New Year's Eve Party
In early January, lead-gray clouds hung low like a curtain, and fine snowflakes were the first to knock on the glass windows, making a rustling sound.
On January 1st, the corridors of Yuncheng High School were stained amber by the dusk. Downstairs in the teaching building, several students stood on tiptoe, peering toward the auditorium. Their down jackets were stained with chalk dust, but their eyes couldn't hide the excitement.
Teacher Song Yuhuan's hand, clutching a half-broken piece of chalk, suddenly paused. As he turned, the hem of his shirt brushed across the podium, revealing the colorful cardstock he'd hidden behind him. "Students, please stop writing and put down your workbooks," he smiled, tapping the blackboard. "Do you know what day it is today?"
The girl in the front row with pigtails suddenly raised her hand: "Teacher Song, it's New Year's Day!" Amidst the intermittent gasps, the boys in the back row straightened their backs. Even the sleepy Lu Chenzhou perked up his chin. Teacher Song pulled a gold-stamped program from her lesson plan folder and traced the densely written text with her fingertips: "The school has specially adjusted the curriculum. This afternoon, all teachers and students will be in the auditorium preparing for the New Year's Day party..."
"Yeah!" cheers instantly lifted the ceiling. The boy by the window kicked over his bench in excitement. The girls in the front row hugged each other and jumped up and down. Even the usually quiet Chinese class representative flushed and waved her arms. Amidst the resounding "Great!" shouts, Teacher Song had to raise his voice: "Students who want to show off their talents, come see me during break and sign up!" But his words were quickly drowned out by the new wave of cheers, the chalk box on the podium gently vibrating to the rhythm.
The midday sun shone obliquely into the office. Song Yuhuan called Gu Hanzhi and Shen Zhihe over individually, his expression serious yet somewhat expectant. "I called you here because the leaders of the Education Bureau will be attending the New Year's Eve party. They specifically asked you to host it, and you also need to prepare a performance. The time is short and the task is heavy, so I hope you'll be fully prepared."
After coming out of the office, Gu Hanzhi frowned, her face full of displeasure, and she couldn't help complaining: "What a shitty Education Bureau! Just because we two are dark horses, hosting this New Year's Eve party has to be treated like a beast of burden. What does this have to do with academic performance? It's really inexplicable!" As she spoke, she kicked the stones on the side of the road, as if the stones were the source of her dissatisfaction.
Shen Zhihe seemed much calmer, with the corners of his mouth slightly raised, and responded with a smile: "Don't be so angry, think about it from another perspective, doesn't this add a different kind of fun to the New Year's Eve party? Instead of complaining here, we might as well act quickly and choose the host uniform first. After all, the right clothes can also add points to the host." As he said, he patted Gu Hanzhi's shoulder gently, trying to calm her emotions.
The winter dusk had already crept into the corridor, and there were only three hours left before the New Year's Eve party began. Shen Zhihe leaned on a stool, his fingertips unconsciously tapping on the glass of water. He looked at Gu Hanzhi, who was packing her books, and asked, "Have you decided what you want to perform?"
Gu Hanzhi paused. She lowered her eyes, tucking her stray hair behind her ear. Her eyelashes cast an uneasy shadow under her eyes. "Not yet," her voice tinged with annoyance. "I was thinking of putting on a skit, but there's no time to rehearse, and opera is too popular..." She suddenly looked up, her gaze landing on the school badge swaying on Shen Zhihe's chest. "Do you have any ideas?"
Shen Zhihe lowered his eyes and thought for a moment, his fingertips unconsciously stroking the dark lines on his cuffs. Suddenly he looked up and smiled, "I remember you can play the piano, right? How about we perform a duet?"
Gu Hanzhi's fingers gripping the book suddenly tightened. She turned away, avoiding the man's intense gaze. The end of her hair brushed past her ear, making a subtle sound. "I can play the piano, yes," she said, swallowing her uneasiness. "But I've never performed in front of anyone. What if I mess up and fail? Wouldn't that mean all your preparations are in vain?"
Shen Zhihe chuckled softly as he gazed at Gu Hanzhi's drooping eyelashes. The light outside the window made the faint red on the tip of her ear even more distinct. "We've been childhood sweethearts, don't I know you well enough?" He suddenly leaned forward, his warm breath brushing against her burning earlobe. "You're the Gu Hanzhi who won the gold medal in the youth piano category for the past seven years, the one the judges kept asking for her contact information."
She raised her head in panic and met the cunning light in his eyes. Her voice was a little embarrassed: "So... you know everything - that... the sky is so blue." After saying that, she wanted to bite off her tongue. Her eyes hurriedly swept over the portraits on the wall. Even the eyes of the people in the paintings seemed to be laughing at her clumsiness.
