elegant swan.
Bianca's ten fingers covered the keys, and the piano music began, bright and clear, very pleasant to hear.
"Worthy of being a world-famous piece, it really sounds beautiful."
"I really didn't expect Bianca's piano performance to have reached such a level. At this level, she could probably hold a concert."
"..."
Just as everyone was immersed in it, the piano music suddenly stopped abruptly.
"Why did she stop playing?"
"What happened? Why did she stop for no reason?"
"Continue, the piece isn't finished yet?"
"..."
Bianca withdrew her hands from the piano, clutching her stomach, pain appearing on her face.
A waiter nearby stepped forward with concern, "Bianca, what's wrong?"
Bianca took the microphone from the waiter's hand, one hand covering her stomach, her face pale.
"Sorry everyone, I'm not feeling well. My stomach hurts a lot. Maybe my gastritis is acting up. I really wanted to finish playing this piece for everyone, but the stomach pain came on so suddenly. I'm really sorry, I apologize!"
She endured the pain and bowed deeply to the audience below, full of sincerity.
Although the guests below felt somewhat disappointed, seeing Bianca's pained expression, they were more worried about her physical condition. After all, Bianca was also the star of this banquet, so naturally her health was most important.
The guests expressed their understanding one after another.
"It's okay, Bianca, we felt your sincerity."
"Since you're not feeling well, you should go to the hospital first."
Chase and Tobias quickly walked toward Bianca, "Bianca, are you alright?"
"Bianca, let me help you upstairs to rest. Take some medicine first to ease the pain."
But Bianca showed some hesitation. Her gaze shifted around, and suddenly her eyes fell on Isabella's face in the audience below. Then she spoke in a sweet voice: "Sister, how about you play the remaining half?"
As soon as Bianca spoke, before Isabella could say anything, Abigail immediately chimed in: "Right, today isn't just Bianca's birthday banquet, it's also Isabella's birthday. Having Isabella play would be the same!"
So countless eyes turned in unison toward Isabella.
Isabella looked at Bianca, her eyes calm, her voice lowered: "I can't."
As soon as these words came out, voices of discussion immediately arose around them.
"What? Isabella can't play the piano?"
"Did you forget? She lived outside all this time. Where would she have had the chance to learn piano?"
"What a shame. I was hoping to hear Isabella finish the remaining half, but I didn't expect she couldn't play."
It was as if a perfect person had some kind of stain on them. Everyone looked at Isabella with eyes full of pity and contempt.
Hearing these words, a barely noticeable smirk of satisfaction appeared at the corner of Bianca's mouth.
The resentment that had been building up finally decreased a bit.
But just then, Isabella's cool voice came again:
"I haven't heard the piece you just played, so I can't play it, but I can play something else."
After speaking, Isabella lifted her foot and walked toward the piano.
Bianca froze, a trace of disbelief flashing in her eyes.
What did Isabella mean by this?
She could play other piano pieces?
How was that possible?
Didn't Isabella not know how to play piano?
While Bianca was lost in thought, Isabella had already sat down at the piano.
Bianca stared hard at Isabella, watching her sit down with such a calm and composed manner, her brows tightly furrowed.
Could Isabella really know how to play piano?
Impossible, this was absolutely impossible.
Seeing Isabella take the stage, the guests' curiosity was also piqued.
"Isabella says she's going to play something else. What is she planning to play?"
Isabella stroked the keys in front of her and said slowly: "What I'm going to play is Mira's 'Midnight Solitude'."
As soon as these words came out, the entire venue fell into an eerie silence.
A few seconds later, everyone exploded at once.
"What? She's going to play Mira's piece?!"
"How is that possible?"
Mira was Novaria's most renowned pianist.
And "Midnight Solitude" was written in 1990, a masterpiece Mira created when she was thirteen years old.
This was a piano sonata with extremely high performance difficulty. Even looking across all of Lumaria, there were very few people who could perform it.
But just now Isabella actually said she was going to play this piece!
Bianca blurted out in shock: "Sister, have you lost your mind?"
Did she know who Mira was? How difficult Mira's pieces were to play?
Even she herself found it very difficult to play even a small section. In front of so many people, Isabella actually wanted to play Mira's piece. This was simply asking for humiliation.
Abigail also wondered if Isabella had gone crazy?
She looked suspiciously at Isabella sitting at the piano.
"Bianca, what's wrong with her? Did you asking her to go up and play upset her?"
Bianca pressed her lips together and shook her head, "I don't know what's wrong with her either."
After hearing that Isabella was going to play Mira's piece, the guests at their tables broke into continuous discussion.
"Can Isabella really play this piece?"
"I heard that even pianist Lyanna Patel couldn't play this piece completely."
"Then how does she dare? Who gave her the courage?"
"She definitely can't play the whole thing. At most she'll probably just play a small section."
"..."
Amid the voices of discussion, the piano music began without warning.
Behind this piece was the story of a war, where an originally peaceful and beautiful small country faced the threat of war.
The piano sound was like a suppressed sigh, low and slow.
Patrolling soldiers, displaced refugees forced to flee, starving children...
This prelude was oppressive yet calm. Oppressive because people hiding in the dark didn't dare make a sound, calm because this was already the ninth month of continuous war, and it had drained all hope from the survivors.
It was as if everyone had forgotten what life was supposed to be like before the war, as if life had always been this way.
As soon as the prelude began, it instantly pulled everyone into the scene, and the guests even held their breath.
Endless hiding, human lives in wartime nothing more than tiny specks of dust.
However, the cruel war never gave people a chance to catch their breath, and a fierce bombing quietly struck.
The piano music instantly became intense, became urgent.
It was as if the screams and cries of victims were drilling out from the piano sound.