Black Lotus

“Do you like it?”

Wen Niannan turned his head and looked at Tang Shuo. He smiled and replied, “Yes.”

“Just yes? Nothing else?” Tang Shuo stared at Wen Niannan with sparkling eyes, almost begging for praise with his facial expressions.

Wen Niannan laughed at this amusing scene. He added, “Thank you, Tang Shuo. It is really beautiful.”

“But I think the most beautiful thing here is you. You are even more beautiful than the piano.”

“Ok, that’s enough, Tang Shuo.” Wen Niannan immediately stopped him when he noticed that Tang Shuo would just go on and on.

“Go try it out! I want to hear the piece you played in the music classroom that time. Can you play it for me?”

Wen Niannan hesitantly walked over and sat down, but his hands stopped when he was about to touch the keys. After seeing Tang Shuo’s pleading eyes, he sighed and dropped his hands on the keys.

The sound of the piano gradually sounded, and Tang Shuo’s heart started racing with the music, staring obsessively at the man in front of him.

As it did in the past, the young man in the white shirt sat alone with his back to the sunshine. At that moment, his heart was taken away by Wen Niannan.

After the last note ended, Wen Niannan opened his eyes, feeling very excited. He reluctantly stroked the piano.

Tang Shuo returned to his senses and walked over, saying in confusion, “I don’t get it. You love to play so much, so I haven’t seen you play for the past few years?”

Wen Niannan’s body stiffened. Raising his head to look at Tang Shuo, he said slowly, “Yansheng doesn’t like it… I don’t want to make him mad. It’s alright if I don’t play.”

Tang Shuo felt very disappointed. He said distressedly, “He can’t just stop you from playing! Who does he think he is? You obviously love music so much, and you are so gifted…”

“If he doesn’t like it, then I don’t like it either.”

Even though he said so, his eyes were still focused on the piano, proving that what he said wasn’t true.

Seeing Wen Niannan’s reluctant eyes, Tang Shuo suddenly thought of an idea. “It’s okay. As long as you want to play, you can come anytime. You are always welcomed.”

Wen Niannan looked at Tang Shuo in surprise, and said in a trembling voice, “Really? Thank you so much!”

“Of course, here is not far from your house. It only takes ten minutes. If you want to play, just come here.”

Because… its true owner is you… 

It was getting late. Wen Niannan glanced at his watch and said that he should head back.

“Wait, I’ll see you off.”

“There’s no need, my car is parked not far from here.”

In fact, because he was trying to take some time by himself, he purposefully parked the car on the side of the road, far from where Tang Shuo’s studio was.

“What do you mean not far? It’s quite far away. I can walk with you, and I can buy something for myself along the way back.” To make it sound like he had to go out anyways, he found himself a random excuse.

Tang Shuo smiled like a fool the whole way to the car, and his eyes didn’t leave Wen Niannan. Without noticing that there was a pole in front of him, he ran straight into it.

Bang!

“Ah! My nose!” Tang Shuo squatted down with his hands covering his nose.

Wen Niannan heard the painful cry and immediately stretched out his hand to help him, but in the end, he still didn’t touch him. He just asked worriedly, “Are you okay? Let me see how it is.”

Tang Shuo removed his hand from the nose and looked up at Wen Niannan aggrievedly. There was a red mark from his forehead to his nose, and blood came out as well.

Wen Niannan couldn’t help laughing when he saw this embarrassing expression. Tang Shuo stared at him and said, “Look how happy you are seeing that I’m hurt. Can you wipe the blood off for me?”

Wen Niannan couldn’t refuse such a simple request, so he took out a handkerchief to help wipe off the blood.

However, neither of them noticed that someone not far away caught this moment with the click of a shutter.

Translated by: Summit

Edited by: UnderTheMoon