Chapter 32
The school anniversary that Li Ye and Zhou Yuan mentioned happened when they were twelve years old. Zhou Yuan was still in the sixth grade of elementary school, while Li Ye had already moved up to the junior high school.
At that time, Li Ye's training course had long since changed from Sanda to painting, and Zhou Yuan had also secured a direct promotion spot through his position in the orchestra. The future of the two little ones could be said to be bright.
Li Ye only experienced a growth spurt at the age of twelve, and his height suddenly increased to 1.6 meters. Ms. Li Duoyun has complained many times that he is growing too fast and no matter how much nutrition she tries to supplement, it is not enough. She said that he must sleep well every day, otherwise he might only grow to this height in the future.
Li Ye takes four painting classes every weekend at the Youth Palace as an extracurricular activity. Neither her family nor her teacher makes any extra demands on her, and she is not particularly interested in painting.
Another ordinary painting class ended. Li Ye packed up her drawing board, carried it on her back, and left the classroom with her classmates. At 1.6 meters tall, she was still quite tall for a girl her age. Her features and temperament were also quite good, making her stand out.
Like parting the flow of water, Li Ye carried her schoolbag and drawing board and walked against the flow of people up one floor. Unlike her, Zhou Yuan was in the training class at the Youth Palace to practice in order to keep up with the school band's progress.
The most obvious difference is that Li Ye's painting class only takes up weekend mornings, while Zhou Yuan plays the violin for at least four hours every day, and even more on weekends, up to ten hours.
Similarly, the other students in the training class also practiced around the same time. At noon, after finishing her class, Li Ye would carry her drawing board and small schoolbag to the floor where Zhou Yuan was, push open the heavy door, and bring him warmth.
"Zhou Yuan, today's lunch is cola chicken wings, sweet and sour pork, and fried potato balls."
Carrying lunch for two, Li Ye pushed open the door and peeked into the room, seeing a few boys still practicing the piano, Zhou Yuan being one of them. Li Ye's voice wasn't loud, and it sounded out of place in the empty and silent classroom. The group of boys all turned to look at the little girl at the door.
Li Ye quickly withdrew her protruding head and, carrying her warm lunch, went to the corner of the floor. There was hardly anyone there at noon. Anyway, Zhou Yuan had already seen her and would come over on his own.
Inside the classroom, Zhou Yuan, whom Li Ye had just noticed peeking in, was putting away his violin and preparing to leave. A tall boy a year older than him came over and struck up a conversation, "Your sister is bringing you food again? Why don't you introduce her to us?"
Another shorter guy who knew the guy who had struck up a conversation chimed in, "She looks pretty cute. Why don't I have a sister like that?"
Zhou Yuan skillfully ignored the two junior high school students who were clearly trying to chat up Li Ye. When Li Ye practiced piano at school, she would come and wait for him, which was a completely different situation, and this made him very unhappy.
Leaving the classroom, Zhou Yuan, as usual, found Li Ye leaning against the wall with his drawing board at the corner. "Let's go, let's find a place to eat outside."
"Outwards" refers to the small park opposite the library next door, where there are tables and chairs for dining, and the scenery is very open, which is Zhou Yuan's favorite place.
Today's lunch was prepared by Li Ye's family. As expected, it contained the chicken wings, pork tenderloin, and fried potato balls that Li Ye had mentioned, as well as spinach and okra. The dishes were plentiful and well-balanced with meat and vegetables, and the portions were just right for the two growing children to eat their fill.
Neither Li Ye nor Zhou Yuan are picky eaters; they've simply found their favorite food types early on. Even if Zhou Yuan doesn't have his favorite seafood at lunch, he'll still finish all the food in his bowl, though he might eat a little slower.
Li Ye really liked the meat today; it was all sweet. She finished eating before Zhou Yuan and then took out two peaches from deep inside her backpack: one a fuzzy peach and the other a smooth nectarine.
These two different peaches made Li Ye's class very difficult, as they were drawn in different ways. He immediately decided to eat them: "Today we're still drawing fruit. I brought two peaches, here's one for you."
As Zhou Yuan carefully chewed the last large mouthful of rice mixed with spinach and fried potatoes, he thought to himself that Li Ye must have deliberately left most of the vegetables for him to finish.
In the end, Zhou Yuan still took the nectarines, because Li Ye's teeth marks had already fallen on the fuzzy skin, causing slight scratches to the peaches. "There are a few older students in this class who didn't come; they were kicked out of the orchestra."
In Li Ye's mind, this was normal: "Every year in our class, there are students who can't keep up and get transferred away. I've always been one of the last few, so I'm used to it."
The crisp, sweet peach was slowly devoured by Li Ye's small teeth, until only a pit remained. "I'm done eating. Do you want to go to the library to rest? It's much quieter there."
Zhou Yuan collected the trash generated from their meal, including two peach pits, and prepared to throw it in the trash can before washing his hands with Li Ye.
"Go back to the classroom to practice the piano."
Zhou Yuan walked in front, and Li Ye followed behind. The growth period did not belong to her alone. Zhou Yuan had also grown a lot taller. He was now almost the same height as the tallest person in the family, Teacher Li. Even if Li Ye tried hard to stand on tiptoe, she could not see Zhou Yuan's face at eye level.
The two parted ways at the intersection. Li Ye, who had no classes in the afternoon, would not go home alone, nor would she wait outside the classroom for Zhou Yuan. Instead, she would go to the library to read and do her homework, trying to find something that would truly interest her in the sea of books.
