Xia Yu: Observing the New Sister

Upon hearing Kong Hanyue's words, Xia Yu's mind is once again filled with the phrase "illegitimate daughter."

He hesitated for a moment and carefully asked, "What's the matter?"

"It was a dark and windy night. I was alone in a quiet room, with only the north wind and the moon to accompany me. The intermittent croaking of frogs outside the window... "

"Get to the point." Xia Yu interrupted Kong Hanyue's rambling.

"What an impatient man! Will you also be so straightforward when you're with a girl in the future?" Kong Hanyue complained.

"I'll be more patient with young, pretty girls. With you, there's no need," Xia Yu retorted.

"Too much! I'm still a young girl in my twenties!" Kong Hanyue pinched her throat, making a childish voice.

"Now, what's the matter? Is she the illegitimate daughter of Zhong Yunze's father?" Xia Yu steered the topic back on track.

"Eh, why don't you guess it's mine?" Kong Hanyue was curious.

"I guess you wouldn't want to." Xia Yu clearly remembered the complaints Kong Hanyue had when she was pregnant with Yuxue.

For Kong Hanyue, the time spent carrying a big belly was agony.

"Ah, it's not mine, but it's not Old Zhong's either." Kong Hanyue's words carried a hint of disappointment, as her initial attempt to tease Xia Yu was exposed before it even began.

"Whose is it then? Did you take that girl as a goddaughter?" Xia Yu couldn't understand who would call Kong Hanyue mom if it wasn't Zhong Yunze's father's illegitimate daughter or Kong Hanyue's illegitimate daughter.

Wait, there does seem to be one more person whose daughter might be able to get away with calling her mom.

"It's Xia Dongyang's daughter." Kong Hanyue revealed the truth.

"Xia Dongyang?" Xia Yu had almost forgotten this name.

He was puzzled. Wasn't Xia Dongyang the one who had been completely controlled by the woman he had eloped with, living a happy life of moving bricks? How could he have dumped his illegitimate daughter at Kong Hanyue's house?

Back then, because Xia Dongyang had run away with his illegitimate daughter without caring about Yuxue's life and death, Yuxue had cried a lot.

"Did that guy run away again?" Xia Yu asked further.

"I'm not sure. The police just told me they couldn't contact Xia Dongyang or the girl's mother." Kong Hanyue said.

Xia Yu pondered in his mind: after Xia Dongyang and that woman disappeared, to whom would the police entrust the child?

The answer was obvious.

"I have to go. I think my grandparents must have been called over. I'll ask them." Hanging up the phone, Xia Yu called his grandma Xia Nianhong.

The voice prompt indicated that the line was busy.

After waiting for five minutes, Xia Yu made another call, which was quickly answered.

"Hello, Yuyu." Xia Nianhong's tone was as usual, as if Xia Yu's previous reasoning was just a misconception.

"What's going on with that kid?" Xia Yu asked directly. Whether Xia Nianhong knew or not, they needed to discuss this matter.

"Oh, did the police call you too?" Xia Nianhong asked.

"No, my mom told me." Xia Yu narrowed his eyes, thinking that Xia Nianhong had deliberately tried to hide it from him.

That was normal, too. Before the situation became clear, not letting the child know was a necessary quality for traditional parents.

"I don't know either. Your grandfather and I will go to the police station first to check the situation. You don't need to worry about it. Grandma can handle it." Xia Nianhong assured.

Xia Yu hesitated for a moment: "I'll go back too. Just in case something needs to be done, you guys won't know how to handle it."

"Well, you should meet her since she is your sister. But there's no need to bring Yuxue back, and don't tell her, in order to save her from unnecessary thoughts." Having failed to keep it from Xia Yu, Xia Nianhong planned to keep it from Yuxue as well.

Xia Yu agreed verbally, but after hanging up the phone, he immediately asked Yuxue to go home and told her about the matter.

If he didn't know, it would be fine for both of them to be kept in the dark, but now that he had already found out, keeping it from Yuxue seemed inappropriate. It would create a situation where the whole family was keeping a secret from Yuxue.

Many family disputes are rooted in secrecy. Although Yuxue is obedient and well-behaved, Xia Yu did not want to continue this way.

Hearing the story, Yuxue showed a helpless expression on her face, not knowing what to do.

Holding Xia Yu's hand, the girl looked at him.

Pinching Yuxue's face, Xia Yu said to her, "I just wanted to tell you that this girl will either be taken away by Xia Dongyang or raised by our grandparents. Either way, it's none of our business."

Yuxue opened her mouth, wanting to say something but didn't.

"What do you want to say?" Xia Yu asked.

Yuxue finally spoke: "Since she's my sister, it's only right for her to live with us."

