On the way home, the journey was silent.
Su Ling was preoccupied with her thoughts, while Lu Qing felt a stirring in his heart.
The taxi driver, glancing occasionally in the rearview mirror, could sense the subtle tension between the siblings.
He cleared his throat but dared not speak.
A buzzing sound broke the silence.
Lu Qing picked up his vibrating phone and saw a message from Lin-chan:
—"Qing, I want to ask you something. Do you think... there are people in this world who seem carefree and flirtatious, yet excel in the path of music, completely opposite to the image of a master you once described...?"
"..."
Of course.
She had already noticed the almost imperceptible flaw in the video.
—"Perhaps," he replied ambiguously.
—"There are countless types of music in the world, and outstanding performers come in all forms.
The so-called 'perfect performance,' based on perfect pitch, rhythm, and technique, is itself a false premise.
After all, 'emotion' is abstract, and everyone interprets it differently, applying varying degrees of intensity."
Strictly speaking, Lin Mu wasn't wrong.
She was just too shy to fully express her feelings in front of an "unfamiliar" audience, unable to reveal the true emotions hidden in her heart.
Was this a technical issue?
Not at all.
But to teach her the lesson of "always remaining humble and composed, never letting success go to her head," he had no choice but to nitpick the one minor imperfection in her otherwise flawless performance, forcing her to reflect on it herself.
Lu Qing knew all too well that, in a way, Lin Mu's skill as a performer was already on par with his own.
She was a steadfast technical virtuoso, at the peak of her abilities and still improving;
he, on the other hand, was a seasoned theorist whose golden days were behind him.
The glory and hard work of the past, after years of abandoning music, had left him almost "deprived of his skills,"
with only the "inner strength" accumulated over time still circulating within him, quietly waiting for its master to reclaim the path of mastery.
Thus, the question of how to continue guiding the young girl became one that Lu Qing had to carefully consider.
"Brother, what are you thinking about?"
Suddenly, Su Ling interrupted his thoughts.
"Nothing. Just wondering if I should bring my laptop next time we go for coffee. Today, I was so captivated by her performance that I didn't get any work done."
He forced a lighthearted smile.
"..."
Su Ling could see right through his attempt to change the subject. Such a small trick was almost laughable in her eyes.
She steered the conversation back:
"So, you're definitely coming next week, right?"
"Mm," Lu Qing nodded.
"Since I need to write and work on my book anyway, I can do it at home or outside. So, I plan to come once a week, or maybe every other week. After all, I lost the bet, and she gave us so many gifts... it's almost too much to carry."
He pointed to an oversized gift bag beside him, filled with items that must have cost at least 300 yuan—various loaves of bread, baked cakes, premium ice cream, and even an ice pack to keep it all fresh.
Looking at it all, he was at a loss for words.
"..."
Su Ling was equally dumbfounded by Lin Mu's genuine yet gullible nature.
"That girl isn't bad, she's just not very honest," she said, offering her own assessment of Lin Mu to her brother.
"I think the fact that she gave us so much delicious food means she truly considers you a 'guest.'
At the same time, I don't think she has any other 'guests.' In fact, I suspect she might close up shop right after you leave and not reopen until the following Sunday when you return."
"...You really seem to understand her."
Lu Qing was surprised by Su Ling's insight.
Based on his own understanding of Lin Mu, his sister's prediction was about 90% accurate—it was almost uncanny.
"So, do you want to come with me again next week?" he asked.
"Of course. Wherever you go, I'll go. I enjoy going out with you."
She said this with a completely straight face.
"..."
Her obvious concern, which she hadn't shown earlier in the shop, was already a feat of restraint.
Now that they were alone, she could speak more freely, without worrying about embarrassing her brother.
Lu Qing could sense that Su Ling's subtlety and depth were far beyond what most people could imitate.
In terms of "composure," "strategic thinking," "planning," "deduction," "appearance," or "attributes," she was a pure SSS-level, a true all-rounder.
"Su Ling, I feel like there's been some distance between us lately. Are you hiding something from me?"
Lu Qing didn't back down, probing her directly.
"How could that be? You took me to appreciate a senior's performance and to relax. Of course, I'm very happy."
Su Ling was gradually being drawn out of her shell, and under the influence of her lingering resentment, she accidentally let a bit of her true feelings slip.
"!"
Lu Qing chuckled.
"Is that so? Well, did you gain anything from today?"
He didn't press her or ask about the deeper meaning behind her mention of a "senior."
Instead, he continued to probe her true thoughts at his own pace, following his own logic.
"..."
The driver up front was sweating bullets. Although he couldn't understand what they were saying, he could feel the layers of meaning behind every word exchanged by the pair in the backseat.
—This was terrifying.
The driver didn't dare speak or ask questions, focusing solely on the road ahead.
Su Ling smiled sweetly, her signature perfect smile, and nodded at her brother. "Yes, I feel like I'm completely out of my depth compared to Lin Mu."
