Chapter 35

"The teacher won't let you actually perform on stage."

"You won't actually be playing on stage; there will be pre-recorded piano music playing backstage."

Zhou Yuan's words over the weekend overlapped with the teacher's requirements, leaving Li Ye feeling dizzy and speechless for a moment. The music teacher could only take Li Ye's silence as tacit approval and continued explaining her subsequent arrangements.

Zhou Yuan glanced at Li Ye with unprecedented frequency, but Li Ye's expression control seemed to have suddenly improved significantly, making it impossible for anyone to tell what was going on.

From that day on, rehearsals began for the specific program flow. For Li Ye's part, it consisted of just a few simple movements to show that she was indeed performing.

Originally, apart from the ensemble performance that lasted less than a minute at the beginning, the rest of the program was basically Zhou Yuan's solo performance.

Li Ye thought that was a compromised solution, but she didn't expect reality to be even crueler than she imagined.

As the rehearsal ended and the two walked home together, the usually silent Li Ye suddenly said, "I suddenly really want to report the school leaders who proposed this event!"

"Hmm... after you graduate, if he's still in power by then."

Zhou Yuan didn't reply. He could tell that Li Ye's heart wasn't as calm as it appeared on the surface. She was probably thinking that she would report him after graduation, if that leader was still alive.

All Zhou Yuan could do was buy Li Ye a bunch of her favorite foods when they passed by the snack street, trying to vent her emotions by eating.

The recent series of events and blows to Li Ye left Zhou Yuan unsure how to comfort him, feeling that he had said something wrong that might have hit Li Ye's sore spot.

Holding the still-warm jianbing guozi (Chinese savory crepe) handed to her by Zhou Yuan, along with the wolf-tooth potato and red bean cake he was carrying, and the teppanyaki tofu and egg pancakes that were currently waiting in line.

"You bought so much, are we even going to eat tonight?"

In the silence between the two, Li Ye spoke first: "Let's go to your house to do our homework tonight."

Zhou Yuan then asked, "Is the cold war at home still going on?"

This question concerns the aftermath of Li Ye's return home with Zhou Yuan on the night he was kicked out of his house.

Li Ye was unsure of the adults' attitude and didn't dare go home directly. Instead, he went back to Zhou Yuan's house first.

Mr. Zhou was preparing dinner at home. He didn't mind giving Li Ye a bowl of rice. The table was set with enough bowls and chopsticks for four people.

Unfortunately, Zhou Yuan and Li Ye went out for a stroll together in the afternoon, which was considered skipping class. After Zhou Yuan returned home, his mother kept scolding him. Since Li Ye had also come to his house with him, Zhou Yuan's mother only gave him a verbal reprimand and did not actually hit him.

After Zhou's father figured that Zhou's mother had finished her lecture, he quickly declared that dinner should be served soon, otherwise it would be bad for the adults and children to go hungry. This was clearly a recurring theme in their household.

Just then, a knock came from outside the door, accompanied by a familiar greeting from the neighbor.

"Knock knock knock! Knock knock knock! It's me, Li Duoyun!"

"Is Li Ye at your house? He's been playing all this time and doesn't even remember to go home. Did he not eat at your house?"

Mr. Zhou went to open the door, where the neighbor's couple were standing. Teacher Li immediately blamed Li Ye's mischief, not wanting to make the family conflict known to everyone.

The unfamiliar Ms. Li frightened Li Ye. She stood up straight from the sofa but dared not make any further moves. She saw Ms. Li, who had knocked on the door and then remained silent, her expression as gloomy as it had been that morning, as if she wanted to devour someone.

Instead, Zhou Yuan stepped in front of Li Ye and explained to the adults, "The school's anniversary celebration is coming soon, and Li Ye and I both have performances. Today we're discussing the performances together."

But this doesn't stop parents from picking up their children from school, especially at night.

When Li Ye returned home, she stood at the edge of the living room and looked towards the dining room. On the table was the sumptuous breakfast that no one had touched before she left, and it had long since gone cold.

Only the living room light was on at this moment. Li Ye had never felt that the space illuminated by the usual bright light could be so cold. How could the temperature of an early summer night be so cold that it felt like standing in an ice cellar?

Silence reigned; neither mother nor daughter spoke first, and even Teacher Li, sitting with Ms. Li on the sofa, dared not utter a word. The silence was finally broken when the two adults, having not eaten all day, began to rumble with hunger.

Ms. Li got up and went to the kitchen to reheat the sumptuous breakfast. She looked at the steaming, extremely plentiful breakfast that had been put back on the table, and her parents sitting on either side of the table.

For a moment, Li Ye thought time had reversed. The night flowed into the room through the undrawn curtains of the restaurant. It was Teacher Li who turned on the restaurant light, and the warm yellow light flowed in, driving the night back out the window.

Li Ye stood still after entering the room. Ms. Li couldn't help but take action for the third time today. She pulled Li Ye's body and forced her to sit down in the restaurant.

Seeing that Li Ye was still the same and had no intention of eating, Ms. Li finally couldn't hold back any longer. At Teacher Li's prompting, she apologized to her daughter: "I shouldn't have said such harsh words to you this morning. I didn't really mean to send you away."

