500: Chapter 500 The Girl's Hidden Ultimate Move

The phone screen lit up.

Ye Xi sent a photo first.

In the photo was a desk crowded with study materials and sheet music.

English textbooks pressed down on curled-edged test papers, and the sheet music was covered in sticky notes.

Right in the center lay a little figure rolling its eyes, with the words written next to it: "Soul has left the body, please do not disturb."

Lin Que looked at the picture and couldn't help but chuckle.

He sat up, leaned against the headboard, and tapped on the screen.

[Mu Xia]: "How did the dignified genius girl of the piano world end up like this?"

As soon as the message was sent, "Other party is typing" popped up.

Ye Xi's reply was almost slammed over.

[Fugitive Beethoven]: "Don't even mention it! I feel like vomiting whenever I see these books now!"

[Fugitive Beethoven]: "Basis's senior year classes are simply not meant for humans. Eight subjects a day, all English textbooks, and so much homework that I suspect the teachers have a grudge against me."

[Fugitive Beethoven]: "[Rabbit covering face and crying.jpg]"

Lin Que looked at that string of text filled with a crying tone, able to imagine her slumped over the desk, pulling at her hair.

Xu Changge came out of the bathroom, wiping his face, and glanced at him.

"Laughing so happily."

"A friend is complaining about senior year homework."

Lin Que didn't even lift his head.

Xu Changge didn't ask more and returned to the desk to continue packing the medicine bag.

The dormitory quieted down, with only the occasional breeze outside the window.

Lin Que lowered his head and continued typing.

[Mu Xia]: "It's senior year after all, it's like that for everyone. Just push through it."

As soon as this was sent, the other side immediately exploded.

[Fugitive Beethoven]: "Push through it? Let me tell you, the most ridiculous part isn't the classes."

[Fugitive Beethoven]: "I still have to prepare for the domestic tour on the weekends! The first stop is in Jinling, with six more cities to follow."

[Fugitive Beethoven]: "My classmates sleep until noon on weekends, but I have to get up at seven in the morning to practice piano. I sit for five hours at a time, and my fingers are almost calloused."

[Fugitive Beethoven]: "My biggest dream right now is to sleep in properly."

[Fugitive Beethoven]: "The kind where I sleep from dark to dark. No alarm clock, no piano, no homework. [Starry eyes]"

Lin Que looked at this passage, his brows knitting slightly.

It wasn't that he hadn't heard her mention the tour before.

But seeing it all listed out like this, it was indeed tough.

On one side was the most brutal senior year in an international school, and on the other was a seven-city performance tour; this pace would strip a layer of skin off anyone.

His fingers paused on the screen as he thought, then he asked from a different angle.

[Mu Xia]: "Didn't you already get the offer from Curtis?"

[Mu Xia]: "It's a top global music conservatory, and you've already got the spot in your hands. You could just lie flat for the rest of your high school days. Take classes casually, practice piano less, isn't it better to just live comfortably?"

This was a practical question.

Lin Que knew the weight of a Curtis offer.

Countless people would break their heads trying to get in.

Since she was already set, there was no need to push herself to the point of crying in secret.

The message was sent, and the "Other party is typing" flashed several times, stopped, then flashed again.

It seemed she was organizing her thoughts.

After a few seconds, an emoji flew over first.

It was an orange cat with its tail held high, chin raised high, eyes narrowed into slits, its whole face filled with the words "You don't understand."

Immediately after, text followed.

[Fugitive Beethoven]: "So what if I got the offer, does getting an offer mean I can slack off?"

[Fugitive Beethoven]: "I'm still a top-ten honors student in the whole school, okay?"

[Fugitive Beethoven]: "Besides, things like state of mind, once you relax, you collapse. The offer is the offer, but if I start lying flat now, my skills will get rusty, and even if I change paths in the future, I'll still be rubbed into the ground by others."

[Fugitive Beethoven]: "Then there won't even be a place to cry. So no matter how tired I am now, I have to grit my teeth and hold on. People can change their minds, but their confidence cannot drop."

Lin Que looked at the last sentence, his eyes shifting slightly.

People can change their minds.

Confidence cannot drop.

This sounded like a complaint, but at its core, it was a spirit of refusing to admit defeat.

Ye Xi loved to mess around, and sent emojis faster than anyone, but when it came to critical moments, her sense of balance was steadier than anyone's.

He was just thinking about how to reply when another line popped up.

[Fugitive Beethoven]: "Besides..."

It was followed by three dots, with no follow-up.

That ellipsis hung lonely on the screen, as if the words were said halfway and someone had choked her throat.

Lin Que stared at that line of text for two seconds.

She was doing it again.

Every time she hid something in her heart, the input box would flash repeatedly like this, as if deliberately hanging the answer before his eyes.

He tapped his finger and sent a question mark over.

[Mu Xia]: "?"

[Mu Xia]: "Besides what? Did you lose connection halfway through your sentence?"

The other side didn't reply immediately.

That "Other party is typing" popped up, then disappeared.

It popped up again, then disappeared.

It happened several times, as if she was writing and deleting, deleting and writing.

Lin Que waited, simply propped his pillow up higher, and leaned back.

Xu Changge had finished packing, turned off the main light, and left only a small bedside lamp on.

The light in the room dimmed, and the light from the phone screen hit Lin Que's face.

