Yan Sui returned to the dormitory and looked at the numbers in her new bank card, sighing at how good the world could be sometimes.
This job was too easy!
She skillfully took out a brand-new phone card and swapped it in.
After entering layers of codes, she transferred her salary.
Then she posted her request.
The girl watched her money quickly drop from five digits to three digits and sighed.
Still very poor…
Why were the costs so high? She had only bought a little.
After placing the order, she removed the phone card, cut it into pieces, and put her normal one back in.
Class time was approaching.
Yan Sui slung her backpack and ran out. Halfway there, she saw a poster for the “Peach Leaf Cup” piano competition.
It looked somewhat familiar. She remembered it was the same competition Gu Xin had mentioned at the café.
The Peach Leaf Cup was the highest-level university piano competition in the country, inviting world-famous pianists as judges. If lucky, participants could even become a master’s student.
She wasn’t particularly interested—until she saw the prize money.
200,000!!
For these students, that was nothing. Just the price of one of their dinners.
But for Yan Sui, it was a fortune.
She leaned in to study it carefully.
A teasing voice came from behind her.
“Yan Sui, are you interested in piano too?”
Gu Xin and a few friends walked over.
Yan Sui recognized them—all the same people from the bar that day, both male and female. It seemed they had a close social circle.
The girl greeted them obediently.
“Hello, I was just looking.”
Gu Xin smiled.
“If you’re interested, I can help you.”
“The registration deadline has already passed, but I can have my dad make a call and get you in—no problem.”
Someone beside her said, “Gu Xin, she probably hasn’t even seen a piano before.”
Gu Xin’s smile widened.
“It’s fine, participation is what matters.
“You just arrived at school, Yan Sui. It’s good for you to get known and expand your social circle.”
She looked enthusiastic and generous.
“If you’re interested, just join. I’ll tell my dad right away.”
“Huh?” Yan Sui frowned slightly, looking troubled, as if she wanted to stop her.
But Gu Xin didn’t give her a chance to speak. She immediately took out her phone and made a quick call.
“Yan Sui, I’m doing this because you’re Lin Ran’s sister. I’ll even get you into the competition without the preliminaries or qualifiers~”
Someone laughed.
“Wow, Gu Xin, you’re so kind—giving our ‘rural little sister’ a chance to shine.”
Yan Sui looked even more panicked.
“I… I’m not…”
“Enough, Yan Sui.”
Gu Xin’s expression darkened.
“Last time you refused to drink with me, and now I’m giving you benefits and you still don’t want them. What exactly do you mean?”
Her voice rose, attracting attention from people nearby.
All those watching eyes created an invisible pressure.
Gu Xin curled her lips, observing her reaction.
In the end, Yan Sui’s eyes reddened as she gave in helplessly, forced into agreement.
“Thank you, Sister Xin. I’ll go. I just… I’m afraid I’ll disappoint you.”
Gu Xin smiled again.
“That’s more like it. Be open and straightforward. See you at the competition.”
The group left laughing, leaving behind a confused, pitiful girl.
Yan Sui scratched her head.
She thought to herself—what a good deal.
She had been thinking about how to register anyway, and now someone had arranged it for her.
She wasn’t good at many things, but piano happened to be one of them.
More precisely, whatever the godfather was good at, she was good at too.
Her godfather wasn’t Chinese and spoke fluent English and French, so she was equally fluent.
Her godfather was an academic genius, especially skilled in chemistry and toxicology, so she knew those too.
Her godfather had strong investigative and counter-surveillance skills, so she was also extremely perceptive.
Her godfather’s only leisure activity was piano.
In a rural village stood a broken church, and inside it a broken organ that had to be played by foot pedals, often out of tune and leaking air.
That was where Yan Sui learned every classical piece from her godfather.
Only then did she realize piano and organ were not that different.
Not only was there prize money for first place, but even the top ten received rewards.
Maybe… she could earn something.
She carefully memorized the schedule.
There was still time—no need to rush.
She ran toward class.
For Yan Sui, her new university life was quite interesting.
But for Lin Jian, things were not going so smoothly.
A previous financial loss still hadn’t been covered.
The funding for a major project had been delayed for nearly half a year, and the branch manager was struggling to hold back the contractors.
Although it hadn’t reached him yet, it was a ticking time bomb.
Other related projects were also beginning to collapse.
Lin Jian was extremely anxious.
At the same time, he had been having nightmares, and He Wan had become increasingly paranoid.
He couldn’t understand why life had suddenly turned so bad in just one or two months.
At the dinner table, the couple—both with ugly expressions—once again brought up Yan Sui.
It was He Wan who mentioned her first.
“So you still don’t believe me? You still think it’s not because of that girl’s bad influence?”
Lin Jian said impatiently,
“She’s timid, inexperienced, and obedient. I know her birth date—it doesn’t clash with mine or yours.
“Stop blaming everything on bad luck.”
He Wan took a deep breath.
She knew arguing directly was useless, so she changed her approach.
“Even if there’s a chance? Better to believe it than not.
“When did our misfortune start? When did we start arguing? When did Lin Qi become rebellious? Wasn’t it after she came back?”
She stared straight at him.
“So I suggest we send her away.”
Lin Jian opened his mouth, seemingly about to refuse.
But He Wan continued immediately:
“Send her back. Once you find a suitable marriage partner for her later, you can bring her back.
“Maybe once she leaves, everything will return to normal. She doesn’t even need to live with us—her only purpose is to be married off anyway.
“There’s no downside. It won’t affect anything. We might as well try.”
Lin Jian was visibly swayed.
He Wan held his hand.
“Let’s do it. Honey, I’ll arrange for her to leave when she comes back this weekend.”
This time, Lin Jian did not refuse.
The tension in He Wan’s heart finally eased.
Once she sent Yan Sui back to that miserable place, everything would become simple again.
As for waiting until Lin Jian found a marriage partner for her?
That would never happen.
She took a sip of bird’s nest soup and finally smiled.
She would personally find a “suitable” match before then.
A finished deal.
She would let Yan Sui experience a man, send her from the countryside straight into marriage, and ensure she would never appear in front of her again.