In fact, I can sing and can sing well. But, instead of singing in karaoke room with subtitles of lyrics, it is impossible for me to complete singing in here without preparation.
What’s worse, three people of those rich group of women performed singing, whose voice and high level were so good that they were even qualified to take part in those official singing talent show to some extent. Under this kind of circumstances, if I still perform singing, wouldn’t I display my poor skill before those experts and embarrass myself?
“Now let’s welcome Alex’ parent to make a performance for us.” The host called me at that time.
“You go to perform, I really can’t make it.” I looked at Leon and said to him.
However, he pushed me out of the crowd.
“Our Alex’ mother is really young and beautiful, and looks like a college student. May I ask Alex’ mother , what talent you are going to perform, please?”
In fact, my mind went blank completely at that time. I knew nothing about what I should perform for I did not make any preparations at all.
As those rich ladies started to give contemptuous laughter to me, I still could not make a response with my mouth opened. Then Leon walked to the stage and said, “The talent that my wife is about to perform is a little more special than the others. Being a top-student who got full marks in maths, physics and chemistry when she was young, she intends to perform remembering the numbers. And I find this kind of performance is more meaningful as well, since the aim of the talent show is setting an good example for the children.”
“Remembering the numbers? How to remember then? Are you meaning your wife is going to perform remembering the numbers in shorthand?” The host asked with great interests.
“Yes. All right, here’s the way, all the children present here can randomly write down three groups of numbers they like, and then we will arrange these numbers in a row randomly, and my wife can remember and recite the order of these numbers in three minutes.” Leon said.
“Wow, it’s amazing! This good talent can also get the children involved. So that’s it, we will prepare a board and let the children write down their favorite numbers. We are looking forward to Miss Yao making her great performance.” The host said.
“Really? She can remember all those numbers?” The parents down the stage started to query.
“She definitely is bragging! I don’t believe that she can remember all those numbers.” Some people said as well.
I looked at Leon innocently, since when had I said that I would perform remembering the numbers in shorthand? My grades in scientific subjects were indeed not bad, but I had never learned how to remember things in shorthand, which definitely needs professional training, right? He was just going to entrap me!
“You can handle it.”Leon said, who were apparently much calmer than me.
I said with my voice down, “There will be thirty groups of numbers if each one of the ten kids write down three groups. So how can I remember all those numbers? Are you determined to embarrass me?”
“No, I believe you can. You can recite those financial numbers in the company after seeing the document for only once, and the numbers today are way much easier than those. The children in kindergarten can write down at most double-digit, and few of them can write down three-digit, so most of the numbers are just from zero to nine. Just calm down, you definitely can remember the order of those thirty groups of numbers.”
“It would be such a easy thing as you just said. So why don’t you go to make this performance yourself?” I asked him angrily.
“No, this is your business, I will not interfere. Don’t be so angry, just calm down, then you can fully show your potential.” Leon said, clapping my shoulder.
“Mrs. Hua, it would be a big challenge for you. Don’t make any mistakes, or you will disappoint our children.” Some rich ladies came to provoke me deliberately.
As I didn’t have the chance to say anything, Leon had already answered,” It’s not an official competition, so it doesn’t really matter even if she doesn’t remember anything. Should those athletes who take part in the Olympic Games must win golden medals? If everyone take this kind of logical thought for granted, then our country’s men’s football team does not need to participate in any competitions at all, because they will always lose anyway.”
“I admire you for your great protection for your wife.” The lady was not very pleased for Leon’s words.
“Of course, I believe she can complete the performance.”Leon answered coldly.
The lady walked passed us since Leon’s humiliation towards her made her feel awkward. Then she talked with other rich ladies, who were probably all waiting to see me make a fool of myself.
Every social circle had its own exclusiveness. Those groups of rich ladies like them were the upper class of this city, and they all knew each other. Even they didn’t communicate much generally, at least they could make greetings when they met. But I was different from them, who knew nobody. And now I broke into their circle so suddenly, of course they would push me out and hope to see me embarrass myself.
The other reason was some of them knew that Leon took me and then ran away from his wedding ceremony. Therefore, they had pushed me out from the bottom of their hearts, since some of them were definitely Ruoxin Chen’s friends.
I felt great pressure, but I still had to face the current situation.
Just in a minute, the children had all written down their thirty groups of numbers, which were impossible to find any order. Some children wrote the easiest numbers such as 1、2 and 3 directly, some of them wrote double-digit, and it was true that few wrote three-digit, for only two kids did that.
So if the numbers were counted as word numbers, they would outnumber thirty.
Seeing those numbers arranged on the board, I tried hard to make myself calm down. In only three minutes, I must find some laws of those numbers, otherwise it would be impossible for me to remember them all.
Leon walked towards me and said,” Calm down, you can definitely handle it. Do you know how to read numbered musical notation?”
“Yes, I know.” An idea flashed in my mind suddenly, and I had understood his meaning.
“Then it would be so much easier, you can imagine those numbers as a line of numbered musical notation. For example, you can see 0、8 and 9 as 1, then all the numbers will become the numbered musical notation of a song. Then, it will be easier to attach more importance to remembering those numbers which have been turned into 1 by you. It is really not a big problem if you use your skill. Go and begin, I will leave you alone.”
This idea put forward by Leon was feasible, but still was not easy. It could not turn into a music score randomly from a group of numbers, and it still needed me to think about more details.
To avoid the interference of the outside world and give me the opportunity to remember the numbers carefully, the teachers in the kindergarten gave me a pair of noise isolating earphones to wear and left me alone to remember the numbers.
Although there should be three minutes for my preparation, the teacher who counted down the time was so nice to me that she gave me extra one minute to prepare.
“Well, now the time is up, and we are at a magic moment. Let’s wait and see if Alex’ mother can succeed.”
I closed my eyes and slowly recited the order of the numbers I had remembered towards the microphone. At that moment, I really could give myself a break without having any other distracting thoughts. And only the line of the numbers, or a line of notes, which all lined up , flashed one by one before me. Every time one of the notes flashed, I then recited one.
When I opened my eyes, I heard the sound of clapping. I could finally relax, I made it!
“Mom, you are fantastic, you are a genius!” Alex ran to me, full of pride.
“My baby, you are a real genius.” I hugged him at once.
Leon then walked towards us, and hugged both Alex and me, saying,” Not bad, Nala, I knew that you can complete it.”
“You still mention this subject now, but what if I fail? What should I do then?” I asked him with my voice down.
“Then I would tell them you were never a top-student, I was just kidding. That’s all.” Leon said with a slight smile.
Well, He was too bad.