late at night
Zhong Yunxi opened the piano lid, tested the sound, found a Beethoven sheet music, and played Moonlight Sonata twice.
He hadn't played the piano for many years. He was a bit rusty the first time, playing several wrong notes and pausing a few times. The second time was a little better; there were no obvious stumbles, and it was much smoother.
All I can say is that there are no techniques involved; it's all about emotion.
He never imagined he would have to resort to such a clumsy method to coax someone. He thought he should practice the piano more in the future; who knows, he might need it someday.
With Zhong Yunxi's level of inexperience, he played the three movements twice, and more than half an hour passed. Bai Yi fell asleep to the sound of the piano. The Moonlight Sonata had a faint melancholy, leaving both the sleeping and the sleepless with worries.
The townhouse shared the exterior walls with its neighbors, and the distance between them wasn't far enough. The sunroom wasn't well soundproofed, so he couldn't play for too long. Moonlight Sonata was very soothing; he figured Baiyi would fall asleep quickly.
He closed the piano lid, sat on the sofa, and turned on his computer to work.
Last night's conflict triggered a violent emotional upheaval in Bai Yi. Although he was flustered, he still had a chance to approach her and explain. Last night, he still had the right to speak.
But after today's fermentation, it has entered a near-hopeless cold war, and he can't even find a chance to break the ice.
He knew how capable Bai Yi was at rejecting people when she didn't love them.
The next day, before Lu Xin came to pick her up, Zhong Yunxi spoke to her many times, but received very few responses from her.
When Lu Xin arrived and saw him at the Bai family's house, he pretended not to know anything and casually asked, "I've made plans to go shopping with my junior sister, do you want to come?"
Bai Yi didn't believe Zhong Yunxi hadn't told him that the two of them were arguing. He glared at his senior brother, threw his handbag into the sofa, and asked, "Then you two go?"
Zhong Yunxi picked up her bag, handed it to her, and took her hand, saying to Lu Xin, "The thing she's said most these past two days is that she doesn't want to see me. You guys go shopping, I won't go. I'll stay home and practice the piano, and play for her tonight to help her sleep."
Bai Yi didn't even look at him, took his hand away, picked up her bag, and went out.
Zhong Yunxi escorted her to the door: "I'll have the driver take you there."
Lu Xin also found driving difficult due to weekend traffic congestion, and replied, "Okay."
After getting on the bus, Lu Xin asked, "Junior sister, what's wrong with you two?"
Bai Yi remained silent, and Lu Xin, not wanting to press further, changed the subject: "Have you found someone new lately? Several colleagues at the research institute have fallen for Labubu. Do you like it? How about we go try our luck with blind boxes?"
Everything he took Bai Yi out to do today, he can get reimbursed by Zhong Yunxi.
She shook her head. "Lina Belle and StellaLou are prettier."
Lu Xin laughed and said, "Then let's go visit the Disney pop-up store."
Bai Yi picked out a bunch of dolls, and the two went to BETTY on the 88th floor for coffee.
Lu Xin didn't mention Zhong Yunxi again throughout the entire meeting, fearing that if he mentioned it too much, Bai Yi wouldn't go to the dinner party that evening.
The two talked a lot about the research projects of the research institute and Professor Wu's team, as well as which pharmaceutical companies are currently focusing on which new drugs.
Midway through, Zhong Yunxi texted Lu Xin to ask if Bai Yi was feeling better. He also secretly took a few photos and recorded a few videos to send to Zhong Yunxi.
Lu Xin felt that Zhong Yunxi must be quite helpless. He didn't know what he had done wrong, but his junior sister was angry and he wasn't even given a chance to coax her.
After Lu Xin and Bai Yi went out in the afternoon, Zhong Yunxi started a dinner party in the childhood friends group. Everyone had never seen him so enthusiastic about dinner parties before, and they all said that the sun had risen in the west.
Only Lu Xin knew that he was now seizing every opportunity to be with Bai Yi. Ideally, it would be in a familiar setting, so that Bai Yi would at least treat him with some semblance of respect.
After finishing his coffee, Lu Xin said, "Let's go to Tingsongyuan for dinner tonight. I heard they have a new chef who makes good soup."
Bai Yi didn't hesitate much and responded with an "Mmm".
They arrived rather late; several rounds of cards had already been played. Upon entering, they first saw Ning Ye and Wen Ying together at the card table.
Lu Xin was taken aback for a moment, then quickly smiled and greeted Wen Ying, "Long time no see."
As soon as he sat down, he sent a message to Zhong Yunxi: Wen Ying is here.
Zhong Yunxi was driving. He had his driver take Lu Xin and Bai Yi there in the afternoon, and he drove himself over. By the time he saw the message, he had already arrived at Tingsongyuan.
Zhong Yunxi glanced in as he entered, then quietly sat down next to her. People at the table were chatting idly in twos and threes, and she was talking and laughing with Lu Xin on her phone. She didn't even notice Zhong Yunxi entering the room. By the time she realized he was next to her, it was already time to serve the food.
