20. Prelude and Fugue
◎I can teach you◎
A new student transferred to the class next to the affiliated high school.
The homeroom teacher from the next classroom led a girl into the classroom: "Class, quiet down. This is our new transfer student, Jinxi, who transferred from the Affiliated High School of Sichuan Conservatory of Music. Let's welcome her."
Jinxi stood shyly on the podium and introduced herself in a low voice.
Sparse applause rang out in the classroom. At a high school like this, a transfer student is hardly a novelty.
The classes were taught by similar teachers, and the students might not know each other well, but they had worked together in different situations.
On the day Jinxi transferred here, nearly half of the students in several classes were going to participate in a concert for young performers held at the city concert hall, hoping to get a spot in the high-level competition.
Liang Chuling was heading to the practice room in the afternoon. Passing by the next class, she saw half of the seats were empty and looked at the unfamiliar face who seemed a little lost. Feeling a bit sorry for him, she walked up to Jinxi's table and said, "They've all gone to the concert. Come on, let me show you around."
I took Jinxi for a stroll around the affiliated high school campus, pointing out which was the main teaching building, which was the music room, which cafeteria had the best food, and which teacher was the strictest.
Jinxi followed Liang Chuling closely, listening attentively and occasionally making exclamations like "oh," "uh," and "eh," her voice rich with interjections.
When they arrived at the music rooms, one of them was empty. Liang Chuling casually asked, "Would you like to go in and play for a while?"
Jinxi's eyes lit up: "Is that okay?"
“Why not?” Liang Chuling pushed open the door.
Jinxi sat down at the piano, looking slightly reserved, and played the first piece of the Two-Part Inventions. Her technique was solid; although she was a bit nervous, her good foundation and musicality were evident.
After she finished playing, she looked at Liang Chuling somewhat shyly.
"It's pretty good," Liang Chuling commented objectively. "The foundation is very solid."
Jinxi immediately smiled and said, "Really? You're my idol! You're super amazing! Your piano playing is incredible!"
When Liang Chuling first heard someone describe her piano playing as "amazing," she couldn't help but laugh. But Jin Xi's eyes were sincere, and the two started chatting about the piano.
Jinxi is a lively person who likes to use reduplicated words when she speaks, such as "this sheet music is difficult," "that teacher is fierce," and "the clothes are colorful."
As they got into the conversation, Jinxi asked, "Chuling, can you eat spicy food?"
Yes, you can.
"Great!" Jinxi clapped her hands. "My dad is still moving. Come to my house next month on the weekend, and I'll have him cook something delicious for us!"
Liang Chuling agreed without hesitation: "Okay!"
"And I also have a surprise for you."
Liang Chuling pressed, "What surprise?"
"I can't say now, otherwise it won't be a surprise," Jinxi said, keeping everyone in suspense.
——
Liang Chuling and Jin Xi's planned dinner ultimately didn't happen, because next month, her life would be preoccupied with something else:
Li Xun is going to participate in a national piano competition in Shanghai.
This is also part of preparing for school applications.
The competition was quite prestigious, with a rather modest entry requirement. Liang Chuling was invited to be a judge, and the invitation was sent to her email. She hadn't originally planned to go, but racking her brains to write comments was really difficult for her.
However, plans can't keep up with changes.
The name of the change is Li Xun.
Liang Chuling saw Li Xun's name on the contestant list herself, and then she remembered that Li Xun had indeed mentioned to her that he was going to participate in a few competitions. But she still felt a strange sense of unease.
Liang Chuling changed her mind, replied to the competition organizing committee via email, and accepted the job as a judge.
The organizing committee was naturally overjoyed and quickly sent over a detailed schedule and instructions for judges.
Liang Chuling even asked him if he would be nervous if she were a judge.
Li Xun said probably not, he would feel more at ease, at least it would mean the competition would be fair.
The relationship between the two is now thin yet resilient.
