“What am I here for?”
The old man gave Xu Huo a displeased look and said, “After all, today is old Qin’s birthday. Xiao girl brought so many crabs, old Qin ate them. Ranran chatted with old Qin, and old Qin is happy. What about you?”
Xu Huo was very annoyed.
They were all here to show love, how could he play favorites?
“Quick! Quick! Who here doesn’t know you sing well?”
The old man urged forcefully. Xu Huo looked a bit troubled, “My singing is okay, but what can I sing for a birthday?”
“Just sing anything. I don’t care if you sing a love song.”
The old man raised his wine glass, gulped down the white wine, then ate a large mouthful of meat to wash it down.
He said seriously, “Xu Huo, a man must never say ‘I can’t’.”
Then Grandma Qin pinched his thigh hard, making his face contort in pain.
Jiang Ran was puzzled.
Han Xiao, standing nearby, glanced at Xu Huo and smiled helplessly.
“You said it… even love songs are fine.”
“Yep! I said it.”
Xu Huo had no choice but to sigh and stand up, “Isn’t this bullying an honest man?”
Jiang Ran also tugged on Xu Huo’s arm, whining, “Brother, just sing anything, I want to hear it too. If not, how about that ‘Luzhou’ song…?”
Xu Huo gently tugged her ear, “That song isn’t suitable for this occasion, let me think again… Old man, where’s your guitar?”
“In the room, go get it yourself.”
“Grandpa Chen, you can play the guitar?”
Han Xiao looked surprised; it was the first time she knew.
“Things from when I was young. How else do you think I chased down old Qin?”
“Braggart!”
“Asking for a beating!”
Xu Huo, passing by, darted away.
When he returned, he was holding an aged guitar in his arms.
The old man treasured it, saying it was purely handmade.
In this day and and age, anything associated with “handmade” is expensive!
As if the industrial chain painstakingly created by humans is junk.
He cleared his throat and sat silently in the chair.
The old man waited for a while, seeing no movement from Xu Huo, and lost his patience, “Are you hatching an egg, kid? Why aren’t you singing yet?”
“I’m thinking about what song to sing. You said I could sing a love song, but can I really sing a love song?”
“Then just pick a song that isn’t a love song…”
“Don’t rush me, let me think again.”
Xu Huo stared blankly at the ceiling, occasionally scratching his head.
He was genuinely thinking about what song would be suitable.
If it was just listening to a song, of course any song would do.
But since it was a rare birthday, he hoped to make it as perfect as possible.
He couldn’t possibly sing “Unforgettable Tonight,” could he?
Think again, think again.
Exhale…
Xu Huo clapped his hands, “Got it! Since Han Xiao sang ‘Happy Birthday,’ then I’ll sing a song called ‘Wishing You Good Health’.”
“Is there such a song? How come I’ve never heard of it?”
The old man looked at him suspiciously, “If you try to fool me by just chanting ‘Wishing you good health, wishing you good health,’ I’ll make sure you go home tonight neither happy nor healthy.”
“What are you saying?”
Xu Huo readjusted his posture.
His eyes, a few strands of loose hair, and the slight curve of his lips all exuded an elegant air.
His hands gently strummed the guitar strings, and a husky singing voice drifted from his throat:
【May the spring wind,】
【Bring you peace and well-being.】
【May the summer rain,】
【Wash away your sorrow.】
【May the autumn dusk,】
【Fill your heart.】
【May the winter sunlight,】
【Warm your face.】
What’s called “opening up to applause”!
With that voice, that appearance, what girl could resist?
“Wow!”
Jiang Ran, his fangirl, clapped vigorously, and everyone turned to look at her in unison.
Jiang Ran stuck out her tongue sheepishly, then made a zipping motion with her hand, and continued to listen to him sing.
Only Han Xiao, from the moment Xu Huo started singing, had a changed look in her eyes, astonishment, shock, bewilderment, disbelief…
Another song she’d never heard before?
