Simon finally looked at Janet Johnston, with a slight smile, and said seriously: "Actually, I only want to invite Catherine alone, but it doesn't matter if you come together."

When Janet heard this, she immediately hugged Catherine towards her, as if she was afraid that Simon would snatch the woman away.

However, in an instant, she reacted again, stretched out a slender index finger and continued to gesture at the piano case at her feet, saying: "I mean, with all your money, you can't even open a bottle of better red wine.

"

Simon plucked the strings casually and said: "I won't drink wine this time. I am a boy who invites two women to dinner and drinks wine. People will misunderstand me."

Janet glanced at Simon's clothes and said with disdain: "Who could misunderstand you?"

Simon also glanced at the Hermès bag on Janet's shoulder and said with a smile: "Yeah, so I'm afraid that you two will be misunderstood."

Janet blinked a few times in a daze, and then she realized what she was doing and glared at Simon fiercely: "Ah!"

Catherine just happened to find Simon on the street and wanted to walk by silently.

The last time they met, Simon left a deep impression on her. The woman subconsciously felt that such an outstanding boy like him was naturally proud, and perhaps she didn't want to see him in such embarrassment at this time.

Only when her friend forced her to come closer did Catherine have to meet Simon.

At this time, hearing Jenny's words to bully Simon, Catherine wanted to stop her, but she noticed the uncaring smile on Simon's face, and the woman suddenly felt a little more understanding.

He is naturally proud, and she can be sure of this from many details when they first met.

However, this kind of pride obviously does not have any paranoia stemming from the inferiority complex deep inside. Therefore, he does not feel that his current state is very embarrassing. Faced with Jenny's squeeze, he behaves more like a

A mature and steady adult is accommodating a naughty little girl.

Most of the time, aren't I trying to accommodate the same temperament as the little girl Jenny?

Thinking of this, Catherine couldn't help but laugh out loud when she saw that her friend didn't get any advantage in the verbal confrontation with Simon.

"Where are you from?" Hearing Catherine's chuckle, Janet immediately glared at her with dissatisfaction, warned her, and then turned to Simon. Her eyes turned, and the woman suddenly changed like a fairy.

With a face that had no trace of the anger just now, he slowly took out his wallet from his bag, took out a 100-dollar bill, waved it in front of Simon, put it casually in the piano case, and said: "Hey, little one

Boy, I haven’t heard enough just now, let’s sing another song. But if I’m not satisfied, I’ll get my money back.”

Simon nodded: "Okay, I'll open a bottle of red wine for you later."

"Hey, didn't you hear? I mean..." Janet was just about to make another statement, but the boy in front of her had already started to pluck the strings, and this time the expensive Gibson acoustic guitar with a clear sound sounded a verse.

The short notes of ding-ding-dong-dong felt familiar to her, but for a moment she didn't remember where she had heard them before. She subconsciously said: "I know this, um, it's..."

Simon plucked the strings several times to get familiar with the feel. He looked up at the two women in front of him, and with a faint smile on his lips, he said: "Flight of the Bumblebee, for Jenny."

As soon as the words fell, the smart and urgent music was already playing on the strings in front of Simon.

The urgent melody, which begins with a series of rapidly descending scales, immediately evokes the image of a nimble wasp swooping down towards the evil weaver and cook in the story. Then, the melody begins to roll up and down, just like the wasp.

Move around quickly.

As the most famous piece of music in Russian composer Korsakov's opera "The Story of the Satan King", "Flight of the Bumblebee" has appeared in "The Green Hornet", "Shining Style", "The Untold Secret", etc.

It has appeared in many film and television works, and with its extremely fast melody, it has gradually become a famous song for many musicians to show off their musical skills.

Compared with those guitarists who blindly pursue speed and cause a lot of mistakes and omissions, and even play "Flight of the Bumblebee" like a swarm of exploding wasps, Simon values ​​the integrity of the song more, so he does not deliberately pursue speed.

However, with the support of Simon's hand speed of about 170 beats per minute, the standard sixteenth-note tunes suddenly flowed out, and the high-speed tunes still instantly formed a wonderful freeze-frame scene around the street.

Almost all the pedestrians within the area covered by the sound of the piano were stunned for a moment, and then everyone focused their attention on a certain big boy with a focused expression.

The mother pushing the stroller stopped;

The couple who were choosing handicrafts put down their matryoshka dolls;

The boy who wanted to quickly pass through the crowd stepped on the skateboard under his feet;

The middle-aged man on the bench on the street removed the newspaper in front of him;

A crazy woman who wanted to continue to criticize also widened her eyes and pursed her lips tightly.

