Chapter 12
He said, "What are you thinking? Do you really want me to sell myself?"
Song Yihuan's brain exploded like fireworks in that instant, and the shock was no less than when he first heard him call out the words "Little Pink".
Can he read minds?!
He slammed his elbow on the piano keys, and a jumble of notes burst forth.
"Hiss—" she couldn't help but let out a sound.
"What's wrong?" Chi Ran asked.
"I bumped my arm and it's numb." She frowned. "My arm is seeing stars."
Chi Ran touched the piano keys a couple of times. "Hmm, the keys are still there."
Song Yihuan glared at him fiercely and asked, "What did you just say?"
“I said, do you really want me to sell myself?” he said. “Four o’clock, get out of class ends then.”
Song Yihuan secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
"I don't even know the time, how do you know?" she asked, then quickly added, realizing her question was inappropriate. "I was paying close attention in class and didn't even check the time."
Chi Ran didn't seem to mind, pointing to the headphones around her neck, "I'm turning on the hourly broadcast."
Perhaps fearing she wouldn't understand, he continued to explain, "It's a type of assistive function for the visually impaired; it will announce the time on the hour."
Song Yihuan: "Like a cuckoo, like that?"
“...like the news broadcast.” Chi Ran said helplessly.
“I’ve never actually watched the news broadcast,” she said.
Chi Ran asked in shock, "How old are you?"
“I was born in 2002, and I’ll be twenty after my birthday,” she said.
"..." Chi Ran remained silent for a long time.
"Are you still in school?" he asked.
Song Yihuan hesitated for a moment and said, "No, I only studied until high school."
Chi Ran remained silent, seemingly still in shock.
Song Yihuan asked, "Where are you... and Qian Yu?"
“I’m half a cycle older than you,” he said.
Song Yihuan felt she should ask Qian Yu about it, which would seem less deliberate.
But she still didn't ask, since Chi Ran hadn't said anything either.
“I’m actually half a cycle older than you, a full six years,” Chi Ran repeated incredulously.
Song Yihuan blinked and complained, "You don't seem half a cycle older than me when you're arguing."
Over the next few days of piano practice, Song Yihuan deeply regretted her earlier comment.
She didn't actually think that six years was a big difference, after all, Chi Ran could be quite childish sometimes.
But Chi Ran clearly didn't think so.
She could clearly sense that he was deliberately keeping his distance.
Once the hand gesture hurdle was overcome, there was no longer any reason for physical contact.
His attitude has changed a lot. Although it's still the same style of saying harsh things, it's not quite the same.
He no longer carried a stool to sit next to the piano bench, but instead sat in a gaming chair further away, holding that game controller-like thing and tapping it around.
She couldn't help but ask yesterday, and he said it's called a percussion pad, used for arranging music.
Although he seemed distant, he would answer any questions she asked.
For example, right now.
"This part is too fast, I can't keep up," she said, sounding somewhat frustrated.
"Lift your wrists up, sit up straight, or you'll be lying on the piano and unable to play fast."
Song Yihuan wrinkled her nose and retorted, "You can only see the powder, how could you see me lying on the piano?"
“This instrument is so delicate, if you really lie down on it I’m sure I can hear it.”
At some point, Chi Ran switched from over-ear headphones to in-ear headphones, so he could wear only one and keep the other one open to listen to her speak.
In order to deliver a witty remark that is relevant to the topic.
Why is that?
She inexplicably felt that he was frustrated, but she didn't know what he was frustrated about.
Nevertheless, four o'clock arrived at lightning speed, and she shuffled to the door, clutching the sheet music.
The door to Chi Ran's room was ajar, and he didn't come out.
He never drove her home, because it was inconvenient for him. She hadn't paid much attention before, but after sensing the distance between them, even this seemingly insignificant matter became a source of disappointment.
They don't reason with people.
"Bye-bye, Song Shen!" Qian Yu waved enthusiastically, closed the door, and called back, "Let's go to the gym!"
Chi Ran slowly got up, took off her T-shirt, and put on a sleeveless quick-drying shirt.
"Do you think Song Shen will come again after the lockdown is lifted?" Qian Yu suddenly asked.
Chi Ran remained silent for a moment, without saying a word.
