Nie Qingzhou spilled the beans, telling Xia Yi in great detail how Zhang Yukun and Lai Ning had misunderstood that he liked her, and why he couldn't explain it clearly, and then how he used this misunderstanding to urge them to study diligently.
Xia Yi sat on the edge of his hospital bed with her arms crossed, listening to his explanation without any change in expression, as if she was listening to a criminal confessing his crimes.
Nie Qingzhou looked anxiously at Xia Yi.
After thinking over what he said, she asked, "So why is Wen Zhong considered a love rival?"
Nie Qingzhou said in surprise, "How did you know? Since you and Wen Zhong often appeared together before, they felt Wen Zhong might also like you."
"I asked him, Wen Zhong doesn't like me."
"...You even went to ask Wen Zhong?"
"I felt the need to confirm."
"Then why didn't you just come and ask me?"
There was a flicker in Xia Yi's eyes. She rarely avoided his gaze and stood up to get an apple from the cabinet. "I'll peel an apple."
Zhang Yukun, Lai Ning, Zheng Peiqi and Xia Yan carried a few plastic bags of trash towards the trash cans. Up front, Zhang Yukun and Lai Ning were whispering about something. Zheng Peiqi glanced at the silent Xia Yan beside her, cleared her throat and asked, "Xia Yan, what does your sister usually like to eat? What does she like to do? What's her favorite color? When is her birthday?"
Xia Yan turned his head to give Zheng Peiqi a look. There was a hint of teasing in his handsome features.
"You're very interested in my sister, huh?"
"She's my friend."
"You won't last long anyway." Xia Yan casually threw the trash into the bin. Zheng Peiqi threw hers in next to him and said angrily, "What do you mean by that?"
Xia Yan seemed to find his hands dirty from taking out the trash, he held them up in front of him and said, "My sister was very pretty when she was young, and she had good grades and could play the piano. Many people approached her, wanting to be friends with her, but later they found out she was very boring and taciturn. Those people originally held beautiful fantasies about her, but once those illusions were shattered, they naturally left."
Xia Yan looked at Zheng Peiqi with a gaze that seemed to say, ' you'll also be like this sooner or later'.
Zheng Peiqi defended herself, staring at him with wide eyes, "I won't! When I was sad, Xia Yi helped me. Now that she's upset, I want to be there for her too."
"Upset?" Xia Yan scoffed, "Are you mistaken? When my dad went to prison and my mom left, she acted as if nothing happened, not shedding a single tear. With her heartlessness, what could possibly make her sad?"
After a pause, he narrowed his eyes impatiently, "I'm not close with her. She's a mystery, so don't ask me about her matters."
Having said that, he left with his hands raised.
Zheng Peiqi felt that Xia Yan's temper was even worse than Xia Yi - when Xia Yi was around he wouldn't say a word, acting obediently. But why did he become like this once Xia Yi left?
Sulking, Zheng Peiqi glared angrily at Xia Yan's retreating figure.
"Why didn't you just tell them the truth directly?" Xia Yi peeled a perfect whole apple and handed it to Nie Qingzhou.
Nie Qingzhou accepted it reverently, thinking that this apple was peeled by Xia Yi herself. IHe would keep it for his cousin to see 10 years later, he probably wouldn't bear to eat it even if it went bad.
"I tried explaining, but I couldn't explain clearly why I was always revolving around you. Zhang Yukun and Lai Ning thought I was just too shy to admit it." Nie Qingzhou heaved a long sigh.
Xia Yi gazed deeply into Nie Qingzhou's eyes. She leaned forward slightly closer to him and asked, "So why is that? Why are you doing so much for me?"
Nie Qingzhou had just opened his mouth wide, ready to take a bite of the apple. Hearing this, he froze and put the apple down.
Then he smiled, his eyes curved as he pointed outside the window, "Although what happened earlier was sudden, everything I said was sincere. I'm your fan, I really, really like your music, and I hope more people can hear your music. So I'm willing to do everything I can for you."
I'm willing to do everything I can for you.
The window opened a crack, and the wind blew the curtains fluttering, casting a golden shimmer on the gauze. Nie Qingzhou held a plump white apple, and the light shone through from behind him, his smile radiant.
Xia Yi's eyes flickered. This person probably doesn't understand the meaning behind those words, maybe he was just speaking off the cuff.
But he seemed very sincere, and he had already done a lot.
She slowly asked, "Do you like my music?"
Nie Qingzhou nodded firmly.
"You don't understand music."
"But I have ears, I can listen, appreciate, and be moved by it."
Xia Yi lowered her eyes, seemingly lost in thought about something. After a while, she raised her eyes to Nie Qingzhou and changed the subject. "I know about the lies you told Zhang Yukun and Lai Ning. I'll help you smooth it over."
Before she could finish, the people cleaning up the battlefield of confessions arrived in full force. Zheng Peiqi walked up to Xia Yi, holding her arm, her eyes shining with excitement, "Xia Yi, Xia Yi, can you really play the piano and write music?"
