Cheng LiQi and Shen ChuQi's four-hand piano duet, as the last climax program, won thunderous applause. After Cheng LiQi thanked the audience, she held Shen ChuQi's hand and walked off the stage like a proud little princess. As soon as she got backstage, the proud little princess turned into a lively girl next door. She lifted her skirt and ran to her mother, hugging her mother's neck and asking for praise, "Mom, did we play well?"
Cheng Jinlan never stinted on praising her daughter. "Not just well, exceptionally well. You cooperated so seamlessly. Our little LiQi and little ChuQi are getting better and better."
Shen ChuQi was praised by Cheng's mother and felt a little embarrassed. He scratched his head and said, "I still need to keep practicing hard. I have to play as well as Uncle Shao before I'm satisfied."
Cheng LiQi loved listening to Uncle Shao play the piano, so he had to practice hard and play as beautifully as Uncle Shao, or even better.
Cheng LiQi said to Shen ChuQi, "Little ChuQi, let's work hard together. Dad said that persistently practicing every day, we could become as good as him very quickly."
Wearing a little tuxedo and a small black bow tie with a standard three-seven hairstyle, Shen ChuQi looked like a little prince gentleman. He looked up at Cheng LiQi with his clear black and white eyes full of laughter and said, "Okay, let's work hard together."
He had originally felt practicing the piano every day was very tiring, but with Cheng LiQi working hard together with him, it didn't seem so tiring anymore.
Seeing the interaction between the two children, Cheng Jinlan laughed to herself.
Cheng LiQi suddenly thought of something. "Mom, Dad said he can play the piano really well too. I've never heard Dad play the piano before. Have you heard Dad play, Mom?"
Cheng Jinlan's gaze darkened. She inexplicably felt that the red on her neck that she had barely managed to cover up with two layers of concealer was itching again.
Cheng LiQi craned her neck and peered closely at her mother's ear. "Mom, your ear suddenly turned red. It was snow white just now, and in an instant it turned red, like magic. How amazing."
Now not only were Cheng Jinlan's ears red, a blush was spreading down her neck.
She hastily came up with an excuse, "It's too hot in here. Let's hurry and go find Grandma. Your Grandpa came too."
"Grandpa finished work?!" Cheng LiQi was delighted. She thought Grandpa hadn't come.
Cheng Shanhe hadn't finished work at all. As chairman, he simply kicked things down to his son Cheng JinChuan and told him to get busy so he could come see his granddaughter's performance.
Cheng Jinlan replied, "Your uncle took care of your grandpa's business matters, so your big uncle didn't come, but grandpa did."
"Wow, let's go quickly and find Grandpa and Grandma!" Cheng LiQi's attention was quickly diverted. She didn't need her mom to carry her anymore and slid down from her mom's arms, grabbed Shen ChuQi's hand, and ran off, forgetting that her mom still hadn't answered whether she had heard Dad play the piano before.
Cheng Jinlan had heard it before, once.
It was the first birthday after they had gotten together.
She hadn't thought much of birthdays originally. She had one every year, nothing novel anymore. But that time, she had a bit more anticipation because he said he would come over. With them living far apart in the north and south, they didn't see each other often. It had been almost a month since they last met, and as her birthday approached, she was practically counting down the days.
She didn't notice it at first until Jiang Meng saw the marks she made on the calendar and asked if she had any special plans this year for her birthday, since she had never seen her mark off each day leading up to an important day like this before.
Only then did she realize it wasn't that she was looking forward to her birthday, but rather, that he would be there to celebrate her birthday with her.
The night before her birthday, he called and said something had come up at the last minute, so he could only send a gift and couldn't make it himself. She said aloud that it was fine, but she did feel a bit stifled inside. It wasn't like she lacked people who would give her gifts.
On her actual birthday morning, she didn't pick up his call, only replying with a message that she was in class. But her irritation didn't last too long. Shi Ran, Li PeiFeng, Jiang Jiang and other good friends came noisily to her school, saying they wanted to tour the sights of Jiangnan and incidentally celebrate her birthday while they were at it.
