Chapter 41: The Long Street Has Someone Else.

Liang Yizhi was invited by her university classmates to participate in a performance by a chamber music club today. The club is called "Listening to Classical Music" and they hold small performances from time to time.

There is a quintet chamber music concert tonight.

Liang Yizhi invited He Xintu to listen to this performance. Chamber music is much smaller in scale than an orchestra and places more emphasis on the coordination and cooperation between instruments.

After the performance, Liang Yizhi stood on the stage, smiling as she bowed to the other members in thanks.

He Xintu was waiting by her side when she came off the stage with her violin.

Liang Yizhi spotted him immediately and walked up to him: "What do you think?"

"A wonderful baptism," He Xintu said.

Liang Yizhi smiled and said, "It's a bit of a shame that Bach isn't here today."

“I think this one sounds better.” He Xintu thought for a moment, but couldn’t quite put his finger on it. He then pulled out the invitation from behind him and looked at it again. “…Anton Dvořák, String Quintet No. 2 in G major.”

His clumsy, mechanical reading of the program made Liang Yizhi chuckle.

After the performance, she carried her violin and walked out with He Xintu. On the way out, they ran into Daliang, her college classmate and the violinist who had invited her to perform.

As Da Liang passed by, he called out to her, "Xiao Liang, who is this? Won't you introduce me?"

Xiao Liang was the nickname that Daliang gave to Liang Yizhi. Their names both contained a character that sounded the same, so he was the only one who liked to call her that.

Before Liang Yizhi could even introduce them, He Xintu had already raised his hand and greeted her with a warm smile.

After Liang Yizhi briefly introduced them and exchanged names, Daliang immediately said that since there was a chance, he would invite them to dinner tonight to thank Liang Yizhi for her performance.

Liang Yizhi first looked at He Xintu with her eyes and, after receiving a negative answer, politely declined Daliang's invitation, saying that they had other things to do and would get together another time.

Daliang didn't mind and told them to come and visit often.

After leaving the venue, He Xintu said, "Xiao Liang's nickname is very cute."

"You want to call me that too?"

Is that okay?

"Either is fine," Liang Yizhi said.

After they walked a short distance, she asked again, "If we're not with the others, what should we eat?"

He Xintu looked around, then pointed to a shop on the street: "How about we eat this?"

Looking over, Liang Yizhi saw a Sichuan restaurant.

She looked troubled: "But... I can't handle spicy food very well."

He Xintu then seemed to remember: "Sorry, I didn't ask for your opinion first."

They eventually chose a street food stall that looked clean.

Liang Yizhi and He Xintu sat facing each other. After ordering, she asked, "Can I ask you a question?"

"you say."

Do you dislike hanging out with people you're not familiar with?

The reason she asked this was because she noticed that He Xintu wasn't very enthusiastic about Daliang's invitation. Adding to this, since their previous agreement was disrupted by the addition of her friends, she was worried he might harbor resentment.

Unexpectedly, He Xintu said, "You've got it backwards. I prefer hanging out with people I don't know well. But it depends on the occasion; I prefer it when there are fewer people."

“There’s no pressure, and not many concerns.” He Xintu looked at her and patiently explained, “Being with people you don’t know well is like opening a blind box.”

"Blind boxes?"

He Xintu: "I can find people who share my ideals, and I can also find people who are completely opposite to me. If I find the former, it's a pleasant surprise; if I find the latter, I can learn a lot of new things."

He Xintu gave her examples: "For instance, Bach, for instance, Dvořák..."

Liang Yizhi smiled and gently reminded him, "Dvorak."

He Xintu snapped his fingers.

"See? You're a pleasant surprise for me."

Liang Yizhi found his perspective fascinating. To her, he was like a blind box containing unknown possibilities, bringing her a lot of novelty.

After finishing their meal, Liang Yizhi asked He Xintu as they walked out of the restaurant, "Where do you live? Is it far from here?"

He Xintu simply replied, "Not far."

"Near the north of the city?"

“Where I live isn’t important,” he said with a smile. “I’ll take you home first.”

They walked along the streets at night. As they walked, the number of pedestrians gradually decreased, and the streetlights shone through the bare tree branches, casting shadows on the ground.

He Xintu brought up, "By the way, there's something I haven't asked you yet."

"Now, can you tell me why you're afraid of fireworks?"

Liang Yizhi didn't immediately understand what he meant: "What?"

Her mind went blank: "You don't know?"

“You still haven’t told me after that day ended,” He Xintu said.

The wind howled, and suddenly there was silence in Liang Yizhi's ears.

She remembered that night at the villa a few days ago very clearly. Every word she spoke was carefully chosen, and because she was so nervous, after returning to her bedroom alone, she silently buried herself in the covers and reviewed every word she had said for a long time.

She remembered that as soon as she arrived, she explained to He Xintu why she was so resistant to fireworks, because she didn't want the misunderstanding to build up for too long.

But now he tells her he doesn't know why.

Liang Yizhi stopped. After a moment's hesitation, she said:

"...What were you doing when the power went out on the first night we arrived at the villa?"

