SIDE STORY 2
Is it true that Ngoc Lam can only perceive music with absolute pitch and has the ability to remember music exactly every note?
Of course not, because her ability is even greater than that.
The problem that Ngoc Lam always believes in comes from Ms. Phuong's criticism. Gradually, it was deeply ingrained in her thoughts, making her believe she had little ability.
If it weren't for her hard work and love for music, Ngoc Lam might have lost her music career forever after prolonged abuse and a 10-year hiatus.
The scars from that year will continue to affect Ngoc Lam for a very long time, even for the rest of her life.
-------------
SIDE STORY 3
Ngoc Lam was not a good student. When she was a young kid, her biggest ambition in studying was trying to get scores of five out of ten or above.
When Van Thac heard these words, he looked at his girlfriend in disbelief.
All the academic achievements she has achieved so far were thanks to her hard work.
For the first five years after retiring, she studied because she wanted to forget the music. Four years later, she studied because she wanted to forget Van Thac.
“What about after that? How did you study music and graduate from university with second-class honours?"
“Because… I like it. I guess."
Van Thac felt like he was no different from a potato.
“There are geniuses who have an amazing ability to concentrate. Don't belittle yourself, son."
K's voice rang out from the bushes right behind the park bench Thac was sitting on.
“Aah Aah Aah”
----------------------
SIDE STORY 4
Van Thac still felt like he was a potato.
He could not reach Ngoc Lam's level in music because she was a genius, but even in studying, something she wasn't good at from the beginning, just through hard work and concentration, she overshadowed him.
“What is she not good at?” Thac mumbled.
"Hey, you." Luyen laughed.
"Are you crazy?" Thuyen asked.
“How can you compare a qualified person like you”
"With a gifted person like Ngoc Lam?"
“And now,”
“You break yourself down.”
Shortly after that, Van Thac finally discovered something Ngoc Lam was not good at doing. She didn't know how to sing.
Not long after, Van Thac learned she did not know how to draw.
“Gosh-”
“Look at his happy face.”
Luyen and Thuyen pouted at their friend.
---------------------
SIDE STORY 5
Thuy was also invited to the concert by Ngoc Lam. When she met her old friend backstage, Thuy began to cry and hugged her. Thuy was a girl with a will. She went to school and worked to save money to travel domestically. Every place she went to, she made a blog post. In those past months, the number of followers had increased, and Thuy had also received advertising contracts.
The semester exams had just ended, and she immediately went to see Ngoc Lam.
Ngoc Lam was in no hurry to sign a long-term contract with any orchestra. After the show, she said goodbye to everyone and returned to school as usual.
She went back from being a legend to being an ordinary person so quickly that her friends at school were so confused about the person in the newspaper and the person sitting in class with them.
Ngoc Lam returned to her ordinary life, going to the University, and practising music, and on weekends, she and the the spouse of the landlady went to the countryside to play music in a familiar restaurant.
The restaurant was in the countryside, but it was packed with people. Ngoc Lam told the owner to give Thuy a place close to the piano where she often played music for everyone, whatever instrument she had.
That day, there was another person playing music with Ngoc Lam, Van Thac.
The two of them playing music together looked and sounded so great. However, Thuy noticed that the atmosphere around them seemed to sparkle more than usual.
"Oh, why am I so lonely?" Thuy thought.
But the trip wasn't too bad. The two girls often hung out and went shopping because Van Thac was busy with his career.
Two years passed quickly, and Thuy graduated. She travelled everywhere, talked about her experiences on social networks, was invited to talk shows and podcasts, wrote books, and sold photos she took herself.
She and Ngoc Lam often contact each other. There are stories Thuy told that also inspired Ngoc Lam to compose music.
One day, they met to sign a copyright contract for Thuy's story, Thuy told Ngoc Lam that she once felt a little self-conscious because Ngoc Lam and Van Thac were both ambitious with their passion. An ordinary person like Thuy was lost in the world of them. But then, it was different. Thuy understood what she wanted to do and was always steadfast towards it. An ordinary person like Thuy can also become the inspiration for a genius like Ngoc Lam.
Thuy told her that she was gradually learning how to love herself.
-------------------
SIDE STORY 6:
At the age of 15, his father smiled at Van Thac and asked the girl named Ngoc Lam in Thac's story if she was pretty. Thac didn't know how to answer.
After the duet, his parents and younger sister hugged Thac to congratulate him. His dad looked at Ngoc Lam and said.
“She's really pretty.”