【Wishing you good health.】
【Wishing you all the best.】
【Happiness and fulfillment, joy everywhere in life.】
【Wishing you good health.】
【Wishing you good fortune.】
【May your smile remain,】
【Happiness forever by your side.】
As Xu Huo’s voice stopped, the guitar sound also slowly faded, its lingering notes echoing.
He leaned the guitar against the back of the chair and asked with a smile, “Does it sound good?”
Jiang Ran, along with the children, nodded their heads like little fangirls, “It sounds good! It sounds good! One more song!”
After speaking, she even urged Xiao Xue to grab a decorative flower from the cake to present to Xu Huo.
But Xu Huo stopped singing, ignoring Jiang Ran’s resentful little gaze, and sat back down in his seat.
He found that pretending… showing off in front of others, felt quite good.
It wasn’t like a brightly lit stage, which would create a certain psychological pressure with clusters of eyes staring at you.
Old people and children are the two easiest types of people to fool in this world; they’ll applaud and shout “666.”
Oh, and a woman in love—she’s the most foolish.
“Brother, sing another one~~”
“One song after another, how many songs are there?”
Xu Huo casually pinched Jiang Ran’s cheek; it was bouncy and elastic.
Jiang Ran cried out “Ow!” twice, being gently pulled and swayed by her brother.
She was annoyed but didn’t dare say anything, so she could only turn to Grandma Qin for help, “Grandma Qin, look at him… I just asked him to sing a few more songs, and he’s not even willing.”
See, now it’s “a few songs.”
Grandma Qin’s eyes twinkled with a smile, “You two siblings solve your own problems. Anyway, I’m very happy with just one song. If you want to hear others, badger your brother when you get home. He’s always loved singing for you since you were little. The day you first arrived, didn’t he sing for a whole day? He sang until his voice was hoarse, and your parents even thought he cried until it was hoarse…”
“Xiao girl, old Qin and I aren’t professionals. You come and give your comments. How was Xu Huo’s singing?”
To promote Xu Huo’s good points, the old man truly tried his best.
But Han Xiao was just staring blankly, appearing as if she was still deep in thought.
In the old man’s eyes, there was nothing worth dwelling on.
Only Han Xiao herself knew that her hands beneath the table were tightly clenched into fists, forcing her body not to tremble.
Not long after Xu Huo started singing, she vaguely realized something.
That moment could only be described as “scalp tingling.”
If an explanation were needed, it would roughly be this, Grandpa Chen’s idea to have Xu Huo sing was impromptu, so Xu Huo struggled for a long time with “what song to sing.”
A normal person would understand that he’d pick from known songs.
Xu Huo didn’t use his phone to search, relying solely on his mind, so it was understandable that he’d take a while to think.
But the song he ended up singing was an original.
That would overturn all previous conclusions.
Even fans wouldn’t dare claim to know every single song of their idol by heart.
Even singers might forget lyrics to their own songs decades later.
But any singer would remember the general outline of their own songs.
Especially in this situation…
Even if the person who composed “Happy Birthday Song” also composed hundreds of thousands, millions of other songs, they would definitely be able to recall the “Happy Birthday Song” instantly.
There was only one possibility.
Those hundreds of thousands, millions of songs were all similar, so he just took a little extra time picking and choosing.
But Xu Huo didn’t sing a love song, nor did he sing some cliché song about ideals or regrets.
From a classification perspective, Xu Huo’s song should be as rare as “Happy Birthday Song,” and it absolutely shouldn’t have taken him that long to think of it.
This also disproved the idea that Xu Huo had prepared this song a long time ago.
So, only one possibility remained…
This scoundrel composed it on the spot! How many lyricists ponder for months, meticulously crafting a song, but how long did Xu Huo take?
Three minutes?
Or five minutes?
Yes!
The lyrics and music of this song are far inferior to “Luzhou Moon,” but isn’t it very suitable for the current atmosphere?
It has lyrics, music, rhyme, and meaning…
This was almost beyond the realm of genius.
To this extent, Han Xiao, reflecting on it now, felt an absurd chill down her spine.