Chapter 299: I Already Have a Girlfriend!

As Le Miaomiao was puzzled about why Yan Wei and Yan Li had arrived, Yan Wei moved first.

With an angry expression, Yan Wei grabbed Le Miaomiao’s collar.

Le Miaomiao thought her act of flirting with Xia Yu had been discovered and hurriedly explained, “It’s a misunderstanding! I was just testing him!”

“Testing him? Why would you test my little sister!” Yan Wei looked at Le Miaomiao with disdain and spoke with sorrow in her voice, “I considered you a good friend, yet you’re thinking about my sister!”

“Eh?” Le Miaomiao was stunned.

She turned her head to look at Yan Li, who had hidden behind Yan Wei, looking at her fearfully.

“I can accept that you like women, and I can even understand that you like young girls, but given our relationship, you actually made a move on my sister!” Yan Wei pushed Le Miaomiao hard, slamming her against the wall.

“Wait, wait, what does your sister have to do with this?” Le Miaomiao was confused, and Yan Wei’s expression frightened her a bit.

“You even want to argue? I’ve seen your chat records with Li Li!” Tears started to well up in Yan Wei’s eyes, “You asked my sister to come to your room to help you apply sunscreen, and you even said you’d apply it all over her body!”

“Ahh?” Le Miaomiao’s mind became even more confused.

Had she really said that? But she hadn’t said it to Yan Li!

“No,” unable to make sense of the logic, Le Miaomiao chose to avoid the topic of the sister, “I was just going to film…”

Before she could finish speaking, Yan Wei interrupted her again, “You were even planning to film it?”

Stepping back a couple of steps, Yan Wei looked at her best friend clearly for the first time, never expecting her to be such a pervert.

Yan Wei scanned the surroundings and noticed the camera lens from behind a stack of books.

“You were even planning to film it!” She grabbed Le Miaomiao’s collar again and threw a punch.

Wanting to avoid getting hit, Le Miaomiao fled.

The two ran, one chasing and one escaping, until they were discovered by Grandma Yan.

“Stop, both of you, what’s going on?” Grandma Yan grabbed Le Miaomiao and pushed Yan Wei away.

“Grandma, she was going to bully Li Li!” Yan Wei’s anger had not yet subsided. She looked around and grabbed a decorative sword hanging on the wall.

“Mutual teasing and bullying between each other is quite normal, as long as it’s not intentional, there’s no problem,” Grandma Yan thought Yan Wei was referring to ordinary teasing.

The old lady asked again, “How did she bully Li Li?”

“She asked Li Li to go to her room to help apply sunscreen,” Yan Wei said.

Grandma Yan looked confused and glanced out the window; it was nighttime, so why apply sunscreen?

“She even said she would apply it for Li Li too, all over her body.” Yan Wei emphasized the last three words.

Grandma Yan turned her head and looked at Le Miaomiao with a strange expression.

“No, I didn’t. Don’t make things up!” Le Miaomiao hurriedly explained herself.

She started from when she first met Xia Yu and explained everything she had done.

Yan Wei’s angry expression slowly disappeared, replaced by a blank one; the reason for her blank expression was that she didn’t know what expression she should wear.

After checking Yan Li’s phone again, Yan Wei told Le Miaomiao, “You added the wrong person. It wasn’t Xia Yu, it was Li Li. Xia Yu told Yan Li that you wanted to add her, so he gave you Li Li’s account.”

“Ahh?” Le Miaomiao’s expression became complicated.

So, the person she had been flirting with was actually Yan Li?

That was a little exciting.

The misunderstanding was resolved, and the two shook hands and made peace, with Yan Wei returning the sword to the wall.

Le Miaomiao clenched her teeth and muttered Xia Yu’s name in her heart.

“Alright, alright, the banquet is about to end. You two can go downstairs and play a bit more. Yan Wei, remember to keep Xia Yu here,” Grandma Yan’s face was full of smiles; she found the previous events amusing.

She wasn’t a party to the events and hadn’t been overwhelmed by any complex emotions, only finding it interesting.

Le Miaomiao’s clothes were somewhat disheveled from running, so she returned to her room to change and explain and apologize to Yan Li, while Yan Wei went downstairs to extend an invitation to Xia Yu.

Xia Yu slightly furrowed his brow; what kind of situation was it for him to meet Yan Wei’s family privately?

Yan Wei tempted him with white rice balls. He originally wanted to solemnly say that white rice balls couldn’t corrupt his character, but those white rice balls were made by Yan Baiyu.

“Okay,” he agreed.

