Chapter Ten (6)

  "Hey, what about you?" Qian Rong said, "I usually just take it." Yu Xiang's momentum overwhelmed his opponent, and he finally won, feeling elated for the entire morning. Lin Yu Xiang was too lazy to take the bus back home, so he decided to stay at school. After lunch, some students who had stayed overnight began to return, leaving only a few people in the vast campus of Nan San Zhong. Yu Xiang stared blankly at the empty campus, feeling lost and forlorn.

  To the right of the dormitory building stood an old, dilapidated red-brick building that was said to be "dilapidated", which was unfair, as the school repaired it every year. Unfortunately, Chinese students were notorious for their strong desire to destroy public property, so even after repairs, a group of people would follow and vandalize it. This red building was called "Beethoven Building". Students treated it like a deaf person who could be bullied, and in recent years, they had been destroying it on a large scale. They didn't use their hands to open the door; instead, they used their feet and bodies, reserving their hands for carving graffiti.

  The school leaders were forced to turn a blind eye, saying that they would rebuild it. Students from previous graduating classes who had destroyed the building had developed feelings for it and wrote letters saying that it should be preserved in its classical style and not demolished. However, current students believed that the building still had value in being destroyed and chanted Sun Yat-sen's slogan "make full use of things". Chinese students liked to take things to extremes, whether good or bad.

  This building was left for future generations of students to destroy, a legacy from their predecessors. Beethoven Building remained, becoming an outlet for students' stress and academic burdens.

  In Beethoven Building, there was a piano room. Those pianos had brought good fortune to the building, but were also trampled and destroyed. On one of the pianos, a famous quote was engraved: "Playing the piano (talking about love) should be connected with saying 'I love you'." The school searched everywhere for the person who wrote this quote, but finally found out that it had been there for ten years, educating an entire generation. Every day, people came to practice piano in Beethoven Building, and they were all famous artists in the city. These artists were as dirty as the building itself, and when they saw each other, they felt like they had seen their own rebirth; the building also rarely saw its peers, but whenever an artist came to paint or play music inside, it welcomed them with open doors. Art is noble, but not all artists are noble; some of them were as lowly as students and even carved words on the doorframe. This year, the school implemented a closed management system, which meant that outsiders were not allowed to enter the campus. Since it was a closed system, students had to have a certain appearance; at the beginning of the semester, they submitted two 2-inch photos, and a month later, they received their ID cards. The school could "close its doors," but couldn't "guard itself"; several familiar piano teachers still came to practice, fortunately, these people had some level of skill, every day playing "Autumn's Whisper", no longer playing their own compositions, the entire campus seemed to have taken Chinese medicine, and the atmosphere was smooth. Today is the weekend, and someone is still practicing piano; listening carefully, Lin Yuxiang suddenly heard the melody and felt like he saw past events reappear: the big fight at "Good Eats" with Liang Zijun; the unbeatable essay and poetry competition; Susan, who brushed past him; Luo Tiancheng, who was either friend or foe; Zhao Zhenzhang, Jin Director... Suddenly, he wanted to write a letter, but writing a letter also required a certain level of literary skill, especially the kind of skill that Weisili had, producing thousands of words a day. Often, before writing, there were too many thoughts in his head, and when he started writing, those thoughts seemed like promises made by Western presidential candidates before they were elected - not one sentence could be put into practice. He stared at the phrase "How have you been lately?" for a long time, and all the words he had thought of earlier were summarized in that one sentence; after writing for half a day, he couldn't even fill four or five lines, and he felt embarrassed for his friend, and most importantly, he didn't want to waste a stamp just to let the other person read some empty words and then feel disappointed. Luckily, friends are lucky, and stamps are lucky! Lin Yuxiang wanted to write a letter to Susan to ask about her well-being, but he didn't know if it was because he had too little time and was too lazy to write, or if he had too much homework and was too lazy to write; there was only one conviction - missing the opportunity would mean missing it forever, and he could try again in three years.

  Qian Rong was still lying in bed waiting for his dad to send a car to pick him up, and saw Lin Yuxiang spacing out, saying: "Who are you thinking of?" After finishing, he smiled meaningfully.

  Lin Yuxiang faintly said: "I didn't think of anyone."

  Qian Rong suddenly ran in front of Yu Xiang and said: "I'll tell you a piece of news, I'm going to chase after Yao Shuqin!"

  Yu Xiang was shocked and said: "You even dare to touch a tiger's butt?"

