Returning to his own body, Xia Yu let out a satisfied sigh.
Except for a misunderstanding in the middle with Feng Yumo, today’s experience as a female high school student was perfect.
The food was delicious, and An Siyao’s friends, Feng Yujia and Feng Yumo, were both very warm.
Most importantly, the dumplings were tasty.
Taking out his phone, Xia Yu searched for “Baiyu Tangzi,” which was the name of the dumplings.
After seeing the four-digit price, he exited the webpage.
He would have to wait until he became a world-class pianist before he could indulge in eating them freely.
That Tachibana Girls’ Academy was somewhat terrifying; such dumplings were actually a regular dish there.
Sighing at the gap between the rich and the poor, Xia Yu turned his attention to the game panel. The two test missions had already been completed, so he could now choose rewards.
Ignoring the body search, he opted for Level 1 Bonus Solidification and a 5x Experience Card.
The three rewards could not be chosen repeatedly. Otherwise, he would have given up the experience card and chosen two level 1 bonus solidifications.
[Level 1 Bonus Solidification: Can convert one level 1 bonus into a permanent bonus]
[5x Experience Card: Gain five times the experience during skill practice. Valid for 24 hours, with pause functionality]
The Level 1 Bonus Solidification was exactly as Xia Yu had imagined. The 5x Experience Card was even better than he had expected. Initially, he thought it would only grant five times the experience during one body swap, but it actually lasted 24 hours, allowing him to use it for three full sessions.
He clicked on Level 1 Bonus Solidification, and six bonuses appeared before him.
[Music Bonus Lv1, Painting Bonus Lv1, Flower Arrangement Bonus Lv1, Dexterity Bonus Lv1, Intimidation Bonus Lv1, Night Vision Bonus Lv1]
He was learning piano merely to find a quick part-time job, so he had no intention of choosing music. Painting was not as useful as music, so it was also out of the question. Flower arrangement and night vision were even less useful.
That left only dexterity and intimidation.
Although intimidation was quite practical, its application was relatively limited.
Xia Yu focused on dexterity.
Dexterity was not only useful in fighting but also required for piano playing and painting, essentially benefiting nearly all non-theoretical skills.
It was a versatile auxiliary skill.
He clicked on solidification.
Opening the panel, he checked his current skills.
[Music Lv2, Painting Lv1, Dexterity Lv1, Intimidation Lv1, Dexterity Bonus Lv1]
He then tried saying, “Game items?”
His experience card appeared before him.
[5x Experience Card 24/24]
Closing all the panels, he sat in front of his desk, contemplating how to practice the dexterity bonus.
Now that he had the bonus, he naturally wanted to start training immediately.
Running and jumping around like a black cat was not feasible. Xia Yu needed a way to practice without leaving home.
After thinking for a while, he took out a pen and placed it between his fingers.
As his fingers moved, the pen began to spin between them.
Pen spinning was also a skill requiring dexterity.
Initially, Xia Yu was somewhat clumsy, and the pen often fell onto the table, but his skills rapidly improved.
From four in the afternoon until nine at night, Xia Yu kept spinning the pen with increasing proficiency. Eventually, he put the pen down with lingering satisfaction. He took out his phone and sent a message to Gui Zixiao, asking how he had behaved at school during the day.
His physical body during the day had been entrusted to the game system.
“You’re asking me how you acted at school?” Gui Zixiao was quite surprised.
Xia Yu typed again: “You have a crush on a girl and want to know others’ opinions about you?”
“If you want tomorrow’s homework, just say so,” Xia Yu threatened.
Gui Zixiao immediately got to the point: “Didn’t feel much different. Wait, let me ask someone else.”
Three minutes later, he sent another message.
“They said you were very attentive in class today. Previously, you would sometimes look at your phone during classes other than Chinese, math, and English, but today you didn’t look at it at all.”
Wait, how did they find out that I usually play with my phone in classes other than Chinese, math, and English?
It wasn’t strange for classmates to occasionally see him using his phone, but summarizing a pattern wasn’t accidental.
Xia Yu was about to ask, but halfway through typing, he deleted everything.
Why did Gui Zixiao specifically tell him that it was something others noticed? Usually, wouldn’t the other party ask Gui Zixiao to keep it a secret?
