Chapter 44
After coming out of the office, Zhang Jusong stayed in the corridor for a while.
The voice-controlled light turned on and off. She sat in a corner of the stairs, staring into the darkness in a daze.
Do you want to continue studying for a master's degree?
think.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have hurriedly acted in front of Teacher Ju with such an awkward posture.
However, the word "but" habitually came to her mind. Soon after entering school, she became discouraged and put her words "In college, as long as you don't fail any courses, you'll live forever" into action, feeling at ease and giving up.
Thinking about it now, it was actually another kind of arrogance, deceiving herself into thinking "I just don't do it, so it's like this", with the subtext that as long as she is willing to take action, everything will be as easy as taking something out of a bag. After two years of confusion, her freshman and sophomore transcripts were mostly "good", with one or two "excellent" grades occasionally mixed in.
Compared with the gaps of the leaders in the same major, her results were really not good enough. Zhang Jusong felt a headache when she thought about competing with them for the few guaranteed places in graduate school.
Sitting alone in the dark hall of the college building, some familiar, not-so-good emotions began to arise in her mind again.
She covered her ears, stood up and walked down the stairs.
Step by step, her steps became faster and faster, and the sensor light lit up with her footsteps.
After passing through the glass door, Xia Zhiheng, who was waiting under the pillar, raised his head and looked in her direction. Then, a smile bloomed in his eyes.
"You must be exhausted after a busy day. Here, lightly sugared and ice-free milk tea."
Zhang Jusong pursed his lips, took the slightly cool milk tea, and said, "I am indeed a little tired."
"Then I'll massage your shoulders for you."
"Stop it."
"No, I'm serious."
Xia Zhiheng smiled, put his hands on her shoulders, and began to press them seriously, saying, "My lady, Xia Zi's skills are pretty good, aren't they?"
"Not bad, eh?"
"In that case, can I ask for a reward?"
"What reward?"
The hand on her shoulder suddenly loosened, changing to a gentle "circling" position. Xia Zhiheng's furry head rested on the crook of her neck, feeling a little heavy: "Sister, can you give me a kiss?"
Zhang Jusong put the milk-green paste on his cheek with his backhand.
"So bad." Although he spoke in a startled tone, Xia Zhiheng's handsome eyebrows were still curved.
He grabbed the cup of green milk tea, pierced the sealed bag, inserted a straw, and handed it back to her.
The moment Zhang Jusong took the milk tea, he heard him say, "Finally I smiled."
Huh? Really? She touched her face with one hand and found that the corner of her mouth was indeed curved upwards.
She took a sip of the green tea, which was just the right amount of sweetness, but almost room temperature. She didn't know how long the man had been waiting outside. Really, why didn't he send a message to urge him?
Zhang Jusong raised his eyes, met his concerned gaze, and told him about his recent confusion.
"…So, that's why I'm a little sad. On the one hand, I'm angry with myself, and on the other hand, I'm sad because I feel like I can't catch up with the guaranteed admission to graduate school. I'm really useless."
Xia Zhiheng looked helpless, and the words "You're here again" were clearly written on his face.
"Don't say that," he leaned close to her ear, "No matter when, as long as Sister wants to do something, she can definitely do it well!"
"This is the result of Xia Zhiheng's professional argumentation. Do not refute it!"
He raised a finger to her lips, successfully preventing another "but" from coming out.
Zhang Jusong glared at him and pulled his fingers away: "You."
Xia Zhiheng smiled and put his arm around her shoulders as they walked forward: "What's wrong with me? I'm telling the truth. Besides, do you really think it's impossible for me to get into graduate school? Not necessarily."
He rattled on and on, "It's only been a short while since the first semester of my junior year, so I can always give it a try. If I feel like one or two of my previous courses are dragging down my GPA, I can just retake them, and the problem can always be solved."
When he said that, Zhang Jusong's mind started to work quickly. She stopped and lowered her eyes. The junior year courses had just started. If she worked hard, she would have a chance to get an A. It was not impossible to squeeze in some time and retake the two courses that she had not done well in before. If everything went as expected, her GPA might be able to reach the threshold of graduate school.
