A Twisted Love Affair
Chapter 44: I haven’t thought about it_1

Chapter 44: I haven’t thought about it_1

Shen Jing had no time to stay in Shanghai; her senior sister had been urging her, as there were several out-of-town tourists who had been waiting for days to see her perform. They had come to Su City specifically to hear her storytelling through music, so she had to go back.

「Evening.」

Liang Yingning came to pick her up from work.

They bought milk tea by the roadside.

After paying, Liang Yingning stuffed a cup into Shen Jing’s arms.

"Move into his house, and let his bodyguards drive you to and from work every day. That way, it’ll be easier to take care of your grandma, and you won’t have to worry about your stepfather coming to your door every day to intimidate you for money."

"I don’t want to move in," Shen Jing said as she slipped a straw into her cup and took a sip.

Liang Yingning looked Shen Jing up and down. "So principled. Can’t you be practical?"

Shen Jing said slowly, "I haven’t thought it through."

"That’s Zhou Luchen we’re talking about. What’s there to consider?" Liang Yingning said while drinking her milk tea.

"But it’s up to you. He’s surrounded by many admirers, and apart from that one, it’s rare to see him taking the next step with those girls."

Shen Jing snickered. It wasn’t about taking the next step with him; it was purely transactional.

Thinking back, she caught the deeper meaning behind another remark of Liang Yingning.

"Which one?" Shen Jing asked, perplexed.

"You don’t know about his ex-girlfriend?" Liang Yingning continued. "Wenxin is super beautiful and really classy."

"They were madly in love, then they broke up. Nobody in the circle dares to mention Wenxin around him, afraid of ticking off Young Master Zhou."

The word in the circle once was: The woman most suitable for the second young master of the Zhou family, graced with endless affection.

Liang Yingning didn’t say anything else; that was all she knew.

The various scandals of the Zhou family were difficult to leak, with someone behind the scenes sealing lips.

The circle treated it all as a thing of the past and ceased to mention it.

"If you want to know, you have to ask the person involved, Young Master Zhou."

Ask what.

Shen Jing hadn’t been in contact with Zhou Luchen.

Shen Jing went straight to bed when she got home; tomorrow she had to visit an old master in a rural village to learn a piece for the pipa.

A unique craft inherited from the Qing dynasty, Northern school pipa.

Shen Jing had coveted this skill for a long time, even willing to pay to be apprenticed, but the old master didn’t intend to teach her.

He thought she was too young, too soft, and not diligent enough.

Old Lady Xu sat in the yard pulling up radishes, resting every now and then on a small stool, her gaze fixed on Shen Jing’s delicate hands. "It’s very difficult. Someone like you won’t persist. Your joints will break, and you’ll get all scarred up."

Since Shen Jing was determined, she wasn’t afraid.

"I can wear fake nails."

Upon hearing this, Old Lady Xu shook her head even more. "If you wear fakes, then it’s meaningless. My ancient guqin needs real nails. You’ve cut your nails; what’s the point of learning without them?"

They had to be cut; her senior sister always insisted the girls in the teahouse playing pipa cut off their nails and wear fake nail covers to protect their hands.

Shen Jing had a real knack for acting cute and coquettish. She showed her hands to Old Lady Xu, pleading, "Please look, they clearly have nails."

"I’ve looked, I’ve looked."

Old Lady Xu really didn’t want to look; the young girl’s bones were too soft, let alone her nails.

Old Lady Xu packed up the basket of radishes. "Go back. I just don’t take a liking to you."

Shen Jing quickly stood up to help her. "Let me."

The old lady stopped her. "I have the strength to carry it myself."

Shen Jing watched the old lady’s hunched figure walking away with a cane.

Old Lady Xu wouldn’t budge even when offered money. Touching her chin, Shen Jing knew she had to think harder.

The old lady had also said, "If one day you can’t solve the problem of food and clothing, you will eventually go with the flow and give up this profession."

Shen Jing stood there. "Why are you so sure about that?"

Old Lady Xu sighed. "Girl, you do have passion in your eyes, but you won’t love this profession for long."

That night, Shen Jing didn’t leave but found a nearby hostel to stay in.

It was probably only when she kept busy with her own things that she could stop thinking about Zhou Luchen.

Heh.

Conquering Young Master Zhou would be much harder than convincing Old Lady Xu.

「The next day.」

Shen Jing helped Old Lady Xu pull up radishes again.

Since Shen Jing had something to ask of her, Old Lady Xu didn’t turn down the free labor, letting her apply herself earnestly.

What strength could she have? She couldn’t pull them up. She dug out two with a hoe and still managed to break one.

"I’m sorry about your radish..."

Old Lady Xu sighed. "I’ll keep it for feeding the livestock."

