The Pitiful Guy I Saved Is a Possessive Big Shot - Chapter 8

Since finishing his research on the plot, Shi Qingning had been searching for news about the An family. In the novel, the irreversible tragedy that happened to Bai Yexi started with them.

However, after several days, Shi Qingning had found nothing. “An” is not a common last name, and the family had clear traits: they had some money and a sickly son. These clues should have made them easy to find. Because search was so easy, it quickly became clear that no such An family existed in Haicheng.

So, did ‘Mint’ move to Haicheng from another city?

The novel didn’t explain this in detail, so Shi Qingning could only guess. But if his guess was right, the search area became much larger and harder. Young Master Shi was physically weak and couldn’t travel long distances; he had never even left Haicheng. If he suddenly started looking for information from other cities, the Shi family might get suspicious.

As Shi Qingning was thinking, he heard a knock on his bedroom door.

“Come in.”

Two men in black suits walked in carrying gift boxes of all sizes.

“Second Young Master, these are various gifts from the guests at yesterday’s party. Madam asked us to bring them to your room for you to see.”

Shi Qingning thanked them. As the bodyguards set the gifts down and prepared to leave, they didn’t forget to remind him: “Madam says to remember to rest after being awake for a while. Be careful not to get too tired.”

Since the younger son had just recovered, Madam Shi was still protecting him like fragile crystal.

Shi Qingning began to unwrap the gifts, but his movements slowed down. He rested his chin on his hand and looked at the items.

He already knew about some of the very expensive gifts from the party. For example, in the box from his parents was a thick manual for an astronomical telescope. The giant telescope itself was on the top floor of the Shi family villa. Shi Qingning could use it anytime to view the Milky Way and the stars.

The gift from Shi Yi was a clock display. This portable screen looked light, but it was actually connected via Bluetooth to a massive atomic clock. These clocks are incredibly accurate. While a normal home clock might lose a minute a year, an atomic clock only loses one second every few hundred million years.

Shi Qingning was curious about where he got it. Atomic clocks are usually used in aerospace labs or high-tech factories; you rarely hear of someone putting one in their house.

…But then again, putting a priceless telescope in a house isn’t something a normal family does either.

What Shi Qingning was most curious about was whose hobbies these gifts followed.

In his past life, Shi Qingning had a serious heart condition, and his few joys were astronomy and physics. He loved looking at the stars.

Was the original Young Master Shi the same?

Shi Qingning looked at a bottle of mint aromatherapy he had just unwrapped and fell into thought. Mint was also his favorite scent. To be honest, he was starting to wonder if these were coincidences, or if his arrival had completed the “settings” of this world?

The original young master left very few traces of his life and almost no personal information. For a heart patient who spent years in bed, that made sense. Shi Qingning knew very well that having congenital heart disease was like gambling with your life; staying in the hospital longer than at home was normal.

But this background made it hard for Shi Qingning to judge his situation. The novel spent no time describing the Shi family, and the original young master didn’t even appear in the movie version. Thus, it was only after waking up for a few days that Shi Qingning realized his adjustment had been surprisingly smooth.

Normally, waking up with someone else’s face every day should feel wrong for a long time. Shi Qingning’s memories were blurry, so he couldn’t confirm if this was his original face. He also found that his blurry memory caused no problems because the original young master had fought with the family before, the Shi family was now completely obedient to him and never doubted anything he said.

Thinking about it, there were a few too many coincidences.

Knock, knock.

There was another knock at the door. Someone was calling for him.

“Second Young Master, the follow-up exam results are here. Madam asks you to come see them.”

Shi Qingning went downstairs and saw his mother chatting with a doctor he had seen at the hospital.

“All indicators are within the normal range. Yes, you don’t need to worry too much, just keep it up!”

As Shi Qingning walked over, the two people holding the thick medical reports looked up. The doctor smiled and said, “The young master looks much better.”

“Thank you, Uncle Liu.”

Shi Qingning greeted him shyly and leaned over to look at the exam sheets. The doctor saw his curiosity and handed them to him while continuing to talk to Madam Shi.

Hospital results are mostly similar. Shi Qingning flipped through a few pages casually, and his eyes finally stopped on a brain CT scan. The photo was very clear. Seeing him look at it, the doctor helped straighten the page and said:

“The Second Young Master’s CT is also normal. There are no signs of nerve damage, though a few areas of the brain are more active than before.”

