When the competition results were announced, it was already evening. A group of reporters couldn’t conduct interviews at night and had to wait until the next morning. After obtaining Xia Yu’s contact information, they rushed to his home.
They knew it was Monday, so Xia Yu mustn’t be at home. Therefore, they planned to interview his parents instead. However, Kong Hanyue had left home for many years, and Xia Dongyang had run away days ago, so there was no one at home.
When they asked the neighbors, they didn’t know anything either.
Reporters without connections could only anxiously wait, while those with connections managed to enter the school through the director of discipline.
Xia Yu, who was attending class, was called to the director’s office by a broadcast.
“Xia Yu, this is a reporter from the Zilang Daily. She wants to interview you about winning first place in the musical instrument competition. Do you have time now?”
Of course, Xia Yu had no objections. The director phrased it as a request to show respect, so Xia Yu agreed.
“Well then, you two can do the interview here. I’ll go take care of some things first.” The director left and closed the door behind him.
Sitting on the sofa, Xia Yu looked at the reporter in front of him.
She was a young female reporter, probably a recent college graduate, full of vigor and still holding beautiful aspirations for society.
In his previous life, Xia Yu had read some books on psychology, and he was naturally sensitive to others’ emotions, so he could clearly sense hers.
The female reporter began by introducing herself, but Xia Yu wasn’t listening carefully. Reporters from this level of newspaper would hardly get chances to interview him in the future.
“You’ve won first place in Zilang City. Do you have anything you’d like to say?” the reporter asked.
“No.”
“…”
“Just kidding.” Xia Yu smiled. “But honestly, there’s not much to say. I didn’t even plan to participate in the competition. The principal convinced me to join.”
“Then, may I ask how the principal persuaded you?” The reporter became excited, her mind flashing with thoughts of dreams and passion.
“He said if I did well, I might get a recommendation letter directly from the university, so I wouldn’t have to take the college entrance exam.”
The female reporter was once again at a loss for words.
How can you be so pragmatic!
She decided to change the topic: “During the competition, you mentioned that your piano skills were taught by your mother. Can you talk about your experience learning piano from her?”
“Nothing special, just going by subway to her place when I had time.”
“Wait, taking the subway to your mother’s place?” The reporter caught the key point.
“Oh, they are divorced.” Xia Yu replied. These facts would eventually come out anyway, so he might as well admit them openly.
Upon hearing the word “divorced,” the reporter felt a sinking feeling in her heart.
The conversation suddenly became heavy.
She quickly changed the topic again: “Regarding your winning this competition, how did your father react?”
She tried to use this cheerful topic to lighten the mood.
“He ran away from debts over ten days ago.”
This made the conversation even heavier!
The reporter was momentarily at a loss, and she began to panic slightly.
“But my little sister was very happy.” Xia Yu helped her out of the awkward situation.
Relieved, the reporter started to ask about his younger sister.
The interview lasted for five minutes. They shook hands and went their separate ways.
When Xia Yu returned to the classroom, a class had just ended.
A group of classmates surrounded him, congratulating him on winning first place.
Yan Wei also brought a bag of floral cake, but Xia Yu declined, citing recent stomach discomfort.
Although he really wanted to eat it, he knew she had ulterior motives.
If he wanted to eat pastries, he could go to An Siyao’s place, where the pastry chef would prepare them conveniently. It would save effort, though he wouldn’t get to eat them right away.
He could also have An Siyao bring them to Xu Youxiang’s place, so he could play games while eating.
Yan Wei clearly knew that stomach discomfort was just an excuse. She returned to her seat with a gloomy expression.
In recent days, You Xue hadn’t been enthusiastically pulling her over anymore, which made her feel uneasy, suspecting she had messed something up.
In reality, You Xue had simply learned that Xia Yu visited Kong Hanyue every night, so she wasn’t in a hurry to find herself a sister-in-law anymore.
Besides his classmates, Xia Yu was also surrounded by students from neighboring classes. Even students from other floors specially came to the third floor just to use the restroom so they could catch a glimpse of Xia Yu.
After finishing the day of being surrounded at school, Xia Yu went to the coffee shop and was surrounded again by customers there.
Among the customers were classical music enthusiasts and those trendy young women who came for the excitement. After Xia Yu played an old piece by Lanlao Wolf, the group of young women showed obvious excitement on their faces.
Such a group of people was hard to understand.
After receiving a childish congratulations from Kong Hanyue at her place, Xia Yu returned home in the evening. As soon as he entered the door, he was hugged by You Xue.
“What’s wrong?” Xia Yu asked in confusion. You Xue had already congratulated him in the morning. Why was she acting affectionately now?
“My big brother is the best.” You Xue didn’t answer Xia Yu’s question but said something he couldn’t understand.
Of course I’m good, but what exactly am I good at this time?
Two minutes later, Xia Yu found out the answer.
The female reporter from the Zilang Daily had already published the article and sent it through email news updates.
Although the internet industry wasn’t very developed in this world, print media was declining, and email news updates were becoming popular.
In the article, half of the content focused on You Xue.
Originally, this part was meant to discuss parents and teachers, but You Xue had taken up all of it.
Seeing that she occupied such a large portion in the article, the girl naturally felt extremely happy.
Picking up the article, Xia Yu skimmed through it twice and found no mention of Xia Dongyang or Kong Hanyue.
After a moment of thought, Xia Yu realized he had underestimated the professional ethics of journalists in this world.
In his previous life, a plot where the mother remarried and the father ran away would certainly be exploited by unscrupulous reporters for sensationalism. However, reporters in this world not only refrained from using such despicable tactics but also helped conceal the details.
Reflecting on it, Xia Yu felt he had been too cold towards the female reporter earlier.
Anyway, there would be more interviews after the next round of competitions. He decided he would be more amiable next time.
After closing the email, Xia Yu searched online for the competition results from Yaoguang City.
As expected, the first place was An Siyao.
Besides An Siyao, another familiar face ranked fifth: Zhong Yunze.
Zhong Yunze’s level was roughly mid-level of Lv3. No wonder he could only rank fifth in Yaoguang City.
Xia Yu clicked on the competition videos released that morning and saw An Siyao performing on stage. She played the icy yet warm “Painting World.” Her performance was flawless, and her skill was much higher than Xia Yu’s.
This was the first time Xia Yu had seen An Siyao playing the piano.
The next round would be the competition for the entire Jiangsu Province. Yaoguang City was included in the Jiangsu Province competition zone, meaning Xia Yu would finally meet An Siyao in the upcoming round.
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