Transmigrated as the School Hunk's Arch-Nemesis [Book Transmigration] - Chapter 6

The phone call arrived just in time, sparing Shen Yixing and Ruan Ming from an awkward conversation.

Shen Yixing got up and prepared to leave the waiting room to answer. In the foyer of the auditorium, the sound of the drums was deafening, a rendition of Last of the Wilds nearly blowing the roof off the venue. The screams of the students could be heard clearly through the corridor.

People were passing through the hallway, so Shen Yixing waited until he found a quiet restroom to answer the call.

“Little Xing,” the deep, masculine voice on the other end fell silent for a few seconds, “You’re almost on break, right?”

At Tongnan National Music School, students usually got a break about every half month. Since tomorrow was the start of the holiday, he could go straight home after today’s performance.

Shen Yixing acknowledged this with a hum, waiting for the man to continue.

“Your aunt and I are too busy to come pick you up, and, oh, you don’t need to go out of your way to come to our place this time. If it’s convenient, just go back to your own home after the break.”

Shen Yixing pursed his lips and agreed dismissively, “Got it.”

“Also, your brother wants to buy an instrument, can you transfer me some more money…”

“Sorry, I don’t have any money,” Shen Yixing hung up the phone decisively before the other person could finish his sentence.

Shen Yixing knew exactly what this so-called “uncle” was like. When the original owner was a child, his parents died in an accident. It was said that the insurance company paid out a large sum of money, but his uncle drained the entire compensation under the guise of tuition, training fees, and living expenses.

Now that the money was gone and the original owner no longer had any utility, the uncle’s family naturally didn’t want to bother raising someone else’s child. But that was fine, it saved Shen Yixing from having to pretend to get along with them.

The restroom was filled with a faint smell of cigarette smoke, and sunlight filtered through the glass window, revealing wisps of white smoke dancing in the air.

“Aren’t you up soon, why aren’t you waiting in the prep room?”

A person suddenly appeared from behind the restroom door, startling Shen Yixing enough that he took a half-step back.

Jiang Baiyi extinguished the cigarette he had been holding between his fingers against the edge of the sink and casually tossed it into the trash can.

“Was showing off a few days ago fun, and now you’re getting cold feet before you even go on stage?”

“I’m not scared,” Shen Yixing shook his phone and said honestly, “I just came to take a call, it’s too noisy outside.”

Jiang Baiyi glanced at him, his look suggesting he didn’t quite believe it.

Shen Yixing had just checked the time on his phone, it was 2:00 PM on Sunday. If he remembered correctly, the last time he saw Jiang Baiyi, he had told Ruan Ming he was busy on Sunday.

Holding his phone, Shen Yixing had a sudden realization.

So, Jiang Baiyi had lied to Ruan Ming, claiming he was busy, but had actually come here on the sly without telling him.

This guy was actually quite interesting.

The phone in his hand buzzed again, and a WeChat message popped up. Shen Yixing had downloaded and registered for WeChat not long ago just to receive important class notifications.

He opened the message and saw that someone in the class group had sent, “Sitting here waiting for the jinx to get crushed by that guy from the next class!”

Boring nonsense. Shen Yixing read it, then deleted the chat window completely without any expression.

The mirror by the sink reflected the two of them. Shen Yixing stood by the restroom door for a while, and the class performances had already moved on to Class 3 of the third year.

After Class 3, it would be Class 2. Shen Yixing thought about reminding Jiang Baiyi, but felt like he might be meddling. He glanced at Jiang Baiyi, who was looking down at his phone by the sink, and pulled open the restroom door, saying, “I’m going first.”

“Wait.”

Shen Yixing turned his head. Jiang Baiyi put away his phone and walked over, draping an arm around his shoulder like a good buddy.

A faint smell of cigarettes lingered around Shen Yixing’s nose. He glanced at the arm on his shoulder and frowned.

“What is it?”

A large hand suddenly gripped Shen Yixing’s chin, forcing him to look up.

Jiang Baiyi leaned in slightly, his hair brushing against Shen Yixing’s forehead. After he had examined Shen Yixing’s features carefully, he narrowed his eyes and teased, “Play well, don’t embarrass our class too much.”