Shi Qingning didn’t say anything, but his eyebrow twitched. He had just talked to Shi Xiao Lin yesterday about brains and memory.

“Why is that?” Madam Shi asked. “Will it have an effect?”

“No, don’t worry,” the doctor laughed. “It’s likely because as the heart recovers, the blood supply to the brain is more sufficient than before. This is a good thing. Aren’t you planning to send him to school? Now that his energy is returning, he can adapt better to a normal school rhythm.”

Madam Shi felt relieved. “That’s wonderful…”

Shi Qingning: “…”

It happened again.

It felt like the settings of this world were being filled in by some invisible force.

After the doctor was sent away, Shi Qingning carefully tested Madam Shi.

“Mom,” Shi Qingning pulled her sleeve, “I want to eat bitter melon.”

The original young master hated bitter things.

“Why do you suddenly want bitter melon?” Madam Shi was indeed confused. But before Shi Qingning could explain, she said, “I’ll have the cook make it for lunch, okay?” She touched the boy’s forehead. “But don’t eat too much at first; you might not like the taste.”

“…”

Shi Qingning thought to himself that his mother’s concern was a bit different than he expected. He decided to try something bolder. He called out to his mother as she headed toward the kitchen.

“Mom, I also want to fall in love.”

What would people think of such sudden changes in personality? Could this test the “vibrations” of this world? Shi Qingning held his breath, waiting for her reaction.

To his surprise, there was almost no reaction at all.

“Sure,” Madam Shi said. Her tone was as calm as if she were saying he could eat bread today. “As long as our baby is happy and doesn’t hurt his health, Mom won’t object to whoever you want to date.”

Shi Qingning: …This isn’t ‘completing the settings,’ this is just pure spoiling!

Defeated, Shi Qingning had to set aside his plan to test the world for now. He couldn’t rush things. First, he sent a message to Bai Yexi.

[Lemon: My check-up results are out! Everything is normal. We can practice piano today!]

They had agreed to meet this week.

[Lemon: Where are you now?]

After getting Bai Yexi’s contact info last time, Shi Qingning had added him on WeChat. Bai Yexi’s profile picture was pure white, and his nickname was just the letter “B.” It was incredibly simple.

His phone was simple too. Shi Qingning had seen it once; the model was very old. It looked like he had saved up his own money to buy it and had used it for a long time.

Because he was working, whenever Shi Qingning sent messages before, Bai Yexi would only reply in the early morning. Shi Qingning wondered if he had been working all night again. He was thinking about whether he should call if there was no reply, when the phone vibrated twice.

[B: Mm.]

[B: At the music store.]

Shi Qingning looked at the screen and couldn’t help but smile. Even though the boy said so little, he had actually replied to both messages separately and seriously.

Youyang Music Store.

It was the weekend, and since students were on winter break, the store was very crowded. To attract customers, the store had placed three pianos in the lobby. The hall was full of staff and customers.

Among the customers were many students, especially elementary kids. Usually, this place would be very noisy with children running around. But right now, everyone was exceptionally quiet. They were all listening to one-person play.

A boy sat at the piano furthest inside the hall. He wore a white shirt and black pants, with his long hair falling like a waterfall. His looks were very striking, but right now, what captivated people most wasn’t his perfect face. It was the beautiful music that sounded like it came from heaven.

Playing the piano requires talent. Many parents hope that hard work is enough and for a hobby, it is. But in art, talent makes a difference.

The boy just sat there in a crowded, noisy corner of a lobby, yet he seemed to be on a brightly lit stage. His face was calm, his long lashes covered his eyes, and his pale skin glowed like jade under the warm lights. His long fingers looked like works of art themselves. People were amazed. How could anyone play music that sounded like a gift from God?

The boy was playing Reminiscences de Don Juan. He had picked up the sheet music from a corner of the hall. It was one of the “world’s hardest piano pieces” that some students had printed out of curiosity. The students had looked at two lines, given up, and thrown it aside. They didn’t expect to actually see someone play it.

He wasn’t showing off or being dramatic. There was no vanity in him, only calmness. He played the piece easily. As soon as the intro started, the noisy crowd was pulled in by the sound and went silent. Even the loud children forgot what they were saying and watched him with their mouths open.

When the clock in the hall struck the hour, the boy stopped playing and stood up. Only then did the crowd snap out of it.

