Chapter 18
The performance of "Romeo and Juliet" was a huge success, with the students cheering and applauding. Backstage, Fang Xiaozheng and the others saw their opponents' outstanding performance and became even more restless. They kept looking out the window, wondering when Shen Huaixin would return to stabilize the team's morale.
"Why are you so nervous? Sister Xin won't abandon us." The girl with twin ponytails paced back and forth, shaking her hair ornaments.
The baby-faced man patted her shoulder and forced her to sit down: "Sit down first, there are still more than twenty minutes left."
Fang Xiaozheng also came back to his senses and laughed: "We are just singing backup. It's true, the emperor is not anxious, but the eunuchs are."
"Yes, yes." The two of them echoed like chicks pecking at rice.
After Qi Yi and the others finished their performance, they returned to the auditorium. Many students were still immersed in excitement and whispering, discussing the plot. Su Zihan sat next to Qi Yi and sighed, half relieved and half disappointed.
"Thank you for staying with me until the end of the performance."
"...I didn't act well." Qi Yi said frankly.
"I know," Su Zihan looked at him, "Your expression isn't as serious as during rehearsal."
"terribly sorry."
Su Zihan lowered her eyes in silence for a moment, then looked up and smiled: "If you're worried, go to Shen Huaixin's place. After all, we are classmates. What if something really happens? It's understandable that you were worried about her during the performance."
Qi Yi had originally made up his mind to get up, but after hearing what she said, he felt guilty.
"No need to go. When she sees she can't trick anyone, she'll come back on her own."
Ten minutes later.
Qi Yi stood up, unable to sit still any longer: "What is she doing? She's almost on stage."
They both knew who this "she" was referring to. Su Zihan realized that his attention had not been on the show from beginning to end, and in the past, Qi Yi would never have given Shen Huaixin a second glance.
However, as long as she wins the school belle, he will always realize that the girls around him are better and some people are not worth his attention at all.
Qi Yi walked out of the auditorium, called a few classmates and teachers, explained the situation, and headed to the library together. On the way, he frowned, walked quickly, and his mind was full of random thoughts. Compared to his absent-minded performance on the stage, at this moment, he was more like Romeo looking for his lover in danger.
When he arrived at the deserted scene and saw the obvious bloodstains and messy traces on the ground, he was completely exhausted. Regret gradually fermented, and he suddenly couldn't empathize with himself for ignoring Shen Huaixin just a few minutes ago. Even if he told the security guard to check on him, he wouldn't be able to do it.
He took out his cell phone and called Shen Huaixin.
Shen Huaixin quickly answered: "Qi Yi? You don't have to come, thank you for your concern."
"..." Qi Yi took a deep breath, "Are you not hurt? Where are you?"
“It’s okay, I’m with Shen Chumo, but the performance… I guess I won’t be able to make it in time.”
Backstage, Fang Xiaozheng grabbed his hair and pulled out a few strands: "Sister Xin called and said she can't come! What should I do? Ahhhh..."
"It's too late," the twintails said, looking ashen, "We're going to become a laughing stock."
"I'll tell the host that the show is cancelled. At worst, I won't sing." The baby-faced man comforted the two of them, but he still felt disappointed.
A minute on stage takes ten years of hard work off stage. No one knew how much extracurricular time they had given up for this performance, how long they had to spend preparing for it, or how many throat lozenges they had swallowed. Shen Huaixin had said she wouldn't come, and several of them felt a bit resentful.
"What's missing is a lead singer, not someone like us who can always fill in as backup vocals," Fang Xiaozheng lowered his eyes, facing the two people's questioning gazes, and made a final decision, "We can only... cancel it."
It is true.
Without Chen Huaixin as a pillar, no one can hold up the place.
When the staff behind the scenes came to urge her, the girl with the baby face pursed her lips, lowered her head and said nothing, clenched her fists and turned her face away. Finally, the staff behind the scenes looked at the red corners of Fang Xiaozheng's eyes, waiting for her reply.
"I...we..."
Fang Xiaozheng hesitated, and through the crack of the backstage door, he saw his mother sitting in the audience with great expectation. He heard the singer's tender, immature but serious voice on the stage, and his heart felt as if it was hit hard by something, sore and painful.
…She also wanted her mother to see her radiant self. She had never been her mother's pride, and only served food that wasn't prepared for her mother when Shen Huaixin asked her to make dinner.
"Sing, let's go sing."
She heard herself say.
“……?!” The baby-faced boy raised his head and opened his eyes wide.
"Huh?" The girl with the twintails turned back and asked bluntly, "Where's the lead singer?"
"Me," Fang Xiaozheng paused, pointing at the two of them, "and you. We're both lead singers."
Behind the noisy sound, the three of them looked at each other and could hear each other's rapid breathing and heartbeats that were about to jump out of their chests.
The baby-faced man hesitated for a moment: "Is it... okay? We haven't even lined up yet..."
Fang Xiaozheng didn't say anything for a long time, the atmosphere gradually became tense, her twin ponytails deflated, and her body collapsed.
Fang Xiaozheng stretched out his right hand, with his thumb and pinky pointing straight up and the other three fingers curled up. He placed his left hand on his waist and posed: "Don't forget we are—"
The other two instinctively posed and unleashed their combined skills.
"Xinxin Girls Team, we will never be separated!"