Van Thac looked at Ngoc Lam, recalling the moments the two of them were together. He remembered when she always ignored him when she was young; when her face was surprised when the two reunited on both sides of the street; when the crystal-clear tears fell on her cheeks when she was weak; when snowflakes fell on her eyelashes the day he saw her off at the train station. She had now stepped away from the burden of the past, her face was bright and relieved, her hair was in a high bun, and she was wearing a silver fishtail dress, shaking hands and chatting with everyone.
Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
“Dad, you're right.”
Van Thac replied.
SIDE STORY 7
After the duet of Ngoc Lam and Van Thac, Mr Woods returned to Vietnam. He first submitted a job transfer application to the Rector and the Department of Education for him to move to the mountainous area.
He was determined to leave the Conservatory, moved to the mountainous area to teach, and lived a daily life of climbing hills and wading streams, following Mr Hieu's and Mrs Phuong's plans in the past.
He did not care about fame or power and was not afraid of threats from the Rector. That bald man felt like he could not grab the hair from a hairless man's head. He became disappointed and unwilling, so he cursed loudly. Mr Woods ignored it, said goodbye to his students and colleagues, and sat still to wait for the decision above and then left.
At the Conservatory of Music, there was an opera teacher who really liked Van Thac. She discovered his singing talent and kept looking for ways to teach him. Unfortunately, Mr Woods refused and held him tight. The two teachers argued back and forth. They had been fighting like that for more than ten years.
Mr Woods had been a widower for more than twenty years. The day he was about to go up the mountainous area, he told the opera teacher that living there would be boring because he wouldn't have her to argue with him, so she packed her bags and went up the mountain without a second to consider. The auntie, whom everyone believed would be alone all her life, suddenly sent them a wedding announcement on a beautiful day.
After Mr Woods went to the mountain, Mr Hieu was rejected in his application to be appointed Vice President of the National Music Association.
Mrs Phuong was unable to renew her title as a Meritorious Artist, and her husband's application was rejected. The couple was suspicious about the reasons behind it, so they asked everywhere and found out there was evidence proving they were not morally qualified to be approved. What was the evidence? They had no idea. They could not find the one who sent the letter of rebuke, either.
The couple was upset about their promotion when someone sent them a message. That was a screenshot of Ngoc Lam's mother's phone, the time was the last message Minh texted the little girl - ten years ago.
Ngoc Lam: Hello Minh. It's me, Ngoc Lam. I'm back. Tomorrow I'll go to the Conservatory, and let's play a duet together.
Me (three days later): I have to go on tour. Wait for me to come back. We will have a duet on a grand stage together.
Ngoc Lam's parents always lived modestly and humbly. Luckily, because of that lifestyle and her uncanny ability to repair electronics, her mother kept the old phone until then.
The message also included a compressed file containing the testimony of Minh's friends and the leader of the Czechoslovakian orchestra that year. All clues about Minh's death led to Thanh, the last person to see Minh before his death.
Thanh had the support of Mr Hieu and Mrs Phuong. When his career life was going smoothly, the couple started to turn against him.
Without the support, Thanh had his position replaced in the city's choir by a new person, and his career became much more difficult. He found two people to confront, but he did not expect his dirty secrets to be exposed by the couple. Thanh could not accept the reality because he had lived like their henchman for years. They also threatened his biological parents and forced him to leave the city. A month later, Thanh sent a complaint denouncing the couple's abuse of power. He started entering showbiz, learning all kinds of tricks to attract attention.
The buzz about Ngoc Lam's return was echoed in daily conversations in Vietnam. A prodigy at the Conservatory of Music retired for ten years before returning with a foreign orchestra. She was used as an example of the National issue of 'brain drain'. Based on anonymous denunciations and Thanh's, the Government quickly sent inspectors to the Conservatory of Music. The scandals surrounding the school and Mrs Phuong-Mr Hieu were gradually revealed.
Thanh took advantage of the media to pre-empt the couple, causing public opinion to believe the story about the deceased child's boyfriend being used and exploited by the couple. He did not expect that Mr Hieu-Mrs Phuong would not try to cover up their crimes but directly posted evidence of his involvement in Minh's illness and death on social networks.
The two sides denounced each other on social media, there was a lot of drama, and public opinion was divided into many factions that argued with the others for days. The investigation process was extended due to its complications. Every now and then, a new detail was revealed. The most shocking information that journalists collected was their mental abuse of Ngoc Lam, forcing her to retire for ten years and develop her own career abroad.
Since then, the story of their collusion with powerful authorities to cover the eyes of outsiders, the story of oppressing other artists to gain advantages for their people, and the story of bribery and taking bribes have become even more exposed. Ngoc Lam's case was just the most serious among dozens of mental abuse of students who were not pleasing to them.
