Chapter 229：Kittens

On this day, Xue Jing Yi received an invitation from the Chopin International Piano Competition, which was the grandest tournament in the piano world, divided into the children's group, the youth group and the adult group. If you won the youth group championship, you would be unconditionally admitted to the world's best music college, Curtis Academy, and awarded a very generous scholarship.

Xue Zi Xuan, who'd won the youth group championship at the age of 12 and became the youngest student at Curtis, had made his mark on the world. He was hailed as the Piano Prince, and he had already succeeded in crowning himself. When it involved playing the piano, no musician dared claim they could play better than him.

He'd conquered the world with his superb skill and vigorous musical expression.

As his sister, Xue Jing Yi's application received widespread attention from the media and the music world's insiders. They had high hopes for her and wondered if she would be the Piano Queen. Of course, some worried that Xue Jing Yi's health might not support the brutal completion, so they'd deliberated for a long time on whether or not to send her a letter.

But Xue Jing Yi had personally called the Organizing Committee, insisting that she could adhere to the game, and in order to support his sister, Xue Zi Xuan had taken the initiative to sign a contract with the Organizing Committee to become one of the adult group's judges.

He was only 26 years old but he needed to review the qualifications of a group of musicians who might be decades older than him, it seemed ludicrous. However, when the news came out, no one objected to this, and every player who submitted an application to the Organizing Committee thought that having Xue Zi Xuan listen to their performance was a supreme honor.

The Organizing Committee finally agreed, and the invitation letter was issued to Xue Jing Yi. The tournament was held every five years, and every opening was very precious, so they naturally didn't appreciate absenteeism. It was particularly unfair to those who were unable to get in.

Xue Jing Yi was overjoyed, this was the only good news she'd received since Huang Yi came to Xue house. That morning, after Xue Yan picked up Huang Yi, she clung to Xue Zi Xuan and begged him to join her piano practice.

She opened the piano cover, smiling as she stroked the black and white keys one by one, as if life was once again full of sunshine and hope.

"Brother, can you help me pick out the songs I'll play in the game?" She took out a few music sheets.

Xue Zi Xuan stared out the window, silent.

"Brother, what's wrong?" Xue Jing Yi called out cautiously.

Xue Zi Xuan woke up from his trance, his tone indifferent, "Pick out your favorite songs to practice, I'll tell you if you should choose it after listening."

Brother, are you looking at me? Please look at me! The cheerful dance song turned into absolute frantic sorrow. Xue Jing Yi's hands harshly pressed on the keys, tears leaking from her eyes. She'd ruined the dance song, and if things were normal, her brother would've severely reprimanded her, but now, he clearly hadn't been listening to a single note, still standing by the window and staring blankly into the distance, his back seemed so lonely.

She knew he was waiting for Huang Yi. Huang Yi usually left for 10 hours, and her brother usually kept this position until sunset. She really wanted to go over and embrace him, tell him how much she loved him, and ask him to give her some attention. But these frenzied and fervent thoughts, when they see his cold, lifeless eyes, vanish into smoke and ashes.

Her hands repeatedly pounded the piano keys to create harsh noises, but the man never looked back. Xue Jing Yi slumped in the bench, finally giving up, and wiped away her tears, then she lightly asked, "Big brother, how was my playing?"

Xue Zi Xuan didn't turn his head to reply, "Continue." He hadn't listened, so he declined to comment.

Xue Jing Yi almost couldn't help but laugh. Was this still her brother? If it was the past, he would've already thrown her out of the room. Now, his eyes only saw Huang Yi, his ears only heard Huang Yi, his heart could only think about Huang Yi.

In his view, except for Huang Yi, everybody else were just empty air.

Xue Jing Yi pressed down her stinging heart, then flipped to the next song and started playing, when she reached the second section, Xue Zi Xuan suddenly opened the open door and rushed downstairs. Xue Jing Yi's eyes darkened, feeling a premonition. She lifted the curtains to look into the garden, and sure enough, Xue Yan's car was driving down the forest path.

Huang Yi was back.

Xue Jing Yi watched in jealousy as her brother protectively pulled the boy behind him, then watched as Xue Yan stuck his head out of the car window to say something. The two men looked at each other, eyes filled with flames of burning hostility.

However, after hearing Huang Yi's clear and melodious voice say 'Bye uncle', the two's ugly complexion instantly became pleasant. Obviously, their understanding of this sentence was very different, and their love of Huang Yi was so profound, he didn't even need to do anything earth-shattering, just give a smile and say a few words, and he could please them.

They were clearly twins, but God's gift of a healthy body, beautiful smile, and extraordinary talent were all presented to him, and except for a hole riddled heart, she had nothing. This wasn't fair!