Bai Yi propped her head up with one hand, not even turning her face to him. He picked out food for her, and she picked it out and threw it into the empty plate next to her.
Lu Xin was shocked. He felt that his junior sister's outburst of anger meant that Zhong Yunxi must have made a serious mistake.
Zhong Yunxi glanced at Lu Xin through the white barrier. Lu Xin understood and turned to serve food to his junior sister.
Bai Yi muttered, "Senior brother, if you continue to collude with him like this, I won't talk to you anymore."
Lu Xin smiled wryly: "I really didn't know he was coming."
Bai Yi stared at him, and Lu Xin touched his nose guiltily, "Put the debt on him, anyway, he has too much debt to worry about."
Bai Yi suppressed a laugh and bumped Lu Xin's arm.
"Junior Sister, let me help you vent your anger first." Lu Xin said, taking Zhong Yunxi's wine glass by the arm, filling it to two ounces with 53-proof liquor, handing it over, and raising his chin, "You said you'd double it, six glasses, so I'll return the favor with three glasses today, isn't that generous enough?"
Zhong Yunxi laughed and said, "I only owe you drinks, not my life. You won't even let me eat a bite of food before drinking. Are you going to come with me to the hospital after the party?"
Bai Yi sat between the two. He could hear what Lu Xin said even better than Lu Xin could, and he wanted Bai Yi to hear it more.
Lu Xin: ...
He first served Zhong Yunxi a bowl of porridge and handed it to him.
Someone at the table noticed Zhong Yunxi's full glass and teased, "You two are secretly drinking! Yunxi, what's wrong with you? Since when has Lu Xin been able to get you drunk? After you finish his, you'll have to drink with us too!"
Lu Xin laughed: "I lost at cards."
"With your card skills?"
Lu Xin glanced at Bai Yi and said with a smile, "His wife lost at cards, so of course he has to drink?"
Bai Yi: ...
The commotion intensified, "How about Bai Yi plays a couple more rounds of cards after dinner today?"
When they usually play cards and drink, who can beat Zhong Yunxi? If Lu Xin hadn't mentioned it, who would have thought there was such a bug as Bai Yi?
Lu Xin declined on her behalf: "She only played with me when she was in a good mood when I visited her, so you should just forget about it."
Wen Ying smiled at Bai Yi: "How about we girls have a get-together later?"
She and Wen Ying didn't click. She never compared herself to others. Every girl has her own personality and style. However, on both occasions they met, Wen Ying scrutinized her with a sizing look, which made her uncomfortable. Whenever she saw Wen Ying, she wanted to avoid her.
There were four or five ladies at the table, all wanting to build rapport, and they even set up stakes on winning and losing.
Bai Yi's hobby is playing mindless card games like Egg Waffle Party. Her card skills are ridiculously bad, and she gets intimidated just by looking at Wen Ying's confident demeanor at dinner parties.
Forget about drinking and playing cards; even at the table, other people had to serve her food.
However, Lu Xin and Zhong Yunxi couldn't openly protect the ladies' area.
Zhong Yunxi leaned close to her ear and said, "Just play however you want."
Bai Yi still ignored him.
After the dinner ended, the card table was changed, and several men were already preparing to sit behind their respective family members and watch them play cards.
Ning Ye spoke first: "It's not appropriate for us to just stand around and watch them play cards, especially with a strategist involved. Let's set up another table."
After sending away the group of men who had been watching, the women began to gossip and chat, while also playing cards.
The conversation invariably begins with discussing each other's industries, which luxury brands offer clothing and styles, how to style bags effectively, and which brands' new autumn/winter collections are worth buying.
Knowing that Bai Yi is doing research on traditional Chinese medicine, someone asked, "Do you have any good TCM doctors to recommend? My child has poor digestion and absorption, and a lot of Western medicines haven't worked."
Bai Yi was dealt a bad hand and had already started playing it haphazardly. He replied, "The chief physicians in the Department of Gastroenterology at the Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital are all quite good. I used to have indigestion in the winter and often went to the Department of Gastroenterology."
Zhong Yunxi brought her ginger tea, glanced at the cards in her hand, and grasped her right hand as she was about to play a card: "Don't play this one, play another one."
She raised her wrist to push him away, glancing at him: "None of your business."
She refused to listen to him, so naturally she lost.
Wen Ying laughed and shooed him away: "It's a good thing Bai Yi lost. If she had won, it would have been considered cheating. Don't come here and hurt her."
Chung Yun-hsi laughed and said, "You guys play however you want, don't worry too much about winning or losing. She's not very good at playing cards, and she's been in a bad mood these past few days. If she loses too much, she'll get angry when she gets home."
A lady at the table laughed at him, saying, "That's your bad luck. You should use this time to think of how to appease him instead of coming to our table to give us advice."
Bai Yi: ...
Zhong Yunxi smiled, patted Bai Yi's head, told her to drink more water, and then turned back.
In the final round, Bai Yi lost to Wen Ying by two votes.