“Who… who is that?”

“With that skill, he can’t be a student. Hey, is he a teacher at your store?”

“He looks too young. And with that skill, working at a music store is a waste. I went to the city piano competition a few days ago, and the first-place winner didn’t play as easily as he did!”

The crowd whispered, but the boy ignored them. He took two banknotes from his pocket, placed them on the music stand with the sheet music, and turned to leave.

The manager hurried over to meet him.

“Young man! Sir!” The manager blocked his path with a big smile. “Look, the usage fee is thirty an hour. We’ll give it to you for free today if you just play for us for another hour this afternoon, okay?”

They didn’t want to let him go. He had only played for an hour, but the kids who usually cried about not wanting to learn piano were staring with wide eyes. At this rate, they would sell so many lessons today. No expensive commercial or sales pitch could beat a live performance from this person.

The manager was calculating everything, but the boy ignored him and didn’t even stop walking.

The manager tried again: “If you come to practice here in the future, we can give you a discount.”

An employee of the music store was watching this and was suddenly tapped on the shoulder. Behind him was a middle-aged man with curly hair. “What’s going on?”

“Boss!” the employee pointed at the long-haired boy. “Look, that’s the genius kid we told you about! He’s been to several music stores. Every time he finishes practicing, he pays and leaves. No store can keep him. He finally came to ours, and the manager is trying to get him to stay.”

The employee sighed. “It looks like he still doesn’t want to.”

The curly-haired boss looked at the boy and smirked. “It’s easy to make someone stay.”

On the other side, the manager was sweating from talking so much when he suddenly heard a voice.

“Young man, you play well.”

The boss walked over and looked the boy up and down. The boy was cold as ice and gave no response, but the boss kept smiling.

“However, your finger technique isn’t quite standard. I think the way you apply force is wrong.”

With that, the boss reached out to the piano to demonstrate. He pressed a key with his foot on the pedal, but after two presses, a key suddenly made no sound.

“Huh?” The boss looked confused. “Strange, why isn’t this key working?”

The boy looked up, his cold dark green eyes watching him.

The boss acted like nothing was wrong and tried a few more times. He shook his head and said, “It really doesn’t work. It seems your method really is wrong. It hurts your hands and the piano.”

The crowd began to whisper.

“Oh no, did he break the piano?”

“Maybe the key didn’t work to begin with?”

Hearing the doubts, the boss had the manager pull up a video of the piano being tested earlier.

“At our store, we have two pianos in the lobby for rent. We test them every time before someone practices.”

The manager played a video of an employee testing the piano an hour ago. Indeed, the keys sounded fine then.

“So, he really did break it while practicing.” the crowd whispered.

The boss smiled slightly, feeling proud of himself. It worked. Now the boy had no way to argue. Plus, rumors said this boy had damaged vocal cords. At least, no one at the other music stores had ever heard him speak; he just left after practicing. If he couldn’t speak, he definitely couldn’t defend himself.

The boss hid his smile and put on a very “kind” face.

“Tell you what. You look like a student, so you probably don’t have much money.”

To have to run to so many different stores to practice, he must be poor. He was sure of it.

“Why don’t you work as a practice partner at our store a few times for free? I’ll count that as the repair fee, how about it?”

The boss smiled. “It’s rare to see a child who plays so well. I have a heart that appreciates talent.”

“A heart that appreciates talent?”

The boss’s words were suddenly interrupted by a clear, youthful voice.

“You mean a heart that is greedy for money.”

Everyone turned around to see a boy so beautiful that people wondered if he was a celebrity attending an event. He was staring coldly at the curly-haired boss. Behind the boy were a young man and a bodyguard.

It was Shi Qingning.

“You clearly made that key silent on purpose,” Shi Qingning said. “And now you’re framing someone else.”

The boss frowned and his expression grew cold. “Who are you?”

He didn’t expect the boy who had been silent and cold the whole time to suddenly speak. The boy’s voice was clear and cool, with a magnetic tone. There was no sign of damaged vocal cords at all.

“He is the one who hired me.”

Bai Yexi looked at the beautiful boy, his eyes flickering. To the onlookers, it was as if a frozen piece of art had finally come to life.

“I only practice piano for him.”

Sun Ming, who had followed the young master in, couldn’t help but look a bit strange. He thought to himself:

Wait! That sentence sounds a little suggestive, doesn’t it??