Chapter 53: Buying a Piano

Chapter 53: Buying a Piano

A hurried footsteps broke the tranquility of the room.

Seeing Ming Can return, flushed and out of breath, Teacher Leting was surprised and asked, "What's wrong? Did you forget something?"

Ming Can steadied herself, took two deep breaths, and shook her head. "I didn't forget anything."

She twisted the hem of her dress, speaking softly, "I just wanted to ask you something."

"Does A Xiao have a last name?" Teacher Leting was taken aback, "Let me think about it."

For so many years, she had always called him A Xiao. When they were neighbors, she definitely knew his full name, but after not seeing him for a long time, her memory wasn't great, and she couldn't recall it right away.

The elderly woman walked around the room with her hands behind her back, then paced to the window and glanced at the long-abandoned villa next door.

"I remember now," Teacher Leting's eyes lit up, "His last name is Chi, and his full name is Chi Xiao."

Ming Can's heart involuntarily clenched.

Teacher Leting continued, "His company is very famous, Xingchi Group, one of the top tech companies in North City."

"Oh... oh." Ming Can nodded, feeling somewhat dazed after learning the truth, and asked, "Do you remember what happened when I met him that day?"

Back then, Ming Can was only six or seven years old. It had been over a decade, and she had no recollection of that day. She only vaguely remembered it from the stories Teacher Leting told her—when she was very young, she had met a slightly older boy here and made a rather amusing promise with him.

"I remember some of it," Teacher Leting smiled, "It's not that my memory is good, but you two were just too interesting. Your personalities were complete opposites, one extremely lively, the other very quiet."

At this point, Teacher Leting instinctively looked out the window at the house where the Chi family used to live and said slowly, "You don't know, A Xiao had a very unhappy childhood. His parents were married through a business arrangement. Not long after their marriage, they had a falling out over financial interests. His father was domineering, and his mother was also ruthless. She felt she didn't get what she deserved in the marriage and wanted to abort the child in her womb. In the end, she kept the child, but their relationship never improved. Despite having such a young child, they argued constantly..."

The house actually had good soundproofing.

Perhaps while going upstairs, Chi Xiao accidentally overheard his parents arguing in the study on the second floor. He was practicing the piano on the third floor, and all he could hear were their selfish arguments, which wouldn't leave his mind.

He left home with his sheet music and went to Teacher Leting's place.

Teacher Leting was a renowned violin maker, and her villa was like a complex workshop, with many apprentices working alongside her to make violins.

Her house also had a piano, and Chi Xiao often came there to play when he couldn't stay at home.

Today was no different.

Chi Xiao didn't particularly like the piano. After playing for a while, he stopped and went to the workshop, squatting in a corner, imitating the apprentices by whittling wood.

At that moment, Teacher Leting was entertaining two distinguished guests.

It was a beautiful and elegant young woman, accompanied by a little girl in a pink princess dress.

Chi Xiao paid no attention to the surroundings, focusing solely on the small piece of wood in his hand, which he had picked up from the ground to use as a bridge for a violin.

Suddenly, a pair of bright white shoes appeared before him, but Chi Xiao ignored them, not even lifting his head.

"Are you Teacher Leting's student?" Ming Can asked, "My name is Seraphina, what's yours?"

"Chi Xiao."

"Do you have an English name?"

"..."

"Why are you squatting here when everyone else is working over there?"

"..."

Ming Can suddenly squatted down, getting very close.

Earlier, outside the workshop, she had seen this boy squatting alone for a long time.

At that age, Ming Can was still a bit of a face fanatic, naturally drawn to attractive people. The boy in front of her had light amber eyes, like patina stones freshly pulled from water, finely chiseled and beautiful. Ming Can really wanted to be friends with him.

"Did someone bully you?" Ming Can thought of the plots she had seen in TV dramas, where bullied children often cowered in corners, playing with toys others had discarded.

The tools and wood in his hands clearly weren't good; they looked like things others had thrown away.

"Did they bully you?" Ming Can pointed at the apprentices nearby.

Chi Xiao had no idea what she was talking about.

Ming Can assumed he was nodding in agreement, "They're so mean, so many adults bullying a kid, not even giving you a chair!"

Chi Xiao: ...

Ming Can: "Doesn't Teacher Leting take care of you?"

Chi Xiao: ...

Ming Can thought that with so many students, Teacher Leting probably didn't have the time to pay attention to a little boy who couldn't even properly whittle wood. After all, every job required competition, and only the capable ones would succeed.

"Don't be inferior, don't let them push you down," Ming Can stood up, speaking very seriously, "Believe in yourself, when you grow up, you'll become the best violin maker, better than all of them!"

