Knowing that he could no longer hide the truth, Xia Yu could only confess: “I’m from the Chinese Literature Department.”
The surrounding competitors were stunned: “You’re from the Chinese Literature Department, so how did you end up participating in a competition at our School of Music?”
“The competition regulations stated that all students from the university could participate; it didn’t specify that only students from the School of Music were allowed,” Xia Yu explained.
They all responded with a collective “tsk.”
“I remember now—you’re the one who played “Rainy Night, White Horse” with Liu Manman on the Mid-Autumn Festival night!” they finally recognized Xia Yu.
Old Zheng and Old Gang exchanged glances. They had just been wondering how someone suddenly emerged who could compose such a piece and perform it so beautifully. It turned out Xia Yu was the composer of “Rainy Night, White Horse” and the second-place winner of a previous middle school instrument competition.
Their hearts found a bit of solace; losing to someone like him wasn’t embarrassing.
Finally, the host invited the top three to the stage to receive trophies and certificates, marking the end of the competition.
The students and teachers from the School of Music wanted to further communicate with Xia Yu, but after receiving his award, Xia Yu quietly slipped away.
They couldn’t find Xia Yu.
At the same time, Xia Yu’s true identity was revealed.
The five judges from the School of Music, who were also the main organizers of the competition, confronted Shen Shengsheng, who had secretly let Xia Yu in.
“Old Shen, you’re a teacher from our School of Music. What you did was really underhanded!” the five complained.
Once the announcement was made public, it would be embarrassing for the School of Music’s composition competition to have been won by a student from the Chinese Literature Department.
“The regulations didn’t say students from other departments couldn’t participate,” Shen Shengsheng defended himself using the rules.
Actually, the five weren’t too concerned; their conversation shifted to Xia Yu’s piano piece.
“Never thought that besides being so skilled in the guzheng and sheng, Xia Yu is also a piano expert,” one judge sighed. Mastering one instrument was already difficult enough, let alone three.
The guzheng and piano were both string instruments, so they could be somewhat related, but the sheng was a wind instrument, completely different.
“And the violin too! His speed playing “Flight of the Bumblebee” broke the world record!”
“During his participation in the middle school instrument competition, he also played the piano. His rendition of “Old Wolf of France” was rare in capturing the essence of the piece. But at that time, his piano playing was still quite immature. Never thought that in just a year, he would reach such a level,” Shen Shengsheng sighed.
With an envious expression, he said, “Liu Ronglan is really lucky to have found such a disciple.”
“Tsk, we all thought the Hua School of guzheng was declining, but then Liu Ronglan came along, followed by Xia Yu. Comparatively, Old Shen, your sheng…”
The five judges looked at Shen Shengsheng with sympathy.
Shen Shengsheng wasn’t sad, though. He felt that Xia Yu had already rediscovered his musical dreams. Now was the time for him to show his skills and recruit Xia Yu to his team.
At that moment, Xia Yu, who was being discussed, was by an artificial river behind the auditorium.
The environment here was quiet, with dim lighting.
Xia Yu had originally just sent a message to An Siyao, asking the girl to come. He didn’t expect Liu Manman to follow behind.
Ignoring Liu Manman, Xia Yu approached An Siyao, handing her the trophy and certificate he had received. Then he took out an envelope from his pocket.
“What is this, a divorce letter?” Liu Manman joked, not minding the trouble.
Ignoring Liu Manman, Xia Yu also handed the envelope to An Siyao.
“This is the piece ‘Princess of Serenity.’ It’s a gift for you,” Xia Yu said.
His words made Liu Manman’s body stiffen.
Liu Manman keenly sensed that the atmosphere was a bit off.
An Siyao took the envelope, looking at Xia Yu with anticipation: “Can I take a look?”
If it were another girl, she would probably be excited and rush into his arms by now, not caring about the music, only about the cinematic plot.
This was exactly what made An Siyao different. Xia Yu hadn’t given her this piece during the performance, precisely for this reason.
He had originally considered whether to change the piece’s name to “To An Siyao.”
But Xia Yu thought that introducing every performance of this piece as “To An Siyao” might sound a bit strange.
More importantly, An Siyao wouldn’t care about such an exaggerated gesture.
For her, walking hand in hand every day was already the ultimate romance. Things like a sudden rain of flowers or roses everywhere wouldn’t move her; instead, they might even scare her a little.