Or was being discovered their intention all along?
Cautious, Xia Yu didn’t pursue the matter further. He simply replied with a casual “Hmm” and ended the conversation.
On the other side, Gui Zixiao exited the chat with Xia Yu and opened a female classmate’s profile.
“I was trying to let him notice you watching him, to help test things out, but he seemed a bit alert and didn’t even ask.”
The girl sent a sighing emoji.
Successfully avoiding a confession, Xia Yu continued practicing pen spinning. After mastering one method, he switched to another. Once he became proficient with specific fingers, he changed to new ones.
By 7:30 a.m., he could already skillfully use any finger to spin the pen in four different ways.
When the alarm rang, he put the pen down and went to wash up.
At 8 a.m., it was time to log into the game again, but Xia Yu didn’t log in. Logging into An Siyao’s body now would only help her attend class. Although attending a prestigious all-girls school was quite enjoyable, Xia Yu, with only 2,500 in savings, currently only wanted to earn money.
After arriving at school, he continued practicing pen spinning, even during class.
A girl who had been observing him initially focused on his handsome face, but her gaze gradually shifted to the pen in his hand.
The pen, flipping rapidly and leaving afterimages, amazed her.
Gui Zixiao noticed her gaze and looked in Xia Yu’s direction, where his attention was also captured by the pen.
Xia Yu’s pen spinning skill was extremely advanced. His wrist remained still, relying solely on finger movements to keep the flying pen steady in his hand without a moment’s pause.
Gui Zixiao’s gaze wasn’t as discreet as the girl’s. The math teacher at the podium noticed and looked in the direction Gui Zixiao was watching. After seeing Gui Zixiao observing Xia Yu’s pen spinning, the teacher gave a cold snort.
He didn’t scold Xia Yu, thinking in his mind that pen spinning wasn’t worth attention—the real problem was Gui Zixiao’s inattentiveness in class.
He called Gui Zixiao to answer a question. When he couldn’t answer, the teacher made him stand and continued lecturing.
He didn’t address Xia Yu’s pen spinning. Scientifically, performing some hand movements helps improve concentration, and besides, pen spinning didn’t disturb others!
However, he didn’t realize that his gaze was unknowingly turning toward Xia Yu more and more.
When he finally noticed, he was already captivated.
Watching Xia Yu spin the pen from his right thumb to pinky, then flick it upward from the pinky and catch it with his left hand to continue spinning, the math teacher’s eyes widened as he stared intently at Xia Yu.
Why was this pen so fascinating?
Seeking more difficulty, Xia Yu added another pen. Two pens spun from one hand to the other, occasionally circling the wrist, flying through the air, hitting each other briefly before separating. He was clearly enjoying himself.
It wasn’t until he noticed that the math teacher had been silent for a while and the classroom was unusually quiet did he realize something was wrong.
Looking up, he saw that everyone in the classroom, including the math teacher, was staring at him.
What are you all looking at?
Xia Yu was puzzled.
Slightly panicked, he put the pen away and pretended to be thinking about the problem on the blackboard.
After the pen was placed into the pencil case, both the math teacher and students simultaneously sighed. The math teacher reluctantly turned his gaze back and continued teaching.
Startled by their stares, Xia Yu didn’t dare to continue spinning the pen in class. After school, he went to the convenience store where he worked and told the manager that he wanted to resign.
Resignation didn’t mean immediate departure; he still needed to wait for the manager to find a replacement.
His piano practice was estimated to be completed in another three to five days, which should be enough time for a replacement to arrive.
During his shift, he took a pen from the store and continued spinning it.
A middle-aged man who had come in to buy a bottle of soy sauce initially intended to purchase only that. But after watching Xia Yu’s pen spinning for a while, he added another identical pen to his purchase.
At 5:30 p.m., when a colleague came to relieve him, he was puzzled by the empty pen holder: “There’s no exam recently. How come the pens that usually last a week are gone in just one day?”
Xia Yu shook his head, saying he didn’t know either.
Back home, he briefly spoke to You Xue, quickly finished dinner, went into his room, and locked the door.
He logged into An Siyao’s body.
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