He thought that as long as he revealed during the meeting with Yan Wei’s parents that he already had a girlfriend, he could resolve the situation smoothly.

Surely the parents wouldn’t allow their daughter to steal someone else’s boyfriend?

After the banquet ended and all the guests had left, Grandma Yan approached Xia Yu.

She grabbed his hand, “So you’re Xia Yu. Truly a distinguished young man.”

“Hello, Grandma,” Xia Yu smiled in response. Not knowing how to deal with the parents of the girl, he maintained his charm and mental therapy skills.

Grandma Yan led Xia Yu upstairs to a small lounge on the upper floor.

“I’ve heard Yan Wei always talks about you. Compared to you, she’s really not much. Getting into White Moon Academy was only possible because her grandfather pulled some strings for her,” Grandma Yan shifted the topic to Yan Wei.

Analyzing Grandma Yan’s words through mental therapy, Xia Yu realized she wasn’t actually dissatisfied with Yan Wei but was just making polite conversation. He immediately began to praise Yan Wei enthusiastically.

Grandma Yan was delighted.

Originally, Grandma Yan had intended to exchange a few polite words with Xia Yu and then start probing his values and temperament, but everything Xia Yu said seemed to hit the right notes, making her forget her original intention and happily chat with him instead.

They talked like this for half an hour, and Grandma Yan was still not ready to stop.

She looked at the time and stood up, “I’ll go check if her grandfather has prepared the snacks yet, and I’ll bring them over.”

With that, Grandma Yan left the lounge.

After a minute, Le Miaomiao arrived at the lounge first. She said nothing and sat in front of Xia Yu, glaring at him fiercely.

Xia Yu guessed it had something to do with the penguin number incident.

He thought to himself: So what if I gave you a wrong number? Is it really worth harboring such deep hatred?

What he didn’t know was that if not for Grandma Yan’s intervention and Le Miaomiao’s quick escape preventing Yan Wei from catching her, there really could have been a deep feud between them.

Soon after, Yan Li and You Xue walked in.

Seeing Le Miaomiao, Yan Li’s face showed fear. She pulled You Xue along and sat at the spot farthest from Le Miaomiao.

You Xue, who knew the whole story, secretly smiled behind her hand.

Le Miaomiao’s gaze at Xia Yu became even fiercer.

After being stared at for a while, Xia Yu frowned. He wasn’t exactly known for his good temper either.

Activating his intimidation skill, he bared his teeth at Le Miaomiao.

For a moment, Le Miaomiao seemed to see a mouth full of sharp teeth.

Her body stiffened, wanting to retreat, but she hit the back of the sofa and finally regained her senses.

She looked at Xia Yu’s mouth again. His lips were red and inviting, as if she had just had a hallucination. But the image of those sharp teeth lingered in her mind, and she dared not look at Xia Yu anymore.

Xia Yu stood up and went to the side of Yan Li and You Xue. The two girls were playing with shadow puppets using a lamp, casting shadows of rabbits, crocodiles, and other shapes on the wall with their hands.

He joined them.

After another minute, Grandma Yan and Yan Baiyu arrived at the lounge.

Scanning the room, Grandma Yan’s body stiffened as she inwardly gasped.

Her gaze was fixed on the direction where Xia Yu, Yan Li, and You Xue were playing.

There, Xia Yu was playing with shadow puppets using both hands. On the wall, one second it was a rabbit, the next it became an antelope, and in a blink, it transformed into a crocodile.

Xia Yu’s movements were fast, with little time between finger adjustments, making it seem as if the rabbit instantly became an antelope, then a crocodile, or a wolf.

In the middle of the transformations, Xia Yu’s fingers almost left afterimages.

Such finger dexterity…

Grandma Yan looked at Yan Wei. Yan Wei was also watching, her face blushing.

Sitting down by the coffee table, Grandma Yan distributed the snacks to everyone.

Originally, there were still some family members at home, but to avoid making Xia Yu feel pressured, Grandma Yan had only allowed Yan Baiyu to come in.

Yan Baiyu had a stern expression; he had no fondness for Xia Yu, who wanted to take away his granddaughter.

Xia Yu didn’t care. His attention at this moment was entirely on the white rice balls made by Yan Baiyu.

He immediately noticed the difference. The white rice balls made by Yan Baiyu had a more crystalline surface and were more elastic.

Poking the rice ball with chopsticks, Xia Yu was surprised to find that it actually trembled, as if he had poked a jelly.

Seeing the astonishment on Xia Yu’s face, Yan Baiyu was satisfied and stroked his beard.