At this moment, the focused big boy in front of me seemed to be the center of the universe.

The tune played for more than ten seconds, and a young girl in fashionable clothes who was standing next to Simon in front of the stall also seemed to wake up from a dream, and panicked and pointed the super-8mm camera lens in her hand at a certain boy.

In fact, she had passed by this boy half an hour ago and listened to him sing Joni Mitchell's "Big-Yellow-Taxi" with a very unique arrangement, so she remembered her youthful youth.

And the rebellious girlhood.

In the New Year when I had just entered ninth grade, in order to prepare for the school Christmas party, I rehearsed this Joni Mitchell song with my friends in the basement of my friend's house despite the pressure of my strict parents.

*He built a road to heaven.

*Build a parking lot.

*There are also boutique shops and pink hotels.

*And a variety of playgrounds.

*……

Joni Mitchell is such a poet, admirable.

So many years have passed.

Suddenly looking back.

It's like a lifetime ago.

She liked music, painting, and movies, and dreamed of becoming an artist like Joni Mitchell. However, she later followed her parents' wishes and entered Yale Law School.

In the blink of an eye, I am already a junior.

During a casual trip or on the street, I heard the song from back then again, and many thoughts from my girlhood suddenly came to my mind.

So, I wandered around Venice Beach for a while, but unknowingly turned back, hiding nearby and pretending to be a passerby, hoping to hear this boy singing "Big-Yellow-Taxi" again.

For this reason, he took out the camera in his bag and wanted to secretly record a video of him singing.

Then I heard the conversation between him and the two women just now.

And the stunning "Flight of the Bumblebee" at this time.

Her name is also Jenny.

Standing nearby and listening to the boy say "Flight of the Bumblebee, for Jenny", the string in my heart was even plucked.

Many people on the street came over, and she no longer remained reserved. She walked over quietly, hiding herself from the crowd. She adjusted the camera lens in her hand and focused on the figure in front of her who was concentrating on playing the strings. At the same time, she felt sorry for this boy in shabby clothes.

I feel a little shocked by my profound guitar skills.

She had studied piano, and the top pianist her parents hired to teach her happened to have demonstrated this piece to her and explained many of its details to her. So she knew that "Flight of the Bumblebee" wanted to play.

It's not too difficult to learn, but it's by no means easy to play well.

Moreover, compared to the piano, it is even more difficult to perfectly express this piece of music with a guitar with only a few strings.

But at this moment, the boy in front of me not only accomplished this, he even created a strong image of a wasp flying among the crowd in the small world enveloped by the sound of the piano through a perfect performance.

Then, what surprised her even more was that after completing the first 70-second performance, the boy did not pause at all and immediately started the second time, and the tempo was obviously faster, but the tune was not out of shape at all.

This should be more than 200 beats per minute, right?

She thought to herself that one minute passed quickly.

It loops again, and the tune speeds up again.

And then again.

On the fifth time, she felt that even if the boy's hand speed could not reach 300 beats per minute, it was probably not much different.

The sixteenth-note "Flight of the Bumblebee" has four notes per beat and a hand speed of close to 300 beats. It is already a level that can only be achieved by the top guitarists. At this time, it can be said that it suddenly appeared in an ordinary person.

of street boys.

Is this my hallucination? Or is it a paranormal incident in Venice Beach?

Although it felt a little incredible, she still instinctively felt that this boy could definitely be faster.

However, when the last performance ended, the sound of the piano suddenly stopped.

She moved her gaze down from the side of the boy's face and found that the boy's palm was carefully pressing on the strings, obviously not intending to continue.

A series of slightly regretful sighs seemed to float in the air.

Immediately, all the people watching on the street applauded enthusiastically.

She also wanted to applaud, but found that she still had a camera in her hand.

So I quickly turned it off, put it down without leaving a trace, and gave him a guilty look. Although I couldn't record the "Big-Yellow-Taxi" I wanted, this video is definitely enough for me to treasure.

Amid the applause of the crowd, the boy politely thanked everyone, and some people generously put several large bills into the boy's piano case.

She glanced at it and saw that the $100 that the woman put in just now was still eye-catching. However, the $10 that she put down half an hour ago when he was not paying attention was already covered by other banknotes.

Inexplicably, she felt a little regretful. Although there was still a lot of cash in her wallet, she instinctively did not dare to step forward.

Afraid that he would notice me.

She is such an inconspicuous girl.

With this thought in mind, after a moment of excitement, the onlookers dispersed one after another.

I realized that I should turn around and leave, but there were still a few people there, so it didn't seem to matter if I stayed for a while longer.
Chapter completed!