1987 My Era

Chapter 597, It Has No Taste

Wu Yili nodded with a smile, then asked with concern, "Did you call home?"

Zhou Shihe replied, "Not yet."

She had originally planned to call home, but a series of events threw her into a panic, causing her to delay the call.

Actually, her purpose in giving him a blank sheet of paper was very simple: to reject him! To reject his feelings.

But this person stared at the blank paper for a long time, probably coming up with a lot of ideas. But she was too lazy to point them out.

Wu Yili said, "Go home and let them know you're safe. Your mother has already called the concert venue."

"Ah."

Zhou Shihe hummed in agreement, picked up the landline phone on the bedside table, and began to dial the number skillfully.

A moment later, the call connected, and a voice came from the other end: "Hello."

“Mom, it’s me,” Zhou Shihe said.

Seeing that the mother and daughter had made contact by phone, Wu Yili went to the living room to clear the space.

Zhou's mother asked, "How are you feeling in Singapore?"

To be honest, Zhou Shihe felt a mix of emotions, but she was the type to only report good news and not bad. So she said, "It's all good, Mom, don't worry."

Zhou's mother said, "You haven't called for so long, I thought something had happened to you. Are you with Li Heng?"

Zhou Shihe said, "Yes."

Zhou's mother asked, "I heard from Teacher Wu that Yu Shuheng hasn't arrived yet?"

Zhou Shihe said, "Teacher Yu has something to do, but she'll come over tomorrow."

At this point, the phone suddenly went silent.

After a long pause, Zhou's mother said, "If I had known it would be like this, I should have put aside what I was doing and gone to Singapore with you."

Some things are immediately clear.

Even though Zhou's mother didn't explicitly mention Li Heng, Zhou Shihe could tell that her mother wasn't entirely at ease with him.

However, Zhou's mother was a civilized person and would not name names before having any concrete evidence.

Of course, in the past, Zhou's mother would not have brought up this issue.

However, in the previous phone call with Wu Yili, Teacher Wu kept praising Li Heng and even expressed her intention to match her beloved student with Li Heng, subtly seeking Zhou's mother's opinion.
Wu Yili's words made Zhou's mother fall into deep thought. In principle, she was rather opposed to this matchmaking arrangement because she knew that Yu Shuheng and Li Heng, the teacher and student, had a secret relationship. Furthermore, Li Heng also had a girlfriend, Xiao Han, and a close female friend, Mai Sui.

These are all women who are out in the open.

Meanwhile, Wu Yili's veiled inquiry forced Zhou's mother to consider the worst-case scenario: Had her daughter developed feelings for Li Heng? Did Teacher Wu sense something before suggesting matchmaking?

Therefore, her words just now were less of a suggestion to Li Heng and more of a test for her daughter.

She was trying to find out if her daughter had any romantic relationship with Li Heng.
As intelligent as Zhou Shihe was, she understood her mother's worries perfectly well. She said, "If Mom wants to come to the concert, it's not too late."

Zhou Shihe didn't mention Li Heng in her words, but she was open and honest, implying that her mother could come and check on her anytime.

As expected, this statement had a great effect, and Zhou's mother's doubts were completely dispelled. It seems that Teacher Wu simply thought highly of Li Heng, which is why she wanted to match Li Heng and her daughter together.

To be fair, in Zhou's mother's eyes, Li Heng was indeed exceptionally talented, so much so that one could overlook his humble origins in a remote rural village. However, this young man was no pushover; he was quite the troublemaker.

In just a year and a half since arriving in Shanghai, he had hooked up with several women, including his university professor, Yu Shuheng.

This is not a good impression in some ways, and it significantly reduces the positive impression.

Finally, Zhou's mother asked out of curiosity, "What is Li Heng doing?"

Zhou Shihe was unsure, because she had entered the room much earlier, while someone else was still pondering over a blank sheet of paper on the sofa.

Zhou Shihe said, "One should write in the study."

Zhou's mother was slightly surprised: "So hardworking? You didn't even think about going out for a stroll while you were in Singapore?"

Zhou Shihe said, "He's always been quite diligent. Hmm... he might also be waiting for Teacher Yu."

Zhou's mother fully trusted her daughter and didn't bring up the matter again. She hung up the phone after chatting with her daughter for more than ten minutes.

After ending the call, Zhou Shihe left the room.

Wu Yili glanced at her watch and said to her beloved student, "It's lunchtime. Let's invite Li Heng to go out for dinner together."

Zhou Shihe hesitated: "It might interrupt his writing."

Upon hearing this, Wu Yili said, "Then wait a little longer, call him again in an hour. I still need to take you to the concert venue tonight to familiarize you with the situation."

Zhou Shihe agreed.

