Chapter 7: Shostakovich: Waltz No. 2…

He Dongli came down from the third floor and originally wanted to call Zou Yan to go together.

At the cold dining table, Zou Yan stood politely next to an older man, holding a wine glass. Judging from his appearance, there was no need to guess, it was his father, Director Zou of the Dental Hospital.

Zou Yan gestured to her, indicating that she should wait for him for five minutes.

During the event, the Liang family's grandchildren and their classmates, held high by their elders, performed a waltz. Tu Yumei passionately explained to the wives' group that this was a new club class added this year at the Affiliated High School of No. 1 Middle School.

The energetic teenagers, aged twelve or thirteen, formed teams of boys and girls to the performance of Shostakovich: Waltz No. 2. They were not at all nervous. The adults watching made them the center of the universe, dazzling and shining.

He Dongli could almost see the shining sweat beneath the leaps and retreats, warm, pure, and without any ambiguity.

When the dance came to an end and the young dancers bowed, she applauded along with the crowd of spectators.

He Dongli had no idea when Zou Yan came over, and the lingering sound of the dance music continued.

He shook his finger in front of her eyes. "So, did you have a good conversation with Liang Jianxing?"

He Dongli answered irrelevantly, "After so many years, the aesthetics of No. 1 Middle School remain the same."

"Um?"

“Elegant and revolutionary.”

Zou Yan's grades weren't outstanding when he was in school, and he failed a few courses until his graduation was delayed. "You guys also had ballroom dancing classes back then?"

He Dongli shook her head, but she knew the second waltz so well, it was almost muscle memory. She'd been the pianist in the school symphony orchestra created by the first and second year selections at No. 1 Middle School. During their training camp, their conductor was the soon-to-retire vice-principal, a chemistry major who hadn't dampened his love for music. They say amateur musicians always produce greats, and everyone understood he was simmering with ambition, hoping to stand out in that joint selection of ten schools, a perfect curtain call for his retirement.

Training took place every Friday, the club day. Several students were already late that day, and Principal Cong, displeased with their spirits, began by giving them a scolding. He Dongli was on her period that day, and to avoid disrupting everyone's progress, she endured the cramps until the end of training. Because she hadn't made it to the restroom in time, she sat idly on the green velvet piano bench when training ended, not moving for a long time.

In the end, only she and Zongchi from the clarinet group were left in the music classroom.

He came back to get a cup of water or something, and suddenly, in a condescending manner, asked He Dongli what he was doing there in a furtive manner, and whether he had his eyes on the school's piano bench or the floor tiles in the music room.

He Dongli was so scared that she sat back on the stool. At that time, she and even most girls of her age had a natural, shallow and vague sense of shame about menstruation, as if all East Asian women were inexplicably disciplined.

She couldn't remember how she'd gotten Zong Chi to understand what was wrong with her, or perhaps she'd misremembered it. It was Zong Chi who figured it out on his own. By then, they were no longer in the same class. In Zong Chi's own words, he and He Dongli weren't close, and the top students at the top of their class weren't interested in hanging out with them.

It was clearly he who said this first, but after he heard from other classmates that He Dongli agreed with his statement, he ran over to confront her. Beside the long table in the cafeteria, Zong Chi stepped onto the bench with a tray in his hand. The sound was like a bomb piercing in, and He Dongli opposite him was so shocked that she swayed.

He scolded He Dongli for being a widowed queen. She only cared about the top students of her own kind. As his aunts had said, people only interact with those in the same world. He Dongli was like that, so of course she wasn't familiar with anyone.

He Dongli didn't want to argue with him. Zong Chi seemed not to be satisfied and laughed at her, saying that you spend all your time studying and maintaining your ranking, so of course you don't have time to make friends.

He Dongli choked him back, "Yes, I've spent all my time consolidating my ranking. These are things that Master Zong doesn't care about. Are you satisfied?" She made him very angry, so the man who rarely spoke cannonballs took advantage of the victory and said, "If all my time is spent making friends with people like you, then I would rather do more questions to improve my ranking and leave you behind."

Before the evening study session, Zong Chi was so angry that he didn't touch the entire plate of food and just poured it out.

He Dongli remained silent for half a month until they met at the band training camp. He saw through her embarrassment and seemed to have come here specifically to laugh at her. He asked her, "What are you going to do if I don't come?"

There was a stain on He Dongli's pants. She didn't care anymore, and without looking at Zong Chi, she stood up and wiped the piano bench with a tissue from her bag. The blood had seeped in.

Can you lend me your cell phone to make a call? She finally relented. The school had repeatedly warned against bringing cell phones, but she knew Zong Chi would never be so obedient.

He took out his cell phone, asked her to tell him the number, and only handed it to her after the call was connected.