Chi Xiao suspected this girl might have some delusions, like a character straight out of a righteous and passionate anime.

He found it a bit annoying and silently turned his back to her.

Ming Can circled around to face him again, "I said, believe in yourself, I really do believe in you."

Chi Xiao finally spoke, "What do you believe in me for?"

Ming Can: "I believe you will make the best violin."

But I don’t even know how to make a violin.

I never intended to be a luthier.

I’m just whittling wood for fun because I have nothing better to do.

Chi Xiao lowered his head again, ignoring her.

Ming Can persisted in encouraging him, “When you make the best violin, I’ll buy it for a lot of money. My family is very wealthy; just name your price.”

Chi Xiao: …

Ming Can: “How about eight million?”

She had overheard Leting and her mother talking earlier, mentioning that the average price of a violin in her studio was eighty thousand. Ming Can had multiplied this by a hundred, which was the most expensive price she could imagine for a violin.

A series of laughs came from behind.

Su Zhining was laughing so hard she was bent over. She walked over, took Ming Can by the hand, and said to Chi Xiao, “Sorry for the disturbance. Sera just really wants to be your friend.”

“Mom,” Ming Can protested, “I’m being serious.”

Su Zhining saw that the little boy wanted to be alone and insisted on pulling Ming Can away.

She found herself helpless against Ming Can’s habit of sticking her nose into everything, always ready to intervene with a sense of righteousness.

She was like a little king in a fantasy world, firmly believing in all her ideas, full of enthusiasm, yet also incredibly domineering, wishing everyone would listen to her and follow her commands.

Su Zhining, with her gentle nature, had indulged Ming Can in almost everything since childhood, which had made her rather arrogant.

Not long after being pulled away by her mother, Ming Can sneaked back to find the older boy when the adults weren’t paying attention, only to discover that the place where he had been was now empty.

For some reason, Chi Xiao was a bit afraid of the girl named Seraphina.

Logically, he had long since developed the ability to ignore all the noise around him, but that girl seemed to possess some kind of magic, making his ears involuntarily focus on what she said, leaving him bewildered by her nonsensical directions.

Chi Xiao ran outside the villa but didn’t want to go home, so he squatted at the edge of the villa's yard, playing with pebbles.

The grass near the fence was covered with many pebbles. Chi Xiao used a sharp stone to carve words on them. Suddenly, he heard someone running over from the other side of the fence—two boys who lived in the same neighborhood and looked familiar.

They had met Chi Xiao in the neighborhood before and tried to play with him, but he ignored them, so they had a bad impression of him, thinking he was a solitary and unpleasant person.

"Why are you here at Leting’s place again?" one of the boys shouted across the fence. "Did your parents kick you out?"

Many neighbors knew about the discord between Chi Xiao’s parents. Adults often gossiped, and children inevitably picked up bits and pieces, such as how Chi Xiao’s mother deeply regretted having him and left him to the nanny, treating him as if he had no parents...

Seeing that Chi Xiao remained unmoved, treating their words as mere wind, the boys clung to the fence, growing increasingly angry:

“You’re really annoying, no wonder your parents don’t want you…”

Suddenly, there was a “clunk” as a stone flew from behind and hit the fence hard.

The two boys froze, then immediately turned and ran away.

Chi Xiao turned around to see the girl in the pink dress approaching, her dark eyes wide open. “Why didn’t you yell at them? They were saying such mean things about you.”

Chi Xiao lowered his gaze, silent, his fingers drawing deep lines in the pebbles, gripping the stone so tightly it hurt.

Then, the little girl started a long string of questions in his ear.

She questioned what those two were doing, why he wasn’t speaking, and why he wasn’t defending himself… Anything that didn’t align with her expectations, she would seriously question and try to steer back onto what she believed was the right path.

Chi Xiao was dragged away by her.

She pulled him out of the yard, caught up with the two boys, and forced them to apologize to Chi Xiao, promising never to do it again.

At first, the boys resisted.

Though Ming Can was a girl, dressed in a soft pink princess dress and shorter than them, she exuded a powerful aura. Not only did Chi Xiao feel intimidated by her, but the two mischievous boys, after being bombarded with her rapid-fire scolding, gradually lowered their heads and reluctantly admitted their fault.

Su Zhining and Leting teacher realized the two children were missing and ran out to find them. When they found the two, they were playing in the sandbox at the neighborhood playground.

They laughed and watched from the side, not wanting to disturb them.

Ming Can noticed that Chi Xiao was very good at building sandcastles, quietly creating a beautiful palace.

“You’re amazing,” Ming Can praised. “I told you, with such skilled hands, you’ll definitely become the best luthier.”

