She Adopted Me After My Biological Mother Passed Away - Chapter 21

Xiu: “I know! No, I didn’t mean it like that. Let me explain..”

One, two, three, four.

Shi Shuxue followed the markings on the sheet music, counting the beats as she struck the drums.

For some reason, after Chi Yeyu left, her practice actually became much smoother. Recalling Chi Yeyu’s effortless movements on stage, she mimicked them from memory, raising her drumsticks just as her mentor had.

The first half went relatively well, but as soon as the tempo picked up, chaos returned. Her attention scrambled between the snare, the hi-hat, and the kick drum, failing to keep up. The more she tried to be precise, the tighter her muscles became. The hi-hat, which should have been a light tap, let out a heavy, muffled thud under her foot, while the snare which required power sounded weak and hollow.

If it were the Chi Yeyu of back then, she would have learned this so quickly.

She bit the inside of her cheek, stubbornly increasing her speed. Her right hand lost control completely, a drumstick flew from her fingers with a sharp clatter, bouncing off the cymbal.

As the stick rolled into the corner, she walked over to retrieve it. Standing up, she looked around the vast rehearsal room. Silence descended once more, magnifying the faint, restless anxiety in her heart.

Chi Yeyu had been upstairs for a while. Who was it? Could something have happened? Why hadn’t she sent a message? Could it be… that man?

Once the thought took root, it wound around her mind like a suffocating ribbon. She twirled the drumstick in her hand, stopped practicing, and quietly made her way to the first floor.

The elevator doors slid open, and the voices from the foyer became clearer.

She stopped at the corner, using a large potted plant as cover. Through the gaps in the leaves, she could see the confrontation. Chi Yeyu was leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, looking lazy and indifferent, but Shi Shuxue could sense her underlying irritation. Standing opposite her was, as expected, A-Yuan.

Holding her breath, Shi Shuxue remained perfectly still. Chi Yeyu’s mocking, biting words struck her ears with chilling clarity:

“That one million I transferred to you all at once… you spent it already? That wasn’t a tip for your pocket change. The statement renouncing your guardianship is still sitting in my drawer.” A brief pause followed, feeling like a century, before the final blow: “Shi Shuxue has nothing to do with you, Zhao Qingyuan, anymore. I’ve bought her out.”

One million.

Shi Shuxue’s fists clenched suddenly. Her back pressed against the cold wall, and she felt the blood drain from her limbs. She wasn’t slow from that single sentence, she pieced together the entire story.

The “stable sanctuary” she currently enjoyed was something Chi Yeyu had purchased with a massive sum of money from the man she called her father.

She saw Zhao Qingyuan’s face turn a furious red, and she saw Chi Yeyu’s triumphant, malicious smirk.

After seeing Zhao Qingyuan out, Chi Yeyu personally grabbed a mop to scrub the spot where he had stood. After washing her hands thoroughly, she strolled back down to the rehearsal room to check on her “kid.”

Shi Shuxue was still sitting obediently at the drum kit, her back ramrod straight. Her hair draped over her cheeks, giving her a strangely eerie air of compliance.

Chi Yeyu sighed inwardly, thinking that Shi Xianyu had truly given birth to a mirror image of herself. Aside from looking a bit like her and having a streak of rebellion, Shuxue was nothing like her mother. Fortunately, she looked nothing like Zhao Qingyuan; otherwise, Chi Yeyu…

She imagined an ugly child clutching a backpack in front of her. If that child were Shi Shuxue, she supposed she could accept it.

She walked over casually and asked, “Xiao Xue, how’s the practice going?”

Shi Shuxue seemed distracted. Gripping her drumsticks, she waited a long moment before replying, “Just okay.”

“What does ‘just okay’ mean? Come on, play a bit for me.” Chi Yeyu smiled.

Like a little robot with a mind full of unknown thoughts, Shi Shuxue lifted her sticks and began to play. It was a chaotic mess, but when she finished, she looked up at Chi Yeyu with eyes that were dark and unreadable.

Chi Yeyu was stunned for a second by the cacophony. She hesitated, her lips twitching, before forcing a compliment: “Not bad! That was quite fluent this time!”

Shi Shuxue wasn’t deaf; she knew what she played was garbage. Hearing Chi Yeyu’s forced praise felt hilarious in a dark way, but her face remained expressionless. She looked unhappy as she muttered, “Oh.”

Thinking the girl’s morale had taken a hit, Chi Yeyu waved a hand dismissively. “Enough drumming! Let’s go out for a big feast!”

She was open-minded. Just because Shi Xianyu was a musical genius didn’t mean her daughter had to be. If Shi Shuxue enjoyed it, she could play if she didn’t, they’d find something else. It was no big deal.

By evening, Chi Yeyu had driven Shi Shuxue to a private restaurant. She had pre-booked a room where the other band members were already waiting. The three of them were chatting around a circular table, the warm light reflecting off the windows.

Seeing them arrive, Li Lingling greeted them warmly. “Xue-er? It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Have you grown taller?”

Shi Shuxue nodded. “Good evening.”

