429: Chapter 429 When will I be able to have more than everyone else?

"As expected of a national champion."

As those words fell, the smile on Ye Xi's face froze, and the surprise in her eyes slowly spread.

Her expression remained frozen for a full two seconds.

"Grandfather, you also know about Fu Zhi Yao Competition?"

In Ye Xi's memory, her grandfather rarely took the initiative to follow literary competitions.

His daily life was filled with scores, records, and students; occasionally he would flip through a book,

but mostly it was to find another form of expression within music.

Elder Ye had his hands behind his back and didn't stop walking.

A smile hung on the corners of his mouth, leisurely and unhurried.

"It's all because of your Grandpa Su; that old man has been nagging me quite a bit."

The words "Grandpa Su" echoed in the corridor.

Ye Xi's pace noticeably slowed by half a beat, as if she needed extra time to digest this information.

Lin Que walked half a step behind, his face calm, though his fingers curled slightly against the seam of his trousers.

Grandpa Su.

There was almost no second person this form of address could point to.

Su Mubai.

Lin Que thought of that old man in the Qinglan Project classroom, who was gentle to the point of being sharp.

Sitting behind the lectern, Su Mubai could deconstruct a person's article down to the bone with just one sentence.

The expression he had when he sat on the podium and asked him, "Between you and Jian Shen, whose eyes see deeper?" flashed in Lin Que's memory at this moment.

Ye Xi instinctively followed up:

"Grandpa Su? Hasn't he already retired?

The last time I saw him was the year before last in a coconut grove in Hai Province. He was wearing a floral shirt and fishing. He was particularly happy when he caught a slipper, and at that time, he even said he wouldn't return to the capital."

Elder Ye smiled and didn't take the bait about the slipper.

"Saying it is one thing, doing it is another."

His pace slowed down a bit, and his tone carried a hint of sentimentality.

"This session of 'Fu Zhi Yao Competition' is the most significant one yet.

From the Writers Association to the Ministry of Education, from Qingbei to the provincial Federations of Literary and Art Circles, everyone is watching.

Although your Grandpa Su has stopped writing for many years, that old man's eyes have never been closed."

At this point, Elder Ye's pace slowed down.

His gaze shifted from Ye Xi's face to Lin Que's, stopping for a second.

His voice wasn't loud, but every word carried significant weight.

"Last month, the Chairman of the Writers Association invited him out of retirement in Hai Province. After returning to the capital, Su Mubai made three phone calls to me."

He held up three fingers and shook them.

"Three calls. Each one lasted at least forty minutes."

Ye Xi's eyebrows shot up.

Forty minutes.

She knew Grandpa Su's calling habits too well.

This old gentleman could finish explaining what he wanted to say within three minutes and then hang up decisively.

Three times, forty minutes...

That was two hours.

Su Mubai spending two hours on the phone to discuss one matter was something that had never happened in Ye Xi's memory.

Elder Ye paused and looked at Lin Que.

"Half of that time was spent discussing that gifted young man."

The warm light of the corridor lamps cast three shadows of varying lengths on the floor tiles; it was so quiet that the low hum of the air conditioning vent could be heard.

Lin Que's expression didn't change at all.

But his mind had already pieced together the scattered fragments in a very short time.

Elder Ye and Su Mubai were old friends, and the two families were close enough that Ye Xi had called him "Grandpa Su" since she was a child.

Su Mubai had been invited by Dai Shengzong and Xue Hongchuan to serve as a special guest professor for the training camp, and after returning to the capital, he specifically mentioned him to Elder Ye.

Whether in the literary world or the music world, the top circles among this generation of elders have never been two parallel lines.

The bond between them might be the clinking of glasses at a literary gathering decades ago,

or perhaps a long-distance phone call in the middle of the night that lasted until three in the morning.

The circle is not large, but the channels are deep.

"Elder Ye overpraises me."

Lin Que's speech was steady, his tone without fluctuation.

"Mr. Su is a senior who gave me a few pointers during the training session; I have benefited greatly."

"To be mentioned by him is already a great honor."

Elder Ye looked at him for two seconds.

"You should know Su Mubai better than Ye Xi does."

Elder Ye withdrew his gaze and continued walking forward.

"The number of young people he has praised in his life can be counted on both hands.

The last time a junior was repeatedly mentioned by him on the phone was over twenty years ago."

Lin Que didn't respond.

Standing beside him, the amount of information in Ye Xi's head was already overloaded.

She stole a glance at Lin Que.

This guy's expression was still calm.

Elder Ye walked a few steps, put away his sentimental expression, and patted the back of his hand as if he had suddenly remembered something.

"Speaking of which, a few old friends are also backstage.

Tonight's competition is of no small scale; many people from the circle have come.

It just so happens that I'll take Xiao Xi over to meet them."

He turned his head to look at Lin Que.

"Xiao Lin, if you're not in a hurry, why don't you come along for a bit?"

Ye Xi turned to look at Lin Que almost as a reflex.

There was something indescribable hidden in her gaze.

Her lips were slightly pursed, as if waiting for something, yet also as if fearing something.

Lin Que understood that look.

Without half a second of hesitation, he bowed slightly, his tone sincere but not humble.

"Elder Ye is too kind; it is my honor to be able to follow my seniors and gain some experience."

Elder Ye looked at him, the satisfaction in his eyes deepening by another degree.

"Then let's go together."

Behind them, Ye Xi's fingers, which had been gripping her skirt, quietly relaxed.

She turned sideways, pretending to tidy the stray hairs by her ear,

but the curve of her lips was hidden in the shadow of her hair, impossible to suppress no matter how hard she tried.

The three of them walked toward the end of the corridor.

Elder Ye was in front, his pace steady, the corners of his zhongshan suit swaying with his steps.

