Chang Sicheng soon returned, bringing with him a maintenance teacher.
It was indeed a multimedia malfunction, but the problem was minor, and the repair took less than ten minutes.
“Alright, remember not to click update when shutting down,” the maintenance teacher reminded before leaving.
An Xue reinserted the USB drive and clicked play.
The video was a famous French movie, telling the story of a pair of brothers, where the older brother raised the younger alone after their parents passed away.
In the story, the older brother was always steady, reserved, and taciturn, while the younger brother, once obedient and quiet, suddenly became rebellious during adolescence and constantly clashed with his older brother.
The two brothers went from depending on each other, to confronting each other, and finally to mutual reliance and support. Though the process was full of twists and turns, it was undeniably a warm story.
The scene they chose was precisely the turning point after the brothers experienced a long period of cold war and quarrels, also the most dramatic part of the movie.
By this point in the movie, the characters’ emotions were nearly at the brink. Even just dubbing would not be easy.
An Xue played the video twice.
After the playback ended, she did not let everyone start practicing immediately but handed the floor to Yan Chen and Ye Wenyu.
“Only your lines are left unchecked. Since you’ve just watched the video, you two can try it out and see if you can find the rhythm.”
Ye Wenyu turned his head to seek Yan Chen’s opinion.
Yan Chen nodded, “Alright.”
Since he had no problem, naturally Ye Wenyu also agreed: “Then let’s start.”
The first scene with the older brother was set at night, where he sat alone in the study writing a letter to his younger brother who was already fast asleep.
Thus, the content was both a letter and a monologue.
“Nous avons des âges différents, je suis trop grand que toi, beaucoup de choses vues sont différentes…”
Yan Chen’s voice was undoubtedly pleasant.
Deep but not heavy, low but not hoarse. It seemed he was simply reading the words he saw in the most natural tone, slowing down just slightly, hiding a trace of gentle warmth that was hard to ignore.
Just as Ye Wenyu thought, he really suited this role and had the ability to perform it vividly.
No one spoke or made any small movements. The classroom was so quiet that only Yan Chen’s voice and the gentle piano music drifting in from outside could be heard.
Ye Wenyu listened and could not help but glance sideways at him.
He kept wanting to look at the shape of his lips when they opened and closed, and the curve of his mouth when they moved with his words.
Was it the usual lazy, relaxed look, or was it like the tone now, slow and gentle?
Afraid of being caught, he didn’t dare linger, but after pulling back his gaze for just two seconds, it uncontrollably drifted back.
There was no helping it; Yan Chen’s attraction to him was too great.
After several back-and-forths, he simply gave up struggling and stared intently without looking away.
Otherwise, he feared he wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight.
Perhaps sensing his gaze, after the monologue ended, Yan Chen lifted his eyes to look at him.
“How was it?” Their eyes met as he asked Ye Wenyu.
Ye Wenyu paused, then gave an answer to the problem he hadn’t even paid attention to: “You spoke very well.”
It was very pleasant to listen to, and looked very good.
The older brother’s part ended here, and next was the younger brother’s turn.
Ye Wenyu’s voice was completely different from Yan Chen’s.
If Yan Chen was the lingering resonance of a cello, then Ye Wenyu was the prelude of a violin.
Clear, soothing, carrying the clean air of youth, like crushed fine stones falling onto ice in winter, or like water drops falling into streams as frost melted.
He stood by the window, and from Yan Chen’s angle, the fragmented light through the branches seemed to cast a thin halo over his whole body.
From the wrist, to the back of the hand, to the forehead, to the tip of the nose, even to the hair strands, everything was bathed in a warm hue.
In this unusually quiet afternoon, the light danced and separated him from the others, making everything about him pleasing to the eye, beautiful like a painting.
Yan Chen narrowed his eyes and, inexplicably, suddenly thought of the cat at the entrance of Building Three that night.
Its voice was soft and fluffy whenever it opened its mouth. Whether it was happy or angry, it was always coquettish.
“……Le son de la fonte des flocons de neige, tu m’écouteras?”
After this line, it was Yan Chen’s turn to speak.
Ye Wenyu finished reciting, and naturally someone followed up with the next line by his ear: “Bien sûr.”
So Ye Wenyu continued without pause and without lifting his head, so he was unaware that while he was speaking, Yan Chen’s eyes were always fixed on him the entire time.
The two of them standing together was already a beautiful scene.
A girl in the front row couldn’t help covering her mouth and whispering in awe: “Oh my God, why do I feel… it’s like they’re really talking to each other?”
The boy sitting next to her did not quite understand: “They are reading lines after all.”
“Tsk!” The girl glanced at him: “No wonder you can only match with an old man. You don’t understand, I’m not going to explain to you.”
They spent the whole afternoon in the music classroom, and by the time they left, the sun had hidden behind thick clouds.
Footsteps sounded in a string as everyone left the classroom. Ye Wenyu heard the fragmented piano melody again, which sounded unexpectedly familiar this time.
Wanting to hear it more clearly, he stayed where he was without hurrying to leave.
“Snowdreams, Xue Zhi Meng.”
Ye Wenyu heard a voice and realized that Yan Chen had not left either.
“Really?” he said, “I don’t remember the name.”
