Chapter 62
◎The First Note◎
At that time, she and Xie Wanzhi had already gotten along quite well. Since the school's small supermarket was not allowed to sell snacks, Xie Wanzhi would take advantage of breaks between classes to pester her, who was a day student, to bring in some snacks for her.
Zhan Xinyue readily agreed, tearing out a page from her notebook and writing down everything Xie Wanzhi wanted to eat. Xin Wenhua and the others in the front row heard this and immediately joined in, clamoring for her to bring them snacks too, which Zhan Xinyue also agreed to. And so, new classmates kept gathering around, crowding her desk until it was completely packed.
When people asked her for help, they were incredibly sweet-talking, praising her as the living Bodhisattva of Class 10. Zhan Xinyue wasn't usually an outgoing person, but the praise made her dizzy. She could only smile and write down everyone's needs.
When everyone finally left, satisfied, her hand was stuffed with a thick wad of change. Zhan Xinyue counted the banknotes she had received over a while, then checked the list she had written down, and breathed a sigh of relief. She was actually quite happy. In this new class, she wasn't familiar with many of her classmates yet, and having this opportunity to help them seemed to have brought her much closer to them.
As the surroundings quieted down, Zhan Xinyue finally snapped out of her reverie and glanced at her overly quiet deskmate beside her. Even though it had been so crowded, everyone had been hesitant to approach Shi Ziqian's desk, instead crowding around the side closest to her.
During the time everyone was making noise, Shi Ziqian kept his head down and did his own thing, as if he had drawn a clear line between himself and everyone else, or as if he was being invisibly isolated from everyone's commotion.
Perhaps it was a sudden surge of maternal instinct, but Zhan Xinyue suddenly sensed a hint of loneliness in his figure.
She had just taken care of everyone in the class, both familiar and unfamiliar, but she had overlooked this one person, which seemed a bit unreasonable.
Zhan Xinyue sat in her seat, internally struggling for a while. She wanted to ask him if he needed her help bringing anything, but hesitated for a long time without daring to speak. Seeing that class was about to start and the teacher had already entered the classroom, she suddenly had a bright idea. She tore off a sticky note, wrote a line, folded it up, and carefully pushed it over.
The first note pasted in her diary started from here.
"Shi Ziqian, what do you want?"
Shi Ziqian replied briefly, his handwriting bold and vigorous: "No need, thank you."
She thought for a moment, then replied, "Oh, you're welcome."
Shi Ziqian: "Hmm."
She read the note several times. Shi Ziqian seemed aloof, but he was surprisingly polite. His replies were always very brief, yet he always replied to each and every one of them.
Although Shi Ziqian refused, she seemed to have bought an extra box of cookies in the end, and secretly stuffed it into his drawer after distributing the food to everyone.
Perhaps encouraged by Shi Ziqian's reply, she found a way to get along with him and began to secretly pass him notes here and there.
Zhan Xinyue continued flipping through the pages. There were many notes pasted on the back, many of which did not have diary entries written next to them. She couldn't quite recall the context in which those notes were handed out, but she could tell that most of them were initially passed by Zhan Xinyue, and Shi Ziqian only politely replied with a few words.
At first, the notes had clear meanings, such as quietly reminding him, "When you weren't in the classroom, the teacher assigned a worksheet that we have to go over in the evening class," or "Can I borrow your ruler?" But after a while, the content of the notes started to become more whimsical, such as "Ah, so sleepy, are you sleepy?" "I got a really bad dish at the cafeteria today, don't go to that window..." Zhan Xinyue couldn't help but rub her temples after reading this.
However, along with these notes, the two became acquainted secretly and slowly. Occasionally, when the classroom was empty, they would talk, but most of the time they would quietly pass each other neatly square notes when no one was looking.
As time went on, Shi Ziqian's replies became increasingly longer, and later there were even a few notes that started with him sending them to Shi Ziqian.
Her gaze slid across the pages one by one, her expression grave, until she paused when it landed on a certain passage of text.
"Shi Ziqian seems to be in a bad mood these past two days, he's turned into a plus-sized version of Little Ice Man..."
After class that evening, Shi Ziqian didn't leave. He sat alone in his seat, head down, lost in thought. When Zhan Xinyue saw that everyone in the classroom had left, she called out to him softly, "Shi Ziqian, I'll show you something fun."
Shi Ziqian turned to look at her and asked, "Why haven't you left yet? What is it?"
Zhan Xinyue said, "Stretch out your hand."
Although Shi Ziqian looked a little confused, he still did as instructed.
Zhan Xinyue pulled a fancy little bag from his coat pocket, tore it open, and poured some transparent, gritty powder into his outstretched palm.
Shi Ziqian: "What is this?"
Zhan Xinyue didn't answer, but said mysteriously, "Try pouring it into your mouth."
Seeing Shi Ziqian put the powder into his mouth, a look of confusion and surprise suddenly appeared on his face, and his lips parted slightly, looking somewhat unaccustomed. Zhan Xinyue saw this expression for the first time and immediately found it amusing. She covered her mouth and laughed non-stop, feeling a kind of prankster's pleasure.
Shi Ziqian stared at her and smiled, his eyes flickering a few times: "What is this...? It's so strange."
