Translator: Ryn
In the last few days before the performance, the two of them spent most of their spare time in the piano room, often practicing six or seven hours each day.
Under such circumstances, Ling Ke and Qi Feng’s familiarity and tacit understanding had improved by leaps and bounds. Just by looking at each other’s gestures, or with just a single glance, they were able to perceive and understand the other’s thoughts.
Naturally, this was with the exception of their own inner thoughts and feelings — this was a restricted zone that Ling Ke would never allow the other to enter.
As a “straight man”, no matter how he fantasised the other in his mind, there was a line he couldn’t cross no matter what.
On this day, in the piano room, the two tried focusing on the parts where they often made mistakes on.
After practicing over and over again, there was still a section where the rhythm just didn’t sound right.
“It’s the 8th bar,” Qi Feng had asked for Ling Ke to play once again on his own, and finally caught the slip in rhythm. “Yes, it’s this part, play it again… From this point onwards, in every four beats, your third and fourth notes are a bit too conjoined.”
Ling Ke frowned and tried a few more times. He did not expect for the problem to lie within himself. While he had played the piano for so many years, he had never noticed he had rhythm issues whilst playing short arpeggios.
“It’s still a bit off…” Qi Feng shook his head, got up and walked around the bench. He didn’t sit down, but instead stood directly behind Ling Ke. He bent over slightly, opened his arms, and used the sort of posture that seemed as if he was going to lock the other in his embrace, and reached towards the piano keys, “Listen, it’s like this.”
Ling Ke: “…”
Whenever the two of them practiced within the narrow space of the piano room, it was inevitable for them to touch or bump into one another. Ling Ke had long gotten used to this. If his heart continued to drum and pace every time they had skin contact, he would’ve already long suffered from a heart attack.
But such an intimate position, this was the first time within these last two weeks.
Qi Feng had him enclosed from behind. With Qi Feng’s every breath pressed against his scalp and drifting towards his neck, like a net, they had captured and overwhelmed him.
“Do you hear the difference?” Qi Feng asked beside his ear.
“En…” Ling Ke felt his voice fluttery and distant, as if he wasn’t the one who spoke.
“Try playing it again for me.” Qi Feng said.
Ling Ke raised his hand to the same position and played once more, before his hand was captured and covered by Qi Feng’s. Their two palms piled atop one another, pinky against pinky, ring finger against ring finger……
Qi Feng briefly tapped against his last two fingers and said: “I got it. The length of your ring finger is short compared to the others, and with your last two fingers lacking in strength, you spend less time on the keys played by those two fingers.”
“……” Ling Ke only felt that if Qi Feng doesn’t move away soon, all the bones in his body would soon melt ah!
“Ai, this should be a personal habit. It can’t be changed within such a short period, so we’ll just leave it ba.” Qi Feng finally withdrew from his back.
Ling Ke released his breath and quickly placed his hands on the side of the bench to steady himself.
Seeing this, Qi Feng thought he was unhappy, and moved close towards him once more. This time, he positioned himself at Ling Ke’s right, pasting himself near the other’s cheek, closely observing Ling Ke’s minute expressions.
“You…what are you looking at?” Ling Ke looked in askance, not even daring to turn his head.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Hl Mfcu rjlv rboais: “P jw cba yijwlcu sbe, rb vbc’a ufa eqrfa.”
“……P jw cba eqrfa.” Olcu Bf’r tfjga pewqfv klivis, tlr vfofcmfr mgewyilcu ys atf rfmbcv.
Qi Feng smiled, then suddenly wrapped his arms around Ling Ke and hugged him: “加油.”
Ling Ke was so scared to the point where his entire body was about to shrink into a ball, his mind filled only with a single “F**k!”.
Fortunately, it was only a short hug before Qi Feng freed him, if not Ling Ke would have died there and then.
***
***
The Freshmen Welcoming Party was held on Saturday. In order to reserve energy for the actual performance, they only practiced twice the day before.
In the afternoon the following day, the Head of Arts and Literature Department had called and asked them to head towards the auditorium for a final rehearsal.
They were not required to perform during the rehearsal; they just needed to run through the programs of the event and understand the order in which they had to appear, the position of the piano and the approximate duration of their performance.
“By the way, are you sure you’ll prepare your own performance attires?” The Head of Arts and Literature Department had previously spoken to them about their costumes in advance, saying that if they didn’t have one, the student union could arrange for them to borrow one, however those borrowed clothes may or may not be well-fitted.
After learning about this, Qi Feng had decided to prepare his own. Ling Ke did not have any and had originally intended to ask the student union to make arrangements to borrow one, however Qi Feng had unexpectedly expressed that he had clothes suitable for Ling Ke to wear.
