Chapter 20

In mid-July, the heatwave finally began to slowly engulf the entire Rongcheng No.1 Middle School.

The cultural festival has finally arrived.

The campus was brightly decorated, and a huge stage was set up on the playground, complete with lighting and sound equipment. A restless excitement permeated the air.

As evening approached, before the sky had completely darkened, a beautiful purplish-pink hue lingered on the horizon.

The stage spotlights were on, their beams piercing the deepening twilight. Students, carrying stools, surged onto the playground like a tide, chattering as they searched for the best viewing spots.

Sang had been looking forward to the campus cultural festival this afternoon since morning.

Because Liang Fengshen will be performing tonight, she can see him on stage.

In order to get a front-row seat, she would almost always grab a stool and rush downstairs as soon as the bell rang.

Zhao Yanqi, He Lili, and Qiao Chunzhao were all terrified by Sang Sui's passion.

In their eyes, Sang Sui was a perfect "detached person" who didn't particularly want anything and wasn't very expressive.

So no one expected her to be so excited about the campus cultural festival tonight.

Sang Sui stuck out her tongue and smiled: "Oh dear, after a semester of intense studying, it's not easy to relax, of course I'm excited."

This reason was so irrefutable that everyone believed it.

Several girls rushed to the playground and waited in front of the stage early.

All students were given cell phones for the cultural festival, and Sang Sui even fully charged his phone for tonight's party.

Before the cultural performance began, there was stage preparation work, which was nothing special to pay attention to until someone appeared, and the whole audience became excited, simply because Mingying appeared.

Mingying was wearing only the most ordinary blue and white school uniform, the oversized style of which could not hide her tall and slender figure. She did not wear any hair accessories, and her thick, black hair was simply tied up and hung down behind her head.

She remained calm and collected, walking to the side of the stage with a cold expression, and bent down to adjust the camera equipment.

The lights on the court fell precisely on her smooth forehead and upturned nose, making her seem to glow—a natural, effortless brightness and beauty.

Wow, she's so pretty.

"It's Mingying from Class 6 of Grade 11."

"You know her?"

"Nonsense, many people know this beautiful woman, you know her name now too."

Zhao Yanqi couldn't help but say, "Honestly, she's beautiful enough to be a female celebrity in the entertainment industry."

“Indeed,” Sang Sui replied without hesitation.

Of course, this was just a minor incident, and the party began amidst a great commotion.

As the class monitor of Class 7, Song Shiyue was the only one who had the program list for tonight. Before he could even take a picture and send it to the group, Sang Suibian went over and asked for the program list to take a look.

Song Shiyue looked at her and smiled: "What, is there a show you're looking forward to tonight?"

Sang Sui glanced at the program and quickly found the name "Liang Fengshen". His program was the seventeenth, a solo performance, and the song was "Lonely Thoughts".

She made a mental note of it, and then said without changing her expression, "Chu Xiran and a few female classmates are dancing together. I can sit in the front row and take pictures."

Song Shiyue smiled but didn't say anything.

After writing it down, Sang Sui ran back to the front row.

The programs were wonderful one after another.

Cheng Xiao's street dance club's performance ignited the entire audience, with several difficult floor moves eliciting screams from below.

Zhang Da sharply commented: "Cheng Xiao can't beat me when we play ball, but he's really energetic when he dances on stage."

Luo Kewei sneered: "He can't beat you at basketball? He probably threw the game all the way down the Pacific Ocean."

Zhang Da and Luo Kewei were wrestling on the back of the lawn when Yuan Ying scolded them, "Are you elementary school students?" before they reluctantly separated.

Lin Shuning's ethnic dance was even more stunning. Wearing a light blue dance dress, her graceful figure and the way she twirled and leaped, with her eyes sparkling, made her look like a real little swan, winning thunderous applause.

"Wow, a goddess!"

"It's so beautiful."

"Absolutely amazing!!"

Sang Sui clapped along with the crowd, but his mind had already wandered far away.

The program schedule has already been photographed and sent to the group by Song Shiyue.

She kept looking at the program, calculating when Liang Fengshen would be on stage to perform.

Finally, the host announced the name and program she had been waiting for: "Next, please enjoy the guitar performance of 'Lonely Thoughts' by Liang Fengshen from Class 6 of Grade 11."

A round of enthusiastic applause erupted from the audience, interspersed with excited whispers from many girls who deliberately kept their voices down.

The stage lights dimmed, leaving only a cold spotlight shining alone in the center of the stage.

Liang Fengshen, carrying a wooden guitar, slowly walked onto the stage; he looked very different today.

He changed out of his school uniform and into a simple white shirt, the top two buttons undone to reveal his defined collarbone. He wore dark jeans that accentuated his long, straight legs. Unlike other performers, he wasn't wearing makeup; his face was clean, and under the spotlight, his skin appeared almost excessively pale.

He dressed casually, without makeup, yet he exuded a youthful charm and an indescribable handsomeness.

He adjusted the microphone height, didn't speak, but simply lowered his head slightly and tried a few chords.

The crisp sound of a guitar flowed out through the speakers.

Sang Sui sat in the front row and could see him clearly on stage; his hands holding the guitar were particularly beautiful.

It was a pair of hands that shone white under the light, with clearly defined knuckles.

He hadn't even started singing yet, but Sang Sui already felt an urge to cry.

