Black Lotus

On stage, Wen Niannan wore a glove to cover the scars that were on his hand.

As his turn was here, Wen Niannan felt that his hand was trembling and his body stiffened while sitting on the piano. Bearing immense pain, he played the piece. 

At first, the music was easy enough that he didn’t make any mistakes, but as the music got progressively harder, Wen Niannan still messed up.

The piece that he practiced countless times was now a disaster. Perhaps the wound opened up again and the glove kept rubbing against the back of his hand, his hand was trembling the whole time.

Wen Niannan tried his best to avoid more errors and pressed down on the keys while bearing the pain.

At first, when the people in the audience heard such great piano sounds, they were slightly surprised, but as the music went on, they laughed and chatted sarcastically.  

“Which class is this person from? Is that class out of talented people? Why would the teacher send this person up on stage?”

“Haha, not even as good as my three-year-old sister. How can this even appear on stage?”

Hearing the laughter from people around him, Shen Luoan smiled. His eyes still looked evil, but his heart was filled with joy.

Want to fight with me? Look at who you are, Wen Niannan, didn’t you want to become famous in school? Now with my help, everyone will remember you.

It was late when they got home. Hearing the car pulling in, Uncle Xu went out to greet them.

Wen Niannan opened the car door, Uncle Xu immediately came to help him get out of the car.

“Let go of him. He doesn’t need help. He’s more than fine.”

Uncle Xu withdrew his hand slowly and said, “Sir, the dinner is prepared for you, and the old lady has already eaten. She’s currently in the study room.”

Gu Yansheng glanced at the person beside him, sneered, and left.

Looking at Gu Yansheng’s back, Uncle Xu sighed and said quietly to Wen Niannan, “Sir, it’s cold outside, please come in. Aunt Lan especially made your favorite dishes.”

Wen Niannan touched his forehead and looked at the front door, and said, “Yeah, I need to thank Aunt Lan for that. ”

Walking into the living room, Gu Yansheng took a glance upstairs and turned to the dinner table, eating quietly. He only looked up as Wen Niannan sat down in front of him.

The two of them didn’t speak throughout dinner.

Aunt Lan soon came with a bowl of soup. Placing it next to Wen Niannan, she smiled and said, “Sir, this chicken soup is made from materials brought from Nation F just for you. The old lady said it will help you with your body, so I had it warmed until now. You should try it and see if it’s good.”

“Ok, thank you, Aunt Lan.”

Gu Yansheng glanced at the soup on the table and didn’t say anything. As he stared at the soup, in his mind it was still the music that Wen Niannan played, 

Aunt Lan saw Gu Yansheng looking at the soup, so she asked with difficultly, “Hm… Mr. Gu, do you want some too? I didn’t know, so I only prepared one. The soup has medicinal herbs in it, so I don’t think you will need it.”

Wen Niannan’s hand holding the spoon stopped. He looked over and actually saw Gu Yansheng staring into his bowl, and as a result, he felt a bit awkward and slowed down.

Gu Yansheng only came back to his senses after Aunt Lan’s voice. He suddenly stood up, and the chair sent a sharp squeak into the room. 

Wen Niannan looked at the person, not knowing what he wanted. Gu Yansheng looked down toward his hand, and his eyes were mysterious. 

“What… What’s wrong?”

After deeply looking at Wen Niannan, Gu Yansheng left the dinner table.

He went to the piano room and sat down, looking confused.

Because his hand was hurt, he didn’t play well and wore a glove.

How come he got hurt just before getting on stage? Gu Yansheng was sure that day he met Wen Niannan in the hallways, and he was fine then.

He never thought that Wen Niannan could play that well, but if he had the talents why did he claim that Luoan stole his music. Was that whole thing plotted as revenge over Luoan?

Gu Yansheng wanted to be more awake as he lowered his head and touched the letters on the piano.

What am I thinking about? I just saw very clearly that there are no scars on Wen Niannan’s hand. How am I stupid enough to believe a liar and believe that his hand actually got hurt?

The confusion in his mind was not resolved instantly.

Gu Yansheng stood up and picked up the necklace box. His eyes softened and looked back to the piano.

Today during the concert, Shen Luoan suddenly called him asking when he could bring the piano over. Shen Luoan needed it to prepare for a music contest.

Gently touching the piano, Gu Yansheng took out his phone and dialed a number. 

“Hey, it’s me.”

Author’s Notes:

We need to let Gu Scum hop around a little longer, then with a bucket of boiling water, we make sure all his hair would be gone! Satisfying, am I right?

Next chapter sneak peek: Angry Zhou exposes Gu Scum; Tang Shuo confesses in front of the whole school!

Translated by: Summit

Edited by: UnderTheMoon