University

In 2018, smartphones gradually entered the public eye, making life more convenient for people in all aspects.

That year, they met in the autumn of South Bank. It was like a hazy painting, but fortunately, a bright new star lit up their way forward. As they walked, they could see South Bank University and Nanchang Languages ​​University facing each other at the end of Xuefu Road.

The four of them walked across the poetic university, their footsteps crunching through the fallen leaves. The upperclassmen and women on campus were steady, mature, and approachable. Even the usually taciturn Zhang Yuning couldn't help but admire them more, lingering along the way.

The report stated that although outsiders were allowed to enter and exit both male and female dormitories, Wen Xuanyi and Zhang Yuning helped carry the suitcases upstairs and then quickly retreated without looking at them, waiting for them downstairs.

The other two roommates, who had arrived earlier than them, couldn't help but gossip. Upon learning that the other three were from South Bank University across the street, they wanted their contact information.

Xu Changjia, for some reason, refused repeatedly, saying, "Neither of my brothers has WeChat." He then grabbed the person who had just finished making the bed and ran off.

After running down from the third floor to the ground floor in one breath, Ou Liyao asked her, "Jiajia, what did you mean by what you just said?"

She touched her chin and explained with a smile, "Didn't we just switch to smartphones? WeChat is a new app that just came out. Although it hasn't replaced [the original app] yet, I feel that everyone will fall in love with WeChat as a new way of communicating after a while. So when your roommate asked for your contact information, I refused to add you on WeChat for them."

"Oh, I see. By the way, Jiajia, I don't even have your WeChat. Are you going to reject me?"

The two women added each other as WeChat friends downstairs in the dormitory building, but they didn't see the other two. So they walked around the school hand in hand while calling them. After several unanswered calls, they lost interest in continuing their walk and headed towards the school gate.

Just as they reached Xuefu Road, Ou Liyao's phone rang. They had thought the two girls would need to pack for a while longer, so they went to Nan'an University to help Zhang Yuning and Xu Changjia with their enrollment procedures. They had just returned her luggage to the girls' dormitory and were heading towards the school gate with her dormitory key.

The head of the literature department treated the three of them to a private restaurant called Junzhou on the south side of the school to celebrate their successful admission to school on the south bank. It was just a pity that Zheng Ruoqian was not there.

Just as they were getting to this point, Ou Liyao was wondering whether she should call Zheng Ruoqian to chat when his video call came in, this time to Zhang Yuning.

The camera then panned to four people eating. They greeted him with smiles and talked about their first day at university. The three of them were so lucky to have their university face-to-face with Ou Liyao.

Xu Changjia noticed that the person on the other end of the phone had just finished eating, but he seemed to be in much better spirits than when he last saw him in the island nation. He chatted with him for a bit longer, asking if he had been practicing any new dances or songs lately.

Zheng Ruoqian, who had just finished eating a fish, immediately started singing two lines, providing them with a song and dance performance to accompany their meal.

As the days marched on, Xu Changjia's military training, which he had previously escaped, returned. Fortunately, the autumn in the south was cool and refreshing, unlike Junzhou where the sun could tan you quickly and the ultraviolet rays were strong, or the small island of H country where a gust of wind could bring a humid feeling.

But now that they're no longer by his side, Xu Changjia has been thrown into the directing class and has become that nobody noticed him again.

In her past life, she chose Chinese Language and Literature, a popular major for liberal arts students. However, after graduating, she faced setbacks everywhere and couldn't even find a decent job. Now, in order to survive, she decided to try to get closer to the entertainment industry and chose directing, hoping to steer others towards this field.

What she still can't understand is that Zhang Yuning went to study finance, which has absolutely nothing to do with the entertainment industry. But when she had dinner that day, her senior, Wenxue, analyzed that the financial industry would be very popular in the future, and that his choice was farsighted and visionary.

Before she could think much, she was already in a formal university classroom. The nearly two-hour class was still a bit much for her, especially since it was at Nanan University, where there were so many outstanding students. You could easily find a top scorer from a certain province or an excellent student who had received extra points on the college entrance exam.

Over time, she became the most mediocre person in the class.

She couldn't recognize any of the thirty-odd students in her class, and she only nodded to the other three in her dormitory. The teachers couldn't remember her name, Xu Changjia. She only attracted attention occasionally when Zhang Yuning or the senior student came to see her, mainly because those two had become prominent figures at Nan'an University.

