Momoi Taro wants to form a "don" brother duo, but it's a music anime.

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"Although it sounds a bit shameless..." The woman was a little embarrassed. She took out her phone, looked at the crack on the screen, and gasped in distress. But she could only pretend not to see it and turn on her phone.

Then he pointed to an address. Upon seeing the address the woman had shown him, Taro raised an eyebrow in surprise, then smiled and said, "Ah, of course, no problem."

As he said this, his smile widened: "But, as expected, you and I are definitely very destined for each other."

"Huh?" The woman looked at Taro with a somewhat blank expression, not understanding what he was talking about. Taro didn't explain and walked straight in one direction: "Here—"

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"This is it." Taro led the woman familiarly to a house, then to the stairwell and rang the doorbell.

A nonchalant yet distinctive female voice rang out from the doorbell, asking indifferently, "Who is it?"

The woman was about to step forward to answer when Taro raised his head confidently and said, "It's me."

"Taro?" The woman on the other end of the doorbell seemed surprised. After a long pause, she said, "Is there anything else? Please wait outside for a moment. I'll come and open the door now."

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After talking with Aine, Hailing went straight home.

"..." She lowered her head in confusion, lost in thought. Aine's words and attitude, and Taro's lectures flashed alternately in Hailing's mind.

What did Momoi Taro mean by that? Why was Chihaya Aine unwilling to discuss it with him?

The more she thought about it, the more confused she became, and the more confused she became, the more she wanted to figure it out.

However, the tangled mess in her head, the more it twisted, the more difficult it became, making Hai Ling's breathing heavier and more forceful...

No, I can't keep dwelling on this. Hai Ling looked up, her eyes darting around, and pulled a sheet of music from the drawer.

When she couldn't think of anything, she would just compose a piece of music—that's what she thought, and she was about to pick up her pen to write something...

However, nothing was written down. One cannot create art when one's thoughts are in disarray.

This is a fairly simple principle, and Hai Ling naturally understands it as well. However, since she doesn't have any particularly bad hobbies, this is all she does to relieve her sorrows.

Just as Hailing was pondering what to do, the doorbell rang.

She immediately composed herself, walked to the intercom, and asked in a businesslike manner, "Who is this?"

Hailing really didn't expect that someone would come looking for her at this time.

"It's me!" The voice on the other end of the walkie-talkie was not only very familiar to Hailing, but also emphasized that it was exactly the same as the memory she had just flashed back to!

"Taro?" Why is Momoi Taro at this hour? He didn't even notify me on Line?

Hailing opened her phone in disbelief and scrolled through the group chat and private messages.

In the group chat, there was only Ai-yin and Ruo-mai chatting casually. In private chat, there was only an apology from Ai-yin, to which she replied with a polite "it's okay." There was no news of Momoi Taro anywhere.

These two were really engrossed in their conversation... They chatted from morning till night, with messages almost never stopping. When they first returned from the summer festival, the atmosphere between them was so tense they were practically about to fight, but somehow they've become such good friends again.

After complaining about the Dong Brothers' group chat, Hailing flipped through a few more pages but still didn't see any messages from Momoi Taro. There was only a letter from her former band inviting her back.

Is something urgent? Hai Ling didn't dare to delay and quickly said, "Is there anything else? Wait outside for a moment, I'll come and open the door now."

Fearing that Taro might have something really important to do, Hailin didn't dare to delay and quickly went downstairs and opened the door.

However, upon opening the door, besides Momoi Taro, stood someone else that Hailin never expected at all—

"Mom?!" Hai Ling exclaimed in surprise. Her mother, also deeply moved, rushed over and gave Hai Ling a bear hug: "Little Hai, Mom missed you so much."

"Hmm..." Hai Ling closed her eyes, clearly disapproving of her mother's actions, but she didn't push her away forcefully, and could only let her mother do whatever she wanted.

"Now that I've delivered it to its destination, I'll be leaving." Taro didn't offer any further comment, simply saying this before preparing to depart.

The woman… no, she should be called Hailin’s mother, who was rubbing her face against her daughter’s. Hearing Taro’s words, she continued to press her somewhat round face against Hailin’s, and looked at Taro, asking:

"Oh? You're already leaving? I was hoping to thank you properly. Won't you stay for a meal?"

"No, no need," Taro said without changing his expression. "Then, I'll take my leave." With that, he left swiftly.

"Then you're welcome to come again next time." Hailin's mother wanted to persuade Taro to stay a little longer, but Hailin tugged at her sleeve from behind, so she gave up.

Hailin's mother could only enthusiastically call out to Taro's retreating figure. After Taro left, she continued to press her chubby little face against Hailin's cold face, rubbing it against it.

"Is there something you need?" Hai Ling coldly pushed away her mother's increasingly inappropriate approach.

"It's nothing, I just missed you a little. It's been so long since we last met, and then Mom came." Her smile grew even warmer.

Hai Ling sighed, then turned and walked into the room. Her mother didn't mind and followed Hai Ling into the room.

Hai Ling walked straight into the living room. As she turned around, she glanced at her mother's skirt out of the corner of her eye and asked coldly, "Um, what's wrong?"

Hailing's mother followed Hailing's gaze and it fell on the hem of her skirt, covered in mud from sitting in a puddle. She simply smiled and explained:

"It was raining when I came here, wasn't I? I wasn't watching where I was going and I tripped and fell."

Then, with a touch of heartache, she added, "It's a pity that the fruits, vegetables, and eggs I brought for you have all gone bad, so I can't make Xiaohai your favorite poached eggs..."

Then her tone brightened again, and she took out a bag of fried noodle bread that looked fine because of its plastic packaging, handed it over, and said:

"But we still have fried noodles and bread, do you want some? Mom gets worried every time she sees Xiaohai drinking protein powder on the other end of the phone."