Xia Yu filtered Yuxue's words in his mind. The girl meant that she wouldn't mind getting in touch with the illegitimate daughter, a response to Xia Yu's previous remark opposing the girl joining their family.

"You've met the kid, she's only in her second or third year of elementary school, and you want her to come live with us? Our grandparents won't agree to that." Stretching his hand, Xia Yu messed up Yuxue's meticulously managed hair, said goodbye to Yuxue, and headed to the airport.

Yuxue waved goodbye to Xia Yu. She didn't have the intention to follow, as she would only feel awkward if she went.

At the waiting room, Xia Yu sent a message to An Siyao first. He didn't know how long he would be gone for, so he asked An Siyao to take care of Yuxue for a few days and let her stay at their place.

Although the security of the premium villa area was good, he was still worried about Yuxue being alone at home.

Then, he boarded the plane to Ziluo.

At noon, he got off the plane, turned off flight mode, and saw a message from Kong Hanyue.

Kong Hanyue informed Xia Yu that Xia Nianhong and the others were in her villa.

Taking a taxi to the Zhong family's villa, Xia Yu saw Xia Dongyang's illegitimate daughter in the living room.

She was a rather cute little girl, wearing a pink cotton jacket and pink cotton trousers. This outfit was obviously prepared by Xia Nianhong.

The girl sat on the sofa, holding a cup of hot milk in both hands, sipping it, and watching Xia Yu cautiously with the corner of her eye.

Xia Yu's first impression of her was: a well-behaved child.

She seemed to be as qualified a sister as Yuxue, but people are the most difficult creatures to judge from the outside. Xia Yu couldn't yet determine what kind of personality this little girl had.

"Keke," Xia Nianhong patted the little girl's shoulder and pointed to Xia Yu, "call him brother."

The little girl's name was Xia Keke.

Xia Keke obediently put down the milk and timidly said to Xia Yu, "Brother."

"Um." Xia Yu sat down on the sofa with a hint of coldness.

Kong Hanyue came out of the kitchen and gave Xia Yu a cup of hot milk, sitting next to him.

After taking a sip of milk, Xia Yu asked, "What's the situation?"

Xia Nianhong coughed and held Xia Keke's hand, "The police couldn't find Dongyang, so they handed Keke over to us. We're taking her to the countryside to go to school."

Xia Yu nodded, the situation was just like he had imagined.

He looked at Xia Keke, who had a smile on her face, seemingly quite at ease with this arrangement. Xia Keke's smile made Xia Nianhong very happy, and she couldn't help but touch the little girl's face again.

Taking another sip of milk, Xia Yu glanced at Xia Keke.

When he had just come in, he sensed a trace of goodwill from Xia Keke with his mental perception, but as he nodded in agreement with Xia Nianhong's arrangement, the goodwill vanished, replaced by the neutral feeling of a stranger.

It seemed that Xia Keke wasn't as happy with the arrangement of going to school in the countryside as she appeared on the surface.

He thought of his previous doubts, like why Xia Keke had run to Kong Hanyue yelling for her mother, and came up with some guesses.

This guess was somewhat bold, so Xia Yu continued to observe.

He asked Xia Keke, "What are you doing here?"

"Daddy said that I have another mother here." The girl lowered her head, looking despondent as she mentioned Xia Dongyang.

"Didn't he mention that there are grandparents in the countryside, a brother and sister in Ahfang City?" Xia Yu pressed further.

"I only know about this place." Xia Keke's head hung even lower.

"At your age, you should understand what's going on. What are you doing looking for a 'mother' who has no blood or legal relation to you?" Xia Yu asked again.

At this point, the feeling coming from Xia Keke had turned into a trace of hostility.

"Dad and Mom suddenly disappeared, and I don't know what to do." Xia Keke grabbed Xia Nianhong's arm, looking a bit frantic.

Xia Nianhong immediately stopped Xia Yu's questioning, "She's just a child, how could she know anything?"

"Are you jealous, Yuyu?" Kong Hanyue also took the opportunity to tease Xia Yu.

Ignoring Kong Hanyue, Xia Yu changed the topic, "Where's Xia Dongyang?"

"I don't know," Xia Keke answered.

"Then how did you get here? Did Xia Dongyang bring you?" Xia Yu asked again.

Xia Yu noticed that Xia Keke hesitated for a moment.

The little girl said, "I got here by myself."

"You don't have an ID card, how did you get here without money?" Kong Hanyue noticed the discrepancy.

"There was some money in the drawer at home. I hitched a ride outside the train station. You don't need an ID to buy a ticket," Xia Keke answered smoothly.

Xia Nianhong lovingly hugged Xia Keke to her chest.

But Xia Keke didn't look at Xia Nianhong; she was staring at Kong Hanyue.

Seeing that Kong Hanyue simply let out an "oh" and lowered her head to play with her phone, Xia Keke was very disappointed.

