Friday arrived like a thunderstorm in a concert hall. Loud, bright, and full of people pretending they weren't nervous.
The Youth City Arts Cup was held in the school auditorium, which meant someone had actually mopped the floors and unlocked the air conditioning. Banners hung from the rafters: `Excellence Through Art`. Underneath them, students from three schools crammed into the seats with their instruments, their parents, and their competitive spirit.
My violin was stable.
The new bridge Lu Jingchen's anonymous cash had bought was set, the strings were tuned, and the duck sticker with the tiny helmet was still inside my case for luck. It wasn't a Stradivarius, but it was mine. Dad's glue was still holding. That was enough.
---
The backstage area smelled like rosin, hairspray, and fear. Mr. He was doing roll call with a clipboard and a vein in his forehead.
"Jiang Wanyue," he called.
"Here," she said, already in a white dress that cost more than my bike. Her Stradivarius copy was in a case with a fingerprint lock. She'd unlocked it three times in ten minutes just to check.
"Gu Yanche."
"Here," Yanche said beside me. He was fiddling with his bow, re-tightening it for the fifth time. "You good?" he asked me under his breath.
"Yeah," I said. "Stable. Thanks to… anonymous donation."
He didn't ask. He just nodded. Although I didn't tell who helped me.
"Shen Xingruo."
"Here."
Mr. He looked at my violin, then at me, then at the door where two new people had just walked in. "And we have guests. From Lu Holdings. Sponsors of today's event."
The whole backstage went quiet.
Lu Yanze walked in first, wearing a suit, smiling. Behind him was Lu Jingchen. Of course these brothers were students here but because there family business supports this school, they had to come as the special guests.
Jingche, wasn't in a suit. He wore a black button-down with the sleeves rolled up and a face that said he'd rather be anywhere else. He didn't look at me neither at Wanyue. He instead looked at the exit sign.
"Yanze you're a student here so feel free and enjoy." Mr. He said.
"Just observing," Yanze said, shaking Mr. He's hand. "Dad says the arts are important for culture and tax purposes."
"Of course, Lu Yanze you are such a bright student," Mr. He said. "We're honored."
Wanyue moved instantly. She crossed the room in three steps and positioned herself between the two brothers like a ribbon at a grand opening. "Yanze, I didn't know you were coming. And Jingchen! You came to support the school and me? I'm so honored."
Jingchen said nothing. He was reading the performance order taped to the wall.
"Actually," Yanze said, "I came to see the competition and I just heard from sister Jiang Wanyue that she's very talented but this time Mr He I wanted to check whether it's true that she was praising herself." His eyes landed on me. "Shen Xingruo, right? We've never met. I'm Lu Yanze. Your are my brother's tutor, so that makes you, your senior right."
I blinked. "I know who you are. You're on the company newsletter and I know you are Jingchen's brother."
He laughed. "Right the golden stepbrother. And you called the police for my brother about — I don't remember"
"That was Second Year. He deserved it."
"I'm sure he did." Yanze grinned. "Heard you play violin. Dad's assistant won't shut up about your mom's red bean buns. Says they're better than the ones at the five-star hotel."
My mom's buns had just been name-dropped by Lu Holdings royalty. Tang Tang was going to pass out when she heard.
"Thanks," I said. "Tell her we take orders."
"I will." He stepped closer, ignoring the way Wanyue's smile froze. "You nervous?"
"No."
"Good. Nervous people slip. Confident people win."
From the corner, I felt it. Not a look. A shift. Jingchen had stopped reading the paper. His jaw was tight. He still didn't look at me. He looked at Yanze instead, then at the stage door, then walked off toward the audience entrance without a word.
Jealousy didn't always shout. Sometimes it just left the room.
---
The seats were full, students, parents and teachers. Coach was in the back with Mrs. Zhou, holding a sign that said `GO MATH TEAM` because he refused to make a new one. Tang Tang was in the third row, saving me a seat with her backpack and a bag of sunflower seeds.
First up was a pianist from the Experimental High School. Then a cellist. Then Wanyue.
She walked onstage like she was being crowned. She adjusted her stool, smiled at the judges, and let her eyes drift to the VIP row where Yanze sat. Then to the row behind him, where Jingchen slouched with his arms crossed. She gave him a special smile. The flirtatious kind, with eyelashes and everything.
He didn't react. He stared at the ceiling like he was counting tiles.
Wanyue played Paganini. Caprice No. 24. It was fast, clean, and technically perfect. The kind of performance that got a 9.8 and a slow clap. She finished, bowed, and mouthed "thank you" . Everyone clapped excluding Jingchen.
She walked offstage and sat down two seats from Jingchen too close. Her knee touched his but he didn't move.
"Clingy," Tang Tang whispered when I got backstage again. "She's like a koala. A rich koala."
"Focus," I said. "You're up after Yanche."
