91. Cao** Palace, Cuteness to Die For

Since the three student groups’ performance lineup had been settled, Lin Pengfei had spent the past few days waiting for Qin Yong to come looking for him.

After all, the other two groups’ teachers had already begun rehearsing their own numbers.

He figured that no matter what, Qin Yong ought to have arranged a teacher’s performance for him with the piano group.

But there had been no movement from the other side at all.

He panicked.

He wondered if Qin Yong had simply forgotten to consider him, so he started asking around.

In the end, after asking everyone he could, he reached Li An, only to discover that none of them had received any secret word from Qin Yong.

Looking back now, Li An realized that when Qin Yong had assigned him and Chen Xuan their task, he had never even said whether that duet stage piece belonged to the wind ensemble group or the piano group.

And since he had been busy enough as it was, he had not really given much thought to the teacher performance on the piano side.

After Lin Pengfei finished speaking, even Li An found it odd. By rights, every concert ought to have a teacher’s number.

“How did you hear about Teacher Tian?” Li An asked.

“Hou Cheng told me. He asked you too, and I said I knew as well,” Lin Pengfei replied.

The two of them gossiped for a while. Then Li An glanced at the time; it was about time for the appointment he had made with Chen Xuan, and he needed to check on the rehearsal over there.

He put away his phone and stood up to see his guest out. “Maybe things will become clear after tomorrow’s meeting. I’m guessing you won’t be left out.”

Lin Pengfei liked hearing that kind of thing. He laughed heartily. “Then we’ll do a four-hand duet together. That would be a showstopper.”

“You really know how to flatter yourself,” Li An said.

The image was too beautiful for him to bear imagining.

After seeing Lin Pengfei off, he headed to the east teaching area. Passing by Tian Yu’s classroom, he heard a section of My Motherland being rehearsed inside.

Truth be told, just from that excerpt alone, it sounded genuinely pretty good.

Li An had heard several of Tian Yu’s students before, and they really did play well.

He stopped at the door of Room Seven. Through the crack in the door came the sound of a flute.

Li An quietly pushed the door open and slipped inside. Chen Xuan was standing with her back to him, flute in hand, demonstrating for the students as she sat.

Her tied-up braids bobbed as she moved, full of lively energy.

Seeing all the students turn toward the doorway, Chen Xuan looked back and noticed Li An. Her face lit up. “You’re here.”

Her tone drew a burst of stifled laughter from two little girls.

“Carry on,” Li An said, finding a corner and sitting down.

Chen Xuan nodded and turned back to continue her demonstration.

Eight children, each with a different part, some simple and some difficult. Chen Xuan guided every single one without missing a note.

Halfway through, seeing the children sweating from their efforts, Li An took it upon himself to handle tea and water for the eight of them.

From time to time, he even chimed in about rhythm and pitch.

Before long, an hour and a half had passed. At the end, while Chen Xuan was distracted talking to the parents, an older girl quietly asked Li An, “Teacher Li, are you our teacher Chen’s boyfriend?”

“Eh?”

Are children really this precocious now?

Li An glanced toward Chen Xuan, who was busy talking with the parents, then lowered his head and asked in a hush, “What’s your name?”

“Chen Zitong,” the little girl replied.

“Chen Zitong.”

Li An memorized the name. “Why would you ask me that?”

Chen Zitong blinked. “Liu Fengrui said you’re our teacher’s boyfriend.”

Li An raised a brow. “You and Liu Fengrui are classmates?”

“We sit at the same desk.”

Heh. Little Liu, huh. See you next class.

“Let me tell you, your teacher Chen and I—”

At that moment Chen Xuan walked over. “What are you two talking about?”

Li An stood and cut in, “We were discussing the rehearsal just now. She asked me if you all did well.”

Chen Xuan smiled. “And? How was it?”

Li An gave a thumbs-up. “The last run-through was excellent.”

Chen Xuan was very happy to hear his praise. Her mind was already a little numb from all the rehearsing, so she did not notice the looks being exchanged between him and Chen Zitong at all.

In the end, Li An looked at Chen Zitong and said, “Later, Teacher Chen will send you the video from just now. Take it home and listen carefully. Compare it with the teacher’s demonstration and practice hard. You have to really practice, understand?”

Chen Zitong nodded obediently. “Got it. Thank you, Teacher Li.”

Since Li An had already told her, Chen Xuan did not say anything more. She was quite satisfied with Chen Zitong’s performance that afternoon.

“Go home and prepare well. We’ll continue tomorrow afternoon.”

Chen Zitong waved goodbye to the two teachers and left at last. The empty rehearsal room was left with only the two adults.

“Send me the video now,” Chen Xuan said.

“Mm-hm.”

Li An took out his phone, opened Chen Xuan’s chat icon, and sent the last video. Since work was almost over, Chen Xuan was not in a hurry to open it.

When the two of them went outside, they saw several parents gathered around the corridor outside Tian Yu’s classroom, with Old Dong talking to them about something.

Passing by the classroom, Li An glanced inside. The children were all playing around in there, and Tian Yu was nowhere to be seen.

“The children have been stuck in there for almost an hour. What’s going on?” a female parent demanded.

“If there’s no rehearsal today, Teacher Dong, I’m taking Xiangyu and leaving,” said another parent.

The parents were talking over one another.

