After Transmigrating into a Novel, I Am in a Relationship with My Scummy Ex-Girlfriend’s Mother - Chapter 16

After the others had left, Huo Qingzhuo didn’t even have time to thank Shen Junfu before she saw Shen Junfu walking toward her.

“You’re so sharp-tongued in front of me, showing me no mercy when you retort, so why? Did you turn into a mute in front of others?”

Shen Junfu looked at Huo Qingzhuo with an air of “resenting that iron cannot become steel.” Thinking of how Huo Qingzhuo had just stood there silently in front of that crowd, she wanted to crack open Huo Qingzhuo’s skull to see where the eloquent girl from before had gone.

Looking at the flustered Shen Junfu and knowing that she had been a huge help this time, Huo Qingzhuo smiled good-naturedly and spread her hands. “Can’t help it. Who told me I’m someone who bullies the weak and fears the strong?”

“Who’s weak?! Huo Qingzhuo, make yourself clear!” That single sentence successfully made Shen Junfu’s hair stand on end. She stood in front of Huo Qingzhuo, staring her down, demanding an explanation.

“They are weak, and you are ‘hard.’ I bully the hard and fear the soft, alright?” For the sake of what just happened, Huo Qingzhuo humored Shen Junfu.

“That’s more like it,” Shen Junfu said, smoothing back her semi-dry hair. She reached out quite naturally, plucked the hair tie from Huo Qingzhuo’s head, and loosely tied up her own hair. “Hey, that piano is broken and won’t be fixed anytime soon. What do you plan to do?”

Glancing at the hair tie on Shen Junfu’s head, Huo Qingzhuo brushed back her own loose hair. “I’ll use whatever instrument is left backstage. It’s all the same.”

“Heh, quite the ego. There’s only a suona left backstage. What, are you going to perform ‘A Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix’ and send that old man, the Principal, off right then and there?” Having finally gained the upper hand, Shen Junfu’s poisonous tongue was on full display.

“That’s impossible, right?” Huo Qingzhuo had encountered many instruments, but something like the suona was truly beyond her abilities; she wasn’t very good at wind instruments.

“Are you two here? I came to cheer for you!”

While Huo Qingzhuo and Shen Junfu were talking, Wei Qingqing walked in from outside holding a bottle of water in each hand and handed them to the two.

Shen Junfu wasn’t polite at all; she unscrewed the cap and took a sip. “Then you might only be able to cheer for me. A certain someone plans to perform jumping through fire hoops while blowing a suona. You’d better stand back so you don’t get caught in the crossfire.”

Ever since learning that this Shen Junfu had nothing to do with that murderer, Huo Qingzhuo hadn’t stopped Shen Junfu from interacting with Wei Qingqing. After all, the two were once destined lovers. While she didn’t plan to follow the plot, she also didn’t plan to break up a fated match. However, for now, there wasn’t a single spark between them.

After hearing Shen Junfu’s words, Wei Qingqing looked at Huo Qingzhuo in shock. Huo Qingzhuo spread her hands helplessly, not expecting that the casual remark she used to brush off Shen Junfu would be remembered and thrown back at her.

“All participants please get ready. Non-essential personnel please leave the backstage. The judges are taking their seats, and the competition is about to begin.”

Before Huo Qingzhuo could explain the situation to Wei Qingqing, the student union member in charge of the competition flow interrupted their chat.

Huo Qingzhuo first told Wei Qingqing to wait in the audience. When she turned around, she saw Shen Junfu leaning against the door leading from backstage to the front, peeking out.

“Shen Junfu, what are you doing?” Huo Qingzhuo looked at Shen Junfu suspiciously.

“Nothing,” Shen Junfu replied. Since everyone hadn’t arrived yet, she hadn’t found the figure she was looking for. She turned around to look at Huo Qingzhuo. “I thought of an idea. Will you agree to it?”

“What idea?”

Even though Huo Qingzhuo was already prepared to sing a cappella, she couldn’t help but ask when she heard Shen Junfu speak.

“There’s about an hour before we go on stage. This is a preliminary, not a final performance, so we can temporarily use a practice piano from the piano room. I can have people help move a piano over for you.” Shen Junfu looked at Huo Qingzhuo, clearly having a condition.

Huo Qingzhuo naturally knew she could use a practice piano; the key was how to get it moved. “Your condition?”

