Lucky Star

After dinner De Xi took all the kids upstairs to the music room on the third floor, where James was waiting for her, while practicing his piece, with determination.

"Wow... Brother James is so good at this, isn't he Sister Mei, Jia?" Lu Shuan said in awe, as she looked at him playing the piano.

Li Mei and De Jia looked at her wordlessly but the disdain in their eyes could not be hidden.

"You both recognized where he went wrong?" De Xi asked in amusement as she looked at Li Mei and De Jia.

Though she never met them in person, she kept herself updated about all the things related to the kids, so she knew that the duo in question were the only ones in the group interested in instrumental music.

"If he used C major instead of F major, the tune might be executed even more smoothly with ease." Li Mei said with a soft frown as she thought through her solution.

"The following scale is Relative minor Bbm," James said with a soft smile.

"The keys were right, I think, you just need to decrease his speed slightly before increasing it by twice, try timing it." De Jia said in a calm tone, as he tried recalling the keys James previously used.

"The tempo ahead is very slow, suddenly decreasing it would ruin the dreamy feeling of the piece," James said with a helpless smile and sigh.

"The tricky cut is what makes this piece a high-level instrumental." De Xi said with a gentle smile as she looked at the helpless James and the two frowning children trying to come up with a solution.

While saying this De Xi made her way towards the piano and James made way for her as he stood behind her.

De Jia started looking at his watch, waiting to time it, and Li Mei was keenly looking at De Xi's hands, trying to memorize her movements.

Slowly a mild tune started resonating through the vast music room, gradually hypnotizing all the kids except the three into its tune, into a dreamland.

The melody's sudden change in tempo did not break its dreamy effect but brought it to its peak, hypnotizing the audience further into their dreamland.

The final crescendo gradually rose, and the music stopped as if breaking the hypnotizing spell cast upon the audience, making everyone look at De Xi in a daze.

De Xi chuckled softly at their cute expressions and then turned towards James who seemed to be deep in his thoughts, Li Mei was busy sorting her movements while keeping her eyes closed and De Jia was busy calculating the time for each tempo.

"You guys continue, if you all are bored, the library is right beside, the game room and home theatre is on the opposite side of the floor,"

"But no matter what I want you all asleep in another two hours, got it?" De Xi said as she looked at everyone dotingly with a hint of sternness in her tone.

All the kids nodded their heads in understanding and De Xi smiled tenderly, before leaving the room and heading downstairs to the living room where all the older ones were seated, while enjoying De Xi's hand-brewed wine and chatting.

"All of you freeloaders coveting my precious wine." De Xi said in disdain as she harrumphed in annoyance.

"Not like you are going to drink any, so at least let us enjoy it." Feng Chuan said with a satisfied smile as he took another sip of De Xi's premium wine.

De Xi owned a personal winery, which supplied wine to many old money households around the world.

Those wines were all brewed by De Xi's apprentices, but her personally hand-brewed wine is never put up for sale and is only used by her for her personal use, which is for her friends and family.

De Xi sighed softly and took her seat as well, she poured herself a glass, though she rarely drank and never fancied alcohol.

Today was different, she was feeling like drinking, which no one questioned because with everything happening in her life, she had every reason to drink.

After a while of chatting everyone was almost drunk, except for Lu Bai, Li Chen, Mu Cong, and De Xi, who drank the least that night.

"I missed this." De Xi said with a fond smile.

"But I doubt they missed the hangover they are going to have tomorrow morning, given how strong your wine usually is." Mu Cong said as he sighed, thinking about the whining he will have to bear tomorrow morning everyone.

"Your current brews are comparatively mild than the earlier ones. Just like how your personality is has changed from wild to slightly irrational and bold." Li Chen said with a chuckle as Mu Cong and Lu Bai agreed with him.

"I was not that wild." De Xi said sulkily, clearly offended.

"I beg to differ, our first meeting was after all full of guns and mafia gangs." Lu Bai said with a dry chuckle as he remembered that fond memory.

////////// 14 YEARS BACK //////////

Vaduz, Liechtenstein...

The country with the Rhine river bordering on the western side separating it from Switzerland. In the Upper Rhine Valley of the European Alps, the country is full of greenery.

Inside an old worn-out building, a pungent smell of blood surrounded the dimly lit room with molds and vines mapping the eroding walls.

Their faces were bloodied and bruised, their voice hoarse from all the yelling and cursing since the past few hours.

Only four conscious people in the group were silent, their eyes silently scanning the area around to figure out a safe way out.