3. Revolutionary Etude

Mothers are all very sensitive.

Li Xun would occasionally come to Liang Chuling School to get some materials from a professor who was also a friend of Li Chi. Sometimes he would have lunch with the professor in the cafeteria.

The professor was called away by phone halfway through his meal, so Li Xun sat alone and ate quietly.

Two boys, clearly prominent figures from the music academy, approached carrying plates. Their tone, seemingly friendly but actually scrutinizing, asked, "Hey, you're not from our school, are you? I see you all the time. Are you close to Professor Liu?"

Before Li Xun could reply, the other one, fearing his mouth would rust if he didn't speak, said: "I heard you're Li Chi's son? That's strange, I've never heard of you before."

The previous person chimed in: "Li Chi can't teach you? Then is she even capable, hahahahahaha."

The other one laughed too.

Li Xun wasn't used to this kind of social pressure, and he didn't know how to swear. Generally, if he hadn't thought of what to say, he simply wouldn't say anything.

He knew he couldn't stay silent now, and as he was thinking about how to respond politely, a plate was slammed onto the empty seat next to him.

Liang Chuling plopped down with the mountain of food in her hands, raised her eyelids, and glanced at the two people: "What are you doing? Checking my household registration? What's it to you? He's with me, do you have a problem with that? If you want to ask Teacher Li Chi, go and test her students yourself. It's no fun asking around. Why don't you take the test? Don't you want to?"

The two boys, who had been laughing and joking just moments before, froze, their malicious stares turning into panic.

"Senior Sister Liang." One of the quicker-witted ones immediately used a respectful term.

In the affiliated high school, those who can be called "senior sister" are all those whose abilities and qualifications are considered to be top-notch. Liang Chuling gave a master class at the Central Conservatory of Music when she was fifteen years old, and every time she practiced the piano in the affiliated high school's music room or watched a performance, the door was crowded with students.

"Hello, Senior Sister Liang! We just wanted to say hello to Li Xun." Another quickly added.

Liang Chuling: "Apologize to him."

The two boys glanced at each other, and both saw the word "finished" in each other's eyes.

If you offend Liang Chuling, do you still want to listen to her master classes in the future?

"We're so sorry, Li Xun!" they said almost in unison, their bows haphazard and disorganized. "We were just talking nonsense, please don't take it to heart!"

Li Xun simply said, "...It's nothing."

Liang Chuling seemed satisfied: "Alright, go do what you're supposed to do."

The two felt as if they had been granted a pardon and slipped away much faster than when they arrived.

Liang Chuling turned around and put the green peppers from her plate onto Li Xun's plate: "Try this, it's the only edible thing in our cafeteria. Next time someone bothers you, just say you're waiting for Liang Chuling, and they won't dare to mess with you."

After saying that, he continued to clamp.

Li Xun stared blankly at the green peppers on the plate for a long time, not used to this kind of attention, and unsure whether he should eat them or not.

All I can say is, "Don't bother serving me, just eat it yourself."

Liang Chuling finished picking up all the green peppers and said, "I don't like green peppers. Wasting food in the cafeteria will result in a deduction of academic credits."

Li Xun: ...

Liang Chuling ignored him, quickly finished her meal, and then escorted him away from the affiliated high school.

After school that evening, Liang Chuling got into the driver's car.

She closes her eyes and starts sleeping as soon as she gets on the bus; she can seize every opportunity to fall asleep, which is enviable.

The driver parked in front of the house.

It wasn't dark yet, but the villa was still brightly lit, exuding a sense of spaciousness.

Aunt Zhang called from the kitchen: "Chu Ling is back? Dinner will be ready soon."

"Thank you, Aunt Zhang." Liang Chuling changed her shoes.

On the long table in the restaurant, there were four dishes and a soup, but only one set of bowls and chopsticks.

"Where's my dad?" she asked casually as she sat down and picked up her chopsticks.

As Aunt Zhang wiped the stove, she replied, "My husband called this afternoon and said he had a business dinner and wouldn't be home for dinner."

Liang Chuling wasn't surprised. Important social engagements, there always are.

Mr. Liang's wealth is inversely proportional to his time; the fuller his wallet, the less time he spends at home.

She ate her meal quietly; Aunt Zhang's cooking skills were impeccable.

The phone rang, and Liang Chuling answered the video call while continuing to eat.