After He Dongli explained the situation to her mother on the other end of the phone, Zong Chi lent her his school uniform, saying that she should wear her own. The night wind was strong outside, and He Dongli's face looked very bad, like a ghost covered with white flour.

She ran back to the classroom to find some dishwashing liquid and insisted on scrubbing the blood stains on the piano bench until they were no longer visible to the naked eye.

As she cleaned up her "mistake" under the faucet, the only sounds in the corridor were the running water and his occasional coughs. When He Dongli heard him cough, she turned her head to look at him, and for a moment, the two of them looked at each other in silence.

It was too quiet. Zong Chi seemed impatient and taunted her with his arms folded, "You're doing this just like someone who has killed someone and is trying to destroy the body."

That night, He Dongli moved the piano stool to the south-facing glass window and basked in the moonlight strangely.

Then he said to Zong Chi, "Okay, let's go."

He was silent for a long time and commented on her coldly, "He Dongli, you are a bit neurotic."

Although he was very vicious, He Dongli still thanked him.

The two of them came out of the school's main gate. Naturally, the Xu family's car wasn't waiting for her anymore, so Zong Chi offered to give her a ride. He Dongli dug out some spare cash from her schoolbag and said it wasn't necessary, she could take a taxi back.

Zong Chi spread his hands and asked her for taxi money. Seeing that she was silent, he simply snatched it from her hand. He asked her to get in the car and threatened her with a news report about a young girl who had disappeared mysteriously and was found dead in a hidden cabinet in a rental apartment. He said his school uniform jacket was still around her waist. He didn't want to see the man in the hat come to his house the next day and ask him, "What is your relationship with the deceased?"

He Dongli felt that this person was really spoiled by his parents, completely.

Zong Chi opened the back door and gestured for her to get in. Seeing that He Dongli responded, his harsh tone didn't end there. He asked again: You haven't answered yet, what's the matter?

He Dongli didn't care about his black humor and choked him: I'm already dead, what else is there to answer!

Zong Chi then smiled and slammed the back door shut.

*

The boy's unrestrained dance seemed to have attracted the distinguished guests upstairs as well.

Several distinguished guests, whom Liang Jianxing had invited tonight, came downstairs clapping their hands. Liang Jianxing's roommate joked that his nephew and Mr. Zong were actually schoolmates.

Chen Xiangyang objectively corrected, "What counts is what counts."

Zong Chi nodded slightly, took the wine, and took a sip from it. His voice was so calm that outsiders would think he was being modest. "Well, I almost didn't get in back then. I don't dare to compete with these kids."

Chen Xiangyang continued to tear down Zong Chi's plan, "You were more than just a little bit short, ah."

Zong Chi acted as if he hadn't heard. He was a guest and should go and greet the host. He then offered to ask Liang Jianxing to introduce him to Liang's parents.

Zong Chi was out socializing. Chen Xiangyang glanced around and called out to He Dongli just before she and her partner turned to leave, "Dongli, why did you ignore me just now?"

Chen Xiangyang smiled like a gentle tiger, but tigers have fangs.

He is still a tiger serving as the fox's right-hand man.

He Dongli had been busy all night and hadn't eaten a single bite of hot soup. Now that Chen Xiangyang called her, she simply picked up a piece of buttered rice cake to fill her stomach. He walked over and first honestly introduced his girlfriend, Miss Li.

He Dongli had too few carbohydrates in her stomach, not enough to keep her emotions stable, especially when Chen Xiangyang was holding her with such a smile, she almost wanted to blurt out, "Oh, it wasn't this person last time."

After all, she wasn't as bad as I'd imagined. He nodded stiffly as a greeting.

When Li Anni heard that He Dongli worked at the First Affiliated Hospital, she praised him and exclaimed, "You can't tell at all, Doctor He, you don't look like a doctor at all."

He Dongli swallowed the snack in his mouth and asked softly, "What's the doctor like?"

Li Anni quickly shook her head and said that she didn't mean that. "Doctor He is so young. If Old Chen hadn't told me, I would have thought you were still studying."

Chen Xiangyang echoed: "She has studied for too many years, and she is still studying."

Li Anni whispered in Lao Chen's ear, "How old is Dr. He?"

He Dongli heard it, and Chen Xiangyang scolded his girlfriend for gossiping and talking too much.

Li Anni pouted slightly, thinking back to the scene upstairs. She'd wanted to ask Dr. He if he knew Mr. Zong? Were they a couple? A couple with a grudge? But she didn't dare ask, secretly thinking he looked a few years younger than her. She studied him again, as if trying to get a clearer picture of Mr. Zong's romantic interest, so she could teach those women who were trying to tease him.

Chen Xiangyang didn't notice his girlfriend's thoughts for a moment. He quickly got back to the point. Since they had arrested Dongli, the visible background check was the most reliable. He pointed at the man next to Dongli and asked Dongli slyly, "Would you like to introduce him?"

