Chapter 14 Talent: I Can Lend You a Hand.

Chapter 14: Talent—I Can Give You a Hand.

Liang Yusheng is leaving Hong Kong tomorrow morning. Ji Yuewei's Cantonese and squash lessons are over.

After dinner, as usual, she held the ladder while Liang Yusheng hung He Yingzhen's huge portrait on the "squash wall" on the first floor.

Somehow, the newly hung He Yingzhen seemed slightly different.

Elle, observing from the second floor, suddenly joked, "No matter how you look at it, Miss He isn't holding a trophy—it's a racket."

Liang Yusheng laughed so hard, he nearly fell off the ladder. Ji Yuewei couldn't help but smile, but the next second, his wobbling body startled her so much that her hackles rose.

She looked like a frightened kitten, her eyes wide open as she looked up at him. For an instant, her expression broke away from her usual habit of "remaining calm in the face of disaster," showing a panic that was completely her age.

Liang Yusheng looked down and saw her face had turned pale. He whispered an apology and reassured her it was okay. Under Ji Yuewei's watchful gaze, he felt like he was walking a tightrope as he came down.

Picking up the ladder, Liang Yusheng said to the still-dazed Ji Yuewei, "Grab the whiteboard for me."

Ji Yuewei picked up the whiteboard and followed him. It was a false alarm. Liang Yusheng was too heavy; if it hadn't been for his good balance, she wouldn't have been able to hold the ladder. Ji Yuewei sighed silently.

The tool room was cramped. Liang Yusheng didn't let Ji Yuewei inside. Once he had put the ladder away, Ji Yuewei stood at the door and handed him the whiteboard. A large, heavy whiteboard seemed as light as a piece of paper in his hands. He reached up and placed it on top of the cabinet, leaning it gently against the wall.

While doing this, his usual idle, aristocratic-young-master air faded significantly.

The sleeves of his shirt were already rolled up; now, with the exertion, the lines of his forearms were taut and defined, and the blue veins on his broad hands bulged and wound. Outwardly gentle and refined, he was actually a very strong man.

When He Yingzhen called, Liang Yusheng had just closed the door to the tool room.

He turned, pulling out his phone. Seeing Ji Yuewei standing in the doorway, staring at him intently, the corners of his mouth curved involuntarily. He reached his other hand toward her head and gently guided her back a few steps out of the room.

Face to face, Liang Yusheng lowered his eyes to look into hers, a clear smile in his gaze.

Even the sharp, profound lines of his brow softened into a remarkably tender expression.

It all happened in a fleeting moment, like a breath.

So fleeting that by the time Liang Yusheng let go and walked past Ji Yuewei, his voice answering the phone fading away at the stairway, Ji Yuewei finally reacted.

She reached up to touch her own hair. A warm, smooth sensation. The shampoo Elle had recommended, which seemed to be something He Yingzhen had mentioned earlier. It was very good, with a subtle fragrance. The first few times she used it, while doing her homework, Ji Yuewei would unconsciously twist the ends of her hair and slowly bring them to her nose. But later, she got used to it.

Yet at this moment, Ji Yuewei found that she was not quite used to it again.

Early the next morning, Liang Yusheng left to catch his flight.

Ji Yuewei knew his departure time. She was brushing her teeth when she vaguely heard him answering the phone rapidly while pulling his suitcase. When he reached the door, Ji Yuewei did not go out. After hearing Elle's voice from the garden downstairs, she ran to the window and looked down.

The glaring sunlight had already enveloped the entire blue sea.

Liang Yusheng stood against the light, his figure tall and handsome, looking very busy.

As usual, he was wearing earphones, saying something. When Elle ran over to hand him the car keys, he thanked her, turned around, and walked straight out.

Ji Yuewei returned to the sink.

After washing her face, the teenager in the mirror was still expressionless, her wet hair sticking to her pale cheeks. Ji Yuewei reached out to brush it away, pursed her lips at the mirror, and then gently curved the corners of her mouth.

She realized that what Elle said must be true. She did look good when she smiled.

Two more days passed, and He Yingzhen and Ji Yitao returned.

It was clear that He Yingzhen had thoroughly enjoyed this sunny trip.

Ji Yitao had gotten much darker, and his scholarly aura had faded somewhat. The darker skin, combined with his already handsome features, inexplicably added a bit of a tough-guy vibe—or maybe a "foam" quality.

"Foam" or not, he was genuinely pleasing to the eye.

At dinner, looking at Ji Yitao as he poured her wine, He Yingzhen even said, "Why don't you go act in a movie? I'll fund you."

Ji Yuewei nearly choked.

At that moment, she seemed serious. The look in her eyes as she gazed at Ji Yitao was almost overflowing with affection.

Ji Yitao, thinking about his paintings, chuckled and said, "Miss He really flatters me. It's already a blessing to know Miss He and share a table with you." After saying this, he even sighed. He Yingzhen laughed and took the hand he offered.

Ji Yuewei took a deep breath, buried her head in her bowl, and hurriedly ate.

The next morning, Elle suddenly knocked on Ji Yuewei's door, saying there was a package for her.

Ji Yuewei thought Peihua had sent more new materials, so she quickly went downstairs.

It was three neatly wrapped, very clean file folders. The recipient was indeed her name, and the address was exactly this villa, but the phone number wasn't hers. Ji Yuewei asked Elle whose number this was. Elle glanced at it and said, "Oh, it's Mr. Liang's Hong Kong mobile number."

She opened the package. Inside were photocopied classroom notes for Chinese, Math, and English, from the first to the second year of high school, with each lesson's key points clearly recorded. There was the words "St. Central, Hong Kong" at the top of the notes.

Ji Yuewei spent the afternoon organizing these notes and discovered that many of the problem-solving approaches she had previously struggled to find had already been set into formulaic patterns, like eight-legged essays, in these notes.

For her, the importance of these notes was not just about adding more knowledge points; crucially, they saved her almost two-thirds of the time she would have spent circling around in place. This way, she could devote more time to those challenging problems from Peihua. She could even take a few steps further forward, increasing her chances of success in the future.

Ji Yuewei felt she had grasped something.

A tangible, real—sense of certainty.

The little fish in the fish tank once again surfaced to breathe.

This feeling was not unfamiliar.

In Binnan's No. 15 High School, after the first mock exam, Jiang Yingfei called her into the office with her physics paper. After looking at her for a long time, she said, "Yuewei, you are a gifted child. The teacher hopes you can go further."

At that time, she had long been accustomed to being a good but not outstanding student. She no longer thought about the best solutions to any problem. She didn't want to become one of those "self-righteous" students again.

But Jiang Yingfei told her, "No, that's not it. You are like this. And you can definitely do it."

She said to her, "You have talent."

Talent is not abnormality; it is excellence.

"Yuewei, study hard, think carefully. The teacher believes in you."

That was the first boost she received in her life, and it has supported her as she trudges alone in this unfamiliar academic system.

Now, another person says to her, "I can give you a hand."