Chapter 20 The welcome party is scheduled for December...
The welcome party is scheduled for the last Friday evening of December, followed by New Year's Day on the following Monday, which, together with the weekend, will give us a three-day holiday.
The weather forecast predicted snow for the day of the performance, and the sky was overcast from morning until evening. However, not a single snowflake was seen by the time we entered the venue. Although everyone was a little disappointed, it did not affect their mood of not having evening self-study, having a performance to watch, and the upcoming holiday.
Fang Minzhou had almost no recollection of the New Year's Day performance in her first year of high school. She only remembered that some people sang, some danced, and some recited poetry. So when she heard that Wang Kan had performed on stage, she was a little surprised. After thinking carefully, she vaguely remembered that there was a band's performance, but she had no recollection of what song they sang or which role Wang Kan played.
But she doesn't need to remember it.
The program for this year's New Year's Day performance was similar; their class's textbook drama was scheduled for later in the program, with the two programs before and after it being dance performances.
Fang Minzhou said she could handle logistics, as if she had a wealth of experience in that field, but in reality, she didn't. She just followed instructions and kept herself busy until everyone else had to change clothes, at which point she finally had a break and found a folding chair to sit in a corner. There were so many people backstage that she felt like she couldn't breathe.
It seemed to be the school choir's turn to perform, their beautiful voices drifting into the noisy backstage. In front of Fang Minzhou, a girl in a formal dress and high heels trotted past, while diagonally in front of her, a boy with slicked-back hair took off his school uniform jacket, revealing a shiny black deep-V Latin dress underneath.
I haven't heard of any Latin dance performances this year. Could it be a medley of dances from the school dance club?
What are you looking at?
A voice suddenly came from above Fang Minzhou's head. Before she could look up, something warm and hot suddenly touched her cheek. Fang Minzhou was startled and flinched. After discovering that it was a cup of milk tea, she was speechless.
Wang Kan wore a sly grin, as if he had successfully tricked someone.
"...Why haven't you changed your clothes yet?" He was about to go on stage, so Fang Minzhou didn't bother arguing with him.
"We'll go later," Wang Kan said, handing the milk tea to Fang Minzhou again. He was also carrying a plastic bag in his other hand.
Fang Minzhou took the milk tea and held it in her hands.
Aren't you going to drink?
Fang Minzhou wanted to drink but didn't want to. She was dizzy and hot from lack of oxygen, but her hands were ice-cold. Too lazy to explain too much to Wang Kan, she asked him, "Did you buy this?"
Wang Kan raised an eyebrow. "If I said I bought it, are you worried I'd poison it?"
Fang Minzhou didn't mean it that way at all. It could only be said that Wang Kan was making malicious assumptions and trying to pin the blame on her. As always, nothing good came out of her mouth. She retorted, "Yeah, you didn't drink it, did you?"
"Don't you know I don't like sweets?"
Fang Minzhou was stunned. "...How would I know?"
This megalomaniac.
Wang Kan realized what was happening and coughed as if to cover up the truth, "...So now you know."
Fang Minzhou remained silent.
"I didn't buy it, Teacher Zhan bought it."
"Oh...Teacher Zhan is so kind." Fang Minzhou changed the subject.
"Anyway, you can like whoever you want," Wang Kan muttered.
"What?"
"Although I didn't buy it, I picked it up at the school gate."
Fang Minzhou looked at him.
Fang Minzhou quickly lowered her head, suppressing her laughter before raising it again, "You've been memorizing too many classical poems lately."
"Yes, I'm now studying so hard that I even read books while eating."
"Liar," Fang Minzhou thought to herself with a snort. When she saw him in the cafeteria, he was chatting happily with Zheng Yanhang and Wu Cheng, not studying at all.
But considering his contributions to the class, she stopped joking with him and said seriously, "Thank you, you've worked hard."
"That's more like it."
"Then what will you drink if not milk tea?"
"I'll be fine with bottled water."
"Do you have bottled water?" Fang Minzhou's eyes lit up.
Yes, didn't you know?
When Fang Minzhou saw Wang Kan lift a piece of velvet cloth in a corner to reveal several cases of bottled water, he felt that this was the real magic trick.
Wang Kan handed her a bottle of water, and Fang Minzhou reached out to take it, but he took it back. Fang Minzhou glared at him, but before she could get angry, Wang Kan unscrewed the cap and handed it to her.