"How so?"
"Her level of skill in performance doesn't seem possible for someone her age.
If I had to guess, she must have her own 'original compositions.' And these 'original compositions' aren't something she'd easily share with others.
So, I was thinking... when will I be able to write a song like that—
A song poured with emotion, one that can convey feelings and truly move someone."
"I see."
Lu Qing felt a swell of pride as he looked at his sister's expression, filled with both longing and hesitation.
"You can do it," he encouraged.
"Really?"
"Yes, you definitely can."
His expression was full of certainty.
...
The car moved forward into the night.
Tiny stars dotted the sky, casting a dreamlike urban beauty under the moonlight.
The night scenery outside the windows rushed past, much like the day's journey—
it felt as though they had witnessed something significant, yet they couldn't quite recall what it was.
As they approached their destination, the car stopped at the entrance of their neighborhood.
Just as Lu Qing was about to open the car door, Su Ling seized the moment when his guard was down—
and asked:
"Brother, have you ever written an 'original composition'?"
...
...
e, Immortal Body, Transmigration, System, Progression Fantasy, Academy Setting, Third-Person Perspective. Alternate Title: Transmigrating into a High Martial World and Reading Live Comments. Bad news: I transmigrated. This is a terrifying high-martial world, and my original, pathetically weak body fell into a coma and never woke up. Good news: I got a Popularity Points system upon arrival. I can see live comments and even create an unkillable alternate identity. Starting out, the alternate identity has all stats at 1. The system tells me that to grow stronger, I must participate in the plot, gain popularity points to allocate stats and grow stronger, and ultimately awaken my original body. And so, carrying my original body on my back, I officially entered Huaqing Academy, where the story's protagonist resides. From that moment on, Chen Guan kicked the original plot to pieces. Live Comments: [Doesn't anyone find this mysterious coffin guy creepy? He can summon indescribable grey misty hands.] [Is this guy a hero or a villain? What kind of onion became a spirit?] [By the way, does anyone know who's in the coffin? Shouldn't the debt for saving his life be repaid by now?] [According to unofficial histories, the person in the coffin was Chen Guan's first love. Their love was once passionate and earth-shattering, but they were separated by life and death due to worldly circumstances. What a star-crossed pair.] ... Years later, the world knew of a demon god born from a coffin, shrouded in grey mist, impossible to gaze upon directly. His foremost divine emissary often wielded a scythe, reaping lives like the god of death. As war approached, facing former friends and a boundless sea of enemies, Chen Guan merely raised his scythe. "Would you like to dance as well?"
villain is the number one simp for the book's leading female protagonist, Shen Wan'er. As expected, he later becomes a tool for the main character to show off and slap faces, ultimately meeting a tragic end with his family ruined and his life in shambles. Fortunately, he awakens the [Universal Pure Love System], which allows him to earn points by performing acts of pure love. To change his fate, Gu Yan makes a decisive choice to seek warmth and companionship with the book's biggest villain—Cold Qingqiu. ........... My name is Leng Qingqiu. To find the murderer who killed my parents years ago, I deliberately blinded myself so that everyone would lower their guard around me. Just as I was secretly accumulating power and capital according to my initial plan, a man walked into my world. "Lengleng, Qingqing, Qiuqiu, which nickname do you prefer?" I don't like any of them. You'd better leave quickly! "Why aren't you saying anything? How about I call you my baby wife?" Leng Qingqiu thinks to herself, this man is truly annoying! (Stubborn pure love warrior + single female lead + true pure love + 1v1)
ive and Ruthless] Before his transmigration, Ye Xuan was playing a game called "Severing Emotions to Attain the Dao." The game's core wasn't about leveling up by fighting monsters, but about conquering various "bad women" with wicked personalities and cold, fickle natures. There was only one method to conquer them: stay unwaveringly by their side, then die at a critical moment, driving them to madness after losing the protagonist. The higher their level of regret, the higher the player's score. To dominate the server, Ye Xuan conquered all the bad women. In the early stages, he showered them with boundless tenderness, only to choose to sacrifice himself for them later, making them weep bitterly and drown in regret. Among them were: Xia Lengyue, the unfaithful immortal wife who chased after powerful men and discarded her husband like trash. Ye Qingcheng, the Demonic Venerable of the Joyous Union Sect, who appeared pure and innocent but was, in reality, promiscuous. Wu Lingxiao, the Empress of the Great Xia Dynasty, who lusted after men and loved maintaining a harem. Bai Qiangu of the Endless Demonic Sect: a bloodthirsty mass murderer. However, when the protagonist transmigrated into the game world, he made a horrifying discovery. Eight hundred years had already passed. The bad women he had conquered had now each become deities and revered ancestors. Faced with the endless stream of toxic women coming for him, Ye Xuan could only rely on his god-tier acting skills to carve a path of survival through this world of treacherous women.
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