He Dongli introduced Zou Yan's name concisely.

Chen Xiangyang smiled and shook hands with the other party, then teased Dongli in the tone of an old friend, "She is used to being alone. It's rare to see her with friends around her."

He Dongli raised her eyebrows slightly when she heard this. Zou Yan could see that she had a close relationship with this man named Chen, but it was not an ambiguous one. "You just happened to see me. Every time I see me, I'm not in pairs like you. I mean in groups." When He Dongli said this, she was not as calm and composed as she was in the hospital. It was almost the opposite. She was a little bit pushy and even gritted her teeth secretly.

Chen Xiangyang laughed heartily. Seeing his girlfriend's slightly jealous expression, he added very generously and gentlemanly, introducing: "Oh, I forgot to mention that Dongli is my angel investor in principle. She is also from Zongchi..."

Before he could finish his words, Zong Chi, who had just finished his round, turned back the way he had come. Chen Xiangyang gestured to him. When Zong Chi and Liang Jianxing came over, He Dongli stopped Chen Xiangyang's joke before he could finish his words. "No."

The person walking towards them only heard this one sentence, and then heard her sternly correct, "I'm not really an investor. That additional money wasn't mine in the first place."

Zong Chi saw her sincerity. Indeed, she had returned the share certificate for this very reason. She had asked the lawyer to convey that the money had originally been given to her by Zong Chi, and since it was an investment, the shares should still be in his name. The lawyer also told him another point, saying that Miss He said that during the years they had been together, Zong Chi had spent a large sum of money to fly back to see her, day and night, without any complaints. This money should be considered as her compensation for the mileage of their relationship.

Li Anni was confused, but with the melon right in front of her, there was no reason not to ask for clarification. Putting the money aside, she asked Dr. He, "How are you and Mr. Zong..."

He Dongli glanced at the man across from him. Over his shoulders, a hazy light shimmered, hexagonal, like a rolling kaleidoscope. He was surrounded by people, their gazes streaming down his face like scraps of paper, like the celebration of their concert, a perfect curtain call after over two months of intensive training, which had culminated in a performance at the City Youth Pioneer Awards Ceremony. Zong Chi had finally arrived late. He had been a member of the group for so long, training for so long, but hadn't finally made it onto the stage.

He went to Singapore because his grandmother, whom he had never met, had passed away. That was his first time to formally return to his roots.

He stepped on the bright red and light green confetti of the celebration party and told He Dongli with a disdainful look that he didn't like the family over there at all, but his mother seemed to attach great importance to the family accepting her this time.

He Dongli couldn't quite understand what he was saying. He opened the window, and the north wind chilled them to the bone. He Dongli felt the wind carrying his words faster and faster into her ears: his mother was the daughter of his father's brother, his stepdaughter. In short, his father had been kicked out of the family to be with the person he loved, and hadn't communicated with the family for over a decade.

Now that the eldest mother in the family had passed away, his father's business had taken off, and he was going back to take over the family responsibility. With a say in things, it seemed his mother was accepted by everyone, including Zongchi.

He Dongli didn’t know how to comfort him, and finally could only ask him casually, “Are you leaving?”

Zong Chi's clothes were rustling in the wind, his eyes were dark as gray and bloodshot, and he asked her, "Do you want me to leave?"

On Christmas Eve, someone blew up a balloon, and everyone said Merry Christmas to each other amidst laughter.

He Dongli was about to go back. She packed her things and wished him a Merry Christmas in a formal manner before leaving.

"Classmates." Zong Chi Juzhong clarified the situation at the Liang family banquet to those who were curious about their relationship, so as to prevent her from asking, "High school classmates, plus one year of junior high school classmates."

Li Anni was stunned and surprised by what she heard. She remembered the saying among her friends: How can a guy and girl who spent time together in middle school and high school not be considered childhood sweethearts? After all, what's the point of the open-crotch pants stage of innocence? The guessing stage is what matters. I'm standing in front of you, but I can't guess you.

Li Anni was about to say something funny, but Chen Xiangyang held her wrist and she immediately shut up.

It was Liang Jianxing, the host who stepped out to entertain the guests. He did not seem to be doing anything wrong. He introduced himself in a perverse and experienced manner. "Doctor He didn't even mention that just now."

He Dongli had some pastry crumbs on her hands, and she subconsciously rubbed them between her fingers. Seeing this, Zou Yan took a tissue and wiped it for her. She thanked him and wiped it while saying, "Well, I didn't say that because Mr. Liang didn't ask."

Liang Jianxing was about to continue laughing or something, but Zou Yan interrupted him and asked He Dongli, "Can we go now?"