Yanche went next. He played a folk piece his grandma taught us when we were kids. It was simple, sweet, and full of the kind of vibrato that made people think of home. He missed one note in the second movement. He didn't care but he smiled through it. The audience smiled back.
He got a 9.4. Fair.
Then Mr. He called my name.
"Shen Xingruo."
My hands were cold. My violin was warm. I walked onstage and didn't look at the VIP row. I looked at Tang Tang instead. She held up her phone. On it was a picture of my late dad, giving a thumbs up. She'd screenshotted it from an old article.
I breathed.
I played Bruch. Violin Concerto No. 1, first movement. It wasn't the hardest piece. It was the one Dad used to hum while he kneaded dough. It had anger in it, and hope, and a lot of running notes that sounded like rain.
I forgot about Wanyue. I forgot about the Lu Jingchen and I forgot about rent.
I just played.
When I finished, the hall was quiet for one second. Then it wasn't.
The score flashed: 9.7.
Second place behind Wanyue. Ahead of Yanche.
I bowed. Walked off.
I looked at Tang Tang and at Jingchen. I noticed that he was smiling but I just rolled my eyes.
---
Wanyue was waiting. Not clapping. "You got lucky," she said. "The judges like sob stories. 'Poor girl, dead dad, sad violin.' It's predictable."
"You got a biometric case," I said. "And still worried about me. That's predictable too."
She stepped closer. "Stay away from him."
"Which him?"
"Both. Yanze is out of your league. And Jingchen… Jingchen doesn't care about people like you."
"People like me?"
"People who count 95 yuan."
I didn't answer, because Yanze walked up right then with two bottles of water. He handed me one. "Great job," he said. "Better than blessed. Blessed is boring. That was alive."
"Thanks," I said.
"You should come to the after-party. Dad's renting the top floor of the mall. For 'cultural networking'. You'd hate it. Which is why you should come."
"I have homework on Friday, so I'm not going to attend."
"On a Friday? It's not Friday. It's going to be Sunday."
"I can't promise you anything to be sincerely."
He laughed. "I like your honest. My brother's not."
"Where is your brother?"
"Left after your performance. Said he had a 'thing'. The thing is probably his motorcycle and an attitude."
Wanyue's face did something ugly. "He left? Without saying goodbye?"
"Jingchen doesn't say goodbye," Yanze said. "He just leaves. It's his brand."
---
Tang Tang and Yanche were waiting with me while I unlocked my bike. Yanze had been called away by his assistant. Wanyue had gone to cry in the bathroom, probably.
"Here," Tang Tang said, handing me a red bean bun. "From your mom. She said you need sugar after all the competitions."
"You're my sugar," I said, and she pretended to gag.
"Please. I'm your manager. Ten percent of all future buns."
Yanche tuned his violin by ear while we talked. "You played Dad's favorite part right," he said. "The angry bit he would've liked it."
"Yours was better," I said. "Grandma would've liked yours."
"We both won," he said. "Just not first."
"Second is fine. First is stressful."
A Ducati engine roared from the street.
We all looked.
Jingchen pulled up to the curb but didn't get off. He still wasn't looking at me. He was looking at Yanche. Then at the bun in my hand.
"Your brother says you left," I said.
"I came back," he said. Flat.
"For what?"
He didn't answer. He kicked the stand down, walked to my bike, and picked up the duck sticker that had fallen off my fender. The old one from Tang Tang.
He handed it to me. Didn't touch my hand.
"Your duck is still stupid," he said.
"Your face is still stupid," I said.
Tang Tang and Yanche were watching us like we were a tennis match.
Jingchen got back on his Ducati. "Tell Yanze I said no to the after-party. And tell Wanyue I said… nothing."
"Why would I tell her anything for you?"
"You won't. That's why."
He left. Again.
Yanche blinked. "What was that?"
"Jealousy," Tang Tang said, delighted. "In D major. Didn't you hear it?"
I threw the bun at her. She ate it anyway.
---
Mom was closing up when I got home. "Second place!" she said, hugging me. "Your dad would be so proud he'd raise the price of buns just for a day."
"We need it," I said.
She laughed. Then she pointed to the counter.
There was a box. A black,small with no name.
Inside: a set of violin strings. The good kind Imported. 400 yuan minimum.
And a note.
`For the next competition. Geneva doesn't cover second place. Do better. – LJC`
Under it, smaller:
`P.S. Your vibrato was fine.`
I smiled but I wondered why he helped me so much yet I hate him so much.
But I put the strings in my case. Next to the duck with the helmet.
"Shen, I heard that Senior Lu Yanze gave you a bottle of water after you finished the competitions. I wonder what you guys are up to." Tang Tang said
"Shenshen, I don't think it's good hanging around with that guy Lu Jingchen, he's such a crazy. He sometimes cares and when it's time for bullying you he doesn't joke." Yanche said
"Gu Yanche, are you just jealous, can't you just shut up." Tang Tang said