“Good morning,” An Siyao’s voice sounded.
“Morning,” Xia Yu looked around. An Siyao was on her way to the dining room.
Good, he made it in time for breakfast.
Xia Yu had woken up a bit late today and had been worried whether he could make it, but the result turned out perfect.
After breakfast, Xia Yu casually arrived at the piano room and played the piano for a while.
His mood was restless; tomorrow was the college entrance exam, and after that came university, where he would reunite with An Siyao and Xu Youxiang.
After playing another intense piece, “The Defection of the Twin Princes,” Xia Yu closed the piano lid.
Leaving the piano room, he strolled by the art studio and the flower arrangement practice room. In the afternoon, Feng Yujia and Feng Yumo came over for afternoon tea.
Spending the day wandering around like this, after dinner in the evening and just before preparing to leave, Xia Yu brought up a serious topic with An Siyao: “What major are you planning to choose for college?”
Hua University was the largest university in the first district, with three campuses; different majors were located on different campuses.
“You have to choose a major?” An Siyao’s voice carried surprise.
“…Otherwise, did you expect the principal to hand you a Sorting Hat when you got to school?” For anyone else, Xia Yu would have assumed they were joking, but with An Siyao, the girl might genuinely have no concept of majors.
“What’s a Sorting Hat?” An Siyao asked curiously.
“This isn’t something a child should know. Just think about which major you’re going to choose,” Xia Yu sighed. Suddenly, he became worried about An Siyao’s upcoming college life.
“Can you choose for me?” An Siyao’s tone carried a hint of coquetry.
“How would I know what you like?” Xia Yu refused.
“I like whatever you choose.” An Siyao answered without hesitation.
“Really?”
“There are some I don’t like, actually,” An Siyao felt a bit uneasy for having spoken too boldly. “Physical education majors are too tiring.”
“Hua University does have a sports college, but since you didn’t take the physical exam, you can’t get in anyway.” Hearing An Siyao’s words, Xia Yu couldn’t help but feel a sudden urge to pinch An Siyao’s little face, but since An Siyao’s body was the one he was currently using, pinching An Siyao would be pinching himself.
“Then you choose for me!” The girl sighed in relief.
Xia Yu disliked making such decisions for others.
The girl had no intention of inheriting the family business, nor did she have any hobbies or interests. In other words, whatever major she chose would entirely depend on Xia Yu’s preferences.
Although Xia Yu had intervened in many aspects of An Siyao’s life before, it had either been to help An Siyao gain freedom or to fulfill his own mission. However, choosing a major had no bearing on either of those matters.
In such circumstances, if he still insisted on making the decision for An Siyao, then what would remain for An Siyao to decide for herself?
Xia Yu didn’t want to control An Siyao’s life; that kind of An Siyao wasn’t what he truly desired.
“You need to learn to make your own decisions. Otherwise, you’ll gradually become a puppet manipulated by others,” Xia Yu said to An Siyao while eating a cookie from the bedside.
“Then I’ll be your puppet.”
Xia Yu’s fingers paused with the cookie.
“Not a beautiful and delicate puppet wearing elegant Gothic dresses, but a puppet with a segmented body and a clacking jaw,” he replied. “Becoming something like that would be really ugly.”
An Siyao couldn’t understand the deeper meaning behind Xia Yu’s words, but she could grasp his thoughts.
“You decide this yourself.” Opening his laptop, Xia Yu searched for all the majors at Hua University. “Look through these and start choosing now.”
Fifteen minutes later, after reviewing all the majors, An Siyao pondered for a while before giving Xia Yu her answer: “I’ll choose piano.”
An Siyao hadn’t taken the entrance interview, so technically, she couldn’t enter the music college. However, given An Siyao’s skill level and the influence of An Tianfengyu Liang, none of this was a problem.
“Fine,” Xia Yu glanced at the academic district where the piano major was located.
Just like An Siyao, it didn’t really matter to him which major he chose, so he would just pick one within An Siyao’s academic district.
He glanced at the time again; it was already 6 p.m. His eight hours of gaming time had long passed.
