Clicking on the field, Xia Yu arrived at Tina’s place.
It was morning there, and the girl was still asleep.
Sitting up from the bed, Xia Yu asked, “What’s wrong?”
He was puzzled. Tina’s adoptive mother was a policewoman, and her father was a doctor. They were loving parents; nothing serious should have happened.
In his mind, Tina replied, “I’m leaving here.”
Instantly, Xia Yu thought of a plot where an elderly couple who finally had their own child decided to abandon their adopted daughter.
Had Tina’s adoptive parents decided to send her back to the orphanage because her adoptive mother was pregnant?
If it were the First District, such a thing might be possible, considering the high cost of raising children. But this was the Second District.
Besides, the adoption procedures had been completed a long time ago; there was no way to reverse them now.
Those two parents didn’t seem like the type either.
As Xia Yu was confused, Tina continued explaining, “Dad has to go out of the district for studies, and Mom has a case to handle. They asked me whether I want to go with Dad or stay at my grandparents’ house in the countryside.”
Hearing it was just a regular job transfer, Xia Yu felt relieved.
“Which district is your dad going to?” he asked.
“The First District.”
Upon hearing Tina’s words, Xia Yu felt a flicker of interest, but he quickly calmed himself.
It would be good for the girl to go to the First District for him, but not necessarily for the girl herself.
Firstly, the language was different. Secondly, Tina’s blonde hair and blue eyes would attract a lot of attention.
Since Xia Yu had already confirmed that the Yu Group would eventually be his, he no longer had much motivation to strive hard or to bring Tina under his wing.
He would think it through comprehensively during the day.
Climbing back onto the bed, Xia Yu continued sleeping.
Two hours later, at seven in the morning, Xia Yu got up.
He first went to the bathroom to freshen up, then entered the living room for breakfast, where he met Tina’s adoptive parents.
The adoptive parents seemed somewhat preoccupied, worrying about Tina’s thoughts.
After breakfast, they started asking, “Tina, your grandparents welcome you to their place, but they don’t like cats. You won’t be able to bring Miaomiao with you.”
Miaomiao was the white cat’s name.
Hearing about leaving the cat behind, Tina immediately said in Xia Yu’s mind, “No way.”
“Also, going to the countryside would make going to school inconvenient,” the adoptive parents added.
“Where in the First District is Dad going?” Xia Yu asked.
“To Yaoguang City, the most prosperous city in the First District.” The adoptive father didn’t know why Tina was asking, but he still answered.
Yaoguang City? Xia Yu was surprised.
Yaoguang was the An family’s stronghold, where one could gain many advantages.
“What would happen if you went back to your hometown?” Xia Yu continued inquiring, preparing for a comparison.
“Probably only a month, and then Mom will have time again, and you can come back.”
They avoided talking about the hometown’s condition, so the environment there must not be very good.
“What about going with me to the First District? Think of it as a one-month trip. We have a relative there too,” the adoptive father said.
In the obvious case that the hometown was a pit, plus Tina’s insistence on never separating from Miaomiao, Xia Yu chose to leave with the adoptive father.
This matter was thus decided.
Spending a normal day with Tina, Xia Yu returned to his own body.
It was morning on his side now. He got up from bed and first checked his phone.
He saw a message from Liu Manman saying she and An Siyao would come over later.
Nothing unusual about Liu Manman coming over, Xia Yu put the phone aside and went to freshen up and have breakfast.
At the dining table, he was thinking about Tina’s matters.
The girl would probably come to the First District in about half a month to a month. Her adoptive father would likely be busy there, but she had relatives in the First District who might be able to take care of her.
The specific situation would only be known upon arrival.
Xia Yu planned to spend more time with Tina these days to help her practice her spoken Chinese.
Xia Yu also had his own selfish motives. He wanted to keep Tina around. Although he no longer needed her help, such talent was worth holding onto if possible.
[“I might not need it, but I can’t afford not to have it”].gif
Once the language issue was resolved, the possibility of Tina staying would increase significantly.
Then, he would see if he could get An Tianfeng or Yu Liang to think of a way to have Tina’s father stay in the First District.
After breakfast, Xia Yu played with the black cat for a while and then saw Liu Manman and An Siyao arrive.
Liu Manman unceremoniously threw herself onto the sofa, sighing deeply.
“What’s wrong?” Grabbing An Siyao’s hand that reached out, Xia Yu asked.
“Next week is the school sports meet,” Liu Manman said.
“You signed up for an event?” Xia Yu was surprised. He hadn’t expected Liu Manman to be a sporty girl.
“Not just me. I signed up with your An Siyao,” Liu Manman replied.
“???”
