Inextricable

By the time the two of them returned to Huai Jing’s house, the housekeeper had already left, and the smell of delicious food welcomed them, a smell that made Xu Xingxing’s mouth water. Her nose moved slightly as she smelled the fish soup, and Huai Jing noticed this.

He smiled and said, “Let’s eat.”

The housekeeper had already set up the dining table before she left. There were two fish dishes, one braised in soy sauce and the other a soup dish. The braised fish was full of colour and fragrance, and the fish soup was milky white.

On the long dining table, there was only a single bowl of rice. Xu Xingxing looked up at Huai Jing, who understood her shy glance and said, “I’m not hungry, you eat first.”

Xu Xingxing enjoyed eating fish and hadn’t had any in a long time, so she was not polite when Huai Jing said to eat and sat down with a blushing face.

She picked up a piece of fish with chopsticks. The fish was tender, and it tasted pretty good.

Huai Jing watched her pick apart the fishbones and asked, “Is it delicious?”

Xu Xingxing nodded with a satisfied smile.

“Well, this aunt cooks delicious food,” she said.

“I have liked to eat the food cooked by Aunt Zhan since I was a child.” Huai Jing continued, “But she usually stays in the mansion to take care of my grandma. She only comes to take care of me on weekends.”

Huai Jing spoke hastily, but Xu Xingxing just listened to him carefully and made no comments. Only his grandma and second uncle lived in the large house, which was the original home of the Huai family. His mother had converted to Buddhism, his father had passed away, and his younger sister was away at college. He was actually pretty lonely living alone.

Xu Xingxing buried her head in her meal as sadness spread all over her. After a few minutes of silence, Huai Jing’s phone rang, he glanced at it and tapped on the table, and signalled to her that he was going to answer it. 

Huai Jing got up with his cell phone and answered the call as soon as he went out.

“Brother!” A cheerful girl’s voice came from the other end of the phone. 

“Mn,” Huai Jing said softly.

During this time, Xu Xingxing enjoyed her meal and after finishing it, sealed the remaining dishes with plastic wrap and put them in the refrigerator, then washed the dishes she had used. She left the kitchen after doing this.

The floor-to-ceiling windows were open and he stood outside these, by the pool, talking on the phone. The balcony lights were not turned on, and only the light in the room provided illumination. When this light passed through the glass window, it got cut into regular squares that were laid out on the man’s handsome face.

As he was still on the phone, Xu Xingxing decided to pass the time by herself and went to the bookshelf in the living room. It was filled with books, and she took a book randomly, thinking that this book should be related to the topic of jades, otherwise, he wouldn’t have recommended these to her last time.

After she took a book, she looked up and noticed the piano quietly placed in front of the French window facing the bookshelf. Huai Jing’s house was very big, with several patios. The patio that he was currently standing on connected to the swimming pool, while the patio near the living room was connected to a small garden. At this time, the branches of various plants in the garden were swaying, exuding a faint fragrance.

Xu Xingxing set her sights on the piano again.

The body of this grand piano was completely black and reflected the dim light. Although the piano was not branded, it was clear from the materials and craftsmanship of the top cover and the bracket that its cost was not low.

Xu Xingxing quietly went there, opened the cover of the piano, glazed at the black and white piano keys in a daze, before pressing them.

When Huai Jing hung up the phone and returned to the living room, he heard the intermittent sound of the piano, so he raised his eyes and looked towards that area. Xu Xingxing was sitting on the piano bench, with her left hand flat against the piano bench and her right hand pressing on the keys. She seemed to be looking for a tune.

In fact, Xu Xingxing was searching for the melody of “The Original Scenery of Hometown” , but was unsuccessful. Her frown continued to deepen as she pressed the keys helplessly, another hand suddenly appeared on the keys. This hand with the slender fingers appeared to have been created specifically for playing the piano.

Xu Xingxing raised her head, and the man stood behind her, his body slightly bent, looking down at the keys of the piano.

His fingers then ran across the piano keys, skillfully playing the melody of “The Original Scenery of Hometown.”

[TL Notes: The “The Original Scenery of Hometown” is composed by the famous Japanese composer Soujiro.  To listen – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycmxodicLag]

After playing the tune, the man raised his eyes and met Xu Xingxing’s gaze.

There was a smile in his eyes, to which she blushed, and said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t get your consent…”

Huai Jing didn’t seem to care about this, he instead asked, “Do you like the piano?”

