The younger generation, starting from where the wind blows...

Chapter 308 The Stolen Music
As evening fell, the Bentley slowly drove into a street lined with plane trees on both sides.

On both sides of the sidewalk, tourists can be seen everywhere holding cameras, coming to take photos and check in.

Sitting in the back seat, Xia Chengsi watched the old villas rushing past the car window, still pondering Sheng Zhe Ning's suggestion.

As we approached our house, the Bentley began to slow down.

In front of the large iron gate adorned with green leaves, a young couple in wedding attire are taking photos.

The photographer, with his back to the door, didn't realize he was blocking the Bentley's way in.

The driver initially intended to lightly honk the horn to remind them, but Xia Chengsi told the driver to wait until the other party finished taking the photos before entering the house.

Click, click, click!
The flash comes on.

The photographer had just put down his camera and hadn't even had a chance to check the results of the photos when he noticed the Bentley behind him.

As he stepped aside, the photographer quickly raised his hand to apologize to the driver.

As the large iron gate opened, the young couple at the door realized that the place where they had just taken photos was actually in front of someone else's house.

As the Bentley drove into the yard, the large iron gate slowly closed.

This scene attracted the attention of many tourists on both sides of the road.

What they thought was a tourist attraction turned out to be someone else's residential area.

In front of a grand yet elegant three-story old villa, Xia Chengsi got out of the car and quickly climbed the steps in front of the building.

Upon entering, I encountered the family's housekeeper, Aunt Wang, in the double-height living room, where she was carefully wiping a Steinway piano.

Upon seeing Xia Chengsi enter, Aunt Wang immediately stopped what she was doing and greeted him respectfully.

Hearing the melodious violin music coming from upstairs, Xia Chengsi turned to Aunt Wang and asked:
"Is Nana home alone?"

"Yes, Mr. Xia hasn't come home yet. His wife went out to play cards this morning, and the third young master also drove out and left not long ago."

Xia Chengsi nodded expressionlessly.

Everything is expected.

A father who's never home, a mother who loves playing cards, a playful younger brother, and a diligent younger sister.

This is the daily life of Xia Chengsi's family of five.

Xia Chengsi went upstairs and arrived at his sister Xia Na's room.
I was planning to wait until the piano music inside stopped before knocking, but as soon as I stood at the door, the music inside abruptly stopped.

With a soft footstep, the door opened.

A girl wearing a blue dress, with fair skin that seemed to glow, and a sweet appearance appeared in front of Xia Chengsi.

"Brother, are you back?"

As she spoke, she looked behind Xia Chengsi.

The slight smile that had just appeared on Xia Chengsi's lips froze as his sister made this movement.

"Stop looking, Sheng Zhe Ning isn't here."

"Oh."

Shana playfully stuck out her tongue and looked away.

Xia Chengsi carefully examined Xia Na for a moment, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Do you know what Sheng Zhening said when he invited me to dinner today?"

"I didn't go, how would I know?"

Shana lowered her head, feeling guilty and not daring to look Xia Chengsi in the eye.

"It seems he really did discuss this with you beforehand. Was this something you two conspired to do together?"

Shana looked up and stared at Xia Chengsi in astonishment.

Seeing Shana's expression, Xia Chengsi knew he had guessed correctly.

As expected, Xia Na teamed up with Sheng Zhening to trick her into joining the scheme.

Xia Chengsi gave Xia Na a deep look, then turned and walked towards the private reception room next door.

Xia Na followed reluctantly, inwardly cursing Sheng Zhening for being so useless, that Xia Chengsi saw through her so easily.

Little did she know that the one who "exposed" her was herself.

Xia Chengsi sat down on the sofa in the living room and looked up at Xia Na in front of him:
"Tell me, why did you team up with Sheng Zhening to deceive me?"

“Brother, I did not join forces with Sheng Zhe Ning. Although he did call me, he wanted me to act as his intermediary, but I did not agree.”

Xia Chengsi looked at his sister, who clearly seemed guilty.

"You really didn't agree?"

"No."

Shana shook her head in denial.

"Okay, you can continue practicing the piano. I'll call Sheng Zhening and return what I promised him."

what?
Shana was stunned.

"Brother, did you really agree to Sheng Zhe Ning's proposal?"

“He said I really needed this opportunity to become an internet celebrity and become famous, and that’s why I agreed to it. Now it seems I was deceived by him.”

As he spoke, Sheng Zhe Ning took out his phone, preparing to call Sheng Zhe Ning.

Shana rushed over, trying to snatch the phone.

Xia Chengsi protected his phone and asked Xia Na what she wanted to do.

Shana stopped pretending this time, walked to the sofa opposite her, sat down, and looked at Xia Chengsi seriously:
“Brother, since you’ve already agreed to Sheng Zhe Ning’s request, why not give it a try? I’ll definitely cooperate fully with you.”