"Sigh..." Hailing sighed helplessly. She took the bread and asked, "Are you... alright?"

"It's nothing, it's nothing. By the way, was that Xiaohai's boyfriend just now? Why didn't you tell your mother?"

Hailing's mother became increasingly excited as she spoke, praising, "That young man is truly a good person. When I fell to the ground, everyone pretended not to see it, but he was the only one who helped me up. Otherwise, I don't know how long I would have been lying on the ground."

"..." If she could, she really didn't want to say anything. She could only close her eyes, raise her head, and instinctively imitate Taro's arrogant demeanor.

However, she casually added, "No, he's my bandmate." She genuinely doesn't have any feelings for Momoi Taro at the moment.

Hai Ling thought that saying this would prompt her mother to ask more questions, but to her surprise, when Hai Ling said this, her mother, who was excitedly taking things out of her bag to put on her coat, stopped in her tracks.

She said with a mixture of relief and melancholy, "Xiao Hai, things have changed."

Hai Ling's eyes widened slightly, not understanding what her mother meant. Her mother looked at Hai Ling's blank expression and chuckled twice.

“Before, Yi Leng | ⑦ Ba`? Si? Qi was Ou 6 Xiao Hai, and would never have mentioned my band, let alone my companions or anything like that.”

Hai Ling nodded with her arms crossed, agreeing with her mother's explanation. Then, somewhat puzzled, she tapped her arm with her fingers and asked, "What would I have said in the past?"

Hailing's mother tilted her head, pointed at her little round face with her finger, and said thoughtfully, "Well, how should I put it..."

After a moment, she cleared her throat and, mimicking Hailing's tone, said, "Ahem...no, just people in the same band or something? We just happened to meet. Something like that?"

It did sound like something she would say, and Hailing nodded in agreement.

A mother is one of the people who understands her daughter the most, which is easy to understand. But at this moment, Hailing was thinking about something else—

If it were a mother, could she use her life experience to offer some help in resolving her current biggest problem?

Her heart skipped a beat, and she couldn't help but look at her mother, who was peeking into the bag and taking things out one by one.

Her mother didn't look up to meet her gaze, but instead rummaged through her bag, saying, "If there's anything you want to discuss with your mother, you can do it anytime."

Hai Ling looked at the other person with some surprise, not understanding how the other person knew that she had something to say.

Hailing's mother looked up and gave a warm smile: "No matter what, she's still your mother. She can sense your daughter's troubles, right?"

"Achoo—" Mori Minami, who was far away on set, couldn't help but sneeze. She wondered who was cursing her. The scene she had finally filmed was going to be shot again.

Hai Ling hesitated for a moment, then said decisively, "I know, this is how it is..."

Chapter 53, Straightforward

"In other words, Xiao Hai wants the trust of his companions, but doesn't know how to do it?" Hai Ling's mother repeated Hai Ling's words in a low voice.

"And your bandmates clearly don't believe you? So they're constantly thinking about what to do?"

"Ah, it seems so." Hailing mentioned it seemingly indifferently, then gave a thoughtful look and said in a low voice:

"Taro Momoi said that trust is what others expect of you, and I used a wall to isolate myself from others."

Hailing's mother seemed to understand something, and with an amused smile, asked, "Besides this, what else did he say?"

Hai Ling took another sip of egg white and egg powder, then looked away and gazed at her reflection in the mirror beside her. Her reflection showed a perpetual sense of detachment.

She lowered her head and took another sip, then said softly, "Ah, he also said that trust begins with seeing others, and seeing others begins with letting others see you."

Hailin's mother asked with interest, "Momoi Taro, is that the young man from earlier?"

“Yes, it’s him.” Hai Ling nodded; there was no point in hiding it.

"I see." Mom sighed softly, and an unexpected wave of warm, soft flesh enveloped Hailing's body.

My mother hugged me, but it was a gentle hug, not the bear hug she used to give me.

"Xiao Hai, you've really met a great leader," her mother whispered in Hai Ling's ear, her voice as gentle as drops of water falling on a lake.

"Huh?" Hai Ling opened her mouth slightly, not quite understanding what her mother was saying.

“I know everything, Taro-chan means it.” Hailin’s mother closed her eyes and said softly.

Hai Ling's body stiffened completely in her mother's arms; she didn't know how to respond to her mother's sudden tenderness.

“Ever since that incident, Xiaohai has become an unreliable child.” Her mother’s words made Hailing think, and then she quietly came to her conclusion.

"Mom means that I just need to be honest...?" Hailing looked very hesitant, and said softly, "But, before..."

"That's because Hailing's previous teammates weren't a good match."

Her mother abruptly interrupted Hailing, placing her hands on Hailing's shoulders and pushing her away. Maintaining a certain distance, she looked intently into Hailing's eyes and said:

"You haven't met a teammate who can tolerate you. Xiao Hai used to be a bit long-winded, but he was actually a very gentle person."

She pressed her hands down slightly, applying a little pressure to Hailing's shoulders, and said earnestly, "The Hailing of the past would have been more proactive, more caring towards everyone, and more..."

The mother's voice choked with emotion, and she couldn't continue. What mother wouldn't be indifferent to her child's sudden change...?

"Proactive...and caring?" Hai Ling murmured to herself, her eyes thoughtful.

Six o'clock in the afternoon, at the aquarium.

The gray-haired girl stood at the entrance of the aquarium, watching the raindrops fall, and couldn't help but show a worried expression.

This girl, needless to say, is Takamatsu Akari, and she is waiting for her good friend here.

Suddenly, her eyes lit up as a bright pink hue appeared in the distant, gray sky.

Chihaya Aine placed her handbag horizontally on her head and ran to her side in the rain.