After the Mei and Lin families finished lunch, Mei Lijun drove back to Baimei County with Liang Meijuan. Mei Fang and Lin Youxi stayed in the room, waiting for Xia Xun and his daughter to return to the hotel.
Xia Yuan knocked on the door and entered the room. She immediately threw herself into Mei Fang’s arms as he opened the door to greet her. Seeing her unusual state, Mei Fang thought she had encountered difficulties in her exam. While patting her back, he comforted her softly, “It’s… it’s alright. You have been preparing for so long, and we composed that piece together. It must be much better than the others——”
“Mhm, mhm, we’re strong,” Xia Yuan replied while nodding.
“Um, in other words——”
“Strong, strong, very strong!” Xia Yuan exclaimed.
Xia Yuan lifted her head, held her head high, and excitedly looked at Mei Fang. “The assessment teacher praised me, and said they haven’t seen a music student as talented as me in many years, who can compose their own music!”
The piece Xia Yuan used in the assessment was from the song “A Not Far Away Place” by Xu Song from Mei Fang’s past life. Although the lyrics were taken from Mei Fang’s “poem,” Xia Yuan had composed most of the music herself.
Mei Fang had initially intended to guide her to directly copy Xu Song’s set of melodies. However, he felt that this would limit Xia Yuan’s creativity, so he let her try composing on her own.
Although the resulting composition was quite different from the original piece, with the lyrics serving as a foundation, the style of the music remained uplifting and cheerful.
“Y-You scared me! Just you wait, I’ll teach you a lesson!” Mei Fang and Xia Yuan playfully bantered for a while until Xia Xun, who was coughing heavily on the side, caught their attention. They then settled down. Mei Fang informed Xia Xun, “Dad and Aunt Liang already went back home by car.”
“Yes… I know. He called me and told me,” Xia Xun replied.
“Dad! We agreed earlier that we would go to the Happy Valley this afternoon!”
Xia Xun smiled and said, “When it comes to promises to my daughter, I must keep them. I’ll go ahead and check out of the room first.”
“Dad, you’re the best!”
Before, when his daughter praised him, his daughter always gave him a big hug. But now, Xia Xun didn’t receive any affectionate gesture from his daughter after being praised. He could only watch his daughter enthusiastically chatting with Lin Youxi and Mei Fang from the side.
“Dad, what are you still standing there for? Aren’t you supposed to check out? We’ll pack our luggage.”
Dejectedly, Xia Xun hid his arms, not knowing where to put them.
Xia Xun drove the three of them to the Happy Valley in Jiangcheng. It was a large amusement park that many children in Hubei Province longed for and dreamed of. Since they rarely visited Jiangcheng, it would be unacceptable not to have a good time there.
Because Xia Yuan performed well in both exams, her mood today was particularly cheerful. She linked her arms with Lin Youxi and Mei Fang, happily singing together:
“I was like a fish in your lotus pond. Just wanted to wait for the bright moonlight with you—after swimming through the four seasons, the lotus was still fragrant
waiting for you in the middle of the water…”[1]
Watching his daughter so happy, Xia Xun’s heart felt as sweet as honey.
The only uncomfortable thing about this sweetness is that my daughter and Mei Fang are too close…
Although the children have done nothing wrong, Mei Fang, this kid, is really becoming less and less pleasant to the eyes as I look at him more.
“Dad, don’t you have any other music?”
Xia Yuan lightly tapped the car seat. “Your car only has old songs. Don’t you have any songs by Jay Chou? Didn’t I play songs like Rice Field[2] and Floral Sea[3] before?”
“Uh… those are in another car. I forgot to transfer them over.”
“Um… Okay, fine. I can still sing the old songs!”
Xia Xun felt a little wronged, but he didn’t complain because it was all for his daughter. Then the group arrived at Happy Valley.
Today was a weekday, so there weren’t many people at Happy Valley. It was a great time for an outing.
“Dad, hurry up and buy tickets!”
“Dad, let’s get in line!”
Because Xia Xun doted on his daughter too much, Xia Yuan ordered him around to do tasks along the way. But he didn’t mind since it was for his daughter.
However, as an observer, Mei Fang could vaguely sense Xia Xun’s complicated gaze towards him. Follow current novᴇls on ɴovᴇl(ꜰ)ir(e).nᴇt
I can’t just turn a blind eye to this…
So, being a little clever one, he followed Xia Xun when he went to stand in line to buy milk tea.