And that was it. Without explaining why, and without needing Li Ye's response, the couple simply started eating their breakfast, lunch, and dinner combo.

She didn't react to Li Ye's participation in the school anniversary performance; she already knew her family's attitude.

Li Ye still chose to finish her breakfast, even though she wasn't actually hungry.

Finally, Li Ye returned to her room. On her desk lay the headphones that had been pulled off earlier; upon inspection, she found they were broken. The music software on her computer, along with the downloaded music, had also been uninstalled and deleted. She wasn't sure if she had checked and browsed through the other contents of her computer.

Li Ye curled up helplessly on the bed, hugging herself tightly, wondering why Zhou Yuan wasn't a girl. That way, she could find an excuse to sleep at his house that night and face everything tomorrow.

Or, she could be a boy, as long as we can sleep together.

For the next few days, after school, Li Ye would go to Zhou Yuan's house first to finish his homework, trying his best to shorten the time he spent at home and also trying to avoid appearing in the family's public spaces.

It's too cold there now; it'll freeze her.

On the day of the school's anniversary, the school was decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, creating a festive atmosphere right from the school gate.

Li Ye arrived backstage with her stiff body, changed into an ill-fitting dress prepared by her teacher, put on heavy stage makeup, tied her hair up in a tight bun, and sprayed it with several coats of hairspray. She held a borrowed cello in her hand.

Looking at Zhou Yuan beside him, who seemed so used to all of this, Li Ye couldn't tell whether this was just how their school's backers always were, or whether this was what all backers were like.

After several joint rehearsals, Li Ye was very familiar with the order of the entire performance. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, their program would be the third to last, followed by a large ensemble performance by the orchestra. It is said that the grand finale had always been Zhou Yuan's solo.

Fortunately, there were no major accidents in the previous episodes, and Li Ye didn't want anything to happen to her, even though she didn't like this fake show.

But once she actually went on stage, Li Ye found it really difficult to stay calm and avoid making mistakes. She was already trying her best to control her movements and keep them as precise as in rehearsals.

But Li Ye's eyes, with their excellent vision, told her that the two figures who left the stage immediately after she went on stage were definitely her parents.

In an instant, the ice cellar in the house seemed to have been brought directly to the stage, and Li Ye's body was thrown into it and frozen. He should have felt the concentrated heat when he was under the spotlight during rehearsals.

The performance officially began with Zhou Yuan's violin playing, which immediately prompted Li Ye to begin her performance. Guided by the music teacher in the audience, the one-minute ensemble performance concluded, followed by Zhou Yuan's solo, which would seamlessly transition into the orchestra's full ensemble.

On stage, Li Ye stood there all alone without making any move. Should we be glad that the spotlight didn't shine on her afterwards? Otherwise, the scene would have looked more like a slow, agonizing death, and the scene would have been truly unsightly.

Li Ye had to try her best to maintain her composure, even though she could cry her way off the stage as soon as she stepped off. Perhaps it was the right thing for Ms. Li and Teacher Li to leave.

To avoid thinking about worse things and affecting his facial expression, Li Ye could only frantically shift his attention, such as focusing on every detail on the stage.

The closest sound to her ears was Zhou Yuan's violin. Li Ye remembered that Zhou Yuan's playing was different from hers; his playing was genuine. This was the first time she had discovered that Zhou Yuan's music was so beautiful and moving.

Ever since he decided to learn the violin, he's performed at her house every New Year's Eve. Could it be that he's listened to more classical music in the past month than he ever did before, and finally developed an ear capable of appreciating music?

Li Ye controlled her gaze and carefully looked at Zhou Yuan, who was playing the violin. The boy was focused on his performance and immersed in his interaction with the violin.

Li Ye felt that the stage wasn't as cold as it had been at the beginning, and she realized for the first time that Zhou Yuan was actually quite handsome; the spotlight shining on him made him look perfect.

By this time, their performance had ended. Zhou Yuan pulled Li Ye along to express their gratitude, and then they went off the stage together.

On the way to return all the equipment, Li Ye suddenly asked, "Will you hate me?"

In Li Ye's mind, today's ensemble performance was merely a show, with only Zhou Yuan's part considered a true performance. She wasn't sure what Zhou Yuan thought about it; he hadn't revealed any emotion from the beginning.

Before Zhou Yuan could react, Li Ye quickly brushed off the previous question and kept asking: Can we take off this stage makeup now? Can we change out of this dress? It's uncomfortable wearing clothes that don't fit.

Also, should we sneak out to eat next?

Then the two quickly changed out of their stage costumes and handed everything over to the teacher in charge.

They rushed into the burger joint with stage makeup that hadn't been completely removed and their hair still stubbornly styled. The two, who were essentially still kids, sat together and drank Coke like crazy. After one of them burped first, they inexplicably burst out laughing together.

After laughing, Li Ye reached out to rub his face, which had been stiff all day, but felt warm liquid in the corner of his eye.

I was laughing so hard I cried.