Chi Yeyu had mentioned the dinner this morning, so she wasn’t surprised. She greeted the three naturally and sat down next to Chi Yeyu.

“Eat whatever you want, it’s on me,” Chi Yeyu declared grandly.

Li Lingling laughed. “You heard her! We’re going to give Miss Chi’s wallet a workout tonight!”

Tiangua smiled. “It’s been so long since we all had a meal together!”

“The last time we hung out was… the last time,” Yu Xiu joked while rinsing the bowls with hot tea.

“You don’t talk much, but when you do, it’s all nonsense,” Tiangua teased. Then she sighed. “But recently… things have been intense. We’ve never been under this much scrutiny before.”

They began discussing the shift in online public opinion. The overwhelming tide of criticism had started to ebb, replaced by posts analyzing the timeline and looking at the past more objectively.

As the servers brought out the dishes, Li Lingling reached across the table for a rib, only to be mocked by Chi Yeyu for her height. Just as she sat back down to retaliate, Tiangua accidentally spilled soup on her lap.

“Ah, sorry! Did I burn you?” Tiangua, who was always on her devices, was quite nearsighted. Today, she was wearing a pair of old frames that didn’t quite fit her prescription, so she leaned in slowly to check the damage.

Despite the apology, her tone was entirely indifferent. Veins popped on Li Lingling’s forehead as she took a tissue from the helpful Shi Shuxue. “Tiangua, you’re dead. Take off your pants and give them to me as compensation!”

“No way, I only have this one pair on,” Tiangua replied.

Yu Xiu feigned shock. “You’re only wearing one pair of pants in this weather?”

“Who here isn’t?” Tiangua pointed out. Everyone in the room seemed to prioritize style over warmth. Chi Yeyu was the worst offender, wearing thin trousers and a long trench coat. Now that she had taken the coat off, she was wearing only a thin, dark gray turtleneck. She looked stylish, but her nose was red from the cold.

Chi Yeyu countered, “I’m not like you lot. I made sure our Xiao Xue is wearing thermal leggings.”

Having said that, she sniffed and turned away to sneeze.

“Idiot,” Yu Xiu chuckled. She glanced at the girl’s slim legs and remarked, “You haven’t been feeding that kid enough. She’s so thin you can’t even tell there’s anything under those pants.”

Chi Yeyu suddenly dropped her chopsticks. Her pupils contracted as she stared intensely at Yu Xiu.

The latter fell silent for a few seconds, meeting her gaze. When she realized what Chi Yeyu was implying, she gasped in shock. “Chi Yeyu, what are you thinking? I didn’t mean it like that!”

Chi Yeyu didn’t look convinced. “She’s only sixteen.”

“I know! No, I told you, I didn’t mean it like that,” Yu Xiu repeated. She wanted to say she never went after minors, but then she remembered her second to last online fling was a high school girl. Saying it would just undermine her own defense, so she lost her confidence.

On the other side, Li Lingling was still wailing about her cold, wet pants. Tiangua grabbed her legs with both hands, trying to rub them warm, a gesture that was entirely useless.

Chi Yeyu remained wary of Yu Xiu until Shi Shuxue, unable to take it anymore, pinched Chi Yeyu under the table.

Chi Yeyu turned her head and saw Shi Shuxue looking at her with an expression that said she was barely tolerating an idiot.

Finally, Chi Yeyu called the shop downstairs to have a new pair of pants delivered. Li Lingling dragged Tiangua to the changing area to swap them out.

Steamed crabs were served, the rising steam carrying a fresh, briny scent. The crabs in the porcelain dish were a bright, translucent orange. Chi Yeyu placed one on Shi Shuxue’s plate. Shuxue caught it with her chopsticks and began to peel it slowly.

“Peel one for me too,” Chi Yeyu said.

Shi Shuxue said nothing.

Yu Xiu, who had a weak stomach and couldn’t eat seafood, sipped her tea. She glanced at Chi Yeyu as if casually. “Speaking of which, the wind online changed so fast. Xinglong’s press releases were everywhere, and suddenly, they’ve vanished. Did you…?”

Chi Yeyu watched Shi Shuxue, replying nonchalantly, “There aren’t that many tricks to it. People probably just got tired of watching Zhao Qingyuan play the victim.”

Shi Shuxue wasn’t actually good at peeling crabs. She looked professional, but she was nearly stabbing her fingers on the shell. Chi Yeyu pulled the crab toward herself. With a deft movement, she pried the shell open, revealing the golden roe and delicate meat.

She carefully removed the gills and the heart, then pulled the meat from the legs, piling it into a porcelain bowl which she then pushed in front of Shi Shuxue.

“It’s not just Zhao Qingyuan… You didn’t..” Yu Xiu glanced at Shi Shuxue and swallowed the rest of her sentence, looking worried. “Weren’t you always unwilling to do that?”

“There’s no ‘willing’ or ‘unwilling.’ It was bound to happen sooner or later,” Chi Yeyu said with a smirk, reaching out to peel another crab for the girl.