Her hands were dirty with soil.

She was persistent, determined to finish digging up the radishes for Old Lady Xu, as the weather forecast predicted heavy rain in the coming days, which would otherwise ruin them in the ground.

Old Lady Xu sat on the small stool, drinking water and watching her.

"When I was your age, I could carry multiple buckets of cement on a shoulder pole, and I could move big bricks in the commune. Why are you so delicate?"

Shen Jing lowered her head to clean the radishes. "Isn’t it because conditions have improved? There are machines to replace manual labor."

Old Lady Xu didn’t mean that.

"So spoiled, who can indulge you like that?"

She looked up and laughed. "Myself, of course."

Old Lady Xu grabbed her stool, standing up with her hand supporting her back, and walked unsteadily along the path, her waist bent.

"It’s raining. Time to go home."

Shen Jing lifted her head. "Grandma, what about your radishes?"

The old lady didn’t look back. "Don’t you love carrying them?"

Shen Jing’s clear eyes widened.

When had she ever loved to carry them?

Although there was only one basket of radishes, Old Lady Xu grew them large, and Shen Jing really couldn’t carry them. Then it dawned on her that Old Lady Xu was inviting her over, and her spirits rose. She hugged the basket to her chest.

Her little face turned completely red, and her palms were sweaty.

Old Lady Xu didn’t even glance at her, laughing as she led the way with her cane.

Old Lady Xu’s feelings towards Shen Jing were twofold. Firstly, she didn’t take a liking to her, and secondly, she found her too frail. If Shen Jing injured her hand, she wasn’t sure if it would heal, and she didn’t want her to take any risks because of it.

If her hand was ruined, she wouldn’t even be able to play the simplest pipa tunes in the future.

But the young girl was too persistent.

As soon as they entered the house, a downpour began.

Shen Jing accompanied Old Lady Xu under the eaves, washing the radishes.

Old Lady Xu rested, fanning herself leisurely with a small palm-leaf fan.

Shen Jing pouted her lips. "You really know how to enjoy yourself."

Old Lady Xu smiled without a word.

After a while, the rain subsided.

Old Lady Xu slowly opened her eyes and saw her radishes were now clean and white.

This girl knows how to wash them.

"Come over tomorrow. But if your nails are badly broken, don’t even try. My ancient guqin can’t be stained with blood."

Shen Jing smiled and nodded. She had succeeded.

"Thank you, Grandma, for giving me a chance."

Old Lady Xu harrumphed, carried the radishes inside, then closed the door.

Less than a minute later, the door opened again, and a wrinkled hand handed Shen Jing an umbrella.

"Take this, in case it rains on your way."

It did rain halfway because she wandered around taking landscape photos.

She seldom posted on social media, almost never.

Today she was just in a good mood.

There was nothing coquetry couldn’t solve, except for Zhou Luchen.

Chen Yao quickly commented, "Why does this place look so familiar?"

Shen Jing didn’t reply.

The next day at 6 a.m., Shen Jing got up early to report to Old Lady Xu’s house.

Old Lady Xu was sitting in the yard, rummaging through boxes of ancient qins, pipas, and sheet music covered in years of dust.

"Now that you’re here, sift through the music scores yourself."

Old Lady Xu said this without looking at her, meticulously wiping the ancient pipa before handing it to Shen Jing.

The first day was okay; Shen Jing’s knuckles held up.

But after a few days, they couldn’t withstand it. The steel strings were too hard, and two nails broke one after another.

Old Lady Xu glanced at her injured hand. "I knew you wouldn’t make it. Your technique is wrong; they were bound to break anyway."

Shen Jing knew her own limitations and had already prepared medicine and band-aids in her pocket.

Old Lady Xu hmphed.

What’s the use? Her nails are already cracked.

Shen Jing said, "My teacher used to teach me this way when I was young."

Old Lady Xu scoffed. Since when did something passed down by our ancestors not require meticulous effort and hard work? Could it be the same?

"I gave you a chance, but you were of no use."

Old Lady Xu always had a way of discouraging Shen Jing when she spoke.

Her shoulders visibly sagged.

And when Shen Jing’s soft, sweet voice turned coquettish, it was irresistibly charming; Old Lady Xu felt her bones soften just listening to her. Heaven truly favored her.

But when she played the pipa, her immaturity showed. Her technique might seem rhythmic to the untrained ear and even better than many supposed experts. But in front of Old Lady Xu, it was merely superficial skill learned from some amateur youth club.

Old Lady Xu organized the music scores and went inside.

Shen Jing stood in the yard. "Are you giving up on me just like that?"

Old Lady Xu didn’t make a sound, just closed and locked the door.

"..."

She really was giving up on her.

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