“En, they’ve already been prepared.” Yesterday, Qi Feng had already contacted his family to send the costumes over; a set of black and a set of white, swallow-tailed tuxedos in the same style.
Among the two sets of tuxedos, the black one was slightly smaller in size. They were previously worn by Qi Feng when he was not as tall before, and had only been used a few times. Hence, it was still relatively new and could temporarily be loaned to Ling Ke.
After the rehearsal, the two rushed to eat dinner, and then went back to the dorm to fetch their performance attires before returning to the backstage of the auditorium to prepare for their performance.
At this time, the backstage was swarmed by beauties and handsome men who were about to perform on stage. Most of them were girls, and they were all selected from the best, each with good figures and good-looking faces. Some were to sing and some were to dance, and they were all bustling around changing clothes and putting on make-up.
Seeing that Qi Feng and Ling Ke had arrived, the girls couldn’t help but stare in infatuation. After a little probing, they found Qi Feng’s character easy-going, and hence each requested to have photos taken with him.
Qi Feng looked as if he couldn’t refuse anyone. As a result, the one-to-one paired photos slowly turned into group photos, with Qi Feng standing in the centre, surrounded by a group of beauties on his left and right. It was difficult for him to not seem rakish and loose ah!
Ling Ke looked on with the cool eye of a bystander. He finally understood how Qi Feng’s reputation of being a “player” came to be.
— Keep f*cking pretending ba, you damn straight guy. Even if you’re a virgin and haven’t even had your first kiss yet, anyhow you still wouldn’t look any more like a man with integrity!
However, amongst the bustling crowd, Ling Ke unexpectedly spotted a delicate and pretty-looking girl who had turned a blind eye to Qi Feng, and was huddling in one corner playing a mobile game.
“Ya, GuYao! Why are you still playing “Carrot Fantasy”?” Another girl came to her after taking a photo, and excitedly showed her the photo on her mobile phone, “Look! My photo with the campus idol!”
“Ah–! My carrot!” Most likely she had lost the game. The girl named Gu Yao uttered a dejected cry, then spared an indifferent glance towards her friend’s phone, and expressionlessly gave an “Oh” sound.
“What “Oh”, don’t you think he’s handsome?” the girl asked, dissatisfied.
“Ai ya, I am immune to handsome guys, so let it be ba.” Gu Yao waved her hand and continued playing her game.
“Why are you immune?” her friend continued to ask.
“I have a brother who is also very handsome. The godly level kind of handsome who is envied by all, and has countless pursuers since childhood…” Gu Yao replied absent-mindedly whilst playing her game, “but, let me tell you ah, these kind of people, they are all brutes with a good-looking outer appearance, and does all kinds of bad things in private.”
“Brutes?” Her friend’s eyes lit up. “How much of a brute?”
Gu Yao: “…”
Ling Ke: “…”
Halfway through overhearing the girls’ conversation, Qi Feng returned.
“God, the girls are so enthusiastic…” a certain person complained, seemingly distressed. However, in Ling Ke’s opinion, he seemed to have gotten it cheap and was now flaunting it.
Ling Ke turned around and walked into the men’s changing room. He coldly threw in a remark: “You seemed as if you were enjoying it though?”
Qi Feng followed him in, closed the door, and asked innocently: “How was I enjoying it?”
Ling Ke looked at Qi Feng’s “godly level handsome” face, and immediately felt a bit annoyed. On an impulse, he reached out and pinched the other’s cheek.
Qi Feng: “…”
When Ling Ke saw the Qi Feng who was being pinched on one side of his cheeks, foolishly standing in place with a blank look on his face, he himself zoned out. For a moment, he forgot what he was going to say. He wanted to say that Qi Feng had laughed quite happily earlier, but the other’s current appearance was just too cute ah! With a “pfft” sound, he couldn’t help himself from laughing and immediately let go off his hands.
Qi Feng rubbed at his slightly sore cheek, seemingly sullen and depressed.
This “pfft” sound of Ling Ke’s had reminded him of the “pfft” sound that Ling Ke previously made after his declaration of “haven’t had my first kiss yet”. But compared to the last time, if his previous laugh was considered a secret snicker, then this laugh was definitely an open and brazen laugh!
Qi Feng chased Ling Ke around the room a few times, before finally cornering the other, and asked with narrowed eyes, “What’re you laughing at?”
Ling Ke had nowhere to hide. He could only cover the curve of his lips with the back of his hand. Nevertheless the crescent shape of his eyes still revealed his mirth.
Qi Feng’s heart tingled and itched. Feeling flustered and exasperated, he reached out and pinched Ling Ke’s waist.