He took out a spice box and handed it to Xia Yu, “Adding a bit of this will make the taste better.”

Taking the box, Xia Yu looked at it and smelled it but couldn’t identify what spice it was.

Not rushing to add the seasoning, he took a bite first to try the original flavor.

The filling was still hot as it flowed in his mouth, a rich squid aroma filled his stomach.

After finishing one bite, he let out a satisfied sigh.

Then he added the seasoning and took another bite. This time, mixed with the squid aroma was a refreshing scent, the fragrance of plant-based seasoning, but Xia Yu couldn’t identify exactly what flavor it was.

In short, it was delicious.

After Xia Yu finished the white rice balls, Yan Baiyu’s previously somewhat hostile attitude towards him turned friendly.

No chef dislikes a diner who appreciates their cooking, just as no author dislikes a reader who appreciates their novels.

Yan Baiyu introduced the unique features of his white rice balls and explained the seasoning to Xia Yu. Although Xia Yu understood much of it, he kept his mental therapy skill active, only needing to flatter appropriately at the right moments.

They chatted like this for ten minutes, and Yan Baiyu, like Grandma Yan before him, was now delighted.

He went out again to prepare other desserts for Xia Yu.

During his absence, Grandma Yan continued chatting with Xia Yu. She felt that Xia Yu was truly a rare kindred spirit, as everything he said resonated with her heart.

Yan Baiyu soon returned. His apprentices were watching the cooking, so he came back to continue talking with Xia Yu.

Watching Xia Yu chatting happily with the two elders of her family, Yan Wei first showed a smile on her face, but gradually her smile faded.

She looked at Yan Baiyu and Grandma Yan in confusion, thinking:

Why are you both talking about your own things? Shouldn’t I be the main focus? You should speak up for me!

After waiting a while longer, Yan Wei could no longer tolerate being ignored. She seized an opportunity to interject.

Her words were ordinary, but because Xia Yu’s words were so pleasing, her comments seemed very inferior.

She had only spoken two sentences when Yan Baiyu and Grandma Yan jointly shooed her away, “Go, go, go, you don’t know anything. Go play somewhere else.”

Yan Wei felt wronged. She couldn’t understand why things had turned out this way.

Xia Yu hadn’t even said anything, yet her own grandparents were now favoring him.

Huddled to one side, Yan Wei could only watch helplessly as the three conversed.

At half past eleven, a maid knocked on the door, reminding the two elders that it was time to rest.

Yan Baiyu and Grandma Yan finally remembered their original purpose.

Grandma Yan resisted the temptation to continue the conversation and began subtly inquiring about Xia Yu’s values and personality.

Xia Yu, still using his mental therapy skill, easily detected Grandma Yan’s intention. He answered while skillfully steering the conversation.

Finally, when Grandma Yan asked him about his hobbies, he found his opportunity.

“It’s mostly about composing music, playing games, and spending time with…” Before Xia Yu could finish saying the words “girlfriend,” he was interrupted by Yan Baiyu.

Yan Baiyu smiled and said, “I’ve heard your compositions; the old folks praise them highly. That piece ‘Secluded Source Village’ is a bit too melancholy, ‘White Horse in the Rain’ is too despairing, but the ‘White Horse’ piece is the best—it’s bright and dashing.”

“Secluded Source Village” was a piece Xia Yu had performed globally, and “White Horse in the Rain” was a duet he had played with Liu Manman at a previous event. He had not publicly performed “White Horse,” only Liu Manman had the sheet music and privately recorded audio of him playing it.

Yan Baiyu must have heard “White Horse” through his connections with the Liu family circle.

Xia Yu instinctively did some analysis, a habit from his past, considering how he could utilize this person.

Now, with An Siyao, he basically no longer needed to rely on others, as most problems could be solved by the An and Yu families.

After exchanging a few more words about the music with Yan Baiyu, Xia Yu steered the conversation back.

He said, “Actually, I don’t spend much time on music. Most of my time is spent with my girlfriend.”

He thought that the reason Grandma Yan and Yan Baiyu were so warm towards him was probably because Yan Wei hadn’t told the two elders that he already had a girlfriend. Once he mentioned his girlfriend, Grandma Yan and Yan Baiyu would help him keep Yan Wei away.

Grandma Yan and Yan Baiyu should first show surprise, then look at Yan Wei. At that moment, he would propose to take his leave, allowing the two elders to do some ideological work with Yan Wei.

However, his expectations deviated. Yan Baiyu and Grandma Yan’s expressions remained unchanged.

“It’s good to spend more time with your girlfriend,” the two elders nodded in satisfaction.

“???”