"If she doesn't come, how about we just go to the gym at 3 o'clock? There are too many people at 4 o'clock, and I can never get a dumbbell bench."
“Then you should train your legs,” he said.
“Even those who train their legs can’t get a turn,” Qian Yu asked. “So, is Song Shen still coming? Actually, it would be good if she did; her cooking is really delicious.”
Chi Ran still didn't answer, but said, "When we can go out, who will still go to the community gym?"
"That makes sense."
Qian Yu walked to the door but then turned back, muttering, "I'll take the dumbbells downstairs. Those old dumbbells downstairs are too slippery; I'm afraid I'll hurt my foot."
Chi Ran leaned against the door and waited, then raised her hand to point to him: "The cabinet next to the piano, the middle shelf."
"Hiss, where is it?" Qian Yu called out, "Come here!"
Chi Ran let out a long breath and slowly walked into the house: "You're really something, asking the blind man to find things for you."
Before he even reached the bedroom door, he heard a clanging sound, followed by the sound of piano keys playing and then shattering.
The noise made his heart skip a beat, and he rushed into the house, tripping over the door with his knee and feeling a sharp pain.
Chi Ran braced his toes against the piano's positioning point, reached out to touch the keys, and ran his fingers down from left to right, breaking more than a dozen black and white keys. The peeling key skin shattered and flew everywhere.
Further inside, two or three piano keys were broken.
I was just joking about how fragile the zither was, and now it's come true.
Qian Yu was still standing there, staring blankly, saying, "I didn't hurt my foot."
Chi Ran's heart, already clenched with anger, swelled up again, wishing she could smash his head into the piano. But the anger quickly dissipated, replaced by a dense sense of helplessness, leaving her chest feeling empty.
"That's a real shame," Chi Ran said expressionlessly, rubbing the broken piano keys, the splinters of wood pricking his hands.
"Brother, should I pay? I won't." Qian Yu realized he had to back down, and his liver trembled.
The ground was covered in wood shavings, and since Chi Ran wasn't wearing slippers, the sharp edges were irritating. He walked over to the piano bench and sat down, remaining silent for a long time.
"Brother, say something, or I'm afraid you'll hit me on the head with a dumbbell." Qian Yu's voice trembled.
After a long silence, Chi Ran suddenly remembered something: "Isn't there half a set of keyboard covers left?"
Qian Yu stammered, "There wasn't even a half set, was there?"
Chi Ran asked again, "Is there still half a set of keyboard covers left?"
"You want to fix it?" Qian Yu was even more frightened. "There's not even half a set left, just three or five, and they're all black keys. You can't fix them, can you? I guess you'll have to wait until they're unsealed and find someone to replace the keycaps before you can fix them."
Chi Ran simply said two words: "Go find it."
Qian Yu was so eager to get things done that he had to leave himself and his wallet a way out.
The piano keys were in a storage box under Ran Ge's bed. He bent down to reach them and dragged the box out.
Before he could open it, Ran Ge grabbed the box with one hand, opened it, and started rummaging through it.
"There are only six black keys left, bro." There weren't many items in the box, and Qian Yu could see that clearly.
Chi Ran ignored him and knelt down to examine everything in the box. In the end, he picked up the black keys and neither said he would fix them nor that he wouldn't.
Qian Yu felt even more uncertain.
Chi Ran sat by the box for a while before blurting out, "How much longer until the lockdown is lifted?"
“One week, then seven more days,” he answered hastily.
He repeated in a low voice, "Seven days."
Qian Yu nodded earnestly: "Yes, brother, don't be sad. We'll be able to find someone to repair the piano in seven more days."
"There were still seven days left." He forced a smile, a helpless one.
Seeing that he could still smile, Qian Yu felt like he had been given a second chance at life: "Brother, then I..."
"Get out."
Alright!
Chi Ran listened as he closed the door, but didn't move. He sat down on the floor with his knees bent. The mess on the floor was uncomfortable to touch, so he couldn't support himself and put his arms on his legs.
As they continued, their faces were buried in the pillow.
"I can't bear to part with you."
Qian Yu, holding a cup of cola chicken wings, clasped his hands in a gesture of respect, and almost burst into tears.