An Siyao had already opened the envelope.
She took out the sheet of paper inside, which contained the musical score written by Xia Yu.
Thanks to the Drawing Level 2 skill he had obtained from An Siyao, Xia Yu’s musical notation was quite good.
Liu Manman came behind An Siyao, curiously looking together. When she saw the subtitle “To An Siyao” written below the title “Princess of Serenity,” her heart quickly sprouted a lemon tree.
He gave me that piece as a clear transaction, but he gave An Siyao this one for free!
And even wrote it into the subtitle!
Liu Manman could already imagine how music teachers would talk about this anecdote every time they taught “Princess of Serenity.”
How annoying, she was so envious!
After finishing reading the score, An Siyao carefully folded it back into the envelope.
“I like it very much,” the girl said to Xia Yu.
“How much do you like it?” Xia Yu took An Siyao’s hand and looked into her eyes.
The dim streetlights cast pale yellow light through the tree canopy. Because of the leaves, the light became small patches, falling on An Siyao’s body.
The leaves rustled, and the light and shadows swayed. An Siyao seemed to be flowing in the light and shadows, somewhat dreamlike.
Her lips were sometimes in the light, sometimes in the shadow, hiding and showing, attracting the gaze.
Lowering his head, Xia Yu captured the lips that were playing hide-and-seek in the light and shadows.
After a brief moment of surprise, An Siyao closed her eyes.
Beside them, Liu Manman, watching the two kiss, looked bewildered:
Who am I? Where am I? What should I do?
I’m still a child! Why are you showing me this!
Stunned for a couple of seconds, Liu Manman took out her phone from her pocket and put it to her ear.
“What? My daughter is giving birth? I’ll come back immediately.” With that, Liu Manman quickly walked toward the school gate.
After her figure disappeared, Xia Yu, sensing that An Siyao was a bit out of breath, also released her.
The girl lowered her head, blushing, and dared not look at Xia Yu.
Amused, Xia Yu lowered his head to look at her, but she immediately turned around, her back to Xia Yu.
This posture was also very appealing. Xia Yu took a small step forward, embraced the girl from behind, his hands circling her waist and resting on her abdomen.
An Siyao wasn’t very tall, so Xia Yu rested his chin on the top of her head, a faint fragrance entering his nose.
This posture was appealing, but it also stirred some physical excitement.
Leaning down, Xia Yu placed his face next to An Siyao’s, the fragrance from the girl becoming stronger.
An Siyao’s body was usually cool because of her cold constitution, but now, Xia Yu could feel the heat from her face.
Just as he was about to say something, two hands suddenly inserted between them from behind, separating the two.
It was Yu Ningmeng who did it.
Pulling An Siyao behind her, Yu Ningmeng looked at Xia Yu with caution: “What are you trying to do? This is in public!”
Yu Ningmeng had been waiting at the auditorium entrance before the competition ended, but after everyone had left and An Siyao still hadn’t come out, she felt something was wrong. She quickly searched around the auditorium and indeed found An Siyao being taken advantage of by Xia Yu.
Caught in the act, Xia Yu felt a bit embarrassed, but only slightly.
Xia Yu said, “We’ll go home now.”
“You wish!” Yu Ningmeng grabbed An Siyao’s hand, “Come on, let’s go back.”
Holding the things Xia Yu gave her, An Siyao waved goodbye to him.
Xia Yu waved back as well.
He rode his electric scooter to the school gate and then took a taxi.
He had already passed the first part of his driver’s license exam with a perfect score without any doubt. The next step was to complete the remaining three parts before he could drive on his own.
The next morning after returning home, Xia Yu received a call from the driving school, asking him to come for practice for part two.
When Xia Yu arrived at the scene and demonstrated his skilled driving, he was granted exemption from further practice.
In his previous life, he had already passed his driver’s license exam. In this life, he had also acquired Driving Level 2 from the old lady, making him a proficient and experienced driver.
After returning to a leisurely life for two days, Xia Yu received a message from Duan Yi on the evening of the 19th.
“The milk tea shop is all set. It opens at noon. You must come at 6 p.m. tonight!” Duan Yi reminded Xia Yu anxiously.
Xia Yu sent a picture of a nodding pigeon to indicate that he understood.
