CHapter 82
Noe only realized when she got out of the car that the music store Merrick had described as “sort
of” actually took up a whole quaint little building right smack in the middle of Imperial. City’s busiest
commercial street.
The ce was a full six stories of musical heaven. Whether it was a zither, piano, or guitar, they
had everything on and off the market.
They even had a lineup of instruments signed by the masters themselves. Pianos that international
maestros had tickled the ivories on were just gathering dust in the corners here.
Noe stood at the entrance of the music store and was lost for words.
The gallery next door, the one the old man had lumped on her along with the music store, was
already on Yasbel’s radar.
Pris Star had wanted to snap it up and run it themselves, but Yasbel was ying hardball.
Beckett pointed to the jade sculptures at the entrance and said, “That’s a masterpiece by the
carving legend, Master Sylvie. I had to fork out a pretty penny to snag it at the auction.”
Noe’s gaze fell on the all–too–familiar sculpture, and she went even quieter.
Those statues by the doors of the music store and gallery were her handiwork; carved during a data
bottleneck at Pris Star when she needed to cool off and rethink things. And even such pieces
had fetched a cool 30 million at auction.
Beckett ushered Noe into the music store, and the bustling clerks all paused from their tasks.
Beckett took Noe’s hand and introduced her, “From now on, this music store is Noe’s. She’s
your boss. Got it?”
The clerks exchanged nces, sensing something unusual in the air.
The youngdy took over such a fancy joint right aftering back, so Merrick must think the world
of her.
“Yes, Mr. Schnabel.” They replied.
Beckett waved over, and two suit–d gents scurried over with fawning grins stered on their
faces, “Noe, meet Terrell, the manager of the music shop. And this is Travis, manager of the
gallery next door. If you need anything, these are the guys to talk to.”
Noe nodded, going through the motions of meeting the team with Beckett.
After Beckett chatted with the managers about thetest quarter’s financial of music store and
gallery, he turned to find Noe standing in front of a zither.
The zither was Master Rainer’s handiwork, priceless, and only on disy in Merrick’s music store
because the old man had begged and borrowed it, only to have to return it next month.
12:22
Dressed in a light blue gown, Noe looked like a star under the perfectly adjusted lights of the
store. Her dress was shimmering as if sprinkled with stardust. She stood there, and her elegant
poise was like a piece of snowke untouched by the world’s taint.
She was breathtaking, and Beckett couldn’t resist whipping out his phone to capture the beauty
before his eyes.
Without a second thought, he shot that fairy–like pic into the family group chat.
Ulrich: [Noe looks gorgeous. She’s like a little fairy from our n.]
Stirling: [Does sis fancy that zither, Beckett? Could we convince Master Rainer to sell it to us?]
Jasper: [I’ll touch base with Master Rainer right away, see how much he’d let it go for.]
ra: [Noe looks great with those instruments too. Let’s buy them all, heck, just gift–wrap the
whole store for her. If you guys are short on cash, I’ll foot the bill. You men are a bunch of
cheapskates.]
The chat was charged like a standoff at high noon.
The Schnabel men were all fired up with a burning desire to splurge.
Who was a cheapskate? Talk about throwing away cash here!
Terrell, the manager of the music store, had pretty much run the show since Merrick rarely
intervened and Beckett wasn’t a frequent visitor.
So, in his eyes, Noe was nothing more than a clueless heiress.
Do these young misses think they know music? She probably doesn’t even know the first thing.
about a zither, he mused.
“Miss, this zither was personally crafted by Rainer. It’s one of a kind, so please be careful.” he thus
added.
Noe looked up, giving Terrell in his sharp suit a nonchnt nce.
“The instruments here are all precious, and this one before you is the crown jewel. If you damage it,
we’d be in hot water with Master Rainer.”
Beckett shot Terrell a less than friendly look, “My sister’s liking is the zither’s luck.”
Terrell apologized with his lips but couldn’t hide his skepticism.
Herees a clueless heiress who probably doesn’t know what a zither was, yet she still wants to
run the shop.
What a joke.
Noe turned away and settled in front of the zither, casually remarking. “If it’s so precious, why
hasn’t anyone fixed contrabass strings when they’re damaged?”
Terrell was sweating bullets, “Well, it’s Master Rainer’s creation, and we wouldn’t dare…”
FUL
12:22
“The contrabass strings are important. If you are not fixing them, that’s fine. But why didn’t your
clean its whole soundboard as well?”
Noe knew Master Rainer. The old guy wouldn’t bother if it wasn’t perfect. He used the best.
materials. And she’d hand–carved the soundboard’s pattern for him.
“Master Rainer would be livid if he knew how you were treating his zither.” As she spoke, Noe
effortlessly opened a toolbox on the floor and began meticulously restoring the zither. She was
carefully maintaining the strings to ensure the old man’s hard work wasn’t wasted.
Beckett’s icy gaze fell upon Terrell, “Terrell, I believe you owe me an exnation.”
“Well Mr. Schnabel, we really didn’t dare touch this instrument and since Master Rainer’s zithers are
said to be unyable by anyone. We never y it, so we never noticed this.”
Before Terrell could even finish his sentence, the melodious sound of a zither began to echo
through the store.
The notes twinkled like fireflies, and the girl ying the piano had fingertips that were pink and
lustrous, with nails that were just the right length and sported a soft pink hue. The music flowed in
waves, as soothing and refreshing as a cool breeze under a bright moon, which made everyone
around hold their breath.
Beckett was so pumped he didn’t forget to record the moment.
When the performance ended, Noe casually tuned the zither before getting up, “A zither is made
to be yed. What’s the point of having it otherwise? If I catch you guys cking off and not
maintaining the zither again, you can forget about working here.”
The staff in t
in the shop were utterly gobsmacked! They had been working there for years and had
never heard such amazing zither music before!
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This Missy wasn’t just some boss who had stumbled in; she was like a fairy descended from the
heavens. This content ? N?v/elDr(a)m/a.Org.
Terrell’s eyes were wide as saucers; he hadn’t expected the Missy whom he thought was ignorant
to actually know her way around the zither, and to y it so well, too!
Meeting Noe’s gaze, clear and cool as a spring. Terrell broke out in a cold sweat, “Yes, Miss!
We’ll be more careful from now on!”
With a grin, Beckett shared the video to the Schnabel family chat, adding, “No way! Can you believe
there are people who haven’t heard this live?!”
The chat went dead silent.
A momentter, Beckett found himself kicked out of the group chat by Tristan.
Beckett was about to say something when he saw himself booted. “What? What’s this supposed to
mean?” he frowned and asked.
Was he booted just because they never managed to hear her sister ying music?
12:22
Speechless, Beckett opened his Facebook, and the first thing he saw was a video of Noe ying
the zither, posted by Tristan: (Our little girl is growing up. Seeing my treasure y the piano is
enough to bring a tear to a father’s eye! How’s my filming, everyone?]
Did you even film this?? Beckett mused.
Now he had to hurry up and buy that zither for Noe. Otherwise, she’d soon be snatched away by
their other family members.
Beckett’s mouth twitched as he pocketed his phone and walked over to Noe, “I still got something
to handle, so let the manager apany you to the gallery. Anything you need, just tell me.”
“Alright, you go ahead with your work,” Noe answered.