Piano Prince

Poor Liu Xizhen had no idea that Zhang Hupan was merely a freshman. Was there really any need for her to be this nervous?

As she washed the dishes, Liu Xizhen was filled with remorse over her earlier loss of composure. Women were generally more inclined to shift the blame for their mistakes onto others, and Liu Xizhen was no exception. In less than fifteen minutes, she was viciously cursing Zhang Hupan in her heart: Damn you, Hupan! It's all your fault for mixing the drinks so well and cooking such delicious food. You made me make a fool of myself! You must have done it on purpose! At the thought, Liu Xizhen scrubbed the plate in her hands even harder.

"But really, you'd never know it from looking at him—Hupan's quite the cook! How wonderful it would be if Feifei and I could eat food he cooked every day!" Though she had been cursing Zhang Hupan just moments earlier, Liu Xizhen's face now shone with a blissful smile.

Steinway pianos had always been the princes of the piano world and the rulers of high-end pianos. From the moment the materials were selected, each piano used eight types of wood. Steinway insisted on sending timber experts to logging sites to choose suitable lumber. The wood could have no holes or knots, and the trees could not have grown too quickly, or the gaps between the grain would be too wide. After the wood was shipped to the Steinway factory, it underwent further screening. In the end, the materials Steinway selected might account for only twenty to thirty percent of the wood purchased from the logging sites. To ensure that the pianos would not warp or develop problems in any environment once they reached their users, computers monitored and calculated every step during dehydration and molding. The craftsmen then used hand clamps to secure the seventeen layers of hard maple forming the piano frame. The arched soundboards made from Alaskan spruce were also crafted by hand, thicker in the middle and gradually thinning toward the edges. The piano craftsmen assembled the twelve thousand machine-produced components entirely by hand—the wood for all twelve thousand parts came from a single large tree—and the assembly process took nearly a year. A Steinway piano sold for anywhere from three hundred thousand to 1.3 million yuan domestically, yet demand still outstripped supply.

In Liu Xizhen's living room, beside the staircase, stood a Steinway piano—the prince of the piano world. With Zhang Hupan's eye, he could of course tell that this piano was extraordinary. The wood used was flawless, and the craftsmanship was exceptionally fine. Ever since he had systematically studied the music of the world, Zhang Hupan had never encountered such a high-end piano. His fingers began to itch, and before he knew it, he had sat down on the bench behind the piano. He gently placed both hands on the keys, and one classic human composition after another that he had once read about surfaced in his mind.

For someone capable of laying out intricate, unimaginably complex immortal formations on a tiny stone, Zhang Hupan only needed one glance to understand the piano's entire operating principle and technique. Of course, if it were an electrical appliance employing the latest technology, he would probably need a little time to study it.

Legend had it that Beethoven's immortal piano piece "Für Elise" had been composed out of love, a birthday gift Beethoven presented to his beloved, Therese. Beethoven never married in his life, but he had relentlessly pursued sweet love all the same. The creation of "Für Elise" contained a story filled with romantic color.

Beethoven was one of the few musical masters in this world whom Zhang Hupan respected, so he naturally began playing "Für Elise." In an instant, beautiful notes flowed from Zhang Hupan's fingertips like drifting clouds and running water. If Beethoven could hear Zhang Hupan's performance, he would certainly have considered it the perfect interpretation of his music. It was simply too beautiful—melodious and graceful, overflowing with tenderness, reaching straight into the deepest depths of the human soul.

The beautiful piano music drifted throughout the villa. Liu Xizhen, who was washing dishes in the kitchen, naturally heard it too, and her feet unconsciously carried her toward the source of the sound. When she saw Zhang Hupan sitting there, completely absorbed in his playing, with those wonderful notes flowing from his fingertips, Liu Xizhen was utterly stunned. She dared say that she had never heard such beautiful music, such fluent playing, or such consummate technique. Everything was simply too amazing. The young man before her had given Liu Xizhen shock after shock, and she was completely captivated by Zhang Hupan. She had no idea what kind of surprise this young man would bring her next!

Though the music had stopped, Liu Xizhen remained unable to recover for a long time from those beautiful, tender notes. It was only when Zhang Hupan walked over to her that she came back to herself.

"Could you play a few more pieces for me? I like Richard Clayderman's piano music!" Liu Xizhen's eyes were hazy as she softly pleaded with Zhang Hupan.

