Internet moguls are being held hostage by the entertainment system!

Chapter 168 Chen Duling's Thoughts Subtly Changed
Chen Xiu and Chen Duling looked in the direction of the sound.

A middle-aged man with gray hair, a square face, a high nose and a wide mouth, whose face wrinkles when he smiles, and wearing a down jacket, is carrying scallions and vegetables and striding toward the two of them.

Before he could even reach her, Chen Xiu called out loudly, "Uncle Su, what brings you out to buy groceries?"

"Your aunt's round-the-world trip is over, and she's cooking at home, so I have to come out to buy groceries!"

"Aunt Zhou is back? No wonder Sister Xiaoxiao and Xiaoyu came back so early this year."

“You’ve taken them away. In the past two years, they didn’t come home until New Year’s Eve. This year they’re only two days earlier.”

Su Baixiong laughed heartily, his bright eyes fixed on Chen Xiu.

After he finished explaining the situation and the person had walked up to him, he turned around and looked at Chen Duling with a strange expression.

"Xiao Xiu, is this girl your girlfriend?"

"I'm not……"

Chen Duling frantically waved her hands in denial, while secretly glancing at Chen Xiu's reaction out of the corner of her eye.

As a result, Chen Xiu simply raised her finger and pointed at her without changing her expression: "Her name is Chen Duling. Her father and my father are good friends. She is my friend, but not my girlfriend."

The relationship chain has been sorted out and explained very clearly, with no room for misunderstanding.

Hearing Chen Xiu's words, Su Baixiong's wrinkles deepened, but he couldn't help but wonder: Why hadn't Zhao Lu mentioned this relationship before? Tsk, they must have lost contact for a long time, and now that Xiao Xiu has made it big, she's come to reminisce about old times.

Having figured out the situation, he didn't let it become awkward: "Since you're my friend, don't just stand there, come in and have a seat and a cup of hot tea."

"Oh? Am I going too?"

Chen Duling looked at Chen Xiu with a troubled expression, but did not refuse, clearly letting him decide whether or not she wanted to go.

Chen Xiu glanced at her and said, "If you're not in a hurry, come in and chat."

"That's okay too."

Chen Duling nodded, happy to spend a little more time with Chen Xiu.

Compared to Chen Xiu's house, Su Xiao's house is a bit bigger, with a living room that is more than ten square meters larger. Even with a grand piano placed near the window, it doesn't look like it takes up much space.

When Chen Xiu and the other two entered, the first thing they saw was Su Xiao, dressed in a casual sportswear outfit, her black hair flowing like a waterfall, sitting in front of the piano turning the pages of sheet music.

The cool light shone on her fair and flawless profile, making her look like a quiet and proud orchid in full bloom. Hearing the noise, her slender phoenix eyes cast a casual glance toward the door.

Upon receiving Su Xiao's gaze, Su Baixiong laughed proudly in response, while Chen Xiu also looked up and met her gaze with a smile.

Chen Duling, however, was first taken aback by Su Xiao's gaze, and then curiously looked at the beautiful woman.

"Xiao Xiu, you're here!"

A surprised male voice entered Chen Duling's ears, and then she saw a young man with black eyes and a frivolous demeanor put his hand on Chen Xiu's shoulder.

As she looked at the other person, the other person was also looking at her.

"Hey, is this your new girlfriend?"

Being misunderstood a second time, Chen Duling was about to explain when she first heard a scream from the frivolous man.

"Ah!! Dad, what are you doing?"

Su Yu looked at Su Baixiong's hand gripping his neck with a look of panic. His legs began to go weak, and he could barely stand up by relying on Chen Xiu for support.

After demonstrating his bloodline suppression and his expertise as the head of orthopedics to his son, Su Baixiong snorted, "This girl is Xiao Xiu's friend, so don't talk nonsense like that!"

"Xiao Xiu hasn't said anything, why are you in such a hurry..."

"I'm used to you being a jerk, Uncle Su. Xiaoyu's cervical spine isn't very good, so please pinch her neck for a while longer."

As she spoke, Chen Xiu reached out to help Su Yu up and led him to the sofa.

Su Baixiong also followed to the sofa. Judging from their familiarity with each other, this shouldn't be their first time working together.

After placing the child who liked to act silly on the sofa, Chen Xiu went to the space between the door and the piano and began introducing the project to the two people who were watching each other.

"Sister Xiaoxiao, her name is Chen Duling. She is currently a senior at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics and is also an actress; Dudu, Sister Xiaoxiao's full name is Su Xiao, Zhu Youxiao."

Although it was just an introduction, after explaining the situation, Chen Xiu stepped to the side of the piano and glanced at the open sheet music.

"Canon".

"Hmm, do you want to hear it?"

Su Xiao ignored the father and son's recurring song playing on the sofa and simply looked up at Chen Xiu.

When he nodded to indicate that he wanted to listen, Su Xiao took another careful look at the beginning of the piece, and then slowly pressed a key on the piano with her foot on the pedal.

"Ta-da!"

The Canon in D is not fast at the beginning, which gave Su Xiao a rhythm to get used to.

Chen Xiu waved to Chen Duling, signaling her to come over and listen together.

Seeing this, the innocent college girl, who had been quite at a loss, quietly and quickly came to Chen Xiu's side.

As the music gradually got into the right rhythm, the Su father and son on the sofa also stopped making noise.

Attracted by the various sounds, Su's mother had already come out of the kitchen at some point.

Upon seeing the complicated situation in the living room, she simply waved for the Su family father and son to go into the kitchen to help, leaving Chen Xiu, Su Xiao, and Chen Duling alone in the living room.

When Su Xiao finished playing the piece and stopped playing, Chen Xiu and Chen Duling applauded her.