One of them is a well-known campus singer and academic star. He was confirmed by the school to be recommended for postgraduate studies when he was only a junior. He spends all his time interning at TV stations outside, so it is rare to see him in person.

Another one caused a sensation as soon as he entered the school. He was voted the school's most handsome man by various colleges and was admitted to South Shore University with the highest raw score. He also thrived in the finance major, and no teacher or classmate disliked him.

As she recounted these school gossips to Ou Liyao, Ou Liyao was fiddling with her new camera and snapped several photos of her.

"Jiajia, come and take a look at this photo I took of you, isn't it nice?"

"It's beautiful! How could your photos not be beautiful?"

She leaned over, camera in hand, and said, "Let's take some selfies, then we'll go to the TV station to wait for Wenxue."

"By the way, Jiajia, where's Zhang Yuning? Why isn't he with you?"

She raised her eyes and gave Ou Liyao a small glare. So, she hadn't been listening to what Ou Liyao was saying?

"Yes, yes, of course I listened. I still want to ask." She smiled awkwardly and pulled the person with a slightly resentful look on their face into the taxi.

When the two of them arrived, Wen Xuanyi hadn't finished his work yet. He led them into the control room, sat them down, and continued working on his own.

It was their first time at the TV station, and they were brimming with excitement. They would peek over here and there, and then sneak around, until they spotted a talent show that was in the works. They watched the audition with rapt attention and started whispering among themselves.

Ou Liyao had known her for so many years, but she never expected that she would know so much about the entertainment industry. She could answer any question, and even knew exactly which celebrity was trending on which day.

"Jiajia, you're so amazing! You even know that!"

She smiled slightly and put her arm around Ou Liyao's shoulder. "Why don't you try standing on the stage? I'm really looking forward to having a celebrity friend."

She thought her friend was just saying it casually, but little did she know it would stir up a storm in her heart: Can I be a star too?

When Wenxuanyi came over with the script for the legal program he had just finished, he saw two heads close together, studying the talent show stage, chatting and laughing happily.

He stepped forward and couldn't help but pat the two little heads, "Are they so pretty? You can come and participate too."

He explained the simple rules and format of the talent show to the two girls. It was a new program on the TV station that mainly tested singing and dancing skills. If you had both, you would have a great advantage. The top few would be selected by audience votes, and the TV station would be responsible for producing records for them.

After returning to her dormitory that day, Ou Liyao browsed through various talent shows on Weibo and began to think about whether such talent shows were suitable for her. If she really went, could she get a ranking?

She was lying in bed sighing when she saw Zhang Yuning post a picture of a trophy in the group chat of the four-person team. It was from a national competition that their finance department had participated in and won a prize.

Sure enough, after entering university, the watershed gradually became apparent. During the first year, apart from the occasional meal, Zhang Yuning was almost never seen. But according to Jiajia, she excelled in everything, including GPA, CET-4 and CET-6, sports, and campus singing competitions.

Even without Jiajia saying anything, just browsing the forums of Nanan University, and even their own Nanzhang Language University, one can often find quite a few of his fans.

Her best friend, on the other hand, did nothing but rack up GPA and study. She always said that her grades were bad and that she didn't have much ability, but in every exam, she was always at the top of her class. She failed the CET-4 twice, but she passed it more than once and even scored over 500 points on the CET-6, which was better than her, an English major.

She thought she would be free once she got to college, but every day was still the same routine: classroom, cafeteria, dormitory. She felt like she would go crazy if she didn't find something she liked to do.

Although she had looked at the requirements of many talent shows, she was still hesitant, wondering if she was suitable for such an environment and whether she liked standing on the stage.

Well, she'd better enjoy photography first. She really likes taking pictures. She continued to upload photos of Jiajia and the two of them together that she took today on Weibo. She also posted a photo of herself checking in at the gallery and cafe next to the TV station, with the caption: Me and us.

Seeing the two girls she met in front of the camera smiling radiantly, like the warm spring sun bursting into the interplay of light and shadow, illuminating the already story-filled coffee shop, she closed Weibo with satisfaction, discarding the jumbled thoughts in her mind.

Unexpectedly, that very night, she dreamt of herself standing on stage singing, with the audience members sitting below completely absorbed, holding up pink light sticks that were specially made for her and calling out her name.

Ou Liyao woke up from her dream, was confused for a couple of seconds, edited a message for Zheng Ruoqian and sent it, then closed her eyes again and fell asleep.