  Qian Rong waved his hand and said: "That, I'm often scolded by Mei Xuan because my name is recorded too many times. I've decided to improve our relationship and use my vast knowledge to enlighten her."

  Yu Xiang said with a smile: "Is it just for this?"

  Qian Rong dug the topic down another layer: "In that case, I'm bored and alone in school anyway, and she's not bad either, white and tender. It's possible to change her fierce personality, right? She's so fierce, definitely no one has ever pursued her before, maybe it's even her first love, having someone like that can alleviate a lot of loneliness."

  The car horn sounded.

  In terms of love, humans have a big trend. The ideal partner in men's eyes should be like milk, the fresher and whiter the better; the ideal partner in women's eyes should be like a dairy cow, the stronger the better, and can let oneself squeeze out the most milk with the least effort. Milk is only fresh when it is with a dairy cow, but this cup of milk has not been asked by any dairy cow for a long time, gradually evolving into a cup of sour milk.

  Qian Rong often went to find Yao Shuqin, and at first Yao Shuqin didn't take it seriously. Later, after listening to the girls' gossip, she suddenly lost her mind. All the girls were envious to death and jealous, giving her advice that Qian Rong was a unique, talented, and sturdy man, with his greatest advantage being rich. Yao Shuqin verbally said no, but in her heart, she had already agreed. As a result, the two of them appeared together in public like the planes of the US and UK, always accompanying each other.

  A man is more petty in front of men, but more generous in front of women. Qian Rongping was stingy in the dormitory, but in front of Yao Shuqin, he wanted to give her everything she wanted. Yao Shuqin thought that if she really wanted to be with Qian Rong, she couldn't remember his name anymore. Lin Yuxiang was left alone on the record book, proudly looking down on everyone else. After becoming invincible, Lin Yuxiang went to find Yu Xiong to vent his frustrations, but Yu Xiong told him to endure. Lin Yuxiang didn't listen and his conflicts with Qian Rong deepened. They would engage in intellectual battles, with Qian Rong always emerging victorious. Yao Shuqin was trained by Qian Rong like a cat, becoming extremely obedient. Lin Yuxiang's luck was bad, and his misdeeds were reported to the school authorities. The principal lectured him on morality, comparing him unfavorably to Qian Rong, who had reformed himself after being criticized in the past. Lin Yuxiang was furious but secretly scolded the school leaders for being out of touch with the current students. He thought that they still believed that students would blush when seeing someone of the opposite sex, not knowing that nowadays, students typically have a partner by the second year of high school and even have casual relationships by the third year. Lin Yuxiang went to find Yu Xiong again to vent his frustrations, but Yu Xiong told him to endure once more. This time, Lin Yuxiang couldn't hold back and scolded Yu Xiong on the spot.

  For nearly a month, Qian Rong and Yao Shuqin's relationship was like a piece of red-hot iron. Anyone who saw them felt the heat, and any gossip or rumors were like water droplets that evaporated instantly when they came into contact with the couple. Every class period felt like an eternity, and all anyone could hear during breaks was the two of them talking endlessly. Qian Rong even joked that he was "passively literate" (Lettered). Since they sat too far apart in class, they had to rely on passing notes to express their feelings. Lin Yuxiang's seat was not ideal, so he had to stoop to acting as a messenger for the couple. The content of the notes was nothing more than Yao Shuqin asking, "What instruments do you play?" Qian Rong replied in a note, "Those are easy - I'm proficient in Sax (not Sex!), and I also know a bit of Violin. People call me Fiddler (which means both 'violinist' and 'swindler')."

  Yao Shuqin was amazed by these incomprehensible English phrases and couldn't help but admire Qian Rong even more. This added to Qian Rong's foreign flair, and he would often say things like: "Oh dear! That kid is ugly, ha, no...no...not that way. Last time we were at the PUB, he got me drunk, what a shame, damn him!" These random English phrases made the whole class feel inferior.

  Yao Shuqin pretended to understand and nodded her head while gazing at Qian Rong's face - if Qian Rong smiled slightly, she would laugh loudly; if Qian Rong was slightly angry, she would be furious. It seems that there is nothing more abundant than corrupt officials in China, but the expressions of girls in love are a notable exception.

  Yao Shuqin's emotions changed unpredictably and erratically in front of Qian Rong, and it seemed like she had used some magical makeup to make her face look smoother and more radiant, almost blending into the air. There is a saying that "love is the best makeup for women," but this phrase is actually incorrect - love doesn't have such power; love only motivates women to buy the best makeup, nothing more.