“Give up the piece you chose before. I’ll give up my violin. We’ll pick a new song together—a four-hand piano duet. Whoever can’t keep up or messes up loses. How about it?”

Shen Junfu disdained using petty tricks. She only wanted to compete fairly with Huo Qingzhuo to make her stay away from Shu Yueqing as soon as possible.

Quite the fan of high difficulty. This was undoubtedly treating their performance as a joke. Huo Qingzhuo focused her gaze on Shen Junfu. “Fine.”

Both agreed readily, and Shen Junfu immediately made a phone call.

In less than twenty minutes, a piano had been moved to the backstage. Huo Qingzhuo closed her eyes and picked a piece of sheet music. Seeing the title, Shen Junfu immediately showed a look of schadenfreude.

“You’re in trouble. This is a famous international war song—a charge. I’ll give you one more chance to pick another so you don’t say I’m bullying you.”

Shen Junfu hadn’t expected Huo Qingzhuo’s luck to be so “good.” This kind of song was so niche it wasn’t easy to find even if you looked for it, yet Huo Qingzhuo had pulled it out in one go.

Coincidentally, Huo Qingzhuo looked at the title and spread her hands confidently. She once had a movie soundtrack that featured this very song, and she had played that version herself.

“This is the one. Just don’t say I’m bullying you when the time comes.” Huo Qingzhuo placed the sheet music on the stand, her confidence growing.

“I admire your blind self-confidence.”

The two smiled at each other, their eyes flashing with a sharp competitive edge.

Huo Qingzhuo looked over the sheet music as time ticked by, quietly waiting to go on stage.

“Gosh, how did another judge show up? Her standards are terrifying! I get nervous just looking at her, and she gives absolutely no room for mistakes. The first few girls almost ran off crying. If I didn’t have such a strong mental state, I would have cried too. This is an opening ceremony, not an idol audition, does it have to be so strict?”

“Alright, alright, there’s nothing we can do. I heard she’s the chairwoman of the neighboring Zhuoyun Noble Middle School. Several buildings and many facilities in our school were donated by her. Of course her requirements are going to be harsh. It’s fine—if not a single person qualifies, the school will have to reschedule, and we’ll have another chance.”

Several more girls wearing ballet outfits came down from the stage dejectedly, whispering about the performance.

The girls’ conversation pulled Huo Qingzhuo back to reality from her sheet music. She looked at the piano that had already been moved onto the stage, then at Shen Junfu, who seemed to be growing out of the backstage doorframe. She put down the music, crept up behind her, and peeked out with her.

“Whoa! What are you doing?!”

Shen Junfu, who was watching intently, was startled by Huo Qingzhuo, and Huo Qingzhuo was also startled by Shen Junfu’s sudden turn. “I should be asking you, what are you looking at?”

“Know your enemy and know yourself, and you will never be defeated. I…”

Before Shen Junfu could finish her nonsense, the host’s voice rang out, interrupting their conversation.

“Next group, please enjoy the four-hand piano duet brought to you by Shen Junfu and Huo Qingzhuo—’Iron Blood’!”

Huo Qingzhuo and Shen Junfu exchanged a look, stood up straight simultaneously, adjusted their clothes, and gave each other a fake smile while gesturing for the other to lead the way.

Of the two, one was in a school uniform and the other in a tracksuit. Although they looked extremely informal, their posture and grace were displayed to the fullest.

When she looked toward the judges’ panel, Huo Qingzhuo’s gaze suddenly locked onto the judge in the very center. Although the woman was wearing a black mask, she recognized her instantly—it was Shu Yueqing.

The other woman was clearly surprised as well. Huo Qingzhuo gave Shu Yueqing a small smile. She finally knew what Shen Junfu had been looking at while clinging to the doorframe like a gecko.

She also finally understood the true intentions behind Shen Junfu’s “painstaking efforts.”

With a mutual understanding, the two sat side-by-side on the piano bench and looked at each other again. This time, the mutual appreciation from before was gone, replaced only by a thick, suffocating scent of gunpowder.

The sheet music was opened, and their posture was set. Huo Qingzhuo and Shen Junfu were highly focused. From the very beginning, they pushed the difficulty of the performance to the limit. Four hands flew across the keys, as if the thousands of horses from the music had come to life, galloping in all directions through the medium of notes.