CH 24

Chapter 24 Teasing

Jian Chi wanted to propose that he would go back first, but Ji Huaisi seemed to understand what he was thinking, and said ahead of him: “You stay here to read, no one will come in to disturb you. I will come back to you when the selection work is over.” 

“I want to go back to the dormitory first,” Jian Chi said. “The selection should be busy until late, and I still have homework to finish.” 

Ji Huaisi paused for a while and his soft tone didn’t show anything peculiar: “In this case, you can go back first.” 

The reasons were true and false. Jian Chi felt inexplicably guilty and unbearable. The book in his hand was extremely heavy. He hesitated for a few seconds and asked tentatively, “Next time if I want to borrow a book, can I still come here?”

“Of course you can,” Ji Huaisi’s smile deepened, sweeping away the dull look between his eyes, “You can come over at any time.” 

Jian Chi only guessed that Ji Huaisi would want to hear such words before asking. 

Shen Shuting, who was standing by the door, did not speak after leaving the notice. When Jian Chi walked out, Shen Shuting, who had not moved, suddenly took a step to the side and lightly narrowed the distance between the two, his eyes always looking straight ahead. He treated Jian Chi as a cloud of air. 

Jian Chi walked a long way, and it was not until he left the student union that Shen Shuting’s actions just now reappeared in his mind. 

It was very strange that Shen Shuting never looked at him from the beginning to end, let alone say a word to him, but Jian Chi felt that Shen Shuting didn’t seem to like him very much. 

The reason why he went back to the dormitory that Jian Chi was saying was nonsense. He didn’t want to go back to face Wei An’s strange temper. Thus he changed his path and slowly headed to the library to see that a line of people were stopped there.

Several men in suits stood in two clusters and they were discussing something seriously. Jian Chi waited for a while and found that they had no intention of leaving, so he turned back to the stairwell. 

The second and third floors of the library were connected with the teaching building, which made it convenient for students to pass through. The selection of the student union in the afternoon attracted a lot of people. At this moment, the corridor was empty with only the sound of footsteps. Jian Chi originally thought this, until vague music became clear with the pace of him going upstairs, and gradually, Jian Chi lightly stepped and walked past the source of the sound. 

It was the sound of a piano. 

Jian Chi’s heart moved slightly. 

When he was still in Chuanlin, Jian Chengchao was sometimes drunk and always talked about his mother in nonsense. Jian Chi still remembered that her last wish before her death was to own a piano. 

In his memory, his mother’s appearance was particularly vague and even the name He Yueqing was unfamiliar. Jian Chengchao used to talk about her in an intoxicated and nostalgic tone. He told Jian Chi that his mother was a young lady born in a wealthy family, and she always had the best food and clothing. Her playmates were all children of officials and wealthy businessmen. She had learned piano and painting since she was a child, and had a talent for it. But when she was fifteen years old, her father’s business failed and they lost most of their savings. Since then, his mother had also changed from the eldest miss who was admired by many to an ordinary person who needed to be very careful in her decision everywhere. 

Speaking of this, Jian Chengchao’s turbid eyes always flashed with tears. He said that when his mother was pregnant, she didn’t want to eat sour or spicy food, but only wanted a piano. After her family fell into poverty, she sold all her valuables including the piano that had accompanied her for ten years. But at that time, the business of their dry cleaners had just started and the wages could only maintain a minimum consumption level. This luxurious wish was never realized. After giving birth, his mother’s health had been very poor, and she was repeatedly admitted to the hospital. In the end, she failed to hold on and left on the day of the beginning of winter.

Out of nostalgia and regret, Jian Chengchao always wanted Jian Chi to learn the piano, but unfortunately Jian Chi has no talent in this regard. Gradually, Jian Chengchao didn’t mention it anymore, but whenever he had a moment of leisure at work, he would buy a few bottles of wine and a few dishes and talk to Jian Chi about his youth, then forgetting all about it after sobering up. 

Jian Chi walked over involuntarily. The classroom doors on both sides were all locked, but on the right side, a few meters away from the field of vision, a door was half-open. 

The music stopped abruptly. 

Jian Chi’s footsteps hesitated for a while, then continued to walk forward, stopped and turned slightly to look inside. In front of the open window, the breeze blew up the white curtains on both sides. A shiny pure black piano was placed in the middle and there was no one on the pulled seat. 

It couldn’t be an auditory hallucination. Jian Chi was sure that there was someone inside just now, maybe he was scared by the sound of his footsteps and hid somewhere. 

Thinking like this, Jian Chi was about to step back when he was suddenly pulled in by a force. His shoulder slammed into the wall next to him, the door was slammed shut, a dull pain came from behind his spine, and Jian Chi’s eyes blurred. Shaking, he gradually recovered from the chaos. 

Broad palms pressed against the wall beside his face, and the extremely close body brought an indescribable sense of oppression. His dazzling red hair reflected in the dim light in Shao Hang’s eyes. He lowered his head and left Jian Chi without a retreat route, then said in a low and sweet voice.

“Caught you.” 

Jian Chi turned his face away, avoiding the heat sprayed into his ears. He suppressed the panic and confusion in his heart, and said as calmly as possible: “Sorry, I went to the wrong classroom.” 

