My Paranoid Girlfriend Asks Me to Be Her Kept Woman (Rebirth) - Chapter 24

Lin Yi’s hand rested on the black and white keys of the piano. Beneath her fingers came a warm, jade-like touch.

She said lightly into the phone, “If I can’t write it, then I can’t write it.”

Lin Xiaolu brought up old matters again, threatening Lin Yi with her sexuality.

Lin Yi remained silent.

Lin Xiaolu rattled off a whole pile of words like a machine gun firing, but the other side still replied only faintly, “I can’t write it.”

Now Lin Xiaolu truly panicked.

“Why can’t you write it?!” she questioned.

Lin Yi leisurely toyed with the prey in her hand. “Why do you think I can’t write it?” she asked in return. “My dearest younger sister is now holding my weakness over my head and threatening me, and I still have to laughably write that damned song?”

Lin Xiaolu knew Lin Yi well. She had the so-called pride and aloofness of a musician.

In the past, she had been like an isolated island, always entertaining herself by writing songs. Lin Xiaolu had secretly laughed at her before, thinking this person was unbelievably stupid. Aside from Lin Yi herself liking those things, who else would buy into them? That was until Lin Xiaolu accidentally brought out a piece of paper tucked among her things, and Liu Chang was amazed by it.

Back then, she had incited Lin Yi to choose Jianming precisely because of Liu Chang. She had gone to the company countless times to look for Lin Yi, and not once had Liu Chang looked at her properly. But now, because when she put on her coat, she had accidentally carried out a scrap of lyrics Lin Yi had casually written…

She tacitly admitted to Liu Chang that this was something she had written.

She lied. She said she had never received professional training and could only write scattered phrases.

Liu Chang had someone compose music and lyrics from those stolen scattered phrases.

Her confidence swelled more and more, yet she discovered that Liu Chang was not intimate with her.

She dug out a song Lin Yi had written, pretended it was something she had written herself, and told Liu Chang.

“Because I like you, I’ve always been working hard. This is the most complete thing I’ve written.”

Liu Chang was overjoyed. Holding her, he said that this piece was truly beautiful, and that he was currently preparing a new album. This was exactly the thing he wanted.

…

Lin Xiaolu gritted her teeth until her eyes turned red. Time was up. If she could not produce anything, she and Liu Chang would be completely finished!

Right now, she could still use the excuse of having no inspiration. But when the time came, what else could she say?

“You wrote so many songs before. How could there not be a single one that can be used?!”

Lin Yi listened to the hysterical voice on the phone. The corners of her lips curled into a cold smile.

The prey had taken the bait!

“I do have some…” she said, deliberately hesitant.

Lin Xiaolu immediately pressed, “What’s the problem?”

Lin Yi switched the phone to her left hand. Her fingers pressed down on a piano key. The sound of B was low and long, like a rest note.

“I once anonymously posted it on a small website, but probably not many people have heard it.”

“It only has the melody, no lyrics, but it should be what you want.”

Lin Xiaolu did not understand what was so wonderful about the things Lin Yi wrote. She only knew that every time she took out even a little bit of Lin Yi’s work, that man’s brows would lift with an admiration she did not understand.

She immediately went to check the small website Lin Yi mentioned. It was an anonymous forum. There were not many people posting there anymore, and the latest activity had stopped three years ago. As for the post Lin Yi mentioned, almost no one had replied to it.

She ordered, “Go delete the post.”

Lin Yi suddenly felt that the voice by her ear was dull and wanted very much to play a piece on the piano beneath her hands. She said faintly, “I forgot the password. Handle it yourself.”

After saying that, she hung up with a snap. Lin Xiaolu was furious, but also felt that it fit Lin Yi’s personality.

Now that she had gotten the melody, she finally felt at ease. The lyrics could be handed over to someone Liu Chang arranged. The important thing was that she had something that could prove herself!

As for the post—

Lin Xiaolu looked at that post with basically no replies and clicked over to the administrator page, only to find that the forum had long since been abandoned. The administrator had already automatically stepped down. No one was looking through or managing these posts anymore. If she bumped it up and stirred up attention, wouldn’t she be leaving evidence for others?

Besides, with Lin Yi’s little bit of influence, even if this small thing existed, it was probably like ants shaking a tree. It would not make a sound.

She seemed to see the scene from her dream, living happily together with Liu Chang.

Lin Yi pressed down on the first note. Smooth music soared with the dancing of her fingers.

She closed her eyes. Her fingers flew quickly, and the rhythm exploded with them.

Thump, thump, thump. It was like knocking against a person’s heart.

**

Zhao Qi woke with a start again. Zhao Chengye had been sleeping against the chair.

“What’s wrong?” He was startled awake as well.

“Do you want some water?”

Zhao Qi nodded. Zhao Chengye inserted a straw and brought it to his younger sister’s lips.