The Women's Union and Children's Rights Organizations also spoke up to demand justice for Ngoc Lam. The issue of child abuse was gradually being recognized by the community. Many people were investigated to be involved in this incident. Some had even become professionals, some were teachers, and some had positions in Government offices. Thanh was the most active bully. The evidence that he helped Mr Hieu and Mrs Phuong do immoral and illegal things was listed in the files of the report.
For a long time, Mr Woods continued to climb hills and wade streams with his wife each day to teach children in the highlands. There were a few inspectors who came to see him. Mr Woods declared whatever he knew, sometimes secretly suggesting new sources of information that they could exploit.
Luyen and Thuyen also went up the mountain to stay with the teachers for a few days. The two guys knew that Mr Woods was more or less involved in the matter in the city, and the Government knew even more. What happened to Ngoc Lam changed his perception of power and influence in that artistic environment. He had to build his own power, contact journalists, and quietly investigate the Conservatory's scandals. K and M helped collect stories about Mr Hieu and Mrs Phuong using unfair competition practices abroad, information that caused Mr Hieu's appointment application to be rejected.
Even though he knew that Luyen and Thuyen hated power games in the music world, he could not stand the two students clinging to his house, outstaying his welcome. Mr Woods wanted to kick them out of his house.
“But it's so chaotic down there, teacher!” The two guys grumbled.
“Chaos is chaos, but people who have to live still have to live. I've been through enough struggles. Now, it's your turn."
Luyen and Thuyen intended to return to the Conservatory of Music according to their initial wishes. But as soon as they reached the city, the situation was a filthy mess. The boys wanted to escape to the mountains, but they did not expect that Mr Woods was going to chase them away.
"Go," Mr. Lam patted the two boys' shoulders, "Remember to keep your mind clear and steady, then you won't be afraid of encountering troubles like those two old people down there."
'Those two old people' implied Mrs Phuong and Mr Hieu.
At this point, the two guys had to leave.
Sometime later, Mr Hieu, Msr Phuong, and Thanh were all sentenced to prison. Luckily, the couple had their sentence considerably reduced due to the relationships they had established during their career, so only Thanh received the heaviest sentence. The story also stirred up public opinion for a while.
The teacher's wife looked at Thanh's outcome and pitied him. In his early days in the Conservatory, he was also a talented person, but she didn't understand why he let himself fall into this situation. Mr Woods said that everyone needed moral and conscious cultivation. Unfortunately, from the beginning, Thanh chose to live like mistletoe, clinging to Minh to promote himself for too long to remember how to stand on his own feet.
The Rector was dismissed and given a suspended sentence. The newly appointed person seems to be wise. Hopefully, he would run the Conservatory right.
A few more years passed, and Luyen graduated with excellent results from the Conservatory of Music and was recruited as a lecturer there. Thuyen did not stay in the city, but he chose to go back to his hometown in the countryside, gather people in the village, and create a country music orchestra. Everyone said Thuyen was not a direct student of Mr Woods, but he influenced his way of life the most.
Ngoc Lam and Van Thac became lovers and worked abroad. Mr Woods and his wife, in the mountainous area, not only taught the children but also travelled everywhere to collect local musical instruments and music as research topics. The teachers sent the documents to Ngoc Lam. Three people researched together. Later, Ngoc Lam's projects were successfully defended, she earned a doctorate degree, and Mr Woods and his wife were named in these projects. The house of the teachers had become one of the destinations for tourists who wanted to learn about highland music and culture.
Van Thac became a composer and trumpeter. He was striving to become a conductor like K and M.
The next few years passed.
Mr. Lam was still healthy. His wife often teased him that in the past, Mr Hieu and his wife intended to send him to the mountain to make him suffer. Now seeing him like that, they must be angry to death.
Luyen married a woman outside the industry but had a passion for art and music.
Thuyen was single, making friends with the fields, trees and music. He uses his social network account to share about his country music band, which also had a few achievements.
Occasionally, Luyen, Thuyen, and Thac returned with the National Orchestra to perform state-level performances. Their childhood dream of playing in the same orchestra was also considered fulfilled.
One afternoon, when clouds spread across the mountain, Mr Woods and his wife received a group of tourists. The tour guide asked them to help him catch chickens and cook rice, which reminded the teacher of the beggar-like appearance of K and M in the past.
The smiling commune official drove an old motorcycle and parked it in front of the teacher's house, giving him an envelope. That is the wedding invitation of Van Thac and Ngoc Lam.
Teacher Lam looked at his wife and smiled happily, then he turned to the tourists sitting cross-legged around the rice tray, raising the wine cup above his head.
“Apple Meow Meow!”
“Apple Meow Meow!”
[END]