Chapter 9 High Mountains and Flowing Water: Like high mountains and flowing water, the scene is profound and serene...
Several days have passed since the breakup.
Liang Yizhi has always lived with He Man. Apart from work and performances, she basically stays at home and buries herself in practicing the piano.
Liang Yizhi felt she was recovering quickly. She devoted herself to playing the violin every day, ate her meals and lived her life as usual, and was not greatly affected by the breakup.
She felt good about herself.
When Liang Yizhi got up in the morning, she was playing the violin in He Man's guest room as usual when He Man suddenly came in and interrupted her.
She cried out, "My dear aunt, are you alright?"
Liang Yizhi was puzzled: "I'm fine."
"Are you sure?" He Man frowned and looked Liang Yizhi up and down, her gaze sweeping over Liang Yizhi's face and the bow in her hand. "If this continues, the downstairs neighbors will come crying to complain that I'm disturbing the peace."
"Is it still noisy?" Liang Yizhi felt apologetic. In order not to disturb the neighbors, she now tries to practice the piano during the day and has shortened the time she spends practicing at home.
Liang Yizhi: "I've already blocked the F-hole and plugged in a mute, but it seems the effect is still just so-so."
“That’s not the point.” He Man raised her chin. “How many days have you been playing this piece? I’m going to get depressed if I keep listening to it.”
Liang Yizhi flipped through the sheet music in front of her: "I think it sounds pretty good..."
These days, the piece she plays most often is Frey's "After the Dream".
The poignant and melancholic melody, combined with the cello's somber tone, and the sorrowful emotions that occasionally flow from the bow, does indeed have a somewhat depressing effect.
Liang Yizhi really likes this piece of music.
However, the works that she found delicate and profound were not so appealing to He Man.
She couldn't understand what Liang Yizhi was saying. He Man only knew that if she had to listen to this piece of wood's depressing music every day, she would go crazy.
He Man said, "Alright, who cares about Chopin or Mozart? If you keep playing that lousy violin all the time, it'll affect your energy field."
"What's the meaning?"
It means: Hurry up and get ready, come out with me!
Staying at home all the time can make you sick if you get bored too much.
Liang Yizhi is a very obedient person.
She put on makeup for the first time in a long time, borrowed He Man's newly bought clothes, a black trench coat with tall leather boots, and hopped out the door on He Man's lap.
Upon arriving at their destination, they ran into Gu Yinyan at the entrance as soon as they got out of the car.
Gu Yinyan glanced at the two of them and commented on them with only four words: "Peacocks displaying their plumage."
Then he turned and went inside.
He Man, suppressing the urge to laugh, followed behind Liang Yizhi with her arm around her.
This nightclub is the most famous in the entire Jade City, with a minimum spend of five figures for a booth.
Because of the high entry barrier, although the atmosphere is good, it is not a decadent scene of drinking and carnival. It is mostly a place for wealthy young people to relax, have fun, and make friends.
He Man put her arm around Liang Yizhi's shoulder, slowed her pace, and said earnestly, "Yizhi, do you know? The reason you were bad at judging people and met the wrong people before was because you hadn't met enough people."
They moved through the waves of people, He Man's voice whispering in her ear:
"You tend to think of them as too simple, but there are all kinds of people in this world, and truly normal people are a minority. You have to open up your own boundaries a bit, get to know and communicate with new people, so that you can learn how to distinguish them."
Liang Yizhi felt that He Man's words made sense.
She is somewhat idealistic and has been too well protected by her family. She always naively believes that no one has many bad intentions and doesn't put up much guard against the people around her.
But reality had already taught her a harsh lesson.
“Making more friends is not a bad thing. But you have to remember,” He Man stopped, her hands, adorned with rings, pressed down on Liang Yizhi’s bony shoulders, turning her in a certain direction.
"The people we're looking for must at least meet the same standards as them."
Liang Yizhi looked in the direction she was looking.
Not far away, in a dimly lit booth, Gu Yinyan and Jiang Huai were already chatting.
A girl came over and tried to strike up a conversation with them, but after a few words, she was politely turned away. She moved away, her eyes still lingering on Gu Yinyan on the sofa.
Gu Yinyan barely said a word from beginning to end, sitting there quietly drinking.
Liang Yizhi sometimes felt that Gu Yinyan gave people the feeling of a hidden mountain, detached from the mundane world. Even though she had known him for so many years, she often couldn't see through his thoughts, so it was no wonder that people were always captivated by his aura and wished to climb up to him.
He Man is right, Liang Yizhi thought.
She really should make more friends and stop being so closed off; she needs to take control of the situation.
She herself is not bad, and her requirements are not excessive. No matter what, she should find someone who is on par with Gu Yinyan.
She is good-looking, well-educated, and knowledgeable.
The important thing is that he is a reliable person.
He Man and Liang Yizhi sat down in the booth.
Jiang Huai and Liang Yizhi hadn't seen each other for a while. He had just returned from a business trip out of town, and the first thing he said to Liang Yizhi was, "Are you alright?"
"It's fine, don't worry."