While waiting, the teacher and student discussed piano playing techniques.

An hour later, under the teacher's watchful eye, Zhou Shihe slowly got up and went to Li Heng's door, knocking on it.

"Boom boom boom!"

"Boom boom boom!"

...

At this time, Li Heng was writing, specifically the latter part of Chapter 27 of "Dust Settles Down":

Two servants came up to me, one on my left and one on my right, and squatted down beside me. I sat on their shoulders and slowly walked back to our camp.

...

Just as he was getting into the swing of writing, there was a sudden knock on the door. Li Heng ignored it, continuing to concentrate on his writing as if he hadn't heard it.

After knocking twice and seeing no response from inside, Zhou Shihe decisively gave up knocking.

After about ten minutes, Li Heng finished writing the last paragraph of chapter 27, rubbed his sore wrist, put down his pen, and opened the door.

I spotted Zhou Shihe in the living room right away. She was looking out the window at the horizon.

His gaze lingered on her retreating figure for a while before he sighed silently and asked, "Where's Teacher Wu? Hasn't she returned yet?"

Hearing the voice, Zhou Shihe turned halfway around and said gently, "Seeing that you're busy, the teacher went to order food and asked the hotel to send the food to the room."

Li Heng felt ashamed; he had promised to come and add to the fun, but he had become engrossed in writing.

After the question and answer, the two seemed to run out of things to say and fell silent.

Their eyes met, and her gaze, unlike in the afternoon, met his directly. Neither of them spoke a word, yet their understanding was profound.

After a while, he stretched, came out of the room and stood in front of her, shamelessly asking in a low voice, "Do you think I overthought things this afternoon? Was that blank sheet of paper because you didn't know what to write on it?"

Before she could reply, he added, "Tell me the answer, my head is throbbing right now."

Zhou Shihe glanced at him, then turned her back to look out the window again, neither denying nor acknowledging his words.

Looking at her, Li Heng suddenly asked tentatively, "Why don't you give the note back to me?"

Zhou Shihe agreed and walked straight to her room without any hesitation.

Seeing this, Li Heng could only try to salvage the situation, saying, "Never mind, you can keep it. They probably know exactly what kind of person I am. Sigh..."

He was giving her a heads-up, telling her not to think about using that note to deal with "them," it wouldn't be of much use.

Zhou Shihe looked down at her toes, stopped walking, and then silently turned her gaze to the window, treating him as if he were invisible.

Without any communication, the living room was deathly silent until Wu Yili returned and broke the deadlock.

As Wu Yili entered, she asked him, "Did I disturb your writing?"

"That's right," Li Heng denied, "but since things have come to this, I just finished writing it." Wu Yili smiled and said, "Let's eat first. While we still have time, I'll take you to the concert venue later to familiarize you with the situation. You'll officially debut tomorrow."

"Okay, sure," Li Heng replied.

Dinner was as lavish as ever, but Li Heng, who was not paying attention, ate it without any interest, just filling his stomach as a last resort.

Wu Yili noticed that something was wrong with him. "Li Heng, you seem to be in poor condition. Is something wrong with your body?"

Zhou Shihe sipped her fruit juice, secretly pricking up her ears.

Li Heng shook his head apologetically: "I haven't come out of the world of the book yet, I'm still thinking about writing. I'm sorry to have worried you, teacher."

Hearing this, Wu Yili felt much relieved.

After dinner, the three of them went to the concert venue.

Wu Yili was very patient, telling him what to do tomorrow, when to appear on stage, when to leave, and how to deal with the celebrities in the audience.
Since it was the first time for the two of them to go abroad, Wu Yili explained everything in detail and then had them rehearse and perform on stage before the performance.

The piano and erhu were ready, and the two of them just needed to practice.

Wu Yili sat in the middle of the audience, watching the two on stage and the perfect performance of the piano and erhu. She was completely absorbed, but secretly lamented that she had wanted to bring them together, but Zhou's mother hadn't given her consent, and Shihe herself wasn't willing either. She had no choice but to give up.

After rehearsing twice, Zhou Shihe and Li Heng stopped, looked at Wu Yili, and waited for her evaluation.

Wu Yili walked onto the stage and said to the two, "Very good, even better than I expected. There's just one thing: you two lacked interaction."

interactive?

Li Heng and Zhou Shihe knew perfectly well why.
Wu Yili said, "I have watched your Spring Festival Gala videotapes repeatedly. Your interaction back then was great. I hope you can continue that style and performance."

Li Heng couldn't help but look at Zhou Shihe.

Zhou Shihe felt something and looked up at him.

Wu Yili clapped her hands and said with a kind smile, "Hey, that's how it should be, so in sync. Shihe, your gaze could be a little softer."

