Chapter 10

Chapter 10

I wasn’t in a very good mood.

This lasted all the way until we got out of the car.

Dad specifically asked if my uncle was home. After getting a negative answer, he told us he’d be back to pick us up later and drove off.

I headed upstairs, familiar with the way, and went into the playroom.

Ni Jiajia followed me inside.

Cen Yi was sitting on the rug, reading a book. He didn’t even look up when I entered. It wasn’t until I sat down in front of the building blocks that he scooted over to sit beside me.

Ni Jiajia sat down on the other side of him.

She didn’t stay silent like she had last time. Instead, she took the initiative to strike up a conversation.

“What are you reading?”

Her voice was crisp and sweet, like taking a bite out of a fresh, crunchy peach.

I fiddled with the blocks, holding my breath as I listened to them talk.

“Science,” Cen Yi replied.

Ni Jiajia let out an impressed “Wow.” “Can we read it together?”

“No.”

“…”

She choked on her words for a moment. “Do you play the piano?”

“Yes.”

“I do too!” Ni Jiajia smiled, her eyes curving into crescents. “What grade level have you passed?”

“None.”

“…Oh. Well, do you know how to play Beethoven’s ‘Pathétique’?”

“Yes.”

“That’s great! I do too. Why don’t we try playing it together?”

I stole a glance at them.

Ni Jiajia was blinking at him, her eyelashes fluttering. she looked delicate and adorable.

I couldn’t even read sheet music.

Feeling a bit dejected, I could only pretend I hadn’t heard anything. I held a block in my hand, but I couldn’t bring myself to place it.

“I don’t want to,” he said.

Ni Jiajia’s smile froze.

I guessed she had probably never met someone as eccentric as Cen Yi. Even though he usually spoke to me the same way, I chose to be patient with him. But Ni Jiajia had grown up with everyone smiling at her; meeting Cen Yi was too much of a letdown.

The air grew eerily quiet for a while.

Then, Cen Yi asked, “Do you play the piano?”

“Eh?”

It took me a beat to realize he was talking to me. “No.”

Ni Jiajia seemed to find an opening. “She’s never learned anything, so how could she know? As soon as the holidays start, she’s always out playing, and she’s always procrastinating on her homework.”

“She didn’t do well on her last exam either. She’s just so careless…”

My face flushed red. “Why are you saying all that?”

Ni Jiajia was being weird today. She was looking at Cen Yi, seemingly searching for some kind of resonance-perhaps an opportunity to bash me together.

Cen Yi just gave a noncommittal “Mm” and asked me, “What *can* you do?”

“She can’t do anything!” Ni Jiajia blurted out.

“I can!” I retorted.

Mom had said the same thing that day. I had cried for a long time afterward. My eyes felt dry and itchy, and my head throbbed with a dull ache. I’d had no choice but to comfort myself, so I’d thought about it a lot.

“I can do cat’s cradle. I can make butterflies and stars. And I can tell stories! The lady downstairs asked me to watch her little daughter once, and I told eight or nine stories in one go. I can also…”

I grew more confident as I spoke.

Ni Jiajia let out a scoffing laugh.

I glared at her. Just as she was about to speak, Cen Yi cut in.

“That’s amazing,” Cen Yi said. “I don’t know how to do any of those things.”