She avoided him, and he was busy with his applications, so they met only a handful of times. Liang Chuling couldn't sort herself out, and therefore didn't know how to face him.
On the other hand, she had him by her side; she couldn't just abandon him and let him sail alone on a different path. A subtle sense of possessiveness and control began to emerge.
Several emotions were intertwined. She couldn't face Li Xun, yet she wanted to get closer to him; she felt awkward, yet she felt the need to deepen their bond; and there was also an impulse, which she herself wasn't even fully aware of, to enter into his life.
Li Xun's itinerary was finalized earlier than Liang Chuling's.
The competition was just one part of the process; he had set off for Shanghai a month and a half in advance. There, a composition teacher whom Li Chi knew had promised to give him some targeted guidance and write him a letter of recommendation.
In addition, he also hosted two small-scale contemporary art workshops in Shanghai, both to gain experience and to enrich his application materials.
The performance was scheduled for two weeks before the competition. After the performance, he could stay in Shanghai and focus entirely on preparing for the competition.
A month and a half ago.
"Chestnut needs to be fostered somewhere for a while," Li Xun said.
"Send it to me!" Liang Chuling said immediately, then changed her mind, "Uh... never mind."
Thinking back to that orange cat from a long time ago, I always felt that my home wasn't suited to having a cat.
Aunt Zhang is very attentive, but with Madam Ma now at home, Liang Chuling can't help but worry that Chestnut will suffer the same fate.
They were also worried that if Liang's father came back one day and saw the cat, he might say something nasty.
“I feel like it would be better to board it up in a foster home than to keep it at my house. At least it would have other cats to play with,” Liang Chuling concluded.
Li Xun smiled and said, "I found a pet boarding place with great reviews. The environment is nice, there are staff to play with the pets, and they post videos every day."
The day I saw Li Xun and Li Zi off was a sunny morning.
The pet store was clean and bright, the catteries were spacious, the toys were plentiful, and the staff seemed friendly. Chestnut was put into its temporary luxury suite, sniffing around carefree.
Liang Chuling peered at it through the glass for a while, then poked Li Xun: "Look at it, it doesn't show any signs of sadness or longing."
"This is good." Li Xun looked at the chestnuts.
The car to take Li Xun to the airport arrived. Liang Chuling stood there, watching him put away his luggage and open the car door.
"I'm leaving." Li Xun turned to look at her.
"See you in Shanghai. Don't let me down." Liang Chuling waved.
Time seemed to fly by in Li Xun's absence.
Liang Chuling devoted all her energy to practicing the piano. In Jinxi's words, she practiced until she was "almost smoking!"
Jinxi is so generous; she actually brought her father's cooking to school to eat with Liang Chuling, and proudly declared that her father was a culinary master!
Liang Chuling was so overwhelmed by the aroma that she ate half a thermos of food in one go, much to Jin Xi's amazement.
She hadn't forgotten: "What exactly is the surprise?"
Jinxi was surprisingly stubborn and refused to tell Liang Chuling, insisting that the secret be revealed the next time Liang Chuling visited her home. Jinxi lived in another district forty kilometers away, too far. Liang Chuling couldn't possibly spare a day to visit her, so it was anyone's guess when the surprise would be revealed.
Liang Chuling was very curious, but all she could do was worry.
Looking out the window, it was already the height of summer, and the sun was scorching.
She refused to sign for a package—or rather, a delivery from Liang's father's secretary, supposedly a belated birthday gift for Liang Chuling. Liang Chuling opened it; inside was a diamond pendant. She touched the one she was wearing and told the secretary to turn back.
In the blink of an eye, there's only one week left until the competition, and Liang Chuling is about to head to Shanghai.
Li Xun originally planned to come to Beijing to pick her up and then go to Shanghai together. Liang Chuling thought, "Isn't that just a waste of time?"
That idea was slapped away.
Li Xun had no choice but to manage to pick her up at the destination.
The Liang family's driver has not yet been reassigned.
