CHAPTER 79: CHAPTER 79: YOU’D BETTER STAY AWAY FROM HER

Before, Xie Qingci usually returned at one or two in the morning to shower and sleep, and got up again at six or seven the next day.

But in the past two days, he has come back by ten and gone to bed early.

Xie Qingci sat on the bed, reaching out to fiddle with the eagle ornament.

"The assessment is tomorrow, I’m afraid if I’m too tense, it might backfire."

Ning Yunchao waved at him: "Makes sense. Don’t worry, your dancing is good enough, everyone can see that."

Wei Yaoyao also said: "Really very good, don’t overthink it. If you’re nervous, let the Diao sing you a song."

Xie Qingci happened to flick the switch, and Zuoshan Diao started singing "Majestic and Spirited".

The rough voice and bold spirit could make one’s blood boil.

Wei Yaoyao: "After listening to this song, I feel like I can dance three hundred more rounds!"

Ning Yunchao grabbed some clothes to head to the bathroom: "You gotta be kidding me, did you even get up from the bed when you said that? You haven’t moved an inch, talking about effort but not actually putting any in."

Wei Yaoyao laughed sheepishly.

He tugged at his curly hair, picked up the guitar by the bed, and called out to Xie Qingci: "Hey, not going to sleep yet? Want to sing a song and play some guitar? Can you do it?"

Without waiting for Xie Qingci to answer, he muttered to himself, "You probably can, you look like someone who can play all kinds of instruments."

Xie Qingci originally wasn’t interested, but after fiddling under the blanket for a bit, he reached out to Wei Yaoyao.

"Let me give it a try then."

Wei Yaoyao eagerly handed it to him and even picked a song for him to play and sing.

"How about the extra song from your first stage, that ’Summer Wind’."

Xie Qingci had no objections, placed the guitar on his lap, bowed his head to try the strings, and a clear sound flowed out from his slender fingers.

"Summer wind I will always remember, clearly saying you love me, I see your cool smile has shy moments too, the summer wind is gently blowing, passing through my hair, passing by my ears..."

The clean voice made it truly feel like a summer evening breeze was passing by, under the distant sky, a boy and a girl nervously turned their heads, restrictively leaning away from each other, with their hearts as close as possible.

During the changes in the melody, his downcast eyes were unusually soft.

Wei Yaoyao listened with his eyes closed, softly humming along, tapping his fingers on his knees.

Only after finishing the song did Xie Qingci stop, and there were already several people standing at the door, humming along.

When he stopped, someone clapped: "That was awesome! It’s very different from your usual style."

Xie Qingci smiled lightly and returned the guitar to Wei Yaoyao.

Unable to stay idle, Wei Yaoyao ran out to join others in playing the electronic piano and doing karaoke.

After freshening up, Ning Yunchao also went to mingle in the other dorms, where it was still lively everywhere.

Xie Qingci took something with him to stay in the bathroom for a bit, looked at the camera, and then headed out.

He didn’t go to the noisiest dorm, walked around outside, and bumped into Song Xi.

The two of them went to the overpass, where it was clear on both sides, and the night was just beyond the railing.

Song Xi, holding a water cup, leaned against the rail, his eyes indiscernible under the lenses.

Xie Qingci leaned over the railing, the evening breeze ruffling the tips of his hair, seemingly comforting him. He lowered his gaze with a slight smile, exuding a relaxed and lazy vibe.

They didn’t speak, but the cameraman behind them was relentless, constantly shooting.

After a while, Song Xi broke the silence first.

"Your singing just now was really good. Next time, how about a collaboration?"

Xie Qingci replied nonchalantly: "Sure. But for the second public performance, it’s a professional assessment. You’re choosing dance, right?"

Song Xi seemed a bit surprised: "You’re thinking of choosing vocal?"

"Yeah," he said, reaching out his hand, his slim and beautiful fingers seeming to catch the wind, "I want to give it a try."

"Then it looks like we can’t collaborate for the second public performance," Song Xi curled his fingers to adjust his glasses, raised his eyebrows, and said, "Only for the third one then."

Xie Qingci turned sideways, making a toasting gesture: "It’s all good."

His words were polite, but his eyes clearly stated otherwise.

As he moved past, he leaned close to Song Xi’s ear, coldly whispering, "But I suggest you stay away from her, don’t you dare make moves on her."

The camera angle only captured their heads coming close together speaking.

Song Xi, knowing the camera wasn’t capturing clearly, finally showed a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, with an antagonistic air about him, like a gentleman with a hidden agenda.

"She’s a very likable sister, isn’t she?"

Xie Qingci gave him a cold look.

Both returned to the dorm together as if nothing had happened.

Song Xi still had a smile on his face, seemingly having the upper hand in the situation.

The thrill made him too distracted to realize why he instinctively went along with Xie Qingci in upholding the pretense while discussing Yu Xia.

If his real intention was to stir up trouble for Yu Xia and Xie Qingci, in front of the camera, he should have shown a dramatically surprised expression.

Or directly provoked Xie Qingci to say those things in front of the camera, knowing how netizens are skilled at picking up gossip, lip-reading wouldn’t be too hard for them.

But he didn’t do any of that. Both of them maintained the facade of just discussing the performance stage, revealing nothing amiss.

However, Xie Qingci, calm and sober like a spectator, spotted something was off with him.

Since noticing his overly obvious attention on Yu Xia in the practice room yesterday, he had seen through it.

Back in the dorm, Xie Qingci tugged at his collar, feeling a sense of irritation, and tilted his head back to drink half a bottle of water.

The cool mineral water soothingly washed down his throat, providing him brief relief from the stifling heat.

At eleven thirty, the dorm finally quieted down.

Ning Yunchao covered the camera with a towel, and the three of them turned off the lights to sleep.

Xie Qingci pulled the blanket up over his head, then unlocked his phone.

Putting on earphones, he first scrolled through Weibo, then edited some recordings.

Simultaneously, he opened the "treasure" chat pinned in his social software.

On the other side of Hai City, at midnight, Yu Xia received a recording.

She was just about to fall asleep when she heard the vibration, sighed, and reached for her phone to check.

The recording was quite long, so she played it.

Xie Qingci’s clean and clear voice sounded, though it seemed something was covering the phone during the recording as there was a bit of muffled noise.

It was "Summer Wind", a song she always thought he sang on the initial stage as a deliberate choice, even got scolded by He Ci for being narcissistic.

Now it seemed like it was definitely intentional.

In the quiet night room, his singing sounded like a soft whisper, soothing the furrow in her brow.

She listened to it patiently before continuing to check his messages.

[Xie Qingci: Did it sound good?]

[Xie Qingci: A special lullaby recorded for you]

She replied: [Not bad]

[Xie Qingci: Can you take a call? No need to type]

This younger brother... sometimes relentless and at other times gentle and cute, changing faces seemed to be his mastered skill.

Probably seeing that she didn’t reply immediately, he sent another message.

[Xie Qingci: Is it good, sis?]

She deliberately replied: [Not good]

Xie Qingci called directly.

——

ps: treasure, precious