Chapter 25: Master Juan: Too Close Together
The second floor, art practice room.
Qin Yu held the violin in her hand, her head slightly tilted, and her eyebrows furrowed slightly.
The violin sound was slightly gloomy, which was very different from the usual sound that Qin Yu made.
Xu Yaoguang lowered his eyes. It was obvious that his expression wasn’t the same anymore. He leaned on the side of the violin and knocked his fingers unconsciously.
He was surrounded by people from the Student Union who had come to listen to Qin Yu practice the violin.
Qin Yu had said today that she wanted to practice a new song, so they had all come ready to record on their mobile phones.
The violin sounded for a minute and suddenly came to an end.
Xu Yaoguang’s eyes were dizzy and didn’t know what to say.
Seeing that there wasn’t any movement, he turned his head and softened his voice when he talked to Qin Yu. His gaze fell on the violin in Qin Yu’s hand. “Why did you stop?”
Qin Yu held the violin in her hand tightly. She smiled brightly. “This has not been practiced well. I usually secretly practice it, so it’s not perfect. I will perform for you when I practice it a few more times.”
Everyone in the student council said that it was fine and wanted to keep her going as she was playing very well.
Xu Yaoguang stood silently and didn’t speak. His eyebrows were warm, but he was cold. No one dared to approach him except Qiao Sheng and a few others.
He had some knowledge of the violin and had heard it. Qin Yu’s violin melody was very cryptic.
“It’s okay, you can practice slowly.” He stood upright and, although there was no smile on his face, his voice was still gentle. “I won’t disturb you, then.”
Qin Yu watched as Xu Yaoguang left.
She pulled a chair and sat down.
The student union basically left with Xu Yaoguang, and there were only a few girls left.
“Why not continue?” The baby-faced girl didn’t hear the crypticness but could feel that the violin melody was really good this time. “I thought it sounded good.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Wu Yan managed to mingle with Qin Yu’s group and quickly said.
Qin Yu leaned on the chair and shook her head when she heard the words. She lowered her eye. The violin sheet was short and messy. She had tidied for the whole night only to remember it vaguely.
She could barely play it, but there was no emotion and she couldn’t get engrossed.
While others couldn’t hear it, Xu Yaoguang had definitely heard it. It was very obscure, so she simply stopped.
Because the tone of the whole score was very grand and had a strong personal touch, Qin Yu didn’t know what kind of person could write such a score.
She wondered.
Wu Yan went to the window and prepared to open the curtains, but saw Qin Ran downstairs.
“Why is she here?” Wu Yan’s distasteful tone was quite unfriendly, with a stinging hostility.
This new campus belle had a good reputation with boys, but the girls had been gossiping about her, especially because she had been kicked out of school for a year because of fighting.
The babyfaced girl glanced over and saw Qiao Sheng chasing Qin Ran, and her fingers squeezed unconsciously. “Why is Qiao Sheng playing with her?”
“Well, Qiao Sheng is mocking her.” Wu Yan gloated. “You know, she sent her English paper today and scored zero. She’s even the campus belle. Qin Yu, you got 117, it’s so much higher than her score.”
Qin Yu was originally unhappy because of that violin score.
When she heard what Wu Yan said, she was inexplicably in a good mood. She smiled a little. “Okay, why are you guys comparing that. There’s nothing to compare.”
**
Downstairs.
Qin Ran wanted to continue to listen, but the music voice had stopped, making her uncertain.
Coincidentally, Qiao Sheng and Xu Yaoguang had come down. She thought about it and went on to the classroom.
Qiao Sheng chased and mocked her.
Qin Ran lowered her peaked cap, took the headset out of her pocket and put it on herself in a cool fashion.
Qiao Sheng leaned closer to her, amplified his voice, and continued to taunt her.
Qin Ran reached out and pressed the headset. She tilted her head, then stretched out a thin white finger to make a “shut up” gesture.
Her pair of cold eyes stared at Qiao Sheng.
