Vaguely Understanding

The next day, when Xia Yu came to Xu Youxiang's place, he was informed that the programmer was still being arranged and had not arrived yet.

He knew he was being too impatient.

Because he saw how efficiently Yu Liang had dismissed the head maid and replaced her with Ning Yi, he thought the dispatch of the programmer would be just as efficient. But in reality, even if Yu Liang found a programmer at a remarkable speed, their efficiency could not possibly be as strong.

It was impossible for them to arrive today after talking about it just yesterday.

Picking up his notebook, Xia Yu opened the game and thought of something else.

He checked Xu Youxiang's bonus.

Seeing this bonus, Xia Yu couldn't help but sigh.

If Xu Youxiang followed the normal trajectory of life, she could definitely become the most beautiful female programmer in the region.

"What are you sighing about?" Xu Youxiang asked.

"Nothing." After fobbing her off, Xia Yu began to think about which skills would be useful.

With an lv2 bonus, he could upgrade a skill to lv2 by default. So, which skill should he choose?

Dressing seemed to be the most useful, but Xia Yu had no interest in clothes, so he chose makeup.

After getting the lv2 makeup skill, he used the effect of the lv1 bonus on dressing.

With two new skills, Xia Yu was in a good mood.

He opened the game.

He had come at seven in the morning, and by three in the afternoon, the game time had ended, and he returned to his own body.

"Brother?" Yuxue called out to him, "I'm talking to you!"

"Come." Xia Yu grabbed Yuxue's hand.

"Huh?"

In the girl's astonished eyes, Xia Yu pressed her down in her seat and removed the rubber band from her ponytail.

Having acquired new skills, he decided to use his sister as a test subject first.

"What the duck are you doing?!" Yuxue resisted.

"Don't move." Holding the girl still, Xia Yu took a comb and smoothed her hair.

Yuxue didn't move, she wanted to see what her brother was going to do.

There was no mirror in front of her, so she took out her phone to observe.

Seeing Xia Yu skillfully tie her hair into twin ponytails, she was surprised.

Tying hair may seem simple, but it's not an easy task, just like a simple sketch has only a few strokes, but a beginner can't draw it right.

Such neat and symmetrical twin ponytails would take her some time and careful effort to tie herself.

But Xia Yu seemed to do it effortlessly.

There was only one rubber band, so he could only tie one ponytail.

"Wait, I'll go get another rubber band!" Yuxue hurriedly said.

But Xia Yu ignored her, let go of the ponytail, and divided Yuxue's hair into two parts again, one in front of her forehead and one behind her head.

He tied the back part into a ponytail and braided the front part into three strands, wrapping them around the ponytail to create a bun-like hairstyle.

Looking at the delicate braid in her phone, Yuxue was delighted.

She saw Xia Yu let her hair down again, but she didn't hold on this time, thinking that a better-looking hairstyle was coming up.

However, Xia Yu just braided her hair back into the original ponytail.

Seeing that Xia Yu put down his hands and had no intention of doing anything else, Yuxue incredulously turned her head to look at him.

Patting the girl's head, Xia Yu walked out of the house.

Today, Lu Zhiwen invited Xia Yu to his home. Xia Yu agreed, as he had nothing to do in the evening anyway.

The town's nightlife offered little entertainment, and Xia Yu guessed that the two would likely just end up playing video games. However, he turned out to be wrong.

"Gaming?" Xia Yu asked when he arrived at Lu Zhiwen's home.

"Gaming?" Lu Zhiwen replied, puzzled. "What's interesting about that? Come on, I'll show you something."

He led Xia Yu to a multi-purpose room and showed him a painting he had collected.

It was an oil painting, seemingly somewhat renowned, but Xia Yu didn't recognize it.

That didn't stop him from casually discussing it. With painting skills at level 3, he could critique it quite accurately.

Hearing the professionalism in Xia Yu's words, Lu Zhiwen's eyes lit up. "You can also do oil paintings?"