Zhan Xinyue: "It's popping candy! I knew you'd never tried it before. Isn't it amazing?" Just thinking about Shi Ziqian's surprised expression when he was startled by these crackling little candies, Zhan Xinyue couldn't help but turn away and secretly laugh for a long time.
When Shi Ziqian returned from school and pushed open the door, there were guests at home.
Shi Yuesheng sat in the center of the sofa in the living room, with several guests sitting around him, including Zhu Qing. When he walked in, they all looked at him.
Shi Ziqian glanced at everyone and gave a casual greeting.
"This is our Ziqian," Zhu Qing introduced with a smile. "He just got back from school."
"He is truly handsome, and his demeanor is that of an exceptional individual."
"Yes, he looks exceptionally talented. He'll definitely have a bright future, just like President Shi."
Shi Yuesheng smiled and accepted it.
Zhu Qing glanced over there and said affectionately, "Yes, Ziqian is a good student, very talented, and can even play the piano."
"Wow, that's really excellent."
Zhu Qing gestured with her chin toward the grand piano not far away: "Ziqian, look, everyone's praising you. How about you come over and play a tune for everyone, so we can join in the fun?"
Shi Ziqian let her words fall to the ground, and simply nodded slightly to the guests: "You all continue chatting, I'll go upstairs first."
"Why did you leave so soon?" Seeing him go straight upstairs, Zhu Qing wasn't annoyed. She leaned back on the sofa, smiled calmly, and said with a hint of helplessness, "Sigh, kids this age aren't like they were when they were little. They all have tempers and don't listen to us parents much anymore." She smiled at everyone, "We're all parents, we should all feel the same way, right?"
Everyone quickly agreed with her, saying, "Yes, it's the same for all of them, my child is the same."
"This is how kids are when they reach puberty; they're rebellious to some extent."
Zhu Qing wore a cheongsam today, with a translucent green jade bracelet on her wrist and two teardrop-shaped jadeite tips on her earrings. She rested her arm on the sofa armrest, seemingly troubled: "She practiced piano for so long back then, and I even taught her by hand, but now she won't touch it at all. I don't know why. Sigh, this child is good in every way, except for her strange temper..."
Shi Yuesheng listened quietly, picked up his teacup and sipped it with the lid, then suddenly looked at Zhu Qing: "I do remember that you taught him to play the piano back then."
Zhu Qing smiled and said, "Yes, Ziqian was so little back then. So many years have passed in the blink of an eye, and he's grown up so much..."
Shi Yuesheng interrupted her, "How about this, you can play a couple of pieces, it'll be the same."
Zhu Qing was taken aback. A crack appeared in her flawless, gentle smile. She smoothed her hair and forced a smile, saying, "I haven't touched it in so many years. I can't play it anymore."
Shi Yuesheng remained silent, slowly turning the cup lid in his hand.
The air seemed to freeze for a moment. Everyone was shrewd, and seeing Shi Yuesheng sitting upright like a mountain, no one took the initiative to interrupt.
Zhu Qing supported her arm and was able to smile at first, but after a long silence, she could barely maintain that smile.
Shi Yuesheng finally lowered his head, took a sip of tea, and looked up at everyone: "Drink tea, everyone. This is newly delivered tea."
As soon as he spoke, the atmosphere immediately relaxed, and everyone echoed, "Yes, yes, yes, you can tell it's good tea just by tasting it."
Zhu Qing lowered her head, smoothed her hair, and took a sip of tea.
Shi Ziqian returned to his room and could still hear the hearty laughter of a group of people downstairs, mixed with Zhu Qing's voice. He turned his back to the door, closed it, leaned against it, rubbed his temples, went to the bedside to get his phone, and made a call.
"Yeah, Brother Li. I need to use the car tomorrow."
"Bring a car with a larger trunk. The exact time will be confirmed later; I'll let you know then."
"Okay, thank you."
The meeting downstairs didn't last long. As soon as the guests left, Zhu Qing, unusually, put on a sullen face in front of Shi Yuesheng, crossing her arms and remaining silent.
Shi Yuesheng lifted his eyelids and glanced at her: "What do you mean?"
"What do I mean? I should be asking you what you meant just now. Do you think I'm just someone you're entertaining with music?"
Shi Yuesheng remained unmoved: "So my son is just someone to listen to music and have fun with?"
It was a calm rhetorical question, devoid of emotion, yet it immediately silenced Zhu Qing. After a moment of quiet, she whispered in defense, "I didn't mean it that way. What child doesn't do that? Parents naturally want to showcase their child's talents in front of others and leave a good impression. Isn't that also making you look good? Besides, how can it be the same? It's perfectly normal for someone his age to perform for uncles and aunts. But how could you let me go? What kind of behavior is that?"
"My son, Shi Yuesheng's son, doesn't need to please others, and I don't need to rely on him to save face." Shi Yuesheng sneered. "When you embarrass him in front of outsiders, you're embarrassing me. Don't do anything so stupid. Besides, didn't I tell you before not to mess with him?"
Zhu Qing said sullenly, "Forget it, I won't say anymore. Everyone says it's hard to be a stepmother, and I think they're right. Everything I do is wrong. He never gives me a nice look, and you still protect him."
Shi Yuesheng stood up, glanced at her before turning around, and said with displeasure, "You know why he's bothering you. Keep your little schemes to yourself and don't act innocent after getting the benefit."
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