In the past few hours, Shen Zhihe and Gu Hanzhi have been discussing the repertoire for the New Year's Eve party in the music classroom.
Shen Zhihe repeatedly plucked the guitar strings in the music classroom: "Do you think the harmony part of the prelude to "Star Tracks" would be clearer if it was replaced with piano?"
Gu Hanzhi tapped her fingertips on the music score. "But the piano's bass might overshadow the main melody. How about using a harmonica as an interlude?"
In their notebooks, many songs were filled with modification symbols. In the end, they chose the original song "Letter from the Fog", which they both thought was nice and they were good at.
Time passed by drop by drop. Shen Zhihe leaned on the door frame of the lounge. When he raised his hand to look at his watch for the third time, he heard the rustling sound of silk rubbing against each other behind him, like moonlight falling into a wind chime.
"Hanzhi, hurry up, if you are any later, the party will start soon." Shen Zhihe's urging voice came.
Gu Hanzhi emerged from the shadows, her skirt lifted. The purple satin flowed like a galaxy under the corridor lights. The diamonds adorning the hem of her skirt refracted a myriad of light, as if the entire universe had been crushed and inlaid on her hem. She frowned and sighed softly, her pearl earrings swaying slightly as she moved. "This skirt is a little too long. It took me a while to get ready."
Shen Zhihe gazed at her silhouette, gilded by the light, his Adam's apple rolling unconsciously. The deep purple accentuated the crimson at the corners of her eyes, and she seemed, in a trance, like a lady from an ink painting. It wasn't until Gu Hanzhi raised her hand and waved it before his eyes that he finally woke up, a faint blush on the tips of his ears. "This is beautiful! I'm so lucky to be hosting this party with Miss Gu."
"Really?" Gu Hanzhi turned around, and the diamonds on her skirt emitted tiny lights. "After the party, treat everyone to milk tea. I want strawberry flavor!" When she tilted her head and smiled, the broken diamonds on her collarbone trembled. Shen Zhihe looked away, his throat tight.
Shen Zhihe's eyebrows curved into a gentle arc, raised his hand to rub the top of her head, and his voice was wrapped in unbreakable doting: "Okay."
The corridor outside the auditorium gradually became lively. Groups of students wrapped in thick scarves took their seats in the auditorium on both sides of the stage as the opening music of the New Year's Eve party played. The sounds of conversation mixed with the white mist rising from the heating created a festive atmosphere.
Just as the last row of audience members took their seats, the crystal chandelier on the stage dome suddenly flickered, and the hands of the brass grandfather clock exactly hit the 4:30 mark.
Light streamed down like a galaxy. As the crowd held their breath, a man in a black suit and a woman in a deep purple dress crossed the screen side by side. Gu Hanzhi's slightly tilted chin was shimmering with the light of her diamond earrings, while Shen Zhihe's dimples, revealed as he lowered his eyes and smiled softly, were filled with starlight. The two men took the microphone in unison, as if they had rehearsed it a thousand times. The interweaving of light and shadow even caused the sound of shutter clicks in the audience to temporarily lose their rhythm.
The other performances were relatively dull. The Director of the Education Bureau sat in the front row beside the judges, his fingers unconsciously rubbing the certificate of honor inscribed with "Best Performance First Prize." As each performance unfolded, the Director's brow furrowed further and further. Finally, he leaned over and asked the principal of Yuncheng High School, his voice low, "Didn't I specifically order performances for Gu and Shen? When are they going to be on?"
The principal leaned forward slightly, a reserved smile on his face. "Don't worry, Director. There's only one last performance left before it's their turn. As the saying goes, a good show never ends late, and the finale is the most exciting."
Hearing this, the director sighed softly and returned his gaze to the stage. Despite trying hard to concentrate, the lackluster performances still made him check his watch frequently, hoping that the lengthy performance would end quickly so that he could witness the two students' brilliant performances in person.
The curtains on either side of the stage slowly opened, and spotlights traced a silvery trail across the sky. Gu Hanzhi, clutching a gold-rimmed microphone, gazed down at the audience with a smile: "Thank you all for your company tonight. Next, Shen Zhihe and I will present a specially prepared original piece—"Letter from the Fog." Before the final words had even finished, sporadic applause erupted from the audience. The director adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, resting his elbow on the carved armrest, his gaze blazing at the stage.
The overhead lights suddenly dimmed, leaving only a few faint blue spotlights swirling across the empty stage. When the first wisps of piano music trickled from a corner, the audience instantly fell silent. Gu Hanzhi's fingertips lightly touched the keys, and the cool notes, like dewdrops in the morning mist, quietly blossomed in the silence. Shen Zhihe's movements as he tweaked the effects pedals were fluid and effortless. The metal picks struck the strings, creating tentative chords that intertwined with the piano's melody to form a hazy prelude.