After Zhao Qi finished drinking, he suggested, “In a few days, once you’ve recovered a little more, go back to the old residence to recuperate. Your second brother is worried sick too.”

“You know what his job is like. He can’t easily leave the country, so I held him back.”

“Yesterday, while you were unconscious, I already had a video call with him.”

Zhao Qi was stunned. Go back to Huaicheng?

In her daze, it seemed as though Lin Yi’s pale little face was swaying before her eyes. She asked hesitantly, “When I was unconscious, did anyone else come?”

Zhao Chengye said, “No.”

Zhao Qi lowered her eyes. She had overthought it. What she had seen under surgical anesthesia must have been an illusion. How could Lin Yi possibly know she had been injured? It was better if she did not know, so one less person would worry.

Zhao Chengye placed a pillow behind his younger sister’s back and raised the hospital bed.

“Since you’re awake, eat something. The doctor said you can eat today.”

Zhao Qi unconsciously rubbed her fingertips together. That familiar feeling—could it have been Eldest Brother?

Zhao Chengye brought over the food and placed it on the meal tray attached to the hospital bed. “There isn’t much decent food here. You probably aren’t used to Western food either. Assistant Li borrowed the hospital cafeteria to make this, and it’s been kept in an insulated container. Try it and see how it tastes.”

“Oh, right.” After handing the spoon to his younger sister, Zhao Chengye finally said, “Look how muddled I am. When you were in the emergency room, that friend of yours, Lin Yi, came.”

The spoon fell into the soup. Zhao Qi raised her eyes and looked at her eldest brother. “How did she come here?” She appeared calm as she fished the spoon back out.

Zhao Chengye sighed. “That’s what’s strange. Your condition was dangerous at the time.” He explained carefully, “As soon as Lin Yi came, you turned from danger to safety. It really fulfilled what that charlatan said before: when you encounter water, you’ll be safe.”

“This Lin Yi must be your benefactor.”

Zhao Qi laughed. How had she become her benefactor? She slowly scooped up a spoonful of soup and put it into her mouth. Still, it was not bad.

Zhao Chengye was clearly more talkative in front of his younger sister. The four siblings had been very close when they were children. As the eldest brother was like a father, he had worried about them quite a lot since childhood.

“When you go back to the old residence, stay in the sunny master bedroom on the second floor. I’ll have the housekeeper tidy it up for you. Go back and recuperate properly.”

“As for work, don’t worry about it. I’ll have Assistant Li temporarily handle it. Anything he can’t resolve, I’ll deal with on my end. We’ll talk about everything else after your injury heals.”

“When you go back, I’ll have the kitchen stew pigeon soup for you. Mom said that after surgery, a person must drink pigeon soup.”

If anyone from the group were present, they would probably be so shocked by this down-to-earth President Zhao that their eyes would fall out.

Zhao Qi laughed despite herself. Why did her indomitable, tough-guy elder brother now seem like a nanny?

She lifted her eyelids and looked at Zhao Chengye, finally interrupting her eldest brother, who had been tirelessly planning how she would live after going back, where she would stay, how she would eat, and what she would eat.

“Brother, forget it. I’ll just stay at Sangzhu.”

Zhao Chengye fell silent.

“No.” After a long while, the man refused. “You nearly lost your life this time. What’s wrong with going home?” He was somewhat agitated. “You left for several years! Now that you’re back, that home is still your home!”

“Why can’t you live there?”

Zhao Qi reached out and held her brother. “Brother, that’s not what I mean.”

“Then go home! This matter is settled!” Zhao Chengye said angrily.

“Brother.” Zhao Qi tugged at Zhao Chengye’s sleeve. “When I go back, I think of Mom and Dad…”

She gave a bitter smile. “I miss them very much, but even now, I still don’t have the face to confront them.”

Zhao Chengye’s heart shook violently. It was as if a rod had stirred his brain into a complete mess.

He stood up and pressed his younger sister’s head against his chest.

“That matter was not your fault. Neither you nor Chengzhi did anything wrong.”

“The ones at fault were those wicked people who hurt us!”

Nestled against her eldest brother’s chest, Zhao Qi could not stop her tears from flowing. She had not cried once when she was shot, nor had she shown weakness after waking from critical condition. But now, trapped in her brother’s embrace, she could not help sobbing.

Her parents’ deaths had always been the greatest knot in her heart. If she had not told her parents about Third Brother’s foolishness, her parents would not have rushed back from their business trip and encountered the plane crash on the way.

All of these twists of fate had left her guilty until now. No one in the family had ever blamed her, but her heart had always condemned itself.

Why did she have to talk too much? Why did she have to tell Mom and Dad?

If she had not said it, Mom and Dad would not have boarded that flight and would not have passed away.

Anyone could say comforting words. Her brothers had always said it was not her fault, but she had never been able to get past herself.

Her parents would be the guilt of her lifetime, and the debt she owed for the rest of her life.