Lin Que and Ye Xi were half a step behind, following side by side.

The two of them walked side by side, very close, yet both tacitly maintaining a bit of distance.

After walking a dozen steps, Ye Xi lowered her voice and leaned in to say something only Lin Que could hear.

"Grandpa Su and my grandfather are lifelong friends; he's watched me grow up since I was a child, but that temper of his..."

Ye Xi curled her lip and lowered her voice another degree.

"He's even more stubborn than my grandfather."

She paused.

"The fact that he could talk about you on the phone for forty minutes is rarer than me getting a perfect score in a piano competition."

Lin Que tilted his head to look at her, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.

"Then should I be overwhelmed by the favor?"

"You should be trembling with fear."

Ye Xi glared at him, but there was laughter hidden in her voice.

"A talent that Grandpa Su has his eye on will be questioned until they doubt their very existence.

Last time, a young poet recommended by the Writers Association went to visit him in Hai Province; when he came out, his face was gray, saying it felt like someone had opened his brain to inspect it.

That very night, he withdrew his collection of poems from the internet."

Lin Que recalled those few conversations with Su Mubai in the training camp classroom.

That gentle yet sharp old man had asked him why he didn't cry out in pain for the characters in his writing, and asked whether he or "Jian Shen" saw deeper.

Every question had cut precisely into the most vital spot.

The corner of his mouth curled up.

"I've already been questioned."

"Hmm?" Ye Xi blinked.

"At the training camp. Su Mubai is a special guest professor for the Qinglan Project."

Ye Xi's pace faltered for a beat.

She turned her head, opened her mouth as if to say something, then swallowed it back.

After two seconds of silence, she managed to squeeze out a sentence.

"So Grandpa Su came out of retirement... for you all?"

Ye Xi took a deep breath and exhaled very slowly.

Lin Que nodded.

"Don't worry, as for the questioning, I've already passed successfully," Lin Que added, his tone relaxed.

Ye Xi nodded and let out a long breath, not responding.

But her fingers hanging at her side instinctively curled, gripping the fabric of her skirt.

They walked in silence for a few steps.

"Lin Que, just how many things are you still hiding that I don't know about?"

"Not many," Lin Que's voice was low and his tone light.

"You already know more than most people."

Ye Xi pursed her lips and looked at him, her gaze lingering on his profile for two seconds.

"Then when will it be more than everyone else?"

The moment the words left her mouth, Ye Xi herself was stunned.

She immediately turned her head, pretending to look at the photos on the wall, but the redness of her ears was impossible to hide.

Lin Que didn't answer, but he slowed his pace, quietly moving a bit closer to her as they walked side by side.

Elder Ye in front didn't look back, but the hand behind his back lightly tapped his other hand, and he repeatedly suppressed the smile at the corners of his mouth.

He wouldn't meddle in the affairs of young people.

But he could understand them.

The corridor turned a corner.

The decorative paintings on both walls changed from performance posters to group photos of past masterclasses.

Frame after frame of black-and-white and color faces flashed past, all representing the most important moments of this concert hall over the past half-century.

Elder Ye walked ahead and suddenly turned his head slightly, without looking back, adding a sentence as if talking to himself.

"Old Su also said one more thing on the phone."

Lin Que and Ye Xi both looked at his back.

"He said that when this young man named Lin Que writes, his eyes are looking downward."

Elder Ye's voice wasn't loud, and he didn't stop walking.

"Only those who look downward can see the mud. Taking a glance from a high place can only be called passing through."

After he finished saying this, the corridor was silent for three seconds.

Ye Xi turned her head to look at Lin Que.

Lin Que's expression hadn't changed.

But his pace was slightly slower than before, as if he were seriously savoring the weight of those words.

"Mr. Su is very considerate of us juniors."

Elder Ye didn't look back, but there was an imperceptible lightheartedness in his step.

The corridor continued to extend forward.

The light changed from warm yellow to a soft off-white, and the floor tiles changed from light gray marble to a dark red walkway covered with thick carpet.

What hung on the walls on both sides were no longer group photos, but several simply framed works of calligraphy.

A faint scent of tea drifted in the air.

Elder Ye slowed his pace and turned to say something to the two young people.

"When we go in later, just perform naturally.

Don't be stiff, and don't try to show off on purpose.

Those few inside are all old-timers, and what they hate most is young people putting on airs."

These words were directed at Lin Que.

His tone was like that of an elder in the family giving instructions to a junior before meeting friends, so natural it didn't seem like their second meeting.

Lin Que nodded.

"I understand."

As Ye Xi listened from the side, a feeling she couldn't quite describe welled up in her heart.

Her grandfather's attitude toward Lin Que had already surpassed ordinary appreciation.

That tone was too natural, as if he had brought him into a more intimate circle.

She lowered her eyes, her gaze falling on her ring finger where the nail polish was already half-worn off, and the curve of her mouth quietly curled up again.

A heavy walnut door appeared at the end of the corridor.

Above the door frame was a polished bronze plaque.

The words "VIP Lounge II" were illuminated with a soft luster by the corridor lamps.

The door was slightly ajar.

The light coming through the crack was warmer than in the corridor, glowing with an amber hue.

Low voices of conversation could be heard faintly, the specific content unclear, only that steady rhythm unique to voices of a certain age.

Occasionally, the clinking of a porcelain cup against a saucer could be heard—a "ding" that was crisp yet restrained.

That sound wasn't loud, but every syllable was heavy, carrying the unique aura of people who had long held high positions.

Elder Ye stopped walking.

He turned back to look at the two young people.

The old man's gaze first fell on Ye Xi's face, then moved to Lin Que's.

In those eyes that had watched pianos for a lifetime, a subtle blend of amusement and solemnity was mixed.

He reached out and placed his hand on the doorknob.

"Let's go in."

...