"It really doesn't hurt."

Lu Xing let out a silly laugh, rolling up his sleeve to show off his bicep.

"I'm very strong."

Xia Yeshuang glanced at Lu Xing's arm, then looked away as if she had been burned, and snorted.

"I was just afraid you'd try to scam me."

Xia Yeshuang unnaturally took a bite of rice.

She hadn't expected that while the skin on Lu Xing's forearm looked quite normal, the part above his short sleeve was so pale.

This person lives so roughly. His arms are tanned in layers!

"Can you sing?" Xia Yeshuang suddenly asked.

Lu Xing immediately said.

"A little, but I'm not very good."

Although he could sing okay, he was no match for a professional like Xia Yeshuang.

After all, with the vocal techniques of traditional Chinese music, the existence of a microphone is a joke.

Xia Yeshuang stood up, took her bag, and rummaged through it for something, while still saying.

"Sing one."

Her straightforward manner made Lu Xing laugh.

So it's "listening to a song in a brothel." The one listening is Xia Yeshuang, and the one singing is him?

"Okay."

Lu Xing thought for a moment. Xia Yeshuang was already in a bad mood today. If he was going to sing, he had to sing something happy.

Casually flipping through the music charts, Lu Xing played a song.

Doo doo doo—

The dynamic electronic intro immediately CCed Xia Yeshuang. She looked up in disbelief.

Lu Xing began to sing with extreme seriousness.

"How can you cry, everything will be okay, let it all go, you have to think

Since you can't do anything about it, why hate him? Why care about it? You have to remember in your heart

You are that that that that..."

(TL: A reference to the nonsensical but viral song "你是内内个内内" by Da Zhangwei.)

She couldn't hold it in.

Xia Yeshuang really couldn't hold it in.

She had never imagined that Lu Xing would actually choose such a song!

It's really...

Quite fun.

The corners of Xia Yeshuang's mouth lifted. She took out her phone, opened the video recording, and all her previous gloom was swept away.

"It's a real pity you're not becoming a singer to guard the nation's gate."

"You could be a singer with no anti-fans."

Lu Xing also chuckled. By the end, he was singing a little off-key, but both of them were laughing quite happily.

After the song was finished.

Xia Yeshuang looked at the recording she had made with great satisfaction.

Lu Xing propped up his chin, squinted his eyes, and asked with a grin, "Is the customer satisfied?"

Xia Yeshuang lifted her chin. "It's alright."

"A reward for you."

She took out a tube of sunscreen from her bag and threw it to Lu Xing.

"Alright!"

"Long live Sister Xia!"

Lu Xing showed no sign of disgust.

Regardless of the value of the gift from the customer, providing sufficient emotional value is an essential quality for a professional simp.

And this Xia Yeshuang was really interesting.

She clearly wanted to give him something, but she had to make him sing a song before giving it.

What kind of tsundere brain logic is this?

Xia Yeshuang glanced down and saw a box in her bag. She immediately threw it to Lu Xing with a look of disgust.

"This is from my stepmother. I don't want it. It's yours too."

See.

The curve of the smile on Lu Xing's lips didn't change. Isn't this an unexpected gain?

Looking at the exquisitely packaged box, Lu Xing untied the ribbon, gently lifted the lid, and revealed the contents inside.

Holy f*ck!

The sparkling golden light almost blinded Lu Xing's eyes.

Lu Xing was dumbfounded.

No.

This is gold???

Xia Yeshuang said with dissatisfaction, "That woman really has no good intentions. Giving gold is so tacky!"

"And look at the shape of this gold. It's a thorn bird!"

"I study vocal music, and she gives me a thorn bird. If this isn't cursing me, what is it?"

Thorn bird?

Lu Xing had been blinded by the light of the gold just now.

Only after hearing what Xia Yeshuang said did he realize that this was a thorn bird-shaped ornament made of gold.

The thorn bird.

A legendary bird that sings with a thorn pierced through its heart, bleeding profusely. (TL: This is from a 1977 novel from Australian author Colleen McCullough)

Xia Yeshuang snorted, hating her stepmother to death.

"I don't want this stupid thing. It's yours. It suits you very well. You should like gold quite a lot."

The thorn bird, it really does suit him.

Lu Xing was lost in thought for a moment, then immediately put on a smile and closed the lid.

"Thank you. You're so good to me."