“Uncle Xia, let me help you queue up and buy milk tea.”
Xia Xun shook his head. “No need, you go play with Yuan Yuan.”
“It’s alright! She has Youxi with her, I’ll stay with you.”
Xia Xun thought that if he stayed there, he wouldn’t be able to join the conversation and would probably be rejected by his daughter. So, he’d rather stand in line with Mei Fang.
Xia Xun didn’t have much one-on-one time with Mei Fang before, which was fine in the past when they were just close friends of Yuan Yuan. But now, Mei Fang was undoubtedly the second most important man in his daughter’s heart, second only to himself as her father. So, Xia Xun felt the need to pay more attention to him.
Therefore, his mind was filled with thoughts about the Super Energy thing.
If I ask Yuan Yuan, I will definitely be disliked by her, thinking I eavesdropped on her conversations or read her diary or something.
But if I ask this kid directly… it’s a good opportunity.
While Xia Xun was thinking about how to talk to Mei Fang about it, Mei Fang suddenly took the initiative to speak to Xia Xun.
“Uncle Xia, Yuan Yuan did really well this time. I feel like she’ll definitely get into Jiangcheng NOHS.”
“I hope so. You and Youxi will definitely pass the exam too.”
“Yes, we’ve all done our best. We will not let our hard work go to waste.”
Mei Fang smiled slightly and said, “Uncle Xia, you have worked hard as well. Whether it was during the preparation before the exam or these busy days, it all relied on your help and organizing things. Yuan Yuan is so lucky to have a great dad like you.”
“I don’t find it hard at all. After all, she’s my daughter.”
After being praised, Xia Xun felt a bit proud and said, “It’s actually more about all of you… You kids are truly amazing. At first, when Yuan Yuan said she wanted to attend this school, I strongly opposed it. I thought that since she struggled with science subjects, even Baimei No.1 High School would be a problem, let alone the entrance exam for Jiangcheng NOHS…”
“If I have to say, without your help and Youxi’s assistance, it would probably be difficult for Yuan Yuan to come this far, right?”
“Uncle Xia, I disagree with your view.”
Mei Fang shook his head. “I think it’s mainly because Yuan Yuan herself is outstanding. We just played a supporting role and helped a little.”
Mei Fang spoke earnestly, “Yuan Yuan is a very talented and hardworking girl. She studies subjects she doesn’t like so diligently just to keep up with her friends. It pains me to see her like that.”
“It’s not just you, everyone feels the same… Ah, those days were indeed…”
Xia Xun and Mei Fang found common ground, and their favorability for each other increased quite a bit.
After buying milk tea, Mei Fang voluntarily offered to help Xia Xun carry things. Respectfully standing by Xia Xun’s side, he casually continued, “By the way, Uncle Xia, the reason the three of us have been able to persist until now is that we have relied on some cheering methods to cheer up each other, like the ‘Super Energy’.”
This was what Xia Xun wanted to ask!
But he couldn’t show too much interest directly, as it would imply that he had been constantly thinking about his daughter’s sleep talking in the car and didn’t dare to mention it to Mei Fang, which would make him seem rude.
“Well… you kids do like to use some special terms. How do you encourage each other with this ‘Super Energy’?”
“It’s a method Yuan Yuan came up with. We gently embrace each other, pat each other’s shoulders, and tell each other that we’ve done a great job, then get back to studying together…”
When Mei Fang described the Super Energy, he appeared very pure, without any sense of evil. Xia Xun was also touched by Mei Fang’s depiction, and his concerns about this young man were dispelled.
Although hugging is somewhat… But, since it’s proposed by Yuan Yuan and sounds safe, there’s nothing to criticize.
“Well… that’s good. You have your own way of supporting and growing together, like partners. It’s impressive.”
“Mhm… thank you for your encouragement, Uncle Xia.”
Mei Fang thought that since Xia Xun might have heard about the Super Energy, to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, it would be better to clarify things first.
After all, it’s just a comforting hug!
However, the description he just gave and the actual gesture of hugging were two different things.
After all, their actual Super Energy scenes involved a level of intimacy that would make Xia Xun want to beat up Mei Fang if he saw it.
Any amount will be greatly appreciated.
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