Chapter 102: We Are Inseparable
Xia Yuan followed Mei Fang back home, carefully pushing open the door frame. When they opened the door, what they saw was unforgettable for both of them.
Xiao Ya, who thinks about getting closer to science all day long, was now obediently sitting on a small stool by the coffee table, diligently doing her homework. Her serious expression was like a well-behaved little girl from an ideological and moral education course illustration; while Lin You Xi sat beside her, meticulously watching over her homework, occasionally offering pointers with her finger.
“This problem I just explained to you, you should know how to solve it now. It’s the chicken and rabbit in the same cage problem.”
“Yuxi sister, I’m still in third grade, I haven’t learned the fourth-grade chicken and rabbit in the same cage problem…”
Mei Ya wore a pitiful expression, and Lin You Xi hurriedly apologized.
“Then let me explain it to you again using the simplest method.”
“You’ve already explained it to me ten times, I really don’t understand!”
“Then I’ll explain it to you eleven times. If you’re unclear, ask me.”
“Alright, alright, take a break first. Yuxi sister, do you want to see me perform magic tricks—”
“Finish your homework first, don’t do anything else,” Lin You Xi tapped the notebook.
Little Mei Ya, with tears welling up in her eyes, was lamenting how tragic her fate was when she suddenly looked up and saw her sneaky brother Mei Fang and Sister Xia Yuan entering. She immediately jumped up excitedly.
“Yuan—Yuan—sister—”
Mei Ya stretched out the word and threw herself into Xia Yuan’s arms, “I really missed you.”
“Do you miss me… Do you just want me to help you with your homework?”
Xia Yuan stroked Mei Ya’s head, nodding at her, “I don’t want to get hit by your brother again.”
“Yuan Yuan sister, you’re lying! You looked so happy when my brother hit you.”
“Hey, don’t say such things!”
Mei Fang then went straight to Mei Ya’s seat to look at her homework.
“How is she doing with her homework?”
Lin You Xi nodded, “Pretty good, Xiao Ya is very diligent.”
Mei Fang was surprised, “… You seem to be in pretty good spirits?”
Lin You Xi frowned, “Why wouldn’t I be? Do you think Xiao Ya is too playful? I find her quite obedient, actually.”
“Yuxi sister, don’t you feel that… you’ve changed since middle school.”
In Xia Yuan’s arms, Mei Ya protested unhappily, “I feel like you’ve become much scarier!”
This was the first time Lin You Xi heard such an evaluation from her sister Mei Ya, whom she treated as her own. She rarely showed such sad emotions, and her disappointment was evident on her face. Mei Fang quickly intervened:
“That’s because you’re Yuxi sister, the class monitor, second only to the teacher. Even the homeroom teacher sometimes listens to her, so naturally, she exudes that kind of authority. Regardless, Yuxi sister has always been very caring towards you, don’t forget that!”
“Then Yuxi sister is now the big class monitor! Since Yuxi sister cares for me, I haven’t forgotten… but…”
Mei Ya clung to Xia Yuan’s clothes, muttering, “I… I need some time to adjust.”
“I agree.”
After hearing this, Lin You Xi calmed down and smiled, extending her hand to Mei Ya, “Since that’s the case… let’s continue studying together, Xiao Ya! Yuxi sister will guide you through the ocean of knowledge!”
“I—I—I don’t want to!”
After helping Mei Ya finish her homework, Mei Fang and Xia Yuan discussed with Lin You Xi about learning the guitar.
Lin You Xi found it unbelievable that Mei Fang suddenly wanted to learn the guitar, but she still nodded, “Since you’ve made up your mind, go ahead with Yuan Yuan! I support you.”
“Well, not exactly to seek your opinion,” Mei Fang scratched his head, “Yuan Yuan and I were wondering if you’d like to join us?”