"Just a little," Xia Yu replied modestly. Compared to his level 5 music skills, his painting abilities were indeed limited.

"If you're interested, why don't you paint something too?" Lu Zhiwen led Xia Yu to an easel and invited him to create a piece of art.

He then showed Xia Yu several other paintings: "All the enthusiasts I've met have left a painting for me. When you guys become big-shots, I'll have a collection!"

Xia Yu looked at the paintings, which varied in quality and style, indicating that Lu Zhiwen indeed had this hobby.

Lu Zhiwen continued, "I'll paint one for you, and you paint one for me as a testament to our connection."

Had Xia Yu not confirmed Lu Zhiwen's passion for painting, he would have thought Lu Zhiwen was just trying to show off.

Xia Yu spent half an hour completing a painting, then pretended to work on it while actually daydreaming.

An hour passed, and Lu Zhiwen had also finished his painting. He looked at it with satisfaction.

Although he had painted quickly, he had unexpectedly outperformed his usual ability, reaching the average level of the city competition. He felt a little proud.

What Xia Yu didn't understand at first was that, as a hot-blooded young man, Lu Zhiwen couldn't help but be competitive. He knew of Xia Yu's achievements in music and wanted to even the score through painting.

Putting down his brush, Lu Zhiwen informed Xia Yu that he was done. Xia Yu came to see and gave polite praise.

The professional compliments left Lu Zhiwen feeling like he had met the right person.

He decided to return the favor when he saw Xia Yu's painting, planning to praise it similarly. As for the quality, he would just quietly enjoy his own thoughts without exposing them to Xia Yu.

He approached Xia Yu's painting, which portrayed a plate of dumplings with simple lines.

A smile spread across his face, but after a closer look, his smile froze.

He leaned in and examined the painting intently. The colors, the shading, the composition – all breathtaking.

If his own painting represented the city-level average, Xia Yu's was at the city-level winning standard and had already reached a provincial level average.

His judgment was correct; Xia Yu's painting skills were at mid-level 3, with the level upgrade putting him at the mid-point of that level.

Looking at the painting before him, Lu Zhiwen suddenly lost the will to praise it.

Painting badly is called boasting.

After briefly talking about it, he skipped over the topic of oil painting and took out a pottery flute.

The pottery flute is a niche instrument, and Xia Yu certainly wouldn't know how to play it, he thought.

However, Xia Yu skillfully played a high-difficulty piece on the pottery flute.

The oil painting just now was only slightly stronger, but this time the pottery flute was an instant kill!

Should he continue with the guitar?

He asked Xia Yu first, "Can you play at least a little bit of any instrument?"

After receiving Xia Yu's affirmative answer, Lu Zhiwen avoided the guitar. After pondering for a long time, he finally thought of something that he wasn't very good at, but Xia Yu definitely wouldn't know.

He took out some artificial flowers and a vase, which were used for practicing flower arrangement. Not every household could have fresh flowers like An Siyao's.

After ten minutes, he finished arranging the flowers and looked at Xia Yu.

Xia Yu stepped forward, casually adjusted them, and activated his level 2 flower arrangement skill. The vase instantly looked much better than before.

Silent for a minute, Lu Zhiwen stood up, "Shall we just play games then?"

A smile appeared on Xia Yu's face. He hadn't reacted to the previous oil painting, but after all the fuss Lu Zhiwen had made, how could he not see it?

Confronting an outstanding person and trying to find something one excels in to maintain self-confidence is a normal thing.

"I told you games are fun, but you insisted on doing these things." Xia Yu said, patting Lu Zhiwen on the shoulder.

Lu Zhiwen felt bitter in his heart.

The two played together all night. The next morning, Xia Yu entrusted his body to Tuo Yu and logged into An Siyao's body.

The head maid had already been dealt with, now only An Feixiong and Luo Yali remained.

An Feixiong was a bit difficult, but Luo Yali seemed quite obedient. Xia Yu hesitated about what to do with the both of them.