"Why are you so angry? Can't you be a little more patient with me? No wonder..." He paused, "your face is so red."
...a fake gentleman, Fang Minzhou thought to himself.
Room temperature water feels icy cold in winter. Fang Minzhou originally wanted to use it to cool her face, but because Wang Kan was there, she carefully took a sip. It was very cold, but it made her feel a little more energetic. "You should go change your clothes."
"Right away." Wang Kan didn't look at Fang Minzhou's wet lips, so she turned her head away in what she thought was very polite, only to see the Latin dance boy still fixing his hair in front of the dressing table.
Wang Kan took off his school uniform jacket and, along with the bottled water, asked Fang Minzhou to hold it for him, saying, "When someone comes out later, could you help me distribute the milk tea?"
"good."
After Wang Kan left, Fang Minzhou stuffed his bottled water into his coat pocket, wrapped the whole coat up, and threw it together with the other people's clothes.
After a while, Ouyang Qian came out of the dressing room first. She had also put on purple eyeshadow, which, although exaggerated, gave her a harmonious and mysterious beauty.
"How is it?" Ouyang Qian asked.
"It looks good," Fang Minzhou said.
Ouyang Qian was quite happy. She sat down next to Fang Minzhou, took a few selfies with her phone, and then asked Fang Minzhou to take a few more for her. She then asked Fang Minzhou which one looked better, and Fang Minzhou chose the one where she was looking at the camera with a blank expression.
"This one?"
"Um."
Ouyang Qian ultimately adopted her suggestion. Without hiding it from Fang Minzhou, she edited and edited the message in the QQ chat box and sent it: "Guess what role I'm playing in our school's New Year's Day performance (*^_^*)"
The note on the other side is "Min".
Fang Min was taken aback, but after checking the chat history and profile picture, it wasn't her.
“My aunt,” Ouyang Qian said.
"oh……"
“My aunt’s name is very similar to yours,” Ouyang Qian said with a sly look. “Want to guess what her name is?”
Fang Minzhou has always been bad at guessing riddles. "How similar is it? Fang Min?"
"Zhou Min".
Fang Minzhou read it aloud and exclaimed in surprise, "Wow, it really is! What a coincidence!"
“Yes,” Ouyang Qian said. “When I first met you, I was thinking, how could such a thing happen?”
“No wonder…” Fang Minzhou blurted out, but immediately stopped.
"No wonder what?" Ouyang Qian pressed.
Fang Minzhou was a little embarrassed to say that she wanted to say that it was no wonder that she felt a certain friendliness towards Ouyang Qian when they first met, but Ouyang Qian had obviously already guessed it. She raised her eyebrows, said nothing more, and said in a playful manner that it was good that they both knew, "But you and my aunt are nothing alike."
"Yeah?"
“Well, my aunt…” Ouyang Qian’s voice trailed off, her bright expression turning as dark as a phone screen. “She’s rather aloof? Or should I say rather mature, since she’s older than me.”
Fang Minzhou gradually realized that something was wrong.
Ouyang Qian's expression looked somewhat familiar, reminding her of how Yuan Yue described the girl behind her. Although they were not exactly the same, her joys and sorrows were all related to the person she was talking about.
Fang Min's heart pounded. This didn't seem like the attitude one would show to a "normal" relative. She carefully began, "Your aunt, she..."
"Actually, she's not my biological aunt; she was picked up by my maternal grandmother."
Fang Minzhou quietly processed this information.
Seeing this, Ouyang Qian laughed so hard she bent over, leaning against Fang Minzhou and trembling. Gradually, her laughter grew softer and softer until it disappeared, and then she sighed softly, "I'm so suffocated."
Fang Minzhou hesitated for a moment, then patted her shoulder and took a cup of milk tea from the bag for Ouyang Qian.
She had completely forgotten about it.
When Wang Kan came out of the dressing room, he saw Fang Min huddled in the corner chatting with Ouyang Qian while drinking milk tea. She was chewing on pearls, her cheeks slightly puffed out. She was a step late in looking at him, following the gazes of those around her. Her slightly widened eyes made Wang Kan unable to suppress a smile, and a sense of satisfaction quickly swelled within him. If he had a cape, he could have stretched it out right now, but if it were too inflated, he would also be a little worried about it exploding.
