“Drinking among flowers, alone with no mates. Holding the wine, questioning the sky, which year is it? The firecrackers herald a new year, the spring wind…”
Tapping on Kong Hanyue’s head, Xia Yu looked at her. “Please speak normally.”
“We’re an endangered school, the Flower style.”
Kong Hanyue started to explain earnestly. “The Southern style has a unique temperament. With variable notes, it tends to be more passionate. The Northern style uses the middle finger more, has a longer portamento, and sounds more elegant.”
“What about the Flower style?” Xia Yu asked.
“More hand techniques,” Kong Hanyue answered.
Seeing Xia Yu’s confusion, Kong Hanyue continued, “There are many more techniques. Other than the fast-four, the plucking, and the pulling, there are harder techniques.”
“Is that why there’s no one learning from this school, because of the many hand techniques?” Xia Yu began to understand.
“Hand techniques can be learned. It’s just when there’s so much going on in the hands, it’s hard to control the rhythm. Unless you practiced really hard or were a genius, you can’t learn it. And there’s a bunch of people who are jealous of us, saying we’re showing off techniques more than emotions.” Kong Hanyue seemed angry.
Xia Yu wanted to change his style at this point.
But it was just a thought.
“Let’s practice another song.”
After staying at Kong Hanyue’s until 10 p.m., Xia Yu took the last subway train on the way home.
“Big bro, you’re back?”
As soon as he came home, he could see Youxue watching TV on the sofa.
There wasn’t anything worth watching. She was waiting for Xia Yu.
In order to explain his night activities, Xia Yu used the excuse of practicing for the competition.
“Go to bed. Don’t wait up.”
After seeing Youxue enter her room, Xia Yu put down his book bag and went to the bathroom.
He used five minutes to wash up. Then, he turned off the light and returned to his bedroom.
Another five minutes later, Youxue’s door opened. She tip-toed to the bathroom and smelled Xia Yu’s jacket.
“Perfume!”
…
On Saturday, Xia Yu got up at 8 a.m. After getting ready, he logged onto An Siyao’s body at 9:30 a.m.
He had 4700 points in the game now. It was time to keep learning the piano.
He exchanged 4700 points for nine of the 2x experience prop, with 380 points leftover.
“Are we doing more of ‘Ode to the Sun’?” An Siyao asked.
“Yes.” Xia Yu opened the piano’s lid and began playing.
“Ode to the Sun” was a pretty unusual song. It was slow, very slow.
Slow didn’t mean it was easy to play. Like riding a bicycle, riding slowly was sometimes more challenging. The slower you played, the harder it was to maintain balance.
Xia Yu, who was learning at 10x the efficiency, could finally play this song one hour before the eight hours were up.
After another 30 minutes of practice, Xia Yu stopped his experience prop, put down the lid of the piano, and went to An Siyao’s bedroom.
The remaining time was usually for chatting with An Siyao.
Neither of them was into chatting idly. They had already talked about the things they were interested in, so today, they were silent.
If there’s nothing to chat about, then they didn’t chat. Chatting for the sake of chatting would only feel like a burden.
Xia Yu yawned and opened An Siyao’s notebook computer. He started browsing idly.
While looking at some jokes on a forum, a pop-up ad appeared.
Even upper-class society people had to deal with pop-up ads?
Moving the mouse to the pop-up’s upper right-hand corner, Xia Yu took a look. It was actually not an ad but a news alert.
He clicked into the alert and saw an interesting headline.
“First annual district-wide high school music competition to begin in November”
Just like what the principal had said, the competition started in November, and the finals were in December.
It was acceptable time-wise. There was some room.
While Xia Yu was using her body, An Siyao couldn’t control the motions. However, if Xia Yu had any sensations, she would get the same feedback.
After Xia Yu saw the competition headline, so did An Siyao.
“Are you interested in the music competition?” the girl asked.
Xia Yu thought for a second. He did see the ad. He couldn’t deny the interest.
“A little,” he replied.
“Are you going to enter the competition?” she asked.
“I can’t.” Xia Yu lied.
An Siyao didn’t doubt his answer. In her view, someone who could overpower the housekeeping chief and who wasn’t afraid of a dozen burly men couldn’t be a high schooler.
“Could you see me if I did the competition?” she said.
“???”
Silently removing becoming number one from his expectations, Xia Yu said, “I can watch the replays. Hopefully, the videos could last 10 years.”
“Wow, are you from 10 years in the future?” An Siyao was surprised.
“Right.”
“What is the future me like?”
“You’d died five years earlier in a plane crash.”
“How could that be?” The news disappointed An Siyao.
She tried to save herself. “I didn’t die yet, so I could still control the future right? I’ll never fly again.”
“Good idea.”
After talking some more, Xia Yu blamed himself for looking at that news item. Meanwhile, he tried to see if there was anything off with his camouflage.
He shouldn’t forbid An Siyao from doing the competition. It would seem too intentional.
One minute later, An Siyao said again, “You were lying to me, right?”
“You just figured it out?” Xia Yu showed his shock.
“Don’t always bully me!” The girl complained weakly.
“I’m actually from a parallel world,” Xia Yu replied.
“I don’t know which of what you said is real.” An Siyao had given up. “Anyway, if I did the competition, you could see me, right?”
“I can see you now,” Xia Yu said.
“That’s not the same.” An Siyao wanted Xia Yu to use his own eyes to see her.
After confirming Xia Yu could see her, she decided to do the music competition.
Xia Yu hesitated and didn’t say anything else.
In fact, he did want to see this innocent girl in real life.
If they made it into the finals, they’d meet.
There was nothing wrong with his camouflage. It wouldn’t attract people’s attention. The risk was very low.
He just couldn’t get to number one anymore.
Might as well. Being number one would be too flamboyant.
At 5:30 p.m., Xia Yu returned to his own body. Meanwhile, the Xia Yu that was on deposit with the system had also finished his piano gig.
Taking out his phone, Xia Yu glanced at the date.
It was September 26th, about a month before November.
Changing back to his own clothes, Xia Yu walked toward Kong Hanyue’s home.
On the subway, a young man about his age bumped into him when he was jostled.
“Sorry.” The young man was polite.
“It’s alright.” Xia Yu nodded and saw the young man sitting down in the next car.
He thought the young man looked familiar, but he couldn’t remember from where.
Zhong Yunze, sitting in the next car, didn’t recognize Xia Yu at all. He looked at his phone, showing a smile.
His sudden visit would give his mom a pleasant surprise.