After a long while, Ye Xi's message slowly drifted over.

It wasn't text, but an emoji.

A little fox, eyes curved into crescents, paws covering its mouth, giggling, its tail wagging happily behind it.

It was incredibly mysterious, yet revealed an irrepressible smugness.

[Fugitive Beethoven]: "Heh, it's a secret."

[Fugitive Beethoven]: "I'm not telling you."

[Fugitive Beethoven]: "You'll know when the time comes [Smug] [Smug]"

Lin Que looked at the giggling fox and the corners of his lips lifted.

He was too familiar with this behavior of hers.

Every time she was cooking up some plan, it was in this mysterious tone, insisting on waiting until the last moment before presenting it to him.

[Mu Xia]: "Fine, keep your secrets."

[Mu Xia]: "I'd like to see what kind of big move you're brewing again."

[Fugitive Beethoven]: "It's a good thing anyway! It will definitely surprise you!"

[Fugitive Beethoven]: "Don't be too surprised when the time comes."

Lin Que didn't ask again.

He knew he wouldn't get an answer even if he did; this girl had a tight lip.

The curiosity in his heart had been stirred up by her, then firmly suppressed by her "You'll know when the time comes."

He simply wasn't in a rush; there would always be a day when it was revealed.

He changed the subject.

[Mu Xia]: "Alright. Still not sleeping this late? You have to get up early to practice piano tomorrow, right?"

[Fugitive Beethoven]: "Don't mention it, the alarm is set for seven again."

[Fugitive Beethoven]: "Sister Yang said, no slacking off for this month before the tour. I feel like my life is given by the piano keys."

[Fugitive Beethoven]: "What about you? Not sleeping this late, writing something new again?"

Lin Que's fingers paused.

He remembered that tomorrow morning, he would have to carry his suitcase into the old factory area deep in the Qinba Mountains.

That line of small gray characters floated through his mind again.

Secret site, red-line area, no unauthorized entry.

But he couldn't tell her a single word of this.

[Mu Xia]: "Not writing anything. Going on a long trip tomorrow, just finished packing."

[Fugitive Beethoven]: "A long trip? Where to?"

[Mu Xia]: "Going to stay in the mountains for a while, to experience life. Organized by the school."

[Fugitive Beethoven]: "Wow, you guys are going on a field trip [Envious] [Envious]. That's great, much better than me facing the piano keys."

[Fugitive Beethoven]: "Is the signal good in the mountains? Don't go missing; remember to tell me when you arrive."

Lin Que looked at this line of text, and the string that had been taut in his heart inexplicably loosened by half.

With her, he didn't need to wear the halo of a national champion, nor did he need to play the role of Jian Shen or Dream Weaver.

What she remembered was the Lin Que who would banter with her, listen to her complaints, and earnestly reply with "Sleep early" late at night.

This kind of concern that didn't pry, didn't test, and didn't put him on a pedestal was like a thin, steady line, gently pulling him back to himself from those complex identities.

[Mu Xia]: "There is signal."

[Mu Xia]: "I'm here every day."

[Fugitive Beethoven]: "That's good."

[Fugitive Beethoven]: "Alright, I have to sleep. If I don't sleep now, I'll have to practice piano with dark circles under my eyes tomorrow."

[Fugitive Beethoven]: "Master Lin."

[Fugitive Beethoven]: "It's cold in the mountains, wear more clothes."

Lin Que looked at the last three words, remembering the same sentence his mother had nagged him with on video call during the day.

Round and round, words of genuine concern always seemed to fall on these most ordinary little things.

Wear more clothes.

Don't stay up late.

Report safety when you arrive.

Lin Que lowered his head to type.

[Mu Xia]: "Sleep well, don't stay up."

After sending this, the other side quickly went silent.

That exclusive notification sound quieted down, as if she had gently closed the piano lid across the screen.

Lin Que locked the screen and put the phone back by the pillow.

In the dormitory, only the small lamp at the head of the bed remained, casting a dim yellow circle of light over half the bed.

There was no movement from Xu Changge's side, his breathing steady.

He closed his eyes, but his mind didn't immediately empty out.

Ye Xi's giggling fox emoji, and that unfinished "Besides..." spun around in his mind.

What mischief was this girl brewing again? He couldn't guess, and didn't bother to.

She was always like this; one second she was complaining of fatigue, the next second she hid the truly important words, insisting on waiting for him to guess.

Thinking of her slumped over that desk piled with materials and sheet music, complaining of being tired while gritting her teeth to hold on, the tension Lin Que felt before departure was unexpectedly diluted quite a bit.

Entering the mountains tomorrow.

Red line, old factory area, secret site.

Those troubles were still waiting ahead.

But at this moment, he just wanted to have a good sleep.

Lin Que's breathing gradually deepened.

At the last moment of fading consciousness, Ye Xi's unfinished sentence still flashed through his mind.

Besides...

What exactly was she hiding?

This thought didn't hold on for long, and soon sank into sleepiness.

And what he didn't know was.

At the same time, in a bedroom of a detached villa in Hexi, Jinling.

Ye Xi lay on the bed, looking at the words "I'm here every day" on her phone.

After a long time, she smiled softly.

Then, she opened her mailbox.

At the top of the inbox was an email.

The subject line had only four words.

[Recommendation Confirmation].

...