Chapter 47: The Music Room

Chapter 47: The Music Room

A lively cartoon figure in the chat window suddenly knelt down toward Ming Can's avatar with a thud.

Ming Can was stunned for a moment, subconsciously thinking, "I didn't send this message using his phone, did I?"

This person is surprisingly considerate.

Ming Can smiled, quickly taking a screenshot to prevent him from retracting it.

She was still wandering outside the banquet hall, wearing Chi Xiao's suit jacket, unsure of what to do next.

Sun Moon Volcano: "I'll spare you this time; rise."

Sun Moon Volcano: "When will you come to pick up your phone and clothes?"

Chi Xiao had assumed that after he left, she would casually hand his belongings to a waiter to return to him and then go back into the banquet hall.

Unexpectedly, her tone suggested that she was still waiting outside the hall for him.

Chi Xiao glanced at his watch as he walked, replying, "Right away."

With long strides, he moved through the crowd, seemingly detached from everything around him, ignoring the hustle and bustle.

A gaze followed him briefly for a few seconds.

Turning away, Chi Yao heard his mother calling him, "A Yao, your brother is over there. He’s walking past. Aren’t you going to find him?"

"No thanks." Chi Yao waved his phone. "I’m going to play games."

"All day, all night, just playing games." Li Ran rolled his eyes. "A Xiao is only one year older than you, yet he’s already working on research at StarChase’s Algorithm Institute. You’re still here playing games."

"People have different aspirations. Having one brother like him is enough." Chi Yao said nonchalantly, taking a glass of whiskey from a passing waiter’s tray and clinking glasses with Li Ran. "Mom, cheers."

Li Ran didn’t want to acknowledge him but still raised her wine glass and took a sip with him.

The authentic Scottish whiskey was strong, making Chi Yao cough violently, bending over, trying to laugh but unable to.

Earlier, when the dance had just begun.

Chi Yao had been searching the hall for Ming Can, hoping to invite her to dance.

Finally finding her, he was too late, watching as Chi Xiao approached her, standing between her and another young man.

As Chi Xiao led Ming Can out of the banquet hall, he caught sight of Chi Yao in the crowd.

Their gazes met mid-air. Chi Xiao paused for a moment before meeting Chi Yao’s eyes squarely.

There was nothing to hide; he indeed liked the same person.

For this person, he wouldn’t give an inch.

Soon, someone passed between them, blocking their view. Then, Chi Xiao and Ming Can disappeared from sight.

Chi Yao stood rooted to the spot, dazed, feeling drained of all strength.

There was no point in complaining about fate’s unfairness.

After the dinner began, he had been in the same hall as Ming Can, while Chi Xiao had just arrived but managed to find her first and appear by her side.

He had to admit that this time, he lost completely.

Moreover, his fixation on Ming Can had originally stemmed from Chi Xiao.

During the summer before university, due to his father’s job change, Chi Yao’s family moved back to the country. His parents had worked hard to get him admitted to B University’s finance program. On the day the acceptance letter arrived, his mother said with concern:

"You may be a bit clever, but B University is full of geniuses. Relax even a little, and you’ll fall far behind. Learn from your brother. He topped the class in the final exams and won a prestigious scholarship..."

He had heard these words for years, his ears growing numb.

In his parents’ eyes, his brother was perfect—excellent academically, mature, steady, and self-reliant, far better than him. Although they loved and pampered him, constantly praising his brother and urging him to emulate him cast a shadow over Chi Yao, making him feel overshadowed by his brother. If they could choose, they would prefer having his brother as their child.

To escape the nagging, Chi Yao spent much of that summer living with Chi Xiao. Chi Xiao had always been independent, moving out of the family home during high school to live alone in a spacious apartment. It was vast and empty, and Chi Yao couldn’t imagine how Chi Xiao managed to stay there alone.

Soon, he discovered that Chi Xiao had a secret workshop—a massive room filled with tools for cutting, carving, and polishing, and shelves lined with various woods, some extremely valuable. The room had a dedicated climate control system, indicating a professional setup rather than a hobbyist’s pastime.

Compared to this workshop, the rest of the apartment seemed dull and uninteresting.

Later, Chi Yao occasionally joined Chi Xiao in doing crafts there.

At the far end of the workshop was another door with a password lock. Curious, Chi Xiao told him it was just a storage room with nothing interesting inside.

Was a simple storage room worth locking?

With so many tools and materials, Chi Yao wondered if his brother kept finished projects in the locked room, perhaps because they were too ugly to display.

One day, when he was alone, Chi Yao wandered into the workshop and stood before the door, trying the password on a whim, hoping to get lucky.

First, he tried Chi Xiao’s birthday. Incorrect.

Then, he tried Chi Xiao’s phone password, which he remembered seeing once.