Chi Xiao, for the first time, responded, “Hmm.”

They played until the sun set.

It was getting late, and Su Zhining had to take Ming Can home.

A servant came to take Chi Xiao home for dinner, but instead of following the servant, Chi Xiao went with Ming Can and her mother back to Leting’s house.

Before parting, he spoke to Ming Can for the first time, “Will you come back?”

“I don’t know,” Ming Can replied. “But when you make the best violin, we’ll definitely meet again.”

“Will you come to buy it then?”

“Yeah,” Ming Can extended her little finger and hooked it with his, “Eight million, I promise.”

…

“You were so bold back then, your mom couldn’t stop you from making that eight-million-yuan deal with him, hahaha.” Leting teacher laughed heartily. “Later, A Xiao started coming to my place regularly, learning to make violins with my students. Unfortunately, his parents divorced a few years later, and after moving, he came less and less often.”

Ming Can was silent for a long time.

She still had some vague memories of her generous and kind-hearted self as a child, but the specific deeds were completely forgotten.

At one moment, she felt like a terrible woman who scattered promises everywhere and then forgot them as soon as they were made.

But.

Such an old and childish promise.

Chi Xiao must have forgotten it long ago.

"Did he come to see you again after that?" Ming Can asked, "Do you remember when the last time was?"

"I need to think about it," Leting said, rubbing her forehead.

Ming Can apologized, "It's okay if you don't remember. I was just asking out of curiosity."

Leting walked out to the corridor outside her workspace, where the walls on both sides were lined with violins.

She raised her hand to gently caress the delicate surface of a violin, and suddenly a memory came back: "I remember now. He seemed to have visited once after he started high school; that should have been the last time. He was wearing his school uniform, and he had grown so tall that I was quite surprised when I saw him."

Ming Can smiled, "Your memory is pretty good, isn't it?"

Leting: "Well, I remember because he brought me a violin that day, saying he had made it himself and only needed to varnish it. He wanted me to give him some pointers before he did that, to see if there was anything he could improve. The violin was really beautiful, and I still remember it. His craftsmanship was much better than mine when I was young."

Ming Can was taken aback.

Leting turned to look at her and said, "By the way, you really like clear and bright sounds, right? The materials he chose, the thickness of the soundboard, and the height of the bridge and sound post were all very similar to what you prefer."

...

-

At noon.

As soon as the stopwatch beeped, Chi Xiao immediately fished the noodles out of the boiling pot, not a second too early or too late. After taking them out, he plunged them into cold water to firm up, ensuring the texture would be much better than the last time.

In another pot, the bone broth that had been simmering since morning was bubbling away. Chi Xiao ladled a large bowl and a small one, placed the firmed-up noodles in the bowls, and carried them out.

Entering the dining room, he looked up and noticed someone standing in the living room.

"Why are you here?"

Ming Can had just taken off her coat and walked in, her face still flushed from the cold outdoors.

She looked down at Miaomiao without raising her head and said, "This is my home. Can't I come here?"

Chi Xiao stared at her for a while, inexplicably feeling that something was off about her.

"Have you eaten lunch yet?"

"No," Ming Can walked over to the table and glanced at what Chi Xiao had prepared, "You're making this for Miaomiao? Noodles in soup?"

"There's a topping!" Miaomiao carried over a large thermal box from the side, "The topping is from outside."

Ming Can took the thermal box from Miaomiao, placed it on the table, and muttered, "At least you know your limits. You bought the important part from outside instead of trying to make it yourself."

Chi Xiao ignored her sarcasm and asked as he headed to the kitchen, "How much noodles do you want?"

"Two liang," Ming Can said, following him into the kitchen to get the utensils.

Remembering she hadn't washed her hands, she walked to the sink and turned on the tap.

"Ouch—" Ming Can gasped, "It's so hot!"

Her hands, which had been frozen outside, were still stiff and cold, like ice cubes. The sudden splash of water, around forty degrees Celsius, naturally caused a sharp pain.

Chi Xiao walked over, lowered the water temperature, and held Ming Can's hand under the stream.

"Why are your hands so cold?" he frowned.

"I was out for a bit," Ming Can said, "I forgot to wear gloves."

She kept her eyes fixed on the sink, where Chi Xiao's long fingers held her hand for a moment before letting go.

"It's so cold outside, why were you wandering around?"

"I wasn't wandering around," Ming Can shrugged, still staring at the sink. She hadn't lifted her gaze since entering the house, "Just bored."

There was a moment of silence.

"What's wrong with you today?" Chi Xiao's hand, which had just pulled away, suddenly reached out again, catching her wrist in the running water, "Why are you keeping your head down, not looking at me?"