Mr. Liang handled this matter with great finesse. He restored her credit card, but deliberately delayed things like the driver's license, leaving a clue to constantly remind her of the consequences of her previous disobedience.
Ms. Ma's idea of taking her to the high-speed rail station was also rejected by Liang Chuling. After all, she had just recovered from a serious illness, and it was too much of a hassle for her to make the trip. Ms. Ma could only give her a few words of advice to be careful.
On the morning of her departure, Liang Chuling called a private car to go to the high-speed rail station.
The driver was a middle-aged man.
Everything was normal at first, until they got into a congested area. A car next to them tried to cut in, but the driver of Liang Chuling's car wasn't going to back down. He honked his horn loudly, rolled down his window, and the two grown men started hurling insults at each other right there in the car, their vocabulary rich and their emotions running high.
Liang Chuling sat in the back seat, feeling like her head was about to explode.
The two men got more and more into their argument, slowed down, and finally stopped on the side of the road! Both drivers opened their doors at the same time, and as they were about to get out, they even rolled up their sleeves as if they were about to fight, completely ignoring the horns behind them and the passengers inside the car.
Liang Chuling tried to persuade her driver, "Can't you respect your job first? Getting passengers safely to their destination is a basic professional obligation, isn't it? Can't you settle any personal grudges after you've dropped them off?!"
The driver who was picking her up was in the middle of a tirade when a young girl interrupted him. He was annoyed and glared at her sideways, saying, "What does a little brat like you know! Can't you see this bastard is causing trouble?"
Liang Chuling cursed inwardly in anger, feeling helpless. She was still rational and, for her own safety, it was indeed inappropriate to engage in verbal sparring in front of a man who was furious.
Looking around, the traffic jam was getting worse and worse. It would be a waste of time to reason with these two idiots.
Without saying a word, he picked up his suitcase and headed to the nearby bus stop.
Once under the awning, Liang Chuling felt a little better, but her anger only intensified!
If it weren't for her crazy father transferring the driver, she wouldn't have had to take a taxi herself and run into this mess! There wasn't even a reliable driver! She must have had the worst luck imaginable!
Liang Chuling gritted her teeth and took out her phone, ready to call a car again.
It was rush hour, and there was a shortage of vehicles nearby; the queue showed that there were still more than a dozen people ahead of me.
Just as she was about to kick her suitcase in frustration, a car slowly pulled over and stopped in front of the bus stop. The passenger window rolled down, revealing a familiar face.
It's Lin Jiani.
She looked much better than when we last met, and the panic and sorrow in her eyes were gone.
Lin Jianni called out to her, "Liang Chuling? What are you doing here?"
Liang Chuling hadn't expected to run into her here, and felt a little embarrassed. She straightened up and said, "...I'm going to the high-speed rail station. The driver got into an argument with someone and left me on the road."
Lin Jianni unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car, then came around to help her with the large suitcase: "Get in the car first, I'll take you there. We can't stay here for long."
While Liang Chuling was still in a daze, she had already put the suitcase into the trunk.
I sat in the passenger seat, fastened my seatbelt, and found the car still spotless—no fragrance, no decorations, no ornaments, a shocking cleanliness.
Liang Chuling felt extremely uncomfortable, her eyes fixed on the front.
Lin Jianni spoke first, her voice gentle: "Is your foot better? I went to the hospital the day the cast was removed, but I didn't show up because I saw someone was with you. How's the recovery going?"
So you really were here; it wasn't just my imagination. Liang Chuling mentally gave herself a thumbs up for her intuition!
"It's nothing, I'm fine," Liang Chuling replied, then made conversation again: "Did my dad contact you later?"
Lin Jianni turned the steering wheel and drove onto another road: "No. Don't worry, I've found a new job and moved. I'm doing great now."
Liang Chuling breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness.
Lin Jianni glanced at her a few times, seemingly wanting to say something more, but remained silent. Liang Chuling sensed something was amiss; her gut feeling told her this was related to her father—which probably wasn't anything good.