He touched his hair, which had been sprayed with styling spray. Zheng Yanhang looked at him with amusement and circled around him, but in the end, he seriously punched his chest and gave him a thumbs up.
Actually, it was a white dress with a mediocre material and design, but Wang Kan had broad shoulders and long legs, so at first glance, it actually looked quite impressive.
After everyone had changed, Yin Mengran gathered everyone together. Fang Minzhou packed up Ouyang Qian's things and said "Good luck" to her. Wang Kan was also in sight.
"Clothes make the man, and a saddle makes the horse," Fang Minzhou thought silently.
Finally, it was their class's turn to go on stage. The performance went smoothly. Fang Minzhou was behind the curtain, listening to the students in the audience exclaim, laugh and applaud, and listening to the students from other classes around her talking. Although she was reluctant to be pulled in at first, at this moment she actually felt quite proud.
When Wang Kan came on stage, she heard a girl next to her ask who this was. Another girl shook her head, only knowing that she was from Class 7. Then they realized that there was a girl from Class 7 next to them. Their eyes met, feeling a little awkward but also eager to try. Seeing this, Fang Minzhou took the initiative to say, "Her name is Wang Kan."
The other person was taken aback. "Okay, thank you..."
"fine."
Fang Minzhou couldn't hear what the two were saying next.
Later, Sun Tong stood next to her at some point, and Fang Minzhou became the hesitant one. After a while, she finally decided to say to her, "Your script is really good."
Sun Tong forced a smile. "Thank you."
Fang Minzhou was somewhat surprised by her unpretentious attitude; she clearly saw a fleeting arrogance on her face.
Fang Minzhou thought for a moment and then told Sun Tong her true thoughts, "I didn't expect you to help... write the script."
“You can’t win a 3,000-meter race even if you run yourself to death, but writing a script like this is very easy,” Sun Tong said. “I still have some self-awareness.”
Her tone was so calm it bordered on cold, turning what could have been a candid expression into a raw, unanswerable barb, perhaps because she didn't even need to respond.
Fang Minzhou changed the subject, "After the party, everyone said we should go get some barbecue together, are you coming?"
Sun Tong's expression changed slightly as she looked at her, but said, "Nobody told me."
Fang Minzhou was taken aback and explained, "I just heard it from them too."
"No, thank you," Sun Tong said. "I'm going back now."
Is she angry?
"...The party isn't over yet, and the school gates don't seem to be open," Fang Minzhou said.
"I'm going back to my dorm."
Going back to the dormitory means... Fang Min didn't realize it at first. She only knew that Sun Tong was a boarding student, and the students who boarded at No. 1 Middle School were either like Yuan Yue, whose parents were not around, or they lived far away, like some students in the county town, who might only go home once every one or two months.
But tomorrow is a holiday, isn't Sun Tong going home for New Year's Day?
It was a time for celebration and joy, and she was clearly the biggest contributor, yet she suddenly distanced herself as if she were a complete stranger.
Fang Minzhou watched as Sun Tong turned and walked through the crowded throng, like a small fish swimming against the current. On either side of her, boys and girls dressed in various styles jostled each other, like the lace ruffles of a skirt set against the dark red velvet curtain. Stage lights shone through the gaps onto their faces, which showed either curiosity or nervousness. Only Sun Tong's back remained unreadable.
At that moment, Fang Minzhou seemed to have a sudden inspiration and understood why Yuan Yue and Ouyang Qian had shown her kindness and concern for no apparent reason, whether it was at the beginning of her first or second year of high school.
She and Sun Tong are somewhat similar, even if only slightly.
"Excuse me, could you please let me pass?" Fang Minzhou squeezed through the heavy shoulders, but thankfully there were many people, and she caught up with Sun Tong in a few steps. "...Should I come over?"
Sun Tong adjusted her glasses, about to speak, when Lin Sinian walked over, "What are you doing here?"
He was accompanied by one of the female hosts for tonight.
“Oh…” Fang Minzhou didn’t know how to explain. He looked at Sun Tong and saw that she didn’t seem to want to say anything. Since he was the one who stopped her, he said, “…I told Sun Tong that we should all have a late-night snack together after the party.”
Seeing this, the female host greeted Lin Sinian and said she would go first.
"Okay, I'll be right there." After replying, Lin Sinian said to Sun Tong, "Yes, the barbecue restaurant by the back gate, have you eaten there?"
