Translator: Dragon Boat Translation
Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
After the familiar darkness, Xia Yu saw the black piano again.
The girl was waiting for him, having figured out the usual time he arrived.
“You’re back!” An Siyao greeted him.
“Hm,” Xia Yu answered casually and opened the lid of the piano. He began practicing the Gulda piece.
This song was very difficult for beginners. It was great for building skills and could be used to train one’s piano techniques in all areas.
According to An Siyao, this song was considered a first teacher by many pianists.
After he played the first part smoothly, he reached part 2. When his fingers shook, he pressed one key early, instantly messing up the song, then more mistakes happened.
He stopped, tried to calm down, then continued to practice.
Playing without familiarity meant he remembered the order of keys, but a piano melody needed more than mechanical repetitions; one needed to control, and sometimes master, the rhythm.
After seven hours, Xia Yu could finish playing part 2. Part 3 was completely different from the first two parts and more difficult.
It was a challenge, but it would be at most, two more days before Xia Yu could play part 3. After he spent one more day practicing the whole melody, he could finish his studies for this Gulda piece.
There were more songs to learn. With the Gulda piece as a foundation, he could learn them fast. It wouldn’t be long before he became a profitable pianist.
He checked the time. It would be two a.m. in 10 minutes. Xia Yu chatted with An Siyao.
“Do you really like playing the piano?” An Siyao asked.
“No,” Xia Yu answered honestly.
“Then, why are you practicing piano with my body?” An Siyao was confused.
Afraid Xia Yu misunderstood her, she added, “I’m not saying practicing piano with my body is bad.”
Xia Yu considered the best way to answer the question. Should he say that learning piano was just so he could make money as a street corner pianist?
He was silent for a bit before confessing in a low tone, “I, I just enjoy the feeling of using my fingers freely.”
He opened his hands and looked at them closely.
In An Siyao’s mind, an image of two palms without fingers appeared. She felt sorry for him.
Was he disabled without fingers?
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“You believed that story?” Xia Yu laughed out loud.
“???”
He’s lying to me again!
An Siyao became upset. She was silent.
“Sorry, sorry, it’s just that… it’s funny teasing you.” Xia Yu comforted the girl. He still needed her help in learning the piano.
“I don’t want to be funny for you to make fun of.” An Siyao protested.
“I’ll stop doing it.” Xia Yu promised.
“So why are you learning the piano?” The girl kept asking the question.
“Not telling you.” Xia Yu closed the lid of the piano and left the piano room.
He went to the bedroom and lay in bed. He would need to leave in five minutes. He didn’t want An Siyao to get hurt during a rushed transfer.
“Right. You said that the housekeeping chief would be back soon. When is that?” Xia Yu asked.
Xia Yu could tell the housekeeping chief was the biggest boss in this mansion. It was critical that he learned when the battle with the boss would begin.
“Auntie Dong would be back the day after tomorrow,” An Siyao answered.
“Is she very difficult?” Xia Yu inquired.
“Yes, probably.” An Siyao had never tested the woman’s level of difficulty, so she couldn’t answer precisely.
“Tell me more about your family.” Xia Yu checked the time again. With five minutes left, there should be enough time to hear the story.
An Siyao was silent for 10 seconds before she began talking.
Xia Yu figured out An Siyao’s situation from her words.
After An Siyao’s mother passed away, her father did nothing but work, leaving her alone in this mansion. Starting at five-years-old, her caretaker was this housekeeping chief known as Auntie Dong.
The housekeeping chief was very strict, having detailed rules for everything, and all the maids were afraid of her.
He asked for some more details. When the eight hours of game time ended, Xia Yu returned to his own body.
Xia Yu sat up in bed and started to think.
An Siyao was obviously easy to control, but the maids weren’t. For the housekeeping chief to control all of them for all these years, she must have been pretty powerful.
Based on An Siyao’s account, the housekeeping chief had her father’s support.
He thought some more and made a plan.
He looked at the black cat under the desk, sleeping in its nest.
He wouldn’t go to An Siyao’s place tomorrow. First, he needed to learn the art of scaring from the black cat.
He got out of bed and turned on the desk lamp. Then, he read and played games for a bit, and briefly made a basic review of his school work.
The high school he went to, Zilang High School Number Three, was just an ordinary public school. The classes were far easier than in a private school. Using what he already knew from his past life, he just needed to study a little bit before getting a top-five score on the test.
At seven a.m., he left his home for the flea market and the walking street, easily locating a hamster vendor.
He had to practice to learn the black cat’s scaring skill. He needed a target to scare, and since he couldn’t scare Youxue, he needed a hamster to practice on.
He bought a grey hamster for five yuan, which came with a cage.
He came home with the animal in the cage.
“A hamster!” Youxue was excited to see the animal.
The hamster was fuzzy and small, so girls loved them; some guys liked raising them too.
In Xia Yu’s previous life, his college roommate had a hamster as a pet. The cage wasn’t built well, however, and due to a lack of caretaking, the hamster broke out of the cage one night. His roommate didn’t find the dying hamster until three days later, in an unused mug.
The hamster was buried inside a pot of succulents belonging to another roommate.
Xia Yu tried to explain the hamster in a way so that Youxue didn’t get too attached to the test subject. “This is for the black cat to play with.”
“The hamster is fake?” Youxue asked.
“It’s real,” Xia Yu answered.
Using a hamster as a toy for the cat? Youxue had some doubts, but she didn’t voice them.
Boys this age were usually odd in some way. It was supposedly not unusual.
Such as the fact that every night, he went inside his room as soon as he got home and locked the door.
As a good sister, she didn’t want to pry.
After breakfast, Xia Yu went to school. When he got home at night, he rushed to lock his door and enter the black cat’s body.
The black cat, lying on the window sill, stood up.
Controlling the black cat’s body, Xia Yu gingerly hopped from the window sill to the desk, then to the chair, and finally, to the floor.
He went toward the cage with the hamster. After some preparation, he meowed.
His fur didn’t grow into a ball. The hamster merely glanced up at him and looked down.
After adjusting his emotions, Xia Yu tried to scare the hamster a few more times. Finally, after thinking about how there was only 3000 yuan left in his account, he succeeded in blowing up his fur.
Klang—
The hamster was so scared it collided with the cage.
Xia Yu smoothed his fur and tried the fur-explosion technique again.
The bedroom wasn’t very insulated. Youxue, who was cleaning up in the kitchen, looked worryingly at the bedroom with its endless meowing noises.