On the stage, the music reached its climax, and the lights and music resonated together, as if youth was shining; backstage, the Xinxin Girls Team raised their arms and cheered, three firm fists facing the ceiling, their team spirit burning, and they vowed to dominate the stage.
"We haven't rehearsed before, so we just rely on our voices to roar! Shift the key! We won't stop even if our vocal cords are broken! If we don't have a lead singer, then we'll be the most beautiful lead singer!"
The twintails grinned: "What are you waiting for? Let's go!"
"I'm sure everyone is looking forward to the next show, which is a strong competitor to 'Romeo and Juliet,'" the host said with a knowing smile. "And these brave singers have volunteered to go up a key, pushing their vocal cords to their limits!"
Many people in the audience had long heard rumors about the school beauty contest and were eager to hear it. The hall was filled with a commotion. The host waited for the audience to quiet down before slowly, whetting their appetites.
"Please welcome Fang Xiaozheng, He Tianyu, and Xiong Chentao to perform the song 'Chasing Dreams'!"
The host left the stage and the audience began to whisper.
"The host didn't mention that Shen Huaixin was among the performers, but I saw on the program that she was the lead singer?"
"Isn't this a scam? The protagonist of the campus beauty contest has withdrawn on her own? I thought Shen Huaixin was so powerful after declaring war, but she doesn't even dare to go on stage and even lets her little brother sing for her."
"Fuck you, give me your money back!"
"Where's Chen Huaixin? Don't be a coward! Come out!"
The cries of discontent after being scammed intensified, and even after Fang Xiaozheng and the other two took the stage, they faintly drowned out the prelude of the song. The three of them showed no fear, only focusing on the microphone in their hands. After the ten-second prelude, Xiong Chentao spoke first, and milliseconds later, the voices of the other two also came out.
“Where is the world full of flowers? If it really exists, I will definitely go there.”
The pitch was a bit high, the voice was a bit cracked, the breath was a bit unstable... all the flaws were ruthlessly amplified by the microphone. After the audience quieted down, what they heard was a very real car accident scene.
Fang Xiaozheng relaxed and began to tap his feet to the rhythm, while Tianyu also swayed her body and nodded. The two met eyes and smiled at each other, just like when they were rehearsing harmony, catching each other's tracks and then matching them.
“I want to be there on the highest mountain, no matter if it’s a cliff or not.”
But the lyrics are quite interesting, and the melody is very dynamic and pleasant. Coupled with their singing, how should I put it? The audience hasn't found an adjective to describe it yet, just feeling a little bit addicted. Is this normal...?
Weird, not sure, let me listen again.
“Maybe I’m clumsy, but I’m willing to keep exploring and devote all my youth to it without any regrets.”
Xiong Chentao stretched out her fist, holding it suspended in mid-air, not looking at anyone. She knew that her companions were there, and they would not let her call go to waste.
Soon, a fist touched hers. She held the microphone tightly, lowered her head and smiled, and her singing became louder.
Su Zihan watched coldly. "It's just that they're relying on the good lyrics and melody. Their singing skills are just so-so. They wouldn't be considered outstanding on campus. Qi Yi was exaggerating a bit." He was right. After all, there was no lead singer. With a few backup backing vocalists, what could they possibly achieve?
She shook her head nonchalantly, relaxed her guard, leaned back in her chair and took a sip of her milk tea.
“Run forward—!”
The milk tea sprayed out and the milky white liquid spilled onto the ground.
Su Zihan scrambled to clean up, her eardrums still vibrating from the last word of the lyrics. Her voice was completely broken, but… She looked up at the three people on the stage in disbelief. They were giving it their all, clutching the microphones and screaming at the top of their lungs, their faces flushed crimson, their necks throbbing.
The posture was both embarrassing and extremely moving.
"Facing cold eyes and ridicule, how can one feel the vastness of life without going through hardships!"
The audience seemed to flash back to scenes of the young men running, falling, getting up again, and continuing to run. Where were they running to? Their destinations were different, but they had one thing in common: the distance.
The audience was instantly ignited and completely boiling.
What a perfect match! The off-key notes are like a person with a bloody head, who has hit every wall but still seeks his own way. The hoarseness of the broken voice is the courage of a young man who will not turn back until he hits the wall. And the passion is surging - to exaggerate, the howling and wailing performance is not decent, even a complete car accident scene, but so what?
This is youth!
The three people on the stage looked at each other in the dizziness caused by lack of oxygen, and saw six big words in each other's eyes: Damn, the volume is too high.
But, what can we do?
“Keep running—!”
As long as you don’t die from singing, sing until you die!
At this moment, the all-out singing and the artistic conception of the song are perfectly unified, full of emotion and without any technique! But it is precisely this sincerity of breaking the voice but never dropping the key that is most touching!
"To be depressed after failure is a sign of cowardice. As long as you have breath left, clench your fists."
“Before dawn breaks, we must be braver and wait for the most dazzling moment of sunrise.”
The next sentence, which was ready to be said, made everyone's blood boil, and they were just waiting for the three girls to roar out those three words with great satisfaction, like the second before a volcano erupted.
Someone in the audience stood up, made trumpet shapes with their hands, and shouted along with the music and their singing: "Run forward!"
More people were infected and stood up to sing: "Keep running!"
"Let's run!"
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