Sometimes, a direct expression of gratitude is more touching than a roundabout one.

Xia Yeshuang saw Lu Xing's sincere eyes and heartfelt thanks and averted her gaze, flustered.

"Eat your food!"

...

Lu Xing had just left the comprehensive building when he saw a black-haired girl sitting on a bench under the shade of a tree, reading a book.

Sunlight shone through the layers of leaves, casting spots of light on the ground. The gentle breeze lifted the girl's long hair.

She reached out her slender white fingers and tucked a stray strand behind her ear.

The next second.

She seemed to sense something and looked up, meeting Lu Xing's eyes. Her calm voice carried a hint of lightness.

"Lu Xing."

"Wei Qingyu, what are you doing here?"

Lu Xing was a little confused.

He suspected that this world had some special operating mechanism.

For example, being able to randomly spawn a Wei Qingyu under a tree?

Why was it the same scene as last time at the entrance of Kate's second-hand luxury store, and now it's the same again?

If it weren't for the fact that Wei Qingyu was holding a book now...

Lu Xing would really suspect that he had been hit by a dump truck and transmigrated into some kind of infinite-loop instance that kept reloading.

"Do you need me for something?"

Lu Xing asked bluntly.

Wei Qingyu stood up, hugged the book to her chest, and walked to Lu Xing's side.

"The teacher asked me to tell you about the mock exam results."

Actually, it wasn't the teacher who had asked her to find Lu Xing. It was her own initiative.

Lying for the first time, Wei Qingyu nervously clenched the book in her hand.

Lu Xing didn't speak, but he looked back at the fifth floor of the comprehensive building, where the piano room was.

"She can't see."

A hint of disappointment appeared in Wei Qingyu's deep eyes. She explained with a wistful tone.

Seeing Lu Xing so concerned about Xia Yeshuang's feelings, her usually calm-as-an-old-well heart couldn't help but feel sour and bitter.

Lu Xing turned his head to look at Wei Qingyu. "How do you know?"

"My father donated this building."

The reason Wei Qingyu gave was really strong and powerful. Lu Xing was instantly convinced!

The matter of the mock exam?

It seemed the grade rankings had come out at noon. So Lu Xing finally agreed.

"Fine, let's talk while we walk."

Wei Qingyu's walking pace was noticeably much lighter, but she didn't forget the proper business. She said, word for word.

"The mock exam results are out. You've improved a lot, entering the top twenty in the grade."

Top twenty?

That awesome?

Lu Xing's previous grades had hovered around fortieth in the grade.

He had to study and be a professional simp every day. It was already not easy to have such grades.

Now that he had entered the top twenty, there was basically no problem for him to get into Haicheng University.

Wei Qingyu was genuinely happy for Lu Xing.

It seemed that what Lu Xing had said last time about studying hard was not just to fool her.

Wei Qingyu analyzed for Lu Xing.

"If you work a little harder in the coming days, you can get into a better university than Haicheng University."

"You can improve so quickly in a short period of time. You're very smart."

"It was me..."

Wei Qingyu paused for a moment, then said with some regret.

"It was I who delayed you."

If Lu Xing had given up on her earlier, would his grades have improved even further?

Suddenly.

Wei Qingyu somewhat hated her previous actions. She should have completely rejected Lu Xing back then!

"No."

Lu Xing immediately denied it. "This has nothing to do with you. Don't take the blame on yourself."

Damn it!

The Wei Qingyu from before was already enough to give one a stomachache.

If she had been even a little more resistant, Lu Xing didn't dare to imagine how much more torture he would have had to endure!

Seeing this blockhead Wei Qingyu getting stuck in a dead end...

Lu Xing said.

"Even if I hadn't been nice to you back then, I would have still been captivated by something else."

"Don't help me beautify the path I didn't take."

"You did nothing wrong."

People always like to beautify the path they didn't take. It's a kind of psychological comfort, I guess.

So strange.

Wei Qingyu looked up at Lu Xing's eyes.

As soon as he spoke, all the negative emotions in her heart seemed to have been smoothed over.

Like being immersed in a comfortable hot spring.

Is this like?

An unnoticeable curve appeared on Wei Qingyu's lips.

She really did like Lu Xing.

...

...

Challenge Goal Ongoing!!

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Mission: Reach 15 votes for this novel on NovelUpdates.

Reward: One additional chapter.

Progress: 10/15.]

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