“I’ll wait for you at Hua University.” Saying this, Xia Yu pressed the logout button.
Returning to his own body, Xia Yu continued thinking about An Siyao.
He wondered how An Siyao would react after he left her with those words.
In theory, he should have clarified this matter earlier and answered the girl’s many questions, but aside from reason, there was also emotion. Even Xia Yu couldn’t always act calmly and rationally.
He used to be able to do so.
Leaning on the balcony of the villa, gazing at the scenery, Xia Yu tried to divert his attention but couldn’t stay calm.
Taking out his phone, he sent a message to Xu Youxiang, asking about An Siyao’s current situation.
Five minutes later, Xu Youxiang replied, saying An Siyao had rolled around on the bed for several minutes and was now looking at a photo of her mother.
Xia Yu wasn’t sure if this was the information he wanted, but his mood eased a little.
It was much better than staring from the balcony.
After calming down, Xia Yu sensed something was off.
Picking up his phone, he asked Xu Youxiang:
『How do you know what An Siyao is doing?』
『The maids were chatting in the group』
『How did you get into the maid group?』
Back then, Xia Yu had gone through quite a bit of effort to gain the maids’ favor to get into their group.
『I altered some of their clothes』
Was there such an easy method?
Thinking for a moment, Xia Yu realized this method wouldn’t work with An Siyao. Xu Youxiang was a guest, while An Siyao was the master; the maids had different levels of vigilance towards the two.
『What is An Siyao doing looking at the photo?』
Xia Yu asked about another key point.
『You should ask An Siyao yourself!』
『？？？』
『[You are not friends with the recipient and cannot send a message]』
After being deleted by Xu Youxiang, she grabbed a pillow from the bed and punched it, shouting, “An Siyao, An Siyao, An Siyao—you only care about An Siyao!”
After venting her frustration, Xu Youxiang still wasn’t satisfied. She added Xia Yu’s QQ account again, sent a barrage of messages calling him a perverted, silly pretty boy, and prepared to delete him again.
At this moment, Xia Yu replied with a message.
『Can I send a voice message?』
『No, go away, you creepy pervert!』 She clicked on the voice message and cursed.
‘[#Thumbs up]’
After deleting Xia Yu again, Xu Youxiang’s mood had already improved significantly.
This An Siyao—how could she possibly manage it!
On the other side, Xia Yu’s mood wasn’t as calm as it appeared in their chat. He wasn’t an idiot and naturally understood what Xu Youxiang meant.
Well, he’d deal with it when they got to university.
Throwing his phone aside, Xia Yu went to bed and played some games before falling asleep.
The next morning, before the alarm clock even rang, Xia Yu was woken up by Youxue.
“Don’t speak first!” Youxue covered Xia Yu’s mouth and said seriously, “Say good morning first to bring good luck for the whole day.”
Pinching the girl’s face, Xia Yu said obediently, “Okay, okay, okay.”
For breakfast, Youxue bought some zongzi (glutinous rice dumplings), symbolizing success in the exams. The girl had originally wrapped the zongzi herself; they looked decent, but they fell apart into a porridge-like mess when cooked.
Before Xia Yu left the house, Youxue stuffed three amulets into his pocket.
Accepting the amulets, Xia Yu put on his shoes and said, “I’m off.”
“I’ll send you off.”
“Are you my nanny?” Xia Yu tapped Youxue’s head and rejected her offer.
At 8:45 a.m., Xia Yu entered the examination hall. The first subject was Chinese.
After receiving the test paper, Xia Yu quickly scanned it, knowing that this time Guizixiao would likely exceed the first-tier score by about ten points again.
He had guessed the essay topic correctly, and the reading comprehension answers were all the key points. However, he had guessed the classical Chinese passage incorrectly—the question setters had changed their style.
Quickly finishing the test paper, at half past eleven, the teacher handed out an extra question. Xia Yu guessed the six-point short-answer question correctly as well.
The exam ended at noon, and Xia Yu walked out of the examination room. He picked up his phone and saw that the class QQ group was already exploding with messages, all of them @ing him.
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