"Honey! get out of class is over?" Mom's voice was cheerful. "Mom's in Paris! There's an exhibition going on here, oh my, so many beautiful new styles, I picked out a few for you."

"Thank you, Mom," Liang Chuling said, chewing.

"How's Professor Li Chi doing? Did he scold you? If he does, don't take it to heart!"

"Why is she scolding me? She teaches well, and I play very well too." A shrimp's whiskers got stuck in her teeth, so Liang Chuling started picking her teeth in front of the camera.

"That's good, that's good! How could the teacher Mom found for you be bad! I saw a dress today, but I'm a little hesitant about the color. Can you help me choose, blue or red?"

Liang Chuling said, "Either is fine."

"Hey, give me some advice! Never mind, it's pointless to ask you, I bought both! Have you eaten yet?"

"I'm eating." Liang Chuling finished picking her teeth, speechless. She thought to herself, "Isn't the video call on? I could at least take a look and know whether I'm eating or not."

Ms. Ma was busy searching through countless boxes on the floor while using her phone the whole time.

"What did you eat? Let Auntie make you something nutritious."

"Auntie made shrimp."

"Shrimp is great! It's a good source of protein! Eat more! The signal isn't very good here with Mom..."

Ms. Ma enthusiastically browsed through the clothes, randomly trying on a few while sharing her shopping experiences and travel anecdotes, occasionally interjecting with a template question. Liang Chuling responded with "uh-huhs" and "yes," then hung up the phone and finished her meal.

Aunt Zhang cleared away the dishes, and she was alone in the living room again.

Liang Chuling ran upstairs and went into the music room to practice the piano.

As I played, Li Xun's calm eyes and his slow, deliberate tone of voice kept popping into my mind.

He always had that detached gentleness, which seemed a bit jarring.

The white keys look like his fingers, and the black keys look like his eyes.

When woven together, it doesn't resemble him at all; instead, it looks more like her.

Liang Chuling stopped pointing.

So annoying!

Meanwhile, in another corner of the city.

Li Xun and Li Chi sat at the dining table eating takeout.

Li Chi has been going astray lately, and seems a bit anxious about his figure. Li Xun poured a bowl of hot water and placed it next to his mother, telling her to rinse it in the water before eating.

“Liang Chuling is incredibly talented,” Li Chi said.

Li Xun hummed in agreement; he wasn't deaf.

"His finger dexterity and musicality are top-notch. It's just that he's a bit impetuous, and his emotional investment relies too much on his emotions, making him unstable."

Li Xun moved the stir-fried pork with wood ear mushrooms closer to himself, since Li Chi didn't like wood ear mushrooms. He then pushed the sweet and sour pork over to his mother, and then, looking at his mother, pretended to quickly rinse the sweet and sour pork before stuffing it into his mouth, even though Li Xun had a bit of a toothache.

He pressed his tongue against his teeth before replying, "She's only sixteen, and there might be some trouble in her family recently."

He choked on his own words after he finished speaking.

He didn't know what was going on in Liang Chuling's family; he was just going by gut feeling.

Li Chi glanced at his son, somewhat surprised that he would respond, but did not press his son about his feelings.

She respects all of Li Xun's choices, including whether he plays the piano well, what friends he makes, what he wants to do in the future, and of course, his feelings.

She simply said, "Emotions are part of music, but you have to be able to control your emotions, not be controlled by them. Besides, age is no excuse. Aren't you only sixteen?"

"She's different from me."

“It’s different.” Li Chi didn’t deny it, knowing what his son was referring to, but he wouldn’t allow his son to belittle himself. “But what you’re proud of isn’t playing the piano, and besides, you’re not bad at playing the piano.”

Li Xun didn't say anything more.

He was somewhat skeptical—

Not for oneself.

Li Xun's indifference was directed at Liang Chuling.

He was thinking: How could we really know what she was like?

But he didn't say it.

Li Xun knew that his mother had a good eye for people, especially when it came to music and people related to music.

He just inexplicably felt that Liang Chuling wasn't what she seemed.

The person who would get a paternity test because he suspected he wasn't his biological child, who would laugh uproariously at his unintentional remark, and who would help him out of a predicament even though he wasn't very familiar with him, just seemed aggressive and ruthless.

In the following weeks, Li Xun came to the music room to take lessons with him at an unusually high frequency.

Almost every time Liang Chuling came over, she could see him.

He's still the same as always, not very talkative, and has an unusually good temper.