Then, he raised his head, his gaze seemingly drifting into the distance, and brought his lips to the microphone to begin his song.

Liang Fengshen's voice came through the microphone, deeper and slightly hoarse than it usually sounded on the radio, like the gentle, lonely waves lapping against the shore at night.

The guitar accompaniment was very simple, almost a cappella, and every word struck Sang Sui's heart clearly.

When he sang, his eyelashes drooped, casting a small fan-shaped shadow under his eyes, and there was a faint weariness and detachment in his expression that did not belong to his age.

The spotlight enveloped him, making his white shirt almost transparent. He looked like a distant island, isolated from the noisy world below the stage.

Sang Sui stood in the front row, looking up, quietly watching him on the stage, almost forgetting to breathe.

Through the phone's camera, she saw the fleeting moments when he would slightly furrow his brow while singing, and the occasional glances he would cast at his eyes, which appeared lighter in color under the bright light, as if they held a thousand unspoken thoughts.

Then he kept pressing the shutter button.

She just wanted to take advantage of this rare opportunity to record more of him. Fortunately, she wasn't the only one secretly taking pictures of him, so she wouldn't seem too out of place.

Liang Fengshen didn't deliberately sing in a sentimental way, and he didn't even make any big movements or expressions, but there was a faint sadness in his voice, and the audience became unusually quiet.

When he began to sing the climax, Sang Sui finally couldn't hold back the tears welling up in her eyes, which then instantly became blurry.

He sang softly:

“

...

I can't guess how you really feel.

Longing is written on the dark circles under the eyes

Sometimes I'd rather you were a little mean to me.

Unable to stop fantasizing about our forever

Loving you is a lonely heart's secret.

..."

Sang Sui's tears finally fell.

Fortunately, it was dark enough that everyone's attention was on the stage, and no one noticed her disheveled state.

She sniffled, and quickly wiped away her tears the next second before they started to fall.

The few minutes passed in the blink of an eye; before we could even get enough of the music, he had already finished singing.

After singing the last word, Liang Fengshen gently pressed the strings, the lingering sound echoing softly. He bowed slightly to the audience, still remaining silent.

After a brief silence, there was an even louder burst of applause and cheers than ever before, with many girls excitedly shouting his name.

Sang Sui clapped his hands vigorously, his palms turning red, his heart pounding in his chest, filled with indescribable excitement and a subtle bittersweet feeling.

In my youth, I was dashing and spirited.

A young man in his prime, with just a guitar and a stage, can easily amaze many people's youth.

As soon as the party ended and he returned to his dormitory, Sang Sui didn't even bother to take a shower before eagerly flipping through the photo album and finding all the pictures of Liang Fengshen.

She selected a few photos that she was particularly satisfied with, carefully organized them into a folder, and opened her private chat window with Liang Fengshen.

With her finger hovering above the phone screen and her heart pounding in her chest, she took many deep breaths to encourage herself and finally mustered the courage to send a message to Liang Fengshen.

Sang Sui: Hi Liang Fengshen. I thought your performance tonight was fantastic! I took some photos, and they turned out really nice. I'll send them to you :)

She attached seven or eight carefully selected photos and clicked send.

The few minutes of waiting for a reply felt like an eternity.

Finally, the dialog box flickered.

Liang Fengshen: "Received, thank you."

Liang Fengshen: "Smiling emoji"

Polite, thorough, and without a single fault, yet devoid of any emotion.

But those simple five words and a period were enough to make Sang Sui happy all night.

She looked at the reply over and over again, and couldn't help but smile.

Liang Fengshen received the message and saw the photos she took, which made her feel very satisfied and happy.

Holding her phone, Sang Sui felt as if her heart was filled with warm honey water, sweet and comforting.

With this secret joy in her heart, she washed up, lay down on the bed, but couldn't fall asleep.

I couldn't resist picking up my phone again and refreshing my social media feed.

With just a glance, a new update appeared prominently at the top of the phone screen.

She set Liang Fengshen's WeChat account to "special attention," so whenever he posted an update, it would appear in a pop-up window.

The person who posted the update was Liang Fengshen.

The time was five minutes ago.

Given that Liang Fengshen's WeChat account has been around for so long, this is the first time Sang Sui has seen him post an update on his own initiative.

Sang Sui's heart skipped a beat, and he clicked on the link with an almost devout expectation.

His new post was a nine-image collage with a caption that was a bit hard to understand: Owl.

He's very popular; hundreds of people have viewed his post, and many comments praise his singing and how handsome he looked today.

No one is discussing his caption; they probably don't understand it either.

Or perhaps it simply has no meaning; maybe he genuinely likes owls?

Sang Sui laughed out loud. Why would anyone like owls? It seems like a rather niche and adorable thing.

She zoomed in on each picture, and then her mood became a little down.

No.

Not a single one.

These nine photos are exquisitely composed and skillfully lit, clearly the work of an experienced photographer, perhaps a student from the school's photography club or a teacher responsible for recording the stage.

But not a single one of them was taken by her.

None of the photos she took were selected by Liang Fengshen.

However, she quickly comforted herself, thinking that it was no big deal; it was just that her photo wasn't chosen for publication, and it didn't mean anything.

Sang Sui dared not comment on his new post, not even a single sentence.

She only dared to secretly post one message on her WeChat Moments: "Lonely Thoughts".

Visible only to myself.

Unrequited love is inherently a lonely affair.

It always has a slightly sour taste.