Chapter Ten The First Piano Lesson

  After the mid-term exam, Zou Ze's grades met the requirements, so now he can openly learn guitar.

  It happened to be Saturday and Zou Ze had nothing to do, so he took them to the cultural troupe.

  "What do you want to learn? I'll arrange a time for you." Zou Ze asked Ji Xin'an while walking forward and turning his head sideways.

  "How is the time arranged, a whole day or half a day? Is there anyone else learning with us?" Ji Xin'an asked casually, pulling along Chen Zhaoji who was still a bit embarrassed. In fact, she was also feeling a little nervous at this moment, if it really was just Zhou Ze teaching them privately, she would feel somewhat embarrassed.

  "It should be half a day, and there are not only our own students, but also children of other troops and some foreign friends. Don't worry about it." Zou Ze looked at her and smiled reassuringly.

  "Oh, then I'll learn piano on Saturday morning and national standard dance in the afternoon. On Sunday, I'll learn violin for half a day." She didn't plan to leave Sunday afternoon free, but wanted to find another place outside to learn painting.

  "How did you learn that? Can you really learn it?" Zou Ze and Chen Zhaoji were both shocked, staring at Ji Xin'an, looking like they had been scared by her.

  Ji Xin'an thought that would scare you, but haven't you seen how kids these days change schools every weekend like they're running a market stall? They're even more exhausted than office workers. How happy are students nowadays!

  "I'm a genius!" Ji Xin said with a proud smile on her face, feeling pleased and content.

  Zou Ze shook his head helplessly. "Chen Zhaoji, what do you plan to learn? You can't be like that, or you'll be exhausted to death after a day."

  "I'm not going to make it, I don't have a good grasp of learning anything, and besides, I haven't even thought about what to learn yet!" Chen Zhaoji lowered her head in distress.

  "Why don't you just learn piano with me? It's a must-have for elegant ladies!" Ji Xin'an said with a smile as she returned.

  "You still dare to call yourself a beautiful and elegant lady? You'd better not insult these two words." Zou Ze seems to have a very poisonous tongue.

  Ji Xin'an pinned Zou Ze to the ground with a small twist, then looked at him gently and said, "Zou Ze, do I look like an elegant beauty?"

  "Yes, yes, you are absolutely the most elegant beauty now." Zou Ze didn't pay attention at all and was knocked down by her purely by accident. However, he still got up from the ground and deliberately pretended to be pitiful to beg for mercy.

  "Hmm, this is about right." He said, releasing him.

  Zou Ze stood up, rubbing his wrist and said, "I didn't expect you to have this skill, let's find a place to practice sometime?"

  Before Ji Xin'an could speak, someone blocked their way. "What are you doing?"

  Three people raised their heads, and it turned out to be Yu Yao and Shi Lin. They looked at them curiously, and their eyes kept scanning back and forth between Ji Xin'an and Zou Ze. It seemed that they had seen the two of them just now. Meanwhile, Shi Lin was staring at Ji Xin'an with an unpleasant expression.

  "We're just idle and have nothing to do, let's practice a bit and see if she's a girl, and let her go." Zou Ze felt embarrassed when others saw his previous appearance.

  Ji Xin'an glanced at Zou Ze, who was putting on a magnanimous air, and decided to give him some face.

  Yu Yao listened to his words and stared at the two with an even more abnormal gaze. "In... in the streets?"

  "Oh, that's it. I want to learn piano and Zou Ze said he can help me find a good teacher, so I came." Ji Xin'an looked around and was about to be taken for a mental patient, so she quickly spoke up.

  "You're also learning, but you've started so late." Shilin's words were unpleasant to hear, but they were indeed the truth. Most people start learning piano at the age of four or five, and she was indeed a bit late now.

  "Ling Ling..." Yu Yao hastily pulled her back, shaking her head to signal her not to say anything more. "Don't mind her, she's just straightforward and doesn't have any ill intentions, but it's indeed true that starting to learn piano now and wanting to achieve something is quite difficult."

