Goodbye, Little Yellow Dog

Chapter 11

Little Mushroom: Teacher Jiang, just call me Ye Nanxun.

A tall, slender figure stood beneath a persimmon tree inside the theater.

Ye Nanxun lowered his head and sent Jiang Yuenian a message.

Having accepted Jiang Yuenian's invitation to perform piano at Zhu Yucheng's birthday banquet, Ye Nanxun was in no hurry to leave.

Falling snow blanketed the earth in a layer of silver frost, while perfectly ripe persimmons hung from the branches, adding a festive splash of color to the white landscape.

Like an inexperienced young man seeing the world for the first time, Ye Nanxun was curiously excited by everything, holding up his phone and snapping photos all the way.

Standing beneath the persimmon tree, Ye Nanxun raised his phone and took a picture of the persimmons amid the falling snow.

"May everything go persimmonly well."

The cold outdoor wind stung his face, yet Ye Nanxun stayed outside for a long while before returning to the car.

The car's heater dispelled some of the chill from his body.

He did not start driving right away, instead rubbing his frost-reddened hands together hard.

His phone screen lit up with a new message.

Jiang Yuenian: All right, Ye Nanxun.

Jiang Yuenian: I'll pick you up at nine tomorrow morning.

Little Mushroom: Sorry to trouble you, Teacher Jiang.

Jiang Yuenian: I'm the one troubling you. Then, see you tomorrow.

Little Mushroom: See you tomorrow, Teacher Jiang.

Jiang Yuenian looked refined and scholarly, but after getting to know him, Ye Nanxun found that he was actually rather impatient.

Ye Nanxun had only just accepted his invitation to play piano when Jiang Yuenian immediately asked whether he was free the next day.

He had only left the Imperial Palace yesterday, and tomorrow Jiang Yuenian would be taking him there again.

Jiang Yuenian had recently been busy with orchestra rehearsals and had no time to personally instruct Ye Nanxun, so he asked a pianist at the Imperial Palace to guide him in his stead.

"You're going to the Imperial Palace again tomorrow?"

At home, his mother, Chen Mingzhu, was delighted when she heard about it.

Ye Nanxun taking the initiative to attend an outside banquet had already made them happy for quite some time.

They had not expected that, after only one day, Ye Nanxun would get in touch with the renowned musician Jiang Yuenian and even receive personal instruction from a court musician at the Imperial Palace.

Ye Xiangsong looked immensely proud and praised Ye Nanxun several times in a row, making Ye Nanxun somewhat embarrassed.

As usual, the family of three sat around the dining table, chatting as they ate.

The indoor lighting was soft and warm, while the wood-burning fireplace crackled and popped.

Ye Xiangsong suddenly said, "Ye Nanxun, one of your distant cousins is also in Dream City lately. He originally planned to come over for a meal half a month ago, but we happened to leave on a trip at the last minute..."

The moment he heard the words "distant cousin," Ye Nanxun tightened his grip on his chopsticks.

This so-called distant cousin of his, Ye Zhineng, was also one of Xu Wenyan's lapdogs.

He appeared gentle and gentlemanly, but was actually a snobbish petty man.

In his previous life, it was because his parents warmly received Ye Zhineng that their family later met such a tragic end.

After being reborn in this life, Ye Nanxun immediately left Dream Star with his parents under the pretext of going on a trip.

Instinctively, he wanted to escape this place.

As long as he stayed far away from Xu Wenyan and the others, perhaps he would not repeat the same mistakes.

But the relentless nightmares that woke him night after night gradually made Ye Nanxun realize something.

He could not escape.

What he had to face would eventually have to be faced.

"Is he coming over tomorrow afternoon?" Ye Nanxun said. "I might not make it back from the Imperial Palace by then."

Chen Mingzhu said, "It's fine, it's fine. We can entertain your cousin ourselves."

For the time being, Ye Nanxun did not want to encounter Ye Zhineng face-to-face. Going to the Imperial Palace to practice piano would conveniently allow him to avoid Ye Zhineng.

Ye Nanxun picked up a shrimp and placed it in his bowl. "For now, you can't tell anyone that I'm going to the Imperial Palace to practice piano. If Ye Zhineng asks... just say I went out to attend piano practice with the orchestra..."

Since it involved the Imperial Palace, Ye Xiangsong and Chen Mingzhu understood and repeatedly promised not to tell anyone.

The weather was clear, and the sky was as clean and blue as jade.

The eaves divided the blue sky from the snow-covered earth. Pale pink winter cherry blossoms bloomed luxuriantly, their petals falling one by one onto the snow.

Outside the window was as beautiful as a brightly colored oil painting.

His glossy black hair fell in gently curled waves, and the brilliant sunlight pouring through the window cast alternating light and shadow across the handsome young man's profile.

His long, fair fingers pressed the piano keys, producing a pleasant melody that was equally pleasing to the eye.

When the piece ended, a glimmer of approval appeared in Teacher Xu's eyes.

"I heard from Teacher Jiang that you've never received professional, systematic piano training?" The young female beta had her long hair pinned behind her head, giving her a gentle and elegant air.

Ye Nanxun lowered his hands from the black-and-white keys and nodded from his seat. "My mother taught me piano from childhood onward."

Ye Nanxun had also studied the finger techniques of masters through video materials.

His mother, Chen Mingzhu, had once remarked that Ye Nanxun had surpassed his teacher, but Ye Nanxun had never had a clear understanding of what that meant.

Not until a few days ago, when he had gone to the omega coming-of-age ceremony intending only to show his face and take things one step at a time afterward, and played a piano piece at the ceremony.

He had not expected what followed to far exceed his expectations.

Only then did he come to concretely understand what his mother had meant.

Teacher Xu was the court musician Jiang Yuenian had introduced to Ye Nanxun. For the past three days, Ye Nanxun had been practicing piano under Teacher Xu's guidance.

She had liked this handsome young man from the first time she saw him.

Although he did not speak much and had a somewhat aloof temperament, there was also a purity in his bones that had become rare these days.

Most top-tier alphas and omegas carried a degree of arrogance in their bones because of their innately high-level spiritual power.

Over the past three days, Ye Nanxun had never slacked off in his piano practice.

The moment he sat before the piano, he gave himself over to it completely.

Even during breaks, he would look out the window while his fingers played through the air.

He never once looked at his phone.

Teacher Xu smiled gently. "Teacher Jiang thinks highly of you. Whether or not you plan to develop a career in music in the future, you should interact with Teacher Jiang more."

Teacher Xu only came to instruct Ye Nanxun in the mornings. In the afternoons, she returned to practice with the court orchestra.

After a simple lunch, Ye Nanxun did not immediately return to the piano room.

The weather was unusually fine that day, so he wandered alone through the garden outside the piano room, stopping here and there at will.

As usual, whenever he saw beautiful flowers, plants, or scenery, he used his phone to photograph and preserve them.

He pressed the shutter, then lowered his head to inspect the photo.

In the upper-right corner of the image, a playful flash of yellow had entered the frame.

"Woof woof woof—"

A familiar bark.

A familiar Little Yellow Dog.