Putting aside the matter of persuading Liu Manman for now, Xia Yu turned his gaze toward Ning Qiuer, curious about where exactly he had met her before.
A childhood playmate who had once promised to marry him? Xia Yu thought he wasn’t that despicable.
Ning Qiuer didn’t reveal the truth immediately. Instead, she took out her phone and started scrolling through it.
Five seconds later, she held up her phone and said to Xia Yu, “This is you, right?”
Looking at the phone, Xia Yu saw a video currently playing. It was footage shot in a KTV, with him as the main subject.
He was holding a guitar and singing.
Ning Qiuer turned up the volume, and Xia Yu suddenly remembered what video this was.
It was from when he was still in Zilang, accompanying Yan Wei to a KTV to deal with one of her admirers who loved music. At that time, he had sung the song “The Brightest Star in the Night Sky.”
“I haven’t even seen this video before!” Liu Manman grabbed Ning Qiuer’s phone and started watching it from the beginning.
Xia Yu didn’t mind and walked to the target to pull out the arrows, continuing his practice.
After completing another round of archery, Liu Manman finished watching the video. She approached Xia Yu and hooked her arms around his neck, saying, “You actually compose music and sing pretty well!”
Because of the exercise, she had gotten warm and took off her jacket, leaving only a sweater. If Xia Yu didn’t know her personality well, he might have thought she was trying to seduce him.
Pushing her away, Xia Yu continued to load the arrow, saying, “It’s just basic stuff. My talent is in music, so whether it’s composing lyrics or melodies or playing piano, guzheng, or violin, I can do it well.”
“Ugh, don’t talk about this in front of me,” Liu Manman refused to hear such heartbreaking words.
“As long as you find the right direction, you can do it too. You play the xiao pretty well, right? How long have you been learning it?” Xia Yu asked.
“I just learned it normally from my grandma, and she never praised me,” Liu Manman recalled. “Wait, after the performance in the second district last time, she did praise me for working hard. But I only practiced a little before the performance, and my xiao was already covered in dust.”
“In terms of guzheng, you’re about average. You could try focusing on xiao or sheng,” Xia Yu suggested, feeling pleased that he had successfully guided the conversation.
“Why must it be sheng? Since I already have a foundation in xiao, wouldn’t it be better to continue with xiao? Plus, xiao is more popular than sheng,” Liu Manman questioned.
Xia Yu naturally couldn’t say that he wanted to recommend Liu Manman to Shen Shengsheng. He replied, “Well, your xiao skills aren’t that great anyway. Switching to sheng would at most waste half a year.”
“That’s still time,” Liu Manman didn’t agree with his answer, feeling that Xia Yu seemed to have ulterior motives.
“Most importantly,” Xia Yu put on an expression of deep concern for Liu Manman, “there are many master musicians in the xiao field, but in sheng music, there’s only one master, Shen Shengsheng, who is already quite old. If you become a master in xiao, you’re just one among many. But if you become a master in sheng, you’ll be the strongest of your generation and the leader in sheng music!”
Liu Manman was quickly attracted by the promising future Xia Yu painted. She lowered her head and began to think.
Seeing that Liu Manman and Xia Yu had finished their conversation, Ning Qiuer approached. Holding her phone, she said to Xia Yu, “Can we add each other as friends?”
Xia Yu gave her his QQ number. Soon after, his phone received a friend request notification. He clicked accept and categorized Ning Qiuer as a stranger.
Xia Yu’s QQ had only two categories: one for people like An Siyao and Liu Manman, and another for classmates and strangers like Ning Qiuer.
After finishing the categorization, Xia Yu clicked on the avatar of Youxue, who had sent him a message.
“Brother, what are you doing now?”
Xia Yu typed a reply.
In the middle of class, Youxue felt her phone vibrate. She secretly took out her phone and checked Xia Yu’s reply.
“Shooting arrows, with your sister Manman”
Covering her mouth, Youxue’s mind flashed images of clothes on the floor and messy bed sheets.
After five seconds of silence, she typed, “Be careful.”
Xia Yu quickly replied, “Don’t worry, there’s protective gear and a coach.”
The protective gear made sense, but what about the coach? Youxue felt something was off.
“Can you send me a photo?” she typed.
“[Photo]”
Opening the photo, Youxue saw the archery range, and she relaxed.
Then she started examining the details of the photo.
A single photo’s details can reveal a lot. Every time she took a photo, Youxue would consciously choose the details before sending them to Xia Yu. Unfortunately, Xia Yu never paid attention to those details.
She noticed that in the edge of the photo, half of Liu Manman’s shoulder was visible, with a hand resting on it.
Imagining the distance between Xia Yu and Liu Manman, and analyzing their body language, Youxue confirmed that the hand didn’t belong to Liu Manman or Xia Yu.
Liu Manman’s posture was relaxed, not like someone receiving instruction from a coach.
Xia·Sherlock·Edogawa·Youxue had discovered a secret.
“Brother, who’s the other girl with Manman?”
Based on Sherlock Youxue’s analysis, someone who could be close to Liu Manman must not be a man.
“It’s Ning Qiuer [photo]”
Staring at the name Ning Qiuer for a while, Youxue opened the photo, which showed Ning Qiuer drawing her bow and preparing her arrow.
“Sign it, sign it!”
As expected by Xia Yu, Youxue replied like this. He agreed and ended the chat.
Continuing to practice archery, at noon the three of them had lunch together at the club’s restaurant. Xia Yu took the opportunity to ask for autographs, and after Liu Manman and Ning Qiuer went out shopping, Xia Yu continued his practice.
By 4 p.m., he was basically able to perform the same operations on a ten-meter target as he had done with darts before.
He could make further progress tomorrow.
Finding the coach, Xia Yu returned the equipment.
The coach said to him, “If you plan to keep doing this, you should buy a bow with higher draw weight and decide on the type—recurve, traditional, or compound.”
“Is there really such a big deal about bows?” Xia Yu wasn’t familiar with this aspect.
“The bow you’re using now is only 22 pounds. Given your physical strength, you should be able to handle 30 pounds directly. You’ll need to gradually increase the weight, reaching around 60 or 70 pounds eventually.” The coach took out his phone. “Add my QQ number, and I can help you choose the right one.”
After adding the coach’s QQ, Xia Yu took a taxi home.
As soon as he entered the house, Youxue rushed to his side, staring at him with wide eyes.
Xia Yu took out the notebook he had requested from the club. The first page contained Ning Qiuer’s autograph.
Youxue lovingly took the notebook with both hands, went to the balcony, and took more than ten photos.
Then she threw the notebook onto the TV cabinet where clutter was placed.
Cheerfully flipping through the photos, Youxue went upstairs.
After showing off the photos, Ning Qiuer’s autograph had lost its significance.
This girl was unusually pragmatic, Xia Yu thought.
After drinking a can of cola, he returned to his room.
His arms were sore from a day of archery. As he massaged his shoulders, he clicked on Wen Ziying’s contact.
After a moment of darkness, what appeared before him was a piece of paper filled with writing.
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage