She Adopted Me After My Biological Mother Passed Away - Chapter 9

“What about you then?”

Yu Xiu adjusted the microphone stand, casually tucking an unlit cigarette onto the music rack. She strummed the guitar strings, producing a series of fluid slides.

Li Lingling’s bass notes steadily anchored the guitar melody. Tiangua’s slender fingers hovered over the black and white keys, waiting for the signal to begin.

There was no countdown, only a shared glance. Suddenly, Chi Yeyu’s drumsticks slammed down heavily on the snare!

Bang!

The sound was like a stone hurled into a calm lake, instantly shattering the surface of tranquility.

Yu Xiu’s left hand flew across the fretboard while her pick swept over the strings, pouring out a bright cascade of notes. Li Lingling’s bass line followed closely, locking onto the guitarist’s rhythm. Tiangua’s keyboard tones felt like a layer of shimmering stardust, lightly draped over the melody.

And the force binding it all together, infusing it with a violent vitality was Chi Yeyu’s drumming.

Shi Shuxue’s pupils contracted slightly, her gaze involuntarily fixed on a single point.

The drummer’s arms swung in dazzling trajectories. With a flick of the wrist, the drumsticks became blurs against the drumheads. The muscles of her neck and shoulders, cinched by a black sleeveless top, rose and fell with the rhythm. Despite the power of the strikes, there was a sense of effortless, flowing grace.

The rolling thunder of the toms, the heartbeat-like depth of the kick drum… the various percussive sounds intertwined, complex yet never chaotic.

She seemed to be on fire. Her blue hair tips flew as her head swayed, and the lines of her forearms tensed and relaxed, exuding a wild, almost brutal beauty.

The music was deafening, vibrating through the floor into Shi Shuxue’s feet and striking directly at her heart. She subconsciously held her breath. This was worlds apart from the chaotic performances her mother, Shi Xianyu, used to vent when drunk.

This was a highly controlled, rhythmic torrent of exuberant life.

[Ahhh, Goddess Chi is so cool on the drums!]

[Xiu-jie is killing me! That voice, I’m dead!]

[Praise Lingbao’s bass, steady as a rock!]

[Guagua’s keyboard is so smooth!]

[They’re practicing this song? It’s amazing!]

[Holy crap, this coordination!]

The bullet chat scrolled frantically, covering the entire screen.

Shi Shuxue stared and listened, stunned. The painful memories of that woman who held the title of “mother” memories she had always resisted, now forced their way through the cracks of her defenses in a completely different form.

It was loud, but not irritating; intense, but not suffocating.

Was music always like this?

Suddenly, Chi Yeyu’s eyes locked onto the camera lens. Shi Shuxue, holding the phone, almost felt like she was being looked at directly. A radiant, exhilarated smile broke across Chi Yeyu’s face before she launched into a complex double-bass pedal rhythm, the speed skyrocketing as she pushed the song toward its final climax.

Then, at the peak, all sound stopped abruptly.

Only the humming resonance in the air and the ragged breathing of the musicians remained.

The silence lasted only a second.

[Ahhh, too cool! I haven’t heard enough!]

[Encore! Encore!]

[Too strong, too strong!!! Perfect chemistry.]

[If every member of a band is replaced, is it still the same band?]

“Yeah!” Chi Yeyu raised her drumsticks high, shouting out in pure joy. “We’ve still got that chemistry!”

Li Lingling exhaled deeply, wiping sweat from her forehead. “Why didn’t you tell me you were going to improvise?”

“You followed along just fine, didn’t you? Besides, if you announce an improvisation beforehand, is it even an improv?” Chi Yeyu stood up.

Li Lingling cried out, “I didn’t even have time to think!”

Chi Yeyu feigned shock. “Heavens, are you the type who needs to think?”

[The usual bickering plot.]

[LOL, does this band fight after every song they practice?]

[Aaaa, Goddess Chi is coming over!]

[She’s running toward me, Mama I’m gonna marry her]

The viewers were baffled that Chi Yeyu was leaving after only one song, but she had already nimbly bypassed the fuming bassist. Walking up to the camera, she lightly tapped Shi Shuxue on the head with a drumstick.

Shi Shuxue made a small sound and shielded her head. “You…”

“Well? Little Shi Shuxue, isn’t your guardian super impressive?” Chi Yeyu’s eyes were startlingly bright, her beautiful face leaning in close without a hint of distance, magnified a thousand times.

Staring at the tiny beads of sweat on the bridge of the woman’s nose, Shi Shuxue wondered how someone could have such invisible pores. Her mind was a mess. The words she subconsciously wanted to say got caught in her throat, coming out instead as her habitual: “It was loud.”

“Hmmmm?” Chi Yeyu drew out a long note, shaking Shi Shuxue’s shoulders frantically. “Really? I don’t believe you. I’m so heartbroken.”

Shi Shuxue was shaken so hard she could barely hold the phone. “The camera, the camera.”

Chi Yeyu stopped her “abuse” of the minor. Grabbing both of Shi Shuxue’s wrists, her forehead was only two centimeters away from the girl’s. “Say it again.”

With her hands pinned, Shi Shuxue had nowhere to hide and was forced to let her stay close. Her heart began to race inexplicably, as if she were finally feeling the delayed impact of the rock music. Her entire field of vision was occupied by Chi Yeyu’s unreasonably beautiful face even the air felt stagnant.

Not far away in the same room, the voices of the others drifted over.

“Don’t be mad, Lingling. Chi Yeyu was praising your instinctive reactions.”

“Right, she didn’t mean you have no brains.”

“Yu Xiu, then what are you laughing at!”

