The little boy went up and played a piece, his playing flowing smoothly. Afterwards, he boasted to Qi Jiao that his piano teacher was the internationally renowned piano master XXX, and that he practiced the piano for seven hours every day.
However, Qi Jiao's piano teacher was a music professor at a university, whose level was several levels lower than that of the little boy's teacher. In addition, she had too many classes every day, including piano, calligraphy, painting, violin, physical education, and ballet. She could only spare a little time to practice the piano, and having an hour was already a luxury.
Besides, she didn't like the piano in the first place.
Qi Jiao's favorite art is ballet. Wearing a beautiful dress and standing on the stage, with the lights shining on her, she can dance to the rhythm.
Her ballet teacher told her that she was very talented and was born to stand on the stage.
Yang Jiani prefers the piano, so Qi Jiao's piano playing must be outstanding.
People have no enthusiasm for learning things they don't like. Every time Qi Jiao practices piano, she has to force herself to do so.
Because he didn't want to disappoint Yang Jiani and wanted to make her happy, he put in a lot of effort even when practicing things he didn't like.
She has to remember so many things at such a young age.
She felt very uneasy when she played the wrong syllable.
The on-the-spot belittling was nothing compared to what happened after the little boy's family left. Yang Jianni asked Qi Jiao, "Why did you play it wrong?"
Qi Jiao said softly, "I'm sorry."
Her voice trembled, and her body shivered.
Yang Jianni said, "I don't accept your apology, Jiaojiao. You know I love seeing you play the piano."
"Mom, I'm sorry, I won't do it again, I'll never be lazy again," Qi Jiao said.
But she knew she had done her best; she had put in her utmost effort, yet this was still the best she could achieve.
She knew that Yang Jiani didn't like hearing that she lacked talent, so she could only say that it was because she had been lazy and hadn't done her best yet.
While Yang Jiani was scolding her, Qi Xiangui suddenly slapped Yang Jiani across the face.
Qi Jiao was scared, but she still stood stubbornly in front of Yang Jianni. She dared not cry, and could only call out to her father to stop Qi Xiangui from hitting her again.
However, Qi Xiangui, who had just been drinking with his old classmates, wouldn't listen and even hit her as well. Yang Jianni rushed over and tightly protected her, shielding her with her body.
...
Qi Jiao's childish voice rang out in the darkness as she said to the young Liang Shi, "I'm so sad. Why does my dad hit my mom?"
Liang Shi comforted her, "Sister, things will be better when we grow up."
Qi Jiao smiled and asked her, revealing a small dimple, "What can you do when you grow up?"
Liang Shi and she sat side by side on the cold ground. The basement was also dark, with no light at all.
"When I grow up, I can go to many places, I will have money, I will have freedom, and I will have a castle."
They constantly imagined light and freedom in the darkness.
Qi Jiao asked her, "So what do you want to do in the future?"
Liang Shi thought for a moment, "I want to be a teacher."
"Why?" Qi Jiao asked.
Liang Shi: "I want to bring warmth to many children, even if they don't have happy families, they still have a happy school life."
"Then I want to be a teacher too," Qi Jiao said. "How about a kindergarten teacher?"
Liang Shi extended his finger and made a pinky promise with her.
In that dark basement, they huddled together for many days.
Children don't have a concept of the passage of time.
It could be ten days, or it could be twenty days.
Qi Jiao wouldn't stay long because she had many classes to attend, while Liang Shi spent most of her time in that basement. Almost every day, Yang Jianni would come and ask her, "Will you be good?"
Like taming an animal, smoothing out all her rough edges, training her to the point where she dares not resist or utter another word.
Liang Shi said, "I will be good and listen to my mother."
But at that time, she missed her eldest brother, Qi Jiao, and even her second brother, who was unreliable and would take her out to play, but would jump into the water without hesitation to save her when she fell in. So when Yang Jiani said, "Your mother is the best person in the world to you," she couldn't repeat it.
If you stay in that place for too long, the only way to get out is to obey orders.
After countless days, she repeated "My mother is the best person to me in this world" nearly a hundred times before she left that dark space.
She and Qi Jiao made a promise in the dark basement that they would become kindergarten teachers together, go to see the sea together, become explorers together, and build a castle together.
Qi Jiao once told her, "We all need to grow up well, and everything will be alright when we grow up."
They made a pinky promise there, and even in the darkness, their eyes shone with light when they looked at each other.
Back then, they could hug each other for warmth.
