Even with the guidance of Xia Yu and An Siyao, Liu Manman’s guzheng playing still had some issues, but this was unavoidable.
The three of them had little time to practice together, and they had only actually rehearsed the third piece for a day. The fact that Liu Manman could basically keep up with the music was already quite remarkable.
After all, she wasn’t like Xia Yu and An Siyao, who seemed to have an unfair advantage.
They submitted video and audio recordings of the piece and waited for the organizers’ response.
This time, all three felt nervous. Xia Yu wanted this piece to make An Siyao stand out and complete their mission; An Siyao also wanted to perform well on this piece composed by Xia Yu; and as for Liu Manman, it goes without saying—she had always wanted a traditional Chinese classical piece. Originally, she had wanted to perform it with Xia Yu, but now, in addition to the guzheng and dizi, there was also a sheng added in, making it even better.
Among them, Liu Manman was the most anxious. Her playing wasn’t great, and if they failed because of her, she would feel extremely guilty.
While continuing to practice, the three waited for a reply. In the evening, a response finally arrived.
Liu Manman nervously opened the email, glanced at it, and then smiled at Xia Yu and An Siyao.
This piece was approved.
“Alright, let’s practice even harder. There’s still a week until the performance. I will definitely catch up with you two!” Liu Manman was full of fighting spirit.
“Forget it for today. Go home and rest,” Xia Yu rejected her suggestion.
“Okay,” An Siyao stood up and left the room directly.
“Come on, couldn’t you two have a bit more motivation?” Liu Manman complained while following Xia Yu out of the practice room.
In the living room, Xia Yu said to Liu Manman, “You go home yourself. I won’t be going back today.”
“Going out to celebrate? Take me with you!” Liu Manman thought Xia Yu was planning to go to a bar or somewhere similar to celebrate.
“I refuse.” Xia Yu wasn’t planning to go anywhere to party—he had promised to spend the day with Xu Youxiang.
At this moment, Liu Manman also noticed Xu Youxiang in the living room. Xu Youxiang wheeled her wheelchair up to Xia Yu’s side.
“You two are going out to play? Then take me along—it’ll be even better!” The success of the third piece had excited Liu Manman, and she wanted to find a way to vent her energy.
Before Xia Yu could speak, Xu Youxiang said, “Bringing you along would indeed be better. So come with us!”
As she spoke, Xu Youxiang looked Liu Manman up and down.
Although Liu Manman felt the gaze was a bit odd, she didn’t think much of it.
She pushed Xu Youxiang, passed through the front courtyard, and exited through the main gate.
After helping Xu Youxiang into the car, Liu Manman asked, “By the way, where are we going?”
Xu Youxiang looked at Xia Yu, “Which hotel are we going to tonight?”
“Hotel?” Liu Manman’s body stiffened.
“Yeah, party all night and come back tomorrow morning,” Xu Youxiang deliberately led Liu Manman on.
“…I suddenly remembered my grandma wants me back before eleven.” Without waiting for Xia Yu and Xu Youxiang to reply, Liu Manman hurriedly got out of the car and quickly walked away.
Xu Youxiang revealed a satisfied smile.
“You’re such a little brat,” Xia Yu commented.
“These are all the facts, and besides, I’m older than you!” Following Xia Yu’s previous habit, Xu Youxiang tapped him on the head.
“Then it’s Miss Youxiang. Which hotel do you prefer, dear Miss Youxiang?”
“How gross.”
In the driver’s seat, An Siyao’s driver really wanted to ask the two in the back whether they were leaving or not.
But he didn’t dare.
He knew that at least before the performance, he couldn’t offend Xia Yu, because Xia Yu was now someone Miss An valued greatly.
After all, she even allowed her own woman to spend the night with someone else—wasn’t that showing great importance?
At the same time, he sighed at the decadence of high society. He hadn’t expected that the term “beauty trap” was actually real in real life.
The driver asked himself—if it were his Qingqing being asked to accompany someone else, even if that person was of the opposite sex, would he agree?
Certainly not. He realized he still had a long way to go.
But this distance was something to be proud of!
He would never be corrupted by the decadent upper class!
After Xia Yu gave the driver a location, the driver dropped the two off at the hotel and immediately left.
Inside the room, Xia Yu and Xu Youxiang swapped bodies.
While experiencing the feeling of walking in Xia Yu’s body, Xu Youxiang asked, “You’re going overseas in a week for that performance?”
“Mm-hmm,” Xia Yu replied.
“How long will it last?”
“About four or five days,” Xia Yu wasn’t sure.
“Will anyone else be going besides An Siyao, you, and Liu Manman?” Xu Youxiang asked again.
“Also Liu Manman’s grandmother. Why are you asking?” Xia Yu was puzzled by her interest in this.
“Nothing,” Xu Youxiang didn’t continue the topic.
Actually, she wanted to go too. But if she had been in good health, maybe it would have been possible. In her current condition, she needed someone to take care of her—how could she possibly go overseas?
Suddenly, she felt a bit envious of An Siyao.
“Come on, let’s go out for a walk.” Pushing Xia Yu’s wheelchair, Xu Youxiang went downstairs and randomly chose a path.
