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Messing up.
The moment Xu Ye slammed the door and left, Chen Hansong had this thought flash through his mind.
He hadn’t expected Xu Ye to refuse.
Nor had he expected his attitude to be so firm.
An eighteen-year-old boy—who did he think he was?
Chen Hansong wasn’t angry. If Xu Ye didn’t have some unclear, complicated connection with his daughter, he might even have started to look at Xu Ye differently.
After all, Xu Ye was the first person to speak to him so defiantly on his own turf.
But the key point was, Chen Hansong cared a lot about whatever relationship Xu Ye had with his daughter.
Although he and Jiang Meilin were already divorced, Chen Qingqing had always been Chen Hansong’s cherished daughter. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have skipped that important dinner engagement on her birthday evening just to celebrate with her.
It wasn’t Chen Hansong’s fault.
As a father, a daughter’s place in his heart was always irreplaceable.
Xu Ye was nothing special.
Just an ordinary kid from a modest family with no background, about to enter university.
If Chen Qingqing said she wanted to date, Chen Hansong could easily introduce several outstanding young men from families worth hundreds of millions.
So when Jiang Meilin told him that both Chen Qingqing and Xu Ye planned to attend university in Modu, he started wanting Xu Ye to change his university.
Chen Hansong sighed and took out his phone to call Jiang Meilin.
“I just talked to that kid. Looks like I messed this up.”
“How did you talk to him?”
Chen Hansong recounted their conversation to Jiang Meilin. After hearing it, Jiang Meilin immediately got angry. “I told you he’s not like an ordinary high school student, but you had to be so stubborn. Now look, you’ve made things worse!”
Chen Hansong said helplessly, “How was I supposed to know he would refuse?”
“Beep beep beep~”
Jiang Meilin hung up the phone immediately.
…
Xu Ye walked out of the bank.
Thinking about how Chen Hansong had just spoken, he felt very annoyed.
He took out his phone and directly sent a message to Chen Qingqing.
Xu Ye: “Are you there?”
At that moment, Chen Qingqing was at home trying to compose her own music. Hearing the phone ring, she originally intended to ignore it, but after strumming her guitar twice, she couldn’t help but check the phone.
Seeing Xu Ye’s message, Chen Qingqing replied with a question mark.
Xu Ye quickly typed back, “Coming to the tavern tonight?”
Chen Qingqing: “Something up?”
Xu Ye: “Nothing, just feeling restless, want to play guitar.”
Chen Qingqing paused for a moment, then asked, “What time?”
Xu Ye: “I’ll be there before eleven.”
Chen Qingqing: “Okay.”
Xu Ye: “I didn’t expect you to agree so quickly.”
Chen Qingqing: “I’m just curious what other songs you can play.”
Xu Ye: “I know a lot, some you’ve never even heard.”
Chen Qingqing: “I don’t believe you.”
Xu Ye: “If you don’t believe me, I’ll play an original song for you tonight.”
Xu Ye: “It’s settled then—I’ll wait for you.”
For some reason, when Chen Qingqing saw the words “I’ll wait for you,” she felt inexplicably shy. She turned off her phone and tossed it onto the sofa.
Five minutes later.
Chen Qingqing: “Okay.”
…
That night.
After dinner, Jiang Meilin took the initiative and asked, “Qingqing, do you want to go for a walk with Mom tonight?”
“No, I have other plans.”
“Other plans?”
Jiang Meilin raised an eyebrow. “What plans do you have?”
Chen Qingqing didn’t beat around the bush and replied simply, “I’m going to the tavern tonight to see Xu Ye.”
“Xu… Xu Ye?”
Jiang Meilin froze on the spot after hearing this.
Recalling the call she had received from Chen Hansong that afternoon, Jiang Meilin realized that Xu Ye must be retaliating against her ex-husband.
It seemed Chen Hansong had been hiding things from her, and his attitude this afternoon was probably harsher than she had imagined; otherwise, Xu Ye wouldn’t have acted this way.
Having been married to Chen Hansong for so many years, Jiang Meilin knew him very well—his strong sense of male dominance had never faded.
After a moment of hesitation, Jiang Meilin asked humbly, “Qingqing, can Mom come with you?”
“If you want to, then go ahead.”
Chen Qingqing replied indifferently and then hurried upstairs to change clothes.
Jiang Meilin never expected Chen Qingqing—who usually disliked wearing dresses—to put on an off-white short dress before going to meet Xu Ye.
