At 5:30 p.m., after eating at An Siyao’s house, Xia Yu returned to his own body.
His body was now finished with the coffee shop job.
After changing into his own clothes, Xia Yu got onto the subway.
Kong Hanyue lived quite far away from the coffee shop. After 15 minutes on the train, Xia Yu arrived.
It was in the suburbs. Not ordinary suburbs but the kind of suburbs with pools.
Of course, compared to An Siyao’s mansion, this was rather pedestrian.
Xia Yu was allowed to enter after telling the security guard Kong Hanyue’s name. After a 10-minute walk, he reached his destination.
After pressing the doorbell, Kong Hanyue opened the door.
“Mom,” Xia Yu called out.
“C’mon on in.” Ushering Xia Yu inside, Kong Hanyue looked over her son.
Xia Yu also looked at Kong Hanyue, whom he had not seen for years.
After Youxue revealed the secret that Kong Hanyue had children, her husband didn’t divorce her, but forbade her from seeing her former family.
Three years ago, after Kong Hanyue’s husband died, she went to Xia Yu, offering to sponsor his schooling and helping him move to another city. Xia Yu, however, didn’t want to abandon Youxue. He refused the offer, and they hadn’t seen each other since.
“You’re thinner,” Kong Hanyue said with concern, taking Xia Yu’s hand.
“…”
This was probably a popular complaint among parents. In fact, not only did Xia Yu not lose weight, he’d gained a few pounds.
“How could you live in that kind of home? Listen to mom and go to school in Yaoguang City. I can find a way to get you a resident ID there. This way, you can take the college entrance exams with your eyes closed and still get into a good college!” Kong Hanyue frowned and said earnestly.
Seemingly, Kong Hanyue seemed like a loving mom. In fact, she was just very moody, and it was combined with forgetfulness.
For example, when she went out with Xia Dongyang before, after seeing him catch a rabbit, she’d be devastated, but when the rabbit was roasted, she’d happily eat the meat.
She was only emotional about things in front of her. She forgot about anything out of her sight.
“It’s okay. Xia Dongyang has left,” Xia Yu said.
“How did he leave?” Kong Hanyue was surprised.
Xia Yu told her everything.
“I paid for that apartment too!” After some anger, Kong Hanyue started to persuade Xia Yu to live at Yaoguang City again.
She didn’t think about Youxue at all.
“When you graduate, I’ll get you a job at the company. If Zeze didn’t resist, you could live with me!” Kong Hanyue explained her plans.
Zeze was the son of Kong Hanyue’s second husband’s former wife. He was one year younger. His full name was Zhong Yunze. He had a twin younger sister called Zhong Yunxin.
Neither were Kong Hanyue’s biological children, so it was a little awkward for her.
“Xinxin is going to school at Yaoguang as well, so if you could… hm…” Kong Hanyue hinted.
“Stop being silly.” Pushing aside Kong Hanyue’s too-close face, Xia Yu refused to go to Yaoguang City.
“Why?” Kong Hanyue was disappointed.
She was almost 40-years-old, but she acted the same as a naive young girl. Her second husband probably liked her for this.
“My school principal could get me a recommendation for Huada University.” Xia Yu began to say.
“Really?” Huada University wasn’t a school that was easy to get into. Kong Hanyue was shocked.
Even though the Zhong family had some money in Zilang City, they couldn’t get Zhong Yunze into Huada University.
“They just need me to do well at this high schoolers’ music competition.” Xia Yu continued to talk.
“You can’t do that,” Kong Hanyue said.
“…” Xia Yu knew he didn’t need to explain. He asked, “Is there a piano or violin here?”
“We have a piano.” Kong Hanyue led Xia Yu to the piano room.
Opening the piano’s lid, Xia Yu played “The Pope’s Dancer.”
Seeing Xia Yu’s dexterity, Kong Hanyue was amazed.
After the song ended, Kong Hanyue grabbed his hands before Xia Yu could put them away.
Squeezing his fingers, Kong Hanyue asked, “When did you learn piano? You’re almost as good as Zeze.”
“Zhong Yunze plays the piano too?” Xia Yu was surprised that there was a piano here. As it turned out, it belonged to Zhong Yunze.
“Yes. Zeze is doing this music competition too. Even he is not guaranteed to be in the finals. You still have no chance.” Kong Hanyue wasn’t hopeful about Xia Yu’s chances.
She asked, “Where did you learn the piano? Did Xia Dongyang actually pay money for you to learn the piano?”
“I learned it from an old man at the coffee shop nearby.” After explaining about the piano, Xia Yu said, “I’m not going to compete in the piano competition.”
“You know the violin?” Kong Hanyue remembered how he had asked about a violin earlier.
“Not the violin either,” Xia Yu answered.
“Then, what? Don’t keep me in suspense.” Kong Hanyue squeezed Xia Yu’s cheek.
Slapping away her hand, Xia Yu said, “Guzheng.”
“You learned the guzheng? I wanted to teach you before, and you weren’t interested!” Kong Hanyue looked angry.
“I don’t know guzheng.” Xia Yu interrupted her.
“Then you’re…?”
“Teach me now.”
“Eh?” Kong Hanyue had no words.
“The competition will start in November at the latest,” she said.
“I know. You just have to teach me a little, and you’ll know why I said this.”
Ever since Xia Yu learned music skills from An Siyao, he managed to reach Music Lv 3, and it was applicable to all musical instruments. He just needed to know the songs.
He couldn’t learn the songs from An Siyao, or she’d know, so he came to Kong Hanyue.
Before marrying Xia Dongyang, Kong Hanyue was a well-known guzheng-playing beauty. She’d competed in world-class guzheng competitions. She may not be at the same level now, but she was still better than a regular teacher.
“Guzheng and piano don’t have anything in common. You won’t have an advantage other than a sense of rhythm.” Feeling like Xia Yu was dismissive of guzheng, Kong Hanyue seemed unhappy.
She took Xia Yu to the guzheng room.
The room was decorated in a classical style, with some delicate teaware and an incense burner.
This was probably what her second husband preferred.
“I was supposed to change into Han style clothes in this room. But he’s dead now, so I won’t bother.” Kong Hanyue didn’t miss her dead husband very much.
She sat in front of the guzheng. “Guzheng only has five tones, gong shang jue zhi yu, the rest have to be done in the chords…”
“I know. Just teach me the songs.” Xia Yu interrupted her.
Kong Hanyue snorted, mumbling about people who were too cocky, disrespectful to their elders, and betraying their lineage… then started to play the practice song.