Ten minutes later, they arrived at a park.
The park was right by the roadside, mostly filled with young people and children.
Not far from this park was another one with a plastic track, where most of the elderly went for walks.
The concept of walking for exercise was quite popular in this district.
This was partly because square dancing hadn’t become popular yet; otherwise, it would have drawn away a significant number of elderly people.
As Xia Yu thought about these random things, he looked around.
He noticed several small stalls, one of which caught his attention.
It was a ring-toss game stall.
Xu Youxiang was also drawn to it.
The stall was filled with glass items—mostly small glass beads for necklaces, some glass animals, and a few one-yuan and fifty-cent coins.
Such nostalgic items.
Xu Youxiang reached into her pants pocket and fumbled around.
“The wallet is in the jacket pocket,” Xia Yu said.
Xu Youxiang was currently using his body.
She took out a ten-yuan note and handed it to the stall owner, receiving thirty rings in return.
Xia Yu calculated that even the most expensive item on the stall—the small glass beads—probably cost less than ten cents each. Selling three rings for one yuan was already quite overpriced.
But if it made Xu Youxiang happy, it was worth it. Always thinking about profit would only prevent one from finding happiness.
To Xia Yu’s surprise, Xu Youxiang even gave him five rings.
Although it was a bit stingy, Xia Yu himself wasn’t particularly interested in playing anyway.
Watching Xu Youxiang use twenty-five rings and successfully toss twenty glass beads, Xia Yu once again lamented the stall owner’s greed.
Xu Youxiang did try to aim for the more valuable items, but she just couldn’t land them.
However, her skill was so poor that even five of her rings missed completely, which was rare. The stall owner was already smiling with his eyes narrowed shut.
Now only five rings remained in Xia Yu’s hands.
Estimating the weight of the bamboo rings, Xia Yu tossed one toward a one-yuan coin. The ring landed perfectly around it but bounced off and rolled onto the empty ground.
First throw—zero success.
Adjusting the strength slightly, Xia Yu threw again, but the ring bounced off once more, rolling away.
The bamboo rings were very elastic, and Xia Yu wasn’t the kind of genius who could calculate exactly where the ring would bounce. He threw another one, successfully landing it on a small glass bead.
“Your skills are really bad,” Xu Youxiang teased Xia Yu.
Glancing at her, Xia Yu gave up on the coins. Since he couldn’t calculate where the rings would bounce, he decided to eliminate the possibility of the ring bouncing altogether.
Focusing, Xia Yu threw a ring, which landed perfectly over the head of a glass dolphin at the back row.
Because it landed directly on the dolphin’s body, the ring couldn’t bounce off.
He threw his last ring and successfully landed it on a glass pen, also at the back row.
Combined, the two items were already worth more than ten yuan.
“Miss, you sure have good luck!” The stall owner cheerfully handed Xia Yu the three items and took out new ones from a nearby treasure rabbit cart to replace them.
Looking at the glass pen and dolphin in Xia Yu’s hands, and then at her own pile of glass beads, Xu Youxiang felt a sense of emptiness.
She pushed Xia Yu’s wheelchair and left the park.
After walking around the hotel for an hour, the two returned to their room.
Xu Youxiang picked up the glass dolphin, “Give this to me.”
“Take them all if you want,” Xia Yu didn’t care.
“I only want this one.” Placing the glass dolphin into her bag, Xu Youxiang happily narrowed her eyes.
After playing some games together on the laptop, the two lay down on their respective beds.
Eight hours hadn’t passed yet, so they were still using each other’s bodies.
When the eight-hour mark arrived, a prompt would appear asking Xia Yu if he wanted to continue. If he didn’t confirm, he would be automatically logged out.
“I heard you started an internet company?” Xu Youxiang asked.
“Mm,” Xia Yu yawned.
Xu Youxiang was silent for a while before saying, “I’m planning to continue my studies. Uncle An said he’d introduce me to some great professors.”
“Great,” Xia Yu was already very tired. Yesterday, Liu Manman had kept him up practicing late into the night.
He closed his eyes.
Xu Youxiang, who had been trying to imply something to Xia Yu, waited a long time but received no further response. Frowning, she looked at Xia Yu and saw that he had already fallen asleep.
He actually fell asleep!
Furiously getting out of bed, Xu Youxiang approached Xia Yu’s bed.
She stretched out her hand to pull him up, but after grabbing his face, her anger vanished.
Looking at the sleeping Xia Yu, she thought: It’s still my body, right? Getting a little close shouldn’t be a problem.
Isn’t it normal to sleep with yourself?
Pulling back the quilt, Xu Youxiang confidently climbed into the bed.
…
They slept until morning. Xia Yu was still dreaming about earning billions of yuan in revenue from a mobile game when suddenly, he felt a push. A sense of weightlessness followed, and with a loud “thud,” his back hit the floor, causing pain.
Opening his eyes, Xia Yu saw an embarrassed and angry Xu Youxiang, who had no idea why she and he were in the same bed.
“Pervert!” Xu Youxiang exclaimed.
“????”
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