Page 65

Page 65

"By the way, Tomoyo, the teacher asked you if you can still participate in the singing competition this Saturday. Well, it was Mr. Tsujitani from the choir who asked me to ask."

"Singing competition... ah, it's this Saturday?" Tomoyo just remembered it now. Maybe because of her illness, her thinking was slow. She closed her eyes and lay there for a while, letting her confused brain clear up. She hesitated and said, "Actually, my throat hurts a lot now because of the cold. I don't know if I can make a sound on Saturday."

The fever suddenly broke out last night. It is still in the early stages of the disease. It may become more and more serious. Based on previous experience with illness, the sore throat will continue for a few days.

Today is Tuesday, and it is less than four days away from Saturday. It is very likely that my throat will not recover before then.

"Then I'll talk to Mr. Tsujitani and cancel the quota?"

In the chorus competition, one less person probably wouldn't matter much, right? Ling thought so too. Anyway, she didn't know much about chorus, she just thought that if a group of people sang, one more or one less person might not be noticeable.

But Tomoyo was a little hesitant.

"Reiya, I want to ask you a favor." Tomoyo stretched out her hands from under the blanket and put them together to make a gesture of request, "Can you go to this competition in my place?"

"Me? But I've never learned to sing."

This is not an excuse. Lingye has learned many skills before, including horse riding and women's fighting skills, but singing is not one of them. She knows musical instruments, such as piano, violin, and flute, and is familiar with music scores, but she doesn't know the technique of singing at all.

"I think it should be okay. Of course it's a lie to say that singing doesn't require learning, but we've all heard Reiya's singing, so there should be no problem."

"And this competition is very important. Teacher Tsujitani is the piano accompanist and she has been practicing for three months. So it would be too pitiful for her if she couldn't go to the competition because of me."

But Chise knew that what she said was not true.

The reason why she thought of letting Lingye replace herself might be a momentary thought at the moment, but it was also because she still remembered the ruins after the Ultra Beast Baraba wreaked havoc, and the girl who sang alone in the ruins.

Her voice had the power to move the soul, and that scene had long been deeply imprinted in Tomoyo's memory and could never be forgotten.

In the choir, the teacher often praised her beautiful voice. But Zhi Shi knew that her voice was not good enough, because she had heard the real heavenly music. The real beautiful singing voice can even make people get out of sadness.

Tomoyo wanted to hear that voice again. So, it's okay to be a little cunning, right?

"Is that so... All right then."

Ling agreed, which made Chise feel proud of her success, but also a little guilty, and she had mixed feelings.

To Lingye, it was just a chorus. She believed that the other members of the chorus had practiced for a long time, so they could just fill in the gaps. It was rare for someone to ask her for help, and in her opinion, it was nothing.

After you've danced the shrine maiden dance in front of a group of people, are you still afraid of hiding in the crowd and pretending?

"Which song is it?"

"Thank you so much. It's really troublesome for you. The song for the competition is "Night Song", which Ling should have heard of."

She had indeed heard it before. She had heard Zhi Shi sing it several times and knew the melody roughly, but she had never deliberately learned it and only knew the lyrics roughly. If you want to say it was difficult, this song was indeed not difficult to learn. The melody was very peaceful and there were no special high and low notes.

However, singing casually and participating in a competition are two different things.

"I have the lyrics in my schoolbag, Sister Sonoko, please get them for me. The schoolbag is on the sofa in the living room, and the lyrics are in a transparent plastic folder."

"Ok, I see."

Yuanzi pulled open the curtain of the partition and went downstairs from the screening room. The screening room downstairs was separated from the reception room on the first floor by a curtain. It was much closer than going downstairs from the bedroom door.

Soon, Sonoko brought up the lyrics with music score.

"Reiya, please take a look first. I can't sing now, but you can ask me if you have any questions."

"Well," Ling didn't intend to be perfunctory since she had accepted the task. Even if she had to do it half-heartedly, she had to at least learn it. "I need to borrow the piano."

She was about to play the melody on the score. She trusted the pitch of the piano more than reading the score herself.

Of course, Chise's family has a piano, and like Reiya's family, there is also a dedicated piano room here. But Chise herself doesn't have the habit of playing the piano, and the piano room is used as a singing room most of the time. Reiya, who is already familiar with this place, doesn't need anyone to lead the way. She lets Chise lie on the bed and walks to the piano room by herself.

Soon, the sound of a smooth piano could be heard. Because the piano room was soundproofed, the sound was not loud, just like a lullaby, which made Chise fall into a deep sleep gradually.

Chapter 83 Cell Phone

[The distant golden stars shine in the night sky. I saw them in my dream last night. They were the color of birds. In the sleepless night, I sang alone. With the wind blowing, I rode on the wings of longing.

The silver moon shines in the night sky. I saw it in my dream last night. It was the color of wild roses. In the gentle night, I sang alone. Tomorrow, you can sing too, and ride on the wings of dreams together.