So she didn't want to ask.
Once it is detected, it will have hidden effects.
Liang Chuling didn't ask, but it seemed as if she wanted to distance herself from something, and also as if she was sincerely advising: "Don't be angry with him, he really is not a good person."
It's rather strange that a daughter would say such a thing about her father.
But Lin Jiani nodded: "I know."
After a moment, she glanced quickly at Liang Chuling: "Is he good to you?"
The five words sounded like five musical notes, crackling and popping. Liang Chuling didn't know how to answer the question, so she pretended not to hear them, then tried to convince herself that she really hadn't heard them, and instead thought about what piano music only had five notes.
"Colorful Clouds Chasing the Moon"? It seems it was originally written in a pentatonic scale?
Hey, this piece is really suitable for Li Xun to play. I can't play it; when I play it, it sounds like dark clouds looming over the city.
Thinking about it, I couldn't help but laugh out loud...
Lin Jianni was surprised to hear laughter. She looked at her in surprise and couldn't help but laugh as well: "It seems he's a good father and treats you well."
This is a huge misunderstanding...
Liang Chuling immediately shook her head and waved her hands, using all her strength to express "No, no, no." Then she thought that this might not be very good, and after thinking for a while about how to express herself with high emotional intelligence, she said, "...It depends on who you're comparing yourself to."
Lin Jianni, however, understood the answer. Looking ahead, her voice was low but firm: "He treats you badly."
Liang Chuling fell silent. Five words again, this time it wasn't "Colorful Clouds Chasing the Moon," but her turn to perform "Dark Clouds Pressing Down on the City."
The scenery outside the car window receded into the distance; willows lined the bank, and the sun hung high in the sky, yet appeared blurry.
Sympathy, pity, and reluctance to bear are all considered weak emotions, a kind of emotion that uses others to judge oneself but mistakenly believes it is judging others by oneself.
But Lin Jiani didn't show any detached tone; instead, she spoke with a clear and firm conviction that made her seem quite naive.
Yes, that's not good.
She had nothing to say.
Lin Jianni didn't say anything more. She drove very steadily, a stark contrast to the driver from before.
The car stopped at a red light.
Liang Chuling looked at Lin Jiani's fingers resting on the steering wheel. Her nails were neatly trimmed, cut too short, just above the bloodline—a habit definitely associated with playing the piano. And they certainly were hands that had once played the piano. Her fingers were rather thick and strong, and her little finger couldn't be fully closed.
Whether it was a feeling of sympathy or not, Liang Chuling suddenly spoke up: "If you still like playing the piano and want to learn, I can teach you."
Lin Jiani turned to look at her, clearly incredulous.
Liang Chuling felt a little uncomfortable under her gaze and said, "But I've never taught anyone before, so I might not be a good teacher."
The light turned green. The car behind honked its horn.
Lin Jiani snapped out of her daze and said softly, "Thank you."
Upon arriving at the departure level of the high-speed rail station, Lin Jianni parked the car, helped Liang Chuling with her luggage, and accompanied her into the station until the security checkpoint.
Liang Chuling felt embarrassed and thanked her again, "Thank you so much, Aunt Lin... thank you." She paused for a moment, unsure of how to address her.
Lin Jianni smiled and said, "It's no trouble at all, it's on my way. Thank you too, have a safe trip. Let me know on WeChat when you arrive."
The two of them added each other on WeChat while in the car.
Liang Chuling watched her turn and leave, disappearing into the bustling crowd. She stood tall and independent, completely different from the woman who had come to her doorstep with tears in her eyes last time.
She sent Li Xun a message: "I have set off. You all should prepare to receive me immediately."
Li Xun quickly replied: "Waiting for your arrival."
Liang Chuling couldn't help but laugh as she looked at the screen.
Turn around and walk towards the security checkpoint.
Behind her was Beijing's slightly hazy sky, and ahead lay the journey. She clenched her fist.
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