Shen Fu took out a family photograph, carefully wiped it clean, and placed it on the bedside table.
The photo had been taken during last year’s Lunar New Year. She still remembered that day vividly. Because she had casually mentioned wanting hot pot, the three of them had driven around looking for a restaurant that was still open so close to New Year’s Eve. It had been raining heavily that day too. After searching for a long time, they finally found the last available parking spot. When they finally sat down in the steaming hot restaurant, her father had raised his glass with a smile.
“Let’s have a toast, the three of us. We’re so lucky today. Looks like next year is off to a good start.”
…
Shen Fu sat there blankly, lost in memories of the past. Suddenly, the phone she had just put down rang. The sound startled her.
Rubbing her eyes, she hurried over and spent quite a while fumbling with the unfamiliar new phone before figuring out how to unlock it.
The moment she answered, Young Master Jiang’s lazy voice came through. “This is my number. Save it.”
Shen Fu was about to say “okay” when he continued in a low voice: “No need to be nervous. If you understand, tap the phone once.”
Shen Fu: “…”
What Jiang Shu didn’t know was that after only half a day together, he had already transformed in Shen Fu’s mind, from a mysterious demon-like youth into a weird youth.
The dazzling first impression he’d made in the rain, the proud, sharp-eyed boy bending down before her beneath his umbrella, carrying the scent of wild grass and trees, like a figure bathed in dramatic backlight, had completely shattered.
Does he think I’m one of his followers now? After joining his gang, am I going to have to drink one of those bizarre beverages every day?
Pulling a miserable face, Shen Fu obediently tapped the phone once.
Jiang Shu was extremely pleased with the little mute’s cooperation. She was becoming more and more adorable in his eyes. “Good. Go finish unpacking. After that, you can explore the other rooms on the third floor. There’s one room with a big television. I’ve got some CDs and animated DVDs there. If you’re bored, you can watch things like GG Bond or Electric Boy.”
Shen Fu: “…”
She was fifteen.
Not five.
“That’s all. If you understand, give it a thump.”
“…” Shen Fu tapped the phone again.
Young Master Jiang hung up and mentally awarded himself a perfect score. He felt he was basically the world’s greatest parent.
After calling the people handling Shen Fu’s parents’ hospital transfer on Old Master Jiang’s side and requesting more detailed records, Assistant Zhou came to knock on her door.
“Shen Fu, are you done unpacking? If so, let’s head out again. There’s still some transfer paperwork that requires your signature.”
The tuition at Jiang Shu’s school was exorbitant. Accordingly, the administrative procedures were also extremely complicated. Assistant Zhou had already arranged most of it in advance, but some forms still required the student’s personal participation.
For example, the school expected every student to have at least one specialty skill and to win awards in competitions during their three years of high school: horse riding, fencing, dance, swimming, and golf. The school offered training in all kinds of activities, allowing students to choose freely.
“While we’re at it, I’ll introduce you to the car that’s been assigned to you and show you the route to school. If you make new friends and want to go out together, you can call the driver to wait for you. Just try not to come home too late.”
Shen Fu nodded.
New friends… Could she really make new friends? The thought of embracing a new life scared her. It felt like a betrayal of her parents, as though she were leaving them behind.
They soon arrived at the school.
The rain had weakened somewhat.
Wearing her backpack and holding an umbrella, Shen Fu followed closely behind Assistant Zhou as they entered the enormous, unfamiliar campus. The middle school she had previously attended had already been considered excellent. But compared to this private academy, it wasn’t even one percent as large or luxurious. Feeling dazed, she followed Assistant Zhou from office to office, signing documents. By the end, she was completely disoriented. Finally, they arrived at an office beside a swimming complex.
Assistant Zhou said, “This is the last form.”
Shen Fu bent over and picked up a pen.
Specialty?
Before her family tragedy, there had been a piano at home. But while she and her parents were hospitalized, her aunt had already sold it. Shen Fu gathered her courage and wanted to write it down. Yet after hesitating for a long time, her pen stopped. If she listed piano, wouldn’t Old Master Jiang have to spend money buying her a new one?
She already owed so much in medical expenses and had no idea when she would ever repay them. A piano wasn’t cheap. Writing it down felt shameless, like she was continuing to ask for things she didn’t deserve.
Then she noticed a note at the bottom of the form: If you have no specialty, simply write “None.”
So Shen Fu wrote: None.
Fifteen-year-old Shen Fu still knew nothing about how powerful the Jiang family truly was. She didn’t realize that before bringing her into their home, they had already thoroughly investigated her background.
Assistant Zhou knew she had won numerous awards in piano competitions. When he glanced down and saw the word “None” written in that section, he couldn’t help looking at her.
After all the paperwork was completed, Assistant Zhou went to retrieve the car and asked Shen Fu to wait by the school gate.
At home, Young Master Jiang was bored out of his mind. He called. “How’s it going?”
Assistant Zhou thought to himself: How’s it going? If you hadn’t tried to intimidate the poor girl the moment you met her, would she be this cautious now? Watching it was painful.
Still, he had worked under the old master for nearly ten years. No matter what he thought privately, he was still just an employee. How could he possibly say that aloud?
So he simply described what had happened.
“Why didn’t she write it down?” Jiang Shu exploded. “A piano costs what, exactly? Does she think I’m poor?”
Assistant Zhou: “…”
Since the day he was born, Jiang Shu had never lacked anything he wanted. It was difficult for someone like him to immediately understand the careful restraint of a girl living under someone else’s roof.