But in other dark memories, no one embraced her for warmth.
In the still dark space, the young girl was locked in an airtight box. Qiu Zimin said, "Are you ready? Hide and seek is about to begin."
She curled up inside, and after waiting for a long time, kept asking, "Is it ready yet?"
But no one responded, and she couldn't open the lid of the box at all.
She was so frightened that she cried loudly inside the box, but no one paid any attention to her.
The young girl kept calling for her mother, but no one responded.
She was suffocated inside for a long time, unable to breathe fresh air, and she felt like she was about to die.
She didn't know how much time had passed before she woke up in the hospital. All she saw was white mourning clothes. She looked at Qiu Zimin sitting by the bed and asked, "Mom, why didn't you come to find me?"
“I went into hiding too, and forgot about you,” Qiu Zimin said.
Qiu Zimin also liked to lock her in the closet, where it was still completely dark.
Qiu Zimin said, "This is a game between the two of us. You can't tell anyone. Mom loves you the most. If others find out, Mom will be sad, and they will bring others to play the game. Then you won't be Mom's favorite child anymore."
Young Liang Shi didn't understand the specifics, but she didn't want others to play this game with her.
Because she herself doesn't like playing this game.
But when she asked if they could play a different game, Qiu Zimin's expression changed. "What do you want to play? How about I take you to Aunt Jia Ni's house to play with Sister Qi Jiao?"
And she mentioned countless times that if she told others about this, Qiu Zimin would send her to Yang Jiani.
If she tells her older brothers about this, Yang Jianni will also send them over.
Liang Shi naturally wouldn't say that.
That dark, airtight basement became a nightmare for her.
She doesn't have claustrophobia, but she feels unconsciously afraid in the dark.
The subsequent dark memories belong to the original owner, and Liang Shi sees them from an outsider's perspective.
During her adolescence, the original owner of this body huddled in that dark room. Her favorite spot was behind the door. She had drunk alcohol behind the door, harmed herself behind the door, cried alone behind the door, and slept behind the door.
And that dream from which her face was never shown.
In the dark space, the original owner lay on the cold bed wearing a gauze dress, which was as thin as a cicada's wing. A clear female voice said, "I like to draw things that are imperfect."
After saying that, he lashed out with a whip.
The whip whistled as it struck the original owner of the body.
The original owner was in so much pain that his toes curled up, cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and his face showed indifference and disgust, which only aroused the other party's interest more.
"Yes, I love that look on your face," the woman's voice said. "You'd better keep it."
After saying that, he lashed out with the whip again.
The original owner closed his eyes, those eyes were cold and devoid of warmth, carrying a sense of detachment and world-weariness.
Someone squatted down, and she casually used a hair clip to clip her hair up, but you couldn't see what she looked like at all.
Only her clear, crisp voice said, "Why are you so obedient yet so rebellious? Heh, I like it."
She lightly traced her long, bright red fingernails across the original owner's chin, but suddenly pricked it. "They all say that Qiu Zimin dotes on her third daughter the most, but why would she send you to me as a model for a painting? A-Shi."
The way he called out "Ah Shi" was tender, yet it carried a chilling undertone.
The original owner's lips moved slightly, "Get lost."
The other person laughed, and the sound grew louder and louder, but just as her laughter stopped, another whip lashed down.
At the same time, someone pushed open the door and called out, "Ah Shuang."
Chapter 105
Ashuang.
Qin Li Shuang.
Liang Shi had heard this name from Liang Xinzhou.
Liang Xinzhou asked her if she remembered Qin Lishuang, and she took the initiative to confess that she had lost part of her memory.
The dream and reality are connected. The original owner is tied up there and cannot move, letting Qin Lishuang paint at will. She is a genius artist, but also a madwoman.
She disregarded everything in pursuit of the so-called ultimate sense of artistry, even tormenting the original owner specifically to create the sense of brokenness and despair she desired.
The original owner was also a madman, but in front of Qiu Zimin, he became an obedient person.
This is roughly what "animal taming" is like.
A beast may bare its fangs anywhere, but it must bow its head before its master.
...
"Liang Shi." A familiar voice came, as if someone had reached out a hand to pull her out of the deep sea, but the boundless darkness still seemed to want to swallow her up.
She couldn't open her eyes or tell whose voice it was; she only knew to walk toward the light.
But where is the light?
There was no light anywhere.
It was pitch black all around, so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face, and there was a lot of noise all around.