  Ji Xin'an smiled and said, "It's okay, I didn't come here to learn piano to become a pianist, it's just a hobby."

  "That's right, we'll go too, let's go in together." Yu Yao nodded after hearing this.

  "Okay, let's go together. Yu Yao, are you also learning piano here?" Yu Yao learning piano was something Zhen Xin An knew about, but she didn't expect that her family would also be from the military, and unexpectedly ran into her here. Thinking that she could be here, her parents at home should also be quite high-ranking military officers.

  "Yao Yao has been learning piano since she was five years old, and now she's already passed the seventh level." Shilin said proudly on the side, as if she had passed the seventh level herself.

  Ji Xin'an had never heard that Shi Lin could play the piano, so it was quite strange to see her here too. After entering, she found that only Yu Yao was practicing, while Shi Lin and the others were separated and didn't know where they went.

  The piano teacher was a middle-aged woman named Zhou Qing, who wore military uniform but didn't have the same ruggedness as Guo Rong. Perhaps due to her involvement in the arts, she had a softer and more delicate appearance, with long hair that matched Ji Xin'an's imagination of a beautiful woman.

  I don't know how Zou Ze talked to her, but in any case he was very enthusiastic towards Ji Xin'an, because there were two pianos and they could learn together. So this means that from now on Ji Xin'an will be learning piano with Yu Yao.

  After learning this news, Ji Xin'an felt that the current feeling is quite strange. In his previous life, he had to look up to someone who had no relationship with him, and now the two of them are standing on the same line. This can't be said to be an advantage brought by rebirth.

  Chen Zhaoji didn't stay in the end, and surprisingly wanted to go learn guitar with Zou Ze together, making Ji Xin'an think that interests are indeed not something that can be guessed accurately. Because the guitar lesson was only on Sunday, Chen Zhaoji made an appointment with Zou Ze and left first.

  Zou Ze accompanied her for an entire morning, and in his words, "I want to see how a beautiful woman with a good temperament is trained."

  Ji Xin'an gave him a cold stare and continued to practice the most basic fingerings as if he didn't exist.

  She can pretend that Zou Ze doesn't exist, but some people just can't. Yu Yao made frequent mistakes today, and Zhou Qing turned out to be a strict teacher, not caring about Yu Yao's background, scolding her for every mistake. It seemed like Yu Yao was on the verge of tears, but she still stubbornly held back.

  Zhou Qing also knew that it might be Zou Ze's presence beside her that affected her performance, but she didn't drive him away. After all, playing the piano was about performing in front of people, and if one person watching could affect her, then what more in the future?

  But Zou Ze didn't even glance at her, instead keeping his eyes on Ji Xin'an who was stiffly pressing the strings with clumsy yet sincere fingers, a faint smile playing on his lips.

  They say that a man who does things seriously is the most handsome, but now in Zou Ze's eyes, a serious woman must also be the most beautiful, of course, this can only be said to be a girl-like woman.

  Zhou Qing saw all of this and silently sighed, thinking that kids these days are too mature for their age. But she didn't say anything.

  It's actually her overthinking, at least for now, Zou Ze's gaze towards Ji Xin'an is purely appreciative and not romantic. And Ji Xin'an even knows Zou Ze's wedding date, so it's even more impossible to have such thoughts. Maybe adults always like to impose their own subjective things on children when they look at them!

  It's just one lesson, and Ji Xin'an already feels the tips of her fingers are sore and burning, really wanting to soak them in cold water, wondering when her fingers can get used to the black and white keys of the piano.

  At the end, Zhou Qing was very satisfied with Ji Xin'an's performance today. "Your talent is not bad, it's just a pity that you're a bit old. If you had started earlier, it would have been better." After saying this, she was afraid of hurting her confidence, so she added, "However, if you continue to work hard like today, you may still be able to achieve something in piano."

  "Thank you, Teacher Zhou, I will work hard." Ji Xin'an flashed a sweet smile, ignoring Zou Ze's sneer.

  After saying goodbye to Zhou Qing, Ji Xin'an's first piano lesson came to an end.