Close Enough To Pluck the Stars” (GL) - Chapter 14

Chapter 14

“Hello, Teacher Liang! I’ve brought a guest today. Let me introduce her—this lady beside me is a new leader at my workplace, Dr. Shu Qingchen,” Liang Ke said.

“Hello, Grandma,” Shu Qingchen greeted.

“Oh, hello there!”

Liang Ke rubbed her frost-reddened ears, expecting her grandmother to come over and give her a hug.

However, that expectation was quickly dashed.

Professor Liang Jiyue’s joy was written all over her face. Ignoring her granddaughter entirely, she walked straight and affectionately toward Shu Qingchen.

“What a lovely girl! Are you cold? Quick, come in, come in and sit down.”

She lovingly guided Shu Qingchen to sit on the sofa. Between the pleasantries, she didn’t forget to instruct Liang Ke to start cooking immediately.

“Low oil, low salt, a good balance of meat and vegetables. Five dishes and one soup. You decide the portions, but make sure the guest is satisfied.”

“I know, I know!” Liang Ke shouted casually. “You’ve been eating my cooking for twenty years; what are you worried about?”

Professor Liang then kindly asked Shu Qingchen if she had any dietary restrictions.

“Don’t bother asking,” Liang Ke cut in. “I know it all. She doesn’t like cilantro—can’t even stand the smell. I’ll make her meatball soup separately later.”

Shu Qingchen was about to say it was no trouble, but Professor Liang had already laid down the law: “Why make it separately? Put the cilantro away; don’t put it in any of the dishes. Actually, it just so happens I don’t like it either.”

“Huh?”

Liang Ke tilted her head, thinking. She had cooked three meals a day for her grandmother for twenty years and had never heard a word about her disliking cilantro.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” the old professor urged repeatedly.

“Right, okay, okay!”

Liang Ke dashed into the kitchen alone, lugging the heavy bags. While efficiently washing vegetables, cleaning the fish, and steaming the rice, she sighed at the superficiality of the world. Is a high beauty-score really everything?

“Of course not,” the old professor called out from the living room, as if refuting her thoughts. “Besides beauty, one must have temperament. When you finally possess a temperament like your leader’s, I’ll feel like I haven’t picked you up and brought you home for nothing.”

Shu Qingchen was shocked by the bluntness of the conversation.

Liang Ke had to emerge holding a sea bass to explain: “Professor Liang isn’t actually my biological grandmother. She’s my adoptive mother’s maternal aunt. Formally, I should call her my ‘Grand-Aunt-by-Adoption’.”

“Too many syllables, and it sounds old,” Professor Liang commented.

“True, calling you ‘Grandma’ makes you sound younger,” Liang Ke dared to tease. Seeing the reproaching look from Professor Liang, she stuck out her tongue and quickly scurried back to the kitchen to work.

Shu Qingchen felt bad and wanted to help, but Professor Liang stopped her. She said, “We don’t let guests do housework. Watch TV with me; your institute has been on the news quite a lot lately, I’ve seen it several times.”

Shu Qingchen mentioned she was a newcomer and wasn’t very familiar with the Institute’s affairs yet. Professor Liang said, “You’ll get used to it. When Liang Ke first started working, she was overwhelmed every day. She’d complain to me constantly, saying if she’d known, she would have become a forest ranger or found a deserted island to guard a lighthouse—anything to avoid being a mental laborer.”

Shu Qingchen couldn’t help but smile. She glanced toward the kitchen and asked, “And what did you say?”

“I agreed, of course!” Professor Liang replied with a beaming smile. “Not only did I agree, I found her a ready-made master. Old Chen, who works in our school’s security office, traveled all over the country when he was young. He’d been a sailor, a blacksmith, a tofu seller—he’s tasted every kind of hardship. I had Liang Ke take a few bottles of good liquor over to chat with him. When that ‘little cat’ came back, she was incredibly well-behaved. The next day, she went back to the Institute to work honestly and hasn’t made a fuss since.”

Liang Ke put the sea bass on to steam and took the chance to tidy the kitchen, putting away utensils and wiping the stove clean. Hearing her grandmother airing her dirty laundry in front of Shu Qingchen, she came out to mop the floor in a fit of bashful rage.