This is "Night Song", the melody hovers between two ranges. It does not have the deep bass, nor the particularly showy high notes. The difference between the melodies is gentle, just like a soft whisper in the middle of the night.

This is a nursery rhyme for children, with fantasies about the night.

Chise's voice is very nice. In her mouth, this song always carries a sense of mystery, like a misty gauze at night, and also has a clarity like silver beads falling into the water. Ling has only heard it two or three times when she passed by the choir classroom after school, but she was deeply impressed.

I think she was practicing for this competition. She started before the summer vacation and practiced for several months, but she had to give up the competition because of illness. The one who was most regretful must be Tomoyo herself. So even though Ling knew that her voice would definitely not be as good as Tomoyo's, since she was asked, she would try her best.

Ling quickly learned the song by humming along to the melody she played on the piano. She sang it a few more times to make sure she had memorized the melody and lyrics. Whether she sang well or not was another matter, but at least she could fill in the gaps in the crowd.

Ling also expressed satisfaction with herself.

However, when she returned to Tomoyo's bedroom again, she found that Tomoyo was breathing evenly and fell into a deep sleep.

Are you so confident in yourself? Aren't you afraid that she won't be able to learn it at all?

Chiyo sleeps very well, she won't turn over or kick the quilt. She lies on her side like a kitten, which is a bit cute - at least much better than Reiya's sleeping posture. After all, Reiya sometimes falls asleep peacefully, but wakes up to find that her body has turned 40 to 50 degrees, and even 90 degrees a few times, and even the pillow has fallen under the bed.

Tomoyo usually sleeps alone, but because of her illness, Sonoko sits by her bed and watches over her. Ling also returns the plastic-wrapped music score and lyrics to Sonoko. This is the material for Tomoyo's chorus, and in addition to "Night Song" there are many other music scores, so it is certainly not convenient for her to take it away.

"Then I'll take my leave today."

Not wanting to disturb Tomoyo's sleep, Ling pretended to close the door and leave, but Sonoko stood up and followed her out.

"Ms. Lingye, please wait a moment." Sonoko called in a low voice, took a box from the bedside, and walked to the corridor. "This is a gift from the eldest lady. The eldest lady wanted to give it to you before, but she forgot it in her sleep. Just now, she remembered it before falling asleep, and she specifically told me to give it to you."

"A gift from Chiyo?"

I've only heard of people bringing gifts when visiting patients, but I've never seen the other way around.

Sonoko handed over a white box. It wasn't a gift box wrapped in gift paper, but a regular store packaging, except there were no words or pictures on it.

No, there is a pattern on the seal, which should be the trademark of Daidoji Group, nothing else.

Ling did not refuse the gift. With her relationship with Chishi, exchanging gifts was a common thing. As for the price, to be honest, tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands were nothing to the two girls, and there was no need to care.

"Can you open it now?"

"Well, please make sure to confirm it first, because it is the latest product of Madam's company. It has not yet appeared on the market. There are only a few experimental machines in total. I can teach you how to operate it."

It’s not available on the market and you need to learn how to operate it, so is this a high-tech thing?

Ling also opened the box with a little curiosity. After seeing what was in the box, she was a little surprised.

It was indeed high-tech, at least for this era, but she didn't need to learn how to operate it, because in her past, it was something she had always been accustomed to carrying with her.

As one of the essential daily necessities, it is no longer available. I felt a little uncomfortable at first.

Yes, lying in the box, it was a mobile phone - it was a bit ahead of its time for 1972. If Ling remembered correctly, according to the original historical process, the first mobile phone should have been invented and put into production by Motorola a few years later.

However, considering the advanced technology in this world, it is not surprising that mobile phones appeared a few years earlier. In fact, the gap between the current top-level advanced technology of mankind and the civilian technology that has not developed much in the past six years can be described as dimensionality reduction.

Apart from other things, judging from the evaluation level of the universe, human technology has only a limited understanding of this star system, and has not even reached the level of a first-level civilization. However, sub-light speed flight and free entry and exit of the dark universe are completely standard features of civilizations above level 2.

It feels like a group of primitive people driving planes and tanks discussing where to catch a mammoth for a feast tomorrow.

The generation gap between each level of civilization is much greater than the gap in technological level between modern people and primitive people.

Of course, although it's called a mobile phone, the thing in the box is more like some kind of antique called a "big brother". It's a bit big, about the same size as a brick used to build a house, and it has an antenna on it. Of course, there is no touch screen, and the dialing is the same as a home phone. However, because it is made of light pink, it doesn't look as intimidating as a "brick weapon", and it's unexpectedly cute.

"This is a 'mobile phone' launched by Daidoji. 'Mobile phones' were tried for civilian use in the United States last year, but in Japan, there are no similar products except for Daidoji Group."

