Chapter 45: Magic

The atmosphere of playing Flying Chess is much more harmonious than Poker Cards, since it all depends on luck.

You can’t even let someone win on purpose if you wanted to. If your luck is bad, you just complain a bit—there’s no pressure at all.

Everyone was pretty relaxed, except for Lin Ci, who was trying really hard to win, because she really couldn’t stand the idea of “performing a talent.”

But as luck would have it, in the first round, Lin Ci went straight to GG. She still had a plane sitting at home when she lost.

Qin Sheng laughed, “Sing a song~~”

Lin Ci glanced at Shen Xiyan, looking a little troubled. “I can’t sing…………………”

Qin Sheng was especially “considerate”:

“None of us are singers here, why do you need to be so good? Just sing a few lines for fun, that’s enough.” In her previous life, Lin Ci had never sung in front of outsiders.

If Qin Sheng hadn’t sung for Shen Xiyan and then “asked for praise,” only for Lin Ci to see it and then later discover Lin Ci “imitating clumsily,” she might never have realized Lin Ci’s little secret.

Meanwhile, Shen Xiyan felt that Qin Sheng’s smile was full of “bad intentions,” so he spoke up, “Let me sing for her…”

“That wouldn’t be any fun. Whoever loses has to pay up, that’s the rule. Let’s play a few more rounds before dinner…” Qin Sheng pressed relentlessly.

Lin Ci’s expression stiffened. She bit her lip and said, “Then……………I’ll sing, okay?”

“Mm.”

Qin Sheng rested her chin on her hands, her bright, expectant eyes fixed unblinkingly on Lin Ci, looking ready to listen.

The Shen Xiyan siblings were much the same as her at first, looking casual and unconcerned. But once the music started playing from the phone, they thought the accompaniment sounded nice, very tasteful.

Then Lin Ci began to sing…

The two of them shivered involuntarily, goosebumps crawling up their backs without them even realizing it.

When the song ended………………

Lin Ci looked even more miserable, but her voice was still soft and gentle as she clutched her chest and asked cautiously, “Was it really awful?”

Shen Xiyan smiled, comforting her, “Your voice is nice to begin with… now I can only say it was ‘all feeling.'”

How did Lin Ci manage to miss every note?

Tone-deaf?

Lin Ci:

“It’s fine, it’s fine, wasn’t that fun?” Qin Sheng laughed as she used her toes to tease Shen Xiyan, all out of sight of the others,

Rubbing her foot up and down his thigh, sometimes lightly, sometimes with more force.

Her feet were white and delicate, her toes round—heaven for anyone with a foot fetish.

Shen Xiyan wasn’t a foot fetishist, but he was a man, and coincidentally, Qin Sheng was wearing a pleated mini skirt today. His mind wandered as he glanced down,

And saw something he shouldn’t: “..You’re exposed!”

“! ! ! “

Qin Sheng hurriedly pulled her long legs back, pressed down the hem of her skirt, and pretended to be shy and angry, “You were looking under a girl’s skirt?”

Lin Ci stared at Shen Xiyan in shock.

“I was reminding you, sis!”

“Pervert, creep, degenerate, shameless……………”

Qin Sheng counted off every word she could think of on her fingers.

“It’s strange, though—when these words are used on someone else, I feel disgusted, but when it’s you, I actually feel a bit of anticipation?”

Shen Xiyan:

“???”

“Pa!”

Qin Sheng clapped her hands, and Shen Xiyan immediately looked over.

“So I’m really a lecher!” she exclaimed, as if suddenly enlightened.

Shen Xiyan stared at her silently.

Lin Ci and Wenwen both looked equally astonished.

Qin Gan lifted his sharp chin and shot him a “What are you looking at?” glare.

Shen Xiyan forced a smile, his knuckles cracking loudly.

In the second round, Qin Sheng lost miserably.

She looked very happy about it.

“You don’t have to sing.”

“No! I want to sing!”

After preparing herself a bit, the flowing melody poured into Shen Xiyan’s ears like running water.

“The evening breeze is still so gentle

Walking alone, slowly

At the fork in the road

Gazing at the Milky Way and the stars

Back then, you greeted me with a smile

Asked if I wanted to piece together the future with you

Back then, you held my hand

Hand in hand.

Promised a world tour together………………”

Ignoring the “audience’s” reaction, Qin Sheng was completely immersed in her song, her mind replaying Shen Xiyan’s words: Qin Sheng, let’s break up.

This song was about heartbreak.

[The distance from the heart is far, the distance between stars is also far. We’re both on earth, both stars, yet separated by thousands of miles, far, far away.]

“Back then, there was just enough warmth left in your palm

The evening breeze was gentle, having you by my side was enough

Time is a thief

It cruelly stole everything between us

Leaving no warmth for the ordinary days ahead

You said we could still enjoy life apart

But now I’m the only one left holding on to memories

Still remembering your smile.”

No matter the nasal tone, no matter how hoarse her voice, Qin Sheng kept seeing in her mind the “despair” and “relief” in Shen Xiyan’s eyes as he pushed her away.