“That’s more like it!” Jiang Huai comforted him. “Being troubled by love is the most degrading thing. Look at me, I’ve had so many relationships, passing through a sea of flowers, yet I’ve never been touched by a single petal! Those are all external things…”
He Man scoffed, "I wonder who it was before who got dumped by Dr. Jiang, pretended not to care, but insisted that they were sick and went to the hospital every day?"
He Man was referring to Jiang Huai's previous girlfriend. Dr. Jiang comes from a family of doctors; both her parents are highly educated, so their requirements for her partner are naturally very high.
Jiang Huai now works at his parents' company, living off them and having no sense of purpose. He's clingy when he's in a relationship, but Dr. Jiang is busy with work and feels he's not ambitious enough, so their disagreements naturally increase, and the relationship eventually comes to a head.
Dr. Jiang had always been a thorn in Jiang Huai's side. He Man's provocation made Jiang Huai so angry that his lips trembled and he couldn't speak: "I...I was really sick! Don't you have any conscience, He Man!"
“I don’t have any, but Dr. Jiang does.”
The two started arguing again.
Gu Yinyan sat to the side, not intending to get involved in the dispute. He looked at Liang Yizhi for a while, then decided to get down to business while everyone was still sober.
Gu Yinyan leaned closer to Liang Yizhi and said succinctly, "Xie Yun has been dismissed."
Liang Yizhi knew this was perfectly reasonable. She immediately said, "It's alright, you don't need to worry about me. It's your company, you're in charge."
“It’s all because of you,” Gu Yinyan said.
"The company will not tolerate people with questionable morals staying here; it will cause endless trouble. This is our bottom line, regardless of whether he is...your boyfriend."
Liang Yizhi understood.
Gu Yinyan would not show favoritism towards her; he always judged the matter objectively, never personally, and was always fair and just.
What's past is past; Liang Yizhi wouldn't allow herself to waste her emotions on something pointless. She cut off the conversation: "Okay, let's not talk about him anymore."
Liang Yizhi picked up her cup and declared loudly, "I'm here to have some fun today!"
"That's right!" He Man clapped her hands twice. "Come on! Let's have a toast! Let's have a couple of drinks first, then we'll warm up before we go on stage!"
They raised their glasses and clinked them together, the four glasses hitting each other with a crisp sound, a few drops of clear liquor splashing out haphazardly, like the free spirits of young people.
Being with friends is always enjoyable, and with the deafening music in the store, it's so fun that you can temporarily forget everything else.
After drinking for a while and chatting, He Man encouraged Liang Yizhi to go to the middle of the dance floor.
She hooked her arm around her: "Hurry up, let's go!"
Liang Yizhi shouts slogans loudly, but when it comes to actually doing them, she hesitates and is unwilling to leave, still unable to let go, as if her bottom is glued to the sofa seat:
"How about... you go first, and I'll join in later..."
He Man shouted, "Have you forgotten what you said when you were drunk that day? Who wanted to play with flowers??"
Liang Yizhi was stunned. It seemed that after Gu Yinyan sent her away that day, she had also made a declaration to He Man.
This is incredibly embarrassing...
"I'll play, I didn't say I wouldn't play. I'm just not coordinated and don't want to jump..." Liang Yizhi stubbornly made excuses.
She was truly drunk that day, and she remembered saying something like that, as well as Gu Yinyan's nonchalant "You give it a try."
I wonder if he still remembers, it's best if he has forgotten...
"If she doesn't want to go, then so be it." Seeing the two at an impasse, Gu Yinyan spoke up to defuse the situation.
He Man stamped her foot: "If you're not going, I'm going! Don't be too scared to come in alone later!"
He Man got up to leave, but seeing that no one stopped her, she sat down angrily.
He Man complained, "Why is it that no one is worried about me when I go?"
Jiang Huai stood there, stunned: "When have you ever listened to us? Every time we try to pull you along, we get scolded. Besides... aren't you uninterested in men?"
"I'm not interested in them, but that doesn't stop some people from being interested in me."
From junior high school onwards, while her female classmates were experiencing their first crushes and becoming obsessed with popular male idols, He Man realized that she didn't have any special feelings for boys.
When she's in a queue or a group of people, she always pays more attention to the girls.
But she is also stunningly beautiful, with long arms and legs, and long, straight hair with blunt bangs, exuding a strong feminine charm and attracting attention from both men and women.
He Man said, "Yizhi, didn't we say we wanted to find someone similar to these two good brothers? If you don't take any action and just wait for them to come to you, then you won't have any choices!"
"Wow—" Jiang Huai chuckled upon hearing this, highlighting the key point: "This is the first time I've received such high praise here?"
Leung Yik-chi solemnly reiterated: "You only meet the minimum standard."
After she finished speaking, out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Gu Yinyan beside her seemed to move slightly.
She looked at him.
In the dim light, by the glow of the surrounding lights, she saw a faint smile on Gu Yinyan's lips, like a flowing stream, a profound scene slowly unfolding.
"What do you mean?" the man asked softly.
The tall figure drew closer, his voice still calm and low, asking jokingly:
"What's wrong with us?"
A note from the author:
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