“Really?” Shao Hang said, “I thought you came here on purpose.” 

“I just heard a piano, I didn’t know it was you inside.” 

Shao Hang laughed twice and didn’t seem to be ready to distance himself at all, as if he had found something interesting. He raised his hand and pinched Jian Chi’s reddish earlobe, “You’re such a liar. One song can make you come here? Was it played well?” 

The unfamiliar touch on his ears made Jian Chi feel a strange shudder from the bottom of his heart. He avoided Shao Hang’s hand, bent down and escaped from the gap under his arm, but unable to open the locked door beside him anyway. 

The crisp sound of metal collision sounded. Jian Chi turned his head. Shao Hang shook the key in his hand, and evoked a somewhat bad, somewhat innocent smile, “What should you do, the key is with me.” 

Jian Chi raised his hand to get it, but Shao Hang raised his arm one second before he was about to touch it. He repeated the same trick the next time. After a few rounds of being naive, Shao Hang took advantage of the situation to sit down next to the piano, put away the keys like a magic trick, and lifted the piano lid with his empty palm. 

“Give me the key.” Jian Chi couldn’t hold back his irritability. If it weren’t for the little nostalgia in his heart when he heard the piano sound, he would never have come over, but the fact was that he not only came, but also encountered Shao Hang unluckily. 

“Do you know which song I played just now?” Shao Hang ignored Jian Chi’s appeal, and his slender fingers ran across the keys like water, knocking out sound in a undisciplined way, like broken beads strung together into a complete necklace. The smooth sound of the piano echoed in the huge classroom.

Jian Chi forced himself to calm down. He stood by the piano and looked at Shao Hang’s profile. In all fairness, he never thought that someone like Shao Hang would be connected with music, but they blended so naturally without any sense of mismatch. The piano, which had always been synonymous with elegance, had a bit of untamed wildness with Shao Hang. The powerful notes broke through the roof and entered his eardrum with the hard pressed keys. 

“I have no idea.” 

“The third movement of the Moonlight Sonata.” The turbulent sound of the piano came to an abrupt end like the beginning. Shao Hang retracted his hand a little boringly, and his eyes fell on the book in Jian Chi’s hand, which added a layer of elusive meaning. 

He suddenly asked, “Who gave you this book?” 

Shao Hang didn’t use the word ‘borrow’. Jian Chi subconsciously placed the book behind him and this subtle movement was caught in his eyes. When he stood up, his arms went around Jian Chi and took the book. His height advantage made it impossible for Jian Chi to avoid it, and because the book was damaged, he could only watch Shao Hang take away the book. 

“It doesn’t look like something from the school,” Shao Hang said casually as if he was playing with some kind of toy, “This taste, did Ji Huaisi give you it?” 

Jian Chi wondered if Shao Hang had installed cameras in the whole school, he seemed to guess almost everything he tried to cover up in the past. He pursed his lips, “You return the book to me, it’s not mine, it still needs to be returned.” 

Shao Hang’s eyes were full of banter and the tiny scar on his brow bone jumped. He spat out: “No.” 

“You……” 

“Unless,” Shao Hang raised his lips and touched Jian Chi’s head with the book, “How about you exchange it with yourself?” 

Jian Chi’s eyebrows jumped twice, “Shao Hang.” 

“I’m serious, you know playing the piano alone will always be boring, why don’t you accompany me next time. When I’m in a good mood, I can teach you to play a few tunes, how about twinkle twinkle little star?” 

Shao Hang laughed in a low voice, looking at Jian Chi with a heavy expression written all over his face. He made a fist to cover the corners of his mouth that couldn’t help turning up, “If you don’t want to come, this book will be mine, then I will I will go to the student union in person and tell your dear vice president, that you gave me the borrowed book. Do you think he will be very sad when he hears it?”

Jian Chi had always underestimated Shao Hang’s cheekiness. He tried to search out the plot in his mind, but in the end he didn’t find out about this accident that went beyond the plot, so he weakly asked, “Is there no other choice?” 

“There is,” Shao Hang thought for a while, deepened the smile in his eyes, and whispered, “Call me Gege (older brother), and I’ll return the book to you, isn’t it more cost-effective?” 

The fist on his side was loosened and tightened, tightened and loosened. Jian Chi understood that Shao Hang just wanted to see him deflated. He didn’t understand what he did to be targeted by Shao Hang like this. The plot of the story had completely become a mess of sand, and the wind blowing from the window was making it fly everywhere. It completely deviated from the correct track. 

“I promise you, but you have to give me a deadline.” 

“Until the end of the semester.” 

Jian Chi immediately retorted: “No, at most two weeks.” 

Shao Hang raised his eyebrows, “Five weeks.” 

“One week.” 

Their eyes collided in the air for a few seconds. Shao Hang chuckled lightly, and while Jian Chi was not paying attention, he raised his hand and pinched his earlobe, “For three weeks, wait for me here every Thursday and Saturday afternoon, do you remember?” 

Jian Chi didn’t have time to dodge. Shao Hang retracted his hand as if he expected his reaction. There was a hint of deep meaning in his playful eyes. He bypassed Jian Chi and opened the door. Before Jian Chi could react, he left behind a casual remark. 

“Let’s see if I can get tired of you in three weeks.”