"Clap clap clap!"

Putting her hands down, Chen Xiu praised, "Sister Xiaoxiao, you played so well."

"You haven't practiced in so long, your rhythm is all messed up, and this is considered good?" Su Xiao rolled her eyes at Chen Xiu in a coquettish way, which made Chen Duling, who was still slowly clapping, instantly tighten a certain string in her mind.

Watching the two chatting intimately, a hint of understanding began to appear in the eyes of the innocent college girl.

But she chose to remain silent, wanting to see if the relationship between the two was really as she thought.

"...How's the script about Li Shimin that you've been writing coming along?"

Su Xiao asked Chen Xiu, but her mind wasn't on Chen Duling at all.

"The outline is finished. As for the details, we asked Professor Liu Heping to complete them. He's not fast, so even with the outline, it will probably take two or three months to finish the draft."

At this point, not wanting Chen Duling, the guest, to feel ignored, Chen Xiu steered the conversation back to her.

"Dudu, do you know anything about the history of the late Sui and early Tang dynasties?"

"Um, I've looked into it briefly, but I'm not very familiar with it."

"That's a pity. If we were more familiar, I would invite you to be my editor."

"I definitely can't be an editor..."

Chen Duling hurriedly declined, but before she could finish speaking, she heard Su Xiao chuckle.

Seeing Chen Duling's stunned expression, Su Xiao chuckled and explained, "Xiao Xiu was just joking with you. I'm sorry, my brother was a bit rude to you just now."

"It's okay, hello sister."

Chen Duling waved her hand, her eyes full of curiosity as she looked at Su Xiao, completely ignoring what had just happened.

Sensing the probing look in Chen Duling's eyes, Su Xiao raised an eyebrow without changing her expression. Her original intention to chat with Chen Xiu instantly changed to letting Chen Xiu do all the talking while she listened.

"Xiao Xiu, how did you write about Li Shimin? I'm a little curious."

"Isn't it a bit too boring for us to talk about history here? How about we play the piano instead? I'd like to hear you play something else."

Su Xiao chuckled and shook her head, indicating that she didn't want to play.

Left with no other choice, Chen Xiu could only turn her gaze to Chen Duling: "Dudu, do you want to hear about history?"

"Yes, I do! Tell me about it."

Chen Duling wasn't really interested in history; what she really wanted to know was the relationship between Chen Xiu and Su Xiao.

In most interactions between people, the general idea can be understood in just a few words, but for a master, a single glance is enough.

Chen Duling wasn't exactly an expert in interpersonal relationships, but by observing the interactions between Su Xiao and Chen Xiu up close, she was able to guess their relationship.

Therefore, Chen Duling didn't care what topics they talked about; she just wanted to see more of Chen Xiu and Su Xiao's interactions.

Seeing that neither of them found history boring, Chen Xiu could only show off his "unique insights".

After a moment's thought, he posed the most well-known topic to the two of them: "How about we talk about the Xuanwu Gate incident?"

"Well, tell me."

Su Xiao still adhered to her principle of trying not to say anything.

However, Chen Xiu, who felt that talking about the topic alone was too dry, really wanted a straight man.

"Dudu, tell me about Xuanwu Gate. Even if it's just a brief overview, you should know about this history, right?"

"The Book of Tang seems to record that Li Shimin only brought 800 men, killed two of his brothers, and then went to his father to plead for justice. In the end, he was made crown prince. I don't know if I'm remembering this correctly!"

"If I remember correctly, rather than saying he only brought 800 men, it would be more accurate to say that 800 men were enough. His later actions of going to find his father were merely to ensure procedural correctness. In reality, Li Yuan had already been thrown onto the ship and placed under his control."

A hint of reminiscence flashed in Chen Xiu's eyes. After speaking, she gave herself a disclaimer.

"This is just my personal opinion, just take it as a joke."

"Do you think Li Shimin has a sure thing in the Xuanwu Gate Incident?"

Su Xiao and Chen Xiu share a similar interest in history, so even though she was prepared to keep quiet, she couldn't help but ask questions when the topic came up.

Chen Xiu glanced at Su Xiao and gave a very clear answer regarding her bias.

"He was already certain of victory."

"Then why wait until the ninth year of the Wude era?"

"It's simply a matter of ensuring the procedure is correct, because the past few hundred years have been too chaotic. As a descendant of Li Hu, one of the Eight Pillars of the Western Wei Dynasty, how could Li Shimin not know the hidden dangers of a strong army seizing the throne?"

Hearing this answer, Su Xiao nodded and didn't ask any more questions.

However, Chen Duling, who had been observing the two of them, found a logical flaw in this answer: "If Li Shimin pursued procedural correctness, then why did he launch the Xuanwu Gate Incident!"

"Because his father was disreputable, and Yang Wengan, a general under the Crown Prince, rebelled. Such a good opportunity was given away. Originally, if Li Yuan had just taken the opportunity to depose Li Jiancheng, there would have been no Xuanwu Gate incident. But he didn't."

Chen Xiu shook her head and ended the topic with a theory.

“Capable people are proud. If you can’t show them something that earns their respect, they won’t be willing to follow you. When Li Shimin was conquering the world, he won over too many people. Their interests were already tied to him. If he hadn’t done so, their fate wouldn’t have been good.”

"Like Lao Hou and Lao Zhang following you?"

Su Xiao looked at Chen Xiu with a gleam in her eyes, using the actual situation to prove her theory.

Chen Xiu chuckled at her and said, "Sister Xiaoxiao, you're with me too!"

"of course."

The two looked at each other. Chen Duling, who had witnessed everything, slowly widened her eyes, which were filled with the certainty that her doubts had been resolved. Then, a certain thought in her heart also quietly changed.

(End of this chapter)