Xia Chengsi snorted irritably.

You're going to cooperate with me?

I should be the one cooperating with you!
"Why did you suddenly decide to become famous by becoming an internet celebrity?"

Without a second thought, Shana immediately pinned the blame on Sheng Zhe Ning.

Xia Chengsi didn't understand the reason behind the matter, but he understood Xia Na.

My younger sister has always been very opinionated and would never make such an important decision just because of a few words of encouragement from Sheng Zhening.

There must be another reason behind this.

“That’s perfect. Since it was all Sheng Zhening’s idea, I’ll help you refuse as well.”

He was about to dial a number.

Shana hurriedly called out to Xia Chengsi.

This time, it's a complete showdown; there's no more pretense.

"Brother, I've fallen for a boy at our school named Ke Ze."

"You mean the school's most popular guy with the amazing voice, that piano prince, Yan Shengjiao's son?"

When Xia Chengsi recounted Ke Ze's background in such detail, Xia Na was stunned.

After regaining my senses, I was both angry and annoyed.

"Brother, you've been secretly investigating me again!"

Xia Chengsi looked completely indifferent.

Not to mention Ke Ze, Xia Chengsi had thoroughly investigated the backgrounds of every boy who got close to Shana at the Demon Sound Academy.

Marrying someone of equal social standing was not a criterion Xia Chengsi considered.

Xia Chengsi's main focus was on the boys' character.

Most importantly, you must not approach Shana with ulterior motives.

Ke Ze happened to be one of the few boys who could pass Xia Chengsi's evaluation criteria.

"Do you want to become an internet celebrity like Meng Yiran, the campus belle of the music department at Dongda University, and attract Ke Ze's attention?"

"I confessed my feelings to Ke Ze a while ago."

what?
Xia Chengsi, who always appeared to be in complete control, almost lost his composure upon hearing this.

Shana actually confessed her feelings to a boy?!
Before Xia Chengsi could fully process this shocking news, Xia Na dropped an even bigger bombshell.

"Ke Ze refused!"

Xia Chengsi's mouth was agape, and he was so embarrassed that he couldn't close it for a long time.

Has Ke Ze lost his mind?
Her younger sister is beautiful, talented, and comes from a good family. Her willingness to be with Ke Ze is entirely a case of "marrying down."

Ke Ze actually refused!

After regaining his composure, Xia Chengsi immediately wanted to comfort Xia Na, but found that Xia Na was not as sad and upset as he had imagined.

Aside from a little discouragement, I felt mostly unwilling to accept defeat.

"Is this why you want to become an internet celebrity? You think that if you become famous online, Ke Ze will regret it?"

As soon as Xia Chengsi finished speaking, Xia Na shook her head in denial.

"Ke Ze rejected me because he didn't want to be in a relationship yet, but I knew he was lying."

Xia Na looked at Xia Chengsi and said, word by word, "The person Ke Ze truly loves is his younger sister, Pei Shi!"

Xia Chengsi was completely stunned.

What kind of German incest plot is this?
Wait a moment--

Pei Shi?

Why does this name sound so familiar?
Xia Chengsi's eyes lit up quickly; he had finally remembered.

"Is that Pei Shi, the violin goddess who's on par with you in terms of vocal prowess?"

Shana's face darkened upon hearing this title.

This title should have belonged to her, but Pei Shi snatched it away.

At this point, Xia Chengsi had already realized where the problem lay.

"So Pei Shi wants to become an internet celebrity, and you also want to become an internet celebrity, in order to compete with Pei Shi?"

"Yes."

Shana nodded very seriously.

Xia Chengsi looked at his sister curiously: "How did you know Pei Shi wanted to become an internet celebrity?"

“I bribed one of Pei Shi’s roommates; she told me this a couple of days ago.”

"Do you have any more specific information? For example, how she plans to choose a number?"

"Pei Shi found a part-time job teaching violin one-on-one outside of school. You would never guess who her students are."

Xia Chengsi raised an eyebrow.

"Who?"

"Have you seen 'Old Boy'? The girl who played the school beauty in it is named Jiang Nansun. She is a freshman in the Department of Architecture at Tongji University."

Xia Chengsi couldn't help but frown.

From Shana's words, it's not hard to guess that Pei Shi plans to use the opportunity of teaching Jiang Nansun to play the violin to start a new name.

Given the immense popularity of the short film "Old Boys" online, Jiang Nansun's appearance will undoubtedly bring Pei Shi a huge wave of attention and traffic.

In that case, Shana would be at a disadvantage if she wanted to compete with Pei Shi.

Shana looked at Xia Chengsi with a determined expression:
"Brother, I don't care, you have to help me this time."