In Xia Yu’s confusion, Liu Manman held An Siyao’s hand: “We signed up for women’s doubles in badminton. When the competition starts, you’ll get to see our dashing and graceful figures!”
“You two are in the guzheng and piano classes respectively, how did you end up in the same team?” Xia Yu was even more surprised.
“The department sports meet can only be class-based, but for the school sports meet, even students from different departments can form a team!” Liu Manman explained, “However, the School of Physical Education is excluded. It’s traditional for the school sports meet not to include them; they have their own separate events.”
Including the School of Physical Education in regular students’ competitions would indeed be too unfair.
“Why did you two decide to sign up for the competition?” Xia Yu asked again.
“Manman said you like it.” An Siyao answered.
Xia Yu then looked at Liu Manman.
Liu Manman coughed, “You dare say you don’t want to see me and An Siyao stretching and sweating on the court playing badminton!”
Xia Yu imagined the scene, which indeed sounded quite good.
Two beautiful girls jumping and sweating, what a wonderful scene.
“So, what exactly motivated you to sign up for the competition? I didn’t know you were such a sports enthusiast,” Xia Yu wasn’t swayed by Liu Manman’s topic diversion.
“It’s just…” Liu Manman’s eyes were a bit evasive, “Earlier, our class had to fill out a form about hobbies, and I felt it was too sad to put guzheng again as a guzheng student.”
Xia Yu could understand Liu Manman’s feelings. In his past life, Xia Yu had a classmate who did the same.
That classmate, during an interview, thought saying basketball was too common and lacked distinctiveness, so he said football, only to find the interviewer was a football fan…
It was a sad story.
Liu Manman continued, “I originally wanted to put singing, but I felt there were too many singing programs and I might get volunteered, so I put badminton.”
“You can play badminton yourself, why drag An Siyao into it?” Xia Yu continued to ask.
“I originally planned to find classmates from my own class, but they all had experience playing badminton. Only An Siyao hasn’t played before.” There was a hint of grievance in Liu Manman’s voice.
There was quite a bit of information in this sentence, and Xia Yu sorted it out.
Liu Manman noticed that An Siyao had never played badminton before, so she dragged her into the team.
This seemed hard to understand, but with a little analysis, an explanation could be reached.
Bringing in someone who had never played badminton meant Liu Manman wasn’t aiming to win. Not wanting to win was because she felt she couldn’t win. Not being able to win was because her skill level was too poor.
Therefore, Liu Manman gave up on winning or losing and set her goal on not losing face.
How to not lose face? Then it was naturally to drag someone down with her. As long as An Siyao was bad enough, people wouldn’t notice Liu Manman’s poor performance.
Liu Manman’s small calculation was quite clever.
However, An Siyao not knowing how to play badminton didn’t mean her physical abilities were lacking.
If the partner was too bad, it would highlight that she wasn’t that bad either, but if the partner’s skill was too strong?
Xia Yu thought, perhaps later he could give Liu Manman a surprise.
“Let’s go practice!” An Siyao suggested, apparently caring about her performance on the court.
“Let’s go!” Liu Manman’s purpose in finding An Siyao was exactly this. She wanted to see what level An Siyao was at.
“I’m coming too!” Xue also followed behind.
They arrived at the badminton court in the neighborhood. The four of them split into two teams: Xia Yu and Liu Manman against each other, and An Siyao and Xue against each other.
Xia Yu and Liu Manman weren’t focused on themselves but were watching An Siyao and Xue together.
Xue, who had been doing housework since childhood, had always been good at sports. She served the ball to An Siyao with a standard posture.
1 second: The ball flew past An Siyao.
2 seconds: The ball landed on the ground.
3 seconds: An Siyao swung her racket.
“…”
“It was too fast. Sorry.” Xue picked up another ball. This time, she held back her strength and served a high arc ball.
This kind of ball was something even a beginner could catch. An Siyao did catch it, but the ball hit the net and still failed.
“An Siyao, why don’t you serve the ball?” Xue felt An Siyao might not be good at receiving. She planned to let An Siyao serve the ball and then lose a point to comfort her.
An Siyao started to serve:
1 second: The ball dropped from her hand.
2 seconds: The ball landed on the ground.
3 seconds: She swung her racket.
Xue couldn’t continue anymore. She looked at Xia Yu with a pleading expression.
Xia Yu sighed.
Because An Tianfeng was worried about An Siyao getting hurt, he exempted her from physical education classes. In Dongzhi Township, whenever it was PE class, An Siyao would have free time. Xia Yu even suspected that An Siyao had never attended a PE class in her life.
He switched places with Xue and let Xue play with Liu Manman.
Liu Manman was full of fighting spirit. After seeing An Siyao’s performance, she had already decided on her plan’s success.
“Come on!” Liu Manman said to Xue.
