“…You know as well as I do that children are most easily influenced by their parents. Before entering their rebellious phase, they tend to like whatever their parents like,” Wen Ziying said.
Xia Yu nodded in agreement. However, the scenario Wen Ziying described assumed proper parental guidance. If the guidance was incorrect, children wouldn’t just fail to appreciate it—they might grow to despise it instead.
At the same time, he understood Wen Ziying’s initial motivation for starting to write.
“Later on, when our family ran out of money and moved into a smaller house, she couldn’t write anything herself, so she submitted some of my old writings.”
“Wait a second,” Xia Yu interrupted Wen Ziying. “She submitted your writings? You were only eight years old back then, right?”
Wen Ziying didn’t seem to mind how Xia Yu knew her age at that time. She explained, “Before we went bankrupt, my father hired a teacher for me who had won the Morning Award. All of those writings were revised and guided by him.”
Xia Yu nodded, understanding the situation. Those essays were more the work of that Morning Award-winning teacher than Wen Ziying’s own.
The Morning Award was the most prestigious literary award in the First World, divided into five categories: film and television scripts, poetry, prose, novels, and new talent.
A teacher who had won the Morning Award could be considered top-tier. Considering the Wen family’s financial situation, which had been ruined by medical expenses, it was either due to connections or the Morning Award was merely the “new talent” category, which was relatively easier to obtain.
“She kept writing continuously, supported by my old works for a while, but eventually, those ran out. After that, she struggled to produce anything new, so…” Wen Ziying suddenly stopped mid-sentence.
Xia Yu asked, “So what happened then?”
“Then she became like that, and our family survived by selling off our belongings,” Wen Ziying said.
Xia Yu knew there was something else hidden in her words, but since Wen Ziying didn’t want to say more, he couldn’t force the girl to speak.
As for why Wen Ziying remained silent, he guessed it was probably because the following details were too private, and partly because his relationship with her wasn’t close enough yet.
Xia Yu decided to temporarily drop the matter.
Thirty minutes later, the taxi driver arrived at the destination, and Xia Yu got out.
Wen Ziying had nothing else to do, so Xia Yu used her body to casually play games until the time limit, after which he returned to his own body.
Picking up his phone, Xia Yu felt this matter was worth investigating, so he sent a message to Yu Ningmeng, asking for her help.
“You really treat me like a gossip machine? Well, you should at least pay me,” Yu Ningmeng tried to get some other business ideas from Xia Yu.
Xia Yu indeed had many ideas, but he didn’t want to hand them over so easily to Yu Ningmeng.
He threatened Yu Ningmeng:
“If you don’t help me, I’ll tell An Siyao about that time you pinned me against the wall and tried to take advantage of me.”
“What? Huh?”
Yu Ningmeng was stunned, not expecting Xia Yu to be so ruthless.
“Do you even care about your reputation anymore?”
“How am I not telling the truth?” Xia Yu replied firmly.
Yu Ningmeng became uncertain. If it were another couple, she’d believe the man was just bluffing, but with Xia Yu and An Siyao’s relationship, she found it hard to predict. Their relationship was just too strange.
An Siyao being close with the maid Yin Wan at home was understandable, but this time she had brought home another girl, Hu Lianglu, and previously, Xu Youxiang had also visited her house.
Meanwhile, Xia Yu had a bunch of female friends outside as well. Last time, so many women had come to the milk tea shop.
Yu Ningmeng could only assume the worst—if An Siyao found out her aunt was trying to seduce her boyfriend, regardless of how An Siyao might feel, Yu Ningmeng herself felt uneasy.
“What do you need to investigate?” Yu Ningmeng gritted her teeth and accepted Xia Yu’s blackmail.
“After Wen Ziying’s father passed away and Bian Guping and Wen Ziying moved, I need information, especially from neighbors, preferably six months later,” Xia Yu replied.
That was the part where Wen Ziying had hesitated and stopped talking.
“Fine,” Yu Ningmeng replied with a dry tone before angrily putting down her phone.
She looked at An Siyao and Hu Lianglu in the bathroom, feeling even more irritated.
Your boyfriend is blackmailing me, and you won’t even let me play along!
Moments later, Yu Ningmeng decided to take the initiative and entered the bathroom herself.
She didn’t notice the notification light flashing on An Siyao’s phone.
It was a message from Xia Yu to An Siyao, asking how Hu Lianglu was doing.
Not receiving a reply from An Siyao, Xia Yu typed Xu Youxiang’s QQ number into the search bar and sent a friend request.
While waiting for Xu Youxiang’s response, he glanced at other messages he had received.
First was Duan Yi, who sent an update on the progress of the mobile game they were making. Xia Yu checked it and found nothing majorly wrong.
Then came You Xue, who had sent him photos from her PE class earlier that afternoon.
Autumn PE classes weren’t particularly interesting, as everyone was bundled up.
Next was Kong Hanyue, who sent a photo of herself alone in a quiet room, playing a zither with one hand while wiping away tears with the other.
Opening the reply box, Xia Yu responded: “Did a ghost take that photo?”
Finally, it was Zhong Yunxin.
Zhong Yunxin didn’t send photos but text instead.
From this alone, one could tell Zhong Yunxin wasn’t mature enough—without photos, what was there to chat about?
Reluctantly opening her message, Xia Yu read what she had sent.
“Bro! Liangliang hasn’t come to school in over a week. I invited her to hang out, but she always says she’s busy. What should I do?”
“She’s genuinely busy,” Xia Yu replied.
“How do you know?” Zhong Yunxin replied instantly.
Because your ‘Liangliang’ has been busy being with me, of course.
Naturally, he couldn’t say that so bluntly. Xia Yu chose a more tactful tone:
“If she’s too busy to even hang out with you, her good friend, how could she not be busy?”
“That makes sense!” Zhong Yunxin readily accepted Xia Yu’s explanation and happily ended the conversation.
At this point, An Siyao’s reply also arrived.
The girl responded that everything was going well and sent a popular meme recently, probably stolen from the maid group.
After chatting with An Siyao about visiting her the next day, Xia Yu went out to take a shower.
In the early hours of the morning, after the body-swap count refreshed, Xia Yu found himself inside An Siyao’s body.
“Good night,” An Siyao greeted her.
“Good night,” Xia Yu softly replied. He looked toward the edge of the bed. On his left was Hu Lianglu, which was normal—Hu Lianglu had done the same thing the previous night.
However, when Xia Yu turned his head to the right, he saw Yu Ningmeng, which puzzled him.
Had this old woman, after failing to seduce him, shifted her target to An Siyao?
An Siyao’s bed was large, but sleeping with three people was somewhat cramped, especially with Yu Ningmeng draping her leg over him.
Quietly lifting Yu Ningmeng, Xia Yu flipped her head and feet around, making her sleep on the other side, which made things better.
After tucking the blanket in, Xia Yu lay down properly.
It was necessary to rest well, because during the day, he needed to guide Hu Lianglu, making her less clingy. At this rate, how could he get intimate with An Siyao?
Before falling asleep, he pondered ways to reform Hu Lianglu.
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