Wang Xu placed a lot of importance on this opportunity to perform on stage—rather, he was excited about the chance to show off on stage. The first thing he did when he got to school in the morning was pull Jiang Cheng out into the corridor.
“I asked Lao-Xu for the key to the music room. There’s a piano in there. I brought my guitar, too,” he said. “Let’s stay in at lunch today. We can just grab a bite before practice?”
Wang Xu’s feverish enthusiasm had Jiang Cheng utterly overwhelmed. “I…I haven’t finished putting together the composition. How about next—”
“Lunchtime!” Wang Xu insisted. “I don’t need your sheet music, anyway. Just tell me my part.”
Jiang Cheng sighed. “Your bit is just chords, but I don’t know how to write guitar tabs…”
“Play it for me, and I can note it down myself,” said Wang Xu. “Lunchtime it is. Don’t you go running off at noon! You and Gu Fei disappear every day as soon as class ends… If you two really are so inseparable, make him come to the music room and listen.”
Jiang Cheng could only murmur in agreement. He didn’t keep trying to bargain with Wang Xu, afraid that he would come out with more nerve-racking observations. Captain Wang Jiuri knew a little too much. It was a good thing his mind was a string or two short of a full fretboard, otherwise Jiang Cheng would have had to consider silencing him permanently.
As soon as class let out for the morning, Jiang Cheng saw Wang Xu standing outside the front door of the classroom, staring at him from the distance.
“Go eat with Wang Xu, then,” Gu Fei said, glancing over at the door. “I have to go home and edit anyway. I’ve got photos due this afternoon.”
Jiang Cheng nodded. “All right.” He didn’t let on that he was going to play Gu Fei’s composition. There was a special significance to it, he felt, so he wanted it to be a little surprise for him.
Frankly, he was quite impressed with himself. He’d only heard it once, but he’d been able to pretty much write the music down from memory alone. No doubt there would be some differences in the details, but transposing it for the piano meant it couldn’t be exactly the same, anyway…
For lunch, Wang Xu dragged him to the pizza place across the street. He didn’t even let him go get something to drink from the shop next door before yanking him back to school, dragging him straight to the music room like they were going into battle.
To be honest, if Wang Xu hadn’t mentioned it, he wouldn’t know that Fourth High even had a music room. He was surprised to find that there were quite a few other instruments in there besides the piano.
“Here.” Wang Xu flipped open the lid of the piano. “Play a few bars for me first. What are we playing?”
Jiang Cheng didn’t answer. He suddenly realized he didn’t know what Gu Fei’s song was called, but that didn’t matter.
“Untitled,” Jiang Cheng said as he sat down on the bench.
“…Never heard of it.” Wang Xu blinked, then quickly leaned on the piano with anticipation on his face. “Play it for me. Maybe I’ve heard it before but didn’t know it was called ‘Untitled.’”
“You definitely haven’t heard it before.” The moment Jiang Cheng rested his hands on the keys, a familiar yet foreign feeling spread from his fingers to the rest of his body.
How long has it been? All this time, he hadn’t so much as looked at a piano, let alone touched one. Seeing the staggered strips of black and white before him now, he felt an indescribable mix of emotions stir at each touch of his fingertips on the keys.
He sat there spacing out for a long moment.
“Um, Jiang Cheng?” Wang Xu looked at him with knitted brows. “Don’t tell me you were fucking lying? Do you really know how to play?”
Jiang Cheng shot him a sidelong glance. Without another word, he swept his fingers over the keys, playing a brief scale to warm up his fingers and remember the feeling.
Wang Xu nodded in relief. “Looking pretty legit. Honestly, you don’t seem like the type to play piano. Maybe you can start off with ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ first?”
Jiang Cheng glanced at him. “Maybe you can get out of here first?” he retorted. “If you have so much to say, why don’t you go find someone to talk to?”
Wang Xu shut up.
Jiang Cheng stared down at his fingers and took a deep breath. Closing his eyes, he exhaled before letting his fingers fall on the keys. The first note immediately took him into the scene Gu Fei had sketched with his music.
Stepping into thin air, about to take flight
I look up and I’m lost, I look down to see your face
And you tell me this world is an empty place…
You say “one, two, three,”
Breaking what’s gone by,
The way back home fades, blown apart by the wind
Do you see me sing out?
You say “one, two, three,”
Turn around and listen
To the panic wiped out…
Jiang Cheng didn’t look at the sheet music as he played. It wasn’t a long piece, and he had just written it out from memory, so he could play the whole thing with his eyes closed.
He hadn’t used to enjoy playing piano. Every time his fingers touched the keys, the unique sensation would fill his head with unpleasant and increasingly numbed memories. But today was a little different. Perhaps the melody flowing through his hands carried Gu Fei’s essence, or perhaps something in him had changed. He got lost in the melody. Not even a few fumbles here and there took him out of his immersion.
After the final note, he lifted his fingers and stared at the black and white keys in front of him for a long time, not moving a muscle.
An enthusiastic round of applause rang out from behind him. Jiang Cheng jumped and whipped his head around to see Lao-Xu standing in the doorway, looking ecstatic.
“Shit, Xu-zong! What are you doing here?” Wang Xu was also startled by his sudden appearance, but he soon joined with his own applause. “Bravo! Jiang Cheng, you really are…astonishing. What a surprise! How unexpected! Bravo!”
“What’s this piece called?” Lao-Xu asked as he walked over. “I don’t think I’ve heard it before.”
“You probably haven’t heard of a lot of them, have you, sir?” Wang Xu said smugly, as if he’d suddenly found a small sense of superiority.
“Tell me, then—what’s it called?” Lao-Xu asked humbly.