Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

At the Violin Association.

Qin Yu was sitting in front of the computer, staring at the rankings on the computer page for a long while. It wasn’t until her phone rang with a call from the Shen family that she returned to her senses.

Annoyed, she turned off the computer.

She stood up and walked out. In the last two days, people from the Violin Association had mostly been discussing the exhibition competition.

Three of them were basically in the limelight, especially Qin Ran.

Qin Yu really didn’t want to hear anything about the three of them. She knew that the first place would go to the Continent M’s Association…

As soon as she got out of the elevator, she saw a crowd of onlookers gathered in front of the gate, making a ruckus and bustling with excitement.

Qin Yu didn’t really care about them, but when she turned, she saw Wang Zifeng and Mr. Engel on the side of the road.

“What are they looking at?” She wondered suspiciously.

Dai Ran had introduced Mr. Engel to her, so she naturally knew his identity in Continent M. But why was Wang Zifeng with him?

She could understand it if it was Qin Ran, but wasn’t Wang Zifeng just a fifth-grade student?!

“Senior.” Tian Yiyun shook her head in confusion. “They seem to be talking about the placing…”

Tian Yiyun had just joined and didn’t know much about Continent M.

Qin Yu felt like she had been stabbed, and her whole heart almost jumped out from her chest. Her voice tightened and even trembled subconsciously. “Placing? Qin Ran?”

A veteran student beside him recognized Qin Yu and the others. Hearing that they were also interested, he immediately turned around excitedly. “It’s not Qin Ran. It’s Wang Zifeng! The placing for Continent M was originally for Qin Ran, but I heard that Master Wei said she wants to concentrate on her studies, so she gave the place to Wang Zifeng!”

He stared enviously at Wang Zifeng. “By the way, do you know where the Continent M’s Association is? Its status in the world is the same as that of the Beijing Association in China. An unshakable authority!”

Tian Yiyun didn’t know where Continent M was, but the veteran student’s description of it sounded extraordinary. She glanced at Wang Zifeng, not knowing if she was envious or jealous.

Qin Yu took a staggering step back.

How could she not know what kind of place Continent M was? She had been there before and knew a lot more than the veteran students. It was an incarnation of power there, a place she couldn’t go even after a year of hard work. But such a place had been given up casually by Qin Ran?

Qin Yu was still thinking crazily when the veteran student followed up, “Oh, besides the Continent M placing, I heard that Master Wei also accepted Tian Xiaoxiao and Wang Zifeng as his named apprentices. They’re really so goddamn lucky. Let alone receiving the placing from Qin Ran, he was even accepted as an apprentice by Master Wei…”

“Also,” the veteran continued, glancing at Tian Yiyun, “I heard that Master Wei accepted them as apprentices because they were Qin Ran’s team members. You guys are so lucky this year. I should have joined the association two years later. Then I might have had a chance of being in Qin Ran’s group. Not to mention the placing for Continent M, I could at least be a named disciple of Master Wei…”

As soon as he said this, let alone Qin Yu, even Li Xue, who was already feeling regretful, felt severely stabbed in the heart.

Qin Yu didn’t want to listen to him further. She picked up her bag and walked out in despair.

She was still hung up on the veteran student’s words.

Two ordinary members could make Qin Ran like this…

“Yu’er, are you okay?” Ning Qing noticed her from a distance in the Shen family’s car. She immediately got out of the car and saw that her face was a little pale. She grabbed her arm and looked her up and down nervously.

At the end of August, the weather was still very hot and dry, but Qin Yu felt cold inside. Shaking her head, she sat down directly in the backseat. They returned to the Shen family’s house.

Qin Yu was silent along the way. She just looked out the window, deep in thought.

Ning Qing didn’t know what was wrong with her and didn’t dare to disturb her, so she just followed behind her silently.

When they arrived at the Shen family’s house, Old Master Shen and the others were waiting for them to start dinner.

“You’re back.” In front of Ning Qing, Lin Wan was always high up in the air and condescending.

But she greeted her amiably at this time.

This made Ning Qing both surprised and extremely unfamiliar to it. What was going on with the Shen family?

Did Qin Yu do something else while she was away in Beijing?

Qin Yu had no appetite tonight and just shook her head. “You guys eat first, I’m going upstairs to practice the violin.”

Ning Qing finished the meal under the warm hospitality of the Shen family. She knocked on Qin Yu’s door and noticed how her room was furnished even better than the previous time she came.