By evening, Zhou Yuan, who had finally finished class, would wait outside the classroom for Li Ye, who had walked absentmindedly from the library. Then, the two children would see their parents, either from Li Ye's or Zhou Yuan's family, coming to pick them up at the entrance of the Youth Palace, thus ending their day's activities.
Practicing at school is different. The elementary school students have one less class in the afternoon, and the elementary school students in the orchestra leave school together with the junior high school students after practice. In other words, Li Ye and Zhou Yuan's school dismissal time is theoretically the same.
Most of the time, theory is theory and practice is practice. It is inevitable that teachers will extend class time. At this time, Li Ye would take his schoolbag to the music classroom to wait for Zhou Yuan to go home together. Over time, both the teachers and the members of the orchestra got to know Li Ye, this unofficial little boy.
Sometimes older girls would invite Li Ye to sit in the classroom and wait. Some would even use the excuse of teaching musical instruments to amuse the children. This day was no different. An older girl said that she would temporarily entrust the cello to Li Ye, and then she and her friend disappeared in a flash.
Li Ye was at a loss with the cello, which was almost half her height, yet she was also unconsciously excited. She asked for help: "Zhou Yuan, Zhou Yuan, how do you play the cello? Their movements seem different from mine."
Because of his family's music store advantage, Zhou Yuan was chosen to specialize in the violin after looking at a wide range of instruments. He also knew a little about the cello. He immediately put down his violin and personally guided Li Ye's stiff posture and movements.
After teaching Li Ye a simple lesson on how to make the cello produce sound, Li Ye quickly got the hang of it and, albeit clumsily, played a fragment of a piece the orchestra had recently been practicing, instantly attracting the attention of the remaining students who hadn't left yet.
"The scale and rhythm are actually correct, but the strings aren't pressed tightly enough, and there's not enough force."
"The string switching was clumsy, the hand gestures were not quite right, um, the strength was not enough, the rhythm was not entirely right, and I was a bit nervous."
"It's only your first time doing this, and you're already setting such high standards. Zhou Yuan isn't up to it; your posture is a bit awkward."
"Why is he even bringing his violin to join in the fun? I remember this girl is his sister."
"They're childhood sweethearts, and they're going to play a duet? It's like a car crash scene, I'm a little afraid to listen."
This time, the violins went first, followed by the cellos. It was the same segment as before, and Li Ye's part was much smoother than last time. To an outsider, it didn't sound like a student who had just started learning.
When no one was paying attention, the music teacher and school leaders were standing at the classroom door. They had come to check on the band's performance for the upcoming school anniversary performance. It was a normal thing, and the music teacher in charge of the band was very confident in the children's abilities.
Unexpectedly, the school leaders who came this time did not follow the usual path and knew nothing about music. Standing at the door, they did not even listen to a single clip, but just saw Zhou Yuan and Li Ye's faces and immediately decided on the duet performance by the two.
The music teacher only heard the music and didn't realize that the cellist was Li Ye. He just thought that the position should be changed. By the time he recognized Li Ye's face, the leader had already made the decision on the program.
The teacher had no choice but to follow the leader all the way to the leader's office. On the way, the teacher ran into the head of the teaching department and explained the situation, but still failed to change the leader's decision. In fact, it made the leader even more convinced of his idea.
"Wouldn't it be better if the female student was in the intermediate class? It doesn't matter if her level isn't high enough. At this stage, students' performances are all just audio recordings, and there are tons of lip-synced and auto-tuned performances at concerts."
The music teacher was so angry she almost left, but there was nothing she could do. The dean of students said that the new leader in the office was the main funder of this school anniversary celebration, and that he was related to some people in higher-ups. There was nowhere to reason with him.
The music teacher, forced to swallow his anger, returned to the classroom and found that almost all the original students had left, leaving only the original owner of the cello who hurriedly ran in and apologized to Li Ye repeatedly.
"I'm so sorry, my classmate dragged me to buy some food on the way, and I forgot for a moment that I hadn't brought my violin with me." The older sister's hair was messy from the wind. As she closed the violin case, she took out two freshly baked red bean cakes from her backpack and handed them to Li Ye.
"Here, one for each of you to eat on the way." After saying that, the older sister picked up her violin and ran out of the classroom, not even noticing the teacher standing at the door.
Following the figure of the departing person, Li Ye finally spotted the music teacher standing at the door. She immediately grabbed Zhou Yuan, who had already packed up, and followed the older sister's example, rushing out of the classroom as fast as she could.
The moment Li Ye ran out of the teaching building, he suddenly stopped again. However, Zhou Yuan, who was walking briskly, easily dodged a collision and successfully prevented an accident.
"The red bean cake is quite delicious. Eat it quickly, it tastes best when it's hot." Li Ye wanted to eat something after relaxing, and luckily she had some red bean cakes that her senior had given her.
"I bought it at the school gate." Zhou Yuan opened it and took a bite. It was too sweet for him, but he was very hungry, so he ate it first.
Neither family had time to pick up their children today, so Li Ye and Zhou Yuan had to go home by themselves. This is why the two of them stayed in the music classroom until the very end, discussing what to do for dinner.
In conclusion, the fries and chicken nuggets at fast food restaurants are really delicious, and the cola is very fizzy, but the burgers are just so-so. Home-cooked meals are still the best.
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