Sometimes when Liang Chuling got tired of playing, she would deliberately make some unpleasant sounds. Li Xun would just glance at her, then give her some fruit or drinks, as if coaxing her to play.

Liang Chuling was indeed very upset, and the root of the problem lay with her father.

That day, her own tablet fell and wouldn't turn on. After using the computer in her father's study to look up information, she accidentally opened the history when she closed the browser.

There was an unfamiliar website address inside, and she clicked on it.

It's a private image sharing link that requires a password.

She tried her dad's birthday, then her mom's, but neither worked. Finally, she entered her own birthday.

The link is open.

There weren't many photos inside; they were mostly selfies of a young woman in different settings, wearing beautiful clothes and smiling brightly.

The last picture shows the woman nestled in a man's arms, with only the man's shoulder and part of his profile visible.

The man wasn't wearing anything on his hands, which is quite unusual; he had no bracelets or watches, just bare hands.

Liang Chuling used to think that her father was unpretentious and aloof because of this.

ha!

Liang Chuling abruptly closed the webpage and then cleared her browsing history.

Her father cheated on her.

She didn't know what to do.

Should I tell Ms. Mom? But will she believe me? Will she throw a tantrum? Or should I get a divorce? If we divorce, what will happen to her? Who will she live with?

Liang Chuling called Ms. Ma, but no one answered after the phone rang for a long time.

Later, Ms. Ma replied with a message saying that she was watching a show and the signal was bad, and she would talk to her when she got back.

Liang Chuling looked at the message, feeling both annoyed and relieved, because she had no idea how she should start the conversation if her mother answered the phone.

She acted on impulse; she had nothing else to offer but impulse.

Just as she cleared her browsing history, she forgot that it was she herself, not her father, who needed that browsing history.

Opening the empty page, Liang Chuling felt like she had something stuck in her throat again.

During a primary school spring outing, she and her classmates played a game called "Passing the Flower While Drumming".

Liang Chuling now feels like someone holding flowers, but can't find anyone to hand them over to.

This made her find fault with everything.

The effect of practicing the piano in this state is predictable.

My mind was racing with distracting thoughts, and my fingers were stiff.

She was in terrible form during class that day. Her finger movements, which she usually executed with ease, were still precise thanks to muscle memory, but the brilliance had vanished, leaving only brute force. Even she herself couldn't bear to listen to it.

Li Chi didn't say anything, but simply asked her to play it again.

Liang Chuling held her breath and pounded her fingers hard. Even as she pounded with such emotion, the volume of each note remained within a reasonable range.

She has unusually large hands, so she can slam them down without any problem.

Li Chi had small, nimble hands. Seeing Liang Chuling acting so stubbornly, he felt a mix of apprehension and excitement, so he didn't stop her. He just watched and listened with wide eyes, like someone watching a spectacle.

During a break, Liang Chuling went to the living room to get a drink of water, while Li Xun remained seated in his usual spot.

Looking at his calm face, she suddenly felt a surge of anger.

Li Xun was very calm. He would prepare the sheet music she needed in advance, hand her tissues when she was sweating profusely, and pick up and tidy up her pencil case when she knocked it over.

Why is he so calm? Why does it seem like nothing can affect him? It makes Liang Chuling's turmoil seem so superficial!

She put down her water glass and walked up to Li Xun.

Li Xun raised his head and asked with his eyes.

Liang Chuling asked, "How did you think I played just now?"

She waited for him to be stunned by her sudden question.

But Li Xun did not.

He thought about it seriously for a moment, then looked at her: "You want to hear the truth?"

"nonsense."

"Technically, the vibrato in the third measure lacks power from the fingertips. Emotionally, you're getting angry with the keys, not expressing the music."

He's absolutely right. She was just throwing a tantrum.

Liang Chuling didn't know how to respond for a moment.

Looking at her expression, Li Xun softened his tone: "When you play normally, it's not like this."

Liang Chuling's anger dissipated, replaced by a strange feeling of being touched.

This touched her and made her a little uneasy, as if someone had offered her another piece of candy. But she didn't know whether she should accept it or not.

So she neither answered nor refused.

Instead, he took the initiative again, deliberately slapping a sheet of music full of dissonant modern scales in front of Li Xun: "Take a look at this. If you were to play it, how would you handle it?"

She wanted to see him at least frown.

Li Xun took the sheet music, and Liang Chuling stared intently at his face, trying to catch a hint of unease.

But he still didn't, and again he didn't.