Xia Chengsi glanced at his sister.

"How to help?"

Shana sat down next to Xia Chengsi and whispered a few words in his ear.

After hearing this, Xia Chengsi's expression changed.

He turned his head and looked at Shana with a suspicious expression.

"What is 'The Devil's Lament'?"

"I heard it by chance from a friend and felt it was perfect for violin duets or piano duets. We recorded a violin duet at home and posted it online to see how it went."

"If it goes well, you'll go and record a violin and piano duet with Ke Ze, right?"

Xia Chengsi spoke the rest of the sentence for Xia Na.

Xia Na suddenly felt a little embarrassed, and hugged Xia Chengsi's hand, pleading, "Brother, just tell me if you'll help me or not!"

Can I say I won't help?

"Long live the brother! I'll get you the sheet music right now. You should practice it as soon as possible, and we'll film a video to test it out tomorrow."

Xia Chengsi looked up in surprise and called out to Xia Na, who was about to return to her room.

"tomorrow?"

"Yes, I've already booked a makeup artist and a photographer, and picked out dresses, including yours. I've already had Aunt Wang deliver them to your room, so you can try them on later."

As soon as Shana finished speaking, Xia Chengsi asked helplessly, "So rushed? A new piece should be practiced for at least a couple more days!"

If we practice for two more days, it will be too late!
Shana thought to herself.

The song "The Devil's Lament" was her biggest gain in winning over Pei Shi's roommate.

After Pei Shi finished composing this piece, he once performed it in front of his roommates.

Unexpectedly, her roommate secretly recorded the recording, transcribed the entire song, and sold it to Shana.

Although Shana did not intend to plagiarize Pei Shi's song and claim it as her own, she decided to release the song first in order to avenge Pei Shi's "stealing of her love".

Let Pei Shi suffer in silence.

Even if Pei Shicai is the true original singer of this song, people will still assume that Xia Na is the original singer of this song.

"Brother, you've practiced the piano so diligently for so many years, your skill level is higher than mine. How could a new piece possibly be difficult for you? I have complete confidence in you!"

After calming Xia Chengsi down, Xia Na immediately went back to her room to get the sheet music.

After watching it, Xia Chengsi's first impression was that the piece was very well-made and must have been a work that the composer had poured his heart and soul into and carefully polished over a long period of time.

No wonder Shana was so excited about it and couldn't wait to record the song.

To be honest, even Xia Chengsi felt a bit itchy to perform after watching the piece.

Of course, Xia Chengsi would never have imagined that this piece of music was actually stolen by his sister from Pei Shi.

-

The next evening, Pei Shi arrived at Jiang Nansun's house as usual.

The nanny, Aunt Wu, opened the door for her.

As soon as I entered the courtyard, I heard intermittent piano music coming from the second-floor window of the small villa.

Pei Shi listened for a few minutes and could tell that Jiang Nansun had made some progress since yesterday.

It must be said that Jiang Nansun is indeed very talented at playing the violin.

Even Pei Shi felt it was a real pity that Jiang Nansun didn't go to a professional music school.

Of course, after learning about Jiang Nansun's college entrance examination scores and the admission scores for Tongji University's architecture department, Pei Shi never mentioned it again.

A beautiful female architect who is good at playing the violin is indeed more sought after than a professional violinist.

After listening to Jiang Nansun play a serenade intermittently, Pei Shi was about to step into the house when another piece of music suddenly started playing.

It seemed to be Jiang Nansun's first time trying to play this piece, and he appeared quite unfamiliar with it in all aspects, stopping after only playing a few notes.

However, this short, nonsensical string of notes struck Pei Shi like a thunderbolt, leaving her frozen in place.

After a few seconds of stunned silence, Pei Shi suddenly rushed towards the stairs without a second thought.

Just then, Aunt Wu washed a plate of fruit and brought it out of the kitchen.

Seeing Pei Shi rushing upstairs in a hurry, ignoring even his greeting, he was quite surprised.

What's going on?
The second floor, Jiang Nansun's room.

Jiang Nansun was standing in front of the computer, preparing to place the piano on her collarbone, when the door to the room was suddenly pushed open with a "bang".

Jiang Nansun turned around and saw Pei Shi standing at the door. A hint of doubt flashed in her beautiful eyes.

Pei Shi used to wait for him in the living room downstairs, so why did she run upstairs today?

And so rude, barging in without even saying hello.

Despite his dissatisfaction, Jiang Nansun managed a smile, displaying good manners, and prepared to greet Pei Shi.

Before he could speak, Pei Shi suddenly rushed forward and grabbed Jiang Nansun's hand that was holding the bow.

Where did you hear that piece of music just now?

(End of this chapter)