This was definitely a dangerous signal!
7:50 p.m.
Jiang Meilin drove Chen Qingqing to the Encounter Music Tavern. She didn’t go inside with her daughter but found an excuse to stay in the car, wanting to see what Xu Ye and her daughter were like when alone together.
Seeing Chen Qingqing arrive so early, Xu Ye smiled and greeted her, “You’re here?”
Chen Qingqing gave a soft “Mm.”
“Sit anywhere you like. I’ll go get you a glass of water. Don’t worry, I definitely won’t grab the wrong cup this time.” With that, Xu Ye walked away, completely unaware of the shy expression that appeared on Chen Qingqing’s face after hearing his words.
It was still early, and the tavern had few customers.
After bringing the water, Xu Ye sat down across from Chen Qingqing. He spoke honestly, “Chen Qingqing, I want to apologize to you first.”
Chen Qingqing blinked, looking puzzled as she stared at Xu Ye.
Xu Ye said, “Your Father came to find me this afternoon and said some things that made me very angry. Basically, he wants me to stay away from you. After hearing that, I was upset, so I messaged you and asked you to come here—to get back at your Father.”
“It’s nothing, I don’t mind.”
“Why?” Xu Ye asked curiously.
“He’s always believed that everyone should listen to him, so I can probably guess what he said to you.”
Xu Ye smiled. “But I didn’t expect you to also choose to go to university in Modu.”
Chen Qingqing’s heart started to race when she heard that. She even lowered her head, avoiding Xu Ye’s gaze, and nervously said, “You don’t think I chose it because of you, do you…?”
Before she could finish, Xu Ye interrupted, “Of course not. I’m not that vain.”
“Good that you have some self-awareness.”
After Xu Ye fell silent, the atmosphere in the tavern grew ambiguous. Chen Qingqing knew Pei Youwei, Zhang Xiaonuan, and Zhou Ying were all secretly watching her. Feeling she couldn’t stay quiet any longer, she unusually took the initiative and asked, “Who did you learn to play guitar from?”
“I taught myself.”
“How do you find the time?”
Xu Ye smiled. “Time? You just have to make it. Besides… maybe I’m a musical genius.”
“Stop bragging~”
Xu Ye held out his hand to Chen Qingqing. “Give me the guitar.”
Chen Qingqing took the guitar out of its case and handed it to Xu Ye.
Just as Xu Ye reached out to take it, Jiang Meilin walked in from the doorway. Seeing her arrive, Xu Ye didn’t hesitate or back down. Instead, he called out confidently, “Aunt Jiang,” then turned to Chen Qingqing and said, “After talking with your Father this afternoon, I wrote a song on my own. It’s called ‘If One Day I Become Very Rich.’”
Chen Qingqing couldn’t help but smile. She thought only Xu Ye could come up with such a cheesy song title, but she was curious about what kind of song it really was.
Could it be related to what happened this afternoon?
Xu Ye hugged the guitar and sat down opposite the mother and daughter, then began to play and sing to himself…
His smile was carefree, and his voice was wild.
It was as if he was lost in his own music.
The most striking part was the song’s lyrics:
“If one day I become very rich,
My first choice won’t be to travel the world,
But to lie on the biggest, softest sofa in the world,
Eat, then sleep, wake up and eat again—just take it easy for a year…”
Chen Qingqing had never heard this song before, and since there were very few songs she hadn’t heard, she immediately believed this was Xu Ye’s original composition.
Chen Qingqing hadn’t expected that, besides playing the guitar, Xu Ye could also write his own songs.
Her attention unconsciously shifted to Xu Ye’s face; she didn’t even realize it until Xu Ye finished singing the entire song, and her gaze never left him.
Under normal circumstances, this song wouldn’t be released until three years later.
Since Xu Ye sang it now, of course, no one else had heard it before.
In his heart, Xu Ye silently apologized to Mao Buyi while also wondering what kind of impact his actions would cause.
Would singing this song mean that another song of this style would replace it?
Or would this song now belong to him alone, with no further connection to Mao Buyi?
Of course, Xu Ye didn’t know the outcome at the moment, nor did he dwell on it much.
Unconcerned with matters that did not involve him, he looked up and realized Jiang Meilin and Chen Qingqing were both staring at him without blinking. Jiang Meilin’s eyes showed pure surprise, while Chen Qingqing’s gaze was a mix of surprise, curiosity, and admiration—along with a hint of… infatuation.
…