Qingmian followed Uncle Shen and soon reached the pavilion in the yard.
Uncle Shen sat down and patted the empty seat beside him, motioning for her to sit.
Instead of refusing like before, Qingmian stepped forward and sat down beside Uncle Shen.
"Are you nervous about next week's performance?"
After seeing Qingmian sit down, Uncle Shen didn't mention Jiang Zhirou right away. Instead, he showed concern about her performance next week.
Qingmian was stunned for a moment before slowly nodding. "It's okay. I've prepared everything I should. The rest depends on luck."
"I thought you'd be very nervous," Uncle Shen said with a smile.
Qingmian frowned in confusion. "Why do you think so?"
"Maybe there's a kind of aura around you that makes people want to protect you. So subconsciously, I'd think you'd be nervous in such an important occasion and might need more encouragement than others."
Hearing Uncle Shen's words, Qingmian involuntarily recalled Jiang Zhirou's words "You're too weak".
Uncle Shen put it very euphemistically, but the underlying meaning was the same.
Jiang Zhirou just didn't have as much emotional intelligence as Uncle Shen.
Qingmian bit her lower lip. After hesitating for a while, she said to Uncle Shen, "What about Jiang Zhirou? Doesn't she need someone to protect her?"
After all, Jiang Zhirou was only a four - year - old child at that time. What could a four - year - old child know? She should have needed more protection than Qingmian. Otherwise, how could she have gone missing?
Hearing Qingmian mention Jiang Zhirou, the smile on Uncle Shen's face faded a bit. He looked at the boundless lawn in the distance as if in memory. After a long time, he sighed, turned to look at Qingmian, and said slowly, "I'm old. My memory of Miss Zhizhi isn't as clear as Third Master's."
"However... there's an old saying in your country that 'a tree's shape at three shows its shape at ten'. In fact, Miss Zhizhi showed wisdom beyond her peers when she was very young. Although she inherited her mother's musical talent, she was extremely obsessed with physics."
Uncle Shen suddenly smiled. "Can you imagine? A child who had just turned three and couldn't even eat much yet was already studying what the double - slit interference phenomenon was. Isn't that amazing?"
"What's the double - slit interference phenomenon?"
Qingmian didn't understand physics and had no idea what the double - slit interference phenomenon was. She blurted out the question subconsciously.
As soon as she asked, she regretted it.
She didn't like physics and didn't want to understand any messy physical phenomena. She just wanted to know what she was lacking compared to Jiang Zhirou.
Uncle Shen looked at her deeply and didn't miss the look of disappointment on her face.
After thinking for a while, he still explained seriously, "I'm not interested in physics either. I only know about the double - slit interference. It's a classic experimental phenomenon in wave optics in physics."
Uncle Shen stretched out his hand and gestured. "When a beam of light with the same frequency, the same vibration direction, and a constant phase difference passes through two parallel and extremely narrow slits, a series of bright and dark fringes arranged at equal intervals will be formed on the screen behind the slits. These narrow slits are called double slits, and this is called the double - slit interference phenomenon."
Qingmian half - understood. She could roughly imagine what it was from Uncle Shen's explanation.
"Does she know a lot about physics?"
She looked up at the person beside her and asked.
Hearing this, Uncle Shen looked at Qingmian like a child and laughed a few times. "How much could she know? She was just a child at that time. She only knew some things she was interested in."
"If she hadn't gone missing that year, she might be a physics professor by now."
Saying this, Uncle Shen sighed silently, and the smile at the corners of his eyes gradually faded.
Qingmian pursed her lips and said nothing.
She knew a physics professor - Chi Yu.
Chi Yu also liked physics.
But she didn't.
She preferred simple things. She didn't like such complicated things that required expending brain cells.
Qingmian thought playing the piano was great. It was something she was born to do and it was easy for her, with no challenge.
She liked everything easy, whether it was studying or life. She just wanted things to be easy and not so complicated.
Jiang Zhirou was braver and smarter than her. Most importantly, she and Chi Yu had the same hobbies.
If Jiang Zhirou and Chi Yu were together, Chi Yu should be much happier than he was now.
They would have topics to talk about, and he wouldn't have to worry about everything like a father.
If it were Jiang Zhirou, she would surely be more independent.
A person who could escape from a place like Mexico couldn't be that stupid.
As Qingmian thought, her nose turned sour. It felt as if all the blood in her body was blocked by something.
Without the supply of blood, her heart seemed to stop beating the next second.
Judging from Jiang Zhirou's personality, she would surely investigate to the end about Chi Yu's accident. She had known Si Moshen since she was a child, and Si Moshen would surely be willing to help her with the investigation.
Unlike her, she had no connections and no ability to resist. Except for playing the piano, she couldn't do anything.
In comparison, Jiang Zhirou seemed more suitable for Chi Yu in every aspect.
A person like her would seem right as the daughter - in - law of the Chi family.
"Qingmian?"
Seeing that Qingmian had been biting her lower lip and not saying a word, Uncle Shen called out to her.
Only then did Qingmian come back to her senses. She instantly felt the pain on her lower lip.
She had been so lost in thought that she had unconsciously bitten her lower lip. She hadn't noticed the strength for a moment, and now her lips were a bit red from the bite, accompanied by a tingling pain.
"Is there anything else, Uncle Shen?"
Qingmian continued to ask.
"Why do you suddenly want to know so much about her?"
Uncle Shen felt something was wrong as Qingmian's expression didn't seem like she was just asking casually.
Qingmian forced a smile and pretended to be relaxed. "I'm just asking out of curiosity. After all... strictly speaking, I'm her and she's me. I just can't remember the past. I want to know more about my childhood, thinking it might help me recover my memory."
As soon as Qingmian finished speaking, the strange thought that had just popped up in Uncle Shen's mind was instantly dispelled. He nodded in agreement.
What she said made sense.
After all, she was too young when she went missing that year. It was very likely that she couldn't remember because of external factors or some post - traumatic stress disorder. Talking to her more about her childhood might help her recover her memory.
Once she recovered her memory, Si Moshen should be very happy.
Thinking of this, Uncle Shen suddenly pointed to the ground under his feet. "Actually, this villa was specially built by Third Master for Miss Zhizhi back then."
"Miss Zhizhi really liked Yue Lan Manor. Third Master always granted her every wish, so he built this villa right next to Yue Lan for her."