Old Dong could only reassure them, saying, “I’m terribly sorry, everyone.”

What on earth had Qin Yong asked Tian Yu to do that even the students’ parents were being ignored?

Just as Li An was wondering, Ma Tao, Xu Hongxin, and Wang Panpan came out of the west stairwell.

“What’s happening?” Xu Hongxin asked, looking into the crowd.

“No idea,” Li An said, shaking his head.

Before long, the corridor became increasingly crowded with people: teachers getting off work, students whose group rehearsals had ended, and parents waiting to pick up their children.

“I’m really sorry, everyone. The principal has something urgent for Teacher Tian. Let’s stop here for today,” Old Dong said.

After comforting the parents nearby, he turned to the crowd. “All right, all right, work is over. Teachers and parents, please don’t block the corridor entrance. Tomorrow afternoon at the same time, we’ll continue rehearsals for all the groups.”

With Old Dong’s final words, the crowd dispersed.

On the way to Blue Whale, Li An was looking at lipsticks on Taobao when a message from Chen Xuan suddenly came in. After reading it, he fell silent.

Leaf: Did you send the wrong video?

Those eight words landed on Li An’s face like eight solemn maxims, one after another.

Unable to bear looking at the thirteen-second video he had just sent not long ago, Li An felt his face probably growing warm.

Very warm.

When the last run-through was nearly finished, he had gotten carried away and ended the recording on impulse. Then he had filmed a close-up of Chen Xuan’s profile. Not only that, he had even slightly zoomed in.

What a blunder.

After talking with Chen Zitong, he had forgotten all about it. Then, when Chen Xuan asked him for the video, he had reflexively sent the most recent one.

Because the thumbnails of both videos started with Chen Xuan being filmed.

What now?

Trying to bluff his way through was not Li An’s style.

He should send the complete video first and test the waters.

Five minutes later.

Leaf: It really is pretty good. It’s just that the rhythm in the accompaniment parts gets a little messy in the middle.

Li An let out a breath of relief. As long as neither of them mentioned it, things were manageable.

Eight-One-Thousand: It was the first rehearsal, so that’s understandable. After two more runs, the rhythm issues will naturally improve. Tomorrow I’ll help you keep an eye on the rhythm in a few of the accompaniment parts.

Leaf: Would that interfere with your practice time?

Eight-One-Thousand: No. I practice in the morning.

Leaf: Thank you. So, is my profile really that good-looking? Cute

Li An’s breathing hitched.

The lights were coming on.

As the busy daytime bustle of the Yudong office building settled beneath the lowering night, a rare hush descended.

Eight thirty.

With a soft ding announcing that the elevator had stopped, the first elevator on the left side of the ninth floor opened.

A lean man stepped out, his footsteps echoing dully through the empty corridor.

Within a few breaths, he had reached the door of the principal’s office.

“Open up.”

A moment later, Qin Yong opened the door and looked out. “It’s so hot outside. What are you doing running out here? I was just about to head back.”

The man outside was Tao Ziwen, also known as Peach.

Peach pushed past Qin Yong and sat down directly in Qin Yong’s seat. “Was it resolved?”

“It was resolved.” Qin Yong loosened the collar of his shirt and sat down in the place Old Dong usually occupied.

“Anything else?” Peach could tell Qin Yong still had something on his mind.

Qin Yong tiredly curved his lips. “Nothing much. Everything is going according to plan. I’m just a little tired.”

Peach understood. Since the afternoon before last, the moment he had landed, Qin Yong had been almost nonstop busy with work.

Just like before, once he started working, he cared about nothing else.

“You’re only tired because you asked for it yourself,” Peach said, his tone complaining but still concerned. “Come on. Let’s take it easy tonight. Show me around nearby; I might as well get familiar with the new work environment too.”

Qin Yong asked, “You’ve made up your mind?”

Peach said unwillingly, “Didn’t you have me come here just so I could help you clean up this mess in academic affairs?”

Qin Yong smiled. “Let’s wait a little longer.”

The word wait always irritated Peach, but he was never able to defy Qin Yong in any real way.

Not even having sat down long enough to warm the chair, he stood up again and said grumpily, “I want food.”

“Come on.”

Qin Yong grabbed Peach by the wrist. “I’ll take you somewhere good.”

Walking along the path by the Qi River, the two of them seemed for a moment to return to those first years in the capital.

Weary of standing amid the sea of crowds, they would go out together after work every day, wandering everywhere in search of good food, choosing the quietest places they could find.

No arms over shoulders, no hands held, like nothing more than two good friends.

Perhaps they were unfortunate. After passing through the shifting process of adolescence, they had discovered in themselves something different from the majority.

Or perhaps they were fortunate, for in the vast human tide they had found each other.

For all these reasons, Qin Yong had thought Peach would not come this time, just as Peach had thought he would never again receive even a single word from Qin Yong.

Though love has nothing to do with gender, age, or status, the road before them was still full of thorns and obstacles.

“Have you really made up your mind this time?”

“Mm.”

The next morning, Yudong saw three major events.

First, salaries that had been delayed for a week finally arrived.

Second, Wang Jingya, the head of the academic affairs group, submitted her resignation letter the night before.

Third, Teacher Tian Yu from the piano teaching group seemed to have fallen seriously ill and had taken half a month of sick leave.