In short, there is still hope of being admitted to graduate school.
Her mood lightened up a little, and she took a sip of the milky green tea, which had a light aroma of jasmine green tea.
They stopped for no apparent reason and remained silent for a while, but the people around them didn't seem to urge them at all. Xia Zhiheng looked at her intently, as if he would never get tired of looking at her. Noticing her raising her eyes, he subconsciously wanted to look away, but as if he realized that he now had a legitimate boyfriend status, Xia Zhiheng stopped and looked at her openly.
I have to say, the feeling of being the focus of his attention is... good.
Zhang Jusong smiled silently and kicked a yellow leaf on the ground with his toes: "Um, are you free around 5:30 tomorrow evening?"
"Of course!" Xia Zhiheng's eyes suddenly lit up, "Sister, have you made up your mind?"
Tomorrow evening at 5:30 is her preliminary singing time.
Zhang Jusong nodded and said softly, "I want to give it a try."
She tried to make her voice sound lighter: "It's just that I'm still a little scared, so can you come tomorrow? If there is someone who can..."
She hesitated for a moment, lowered her eyes and said, "If someone could cheer and applaud me, maybe I would feel better."
Even with just one person's support, it seems to make things better.
The next second, she was embraced in a warm and firm embrace, and the night breeze gently carried his words into her ears: "I promise, I will always cheer for you."
She stayed in his arms for a while, then stood on tiptoe and gave him a gentle kiss on the cheek.
"Thanks."
She smiled sheepishly, said "see you tomorrow", and ran away.
Tomorrow, what a good word. Just like what Scarlett said in Gone with the Wind, "No matter what, tomorrow is another day."
The preliminary round was in the evening, and I started to get anxious after waking up from my nap.
The roommates went to class, leaving the dormitory empty, which was perfect for Zhang Jusong to practice singing.
The song had been chosen long ago, "Ye Ye Ye Ye", a song she liked very much. She practiced it twice. When she heard the door of the next dormitory open, she immediately fell silent.
She waited until the footsteps passed the door and could no longer be heard before she started practicing again.
The preliminary round will be held in the small circular square where registration is held. The singing time is one and a half minutes, and it is a cappella. The competition is very fast.
Zhang Jusong wore a red gentian skirt and came to the small square.
Xia Zhiheng was there, and Annie and Manman waved to her excitedly. What was even more surprising was that several classmates were also there.
The class monitor was a girl with a ponytail. She smiled and said to her, "Why didn't you tell us about your participation? I only heard about it during lunch. You only asked a few people in the class to be cheerleaders. Come on, Ju Song!"
Zhang Jusong smiled awkwardly and heard his classmates’ “Come on!” several times.
Well, the oil was added, but it seemed a little too much. As she stood by the stage waiting for the show, her heart was pounding and she was very nervous.
The occasional noise from the microphone when the contestant in front of her was singing, the particularly obvious mispairing of the notes due to the a cappella singing without background music, the curious looks and whispers of teachers and students passing by, the conversations of the judges...all the sounds were suddenly amplified many times and drowned out the song in her heart.
I was just anxious, with countless "what ifs" popping up in my mind. When I pressed one, another popped up.
A bright voice sounded beside my ear, "Are you nervous?"
She raised her eyes and saw Xia Zhiheng had squeezed in beside her without her noticing.
Zhang Jusong nodded, and now even her blinking frequency became faster.
Xia Zhiheng frowned: "Come here."
She approached without knowing why, and suddenly a pair of wireless noise-cancelling headphones were placed in her ears, playing music softly.
Xia Zhiheng explained: "If you are really nervous, just put on your headphones, walk onto the stage, and close your eyes. I will listen for you. As soon as the judges say start, the accompaniment will play in the headphones."
He gently lifted the hair by her ears and put the headphones on her.
The noise reduction effect of the headphones is very good. Once you put them on, the whole world seems to suddenly become quiet.
In silence, she could only see Xia Zhiheng's smile.
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