“Are you okay?” She brought in her meal and placed it on the table before looking at her.

Qin Yu had just finished taking a shower and was sitting on her chair, wiping her hair with a towel.

Hearing this, she shook her head. “I’m okay.”

She had a strong heart and acted like nothing was wrong on the surface. Ning Qing stared at her for a long while and let out a sigh of relief after confirming that she was fine.

Now, Qin Yu was the only hope left in her life. Hence, one could imagine her concern.

“Yu’er, I feel like your aunt and their attitudes are a little strange today…” Ning Qing sat down on the side of the bed and said suspiciously.

Strange?

Wasn’t it because they had seen Qin Ran being accepted by Master Wei?

Qin Yu’s hand tightened around the towel. She looked down and saw that her fingertips had almost pierced her palm.

She could almost imagine how the Lin and Shen families would rejoice when Qin Ran came back.

**

Two days later, Little Wood Fish finished writing down Qin Ran’s violin scores.

The frame of Little Wood Fish’s first scoring had marked out the climax of Qin Ran’s violin. The first time she listened to it, she had been so immersed in the music that she hadn’t memorized it well.

After listening to it several times, she wrote down the outline and then continued scoring various difficult segments.

The more she listened and scored, the more amazed she was by Qin Ran’s music.

Little Wood Fish had already scored Qin Yu’s music a year ago. After comparing them, she easily discovered that there were indeed several similar segments.

But Qin Ran’s performance was obviously more magnificent, and the structure was bigger. As for Qin Yu’s performance a year ago, it was nothing special in comparison…

If she didn’t suspect plagiarism was involved, Little Wood Fish would have easily switched to her fan base.

Comparing the two scores and given the degree of similarity, it simply couldn’t be explained by mere coincidence.

You could imagine Little Wood Fish’s inner entanglement. Qin Yu was the first blogger she became a fan of, while Qin Ran… was the one she accidentally became a fan of while scoring the music…

After a long while, Little Wood Fish looked at the Beijing Association’s official account and opened a private message to ask—

Excuse me, when was your latest Weibo violinist score originally created?

The Beijing Association’s Weibo account never responded to her.

Staring at the private message on Weibo, Little Wood Fish thought for a long time before finally clicking on Qin Yu’s private message to ask her about the violin score…

**

Qin Ran wasn’t aware of this.

She got out of He Chen’s car and took another taxi back. This time, the driver was a middle-aged man who spoke very little. Along the way, they only exchanged two words.

Qin Ran’s frown loosened, and she glanced at the group chat. Qiao Sheng, Pan Mingyue, and the others had already arrived in Beijing.

Lin Siran just received Qiao Sheng.

They were calling the class monitor in the group chat to play games and raise another level.

In Ting Lan, Old Master Cheng didn’t return to the Cheng family’s house and stayed on the sofa instead. He held a cup of tea while frowning solemnly, deep in thought.

Cheng Wenru was still sitting next to him, leaning on the sofa with her back straightened. “Ran Ran went to see a friend? What friend?”

Old Master Cheng was about to say he didn’t ask when Qin Ran opened the door.

Hearing Cheng Wenru’s words, she took off her peaked cap and put it aside. “A few online friends I know.”

“Online friends?” Old Master Cheng sat upright and said solemnly, “There are many scammers on the Internet recently. It’s not safe for a girl to meet someone she knows online. Next time, bring someone along to meet your online friends.”

Cheng Mu went to the kitchen to bring her a cup of tea, which he placed on the coffee table opposite Old Master Cheng.

Qin Ran sat down and picked up the tea. Her tone was rather indifferent as she spoke, “It’s okay. Everyone is familiar. There’s a female reporter that I’ve met in Yun Cheng before.”

Sitting on the other side of the sofa, Cheng Mu had just opened a bottle of cold beer and taken a sip. When he heard Qin Ran’s words, he almost spat it out.

That female battlefield reporter whose random tube of medicine cost 1 million?

He remembered the fear of being dominated by “ordinary friends” previously.

Old Master Cheng and Cheng Wenru didn’t notice Cheng Mu’s expression and were still lecturing Qin Ran not to meet online friends outside randomly.

Qin Ran listened quietly to them.

After talking for ten minutes, when Cheng Juan and Cheng Jin both returned from outside, they stopped their conversation and went to eat at the dining table.

While eating, Old Master Cheng’s cell phone rang.

His expression changed after the call.

Butler Cheng asked, “Something happened?”