Ling Ke was extremely ticklish. With Qi Feng’s this one pinch, his entire body quivered, and he almost jumped up.
In reflex, he swiftly returned the pinch on Qi Feng’s waist, unintentionally feeling the touch of Qi Feng’s sturdy abdominal muscles. This was practically a double injury strike ah! – The evils we bring upon ourselves are the hardest to bear. He almost wanted to throw his hands up to surrender himself.
However, Qi Feng was provoked by Ling Ke’s return pinch and instantly became fired up.
He immediately pounced on Ling Ke, held him down and in a fit, issued a string of counterattacks.
“What’s so funny huh? Talk! Still dare to laugh at me?”
“Ah…haha… let go…f*ck…”
While the two scuffled about, the door was suddenly pushed open. Two tall boys walked into the room, laughing and chatting at the same time. However, when they saw Qi Feng pressing himself against Ling Ke on the dressing table, they paused abruptly.
Qi Feng and Ling Ke also reacted in an instant, and immediately stopped their antics.
The four of them stood still in a deadlock, the smiles they had yet put away were filled with awkwardness.
Ling Ke was the first to react. He pushed Qi Feng away, straightened up and resumed his usual indifferent facial expression.
Before the other two had a chance to speak, Qi Feng greeted them first, as naturally a way as possible : “Hi…”
The four of them exchanged greetings. Only now did Qi Feng and Ling Ke realise that the two people who came in were also very good-looking, especially the one with a stud piercing on his left ear. He had a pair of phoenix eyes and a straight nose. “I know you,” He smiled at Qi Feng, lightly opened his pale, thin lips and said, “The new campus idol? You’re Qi Feng ba?”
Qi Feng was taken aback. To be honest, he wouldn’t be surprised if he was recognised by a girl, but boys, on the other hand, seldom paid attention to these kind of details. This person in front of him was definitely the first.
The man’s companion seemed to have guessed his thoughts; he pointed his thumb towards the guy with the earring stud and introduced: “This guy here is your predecessor.”
…… Liang Ruixi?
The name flashed across Qi Feng’s mind as he shook hands with the other party.
Regardless of whether he was his predecessor or not, the man was still his senior, thus Qi Feng respectfully responded, “Greetings to senior.”
The other smiled and said: “Don’t be so formal, just call me Liang Ruixi.”
Afterwards, Ling Ke and Liang Ruixi’s companion also made their own introductions. Ling Ke had wondered if the other person was Zhou Yan, and the other party confirmed his conjecture.
Zhou Yan himself previously had indirect contact with Qi Feng, thus he straightforwardly said: “I’ve heard Xiao Zhi mention you before.”
Qi Feng nodded. As if wanting to clarify some things, in front of Ling Ke, he asked Zhou Yan: “The last time I had dinner with Department Head Xiao, she had also mentioned this to you ba?”
Zhou Yan was stunned, and said in a daze, “Xiao Zhi had dinner with you? When was this?”
Everyone else: “…”
【A brief interlude】
Ling Ke pinched Qi Feng’s cheeks.
Qi Feng: Wa, Ke Ke is touching my face! No matter how much it hurts, I can still bear it! O_o
Ling Ke: Such smooth skin, feels so good to touch, so soft and so elastic… Wait, wait, why am I pinching his face again?
thanks for the chapter! ugghhh theyre getting cuter and more frustrating every time, i love these two.
:0 SHE DIDNT MENTION IT TO HIM!!!? Wow that’s awkward,,,
BURN!!!! OMG
Aaahhh, they’re SO CUUTEEE!!! I just love these school / campus set novels! Fake Slackers, He is Zhi Li-daren, Reborn with an Old Enemy etc etc…. these are all pure gold!
Thanks for the chapter! 🙂
ajajajajajajajaja
Qi Feng y Ling Ke dandose cosquillas
Is she gu yao from assistant architect??? Gu yu’s sister??? Ah ah ah 😍
It should be! The author of this novel and Assistant Architect are the same!
OMG! After Gu Yao was complaining his brother’s handsomeness, Gu Yu’s name pops to my head. Ahhhh! I just missed GY and ZSY very much.
ikrrr i suddenly feel elated to see gu yao had a cameo role here
Oho~ trouble incoming? :’D
Thx for the ch (ㅅ˘ㅂ˘)
Thank you for the update 😊
I rather they pinch each other’s butt though…
That’s called flirting!!
Thanks for the chapter!
……uh-oh….
Thank you for the chapter!
Big omffff
huh?? is it possible xiao zhi went after zhou yan bc of his fame before qi feng came, and now she wants to be with the new campus idol?