At this point, the matter was considered settled.

After being abandoned by Xia Dongyang, Xia Keke received the love of her grandparents; the elderly, bored Xia Nianhong and Xia Ye gained the reliance of their well-behaved granddaughter; the onlookers, Kong Hanmoon and Xia Yu, enjoyed the sweetness of their melons. It was a win-win situation for all.

After the group had lunch together, Xia Nianhong and Xia Ye took Xia Keke away and returned to the countryside. Upon Kong Hanmoon's insistence, Xia Yu stayed at their house.

After Xia Yu had rested post-lunch, Kong Hanmoon took him to the guzheng room and asked him to leave the scores of the two guzheng songs Rain in White Horse and White Horse on the Kong family's "passed down through generations" secret book.

Although the musical scores could be accessed in the music library, Kong Hanmoon felt that the personally drawn scores by the creator brought more of a ceremonial sense. Kong Hanmoon wrote down the fancy guzheng techniques in the secret book and shamelessly signed her name. Facing Xia Yu, who looked at her name, Kong Hanmoon patted his back hard, indicating that if he performed well, she would include his name in the secret book after ten years.

With a casual and perfunctory response, Xia Yu started playing the guzheng. "According to the rules, you should change into Hanfu when playing the guzheng," Kong Hanmoon muttered, without being too insistent about changing clothes. She picked up another guzheng and started playing.

She tried to disturb Xia Yu's rhythm, attempting to lead his melody astray, but the music level 6 Xia Yu remained unaffected. On the contrary, she was the one who went astray and was led back to the correct melody.

Frustrated, Kong Hanmoon put down the guzheng and gave up on creating chaos. She talked to Xia Yu, "How is Zhong Yunxin now?"

Stopping the guzheng, Xia Yu glanced at Kong Hanmoon. Previously, Kong Hanmoon would call Zhong Yunxin "Yunxin" affectionately, but it changed to her full name after Yunxin caused her several troubles, which felt quite real. "She's fine. I have a mole watching her," Xia Yu said.

As he spoke of the undercover Hu Lianglu, Xia Yu suddenly recalled that he hadn't yet arranged for Hu Lianglu to receive professional training as he had promised before. Things had been busy these past few days.

He reached out, rubbing his forehead. Seeing this, Kong Hanmoon stretched out her hand and started massaging Xia Yu's head.

Xia Yu initially remained guarded but was surprised to find that Kong Hanmoon's technique was actually quite good. He had experienced a level 3 massage from Yin Shulan, and her skills at least reached level 2.

Level 3 was professional level, while level 2 was considered expert among amateurs. "Lie down, it's not comfortable to massage like this," Kong Hanmoon patted Xia Yu's back.

Xia Yu lay down on a cushion, enjoying the massage. It didn't actually matter whether the technique was good or not. The important thing was that Kong Hanmoon, the tough lady, was actually showing concern for others now.

Xia Yu felt like an old father, watching his daughter finally mature. "Where did you learn to massage?" Xia Yu asked. "I went to the beauty salon for massages every day and then just learned," Kong Hanmoon replied.

She learned just by getting massages every day? Xia Yu thought that there must be some relevant bonus within this girl's body. His professional obsession immediately connected it to the bonus. He then realized that the focus wasn't on learning by getting massages, but the fact that she did it every day.

The life of the rich was indeed dull, to waste time like this every day. Closing his eyes, Xia Yu eventually drifted off to sleep.

When Kong Hanyue, who was talking to him, noticed that he was not moving, she pondered for a moment and took out the Four Treasures of the Study from the cabinet.

An hour passed, and when Xia Yu woke up, he was the only person left in the guzheng room.

Looking at his empty body, Xia Yu sighed, thinking that Kong Hanyue was still not good enough; she didn't even know how to cover him with a blanket.

As he opened the door of the guzheng room, Xia Yu saw Kong Hanyue's nanny. The nanny looked at him, covered her mouth to suppress her laughter, and greeted him.

After calmly responding, Xia Yu came to the washbasin and, as expected, saw his face covered in doodles. This time, Kong Hanyue was a bit more creative than before; she didn't just draw a simple ghost face, but wrote a character instead.

It was a regular script character for "meat."

After wiping off the character, Xia Yu returned to the guzheng room to fetch a brush and knocked on Kong Hanyue's door.

Subduing the struggling Kong Hanyue, Xia Yu picked up the brush and gave her a taste of her own medicine.

After spending two days like this with Kong Hanyue, Xia Yu returned to A-Fang.

Time quickly moved into January, nearing winter break.

Xia Yu was researching online, preparing for a trip to the previous 26th District.

While flipping through the map, he saw the 232nd District right next to the 26th District.

He wondered how Mei Mei was doing; there was no news at all.