"These modern works often express not traditional beauty, but rather an emotional tension or the sound effect itself. Perhaps we could try not to beautify it, but to present the sense of disharmony and conflict itself?"

For some reason, Liang Chuling's eyes suddenly stung, and she felt a little sad.

She didn't know what she was sad about, so she just said "okay" and left, as if she were running away.

After that incident, Liang Chuling felt too embarrassed to vent her emotions in the music room. But with nowhere to vent her frustration, she could only chat with Li Xun casually while packing her things after class. During the conversation, she learned that he and Li Chi lived in the building next to the music room.

It's convenient for her to go to class, leave class, and go home, but Liang Chuling thought to herself, "Then why does she often skip class? So spoiled!"

She learned that Li Xun read a wide variety of books, not just music theory, but also science fiction, historical biographies, and even some philosophy books she had never heard of before.

Please! He's only sixteen!

Enraged, Liang Chuling immediately went online and ordered a bunch of books. Whether she would read them or not was secondary; she just wanted to fill the study.

Even after filling the box, she didn't look at it. It wasn't that she didn't want to look; Liang Chuling really didn't have time to look.

Practicing the piano is a vast subject, encompassing pitch recognition, basic training, memorizing scores, expanding one's repertoire, and developing a feel for the music. Not to mention, one also has to study academic subjects and languages…

Fortunately, Liang Chuling is indeed a piano prodigy, which saved us a lot of trouble.

Sometimes, when she got tired of playing the piano, she would lean over and ask Li Xun, "What are you looking at?"

Li Xun would close the book and show her the title, or briefly tell her about the contents of the book.

He has excellent communication skills, able to explain complex things in a simple and easy-to-understand way, and occasionally he will make a few comments with dry humor, which makes Liang Chuling laugh.

She discovered that beneath Li Xun's seemingly calm exterior lay a rather lively inner world.

One time, after class, it was still early, and the setting sun was warm.

The two took the elevator downstairs together.

Reaching the building entrance, Li Xun walked to a nearby beverage shop and bought a lemonade. As he paid, he glanced at Liang Chuling standing beside him.

"What would you like to drink?" he asked.

Liang Chuling shook her head, indicating that she would not drink.

However, Li Xun still managed to drink both cups: one was his own lemonade, and the other was a matcha cup he handed to Liang Chuling.

"How did you know I wanted to drink this?" Liang Chuling was a little surprised. She didn't seem to have told him before.

Li Xun said slowly, "You always frown when my mom orders you hot chocolate. Today you stared at my mom's matcha for several minutes."

Liang Chuling: "..."

Holding their drinks, the two didn't immediately go their separate ways, but instead slowly walked along the sidewalk.

It was already late autumn, and the wind was a bit chilly, not particularly comfortable.

Occasionally, one or two leaves fall from the roadside.

The surrounding area was filled with people leaving get off work and school, cars were flowing by, and pedestrians were hurrying by.

Liang Chuling bit her straw, looked at Li Xun beside her, and suddenly felt a feeling she hadn't had in a long time.

easy.

It was very simple: drinking beverages and taking a walk.

This ease made her secret about her father's infidelity feel somewhat unbearable.

Let me draw a little more peace from you… Liang Chuling sighed.

She stopped in her tracks.

Li Xun also stopped and looked at her.

Liang Chuling looked up: "Li Xun, I found out my dad is having an affair."

After she finished speaking, she stared at his face, trying to see some emotion beyond his calm expression.

But still nothing.

Li Xun simply nodded, waiting for her to continue.

Liang Chuling was infected, and the panic in her heart seemed to calm down a bit.

She recounted in fits and starts how she discovered the website, how she guessed the password, and what she saw.

At the moment she spoke, she discovered the source of her inner pain—

It was because her father used her birthday as the password to give the photo album of her lover.

What is this all about?

"Although I'm not a good husband, I am a good father?"

What is this...?

"I don't know whether I should tell my mom or not. If I tell her, I'm afraid she won't be able to handle it. If I don't tell her, I feel like she shouldn't be kept in the dark. What do you think?" Liang Chuling asked, trying to sound casual.

Li Xun looked at the taillights of the cars in the distance, then turned to look at Liang Chuling's uneasy face: "Tell me."

Liang Chuling was taken aback: "Why?"

"I think your mother probably already knew."

Liang Chuling's eyes widened instantly.

Li Xun continued, "Mothers are all very sensitive."