Just as Sonoko was about to explain how to operate it, she unexpectedly discovered that Ling had already turned on the machine by herself and was operating it skillfully.

The old-fashioned mobile phone has very simple functions, only two functions: dialing and address book. It doesn't even have email, let alone other apps. It is a real "mobile phone", not a game console, not a camera, not a video player, but just a phone.

I opened the address book, and as expected, there was only one number saved in the empty address book, and the name marked was Tomoyo Daidoji.

"But how do I pay the phone bill?"

Lingye doesn't remember any mobile phone companies in Tokyo.

"Phone charges? Ah, there is no charge for it. Although it is a mobile phone, it is actually different from a telephone. There is no telephone line, so it is not within the scope of the telephone company's business."

In 1972, although landline phones were not yet popular, families like Oshima and Daidoji had installed them and had to pay regular communication fees to the telephone company. This was because the telephone lines were transferred and provided services by the telephone company. In other words, the telephone company only recognized the telephone lines.

"This mobile phone is connected to a satellite leased by the Daidoji Group, so the communication fee is already included in the group's satellite leasing service fee."

Ling also understood that this was not a mobile phone, nor a "big brother", because both required a base station, and Tokyo did not have a base station at all. It was a satellite phone, which was a point-to-point connection directly via satellite. And it was very likely that the only phones provided by the rented satellite were these few prototype phones.

But it would be much more convenient to have a mobile phone. After all, although she, Tomoyo, and Sakura all have landlines at home, they are not always at home. It would be much more convenient to contact each other with a mobile phone.

“Please thank Chiyo for me.”

"Of course, you're very polite."

Ling also took the phone.

Although this is definitely a very expensive item, the prototype itself is not for sale, so there is no need to talk about the price. Only a few units were produced in total, and if the research and development costs are included, it would be an astronomical figure. But it is just a test product, otherwise Aunt Daidoji Sonomi would not joke about the company even if she dotes on her daughter.

That is actually a user experience activity for new products, collecting data in order to provide reference for the development of real civilian mobile phones. Ling is also looking forward to entering the era of smart phones as soon as possible, which is the world she is familiar with.

"By the way, I also have a gift for Chise. Please pass it on for me."

Ling also opened her handbag while speaking. She didn't like bags very much, either in the past or now. Although for many girls, branded bags are probably a fashion pursuit, just like many boys look at mechanical watches, Rolex, Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin. But Ling was not used to it, although she also had some, which were given by her mother during the New Year. She and her father each had their own families, but they still thought of her, and there was no shortage of various things - as long as you don't disturb them on weekdays, they might not hesitate to show their fatherly and motherly love on certain days every year.

But those bags are put away by her. She prefers to use simple handbags.

The cherry-colored bag tied around her wrist was small and cute, but it couldn't hold too many things. After all, she didn't have too many things to carry with her. In the past, she only brought some simple things for makeup and moisturizing, keys, mobile phones, and some necessary female products. Now that she was 9 years old again, she didn't need any of these anymore, even the mobile phone charger that had been used for a long time was gone. The keys to her house were also kept by Jianye. In fact, they were useless except for symbolism. There were hired guards for entering and leaving the manor, and there was no occasion where she needed to open the door with the keys herself.

Usually, a handbag is enough to hold a wallet or something like that.

But this time she had a few more hair ties in her handbag. Ling also took out a red and dark purple gradient, which seemed to match Chise very well.

"I went to Itomori Town near Kibitsu in Okayama a while ago and got this ribbon from Miyamizu Shrine, which has been dedicated to the gods for many years. Miyamizu Shrine enshrines Wamonjin, the god of weaving, and they say that this silk ribbon can bring good luck. I hope Tomoyo can recover soon."

“You’re thoughtful.”

Just like the trial cell phones, the ribbons that have been offered to the gods for years are also not something that can be measured in money.

However, the ribbon she asked for was actually one of the three ribbons given to her by Granny Miyamizu. She had already given the other one to Maria, and of course, the other one was for Sakura.

Those were the only friends she had, but they were enough.

She used to not believe in gods and Buddhas, but the Miyamizu Shrine and the so-called birth spirits could probably really bring some good luck. Lingye herself didn't need this. With Gaia's blessing, she was already blessed by the gods.

Chapter 84: Night Song

"Tomoyo-san's voice is broken, so I'm asking you, Reiya, to take her place in the competition. Is that what Tomoyo said?"

"Yes."

Teacher Tsujitani is a young female teacher in her twenties. She has curly bangs and hair tied up at the back, giving her a classical vibe. She usually wears a women's suit that is a bit more mature than her age, which makes her look a bit old-fashioned, but in fact, she is a very beautiful teacher.

As one of the students in the several classes she taught, Tsujitani Akiko was certainly not unfamiliar with Ling. But precisely because she taught so many classes and each class had only two music classes a week, Tsujitani did not have much contact with ordinary students except for the students in the choir club for whom she was a consulting teacher.