Warm breath puffed against his face, and looking at the magnified face in front of him, Shen Yixing held his breath.

“Don’t just stand there, no matter how long you stand there, you’ll still end up embarrassing yourself just the same,” Jiang Baiyi patted Shen Yixing’s face and walked past him toward the audience seats.

In the hallway, the students from the school’s publicity department were busy organizing the performance order. Following the guidance of the student union, Shen Yixing was led to the waiting area.

A girl at the entrance of the waiting room saw Shen Yixing and waved at him.

“Are you Shen Yixing from Class 1 of the third year?” The girl checked the name on the registration form and asked with a smile.

Shen Yixing nodded, and the girl continued, “Ruan Ming from Class 2 changed his piece at the last minute. I only noticed when I was checking, and your songs are clashing now, so I wanted to ask if you want to…”

The girl looked troubled, and Shen Yixing guessed what she was going to say.

“You want to suggest that I change my song?”

The girl waved her hands, “No, it’s not that. If you are determined to play G Minor, it’s not impossible, I’m just afraid you’ll find it awkward, because after all, Ruan Ming… you know.”

When two people playing back-to-back perform the same piece, the audience inevitably makes comparisons, especially since Ruan Ming’s piano skills weren’t bad, so to stand out, one had to be significantly better.

“It doesn’t matter.”

There wasn’t a hint of displeasure on Shen Yixing’s cold face. The girl let out a sigh of relief and clenched her fist to cheer him on, “Then, good luck, classmate Shen Yixing!”

“Thanks.”

After the girl left, the student hosting the performance in the auditorium began to make the announcements again.

“The next class to perform is Class 2, third year. The instrument is piano, and the performer is Ruan Ming.”

The lights in the auditorium dimmed. A white spotlight fell on the center of the stage, contrasting with the black piano. Ruan Ming adjusted his sheet music, looked up, smiled at the audience, and skillfully played the first note.

“Wow, is Ruan Ming playing G Minor Etude? The jinx is going to get crushed today!”

In the audience, the seating area for Class 1 of the third year was right in the middle, and any movement could be heard by the surrounding classes.

Before the performance began, the boys in Class 1 had made bets. More than twenty boys had bet on Ruan Ming winning first place for the piano performance, and the remaining few had pityingly bet one yuan for Shen Yixing.

“G Minor is super hard, I practiced for years and never learned it.”

“If you don’t have the skills, you shouldn’t play it, otherwise it’s just mental, physical, and pride-damaging torture.”

“As expected of the little piano prince, he really is something.”

Beneath the black and white keys, the lively melody energized the atmosphere. Human nature is to admire strength, and even those who didn’t like Ruan Ming were forced to be captivated by his piano playing.

As the last note of the piece fell, the whole auditorium erupted in thunderous applause, and the girls in the back rows shrieked.

When Ruan Ming came off stage, he happened to brush shoulders with Shen Yixing, who was standing at the entrance of the waiting room. He saw Shen Yixing and stopped, folding up his sheet music and smiling faintly, “Good luck, classmate Shen. You don’t have to be too nervous after you get on stage.”

“Hmm.”

“How did I play?” Ruan Ming asked.

Shen Yixing looked at Ruan Ming. He had seen exactly how Ruan Ming played from the waiting room.

The playing was indeed quite good, but the technique didn’t seem as legendary as the rumors claimed. At most, it was a seven out of ten.

Shen Yixing praised him without a trace of insincerity, “It was quite good.”

Ruan Ming smiled, and very modestly added, “It was my first time playing this piece, I don’t feel like I performed at my best.”

Shen Yixing looked away and stopped talking.

“It’s your turn,” Ruan Ming tilted his head slightly, pointing his finger at the foyer, “It’s time for you.”

“Classmate Shen, where is your sheet music?”

Ruan Ming seemed very surprised that Shen Yixing didn’t have any sheet music, and then he seemed to understand something, saying, “Oh, so you’re so proficient that you don’t need it. Unlike me, I learned Twinkle Twinkle Little Star Variations when I was little and it took me a long time to memorize the score.”