He Xintu frowned at her irrelevant answer, tilting his head slightly as he recalled:

“I knew there was a power outage the night before because you sent a message in the group chat. I went to bed early that day, and I was already asleep in my room when the power went out.”

The suspicion was confirmed, and Liang Yizhi was speechless.

She completely lost the ability to think; all the blood in her body rushed to her head.

She stared at He Xintu's hair for a long time, until her eyes slowly lost focus.

The fluffy curves, the curled ends... she clearly saw them, so why would she mistake them?

If He Xintu was in the room, then who was the person she encountered in front of the storage room?

The seemingly insignificant details, when linked together, can form a closed loop.

Therefore, the sense of familiarity she felt on Gu Yinyan's pajamas was not unfounded, but rather because the protagonist was someone else entirely.

Liang Yizhi's mind was in a state of confusion.

Disordered by the strong winds, confused by the impact of reality.

He Xintu drove her home. Liang Yizhi looked terrible the whole way, and He Xintu tried several times to get her to talk, but to no avail.

Gradually, he stopped talking.

Upon arriving at her accommodation, Liang Yizhi said goodbye to He Xintu and got out of the car.

She carried the heavy cello on her back and dragged her weak body back.

Instead of entering the residential area, she wandered aimlessly along the street at the entrance.

She had mentioned to her friends many times that there was a beautiful avenue lined with sycamore trees in front of her house. At this time of year, the sycamore leaves had long since fallen. The withered yellow leaves crunched crisply under her feet.

For the first time, she realized that the street was incredibly long, seemingly endless.

She walked for a long time before getting lost at the crossroads, watching pedestrians come and go, men and women passing by. Liang Yizhi thought of how Gu Yinyan had accompanied her through this street many times before, carrying the zither on her back.

Liang Yizhi was still confused.

She couldn't understand why, if it was Gu Yinyan, he didn't reveal his identity and correct her in time when she mistook him for someone else.

Why let her rant and rave, yet just hide in a dark corner and remain silent?

She didn't mind him prying into her secrets, because she had already shared everything about herself with him. Nor was she embarrassed about confessing to the wrong person; following one's feelings was nothing to be ashamed of.

But she just couldn't understand why Gu Yinyan did that.

He even... made those intimate gestures towards her, making her mistakenly believe that he was him.

A belated, tingling sensation slowly crept up from the tailbone.

A strong wind howled past.

Liang Yizhi is only now realizing that the weather had become so cold long before she even noticed.

-

On Saturday night, the orchestra performed as usual at the concert hall.

After listening to the concert, Gu Yinyan went to the exit for performers and staff.

Outside the exit, many spectators were waiting with flowers in their hands.

Gu Yinyan didn't squeeze through; instead, he stood quietly for a while at a distance.

About five minutes later, the person he was waiting for finally appeared.

Liang Yizhi and Wu You walked together.

She was chatting and laughing with Wu You when she turned her head and noticed Gu Yinyan standing right in front of them.

Her expression stiffened for a moment.

Gu Yinyan squinted.

Normally, when Liang Yizhi saw him, she would immediately raise her hand and greet him excitedly. But just now, even though she had made eye contact with him, she pretended not to see him and continued talking to Wu You calmly, only showing him half of her profile.

Gu Yinyan had a gut feeling that her behavior today was strange.

He stood at one end of the corridor, and when she walked up to him, Liang Yizhi didn't speak to him.

It was Wu You who struck up a conversation with him first: "Hey! You're here to pick up Yizhi again?"

"Um."

Gu Yinyan responded verbally, but his eyes remained fixed on Liang Yizhi's face.

He could tell that Liang Yizhi was in a bad mood, and assumed that she had encountered something unpleasant, so he planned to ask her about it after they got in the car.

"Give me the zither." Gu Yinyan reached out to take the zither from her, but Liang Yizhi suddenly turned aside and subtly dodged.

She said calmly, "You don't need to take me today. I have things to do. You can go home by yourself."

Gu Yinyan remained silent.

After a two-second silence, he said, "I'll take you there."

Liang Yizhi said expressionlessly, "No need."

Who did you make an appointment with?

Liang Yizhi answered slowly: "...He Man".

He Man is attending an event tonight.

Liang Yizhi paused, then changed her words, saying, "I misremembered, I and..."

Gu Yinyan: "Jiang Huai was detained at the company by his father today and is still working overtime."

Liang Yizhi's lips moved slightly.

She was frustrated, a breath stuck in her throat, neither coming out nor going down.

Gu Yinyan persisted: "Who are you going to see?"

Liang Yizhi's excuse was exposed. She rummaged through her contact book and said irritably, "I made an appointment with He Xintu. Is that alright now?"

Before Gu Yinyan could answer, she lowered her head and quickly walked away from him.

Wu You stood there, unsure whether to stay or leave. She timidly asked Gu Yinyan, "Um...did you two have a fight?"

"Yizhi seems a bit distracted today, like she has something on her mind. Ask her again later when she's in a better mood."

Gu Yinyan gave a brief "hmm".

He looked at the figure at the theater entrance, weighed down by the heavy cello, yet moving with the speed of the wind.

He didn't know why, but he could at least sense that she was avoiding him.