144: The Demon's Whisper

The word 'musician' was spoken with resounding force. Shen Qian was clearly the dominant party now, yet he displayed a softness he had never shown before.

"Want to chat?"

Shen Qian smiled.

"What... what do we have to talk about?"

"There's plenty we can talk about. For example, what your dream is, why you crave this piano so much..."

"Your Boyfriend, my family, and so on..."

"Why talk about those things?"

"To let me get to know you, of course. If I don't know you, how can I hit on you?"

"Hit on me!!!"

The girl immediately looked at Shen Qian warily, then glanced at the door.

"Don't be nervous, don't be nervous. Hitting on you doesn't mean I want to force you. I couldn't do something so base."

As Shen Qian spoke, he recalled that he seemed to have done something like that to Bai Xiu, but that woman hadn't resisted, so rounding it off, it was as if he hadn't.

"You! Disgusting, scumbag! I have a Boyfriend!"

Shen Qian nodded.

"I know. I also have a Girlfriend. That's why I said I'm going to hit on you, not that I'm going to date you."

"Get out. I don't want to talk about these things with you."

Shen Qian shook his head.

"No, you do. You say you have a Boyfriend, but your Boyfriend doesn't understand you."

"Your family doesn't understand you, your friends don't understand you. Only I understand you best."

Shen Qian said this as he walked toward Tao Yan.

"Don't come over here!"

Shen Qian remained unmoved and continued to approach, forcing the girl to back away to the side.

He sat down at the piano and began to play. It was still the same song, 'If It Can Radiate Brilliance,' except before he had played it on the violin, and now he could play it on the piano.

"You actually learned the piano! So fast!"

"Of course it's fast; I just used an experience card," Shen Qian thought to himself.

"After the Freshman Welcome Gala, this piece must have haunted you for quite a long time."

"Does your Boyfriend know?"

"I don't understand what you're talking about!"

"You really don't? Or are you pretending not to understand because you're afraid I'll successfully hit on you?"

"Ni Zixin is a 'little transparent' who has basically never performed on stage. But I can guarantee that even if you've performed far more often than she has, ten of her couldn't match how much you value that stage."

"So I can be certain that for a long time after the Freshman Welcome Gala, this piece has been a knot in your heart."

"You're thinking that perfect performance should have been yours. If you had been on stage, you would have definitely performed better!"

"Yes, so what? You think you know me so well that you can manipulate me?"

"You're wrong again. It's not that I want to manipulate you; it's that you're currently thinking about how to manipulate me."

"And if you want to manipulate me, there's only one path: being hit on by me."

"Why would I want to manipulate you?"

"If you didn't want to manipulate me, you would have stormed out the door the moment I said I was hitting on you. You know I wouldn't stop you."

"Tao Yan, I'm not a fool like your Boyfriend who thinks you're a simple, harmless woman."

"Phew~" Tao Yan let out a long breath.

"I don't want to listen to your nonsense anymore. I'm leaving!"

"Go ahead. Please."

"You're just letting me go like that?"

"The moment you step out of this door, I will immediately abandon the idea of hitting on you and find another target. The four golden flowers—Feng Qinmian, Guo Shuangcai, Xie Wan—anyone will do."

"If all else fails, other schools are fine too."

"You have many replacements, but finding someone to replace me won't be so easy."

"You're overconfident. You're not the only Second-generation rich guy."

"If your family background was solid, you wouldn't crave the stage so much, because your parents would support you. If your family was wealthy, you wouldn't be so obsessed with this piano, because you'd have an identical one at home."

"This means it's very difficult for you to become a marriage target for a Second-generation rich man."

"Even if you did get married, do you think you could fulfill your dreams?"

"Alright, I'm done talking. If you want to leave, then leave."

"This piano... you bought it for me to see."

"More than that. This piano is a control group. You can tell your Boyfriend that I donated a piano worth over a million to your college just to make a girl a little happier."

"You can also ask your Boyfriend to do the same. For him, he should be able to shell out over a million, right?"

Tao Yan fell silent, quietly looking at Shen Qian.

This person was truly vile to the extreme. He was actually telling her to test her Boyfriend's sincerity.

"Actually, even if I didn't say it, you would slowly let him discover it, wouldn't you?"

"Because in your perception, your so-called Boyfriend and his family are people you need to fight against."

"Or perhaps you realized the cruelty of society and reality early on and wanted to use your Boyfriend's family to lift you up. But gradually, you found that they don't want to lift you up. On the contrary, their goal is to make you give up your dreams and trap you completely."

"Your mind is actually complex to this degree."

"I'm just thinking what you're thinking, putting myself in your shoes. I'm Tao Yan, I'm beautiful, and I have a Boyfriend from a fairly well-off family."

"I have a dream of becoming a pianist."

"But after I got to university, I found that the talent I was so proud of might only be a little bit stronger than those around me. There are too many talented people."

"So I thought, since my parents can't support me, I might as well have my Boyfriend's family support me."

"This is a very good idea, but rich people aren't fools. Their investment and return must be proportional; they won't do a losing business."

"For example, letting me become a pianist is far less economical, practical, and stable than letting me become a full-time mother who stays home and looks after children."

"My Boyfriend loves me, but loving me doesn't necessarily mean supporting me. Because there are too many variables in the future, he's very likely to stand on his parents' side one day and persuade me to give up my dreams and return to the family."

At first, when Shen Qian spoke, the girl remained unmoved, but gradually, her expression changed.

The things hidden in the deepest part of her heart were actually being spoken aloud by him.

"Feel like I've exposed your calculations and feel a bit ashamed, thinking you shouldn't be such a calculating woman?"

"Stop talking!!!"

Tao Yan finally couldn't help but speak up.

"Your mind is filthy, so don't think others are as filthy as you!"

"Thanks for the compliment. My mind is filthy, I'm morally bankrupt, and I'm a big scumbag. Being targeted by a man like me is your good fortune, because then, all the reasons for you breaking your moral code will be me."

"I forced you to break it, or I seduced you into breaking it."

"You're simply a bastard."

"Do you like it?"

"Who would like a bastard!"

"Try it out. Maybe you'll like it."