This way of thinking, Xue Jing Yi had obviously forgotten her sixteen years of living a luxurious and comfortable life style, and had also forgotten the hardships that her true relatives have suffered.

When she sat back before the piano, her heart filled to the brim with jealousy, the door opened, and Xue Zi Xuan led the boy in, his originally cold and indifferent face was now enveloped with a layer of warmth.

"You said you wanted me to help you pick the songs right, what are your favorites?"

"All here." Xue Jing Yi handed over the sheets on the music stand, her heart full of unspeakable bitterness. The same instructions again, he really hadn't been listening to her performance. Although she already knew it, she still felt miserable at his indifferent attitude.

Zhou Yun Sheng moved closer to glance at them. Xue Zi Xuan sensed his closeness and smiled, he looked back at him and pulled him into his arms, placing the music sheets on his knee to facilitate his reading. Xue Yan's departure had put him in a good mood, if possible, he hoped the other man would never come back.

"Xiao Yi, why did you come back so early?" Xue Jing Yi did her best to not stare at their embrace.

"Uncle has something to deal with, he might not come back to the golf course for at least a month or two." Zhou Yun Sheng blinked innocently. In fact, Xue Yan wasn't busy, but he'd remembered that Xue Jing Yi had received the invitation letter, so he'd deliberately rushed back, signing a lot of unequal treaties to accomplish this.

In the last life, Xue Jing Yi had also received the invitation today, and the system had immediately released the task to have him try to disrupt the competition for Xue Jing Yi. But the daughter of fate was fate's daughter, no matter how many times he beat Xue Jing Yi down, she would quickly cheer up and bravely return to the battle field. He remembered that for the finals, he'd hurt her fingers, yet she'd completed the difficult piano piece and won the championship through amazing perseverance.

It was also on that day that Xue Zi Xuan really started to see her as a fine woman, instead of a little sister.

In this life, he wouldn't use the system's moronic methods to trap Xue Jing Yi, he had a much more fun plan.

"Jing Yi, I heard you received an invitation to the Chopin International Piano Competition? Congratulations." Zhou Yun Sheng smiled and said.

"Thank you." Xue Jing Yi nodded politely, her heart hating Xue Yan for not taking him away with him.

"You can spend some of your free time helping Jing Yi with her practice. She still has a lot of shortcomings in her technique, you can point out mistakes for her or demonstrate the correct method." Xue Zi Xuan combed his fingers through the boy's soft hair, the joy of recovering a lost treasure hidden in his eyes.

Xue Jing Yi's expression darkened for a moment. Although the boy had just begun learning the piano, whether it was skill or expressiveness, he was far beyond her heyday, so asking him to demonstrate for her was not absurd. But her self-esteem was still hurt, she smiled and agreed on the surface, but her mind was set on becoming better than him.

She had only neglected practice because of her illness, if she exerted her efforts for a month, she would be able to catch up with the boy, or maybe even surpass him. Thinking like this, she practiced with special effort, and attached great importance to Xue Zi Xuan's views.

The boy no longer left him, he just quietly sat beside him every day, playing on his laptop, and occasionally using his lap as a pillow when he felt sleepy, which made Xue Zi Xuan unable to suppress a smile. He quickly recovered his state of mind, once again becoming a demanding piano teacher, if Xue Jing Yi played a wrong note, he would sternly order her to start over from the beginning.

Whenever this happened, Zhou Yun Sheng would look up at Xue Jing Yi and smile brightly. He knew that this blackened Xue Jing Yi would view this comforting smile as ridicule and contempt, which would completely disrupt her concentration.

Sure enough, Xue Jing Yi grew tenser by the day, her play more and more disorderly, especially when Xue Zi Xuan, in order to guide her, made Zhou Yun Sheng play the song correctly after she made a mistake.

The boy's perfect playing was like a difficult to cross the chasm, and it made Xue Jing Yi feel that no matter how hard she tried, she would never catch up to him. She was strong enough to not expose her cowardice in front of her brother, but she knew that she was on the verge of mental collapse, with just a gentle push, her self-confidence would completely break.

Staying in the piano room to practice all day used to be fun for her, but now it was torture.

Seeing her haggard face and dull eyes, Zhou Yun Sheng knew that the tipping point was getting closer. These days, he deliberately crushed her with his talent, just so he could destroy her self-confidence, forcing her farther and farther down the black road and descent into madness. For those who have experienced despair for so long, the line between sanity and insanity was thin.

They walked side by side into the piano room, laughing and chatting cozily on the surface, but in fact, their thoughts were heavy.

Xue Zi Xuan took out sheets of music and handed them over, his tone severe, "If we judge your level by the past few days, you'll be eliminated in the first round of the preliminaries. These are the songs I selected for you, if you concentrate on practicing them, you might be able to enter the finals."