The nurse from the next bed overheard this and poked her head out. Seeing Xia Yi, she smiled and said, "Oh, isn't this the little girl who plays piano in the lobby downstairs? She plays the piano so well, she often comes to our hospital to play."
Now all eyes were focused on Xia Yi. Zhang Yukun clapped his forehead and said, "No wonder you always leave after a while. So you were the one playing piano in the lobby! I even told Lai Ning before that this hospital has a nice spiritual cultural atmosphere."
Zheng Peiqi excitedly shook her arm. "Xia Yi, can you play for us? I want to hear you play."
Xia Yi uncomfortably avoided Zheng Peiqi's hand. The ward was already chattering noisily. Urged by the enthusiastic praises of the nurse, even some patient's families chimed in wanting to listen too. People surrounded Xia Yi, urging her eagerly. She felt a little overwhelmed, her pitch black eyes scanning over everyone's faces, before sliding to rest on Nie Qingzhou sitting on the bed.
Nie Qingzhou had been smiling as he watched her the whole time. Catching her gaze, he tilted his head and said silently, "Go ahead."
Xia Yi withdrew her gaze, lowered it, and then raised it again, saying, "Okay."
So the crowd swaggered away, surrounding Xia Yi as they left the ward. Nie Qingzhou pointed at Zhang Yukun and Lai Ning who also wanted to follow, said with a fake smile, "You two stay behind."
Zhang Yukun and Lai Ning exchanged a look and bitterly sat by Nie Qingzhou's bedside.
Nie Qingzhou looked at them and said coldly, "I appreciate your good intentions, but next time you plan such a surprise, can you let me know in advance?"
"If we told you beforehand, you would definitely refuse." Lai Ning whispered.
"You know I'd refuse but still went ahead? Are you trying to mess with me?"
Zhang Yukun lifted his head and said sincerely, "Zhou-ge, I just reflected on it. We did take advantage of her sympathy to make a move, which is not very gentlemanly! A twisted melon is not sweet!"
Nie Qingzhou raised an eyebrow, not expecting this kid to have such high awareness.
"Let me ask you, aside from my relationship with Xia Yi, what do you think of Xia Yi as a person?" Nie Qingzhou asked seriously.
This question caught the two off guard. They looked at each other and began to think seriously.
"Recently, I felt she's pretty cool," Zhang Yukun gave a thumbs-up. "No matter what people in school say about her, she doesn't even look at them and is not affected at all."
Lai Ning scratched his head and thought for a while, then said, "I think she's quite introverted and doesn't like to talk, but she's a good person, very patient, and also really smart."
Nie Qingzhou nodded with a faint smile. "So even if Xia Yi and I aren't together, she's still a very worthwhile friend, right? Treat her as a friend with an open mind from now on. I'll handle things between us myself. I think things are fine the way they are now. Let's finish the college entrance exam first."
Lai Ning listened attentively and nodded thoughtfully.
Zhang Yukun clapped his hands in amazement, "Wow, Zhou-ge, are you really going to wait for Xia Yi for three years? Zhou-ge, you're really... you're really a real man!"
Nie Qingzhou rubbed his temples, feeling mentally exhausted, "That's not the point."
"I get it, I get it, just normal interactions, like how Lai Ning and I are. Xia Yi will be our new bro from now on!" Zhang Yukun laughed excitedly, then asked, "Zhou-ge, can Lai Ning and I go listen to our new bro play piano?"
Nie Qingzhou felt that Zhang Yukun always had his own steadfastly oil-and-salt-resistant logic. Sometimes wrong to the point of absurdity, but sometimes it wasn't too far off. Getting him to this point now was probably the best that could be expected, and it couldn't be demanded any higher.
He sighed and got up from the bed, pushing the IV stand. "Go go go, let's go together."
Nie Qingzhou, Zhang Yukun, and Lai Ning left the ward together. They took the elevator and walked through the long corridor to the hospital lobby.
Xia Yi sat in front of the brown piano, just like she did months ago when he first saw her play. She had taken off her wool coat, wearing only a white sweater with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, revealing her slender arms. The afternoon sunlight lazily fell on the piano keys, and her fair and slender fingers nimbly danced in the brightness.
Xia Yan, Zheng Peiqi, and a group of onlookers sat in the front row of public seats, listening intently. Nie Qingzhou and his group sat in the row behind them. Nie Qingzhou asked Xia Yan, "Hey, how's it going?"
Xia Yan jerked back around. He put away his engrossed expression, and awkwardly replied, "Just listen for yourself."
Zheng Peiqi also turned back excitedly, "Xia Yi is so awesome! She plays Moonlight Sonata 3rd (Presto agitato) and Winter Wind (Étude Op. 25, No. 11) so effortlessly! I have goosebumps all over. Xia Yi is a genius!"
Nie Qingzhou wasn't surprised, and even flashed a proud smile, "That's right, that's right. So what song is she playing now?"
"She's improvising now, just started." Zheng Peiqi made a shushing gesture and said earnestly, "Don't talk, listen carefully, and feel it."
Nie Qingzhou couldn't help but chuckle and leaned back in his chair.
