Chapter 530: This is a custom-made item

Lin Tingsong continued walking forward, stopping in front of Xiao Yu's easel, "Not bad, your expressiveness is strong, but if the subtle color changes were a bit richer, it would be even better."

Xiao Yu lifted their head slightly, "I know."

Qiao Xin glanced sideways at Xiao Yu's painting, then glanced at their own rather ordinary still life in front of them, suddenly feeling their own painting wasn't that bad either.

She was secretly relieved when Lin Tingsong already stood behind her.

On the paper was a neatly arranged bunch of fruit, painted just as neatly, with no flaws to pick out and no standout points.

Lin Tingsong didn't even open his mouth, and Qiao Xin nervously shrank their neck.

She heard a faint sigh from above, then the footsteps faded away.

"... What does that mean? Are you picking on her because she's studied oil painting less?"

Mu Youyu turned her head and commented, "The colors feel dirty."

Qiao Xin had asked her for advice before, so she spoke frankly.

"The goddess isn't satisfied, I'll fix it!"

Lin Tingsong paced back and forth in the Painting Studio, the end-of-class bell rang quickly, and he hurried out of the studio.

After the last afternoon class ended, Xiao Yu tidied up the drawing board, stood up, gave Mu Youyu a slight nod, and said, "Class is over."

"Right." Mu Youyu also rose, movements unhurried, "I'll go with A Jin to check out the music college."

When she left in the morning, Mu Xi said there was an activity in the afternoon, asked if she wanted to go see it, saved a spot, and she casually agreed.

Now that she thought about it, she still hadn't asked what the activity specifically was.

Qiao Xin came over from the back rows, leaning on Xiao Yu's shoulder, "Goddess, you're going to the music college? I want to go too, I want to go too—I heard there's a piano exchange event there today, lots of people from other schools are coming, especially many handsome guys, I want to go see if I can raise my standards."

Xiao Yu glanced at her, "Your standards aren't high enough?"

Qiao Xin: "What's the use of having higher standards if nobody's chasing me?"

The nearby guy with spiky hair heard that, secretly delighted—turns out she still doesn't have a boyfriend.

He stepped forward, secretly pleased, and said, "Qiao Xin classmate, hello, I've been noticing you for a while this month—can I add you as a friend to get to know you?"

He's pretty good-looking and a trendy guy, Qiao Xin's social anxiety mode kicked in, "Sorry, sorry, I don't add strangers."

The spiky-haired guy walked away embarrassedly.

"..." Xiao Yu still thought a sister's love was coming.

Mu Youyu found it quite funny, Jiang Liangjin had no reaction.

At the entrance of the music college's performance hall, quite a few people had already gathered, plus some who looked like they'd rushed in from off-campus.

"So many people?" Mu Youyu tiptoed to peek inside, seeing only a sea of heads.

Jiang Liangjin put a hand on her waist to shield her from the crowd, "Normal, Mu Xi's big name in the music world."

Mu Youyu naturally knew Mu Xi's status in the piano circle, but she hadn't expected that an ordinary college piano exchange event would draw such a crowd.

As soon as they entered, they saw several display boards set up in the lobby, reading: Piano Art Exchange.

Accompanying them was a photo of Mu Xi, with blue-white short hair, slender fingers, a dignified frontal look, appearing as if cut from a magazine.

Qiao Xin stood before the display board, head tilted up, gazing for a long while before snapping back, covering their heart, closing eyes and leaning back, "It's over, it's over, I also want a brother like that."

Mu Youyu: "This can't be shared, go look at something else."

Qiao Xin opened their eyes, even more excited, "Then I don't want a brother—I want the goddess you, okay? An arranged childhood engagement, holding hands since kindergarten!"

Mu Youyu was stunned, hadn't even opened her mouth when Jiang Liangjin calmly replied, "No such thing, this is a custom-made item."

Qiao Xin had nothing to say.

Several people were about to go inside when footsteps sounded behind them.

Yu Ci appeared out of nowhere, slapping Jiang Liangjin on the shoulder, "You guys also came to see Brother Xi's performance? What a coincidence."

Gu Xingnan followed behind him, "Quite a coincidence."

"A Ci, A Nan."

"Just the two of you?" Jiang Liangjin asked.

Yu Ci patted his arm, "Right, Brother Song said he had something come up and couldn't make it, so he asked me to stand in for him."

"Oh." Jiang Liangjin stepped a few steps away, "Don't get handsy."

Qiao Xin looked at these two males they'd seen in the goddess's social circle, thinking they were even more striking in person—just… why are they holding hands?

Yu Ci pulled Gu Xingnan along behind them as they went inside.

Mu Xi had reserved only two front-row seats for his sister and Jiang Liangjin, which was awkward to split, so the rest had to find seats in the back.

On stage, the lights were dimmed, staff were adjusting equipment, and occasionally a beam swept across the audience, causing a small stir.

The performance started on time, the first few acts were music college students, and it was clear they'd put thought into them.

When Mu Xi took the stage as the finale, the atmosphere suddenly heated up; he emerged from the side curtains, his blue-white hair especially striking in the light, his silver-gold tailcoat fitting perfectly.

A low gasp rose from the audience, about half the people lifted their phones.

"Free to watch Mu Xi's concert—gotta record a video."

"Mu Xi is really pretty, hehe, just never knew if he has a girlfriend..."

"Give up on that, his social media following list only has his sister, everything else is piano-related."

"Yeah, back then there were even rumors he disliked women."

"Can guys, then? I'm a guy, hehe."

"..."

After Mu Xi finished introducing, he sat at the piano, made no extra movements, lifted his hand, and struck the keys.

The moment the first note sounded, the entire performance hall fell silent.

Mu Youyu sat downstairs, gazing at her older brother's clear, handsome profile, unable to help but marvel in her heart.

His fingers flew over the keys, so fast it was like four-hand playing.

Mu Youyu actively held up her phone to take pictures, while Jiang Liangjin helped steady it.

After the piece ended, applause erupted from the audience.

Mu Xi rose to her feet, gave a slight nod toward the audience below, her gaze sweeping over the seats and pausing for a moment in the direction of her sister.

Mu Youyu mouthed something at him, his lips curved, caught by the stage lights and projected onto the big screen.

Someone covered their face, "He's smiling at me!"

"Stop dreaming."

"Was Mu Xi's final passage improvised on the spot? It's not written like that in the score."

"So what? It's still his own composition—he can change it however he wants, and their improvisation is better than our playing."

"Are you competing with him? You must be sick."

"I'm just sighing—you're the one who's sick."

The voices of those few people gradually faded away.

After the performance ended, the audience began to leave; Yu Ci, Gu Xingnan, Qiao Xin, and Xiao Yu had already followed the crowd out.

When most people had pretty much left, Mu Youyu and Jiang Liangjin then walked together toward the backstage area.

The backstage hallway was piled with various instruments and equipment; a few staff members were moving tools, and seeing them approach, they stepped aside to make way.

The door to Mu Xi's dressing room was half-open.

Before Mu Youyu even reached the doorway, she heard an unfamiliar female voice coming from inside.