Shi Shuxue averted her eyes from Chi Yeyu’s gaze. In a voice that remained calm, yet lacked its usual icy edge, she replied: “The bullet chat… is all praising you guys.”

“But what about you?” Chi Yeyu persisted.

Generally speaking, adults don’t usually seek validation from children so urgently, do they?

Shi Shuxue replied, “I don’t hate it.”

It was a standard, middle of the road answer, but Chi Yeyu wasn’t discouraged at all. Her eyes crinkled into crescents as she smiled. “That’s great! Then you have to come see our performance tomorrow.”

[Ahhh, I’m so jealous!]

[She really came all this way just for the kid.]

[She’s like a peacock flaunting its feathers…]

[Still, I’ve never seen a girl so stubborn, she kept the camera on the drummer the whole time.]

[The episode where the drummer has the highest status lol.]

[Hahaha, let the little sister keep some dignity.]

At lunchtime, Chi Yeyu ordered a massive amount of unhealthy junk food. Looking at the table covered in fried chicken, burgers, and cola, Shi Shuxue momentarily doubted if the woman had actually reached the legal age of adulthood.

Tiangua’s phone had been livestreaming all morning; the battery was down to a pathetic 10%, so she hurriedly plugged it in. Surprisingly, Li Lingling didn’t comment on the food, choosing instead to go to the bathroom and wash her hands properly.

Yu Xiu, holding a thermos, pushed the ice-cold cola in the opposite direction. “Do you want to ruin my voice for tomorrow?”

“Have a little more confidence in your pipes. If you really can’t drink it, there’s a newly arrived takoyaki maker in the kitchen. Unpack it and make some for us, let Little Xue and me have a taste,” Chi Yeyu suggested.

“I don’t need any. Maybe we should order something else?” Shi Shuxue said.

Yu Xiu looked moved. “What a good kid.”

“She’s mine,” Chi Yeyu said, resting her arm on the back of Shi Shuxue’s chair and restlessly crossing her long legs. “If you like kids so much, go have one yourself.”

“Forget it. I have no interest in giving birth. If my future girlfriend wants one, that’s another story,” Yu Xiu shrugged, picking up a fry and dangling it from her mouth.

Tiangua chimed in, “A player who’s been dumped eight hundred times is already thinking about her next victim.”

“Hush, you ‘forever alone’ girl who only calls fictional characters ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ under your blankets,” Yu Xiu chuckled.

Listening to them, Shi Shuxue felt something was slightly off. Why “girlfriend”? Yu Xiu clearly looked like a woman.

Chi Yeyu rubbed the girl’s head. “This one’s ‘bent.’ She only goes for cute girls. Stay away from her, Little Xue. My kid is so well-behaved; I can’t let her be led astray.”

“‘Bent’?” Shi Shuxue blinked, her mouth slightly agape. “Does ‘bent’ mean… liking girls?”

“Wow, she really is a blank slate,” Tiangua said, surprised. What kind of friend of Chi Yeyu’s could produce such a pure hearted child?

Just as that thought crossed her mind, Li Lingling walked over and sat diagonally across from Chi Yeyu. She asked, “What’s the relationship between Shi Shuxue and Shi Xianyu?”

A small firework seemed to go off in Tiangua’s brain. “Shuxue is the Captain’s daughter?”

“Isn’t it obvious? They look exactly the same,” Yu Xiu noted.

Both mother and daughter shared narrow, willow-leaf eyes, thin lips, and sharp noses, features that gave off a chilly, distant vibe. It was just that Shi Xianyu usually wore a playful, joking smile that softened that unapproachable aura.

Though young Shi Shuxue constantly wore a grumpy expression, it looked more like she was being tormented by Chi Yeyu. If she were to smile a little, she would likely be the spitting image of the Shi Xianyu from their memories.

“They’re different. Little Xue’s chin is sharper than Shi Xianyu’s a classic ‘melon seed’ face and her nose is slightly upturned like a doll’s,” Chi Yeyu corrected.

Li Lingling clicked her tongue in wonder. “It’s rare to see you observe someone so closely.”

Shi Shuxue nearly buried her face in her collar. This person had made a huge fuss during their first meeting about how she and Shi Xianyu looked like they were cast from the same mold, so why was she so seriously arguing against it now?

“So, where is the Captain anyway? It’s one thing to dump the band on you, but she’s giving up on raising her kid too?” Yu Xiu asked.

Before Yu Xiu joined, the band’s leader was Shi Xianyu. She hadn’t had much contact with the woman, she’d only happened upon her performing a street livestream one night after finishing a shift at a bar. Her guitar playing was good and her face was pretty, but more importantly, her singing was top-tier.

Shi Xianyu’s voice carried a natural sense of storytelling, winding and lingering during the low notes, yet sharp as falling stars in the night sky when she hit the highs. Even though Yu Xiu had only overheard a few lines while passing by, the voice had sunk into her heart and wouldn’t leave.

However, Yu Xiu’s night shift ended at 4:00 AM; Shi Xianyu’s high note that night had directly summoned the local police.

Later, Yu Xiu specifically followed the performances of this obscure band, but unfortunately, Shi Xianyu had vanished inexplicably. The entire band was on the brink of dissolving until Chi Yeyu, the then-nameless substitute stepped up to hold it together.

Both she and Li Lingling had been “scouted” by Chi Yeyu afterward.

It could be said that without Chi Yeyu, “Screaming Goldfish” would have ceased to exist long ago.

Chi Yeyu fell into a brief silence.

Yu Xiu was surprised. Chi Yeyu was usually the quick-witted type who responded instantly, it was rare for her to replace an answer with silence.

Shi Shuxue answered calmly, “She’s dead.”

Yu Xiu froze.

Chi Yeyu added, “Yeah. She finally gave up.”