He Dongli glanced at Zou Yan, nodded, and casually put the tissue she had used to wipe into her vest pocket. However, when she pulled her hand out, a torn nail caught the wool. She forgot that there were two pearl earrings in her pocket, and her hands were too hasty, so she pulled both pearls out.

A pearl, set in platinum, fell onto the marble floor with the sound of water dripping into the sea. However, it seemed to have legs and leaped in both directions, one landing at Zou Yan's feet and the other rolling further away.

Zou Yan bent down without hesitation to help Dongli pick it up. The other one was a little far away from the center of their conversation, and He Dongli was about to pick it up himself. Chen Xiangyang tilted his head to signal his cousin, and Chen Xiangdong hurriedly picked it up before the beautiful lady came over.

He picked it up in his hand and was about to return it to the young lady when he was stopped by Mr. Zong, who was holding a brandy glass in his left hand. Mr. Zong swallowed the wine in one gulp, handed the glass to Chen Xiangdong, and asked him for the item in his hand.

Chen Xiangdong didn't understand why, so he just gave it to him.

Zong Chi picked up the pearl earring, glanced at it symbolically, and then teased his old classmate in front of everyone, "I remember you were allergic to gold and silver. Are you allergic now?"

Obviously not, he had just seen it upstairs. He Dongli didn't want to answer his question, so he reached out to ask him to return the things.

Zong Chi got ahead of her, looked away from her face and looked at the man who was helping her pick up the pearls.

Based on the way He Dongli thanked the man in a soft voice just now, Zong Chi could almost conclude that he was that friend, the friend of "friend's grandmother".

Liang Jianxing saw Zong Chi looking at Zou Yan, and hurriedly introduced him, mentioning Zou Yan's name and occupation.

"Yǎn, which yǎn?" Zong Chi asked nonchalantly.

He Dongli gave him a hateful look and answered the question, more like defending him, "Yan" (the part about derivatives).

Zong Chi looked enlightened and immediately asked her, "Perfunctory?"

He Dongli's expression immediately changed, and she explained to Zou Yan beside her, "His Chinese isn't very good, don't take it too seriously."

Chen Xiangyang cheerfully smoothed things over, "Yes, our Zong Chi lived abroad until he was seven years old. His native language is average. Of course, that's why his English reading and writing were not top-notch when he was in school."

Zong Chi was a little stifled by the combination of punches from both sides. He squinted at Chen Xiangyang and said, "You know it again."

Chen Xiangyang ridiculed him, "If you have the guts, write a perfunctory letter for me to see."

Zong Chi nodded, admitting his mistake. "Alright, it's my fault," he said, putting the things in his hand into his pocket. He freed his hands to greet Dr. Zou and apologize. "I'm sorry, Dr. Zou, considering what they've already said about me."

Zou Yan smiled indifferently and shook hands with Zong Chi. "It's okay. In this fragmented era, everyone has their minds tied up sometimes."

Zong Chi retracted his social hand. He didn't mind being scolded at all, but he wanted to refute what Dr. Zou said. "There are exceptions. I mean He Dongli. She has always had a good brain and never makes mistakes."

Zou Yan listened and turned his head to glance at He Dongli, as if he agreed with Zong Chi's opinion.

It can be seen that Dr. Zou is well-mannered, has a good temper and good looks, and is willing to play a supporting role waiting for He Dongli to finish socializing. Such impeccable qualities are truly admirable.

Of course, Zong Chi was an exception. He never considered himself a good person, so he didn't hesitate to suspect someone with the greatest jealousy.

Chen Xiangyang offered to give Dongli a ride, but she declined, saying she wanted to go with a friend.

Zou Yan said he had been drinking and she had to drive the car. He Dongli agreed and took his car keys.

Zong Chi was losing interest and said he wanted to leave.

In front of the group of people at the door, Chen Xiangyang asked Zong Chi whether he should send him directly to the hotel.

Zong Chi shook his head and said he was going to go drink with Lin Jiaoyu. He had clearly already had several drinks and reeked of alcohol. But he claimed he hadn't been to S City in years and said, "This time is..."

"Make an exception?" The people around him thought he was drunk and had a problem, so they helped him speak.

Zong Chi took back his coat, folded it over his arm, and breathed before Bai Li, listening to his clear-headed thoughts. "No, it was a violation of the ban. The condition for getting my passport back was..."

The person involved stopped talking abruptly, and everyone thought he was just talking drunkenly.

When He Dongli heard this, his heart beat irregularly twice.

After the song ended and everyone dispersed, Zong Chi got into Chen Xiangyang's car. He remembered something and rolled down the window to return the cigarette Chen Xiangyang had stolen in Shanghai. He threw it straight out of the window and said with disdain, "Giving it back to you, boring."

However, he did not return He Dongli's pearl earrings.

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