"Good morning, Meixiu!" Yu Rou greeted when she opened the door.
"Good morning, Yu Rou." Meixiu returned the greeting.
"Please, come inside."
Once Yu Rou entered their apartment, she immediately noticed Meifeng and Wang Xiuying sitting in the living room.
"Eh? Miss Meifeng? Wang Xiuying? What are you two doing here so early in the morning?" Yu Rou asked them with a surprised look on her face.
"I'm on vacation, so I figured I should visit the Young Master," Meifeng said with a calm look on her face.
"I am here to check up on Yu Tian's condition," said Wang Xiuying.
Although she wasn't sure why, Yu Rou felt that something was amiss from the atmosphere in the place.
"I see… Where's my brother? I'd like to see him before I talk… though I'm sure you can already guess why I am here."
"The Young Master is currently in his room," Meifeng said.
Yu Rou nodded and approached his room, but then she noticed the beautiful piano sitting at the corner of the room and stopped to look at it.
"Wow! What is this premium piano doing here? It wasn't here when I last came here."
As a piano player herself, Yu Rou could instantly tell that the piano was a valuable one.
"That piano is mine… At least it was until I gave it to Yu Tian," said Wang Xiuying.
"Eh? It's yours? But why?" Yu Rou asked.
"I have no use for it anymore, and I'd rather give it to my idol than sell it."
Yu Rou found it strange that she would give it to Yuan when he can't even use it, and in her eyes, it was quite disrespectful to give an instrument to Yuan while knowing his background and condition. It was almost like giving a blind man a book that he cannot read.
Though Yu Rou didn't think too much of it for now.
"Brother, it's Yu Rou. I am here to visit you," she said to him after knocking on the doors.
"Come inside," Yuan said.
Yu Rou then entered the room and sat beside the bed.
"Even though we have been playing together in Cultivation Online for a while, it still feels like forever since I last saw you…" Yu Rou gently caressed his silky black hair to the side so she could get a good look at his handsome face.
"I'm sorry, brother…"
"Why are you suddenly apologizing?" Yuan asked her.
"Because of the Yu Family, both you and Meixiu have been experiencing unpleasant situations. I wish I could help, but I am powerless within the family…"
"There's no need for you to apologize, Yu Rou. If anything, it should be the ones responsible that need to apologize. This means the Chairman of the Cultivators' Association and our parents."
"..."
After a moment of silence, Yu Rou spoke, "Brother, I am thinking about leaving the family and joining a faction."
"Huh? W-Why would you do that?" Yuan was taken by surprise by her sudden reveal.
"Now that cultivation is widespread and the new trend, I want to take advantage of it, especially since I am currently ahead of many people. If I remain in the Yu Family, I will forever remain powerless. However, if I leave, I will at least have a chance to become an influential person without the help of my family."
"It's not going to be easy, but I hope to become stronger than the Yu Family."
Yuan was speechless after listening to Yu Rou's plans.
However, he didn't immediately dismiss it, and he asked, "Where will you go?"
"I don't know right now, but I can tell you where I won't go— the Cultivators' Association! They're just a bunch of bullies, and I refuse to lend them my assistance. I already have a Heaven-grade cultivation technique thanks to my family, so I don't really care where I go as long as they're good people with enough influence to not be bullied by the Yu Family."
"I see… When you decide, let me know, okay?"
"Of course!"
"Anyways, I am here today because my parents wanted me to convince Meixiu to return to the family so that they could hand her over to the Cultivators' Association. I agreed since it meant that I would get to see you and Meixiu again, but I won't be doing any convincing."
"I'm sorry to get you wrapped up in this mess as well… But don't worry, I will handle everything soon."
"You will? What are you going to do?" Yu Rou couldn't help but ask.
"It's a secret for now," he said with a mysterious smile.
"I hope it's not anything dangerous…" Yu Rou said with a worried frown.
"It won't be." Yuan chuckled.
Sometime later, Yuan said, "Yu Rou, you saw the piano, right? Why don't you let Meixiu play you a song?"
"Eh? Meixiu knows how to play the piano? Since when?"
"She's been practicing lately, you see."
"If you say so…"
Yu Rou then went back outside and said, "Meixiu, my brother said you'll play a song for me?"
Meixiu nodded, "But you'll have to wear this."
Yu Rou looked at the object in Meixiu's hand; it was a blindfold.
"Why do I have to be blindfolded? I won't be able to see your performance that way."
"I want you to judge it using your ears, not eyes," Meixiu then said.
"I guess so…"
Once Yu Rou took a seat on the couch, Meixiu blindfolded her.
A few moments later, Yu Rou could hear the piano being played.
'Wow… Meixiu is really good with the piano… How long has she been practicing to reach this level?' Yu Rou wasn't suspicious at first, but once she listened a little longer, she noticed something was off, and the feeling she got earlier grew more obvious.
'T-This can't be Meixiu playing the piano… It's too good! Even I cannot play this perfectly with many years of practice! Unless Meixiu has talents similar to my brother, there's no way she learned the piano and reached this level in such a short amount of time!'
Although she didn't want to discredit Meixiu or her talents, it was simply too hard to believe. It hasn't been long since Meixiu left the Yu Family, and even if she started playing the day she left, it wasn't realistic for Meixiu to reach this level of performance in such a short time unless she was Yuan himself!
'Maybe this is Miss Meifeng playing the piano and they wanted to play a trick on me…'
Yu Rou began having this thought.
Midway through the song, someone suddenly removed her blindfold, causing it to fall onto her lap.
"Hmm?"
Yu Rou subconsciously opened her eyes when she felt the blindfold fall off, and to her absolute shock, it wasn't Meixiu sitting in front of the piano, nor was it Meifeng like she'd thought.
It was actually Yuan sitting before the piano! And he was playing with elegance and grace!
"B-Brother…?" Yu Rou stood up from the shock, and she stared at Yuan's moving figure with a look of disbelief on her face.
However, she didn't say anything else and silently watched Yuan play the piano with a seemingly healthy and normal body, feeling as though she was in a dream.