Ning Qiuer looked at Xia Yu in disbelief.
Putting down the controller, Xia Yu also felt that his behavior was somewhat inappropriate. He slightly defended himself: “It was just a reflex to seize the opportunity. Let’s not count this round and play again?”
Placing her hands behind her back and clenching them tightly, Ning Qiuer, maintaining a calm appearance, said, “No need. Let’s continue.”
Ning Qiuer focused all her attention on the game. The previously evenly matched situation quickly turned into Xia Yu being completely overwhelmed.
Xia Yu chose another game that required strategy, finally turning the tide in his favor.
While playing the game, Ning Qiuer never mentioned music again, but Xia Yu was deep in thought.
He felt that what Ning Qiuer had said earlier about not being able to find suitable songs was a lie.
No matter how hard it might be to collect those great songs, by now, after so many years, Ning Qiuer should at least have compiled one or two albums. Yet in reality, she hadn’t released any albums in five or six years.
Unless, Ning Qiuer’s purpose involved something more than just the songs themselves.
Xia Yu, with his Inspiration skill, quickly had a flash of insight.
Ning Qiuer had previously written both the lyrics and music for her songs. It was possible she wanted to maintain the illusion of being self-sufficient in her songwriting.
Therefore, she had turned her attention to someone like Xia Yu, who didn’t make a living from composing and didn’t care much about music.
Liu Manman might have told Ning Qiuer about Xia Yu’s previous act of giving away songs, so Ning Qiuer likely knew that it was very feasible to ask Xia Yu not to be credited.
The more Xia Yu thought about it, the more convinced he became that his guess was highly plausible.
Rubbing his chin, he didn’t really mind Ning Qiuer’s behavior—as long as the payment was tempting, everything could be negotiated.
Glancing at his phone and seeing that it was already 9 p.m., Xia Yu stood up to leave. Liu Manman continued lying on the sofa eating snacks, while Ning Qiuer accompanied the three of them downstairs.
After the three left, Ning Qiuer massaged her forehead. She went upstairs, sat beside Liu Manman, and grabbed some potato chips from Liu Manman’s hand to eat.
Liu Manman reached for another bag of chips and asked Ning Qiuer, “What’s wrong? You look unhappy.”
“That Xia Yu came back today just for my cooking, right?” Ning Qiuer questioned Liu Manman.
Liu Manman nodded, “Of course. What else did you think?”
Ning Qiuer had no words. She scooped up a large handful of chips and stuffed them into her mouth, chewing fiercely.
After eating together for a while, Ning Qiuer couldn’t help but ask again:
“Is that Xia Yu really straight? Is there something wrong with him?”
“He doesn’t even have male friends, so his sexuality should be towards women, and there’s nothing wrong with him,” Liu Manman replied.
Hearing this, Ning Qiuer couldn’t help doubting herself.
That An Siyao who had just walked in earlier certainly made her feel pressured, but aside from An Siyao, she believed she could compete with anyone else.
“Wait a second,” she suddenly realized a blind spot.
Turning around, she grabbed Liu Manman’s arm, her expression serious as she looked at Liu Manman: “How do you know Xia Yu has no issues?”
“Sometimes I just know,” Liu Manman replied candidly.
“You can’t be certain, right?” Ning Qiuer asked in a more indirect way.
“I can’t.”
That one sentence from Liu Manman meant she hadn’t really tried. Ning Qiuer relaxed a bit.
Meanwhile, the driver first sent Xia Yu and You Xue back to the villa, then drove An Siyao home.
Waving at the departing car, Xia Yu took out his access card and opened the door.
“I’ll go prepare the bathwater. Brother, wait a moment.”
You Xue went to the bathroom to prepare, while Xia Yu lay on the sofa, took out his phone, and searched for Ning Qiuer’s songs.
He purchased all the digital albums and started listening to them.
Ning Qiuer’s music was indeed excellent, with a diverse range of styles, including even rap.
After You Xue finished preparing the bath, Xia Yu soaked in the tub while listening to Ning Qiuer’s songs.
After finishing his bath, he used his game opportunity on Tina, picked up Qiao’s foster father’s music player, and flipped through it, surprisingly finding an English song by Ning Qiuer.
After listening to some music and hearing from Tina about recent events, Xia Yu fell asleep.
The next morning, Xia Yu stretched lazily after getting up, placed the black cat that had been lying by the bed back into its cat house, opened the door, and walked into the living room.
After breakfast, he put on his headphones and went to the club to continue practicing.
By the end of such an ordinary day, Xia Yu had listened through nearly all of Ning Qiuer’s albums.
When he returned home, he suddenly felt uneasy, sensing that something might be wrong somewhere.
“What’s wrong?” You Xue noticed Xia Yu’s unusual behavior and asked with concern.
Removing his headphones, Xia Yu sat on the sofa, rubbing his chin: “I feel like I missed something somewhere. It’s just a bit strange.”
“Should I call Senior Sister Yao to come keep you company?” You Xue asked worriedly, already picking up her phone.
“It’s just a bit strange, nothing serious.” He ruffled the girl’s hair as he spoke.
“Okay.” Reassured, You Xue went to the kitchen to continue preparing dinner.
Sitting on the sofa, Xia Yu began to think about the source of this strange feeling.
He started recalling the time when the feeling had occurred and what he had been doing then.
It should have been around two or three in the afternoon, when he was using a bow to shoot arrows. At twenty meters, he could basically hit the yellow center without anyone disturbing him. The shooting range was a narrow indoor room. Was it something in that place that triggered this strange feeling?
He looked at the headphones in his hand again. Could it be that because he hadn’t listened to music for such a long time, he felt discomfort?
Unable to reach a conclusion, Xia Yu opened An Siyao’s QQ profile and started chatting with her.
An Siyao wasn’t a talkative person, and neither was Xia Yu. Their usual chats involved turning on the camera and doing their own things while video chatting.
On the other side of the screen, An Siyao was playing the piano.
It was the piece Xia Yu had previously given her, titled “Princess of Serenity.”
After listening to a song, Xia Yu suddenly realized the reason for his strange feeling.
He took out his phone, opened the music player, and checked the playback history.
Estimating the songs he had listened to around two or three in the afternoon, Xia Yu put on his headphones and listened to them one by one.
Soon, he pinpointed a short section in one of the songs.
He paused the music, went into the bedroom, and took out a notebook from the cabinet. This notebook contained a series of melodic segments he had composed while trying to create the atmosphere of an open field.
Looking through the notebook, Xia Yu found what he was looking for in the latter half.
He then went to the music room, played that section on the guitar, and compared it with Ning Qiuer’s song.
It wasn’t just similar—it was exactly the same.
It wasn’t just a few notes; it was a melody over ten seconds long. The probability of such a long section being coincidentally duplicated was extremely low.
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