The time required for a musical duel is far less than that for a painting duel. Painting a picture takes about half an hour, but playing a piece on the zither only takes the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, or even less.

The first round of the piano duel ended quickly.

Liu Yuxian, Qin Yingxian, Meng Jiuzhou, Jiang Xinghe, Wang Yuyu, Zhen Yan, and... Su Hua, who received a bye, successfully entered the top seven.

The lottery box was brought out again.

Liu Yuxian stared at the blank slip of paper slowly unfolding in Su Dahu's hand, her fox-like eyes narrowing in disbelief. "Another bye? This is too much of a coincidence! Could it be that someone has muscles specifically designed to grant byes?"

Su Dahu was also puzzled; it was as if his hand had been blessed.

I got a bye in the first round and another bye in the second round. I've lived for nineteen years and never had such good luck.

However, there's not much need for such good luck. His Hua'er can win without good luck!

Those who successfully advanced to the top seven breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that Su Dahu had drawn a bye again. This Su girl was unassuming and incredibly humble. Who knew if she was as eccentric as she was in playing the piano, in solving riddles, or in painting?

Fortunately, she had a bye; otherwise, if they had met, they might have been eliminated immediately.

These byes are perfect; they only need to beat the one they were drawn in the draw.

I'll try to survive as many games as possible.

Liu Yuxian couldn't sit still at all. "No way! Put the slip of paper back and draw it again. I refuse to believe that Su Hua's luck can really be that good!"

This round of elimination doesn't count towards the score; each advancement is worth ten points. If Su Hua avoids it again and again and advances directly to the top four, her chances of beating Su Hua will be even smaller.

If they don't win this round, it means all the prize money will go to Su Hua.

How could this be?! Absolutely not!!!

Upon hearing this, Su Dahu looked up at Su Hua by the long table. Seeing her nod, he put the note back down.

This time, Wei Jianjia deliberately held the lottery tube and spun it around for a long time before stopping.

However, instead of giving the ticket to Su Dahu, he looked at Meng Jiuzhou, Jiang Xinghe, Wang Yuyu, and the others, saying, "You guys draw."

When Miss Liu gave the order, none of them had any reason to disobey.

Qin Yingxian pursed her lips and obediently lit a cigarette. Since Sister Su agreed, she agreed too. Moreover, in her opinion, Sister Su didn't need to rely on luck at all; she could win directly through her strength.

When only the last one was left, it was placed in front of Su Dahu.

However, often the more you want something, the less likely you are to get it.

At this moment, Liu Yuxian was completely losing control of her expression as she looked at Su Dahu unfolding the blank lottery ticket again.

Wei Jianjia patted Liu Yuxian's hand with a smile and said softly, "Sister Su has always been lucky. How can others compare? There's nothing we can do about it."

What was clearly meant to provoke was now like flirting with a blind man.

Apart from Liu Yuxian, none of the others present hoped that Su Hua would not get a bye.

Meanwhile, Su Hua, who was on everyone's mind, had eaten her fill of the "Imperial Concubine's Smile" lychees. She roughly estimated that she had eaten at least three catties of lychees.

In addition to the dozens of bowls of seafood I had eaten earlier.

All her dieting efforts these past few days have probably been wasted.

However, eating first and then dieting is the ironclad rule of the Su family, so eating too much is not a big deal.

Thinking of the Su family, young and old, she couldn't help but rub her hands together. "Yu Cheng, do you have any seafood and lychees left? Could you sell me some?"

She and Su Dahu had a great time today, but the rest of the Su family had lived in Shanghe Village their whole lives and had never even seen the sea, let alone these shrimp, crabs, and the rare Concubine's Smile. She wanted to bring some back for them to see and taste.

However, taking more after eating is a bit too shameless.

After all, seafood and lychees cannot be bought with money.

"What are you saying, Hua'er?" Qin Yucheng laughed when he saw her pursing her lips. "What kind of relationship do we have that we need to buy things? I already had seafood and Fei Zi Xiao (a type of seafood) prepared for Aunt Su and my second and third brothers. There are both fresh and cooked seafood. They are on the carriage now, with that kid A Cai guarding them."

However, seafood doesn't survive long out of seawater, so it needs to be eaten as soon as possible after we get back.

"It's already in the car?" Su Hua was somewhat surprised.

This kid is usually carefree and jovial, but when he does things, he's incredibly kind and approachable, unlike a teenager at all.

No wonder people in ancient times married at the age of fourteen or fifteen; their mental maturity was in no way inferior to that of modern college students in their early twenties.

"Yes," Qin Yucheng nodded. "The Qin family's ship comes every ten days. Next time it comes, I'll take you directly to Shanghe Village."

"Speaking of which, you promised to take me hunting at Fuhu Mountain and fishing in the river, but we haven't gone yet."

Upon hearing this, Su Hua could no longer refuse.

Well, next time he goes to Shanghe Village, she'll find a way to send him some crabapples as a return gift for these seafood and lychees.

In interpersonal interactions, the best approach is to have give and take.

While the two were chatting and laughing, the second round of the piano duel in the garden was coming to an end.

Liu Yuxian, Qin Yingxian, and Zhou Sheng won the second round.

After the second round, the remaining three who advanced, as well as Su Hua who received a bye, were left. However, this time, the Su siblings did not have the chance to receive a bye again.

And, by sheer coincidence, it was Liu Yuxian who was chosen.

Liu Yuxian raised her chin high, "Su Hua, it's really not easy to have a friendly exchange of musical skills with you!"

Su Hua smiled slightly, "Miss Liu, you're wrong. You won on the first try, so how can it be considered difficult?"

Liu Yuxian snorted coldly, her gaze inadvertently sweeping over the zither in front of Su Hua.

She won two rounds in the piano duel, but she wasn't as happy as she had imagined. The only person she really wanted to beat was Su Hua.

But Su Hua, for some reason, grew up without a chance to face her twice, so she never got a chance to play against her.

Otherwise, she would really like to have a fair and square match with her.

Su Hua lifted her skirt and sat down, placing her hands on the zither. She always had a habit of testing the sound of the zither before playing.

Because every guqin has its own unique characteristics, different guqins produce different sounds. On the other hand, the soundboard of the guqin is usually made of paulownia, cedar or pine wood. These woods are easy to transmit sound, but they are also prone to pitch discrepancies due to humidity and other factors.

However, just as she raised her fingertips, she heard a heavy breathing sound beside her.

He looked up and his gaze met Liu Yuxian's.

She happened to be looking at those beautiful fox-like eyes and suddenly narrowed them.

When people are flustered, their pupils will subconsciously contract, but she was just trying out a piano, so what was Liu Yuxian flustered about?