“Is that so?” Shen Yixing ignored the host’s announcement in the foyer, and turned his head to say to Ruan Ming before leaving, “Then you were pretty stupid when you were a kid.”

“Class 1, third year! The performance time is tight, don’t dawdle, get up there quickly!”

The performance was nearing its end, and the students in the audience had long since run out of patience.

However, the people in Class 1 of the third year were all alert.

Everyone had bet a little money, so they couldn’t afford to waste it. They all craned their necks, waiting for the “death song” from Shen Yixing.

“Deskmate, good luck! I bet ten yuan on you!”

Zhao Ci shouted at the top of his lungs, drawing sneers from the crowd.

Jiang Baiyi, who had just woken up, opened his eyes. He rested his chin on his hand, leaning against the armrest of the chair. He looked up and down with dark, deep eyes, smiling like he was watching a good show. Not long after, he closed his eyes again.

Under the spotlight, Shen Yixing lifted his slender fingers, closed his eyes, and let out a long breath. The next second, his fingertips flew across the black and white keys.

The lively piano melody sounded exactly like a sled gliding along a path in a vast, snow-covered mountain, carrying its master as it sped into the distance to the sound of sweet, silver bells.

Suddenly, the music became urgent, as if a ferocious wild wolf were chasing the sled.

As the music grew tense, the hearts of the students in the audience began to race.

However, at the most tense moment, Shen Yixing lifted his hands and brought the performance to a decisive end.

When the performance concluded, the whole room went deathly silent. Some people whispered to their companions, others flipped through their phones to look up information about the sheet music.

“Holy crap! Did he just fuse G Minor into C Minor?”

Someone yelled out, and the entire audience broke into an uproar. The students who were still Googling looked up in astonishment, shaking the people next to them to show them the information they had just found.

“Holy cow! Both are purgatory-level pieces, and he played them without needing sheet music, is he a devil?”

“Mom, my ears are pregnant!”

“This guy is actually from Class 1? Aren’t they all deadbeats, how could there be someone this incredible in that class?”

“This melody, this speed, this seamless fusion, compared to the one Ruan Ming played, it’s N times better!”

Students from other classes discussed Shen Yixing, and even the teachers were praising the performance as a rare sight.

In the Class 1 seating area, the boys all had their mouths wide open and their eyes round, unable to believe it.

Is this… Shen Yixing?

Is this the Shen Yixing who scored an F on the mock exam?

They must be seeing ghosts!

In the pile of boys, Tang Yuan poked Jiang Baiyi gently, marveling, “Brother Yi, don’t tell me the jinx was possessed by some musician!”

Jiang Baiyi had opened his eyes the moment Shen Yixing played the G Minor piece. His gaze followed Shen Yixing closely, and it wasn’t until the person had left the stage and was out of sight that he came back to his senses.

“Brother Yi, I remember Shen Yixing didn’t know how to play the piano at all, didn’t he get an F on the last mock exam?”

Tang Yuan scratched his head. Seeing that Jiang Baiyi ignored him, he turned to talk to Zhao Ci on the other side.

Zhao Ci, like the other boys in the class, had his jaw dropped, almost popping his eyes out.

“Zhao Ci, what’s up with your deskmate?”

Zhao Ci was resting his chin on his hands, wishing he could offer his knees to his deskmate in worship.

After being patted by Tang Yuan, Zhao Ci woke up from his admiration, and replied in a daze, “I, I don’t know either. He, he’s so freaking awesome, really, so awesome!”

In the front row of seats, Jin Sheng’s legs went weak and he fell to his knees, pinching the person next to him in disbelief, “Damn… Grandpa is awesome.”

Behind the stage, Shen Yixing saw the pale-faced Ruan Ming the moment he stepped off the stage.

“Why can you play the C Minor Etude? When did you learn it?” Ruan Ming reached out his arm to block his path, articulating clearly and firmly.

Shen Yixing had never been able to like Ruan Ming, and this tone of interrogation made it even more annoying.

“I learned it while you were memorizing the sheet music for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star Variations.”

He wasn’t bragging about this, Shen Yixing had indeed known how to play it since he was a child.

Ruan Ming looked as if he had lost his soul. The blood drained from his face, and his lips parted, murmuring, “How can you people be the same.”

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