When girls play cards, their chips are usually jewelry, accessories, and bags. Today, she went out without jewelry and was carrying a canvas bag from an art exhibition collaboration.
Wen Ying glanced at her and smiled warmly: "Your belt is quite unique, why don't you just give it to me?"
Bai Yi: ...
This green sandalwood belt is her favorite accessory; she wears it with half of her white dresses, and it's impossible for her to lose out.
"Wait a moment."
She got up and went to find Zhong Yunxi, standing behind his chair and nudging him. Zhong Yunxi turned around, saw her outstretched hand, and smiled, "Hmm?"
She didn't speak, but Zhong Yunxi could roughly guess what was going on. He asked, "You lost? Do you want me to go for a drink?"
Bai Yi shook her head, not wanting to waste words with him, "Hairpin."
She didn't know why she thought Zhong Yunxi would carry those two hair clips with him.
Zhong Yunxi looked at her for a few seconds, "Who did you lose to?"
"Wenying".
Zhong Yunxi: ...
He felt a throbbing sensation between his eyebrows and a headache.
After a few seconds of silence, she finally spoke: "How about we give her a bag another day? The pile of bags you threw outside the other day, your aunt took them to be serviced. You definitely won't use them anymore, so just give them to her when you lose at cards in the future."
Bai Yi frowned: "Give it to me quickly. She wants this belt of mine."
Helpless, Zhong Yunxi took out the two hair clips from the inside pocket of his suit and placed them in her hand.
She returned to the card table and handed the hair clip to Wen Ying.
PRADA's crystal hair clips, one ivory white and one petal pink.
It wasn't expensive for the people at the card table, but Wen Ying knew that Zhong Yunxi would always carry Bai Yi's hair clip with him. She smiled and put it in her bag.
He took a card out of his bag and gave it to Bai Yi, saying, "In return, a private club annual card for skin and hair care."
She shook her head: "No need."
Wen Ying said, "It's okay. It's a membership system, not a real-name system. If you don't need it, you can give it to a friend. It's just a small gift from me."
Bai Yi thought for a moment, then decided it was inappropriate to refuse any longer and reached out to accept it.
Wen Ying's phone vibrated, and she swiped to see Zhong Yunxi's WeChat message.
He returned to China five years ago, and the two of them didn't make a single phone call or send a single message, not even a perfunctory mass text message during holidays.
Wen Ying looked at the chat box and saw that Zhong Yunxi had sent her a message about Bai Yi's hair clip.
Zhong Yunxi: You probably won't like the two hairpins Bai Yi lost. As for Ning Ye's Qingrui series robot dog financing project, I'll give you a 100 million share. Want to switch?
He knew Wen Ying wanted to invest in the project, but his funds were already in place, and Ning Ye didn't want any entanglement between them, so he didn't consider Wen Ying.
Zhong Yunxi originally thought so too, but given the current situation, with Bai Yi's recent conflict with him, her project-related interactions with Wen Ying, and the entanglement of two hairpins, he felt the latter was much more serious.
Things always happen so unexpectedly and don't always go as planned.
He just wanted to get together with Bai Yi tonight and talk to her a bit more, but he didn't expect Wen Ying to come. They played cards, and Bai Yi even lost to Wen Ying.
His gift was lost to his rumored ex-girlfriend without his wife's knowledge—a truly fatal and suffocating accident.
Wen Ying looked up at Bai Yi, who was drinking ginger tea through a straw and playing on her phone.
A hair clip worth ten thousand yuan seemed to have multiplied ten thousandfold in her eyes. Zhong Yunxi was incredibly generous. All for Bai Yi.
Wen Ying replied: "Why don't you just buy her a pair of hair clips? It's normal for girls to exchange small gifts."
She also knew that Zhong Yunxi couldn't possibly be after just two hair clips.
Zhong Yunxi replied again: Bai Yi has a bad temper. If there are any misunderstandings in the future, I can't explain it.
His meaning was quite clear: Bai Yi knew nothing about the rumors between him and Wen Ying, and he didn't want to, nor dared to, let those rumors appear in front of Bai Yi.
Wen Ying: You really don't know me. I quite like this hair clip.
Zhong Yunxi: One hundred and one hundred and ten thousand.
The price of the hair clip has been increased.
Zhong Yunxi understands Wen Ying; she's not the type to abandon her dignity and pester him relentlessly.
Wen Ying: Deal! Thank you, Boss Zhong, for letting me make a fortune today. [Handshake]
She got up and left the card room, and Zhong Yunxi quickly followed her out.
The two stood at the doorway and exchanged a pair of hairpins.
When the event ended, he mentioned it to Ning Ye, who was also taken aback: "Why?"
Zhong Yunxi had no choice: "Bai Yi lost a pair of hair clips to Wen Ying, so I'll exchange them back."
Ning Ye: ……
"They'll have more opportunities to play cards in the future, are you planning to keep changing them like this every time?"
Zhong Yunxi: "Prepare in advance next time. There was no contingency plan for this hair clip."
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