"In the morning, I push open the mottled window lattice..." The moment Shen Zhihe began, his magnetic voice, wrapped in an electric texture, poured out. He lowered his eyes slightly and plucked the strings, the deliberate vibrato at the end of the note like a sea breeze blowing through a rusted lighthouse.
Gu Hanzhi joined the harmony at the perfect moment, her clear voice piercing the low guitar melody like moonlight piercing the mist. With the arrival of the interlude, the piano rhythm suddenly accelerated, and Shen Zhihe's strumming became more intense, with splashing notes exploding in the theater dome, startling the audience in the back rows who subconsciously held their breath.
The director unconsciously leaned forward, not even noticing his briefcase slipping to the ground. Light and shadow intertwined on the stage, Gu Hanzhi's sideways face flickering in the light, while Shen Zhihe's figure, swaying to the rhythm, was stretched into a silhouette.
When the two voices blended perfectly in the chorus, flashbulbs streamed down from the audience like a galaxy. Some raised their phones to record the performance, while others hummed along. When the last note faded, the theater fell into a three-second silence, followed by a long, thunderous applause.
When the last note faded in the dome of the auditorium, Shen Zhihe and Gu Hanzhi stopped dancing at the same time.
The young man's clear voice echoed through the microphone, "Our performance ends here. Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, it's time to say goodbye. Thank you all for coming to tonight's New Year's Eve party—" He turned to look at his partner, and Gu Hanzhi smiled and responded, "May this beautiful moment become the warmest memory of the new year. May our youth—never end!"
They both bent simultaneously, their backs curved into graceful arcs. After three seconds of silence, the audience suddenly erupted in thunderous applause. In the front row, the director was particularly excited, his bony hands reddening from clapping, tears welling in the corners of his eyes. He solemnly pulled the certificate of honor from his suit pocket and thrust it into the principal's hand: "Xiao Wang, Gu Hanzhi and Shen Zhihe, this golden couple, truly deserve first prize!"
The audience left one after another. In the lounge, Gu Hanzhi and Shen Zhihe had already changed into their previous shirts.
Gu Hanzhi quickly took a breath of fresh air and said to Shen Zhihe beside her, "You don't know how nervous I was just now. I couldn't even take a deep breath." She stroked her chest, and her fingertips still trembled slightly.
Shen Zhihe placed his hand on Gu Hanzhi's shoulder, a gentle smile in his eyes. "Honestly, you're the best partner I've ever had. You're already very good." He paused, and suddenly conjured up a bunch of small sunflowers from behind him, the petals still stained with water droplets. "Here, a reward for the best teacher, Gu."
Gu Hanzhi looked at the bouquet in surprise, her nervousness instantly washed away by the surprise: "Where did you get it from? When did you prepare it?"
"It's a secret." Shen Zhihe blinked. "And as promised, I'll treat you to a cup of milk tea. To express my gratitude, when the weather gets warmer, let's go to the movies." After saying that, he produced two movie tickets from his hand like a magic trick.
Gu Hanzhi couldn't help laughing, took the sunflower and sniffed it gently: "This is pretty good, we agreed not to regret it."
In the evening, the twilight stained the sky like inky rice paper. Streetlights lit up one after another, casting a warm yellow glow on the wet asphalt. Gu Hanzhi held the bouquet of sunflowers, her fingertips unconsciously caressing the tiny hairs on the stems. Shen Zhihe's shadow slanted at her feet, swaying with her steps.
The next morning, sunlight shone obliquely into the classroom. Song Yuhuan walked in briskly, holding a red object in her hand and a smile on her face.
He walked to the podium, knocked on the table, and said loudly, "Quiet!" After the classroom gradually quieted down, he continued, "I have good news for everyone. Yesterday's New Year's Eve party was successfully concluded. Our classmates Shen Zhihe and Gu Hanzhi were highly praised by the director of the Education Bureau for their outstanding hosting and performance! The director specially prepared first-place certificates for them both. This is a rare honor. Everyone, give them a round of applause!"
As soon as the words fell, applause broke out in the classroom. Shen Zhihe and Gu Hanzhi stepped forward and took the gold-stamped red-sealed certificate from Song Yuhuan.
As the two stood for a photo, Shen Zhihe inconspicuously moved closer to Gu Hanzhi, their shoulders almost touching. The moment the camera froze, the two of them standing side by side looked like a sweet campus couple, causing the students in the audience to boo.
This audio-visual feast that lasted all night was not only a display of talent, but also a manifestation of the enthusiastic anticipation of the whole school's teachers and students for the New Year. Every carefully polished detail left a shining mark in time.
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