When he watched Xia Yi play the piano, he always felt her music was like a miracle.
Her ten fingers danced nimbly across the piano, the notes and rhythms rapidly cascaded from the keys like fleeting sparks, impossible to capture, yet filled with intense undulations.
It was as if the snow-covered polar mountains erupted suddenly, the scorching magma forcing its way out violently through the majestic ice and snow. The utmost heat and the utmost cold clashed, entangled, swallowed and wore away at each other. Volcanic ash and water vapor intertwined, cold and heat refused to yield to each other.
In the end, through such tearing, a new continent was created.
With her music, she held their breath, manipulated their heartbeats, and made the notes dance on their nerves.
Only when the melody weakened did Zheng Peiqi finally relaxed. She turned to Xia Yan next to her and said, "You said Xia Yi is heartless, but listen to her music, it carries such deep emotions!"
Xia Yan smiled self-deprecatingly, "Maybe so, looks like she only loves her music."
Hearing this, Nie Qingzhou frowned. He reached out to rest his hand on the backrest of the seat in front, saying to Xia Yan, "Do you still remember the scar on Xia Yi's arm?"
"What about it?"
"That was from fighting for you, right? If that wound had been on her hand, she might never be able to play the piano again."
After a pause, Nie Qingzhou nodded towards Xia Yi at the piano and said, "You say she likes music, but a long time ago, she was already prepared to give up music for you. She loves you much more than she loves music."
Xia Yan looked at Xia Yi in a daze, seemingly bewildered at Nie Qingzhou's words.
Nie Qingzhou thought that Xia Yi might have never told Xia Yan these things.
The Xia Yi he knew from ten years later was much easier to understand than she was now. The grown up Xia Yi would try to explain herself, accepting others getting close to her. She had so many songs, so many activities and interviews - through those details, people would understand what kind of person Xia Yi was.
He felt that Xia Yi was far from heartless. She had nerves more sensitive than them, perceiving pain more deeply than anyone else. Only music was her outlet.
Before inventing the astronomical telescope, people also didn't know there were so many stars in the night sky that could not see the light. They died silently, exploded, turned into nebulae, and became new stars. Other people are like the deep dark night sky, no one knows what kind of violent turmoil and changes were happening inside other's bodies.
Xia Yi was also a night sky. Only when she was immersed in her music could people finally have a chance to pick up a telescope and see the nebulae in this universe.
Xia Yi's hands glided across the piano keys as the piece came to an end. When she turned around, she saw Xia Yan sitting in the front row of the lobby. Xia Yan seemed a little lost in thought, and actually didn't immediately avert his gaze and instead locked eyes with her for a moment.
This kind of eye contact surprised Xia Yi a bit. She knew Xia Yan didn't like her, and usually wouldn't even meet her gaze. Xia Yan also seemed to quickly realize this too and awkwardly shifted his gaze away.
Zhang Yukun stood up waving his hand. "I want to request a song! I want to hear Cáo Cāo!" [( by JJ Lin) Cáo Cāo was a Chinese statesman, warlord, and poet who rose to power towards the end of the Eastern Han dynasty]
Zheng Peiqi ran over to pull her arm. Lai Ning also raised his hand excitedly, "Then I want to hear Rice Fields!" (Jay Chou)
Meanwhile, Nie Qingzhou leaned forward, his arm resting over the seat back of the front row chair, looking at her with a smile.
Xia Yi was surrounded by everyone as she walked towards him. Lai Ning said sincerely, "Zhou-ge, Xia Yi is really good. She should be the one to play piano at the school's music festival opening!"
Nie Qingzhou smiled, resting his chin on his hand he said, "Yeah. When I was listening to Xia Yi play piano just now, it reminded me of the Norse Creation Myth. The fusion of ice, snow, and fire gave birth to a giant, and later, the body of the giant turned into the world."
Hearing this, Zhang Yukun's eyes immediately lit up. He squeezed next to Nie Qingzhou, "Zhou-ge, do you have any essay inspiration again? Tell us, we want to hear it."
"You think beautiful!" Nie Qingzhou stood up. "No, no, think about it yourself this time. I can help you revise when you're done."
In the hospital permeated with the smell of disinfectant, accompanied by sickness and death, this group of teenagers were alive, vibrant and full of life. They walked in the sunlight and shadows falling from the glass roof, like clusters of flowers that would never wither, full of irresistible vitality.
Many years later, Xia Yi would often look back on this day. After she finished playing the piano and turned around, she saw Nie Qingzhou, Xia Yan, Zhang Yukun, Lai Ning, and Zheng Peiqi sitting below, their young and eager eyes joyfully watching her. They waved their arms as they came towards her, and Nie Qingzhou propped his chin, smiling radiantly.
They were her first audience, her friends. And then there was the one, the one who would always use magnificent words and grand imagery to describe her music.
He said this piece reminded him of the Norse Creation Myth.
In fact, this song was the melody that sounded in her mind when he was injured. As he said it, it was the song sung by the flock of seagulls nesting in her mind for him.
In this moment she suddenly felt that it was a blessing to play music for these eyes full of expectation and love.