“Stop, stop, child! Didn’t I teach you? It’s rude to mop the floor while guests are here.” Liang Jiyue extinguished Liang Ke’s labor enthusiasm.

Left with no choice, Liang Ke fled the scene with her mop. She went to the balcony, gathered Liang Jiyue’s laundry, and folded it neatly into categories. In between, she rushed to get the five dishes and one soup onto the table, managing both tasks flawlessly.

During the meal, Liang Jiyue and Shu Qingchen conversed happily, while Liang Ke buried her head in her food. She would protest occasionally when her grandmother belittled her, but she was quickly suppressed by the professor’s verbal firepower. Consequently, she channeled all her passion into the steamed fish, meatballs, and greens, to the point where her stomach felt a bit uncomfortable by the time she was washing the dishes.

After finishing her lecture on her granddaughter, Liang Jiyue gave her some digestive tablets and hawthorn pills. Only then did she turn to Shu Qingchen and voice her concerns: “This child Liang Ke, though she looks unreliable, has been upright and honest since she was little. She could never do anything that goes against her conscience. If someone says she’s deceiving those above or below her, I’m the first to disbelieve it.”

Liang Ke choked on her water. After struggling to swallow the pill, she asked with a long face, “You already know about me being under investigation?”

“The Institute may have moved, but it was a neighbor to our Conservatory of Music for so many years. Is there anything you can hide from me?” Professor Liang said triumphantly.

“It’s just a small matter,” Liang Ke said. “A straight tree fears no crooked shadow. They’ll clear it up eventually. Old Hu’s big project is about to pass review. Just wait—I’ll come home for the New Year with a trophy and a certificate of merit.”

Hearing this, the gentle and warm light in Shu Qingchen’s eyes suddenly dimmed. She looked as if she wanted to say something but hesitated, a look that Liang Ke caught clearly.

“Well, that would be wonderful,” Professor Liang said happily, patting the back of her granddaughter’s head. Just then, the landline in the living room rang. Liang Ke ran to answer; it was an old student from out of town calling to give Professor Liang New Year’s greetings. “Old Liang” trotted over to take the call, instructing Liang Ke before she left to give Shu Qingchen a tour of the house and not to neglect the guest.

Liang Ke was glad her grandmother had stopped teasing her, and she genuinely enjoyed spending time alone with Shu Qingchen. She first led her to the music room, pointing out the room full of instruments.

There were many types of instruments; some Shu Qingchen recognized, others she didn’t. Liang Ke didn’t actually know much about them either—she only knew their names and their prices.

She sighed, saying, “Those three violins are worth more than all the other instruments in this room combined.” She pointed them out to Shu Qingchen. “Look at these smooth, rounded lines, look at the varnish, look at the details here and there. Back then, they emptied our old lady’s life savings. But she said music is priceless—even if she had to take out a loan, she had to buy them. She even considered selling me off! Haha, just kidding. Since buying them, she treats them like treasures, maintaining them morning and night. She’s one step away from building a shrine to worship them.”

Liang Ke’s hands started to itch with interest. She carefully picked one up. Just as the bow touched the strings, the music room door was pushed open. It was Grandma Professor.

“I’ve already washed my hands!” Liang Ke blurted out, startled.

“When you were little, adults had to force you to practice, and you screamed like a stuck pig. Now that you’re grown, you like it?” Professor Liang exposed her ruthlessly. Then she added, “It’s a rare opportunity today. Show your leader your talent, and let me hear if you’ve made any progress.”

Liang Ke was amused. Her eyes were on Shu Qingchen, but her words were for her grandmother: “With my level, is that called ‘showing talent’? You’re just blatantly showing off.”

“You don’t have a shred of talent,” Professor Liang evaluated ‘civilly.’ Then, invoking the authority of thirty years of teaching, she said, “Let’s agree on one thing: it’s the New Year, you are not allowed to play Reflection of the Moon in the Erquan Pool.”

“Butterfly Lovers?”

“Don’t even think about it.”

“Fine, then I’ll play something cheerful for everyone.”

“Don’t play Racing Horses either. Even if you aren’t sick of it, I am,” Professor Liang said, predicting her move.

“Then there’s nothing left! That’s all I know.” Liang Ke deflated completely, her shoulders slumping as she sat back down, looking at Shu Qingchen with a pitiful, aggrieved expression.