“Well, I wanted to learn it when I was young, but my family’s financial situation was not very good, so my father taught me how to play the xun,” she said after a while.

[TL Notes: ‘xun’ is a Chinese flute with a spherical vessel shape. One of China’s first musical instruments.  For more details –  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xun_(instrument]

‘Xun… no wonder she wanted to play “The Original Scenery of My Hometown.”’ Huai Jing raised his eyebrows and said with a smile, “Wow, you can play the xun. How wonderful!”

Xu Xingxing, who was praised, smiled.

“Do you want to learn the piano?” Huai Jing asked as he saw Xu Xingxing still looking at piano keys.

“Yeah.” Xu Xingxing responded without hiding it. She said, “Actually, I want to enrol in a piano class.”

Now that she had a stable job, had sufficient funds, and possessed ample free time, she had started thinking about making up for her past regrets.

“I will teach you.”

Xu Xingxing was taken aback by Huai Jing’s words, and she raised her eyes to look at him, with eyes widened in surprise.

“I’m at home on weekends, so I can teach you. As for the tuition fee, you just need to take care of my three meals a day.” Huai Jing gave her a gentle smile.

After hearing Huai Jing’s proposal, Xu Xingxing was a little moved. In this way, not only could the tuition fee be saved, but there was also no need to go back and forth between her home and his home…

But wasn’t it a bit strange that the two of them would be together on weekends?

Before Xu Xingxing refused, Huai Jing continued, “I also taught my sister to play the piano. There is one here. You can practise at any time, and you don’t have to compete with others.”

Xu Xingxing was thoroughly convinced by these words. Because he had taught his younger sister, he would be able to give her simple lessons. She would also have access to this piano and could practise whenever she wanted.

“Okay,” Xu Xingxing agreed with a nod.

Xu Xingxing, who had just enrolled in piano lessons, was excited about it. She put her fingers on the white keys, making a sharp sound as she stared down at the keyboard.

‘Sounds fantastic.’

Xu Xingxing gazed down at the keyboard as her fingers fumbled between the black and white keys. Her fingers were long and incredibly white. Her slender and fair neck was visible as her head was bowed, and her hair had parted to spread to both sides.

This portion of her neck was smooth and beautiful, without any blemishes.

Huai Jing’s eyes darkened at this view, and he stretched out his hand to press down on her fingers.

The man’s hand pressed against the woman’s fingers, and the soft pads of his fingertips lightly touched her nails. Xu Xingxing’s heart skipped a beat, and she raised her head to look at the man standing behind.

Huai Jing met Xu Xingxing’s eyes, pinched her slightly raised chin, leaned over and kissed her tenderly.

When their lips touched, their bodies also trembled.

As Xu Xingxing’s heart began to beat fast, she felt two big hands on her waist. With a little force, she was picked up by Huai Jing and was placed on the piano. Chaotic piano sounds then rang out…

Xu Xingxing hugged Huai Jing, her round eyes dizzy with tears as she struggled slightly and in a trembling voice pleaded, “It… it will break.”

…………………..

When Xu Xingxing woke up the next morning, Huai Jing was still sleeping. She stood up and took stock of the soreness of her waist and her numb legs. Putting on some clothes casually, she got up and went to the bathroom.

Xu Xingxing took a brief shower before wiping her body and checking herself in the mirror. On her body, the crimson bite marks spread out like flowers.

Xu Xingxing’s face was a little hot, and she put on a loose pyjama shirt, revealing large bite marks on her neck and collarbone. There was no need to deliberately cover it up here, in Huai Jing’s house, so she walked out of the bathroom and went downstairs to the living room.

The golden rays of the sun had entered through the window and shone brightly on the area beside the piano. When she saw the piano, she remembered what they had done last night and it made her ears hot. 

She would make breakfast; that would cover her tuition.

Thinking of this, Xu Xingxing’s thoughts paused again. ‘Do I really want to learn the piano from him? Then… I’ll be here all weekend, so we will be living together, right?’ 

She walked to the piano, lost in these thoughts. She put her fingers on the keys, but didn’t dare to press down, because Huai Jing was still sleeping.

The early winter sun was shining on her body, bringing warmth, and Xu Xingxing stroked the keyboard with a happy feeling in her heart. At this moment, a hand suddenly appeared and pressed on the keys, causing a “ding” that startled Xu Xingxing.