Chapter 101: “E Ending”

“Xiaohei got another job!” Youxue and Xia Yu said.

Xia Yu thought for a while and recalled the previous advertisement. He asked, “What kind of job?”

“This time it’s for a cat house advertisement,” the girl said excitedly.

“The same company again?”

“No, it’s a different one.”

A different company? How did they find out?

The previous cat food advertisement hadn’t even been aired on television yet.

After a moment of confusion, Xia Yu found the answer.

The advertisement had already been posted on a local forum and had become a hot topic.

The produced version of the video wasn’t particularly remarkable, but the post included two versions—one showed the black cat skillfully dodging all obstacles, while the other showed the black cat knocking through all obstacles.

The comments below were praising the black cat’s acting skills and agility.

The cat house advertisement must have seen this.

“When are we going to film?” Xia Yu asked again.

“This weekend or next weekend is fine,” Youxue said happily as she picked up the black cat.

Today was Saturday, and tomorrow was the weekend. In other words, either tomorrow or seven days later.

Five days later was the preliminary competition, and the final would be five days after that. During this period, he would be staying in Afang City with no time at all.

In other words, he could only go tomorrow.

“Then let’s do it tomorrow. Still, have Weiwei accompany you,” Xia Yu said as he ruffled Youxue’s hair.

“Okay, this time the payment is still five thousand, hehehe,” Youxue’s expression was excited.

Speaking of money, Xia Yu suddenly remembered the bicycle.

During this period, Youxue’s school commute had been taken care of by Xia Yu, and due to being busy, he always forgot.

Early the next morning, he first took Youxue to the mall, where each of them picked out a bicycle.

The mall offered a delivery service, but Youxue, excited, rode hers all the way back home.

In front of the house, she didn’t go inside but instead rode around and lingered by the door.

Xia Yu parked his bike and watched the girl.

He hadn’t experienced such simple happiness in a long time.

The last time was when he was young, playing with Kong Hanyue, and they secretly took money from Xia Dongyang to buy ice cream.

Thinking of Xia Dongyang, Xia Yu frowned again.

He didn’t know where that guy had gone.

To prevent Xia Dongyang from causing trouble, Xia Yu had someone investigate his whereabouts, but there was still no news yet.

“Brother?” A pale hand waved in front of Xia Yu’s eyes—it was Youxue’s hand.

Xia Yu grabbed the girl’s hand and pinched her cheek. “Let’s go back. This afternoon we still need to film your advertisement!”

“Okay!”

In the afternoon, Xia Yu used his ability to clear the empty slot left by Wen Ziying and entered the black cat’s body to film the cat house advertisement with Youxue.

His script was to lie on the bed, be pushed off the bed by a fake owner’s foot, have his body pinned down by an arm, and have his blanket snatched away… all to show that cats can’t sleep together with their owners.

Then came a peaceful scene inside the cat house, leading to the introduction of the cat house.

It was a standard advertisement.

Compared to the previous cat food advertisement, this one was much easier, yet the payment was the same.

After finishing filming and receiving the money, an excited Youxue bought Xia Yu two little goldfish.

Xia Yu himself wasn’t particularly interested in the goldfish, but the black cat really liked them.

After exiting the black cat’s body, Xia Yu discovered that the black cat’s bonus had upgraded to level 2, and he had also gained triple the game points.

If he had known that affection from the black cat could be improved this way, he would have bought the cat a whole tank.

As the bonus increased to level 2, Xia Yu’s dexterity also upgraded to level 4.

This skill was progressing steadily due to the fixed bonus.

“What’s wrong?” His daydreaming was noticed by Kong Hanyue.

Kong Hanyue took a potato chip and put it into Xia Yu’s mouth.

Looking at Kong Hanyue’s face and recalling the past times they spent playing together during tough times, Xia Yu felt warmth in his heart.

Back then, they often shared potato chips like this.