Zhou Shihe quietly said, "Okay."

After leaving the concert venue, because it was too late, the three of them did not go out for a stroll, but went straight back to the hotel.

That night, Li Heng stayed in his room meticulously revising Chapter 27, only stopping to rest in the early hours of the morning.

In the bedroom across the hall, Wu Yili asked her apprentice, "Shihe, can't you sleep?"

Zhou Shihe nodded.

Wu Yili asked, "Are you unfamiliar with your bed?"

Zhou Shihe rolled over and said yes.

Wu Yili asked, "How about I watch TV with you for a while?"

Zhou Shihe said calmly, "I have a lot to do tomorrow, teacher, you should go to sleep first, I'm fine."

Later, after a busy day and due to her advancing age, Wu Yili slowly fell asleep.

Listening to the even breathing, Zhou Shihe did not disturb the teacher, but quietly got up and went to the living room, where she sat on the sofa in the dark, lost in thought.

In the darkness, she could almost hear the old record player playing "Night Shanghai," and she could almost see herself and him dancing ballroom dance in the middle of the living room.

Then, it was as if she could see him passionately kissing her...
"Snap," a sound.

The living room lights suddenly turned on, the bright light interrupting Zhou Shihe's endless reverie. She subconsciously squinted, and only opened her eyes again two seconds later, turning her head slightly to look over.

It was Li Heng who turned on the light; he had gotten up in the middle of the night to get a drink of water.

Looking at each other from a distance, he was quite surprised, and after a while asked with concern, "Can't you sleep?"

Zhou Shihe's small red lips twitched slightly, and she uttered in a soft voice, "Not really sleepy."

After staring at each other for a while, Li Heng couldn't help but recall what happened in the capital, and asked, "Were you having a nightmare?"

“No, the teacher sleeps with me,” she said.

Well, now that he's said this, he's starting to realize that what happened that afternoon must have been too much of a shock for her, causing her to have insomnia.

He felt a little guilty, and after thinking for a moment, he said, "Chapter 27 of 'Dust Settles' has already been revised twice, and the third revision hasn't been completed yet. If you don't mind, would you like to take a look?"

He's extending an olive branch.

He understood that if he didn't bring it up himself, the girl probably wouldn't ask him for manuscripts to read again.

Zhou Shihe hesitated for a moment, then agreed.

Back in the room, Li Heng took out a stack of handwritten manuscripts from his bag and handed them to her. Then, without disturbing her any longer, he went to get some water.

Zhou Shihe silently watched his back for a while, then opened the manuscript and began to read it carefully.

For her, reading and music are like spiritual medicine, curing many of her physical ailments.

Sure enough, in less than 3 minutes, she was completely immersed in the world of the book and couldn't tear herself away.

Li Heng poured her a glass of coffee and placed it on the coffee table before returning to his room and falling fast asleep.

In about 20 minutes, Zhou Shihe finished reading, going over it twice. Then she looked up and saw a glass of water in front of her.

She sat quietly in front of the coffee table, lost in thought for a long time. Finally, she couldn't help but reach out and take the cup, slowly turning it halfway around before holding it in her palm and taking a small sip.

She thought it didn't have any particular flavor.

After thinking it over, she put the cup back where it was, got up and went back to her room.

The manuscript was quite valuable, so I brought it back to my room.

She slept soundly in the latter half of the night, and didn't wake up until dawn.

The next day, when Li Heng came out of the bedroom, Wu Yili and Zhou Shihe were gone, leaving only a note on the coffee table.

The note read: The manuscript is in my bag in my bedroom. I'm accompanying my teacher to visit a friend, and I'll be back before 9 o'clock.

Before 9 o'clock?

Li Heng raised his left wrist to check; it was 8:42.
18 minutes left.

It seems this master and apprentice passed away quite early.

Besides the note, there were four or five kinds of breakfast pastries on the coffee table.

Li Heng ate a few bites of food casually, and then took advantage of the break to make a phone call. The first call he made was to Xiao Han.

However, I couldn't get through after two attempts.

Is my cunning wife away visiting relatives for the New Year? Is she not home?

That's very possible.

He made his second call to Song Yu.

The call went through this time, but Grandma Song answered and told him that Song Yu and her cousins ​​had gone to the county town to get photographic tape and would be back later, and asked him to call back later.

Was this arranged by God on purpose? What a coincidence!
They're all not home, hiding from me, he thought, and made the third call to Shaodong. "Our Mai Sui is the most obedient one, she'll definitely answer the phone, right?"

"Happy New Year, who is this?"

Sure enough, it was Mai Sui's voice on the other end of the phone. Li Heng was very happy: "Mai Sui, Happy New Year!"

Ps:

(End of this chapter)