"Don't do that." Song Yihuan was startled. "You really look like a beggar."
Qian Yu pouted and said, "I'm guilty, I broke the piano."
Song Yihuan's hand loosened its grip on the doorknob, and she froze.
"It definitely won't be repaired anytime soon, so I can't lend it to you to play." Qian Yu sighed. "I'll have to use some dumbbells instead. That piano is worth a small car."
Song Yi cheered and looked up to ask, "He treasured that zither so much, why did he let you live?"
"It almost killed me." Qian Yu shook his head. "Luckily, I knelt down quickly."
"Anyway, you won't have to make a wasted trip tomorrow," he sighed.
Song Yihuan, hearing that this didn't sound like Chi Ran's tone, pressed further, "Did your brother Ran tell you to tell me this?"
Qian Yu shook his head: "No, he's guarding the corpse of Qin."
Song Yihuan nodded, "Okay."
Just as she was closing the door, he reached out and stopped her: "Sister Song, Sister Song!"
She smiled and said, "You're not reluctant to part with me, you're reluctant to part with the cook, aren't you?"
Qian Yu clasped his hands together and said, "Sister, just seven more days, just seven more days."
"I see." Song Yihuan tilted her head. "What do you want to eat tomorrow?"
Qian Yu's eyes lit up: "Sis, you're my only sister! It doesn't need to be too complicated, just keep it simple! Curry beef...?"
"Is there anything else?" she asked.
Qian Yu said sincerely, "Let's have some stir-fried amaranth too, to replenish vitamins."
Song Yihuan nodded. "Would you like some soup?"
"Drink!" Qian Yu asked, "How about winter melon and mutton soup? I've been craving it for ages."
"Okay." She smiled. "Then you should go to bed early tonight, or you might not be able to finish your food in one night."
After saying that, he slammed the door shut.
When Chi Ran opened his eyes, he was dazzled by the high-hanging sun. He reached for his phone on the bedside table and listened to the time announcement.
"It's 1:23 Beijing time now."
He deliberately didn't set an alarm last night, intending to sleep until he naturally woke up, but people's sleep is limited, and no matter how hard he tried, he could only sleep until this time.
He was a little dazed from sleeping too long, and his head was also throbbing with a faint, pleasant pain. He propped himself up and sat up to recover.
After calming down, he shouted towards the door, "Workout at two o'clock!"
"Huh?" Qian Yu pushed open the door and poked his head in. "The food isn't even ready yet, what kind of workout are you talking about?"
Chi Ran sat there blankly for a while before saying, "Those three points."
"OK."
After Qian Yu closed the door, he clenched his left hand around his right and began to stare blankly again.
The only constant in the world is change.
He had just held her hand last week, and the image in his mind was still of him stepping out of the house after a long time, grasping a short green branch of early spring.
I then learned that she was only twenty years old and had only been an adult for two years.
His brain efficiently reprocessed the image, adding details, and the whole scene could be summarized in one sentence: The old blind man was a charlatan pretending to feel bones but was actually a rogue.
He is twenty-six years old this year.
Chi Ran is not afraid of getting old; that's not what bothers him. What bothers him is that he is twenty-six years old this year, but he has only lived for twenty-four years.
Life was bustling with activity; those twenty-four years were a time of great pride and privilege.
For the past two years, I've been confined to my home, surrounded by darkness.
If he's really twenty-four, that's better; it doesn't sound as scary as "half a wheel."
But he had been dead for two whole years, and she had just turned two years old.
Thinking about it carefully, I feel strangely depressed.
That day, he immediately wanted her to stop coming.
But looking at that touch of pink, he swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue, thinking he should wait a little longer and be greedy for a few more days.
Who would have thought that the piano would break, and the rest would suddenly appear.
I thought there were still seven days left.
He habitually put on the clothes by the bed after getting up, and only after he was all dressed did he remember to touch them to check their texture; they were pure cotton T-shirts.
He took off his shirt, pulled out another quick-drying shirt, and put it on.
"What are we having for lunch?" He walked out listlessly.
Qian Yu didn't say anything, but the door opened with a knock.
Then came a sentence that was shouted out:
"Teacher Chi!!!"
"I'm here for class!!"
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