With friends coming over, who still remembered that man?
That day her birthday was celebrated very boisterously. Li PeiFeng had booked an entire bar. Childhood friends, college classmates, everyone gathered together. After Li PeiFeng livened up the scene, Cheng Jinlan as the birthday star was coaxed on stage. Her Cantonese wasn't great, but she loved Cantonese songs, and was really into Eason Chan's "No Conditions" at that time, especially the version with just piano accompaniment. There happened to be a piano on stage, so Shi Ran went up to accompany her on piano.
The song was sung slowly to the very last line, and then her phone vibrated with an incoming call. Cheng Jinlan didn't want to answer it initially, but picked up right before the last ring. She took the phone and stepped off stage.
Li PeiFeng called out, "Hey, Cheng two, where are you going? With your voice plus Shi Ran's piano, it's practically the skill level of artistic masters. One song isn't enough, give us another!"
Without turning back, Cheng Jinlan said, "The master is taking a call. You guys sing first."
"Outside?" the person on the phone asked. Cheng Jinlan pushed open the door and went out to the street. The night air was great, devoid of the day's stuffiness, and the wind brought a touch of coolness. She smoothed down her wind-tousled hair. Her voice was full of delight, "Yeah, Jiang Jiang and the others came over to hang out together outside."
If you won't come for my birthday, there will always be people who will celebrate with me. I'm still having lots of fun.
"Shi Ran is there too?"
"Mm, he's here. I've always spent my birthday with them before."
The phone went silent.
Seeing he wasn't speaking, Cheng Jinlan didn't feel like talking either. What was the point of calling her if he had nothing to say? "If there's nothing, I'm going to hang up. They're still waiting for me."
Shao ChengZe said, "I'm downstairs at your place."
"Huh?"
"I came over."
"Oh," Cheng Jinlan idly scuffed the stone patterns on the ground with her shoes. "Didn't you say you couldn't make it?"
"I finished up my matters and rushed over immediately."
"Oh." So he had rushed over.
"How much longer will you be out?"
"A while more."
Shao ChengZe asked, "Where are you? I can come over."
"Don't bother." Cheng Jinlan rejected very swiftly.
Her college classmates were fine, Shi Ran and Jiang Jiang were also okay, but with Li PeiFeng there, with his big mouth, the moment he saw Shao ChengZe, Cheng JinChuan and her parents would know within a second that she was dating. Dating itself wasn't an issue, the problem was who she was dating. His identity wouldn't hold up to Cheng JinChuan's probing questions.
"You rushed over, you must be tired. Don't bother anymore. Go upstairs first. I'll be back soon too."
She didn't go back that soon either. All her friends were still there, why should she change her plans just because he came or didn't come?
She knew she was being petulant, and petulantly gambling at that, also gambling distractedly, sneaking glances at her phone from time to time, wondering if she should ask if he had eaten, then thinking he was a grown man, if hungry he could find food himself.
At eleven, a message came in. 【Come back, at least let me celebrate your birthday properly with you.】
Because of his words, Cheng Jinlan stopped Li PeiFeng's intention to stay out all night. She first sent them to the hotel she had booked, then sent Jiang Meng and the others back to school. At 11:55, she walked in her own door.
When Cheng Jinlan started university, afraid she wouldn't adapt to dormitory life, Fei Zuhui had bought an apartment near campus, furnished identical to her room at home. Fei Zuhui knew she was sentimental about familiarity and didn't like change. This place was like her home transferred over. The only light on was a wall lamp, casting dim lighting. A small cake sat on the coffee table. He was dozing off leaning against the sofa.
Cheng Jinlan crouched down looking at him. They hadn't seen each other for a month, he had lost some weight and looked worn out, brow furrowed even in sleep.
He wasn't sleeping heavily and woke up when he heard movement. Seeing her, before he was fully awake, his eyes already smiled. He reached to pull her into his arms.
In that moment, all of Cheng Jinlan's irritation dissipated. What was there to be angry about? He still came in the end.