Xue cautiously served a ball. Liu Manman successfully returned it.
After confirming that Liu Manman wasn’t as bad as An Siyao, Xue relaxed. In the next serve, she slightly used some technique, sending the ball to the other side where Liu Manman was standing.
Liu Manman ran halfway, but the ball had already landed on the ground.
“How low! Taking advantage of me like that!” Liu Manman said to Xue.
I haven’t even used my full strength yet!
Xue felt it was too hard. Liu Manman’s skill was only slightly better than An Siyao’s.
As she was thinking about how to hold back while maintaining politeness and dealing with Liu Manman, Xia Yu and An Siyao came over.
“Let’s call it a day,” Xia Yu coughed and said.
“Okay.” Liu Manman, realizing the skill gap with Xue, agreed to Xia Yu’s suggestion.
Liu Manman didn’t notice anything unusual, only thinking An Siyao was too bad to continue. But the perceptive Xue felt there was something wrong.
As she was puzzled, Xia Yu pulled her aside.
“You and Siyao go to the mall and buy some necessary sports equipment for girls,” Xia Yu said to Xue.
Xue calmly analyzed and carefully thought, discovering the problem.
She widened her eyes and looked at An Siyao’s upper body.
An Siyao met her gaze with a pure look.
Grabbing An Siyao, Xue whispered explanations to her and took her together to the mall.
Left were Xia Yu and Liu Manman, who returned to the villa together.
Liu Manman had already put the competition aside. There were still two days until the competition, but no matter how hard An Siyao tried, it would be useless.
She specially let An Siyao tell Xia Yu at this time so that An Siyao would have no time to practice and remain genuinely bad.
Liu Manman lay on the sofa, while Xia Yu continued writing his game plan.
Xia Yu noticed Liu Manman constantly tossing and turning on the sofa, seeming physically uncomfortable.
As he was about to ask, Liu Manman stood up: “Where is Xue’s room?”
Shouldn’t it be the bathroom?
With confusion, Xia Yu pointed to Xue’s door.
Standing up, Liu Manman entered the room.
Three minutes later, the girl returned to the sofa, stretched, and said she felt much better.
Xia Yu might not have understood, but his intuition told him it was better not to investigate this issue.
“Let’s play guzheng,” a bored Liu Manman started looking for fun.
“The guzheng is also in the piano room. If you want to play, go by yourself,” Xia Yu continued writing his plan without paying attention to Liu Manman.
Liu Manman was already used to Xia Yu’s indifference. She went to the piano room and played the guzheng by herself.
An hour later, Xue and An Siyao returned together, and the four of them casually played games.
In the evening, Liu Manman left, and An Siyao was called away by Yu Ningmeng.
A tired Xue yawned and returned to her room.
She looked at an extra piece of clothing on her bed and pondered.
It was a sports bra, not hers nor An Siyao’s. An Siyao didn’t have this before. She went to the mall to buy it for An Siyao.
So, the only suspect left was Liu Manman.
Now the question was, why did this item leave Liu Manman’s body when neither she nor An Siyao was around?
And why was it in her bedroom?
So, did this mean that her brother had a relationship with Liu Manman besides Xu Youxiang?
Is the adult world really that complicated!
But it looked like her brother was the one who took advantage. Well, whatever.
Xue threw the clothes into the laundry basket.
Five minutes later, Liu Manman, who discovered the problem, sent a message to Xue:
『Xue, did you see anything on your bed?』
『No.』 Xue thought for a while before replying.
She thought this wasn’t just about a piece of clothing but also represented whether Liu Manman’s affair with her brother had been exposed. To avoid embarrassing Liu Manman and disturbing her brother’s fun, she decided to pretend she hadn’t seen anything.
Her good intentions, however, led Liu Manman to some misunderstanding.
Liu Manman was sure she had left the clothes on Xue’s bed. Now Xue said she hadn’t seen them. Why? Could the clothes just vanish into thin air?
The only possibility was that someone had taken the clothes before Xue.
What was he trying to do!
In the living room, Xia Yu, who was giving work instructions to Duan Yi, suddenly received a message from Liu Manman.
『Pervert!』
『???』 Xia Yu didn’t understand. He thought it was just Liu Manman’s mood swings because of her period and didn’t respond.
Seeing that Xia Yu didn’t admit or return the item, Liu Manman became even more embarrassed and angry, but she was too shy to ask directly.
At the same time, Liu Manman had a strange feeling in her heart.
Was Xia Yu acting this way because he had feelings for her too?
She recalled what Liu Ronglan had said about the possibility of a romantic relationship with Xia Yu.
Tossing and turning in bed, Liu Manman’s heart was in turmoil.
This continued until Monday, the day the school sports meet began.
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