On the morning of the 20th, after class, Xia Yu was reminded again by Duan Yi.
At noon, he decided not to go back home and took An Siyao out for a meal before heading to Duan Yi’s milk tea shop.
The milk tea shop had just opened, with only a few passersby ordering a few cups of milk tea, making it quite desolate.
Inside, Xia Yu saw Duan Yi looking somewhat dejected.
Duan Yi also saw Xia Yu and stood up in surprise, wanting to make Xia Yu start work early, but Xia Yu refused. He ordered two cups of milk tea and went upstairs with An Siyao to drink them.
While drinking, he observed the foot traffic.
As he had previously guessed, the foot traffic was indeed very low.
This was because there were other milk tea shops at both the entrance and the end of the street, and Duan Yi’s milk tea shop was right in the middle, caught between them.
Duan Yi wanted to enhance her competitiveness through the design of the store. The other two shops were small with no chairs, while hers had a small second floor.
However, milk tea was mostly consumed while walking around, and people didn’t really care whether the shop had seats or not.
Working in the milk tea shop were Duan Yi and Kang Kang, both with somewhat gloomy expressions.
At this moment, a commotion came from the entrance as the door was pushed open. Qin Youliang led his eight friends into the milk tea shop.
They each ordered a cup and chatted in the seats downstairs.
Whether it was due to herd mentality or not, after Qin Youliang and his nine friends occupied the window seats, more people started coming in.
Half an hour later, a group of girls from the class also arrived at the milk tea shop.
Half of them ordered a cup of milk tea and went shopping, while the other half stayed in the shop, almost filling up the limited seats downstairs.
These were all friendly purchases, coming to show support today but unlikely to return tomorrow.
The real customers were the strangers who came in.
But there were very few of them.
“Xia Yu!” Xia Yu on the second floor was spotted by the girls downstairs.
He was sitting at the inner part of the second floor, not easily visible. Qin Youliang and his group hadn’t noticed him before.
After the Mid-Autumn Festival party and the composition competition, Xia Yu’s popularity had skyrocketed.
Especially after the composition competition, almost no one in the Chinese Literature Department didn’t know Xia Yu.
This was because the dean of the Chinese Literature College, for some unknown reason, had put up a large banner in front of the teaching building that read, “Celebrating Xia Yu from our department winning the School of Music’s composition competition.”
Xia Yu guessed that the dean of his college probably had a grudge against the dean of the School of Music and was intentionally provoking him.
Regardless of the reason, many students who came to the teaching building saw this banner and had already thoroughly researched Xia Yu’s online information.
Click—
Several girls took photos of Xia Yu.
Xia Yu didn’t mind; there was nothing embarrassing in the photos.
Those girls immediately posted the photos they had taken on the school forum.
Students from the Chinese Literature College browsing the forum saw that the Xia Yu mentioned on the banner had actually appeared? And he had joined a milk tea shop?
A small group of bored people immediately decided to come and take a look.
Students from the School of Music browsing the forum saw that Xia Yu, who had intruded into their school and taken their prize, had appeared? And he had joined a milk tea shop?
Another small group of bored people started heading this way.
Students from other departments browsing the forum saw that Xia Yu, who had performed on the Mid-Autumn Festival evening, was now at a milk tea shop near the school street? And he had joined it?
Another group of bored people came to take a look.
Downstairs, Duan Yi and Kang Kang became somewhat busy.
There was still quite a noticeable difference in appearance and demeanor between students and working adults. Duan Yi was puzzled as to why so many unfamiliar students suddenly arrived.
She noticed that those who came in would glance in Xia Yu’s direction before leaving.
So it was because of Xia Yu.
However, even with these people, the store’s business was still not optimistic.
At this time, Xia Yu and An Siyao had already finished a cup of milk tea. Xia Yu was thinking whether to take An Siyao out for a walk or continue staying here when Liu Manman walked in.
With no choice, Xia Yu had to order three more cups of milk tea and accompany Liu Manman.
After Liu Manman, two small figures came upstairs; they were You Xue and Yin Ling.
Then, even Yu Ningmeng and Yan Wei arrived.
The small second floor gathered six beautiful women ranging from middle school to the workplace. People downstairs were astonished.
The girls who had previously taken photos of Xia Yu updated new photos to the forum.
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