“My interest in music isn’t that strong, and I have quite a lot going on with website operations. C Station is gradually gaining some stable users who share and upload resources. Actually, I’ve been considering renting a server, otherwise, there are always issues with response timeouts. A Station had problems because it couldn’t load properly. Our website framework is more advanced, and we can’t let server capacity affect our reputation.”
Listening to Lin You Xi talk about C Station in such detail, Mei Fang felt a bit guilty about neglecting it recently.
“It can be rented. I’ll help you make the arrangements.”
“I’ve already made the arrangements. I plan to rent a certain amount of storage space, at least for now. But it will cost around 2000 yuan a year… Afang, I want to discuss with you, could we use some of the money from ‘Slow Bird Flying First’ to cover this?”
“Of course, consider it a loan. You’re also one of the main creators of that game, so just take the money.”
“No, no, we should keep track of the money. After all, you introduced me to all of this. Not returning the money would make me feel uncomfortable.”
Mei Fang interrupted Lin You Xi’s explanation, “Youxi, why are you being so meticulous? Don’t tell me you’re thinking of becoming independent after you become successful?”
“Yeah, Youxi always seems distant,” Xia Yuan chimed in, understanding the situation.
“Oh? No, that’s not what I meant, don’t misunderstand.”
Lin You Xi emphasized, “Besides, these are all Afang’s efforts, at most, they’re gifts from Afang to me, just like the MP3 player… We are inseparable. But even close brothers should settle accounts clearly, I don’t like owing anyone.”
Mei Fang thought for a moment, “Then last time, when I bought a car, I took over a thousand yuan from you and didn’t return it. This time, let’s consider it repaid, how about that?”
Lin You Xi nodded, “That works.”
Xia Yuan, listening confusedly, finally understood something, “Hey, hey, did you buy a car? What kind of car? I didn’t know!”
This was a secret Lin You Xi hadn’t told Xia Yuan before, and she could only continue to keep it hidden.
“That… is my father’s electric bike. I consulted Afang about some issues.”
Lin You Xi calmly deflected the topic. As for Mei Fang and Xia Yuan learning the guitar, besides supporting them, Lin You Xi reminded them not to forget their studies, and they agreed.
It took some time for Mei Fang and Xia Yuan to convince their parents to allow them to learn the guitar in their free time, but the parents were relatively open-minded and did not oppose it strongly. Thus, Mei Fang officially got his own guitar.
Xia Yuan felt a bit sweet about this, as she had encouraged Mei Fang to buy a pair of expensive full solid wood folk guitars. She was worried he might hesitate due to the price and preemptively paid for it.
How could the future billionaire Mei Fang tolerate being called a freeloader? He insisted on paying Xia Yuan back, but Xia Yuan was equally determined. In the end, nothing was resolved.
The guitar lessons they signed up for were charged per lesson, settled every half year. If they came once or twice a week, the budget would be around 3000 yuan. Due to the private lessons for two people, they needed to call and schedule a day in advance before each lesson.
Learning the guitar was easy to start but hard to master. Even if they wanted to learn quickly, it would take at least a year and a half to see significant results. They could only take it slowly.
But when Mei Fang first touched the guitar strings, he felt an incredibly fulfilling sensation.
He made up his mind to master this instrument.
For the first time.
Without Xia Yuan’s encouragement, he might never have picked up this buried dream again.
A month later, everyone quickly entered the mid-term exams. Despite some unpleasant incidents in between, their grades were still decent. Lin You Xi ranked first as usual, Mei Fang followed closely behind at second place, and Xia Yuan surprisingly achieved second place in her class.
Aside from a few top students having psychological imbalances affecting their performance, Xia Yuan performed well in science subjects, scoring 82 points in physics (out of 85), which was even higher than the 81 points scored by Mei Fang.
“This physics exam was mostly about memorization, which I’m quite good at.”
On the way home from the 7 PM evening self-study session, Xia Yuan happily walked between Mei Fang and Lin You Xi.
“From now on, we can finally attend evening classes together!”
Today, I will try my best to add an extra chapter for the new patron, not Megatron.
End of Chapter