Qiao Sheng: “...”
He stepped back silently.
Qin Ran continued lazily to the teaching building.
In the classroom, Qiao Sheng pulled out Qin Ran’s test paper from the book and handed it to her.
Leaning on the table in front of Qin Ran and chatting with Lin Siran, Qin Ran usually ignored him.
She sat down while eaning halfway against the wall, taking her extracurricular books from the table with one hand, and a lollipop on her other hand.
Throwing the book to the table, she slowly peeled off the sugar paper and put it into her mouth.
She continued leaning against the wall and lazily flipping through the book. Her side eyebrows were raised deliberately.
“Aren’t you childish, eating candy?” Qiao Sheng couldn’t hold back.
Qin Ran turned another page casually. Maybe she was in a good mood, so she wasn’t as closed and cold as before. She said slowly, “What’s it to you? Get lost.”
Qiao Sheng touched his nose. He sat back at his seat, laid on the table, thought about it, and poked at Xu Yaoguang who was doing the exercises. “Young Master Xu, do you want to go to the store after class?”
Xu Yaoguang was indifferent, but he was willing to do it for his brother and thought that Qiao Sheng was probably hungry. “Yeah.”
**
In the evening, Qin Ran continued to go to the school medical office.
This time, Lu Zhaoying was somewhat normal.
He had a patient, so Qin Ran ignored him and went to the kitchen to cook today’s dinner.
When she came out, Lu Zhaoying was on a phone call outside.
As Qin Ran took a paper towel from the table and wiped her hands, her eyes fell on the assortment of medicine cabinets. There were a lot more medicines than when she had first seen them and didn’t seem like a normal store.
She didn’t care that there were several more medicines, and her eyes only fell on the sleeping pills.
Cheng Juan was looking at the computer. Seeing this, he didn’t think much about it. He came over with the key to the medicine cabinet.
He reached out to open the door of the medicine cabinet, leaned slightly to the side, and put his fingers on the sleeping pills. His fingers were long and casual. “Did you finish the sleeping pills?”
He had a very slow voice. It sounded lazy and slow and made her relax.
“Yeah.” Qin Ran nodded directly.
Cheng Juan lowered his head again and counted ten pills seriously.
Then, he went to get a paper bag.
The medicine cabinet was just right behind Lu Zhaoying’s desk so that he could reach it with a kick.
Cheng Juan reached over Qin Ran to get the bag.
Qin Ran only smelled a mild mint flavor. It was warm and calm, making her want to be close.
A warm breath fell to her side and it burned a little.
Qin Ran calmly took a step back.
Cheng Juan was thinking about the pile of data and didn’t think anything was wrong.
They were very close.
He fetched the paper bag and turned to the side.
He put the medicine in the bag and didn’t dare look more, but the glaring hot scene replayed in his mind.
She wasn’t wearing a school uniform, only wearing a white shirt. Her neckline was a little crooked, and her collarbone was faintly exposed.
On that shoulder, a red tattoo revealed the tip of the iceberg.
This red color lined her skin and made it seem even whiter, colliding with her strong sense of brightness and beauty.
He didn’t know who had tattooed her.
“Done.” Cheng Juan didn’t glance over. He handed the folded medicine bag to Qin Ran and couldn’t help but say when he saw her happy expression, “Don’t eat too many.”
“Thank you.” Qin Ran took it.
Lu Zhaoying, who had gone out to answer the call, came back and hurriedly said, “Master Juan, is your computer ready?”
“Nearly.” Cheng Juan threw the computer to Lu Zhaoying and wasn’t very patient. “Look at it yourself.”
“Damn it, they’re urging us.” Lu Zhaoying looked at the computer page that still had a large number of strange numbers. “OK, I’ll go ask Elder Xu. There aren’t many technical people here.”
He left with the computer.
Qin Ran took her coat and was going to leave, but when she saw how anxious Lu Zhaoying was, she stopped, turned back and said, “Actually...”