In the last minute of that day, he accompanied her in blowing out the candles.
Sitting together on the sofa, he idly stroked her hair and casually asked, "What all did you do? On the phone it sounded really lively."
"What else could we do? Li PeiFeng booked a whole bar. We ate cake, played games, sang songs."
"I've never heard you sing before."
Cheng Jinlan looked back at him. "It's my birthday! If anyone should sing, it's you who should sing for me." She had never heard him sing either.
Shao ChengZe's eyes fell on the piano sitting in the corner. "What song do you like? I can play piano for you."
Cheng Jinlan was a bit skeptical. "You can play piano too?"
The piano was just decor here. Her family's rooms had a piano, so her mother had put one here too. She would occasionally play a little when struck by a whim, but more than playing herself, she preferred listening to others play.
She didn't know why, but she felt he didn't seem the type to play piano. Maybe because he was always stone-faced, she couldn't imagine what he would look like playing piano. Though he did have hands suited for playing piano, slender fingers and prominent knuckles.
Shao ChengZe directly picked her up and carried her over to the piano. He sat down and had her sit on his lap, effortlessly playing a segment of Autumn Whispers.
Cheng Jinlan looked at him, eyes shining. "Really good."
Shao ChengZe kissed the corner of her upturned lips. "What do you want to hear?"
She wanted to hear a lot. He played song after song until the mood changed, and besides the piano, other sounds emerged. Sitting across from each other, in the rocking up and down, her mind slowly dissolved into mist.
Shao ChengZe nibbled her ear and asked, "Do I play better, or does Shi Ran play better?"
Cheng Jinlan basically couldn't make out what he was asking. She clung tightly to his neck, only able to let out hurried pants and soft whimpers.
For a long time after that day, Cheng Jinlan spent all her time in the school dormitory. She couldn't go home. As soon as she got home, she would see the piano, and the scene from that night would replay over and over in her mind as soon as she saw the piano.
It wasn't until Cheng LiQi left kindergarten that the heat in Cheng Jinlan's ears finally dissipated. Cheng LiQi's question, along with last night's dream, made her think about too many things she shouldn't have thought about.
Shi Ran called her twice without getting a response before lightly patting her on the shoulder. Only then did Cheng Jinlan come back to her senses.
"What are you thinking about? You seem so spaced out?"
Cheng Jinlan forced a smile. "Nothing much. I probably didn't sleep well last night. What's up?"
Shi Ran replied, "Something came up at school this afternoon, so I can't go to the amusement park with you guys."
Cheng Jinlan and Fei Zuhui were going to take Cheng LiQi to the amusement park after kindergarten let out that afternoon.
"No problem. Go take care of your things. She was already very happy that you came to see her performance."
Cheng LiQi was carried over by her grandfather. "Shi Dad, are you leaving?"
"Yes, I'm sorry, little LiQi. Shi Dad has to work suddenly and can't go to the amusement park with you."
Cheng LiQi waved her hand. "It's okay, Shi Dad. The amusement park isn't going anywhere. Next time when you have time, we can go together again."
Everyone burst out laughing at her serious tone.
Shi Ran laughed and said, "Okay, the amusement park isn't going anywhere, and my promise to go with little LiQi again isn't going anywhere either. I will definitely go with little LiQi again."
"Mm hmm, it's a promise." Cheng LiQi hooked pinkies with Shi Dad to make the promise.
Cheng Jinlan pinched her little cheek. She didn't know where this little adult learned to talk like that, so well-spoken and mature.
Cheng Shanhe also laughed, but his gaze turned to a car parked in the shade of a nearby tree. He looked at the license plate - it was the same car that had been parked outside Second Uncle's house last night.
Watching the happy family scene, Shao ChengZe gripped the door handle.
He opened the door but didn't get out.
He couldn't go out.
His current identity was "underground dad." This identity might continue for quite a long time.
Because he hadn't even made it to "underground lover" yet.
At least before he had been an "underground lover."
The more he tried to advance, the more he regressed. That described him exactly.