[How much do you have to love someone to dare miss out, to wish to start over a thousand times?]

“The evening breeze is still so gentle

Walking alone, slowly

At the fork in the road, gazing at the Milky Way and stars, never needing a reason

No excuse to avoid the chaos

Just another kind of holding on, after you and I parted

Memories remain.”

[They say the evening breeze is gentle, but I still feel it’s not as gentle as you. I think you must be the refreshing wind of an August summer day, the gentle rain of early September, the starlight God accidentally dropped, lighting up the whole sky in an instant.]

[I think you are the fleeting starlight across ten thousand miles, the cluster of stars I could never capture on paper, falling like fireworks at the tip of my pen.]

When the song ended, Qin Sheng suddenly covered her mouth, her eyes moist.

“Qin Sheng-jie, what’s wrong?”

Qin Sheng collected herself, her voice thick with emotion.

Shen Xiyan gave a perfunctory round of applause.

He wasn’t feeling quite right.

In the third round, Qin Sheng lost again.

“..It’s nothing, I just got a bit too into it. Xiyan, what do you think?”

Maybe she realized her mood wasn’t right just now, so this time she wiggled her hips and did a hot dance, livening up the atmosphere, her brows dancing with joy.

Except for Shen Xiyan, all the women here were “long-haired but short-sighted.” It was the first time they’d seen Qin Sheng dance, and they were quite amazed.

That little waist twisting, those hips swaying, it was simply criminal, and then those long legs strutting like a catwalk—tsk tsk tsk………………

Is this an eight-year-old?

Pah! Is this a high schooler?!

“Qin Sheng-jie, you’re amazing!” Shen Wen’s eyes widened, giving her a round of enthusiastic applause.

Seeing Shen Wen’s eyes light up, Qin Sheng felt proud, but what she cared about even more was Shen Xiyan’s opinion. After a pause, she couldn’t help but ask again, “Xiyan, was it good?”

“…………” Shen Xiyan played dead.

Qin Sheng exaggerated her expression, talking to herself, “Was it really good? I actually don’t know how to dance that well.”

This time, even Shen Xiyan couldn’t stand Qin Sheng’s “Versailles” act. He rolled his eyes, “Not good!”

“How could it not be?”

Qin Sheng first gave Shen Xiyan a round of girly punches, then beamed like a flower, looking toward the bedroom where Aunt was coming out, and complained, “Aunt…Xiyan bullied me again.”

Shen Xiyan snorted, giving Qin Sheng a cold look, “Stop, that’s my Aunt.”

Qin Sheng quickly grabbed Aunt’s arm, lifted her fair, melon-seed face, and challenged Shen Xiyan, “Say it again?”

“You guys play your game, don’t drag me in.” Aunt tried to smooth things over.

Just now, hearing Qin Sheng sing and dance from the room, she couldn’t resist coming out to take a look.

And instantly understood the pain of a “married man caught in the middle.”

But what does that have to do with me?

I’m just the Aunt.

“Qin…what exactly have you learned?”

Qin Sheng thought for a moment, counting on her fingers, “Vocal music, dance, piano, violin… basically everything except academics, I’ve learned it.”

Jiang Xi:

“???”

These days, if you ask a kid if they can play the piano, odds are pretty high they’ll nod.

Somewhere along the line, that whole middle-class crowd got obsessed with having their kids learn piano, as if it instantly made you a cut above, full of aristocratic flair.

All without caring how the kids felt.

And in most parents’ eyes, their kids are all Dragon Overlord templates, talented at everything, so they have to learn everything.

But when it comes to Qin Sheng, it just feels perfectly natural.

Aunt was even more convinced Shen Xiyan wasn’t good enough.

After that, the game continued, and it was like Qin Sheng had stepped in dog poop before leaving home—she kept losing.

Shen Xiyan was starting to get tired of it, and stared at her coldly, “So what are you going to perform this time? Sing? Dance?”

“Magic!”

“? ? ? “

“Qin Sheng-jie, you can do magic too?” Wenwen was truly shocked.

What can’t she do?

“Watch closely………………”

Qin Sheng pointed at Shen Xiyan’s face, then scooted closer so their thighs were touching.

She kept that pose for a full two minutes before Aunt tilted her head and asked, “Aren’t you ready yet?”

“Here it comes! Did you all see Xiyan’s face?”

“Yeah.”

“What color is it?”

“White?”

“Good! Now let me show you how to change his color in one second!”

Shen Xiyan frowned, instinctively wanting to get up, “What does this have to do with me???”

“Don’t move! Just play along!”

Qin Sheng pressed his shoulder down, then leaned close to his ear, a faint fragrance wafting to his nose—made even stronger by the sweat from earlier at the hospital.

“Aunt, watch closely.”

As her breath drew near, Shen Xiyan’s frown deepened and he turned his head away, but Qin Sheng wouldn’t give him the chance.

She cupped her hands to block the others’ view, then suddenly bit Shen Xiyan’s earlobe, her voice soft and sultry:

“Husband~~”

“?!”

Shen Xiyan was done for.