Seventeen Again: The Sweet Life with My Family

Chapter 45: The Prodigy Boy

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Bai Zheng couldn’t bother to complete the action of retrieving the document as he quickly followed the sound.

Upon seeing Wen Nian playing the piano, Bai Zheng tiptoed into the office and pulled out his phone to snap a photo of the end of Wen Nian’s enchanting performance as a keepsake.

As the song came to an end, Wen Nian rose from the piano bench and found herself face to face with a tall, beaming boy. Her eyes widened in surprise, and she was momentarily speechless.

Bai Zheng was a brilliant musician, but also struggled with depression. In her past life, Wen Nian had spent only a few years in prison when she received the devastating news that Bai Zheng had taken his own life by jumping off a building. The official statement cited depression as the cause.

By the age of 17, he had already debuted a solo show at the nation’s most prestigious art hall. Two years later, at the age of 19, he was bestowed with the Bernstein Art Achievement Award. And by the time he was 20, he had ascended to become the world’s most celebrated piano prodigy.

He was among the rarefied ranks of world-class pianists in the country. Tragically, the life of this bright and promising young man would be cut short at the age of 23, frozen in time.

Wen Nian’s awareness of Bai Zheng’s tragic death was solely due to his prominent standing in the domestic piano industry. His passing had even been featured in official news coverage across the country, and the prison had permitted inmates to watch an hour of news every night. In her previous life, Bai Zheng had been nothing more than a vaguely familiar alumni name from Wen Nian’s school days, and she had only glimpsed him from afar while on campus.

But now, this same person stood before her at a very close distance.

Bai Zheng walked forward with a smile. “You play really well! Very few people can play this song so well! How many years have you studied? Which style are you better at playing? Do you want to join our art department?”

Seeing someone play the piano with such spiritual and empathetic resonance was a rare sight, and Bai Zheng was filled with admiration for the talent before him. Excitedly, he asked a series of questions.

In truth, Wen Nian had been studying piano for almost 10 years, but in this life, she had only started in her first year of high school. She smiled enigmatically and replied, “I’m just playing by ear. I haven’t specialized in any particular style. At this stage, the college entrance exams are more important, so I’m not considering joining any departments for now.”

When Bai Zheng heard Wen Nian’s response, he felt a bit disappointed. However, after a moment of thought, he took out his phone and suggested enthusiastically, “Let’s exchange WeChat and keep in touch! If there’s a chance in the future, we can collaborate on music! By the way, what’s your name? Did you participate in our school’s anniversary program? If you didn’t participate, I can try to help you secure a spot.”

As Wen Nian thought about the rumors she heard of Bai Zheng, she couldn’t bring herself to refuse Bai Zheng’s offer. And so, she took out her phone and added him as a friend on WeChat. She smiled and introduced herself, “My name is Wen Nian. I’m a student in the second year, class two, of high school. I am worried about my studies, so I won’t be participating.”

As Wen Nian glanced at the bag of information beside her, she remembered the purpose of her visit. “Oh, by the way, Teacher Li Fang asked me to give you this information,” she said, handing the bag over to Bai Zheng.

Bai Zheng accepted the information and quickly perused it. He flashed a polite smile and said, “Thank you so much. I apologize for the trouble you’ve gone through to deliver it to me.”

Wen Nian waved her hand. “You’re welcome. It’s on the way. I’ll go back to the classroom first.”

The two of them said goodbye to each other. When they left the office, Wen Nian turned to look at this genius youth and sighed softly in her heart.

When Wen Nian returned to the classroom, Shen Jun had already gone out to grab some food and come back. As he looked up from his textbook, he noticed that something seemed off about Wen Nian’s expression. “You took a while to come back from lunch today. Is everything alright?”

Wen Nian snapped out of her thoughts and replied, “Oh, Teacher Li asked me to deliver some documents to the student union, so it took a bit longer than expected.”

Shen Jun continued, “I slept in all morning and won’t be sleeping during lunch break. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me.”

Wen Nian’s eyes lit up when she heard this. “Alright, I’ll do the math questions today!”

Seeing that Wen Nian’s expression had returned to normal, Shen Jun redirected his focus to his book.

Huang Yue didn’t have time to bother Wen Nian recently because she had spent all her free time chatting with Wang Jing.

After her fall last week, Huang Yue even made a special trip from home to clinic near school for a hot compress during the weekend. The second time they met, the two of them became much closer. As a result, Huang Yue had been keeping her phone with her almost all the time in the past few days.

In Huang Yue’s opinion, Wang Jing and Wei Xiao were completely two different types. Compared to Wang Jing, Wei Xiao often felt distant and unapproachable. She appreciated that Wang Jing would reach out to her first and were patient with her occasional outbursts and bad moods.

However, Huang Yue had no intention of giving up on Wei Xiao. After all, she had yet to figure out Wang Jing’s family’s financial background. If the Wang family couldn’t match the Wei family in terms of wealth and status, even if Wang Jing truly loved her, she would still have to reconsider.

Love without bread was not reliable.. Living that kind of powerless life would only make people step on them for the rest of their lives!