But after genuinely thinking about it for a moment, he began to understand. And immediately, his affection for the little mute increased even more. After all, hadn’t he personally mixed that special drink for her? Why did she still think of herself as a burden living in someone else’s house? Young Master Jiang had lived for sixteen years. When had he ever mixed a drink for a third person before? That was the highest possible honor, okay?!
Was it because she couldn’t speak and felt inferior because of it? Jiang Shu imagined her standing up in class later, only able to make “mm” and “ah” sounds while the entire class stared at her because she couldn’t get any words out. The image instantly broke his heart all over again.
“Buy it,” Jiang Shu said. “Have them move three grand pianos over here immediately.”
“Three seems a bit unnecessary, doesn’t it?” Assistant Zhou said, speechless. “They take up a lot of space.”
“Then two. Just say one is mine and one is hers, and that they’ve always been in the house. That’s it.” Jiang Shu impatiently hung up the phone.
Assistant Zhou drove Shen Fu home.
The ride back was silent once again.
When the car stopped outside the villa, the rain that had been falling for several days had finally stopped completely.
Assistant Zhou received a phone call and said to Shen Fu, “Go inside first.”
Shen Fu nodded, shouldered her backpack, and pushed open the car door.
In just one afternoon, her feelings had already changed quite a bit. Assistant Zhou was a very kind person, and although the boy living in this villa had a strange personality, he didn’t seem all that bad. Now that all the transfer procedures had been completed, she would be staying in this completely unfamiliar city from now on.
Carefully, Shen Fu pushed open the half-closed front door of the villa and quietly went inside to change her shoes.
The moment she entered, she heard a chaotic clanging sound coming from a piano.
No, calling it piano playing was being generous. It sounded more like someone was smashing the piano.
There was no rhythm whatsoever. It sounded so awful that even a dog would want to run away.
The piano noise suddenly stopped.
The cold-faced boy appeared by the spiral staircase and glanced at her.
Their eyes met.
“…” Shen Fu’s first instinct was that she had somehow offended him again.
She looked down at the mud on her shoes… It didn’t seem like she had tracked any inside.
Jiang Shu didn’t understand why the little mute was looking around everywhere the moment she came in. Why was it that every time he looked at her, she reacted as though she’d been stared at by some monster? She wasn’t physically backing away, but her face clearly looked like she wanted to hide.
Was that reasonable? He was this handsome.
And he wasn’t even fierce.
“What are you looking at? Come in,” Jiang Shu said.
Only then did Shen Fu walk farther inside with her backpack.
As soon as she entered the living room, she noticed a grand piano positioned beside the window. It looked incredibly expensive. The slightly dim post-rain light streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows and fell upon the piano, casting a faint glow across its polished surface.
Shen Fu froze. Had her memory gone wrong or something? Why did she clearly remember that two hours ago, when she first entered this villa, there had been a giant silver armored robot standing there?
How had it become a piano now?
And since she had heard piano noises while the boy hadn’t come downstairs, that meant there was another piano upstairs.
But earlier, when Assistant Zhou had shown her around, she hadn’t seen a single piano.
So… did that mean she could secretly play it whenever Jiang Shu went out?
Leaning against the railing, Jiang Shu looked down at Shen Fu’s wide-eyed expression as she stood there doubting her own memory. A smug smile curved his lips. “What are you looking at?”
Shen Fu suddenly realized how rude she must seem. She immediately withdrew her gaze, lowered her head, and didn’t dare keep looking around.
Jiang Shu: “…”
That was a question, not an interrogation!
He treated himself as a long-legged big brother who protected the weak so why did she seem to regard him as some terrifying midnight stalker?
His mood instantly worsened. “Go to the dining room. Dinner’s ready.”
Ever since her parents had been hospitalized, Shen Fu had been passed around among relatives like a burden for three months. She had been forced to become extremely sensitive to other people’s emotions. She could tell Jiang Shu was unhappy. She just didn’t know why.
Clutching the straps of her backpack, she stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do.
Jiang Shu came downstairs. As he passed by her, she hurriedly whispered: “Thank you.”
Young Master Jiang stopped dead in his tracks.
Shen Fu was startled again and instinctively jumped back a step.
The tall, handsome boy turned around and stared at her in disbelief. “Shen Fu, were you playing with my feelings?”
Shen Fu: “…” Huh?
The boy exploded in outrage. “You aren’t mute?”
Shen Fu: “…” When had she ever been mute?
Meanwhile, the phone call Assistant Zhou had received was about the same thing. “Selective mutism? No, not at all. She just doesn’t talk much, that’s true. When we helped transfer her parents to another hospital, we only heard her speak once or twice. Something this major happened to her, becoming quiet is perfectly normal. If you’re still worried, you can take her to the hospital for another examination.”
“…No need.” The moment Assistant Zhou came inside, he saw Jiang Shu wearing a sour expression.
Even during dinner, Jiang Shu was still embarrassed and angry. He poked at the rice in his bowl with his chopsticks and glared fiercely at Shen Fu across the table. This little mute… Well, not mute anymore. This little girl who simply didn’t like talking had made him make a complete fool of himself.
He had thought she was a poor mute girl and had worried endlessly about her but she wasn’t mute at all. She just didn’t want to talk to him! If that wasn’t playing with his feelings, then what was?
Shen Fu focused on shoveling rice into her mouth. She neither dared nor wanted to look up and make eye contact with Young Master Jiang.
…After all, she was a little worried that having something wrong with your brain might be contagious.
