Gu Xingyi sat at the desk in the side bedroom.

He was already starving, but he knew that the mother and daughter outside still weren’t ready to sit at the same table and eat with him.

Sigh! What a sin...

Gu Xingyi shook his head, trying to cast the thought aside.

He pulled out his phone and opened the local version of Douyin. Then he logged out of the old account that still had a few thousand followers.

He had checked yesterday, and this world’s Douyin platform was gradually becoming more refined, with more and more users. It was about at the 2016 level in his original world.

Gu Xingyi registered a brand-new account. After thinking it over for a moment, he decided to name it “Xingyao.”

He used his daughter’s name as the account name—this was the new life he wanted to give to the mother and daughter.

Gu Xingyi didn’t have any big ambitions. In his original world, he was already thirty, part of the middle-aged crowd, and had experienced pretty much everything.

Now, after transmigrating and returning to the age of twenty-four, he saw things clearly.

All he wanted was to take good care of this mother and daughter, give them a good life, and then, whether they parted ways or divorced, he planned to travel the world for himself—chop wood, feed horses, wander the world, face the sea, and watch spring blossom.

Thinking about all this, a smile finally appeared on Gu Xingyi’s face. Out of habit, he tapped into the trending rankings on Douyin—but the next moment, his eyebrows furrowed.

What kind of garbage is this singing?!

Since when did brainless songs like Hugging a Pig's Foot dominate the trending charts? It kept looping that line, and the earworm-like noise was driving Gu Xingyi speechless.

But this was fine too—it just made his own songs more likely to stand out.

With a plan in mind, Gu Xingyi pulled out a few old sheet music pages from the drawer. They had been left behind by Xia Xiyao a long time ago.

The original owner didn’t know how to write music, but his voice was good. He had covered a few tacky songs when he debuted.

Gu Xingyi spread the sheets on the desk, lightly humming a familiar melody as his pen flew across the music paper, writing out the guitar tablature.

In his previous world, Gu Xingyi had been a songwriter. Now, he was just transporting something across dimensions—this was nothing for him. In just a few minutes, a complete music score appeared in front of him.

He picked up the sheet music, nodded in satisfaction, then laid out another page. The lyrics followed soon after, written neatly on the paper.

Done!

Unable to wait, Gu Xingyi pulled out a guitar from the nearby wardrobe, tuned it, then sat upright at the desk and took a moment to gather his emotions.

The next moment, Gu Xingyi closed his eyes and gently strummed the strings.

Soft, melodious guitar notes filled the quiet room, followed by Gu Xingyi’s gentle singing voice.

“Because I dreamed of you leaving,
I woke up from crying.
Watching the night breeze pass the window sill,
Can you feel my love?”

The song floated gently through the air. Gu Xingyi was completely immersed in it. This had been his favorite song back in school. He loved the view of love expressed in the lyrics.

Unfortunately, even after turning thirty, he had never encountered that kind of love.

As the guitar melody drifted from the room, Xia Xiyao, who was quietly eating, suddenly froze. She turned her head toward the closed bedroom door, surprise flashing in her eyes.

He could play guitar? No way.

That guitar was hers—Xia Xiyao knew full well that he couldn’t play. At least, he couldn’t before. She was sure of that.

So what was going on now?

The guitar continued playing, and Gu Xingyi’s voice floated out again. Xia Xiyao froze even more. Her eyes were full of disbelief.

Even Xiao Nainai, who had been happily eating, was drawn in by the singing. She put down her spoon and looked toward the tightly closed bedroom door.

Xiao Nainai tilted her head, blinking her big eyes as she stared at that direction. She knew—it was the voice of the papa who cooked for her for the first time.

So gentle. It was her first time hearing such a gentle papa.

“When the day comes that we grow old,
Will you still be by my side?
Watching those promises and lies
Slowly drift away with the past.”

Even though Xia Xiyao had never heard this song before, she could feel how powerful it was. Such a beautiful melody, such touching lyrics.

She could hardly believe that this was coming from the mouth of a demon.

The guitar remained soft, and Gu Xingyi’s voice continued echoing. But the two beauties at the table—one big, one small—were both frozen in place.

Until the next line began.

“So many once admired your youthful beauty,
But who is willing to bear the cruel changes of time?
So many came and went in your life,
But I'll be by your side for a lifetime.”

At that line, Xia Xiyao could no longer hold it in. Her shoulders began to tremble slightly, and tears started falling one by one.

Two years. It had been two whole years.

For the past two years, she had lived in constant fear. She hadn’t listened to music in two years, hadn’t even stepped out of the house.

Her days were filled with cooking, cleaning, and a home in disarray… and the man who gradually turned into a demon.

Now that she had finally built up the courage to escape, what was the meaning of this song? What was the meaning of his sudden change?

Xia Xiyao was falling apart. She was confused once again—scared of what lay ahead, and scared of the change in this man now. She was afraid it was just a fleeting dream.

And if the dream shattered, everything would go back to how it was.

At that moment, the song ended. Xiao Nainai noticed her mama crying and, panicked, crawled onto Xia Xiyao’s lap and reached out her little hands to wipe away her tears.

“Mama, don’t cry, don’t cry. Nainai will blow on it for you.”

Xiao Nainai thought her mama was hurting again. As she wiped her tears, she tilted her little face and gently blew air under Xia Xiyao’s collar.

Beneath the collar, Xia Xiyao’s back was covered in scars.

Gu Xingyi, of course, didn’t know what kind of emotions he had stirred in the mother and daughter outside with his song. At that moment, he was opening Douyin and clicking on the video record button.

In the video, his face wasn’t shown—only the lower half, from the nose down.

He held his guitar and cleared his throat.

“Ding dong ding dong ding dong~”

This time, Gu Xingyi was clearly more serious. He played and sang the entire song once more. After it ended, he saved the recording and cut out the unnecessary parts from the beginning and end.

He then extracted the audio, added lyrics and music details, and registered the copyright online.

Once everything was done, he typed up a title.

"《A Lifetime with You》, lyrics and composition by me, an original song. Dedicated to everyone—hope you like it! Please like and support!"

Click—upload.

Ding~

Video uploaded successfully!

“Whew~”

Gu Xingyi let out a breath of relief. Finally done!

Now, he would quietly wait for the public’s reaction. In this era, this song would be a bombshell!

Gu Xingyi had no doubts about whether this song would go viral. He had confidence in it! Back then, it even won a Golden Song Award—if it didn’t become a hit, it’d be outrageous.

The original artist, Shuimu Nianhua, had won Best Group because of this very song. Now, as the creator himself, even if he didn’t win Best Group, he should at least make a splash!

He put the guitar back in the wardrobe, then rubbed his rumbling stomach and scratched his head.

“Wonder if the two of them have finished eating yet? Ugh, so hungry! What a sin!”