You're dumping me, huh? Fine, then I'll just pick up the school beauty and make her my wif

That evening, when she got home, Su Qinghe curled up on the sofa and spent a whole hour browsing her music library on her phone.

He flipped through Chopin to Liszt, from pop to classical, and finally chose a piece that surprised Jiang Che.

Joe Hisaishi's "That Summer".

It's an insert song from "Spirited Away".

"Why did you choose this song?" Jiang Che turned to look at her after seeing the song title.

Su Qinghe sat on the sofa with her knees drawn up to her chest, her chin resting on her knees. She stared at the sheet music on her phone screen for a while before speaking.

"Because this was my favorite song when I was a child."

"My first piano teacher taught me from the basics until I could play complete pieces fluently. She was a really nice and meticulous person, and I liked her very much."

Su Qinghe spoke softly, her eyes gradually turning sorrowful as she reminisced. "Later she left, and the Su family changed my piano teacher, so I never played this piece again."

Jiang Che didn't say anything, but reached out and pulled her into his arms.

Su Qinghe leaned against his chest for a while, then raised her head and looked at Jiang Che with a firm gaze.

"So I wanted to play this not for the two or three thousand people in the audience, but to play it for myself and for her."

"Let her see that the little girl who couldn't even reach the piano bench back then can now perform on a big stage."

Jiang Che kissed her forehead. "Okay, then play this. When you're done, have Uncle Liu record it for you. We can play it at home often from now on."

Su Qinghe gave a muffled "hmm" in his arms.

That evening, Liu Anping sent someone to deliver the piano to the villa.

The moving company delivered the piano to an empty guest room on the second floor. Su Qinghe stood by and supervised the entire process, her tone more serious than during military training as she directed them to adjust the position.

"Move it a little to the left, yes, right, this is the spot." She gestured the distance between the wall and the piano. "If it's too close to the wall, the sound will be muffled. Leaving about 20 centimeters is just right."

Jiang Che leaned against the study doorframe watching her busy herself, holding a glass of milk in his hand. After watching for a while, he lazily spoke up: "Teacher Su, would you like to get a measuring tape to take another measurement?"

Su Qinghe turned around and glared at him.

After the movers left, Su Qinghe sat down in front of the piano, opened the lid, and pressed a few notes with her fingers.

The clear and crisp sound of the zither echoed throughout the study.

Su Qinghe closed her eyes and pressed a few more notes, her expression one of pure bliss.

It's like tasting a dish you haven't had in a long time.

"The pitch is quite accurate." She opened her eyes and nodded in satisfaction, then looked at Jiang Che and asked, "Did you have the sound engineer tune it beforehand?"

"Yes, I had two different sound engineers tune it twice before sending it, so there's definitely no mistake."

Jiang Che walked over and sat down on the chair next to her, looking at her encouragingly, "Want to try it?"

"it is good."

Su Qinghe took a deep breath and placed her hands back on the piano keys.

The opening is an extremely gentle introduction.

The left hand slowly unfolds chords in the bass register, while the right hand's melody line is like a transparent thread, gradually being pulled out from the surface of the keys.

In the first few measures, her fingering was a bit sluggish, and she would occasionally pause for half a beat when changing fingers, and the rhythm was not even.

After all, it had been too long since I had played the piano, and my muscle memory hadn't fully returned.

But Su Qinghe did not stop.

She closed her eyes, letting her fingers find those places that were already etched into her bones.

Once, twice, three times.

By the fourth time, most of the rough edges had been smoothed away.

The melody began to flow smoothly and coherently, and the transitions between notes no longer felt abrupt or disjointed.

Her breathing slowed down, and she gradually became immersed in the music.

The fingertips traced a smooth, flowing path on the piano keys, and the main melody in the high register was as clean as a summer afternoon breeze blowing in through the gap in the curtains, carrying the warmth of the sun after it had been warmed.

Many images flashed through Su Qinghe's mind.

When she was little, she couldn't reach the pedals while sitting on the piano bench, so her teacher put a wooden board on top of the pedals so that her feet could reach them.

What was that teacher's last name again?

His surname is Xie.

Thank you, Teacher Xie.

Teacher Xie always wore a plain cotton dress, spoke slowly, and never scolded her.

She played the wrong note, so Teacher Xie gently lifted her finger and placed it back on the correct key, then said, "It's okay, try again."

Again.

Su Qinghe pressed a long note on the piano keys, the lingering resonance echoing in the room.

She didn't open her eyes, but the corners of her mouth curved slightly.

Teacher Xie, did you see that?

That little girl who couldn't even climb onto the piano bench can now sit in front of this huge piano and play the first piece you taught me perfectly.

As the melody progresses to the middle section, the emotions begin to fluctuate.

Su Qinghe's left-hand chords changed from simple triads to progressions with suspensions, and the resonance in the low register surged up like a tide, supporting the high-pitched melody of her right hand to spread to a wider area.

Her entire demeanor was completely different from five minutes ago.

Keep your back straight, relax your shoulders, and use precise yet flexible wrist movements.

The way the fingers fly across the black and white keys has a natural elegance, like a butterfly flitting among flowers, with each flap of its wings just right.

Su Qinghe was completely immersed in her own world.

She didn't notice that the chair behind her was empty.

As the melody progresses to the climax of the chorus, the continuous octave leaps in the right hand elevate the emotion of the entire piece to a remarkably high level.

The sound of the piano echoed in the room, full and clear.

Just as Su Qinghe's fingertips fell on the last high note—

The sound of a violin drifted over from not far away.

The bow brushed against the strings, producing a long, drawn-out note.

Her voice was warm and deep, with a slight vibrato, as if someone was waving to her from a distance.

Su Qinghe paused for a moment, then suddenly opened her eyes.

She looked in the direction of the sound.

Jiang Che was standing at the door of the room at some point.

He held a violin on his shoulder with his left hand, and a bow in his right hand, the bow resting on the string, ready to be played.

At this moment, Jiang Che was still wearing pajamas, and his hair was loosely hanging over his forehead, making him look casual and unkempt.

However, the melody he played was anything but perfunctory.

The secondary melody of "That Summer" slowly begins to play.

The sound of the violin grows from beneath the main melody of the piano, neither overshadowing nor subservient.

The two melodic lines meet like two rivers at a certain confluence point, each maintaining its own flow and direction, yet creating a wonderful harmonic effect at the moment of merging.