At this moment, Liu Ronglan interrupted, “That potato chip just fell on her foot.”

“…”

Xia Yu extended his hand and pinched Kong Hanyue’s face.

“I didn’t! It wasn’t me! Don’t make things up! It just fell on the ground!” Kong Hanyue defended herself.

After some playful teasing, Xia Yu released Kong Hanyue, removed the artificial fingernails on his hand, and rested his fingers.

Liu Ronglan didn’t even let him rest, discussing his recent shortcomings.

“…Your learning speed is already quite fast, but it seems that the E Ending is still too difficult for you right now,” Liu Ronglan said regretfully. “If you could play the E Ending during the competition this time, it would definitely amaze everyone and proudly declare that my Huapai school has a worthy successor.”

During these days, Xia Yu had basically mastered POD042, and Liu Ronglan was eager to have him try the E Ending. Unfortunately, the result was disappointing.

At level 4, he could already play all kinds of songs, such as piano pieces, and had learned all the famous compositions. However, the E Ending wasn’t a normal song—it was originally an ensemble piece meant to be played by five to three guzhengs together.

Later, a master adapted the piece for a combination of guqin and xiao flute, which was already the limit of what ordinary people could perform. However, Huapai’s E Ending required one person to play it alone!

This placed extremely high and demanding requirements on finger dexterity. Even with his previous level 3 dexterity, Xia Yu couldn’t play it.

“Isn’t it normal that you can’t play it yet?” Kong Hanyue spoke up for Xia Yu. “Teacher, you can’t even play the entire piece perfectly now!”

Liu Ronglan tapped Kong Hanyue’s head and gave her a sidelong glance. “I’m already sixty-three years old. What more do you expect from me?”

She then turned to Xia Yu. “However, I didn’t learn this piece until I was twenty. Yu, if you work hard, you still have hope to catch up with me.”

Liu Ronglan’s face showed pride. Besides comforting Xia Yu, she also wanted to show off a bit.

Upon hearing her words, Xia Yu’s first thought was that she probably had a dexterity bonus.

However, he no longer needed it.

“Alright, let’s continue practicing with POD042. After this competition, I’ll start your real training. Our Huapai school has a complete finger exercise course. Practicing for three years should be enough to meet the requirements,” Liu Ronglan said proudly.

Three years from now, Xia Yu would be twenty-one, while she had mastered it at twenty.

“I’ll try again,” Xia Yu said as he put the artificial fingernails back on.

“Relax. Although your talent is slightly inferior to my grandmother’s, it’s still rare and exceptional,” Liu Ronglan said nonchalantly. Just moments ago, he couldn’t play it, and after a short rest, could he really play it now?

This wasn’t some silly TV drama where playing skills could suddenly skyrocket?

Xia Yu began plucking the strings again. The beginning of the E Ending was relatively normal, but it quickly accelerated.

After Xia Yu played for ten seconds, Liu Ronglan already sensed something was off.

Previously, Xia Yu had failed at the thirty-second mark. Playing for ten seconds was normal, but in those ten seconds, his previous playing had been somewhat messy, while now he looked completely at ease.

With a shocked expression, Liu Ronglan watched as Xia Yu surpassed the thirty-second mark and only stopped at the one-minute mark.

“It’s only one minute,” Kong Hanyue said regretfully.

“Go away,” Liu Ronglan kicked Kong Hanyue.

She grabbed Xia Yu’s hand and explained, “The difficulty doesn’t change much after one minute. If you can last one minute, you can finish it completely!”

“Good grandson, work hard these few days and strive to master this piece before the final on the first day. Then let those people see that my Huapai school definitely has a worthy successor!” Liu Ronglan laughed loudly.

Kong Hanyue, who had been kicked, was furious. She shouted loudly, repeating Liu Ronglan’s previous words, “Although your talent is slightly inferior to my grandmother’s.”

Liu Ronglan’s face turned red and she chased after Kong Hanyue to hit her.