"My pleasure!" Zhang Hupan sat back down on the bench and began to play again. "Romeo and Juliet," "A Comme Amour," "Concerto pour une amour," "La Vie en Rose"... The beautiful pieces and melodious music left Liu Xizhen completely intoxicated. The figure of Zhang Hupan, wholly focused on playing in the distance, gradually blurred until he seemed to become the prince on a white horse from her childhood dreams, while she became Cinderella in the prince's eyes. Everything was so beautiful, so blissful. Unfortunately, the gradually fading piano music awakened Liu Xizhen from her fantasy, and cruel reality stabbed her heart deeply.

Zhang Hupan was still only a freshman, while she was already the mother of a girl. An insurmountable gulf lay between them, and Liu Xizhen sighed deeply in her heart. As someone who had once experienced love, Liu Xizhen knew very well that she had fallen deeply for Zhang Hupan, who was ten years younger than her. But that ten-year difference terrified and intimidated her!

"Clap, clap, clap!" When Zhang Hupan's playing finally stopped, Liu Xizhen used her applause to conceal the panic in her heart at having become intoxicated by the young man before her.

Although Zhang Hupan was an expert at the Nascent Soul Stage, he still could not understand the complicated emotions in a woman's heart. Seeing Liu Xizhen applauding him in praise, he happily rose to his feet. Following a description from one of the books he had read, he placed his right arm across his abdomen, bowed very gentlemanly to Liu Xizhen, and said with a smile, "Thank you for listening!"

Looking at Zhang Hupan, who had come from the countryside yet was so outstanding, Liu Xizhen felt that she needed to be alone and quietly sort through the turmoil he had just stirred up in her heart.

"Thank you for spending such a perfect birthday with me!" Liu Xizhen said softly. "But I'm a little tired now and would like to rest for a while."

Zhang Hupan found it strange that Liu Xizhen, who had been so happy and excited just moments ago, had suddenly become somewhat sorrowful and exhausted. But since Liu Xizhen had said so, he could only choose to leave.

"Then get some good rest! I'll head back first!" Zhang Hupan rose and was about to leave when he suddenly remembered the birthday present he had prepared for Liu Xizhen. He took the world's one-of-a-kind perfume from his pocket and said, "Happy birthday, Sister Xizhen!" Then he handed the perfume to Liu Xizhen.

The container, made from Ten-Thousand-Year Crystal, was visually stunning enough to leave anyone stunned, to say nothing of its unique fragrance—a scent so irresistible it could drive every woman wild. Liu Xizhen was completely captivated by the perfume in her hands. She could hardly imagine that such a perfect container and such an elegant, fragrant scent could exist in this world!

Clutching the birthday gift Zhang Hupan had given her, Liu Xizhen watched through the window as he slowly rode away on his bicycle. Tears slid down her cheeks like pearls. At that moment, Liu Xizhen felt a helplessness she had never experienced before. She wanted so badly to hold back the older boy riding away before her, even if only for a brief moment. But age and children pierced her heart like thorns. Never before had she hated herself so much for failing to take proper care of her youth, and never before had she realized that her love for Zhang Hupan ran so deep! Raising the crystal bottle to her lips, Liu Xizhen gave it a gentle kiss and said sadly to herself, Forget this absurd feeling. You and he are people from two different worlds!

As he left, the faint sorrow in Liu Xizhen's eyes kept replaying in Zhang Hupan's mind. Although Liu Xizhen had concealed it very well, for Zhang Hupan, whose powers of observation were extraordinarily keen, even the finest disguise was useless. Zhang Hupan did not know what had happened to Liu Xizhen. He could clearly sense the happiness she had felt when they first spent time together, but he could not understand why she had suddenly become a little sorrowful.

Why am I troubling myself over this? Perhaps she suddenly remembered something unpleasant. Sigh, they really are right when they say a woman's heart is like a needle at the bottom of the sea! Zhang Hupan shook his head and pedaled faster, but before long, he began to worry about Liu Xizhen again.

Liu Xizhen had always been a strong woman. Otherwise, she could never have raised a daughter while running the bar so successfully. Now that she had accepted that she and Zhang Hupan could never have a future, Liu Xizhen decided to sincerely regard him as her younger brother. Once she had come to terms with it, the pain lasted only one night before she quickly returned to normal. There was still a faint ache deep in her heart, but it no longer affected her state of mind. Seeing Liu Xizhen cheerful again, chatting and laughing with him as before, Zhang Hupan—who had never experienced the entanglements of love—finally let out the breath he had been holding. (To be continued)