Yan Chen did not answer. Instead, he lowered a hand and lifted the piano lid, casually pressing a few nearby keys, playing exactly the small fragment Ye Wenyu had heard earlier.
“This one?” he asked Ye Wenyu.
Ye Wenyu nodded, feeling a bit surprised.
Yan Chen could swim, study management, speak French, perform magic, and now, he could even play the piano.
“I’m not really good at it.” Perhaps seeing through his thoughts, Yan Chen explained, “I just learned it for a while out of boredom.”
But Ye Wenyu felt he was being modest. After all, when he said he “knew a bit” of French, he turned out to be very good at it.
The black and white keys were neatly arranged, looking like a silent invitation.
Ye Wenyu placed his right hand on the keys and tried to recall the sequence he had just heard, pressing them clumsily.
Yan Chen watched, then suddenly said, “Wrong.”
‘… No wonder it sounded off.’ Ye Wenyu felt a little embarrassed.
Just as he was about to withdraw his hand, a warm, dry palm gently covered the back of his hand.
An Xue had forgotten to retrieve her USB drive, so halfway there she had to turn back.
Just as she reached the door, it was as if she was struck by lightning and she quickly dodged to the side.
Did she see it wrong?
Probably not, right?
Really didn’t see wrong?
She fell into self-doubt and couldn’t resist taking another peek.
The music classroom, now empty except for the two of them, was bright and spacious.
Yan Chen had wrapped Ye Wenyu’s hand in his own, guiding him slowly and steadily to play.
The latter held a printed script in one hand, his head lowered, seemingly focused on memorizing the keys they played.
The size difference between their hands was too obvious. Under Yan Chen’s hand, Ye Wenyu’s hand was almost invisible, as if it had been carefully hidden away.
There was no more physical contact beyond that, yet a special and subtle intimacy surrounded them.
An Xue tiptoed back to the corridor. She first sent Ye Wenyu a message to remind him to grab the USB drive, then clicked on Chi Dongting’s avatar:
An Xue: [Here’s a calming pill, open your mouth.]
Chi Dongting: [?]
An Xue: 【Rest assured a million times, Yan Chen would bully anyone but Wenyu.]
Chi Dongting: [Why are you so sure all of a sudden?]
An Xue: [Because I have eyes.]
An Xue: [/wise gaze jpg.]
An Xue: [Do you think someone who does magic tricks to cheer you up and teaches you piano hand-in-hand would bully you?]
–
Chi Dongting noticed that Ye Wenyu’s homework and semester papers had been going extremely smoothly lately.
Although it was already smooth before, recently it was, really, extraordinarily smooth.
“Maybe it’s because of my mood,” was the only answer Ye Wenyu could think of.
Chi Dongting: “Really? Then why have you been in such a good mood lately?”
Ye Wenyu: “…”
Ye Wenyu: “I’ve been getting enough sleep.”
“Huh?” Chi Dongting didn’t get it. “I’ve been getting enough sleep too! I didn’t have classes in the morning these days, so I’ve been sleeping for ten hours!”
Classmate Xiao Chi couldn’t figure it out, so he just changed into a new pair of shorts and went downstairs for a late lunch.
After finishing the last bit of homework, Ye Wenyu opened his phone, scrolled one more page through his Moments, only to find that Yan Chen had posted a status on Saturday night.
It was still just one picture, but it seemed a little different from his previous ones.
It was a shot of the view outside a window in the afternoon.
The glass; the windowsill; the sunlight; the treetops…all elements filled the picture with quiet warmth.
At first glance, Ye Wenyu felt it was familiar. After a few more looks, he realized it was the view outside the music classroom window.
It looks like Yan Chen really liked that place.
There were no classes that afternoon, and it wasn’t even four yet. Ye Wenyu thought for a moment, pulled out the script, and flipped to the two longest segments belonging to Yan Chen.
One was a letter monologue, and the other was a slang poetry piece.
Yan Chen had read the former very fluently, but the latter had a few issues. At least when Ye Wenyu listened to him last time, he noticed several pronunciation errors.
Following his memory, he marked all the places where Yan Chen had made mistakes, read through it twice himself, then plugged in his earphones and started recording.
Indoor swimming pool.
Amid the noise and splashing water, Yan Chen touched the pool wall first, finishing ahead of everyone.
The others arrived one after another.
Yang Liang listened carefully to the coach reporting the times, then looked at Liu Bingran’s expression. Sure enough, it was already dark to an unbearable degree.
Yang Liang felt an indescribable satisfaction and bounced over excitedly: “Yan-ge, you’re awesome! You beat the second place by a whole three seconds! Your spot at the Universiade is as stable as Mount Tai!”
His voice wasn’t too loud or too soft, just right for second-place Liu Bingran to hear.
The latter pulled down his towel and stormed off to the locker room with a sullen look on his face.
Yang Liang snorted: “…Can’t even handle losing.”
The whistle blew for the second group to get ready, and Yang Liang hurried back to his lane.
Yan Chen wiped his face, picked up his phone, and saw that Ye Wenyu had sent him a recording about ten minutes ago.
He downloaded the file onto his phone, clicked play, and put the phone to his ear.
As the recording played, he lifted his gaze slightly.
The content Ye Wenyu was reciting was the poem he had deliberately recited incorrectly a few times during their last practice.