Sun Tong remained silent, a slight impatience flickering in her eyes, though concealed by her black-rimmed glasses. Fang Minzhou felt somewhat awkward, but Lin Sinian's expression remained unchanged. "Actually, their food is quite good, but we can try other places. We haven't decided yet. Do you have any recommendations? You're a screenwriter, you can't not come."
Fang Minzhou gained a deeper understanding of Lin Sinian's tact and thoughtfulness once again. Was this due to innate talent or acquired cultivation? Fang Minzhou didn't know, but Sun Tong clearly felt the same way. She looked at him thoughtfully, while Lin Sinian simply smiled gently. When someone called him, he unilaterally made a pact with Sun Tong, "I'm going first. Remember to wait for me."
After Wang Kan and the others took their bows and returned backstage, she couldn't find Fang Minzhou at first glance, but then she saw Fang Minzhou and Lin Sinian together.
Lin Sinian said something with a smile before rushing to the stage.
The auditorium was heated, and after the performance, even though the costume was thin, Wang Kan was still covered in a light sweat. This sweat cooled down as his adrenaline levels dropped, just like his mood. When he saw that there was another Sun Tong who had been hidden, Wang Kan's gloomy mood lifted a little. But it wasn't until Ouyang Qian called Fang Minzhou that Fang Minzhou noticed that their performance was over.
"What's wrong?" Ouyang Qian asked.
"Oh, nothing, we were just discussing what to eat for supper later," Fang Minzhou said.
"Didn't we say we were going to have barbecue?" someone said.
"But isn't it too sinful to eat barbecue so late at night?"
"We're going to have a midnight snack anyway, who cares about whether it's sinful or not? The more sinful the better!" Zheng Yanhang shouted.
Sun Tong didn't interrupt, but she didn't leave either. Fang Minzhou breathed a sigh of relief, and at the same time noticed that a boy from another class came to find Wang Kan. "No wonder you didn't sing this year, Your Highness?"
Wang Kan was both amused and exasperated.
Fang Minzhou overheard their conversation and realized they seemed to be Wang Kan's classmates from the first year of high school. Around this time last year, they formed a band together. They joked that Wang Kan should perform more shows in that outfit, handed him a guitar, and asked him to sing.
Wang Kan was truly exasperated by this group of cronies. However, the students from Class 7 relaxed after their performance and started to jeer. Fang Minzhou was not among them, but she smiled and seemed to be watching the show with interest. When she met his gaze, she subconsciously looked away, but then stubbornly looked back at him.
She's always like this, Wang Kan thought, always on guard against him, but now he's gotten used to and even enjoys her gaze, and even hopes that no matter what, she can just linger on him a little longer.
Since she was already dressed like this, Wang Kan gritted her teeth and picked up the guitar.
Fang Minzhou saw him sitting pretentiously on an unused prop box, casually plucking a string on his violin. The light, cheerful music rippled outwards like waves. Soon it was time for the poetry recitation at the front of the stage. In the sudden silence, he softly sang: "I've never been good at speaking since I was little; I always say things I shouldn't. There's nothing I can do about it..."
This time, when he sang a Chinese song, he wasn't as unrestrained and flamboyant as he had been in English class. Instead, he murmured softly, as if telling a story. Fang Minzhou hadn't heard this song before, and after hearing the lyrics, the feeling of being short of breath and her face burning returned, even more intensely.
"I don't understand, if it weren't for this tiny bug that scared you so much that you jumped into my arms..."
The music remained gentle, but as he sang, each note became more and more like a train carriage, forming not a musical staff, but a train rumbling and crushing through Fang Minzhou's brain.
She listened motionless, her body stiff, her heart pounding like a drum. She almost suspected that Wang Kan had sung the wrong lyrics. But when Wang Kan sang "Like me, such an ordinary face," the crowd erupted in uproar. Some people pretended to throw things at him. Wang Kan smiled, put down his guitar, and played around with his friends.
Fang Minzhou touched her face and found that her palms were also hot. She looked around for the mineral water she had drunk earlier.
She shivered as she swallowed a mouthful of cold water.
Wang Kan must have chosen this song on purpose. Fang Minzhou didn't know what she did on purpose; perhaps it was just another prank on her.
She can't be fooled.
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Author's Note: There's one more chapter; let me revise it. No need to wait. [emoji]
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