A beep confirmed the correct password.

The heavy wooden door slowly opened, revealing a dim, quiet space filled with the scent of wood and varnish. Chi Yao turned on the light and saw a row of violins hanging in a large glass cabinet.

Nine violins, their surfaces reflecting the light, shimmering as if ready to play music together.

Chi Yao was stunned, wondering when his brother developed a passion for collecting violins.

Suddenly, he realized something and leaned in to examine the nine violins more closely. The two on the left were rather crudely crafted, while the ones further along became progressively more refined and elegant, clearly showing the luthier's improving skills...

Could it be that he made all these by hand?

Chi Yao then noticed a pile of professional violin-making tools, hand-drawn blueprints, and several unfinished or discarded violins nearby, confirming his suspicions.

Inside the glass cabinet, the nine violins varied in color and design, but they all shared one common feature: beneath each violin's soundboard, near the tailpiece, was an exquisite script—Seraphina Ming.

It was clearly a girl's English name.

Chi Yao's intuition told him that this girl might be the only insurmountable obstacle in his brother's life.

He had spent years here making so many violins, keeping everything a secret deep within his heart.

Either he lacked the courage to pursue her,

or he had tried and been brutally rejected.

It was hard to imagine that someone like Chi Xiao could suffer such a defeat over a girl.

Chi Yao was very curious about who this girl was, but for some reason, he didn't ask Chi Xiao about her; he just silently remembered her name.

Fate can be quite magical.

Not long after entering university, he unexpectedly saw that English name again, engraved in the same spot on different violins backstage at the Mid-Autumn Festival gala. The owner of those violins was his classmate, Ming Can.

Chi Yao was strangely certain that this was the girl his brother had been secretly in love with for so long.

She was beautiful, smart, and capable, quickly becoming a well-known goddess on campus. Many boys in their class admired her, and after the Mid-Autumn Festival gala, Chi Yao joined their ranks.

With the mindset that "if my brother couldn't do it, maybe I can," Chi Yao began pursuing Ming Can.

He clung to her like a puppy dog, enduring her cold glances every day, yet remaining unfazed, as if it were just a casual game of pursuit.

After a while, the finance department held its intramural basketball tournament. Both Ming Can and Chi Yao's classes lost badly in both the men's and women's games, getting thoroughly trounced by other classes.

The final round was a mixed-gender fun match. In the finance department, there were more girls than boys, so each class fielded three girls and two boys. The boys had to follow regular basketball rules, while the girls were given more leeway for physical fouls, as long as they didn't go too far. The referees wouldn't blow the whistle unless it got excessive.

Chi Yao was the best player in their class, and as soon as he stepped onto the court, he was targeted by the opposing team's girls, who pulled, dragged, and grabbed him relentlessly. He couldn't retaliate and was almost torn apart, while the referee watched with amusement, never blowing the whistle.

At his most helpless moment, a tall, slim figure suddenly appeared in front of him. Her black ponytail swung high, and her exposed neck was strikingly white.

The girl turned to face him and said earnestly, "Don't worry, I'll protect you."

Chi Yao paused, his breathing disrupted, and couldn't help but laugh. "How will you protect me?"

"Like this."

As she spoke, Ming Can pushed aside one girl, stomped hard on a boy's foot, and then turned to tightly grab another girl who was trying to snatch the ball from Chi Yao. The scene was nothing short of fierce.

Under Ming Can's protection, Chi Yao managed to score some points, but they still lost in the end.

As they left the court, Chi Yao walked beside Ming Can and reminded her that her hair was messy.

Ming Can reached up, untied her hair tie, and let her smooth, long hair fall like a waterfall. She turned her beautiful face slightly upward and said weakly, "Is this better?"

Chi Yao's breath caught in his throat, and his heart pounded.

Ming Can didn't wait for his response and waved goodbye.

From that moment on, Chi Yao no longer wondered why Chi Xiao had spent so much time struggling with one person.

Someone like Ming Can.

It was hard not to be drawn to her.

...

In the corridor outside the banquet hall, Ming Can had just sent a message to Chi Xiao, telling him she was still in the same place, when she heard footsteps approaching.

"Sorry, did you wait long?"

Chi Xiao's shirt collar was unbuttoned, and his face was pale. He looked disheveled and tired, as if he had just gotten into a fight somewhere.

"It's okay." Ming Can shrugged and stood up, casually asking, "What did your dad say to you?"

"He wants to send me abroad for studies," Chi Xiao said. "I refused and told him I want to pursue a master's degree here."

"Oh, why?" Ming Can asked, handing him his phone and suit jacket nonchalantly.

Chi Xiao looked at her, hesitated to take them, and smiled slightly before asking, "Can you guess why?"