The artist is crying
The arts festival is just around the corner, and Jin Can, as the class's arts and culture representative, naturally shoulders the dual responsibility of logistical organization and participation in the competition.
Unfortunately, arts activities have certain performance requirements, and they are already in their second year of high school, so their focus is gradually shifting to their studies.
In the end, Jin Can couldn't find any other classmates willing to participate in the arts festival competition, so he had to bite the bullet and pull in the other five to fill in for him.
She practiced the guzheng alone according to the system's task plan, while also having to discuss the recitation competition with everyone.
Practicing the guzheng is tedious and demanding. Every day after school, she has to rush home and practice for one to two hours at a time.
Because practicing at night could disturb the neighbors, the downstairs residents came to the door and raised their objections in a gentle tone.
The mother apologized to the other party, and Jin Can explained the school competition arrangements, which finally led to the current compromise.
My fingertips plucked the strings again and again, my ten fingers were worn red and hot, and new calluses grew.
The music was sometimes passionate, sometimes melancholic, but it always lacked a certain charm. Jin Can knew that musical instruments required accumulation and refinement. After a five or six-year hiatus, it was not easy to return to the state of learning when he was a child.
But the system's task remained coldly hanging there, and she could only grit her teeth and tell herself: just hold on, won't the system reward me?
In contrast, the preparations for the recitation competition were a bigger headache for her.
"Can Can, what are we going to recite? We need to have some direction, right?" Lin Xiaoxiao asked, resting her chin on her hand and tilting her head.
After school, the group of six sat in the classroom and discussed for a full half hour, but they still couldn't decide on a topic or direction.
Jin Can tried to put forward several ideas, including ancient poems, modern poems, prose, and even translations of famous foreign works, but unfortunately, they were all rejected by everyone in turn.
"Too childish, not like they're elementary school students," Ge Ouchen muttered to himself.
"Although the theme calls for us to be youthful and positive, this is just too old-fashioned," Chao Ningning commented, shaking her head.
Jin Can felt a tightness in his chest from anger, and his cheeks flushed slightly.
She took a deep breath, trying to suppress her anger, but she couldn't hold back any longer. She suddenly stood up, grabbed her schoolbag, and walked out: "So annoying! You guys figure it out yourselves! I'm in a hurry to practice the piano."
After saying that, she left the classroom without looking back.
Behind them, the five people looked at each other, and an awkward silence filled the air.
Ge Ouchen reacted the fastest, quickly packed his things, and chased after him, shouting as he ran, "Don't be angry!"
But she had already walked far away, her figure disappearing at the end of the corridor.
I feel a little sorry for Kim Chan-baby.
But ultimately, this is her system task; what can she do if she doesn't take it seriously?
Jin Can felt even more irritated as she looked at the comments flooding her mind. In the following days, Jin Can's mood plummeted, and she even became somewhat distracted in class. Lin Xiaoxiao called her several times, but she only gave a perfunctory response, her eyes darting around.
Time waits for no one, and the days leading up to the arts festival preliminary rounds are drawing ever closer.
Jin Can looked at the task progress on the system panel, feeling anxious. However, her guzheng practice had already exhausted her, and she couldn't skip her homework. She simply didn't have time to organize the content for the recitation competition.
It's not that she doesn't want to take care of it, but a person's energy is limited, and she's not a machine that runs 24 hours a day.
"Don't worry, leave this to us!"
Finally, on Monday evening, three days before the preliminary round, Shi Yanxi pushed up her glasses and confidently gave her a guarantee.
Lin Xiaoxiao assumed that Jin Can was still angry about what they had discussed a few days ago, so she half-softened and half-coquettishly said with a smile, "Hehehe, let's come up with a funny plan that will definitely make the whole place explode and make you the center of attention on campus!"
Jin Can felt uneasy upon hearing this.
But she was simply too busy, because the music performance competition was starting first tomorrow.
She glanced at the five people who were starting to discuss things, and could only nod helplessly: "Alright, you guys figure it out. I'm going to practice the piano now." After saying that, she started packing her things.
"Hey Dog Bro, what are you guys up to again?" a student asked curiously as they passed by.
“Come to the auditorium to watch our recitation after school this Thursday,” Ge Ouchen replied casually.
"Wow, that's awesome! I'll definitely go see it!" The classmate gave a thumbs up.
Jin Can left on his own, leaving the five of them in the classroom to have a lively discussion.
Time quickly came to the day of the preliminary rounds.
The next day after school, Jin Can's guzheng performance was drawn first. She didn't have time to change into her dress and had to go on stage in her school uniform.
She sat upright in the center of the stage, took a deep breath, and her ten fingers moved swiftly, producing a melody that was sometimes as stirring as a war drum and sometimes as soft as a whisper, as if carrying all the struggles, entanglements and perseverance in her heart.
This round was the preliminary round, so there were very few spectators and the applause was sparse.
Ge Ouchen and the others were still busy reciting the proposal in the classroom, while Jin Can took her bow alone, as no one had come for her.
Fortunately, she couldn't care less about any of that right now; all she could see was the task completion status on the system panel.
After everyone finished performing, the judges announced the list of finalists on the spot: Jin Can successfully advanced.
She watched the system notification that the task was completed, breathed a sigh of relief, and her tense nerves finally relaxed a little.
However, the scene at the recitation competition was completely beyond her expectations.
The news that Ge Ouchen was going to participate in the recitation spread quickly, and quite a few students from the second year of high school came to watch the spectacle. The auditorium was about seven or eight-tenths full, and the atmosphere was extremely lively.
The competition began, and the six-person group took the stage. Their first few sentences were quite proper, youthful, positive, and full of energy.
Until that sentence—
"Ah, I love learning!"
Ge Ouchen's loud voice echoed in the auditorium, instantly igniting laughter from the entire audience. The students and even several teachers below the stage laughed so hard they were doubled over.
For some reason, Jin Can's face turned red.
When she received the recitation script the day before, she thought the content was ridiculously abstract. She never expected that the reality would be so exaggerated when she actually went on stage.
She stood on the stage, forcing herself to cooperate with the performance:
"The school heartthrob asked me to date him, and I ran away as fast as I could!"
"My classmates asked me to gossip, but I ignored them!"
The six of them took turns going up in pairs, using exaggerated tones and body language to perform an absurd short play, exuding a strange and unsettling atmosphere.
Jin Can gritted his teeth and told himself: Forget it, close your eyes and do it!
With all she could see in front of her was the "ha" comment on the screen, and she could barely make out the judges and classmates in the audience.
Jin Can felt a mix of emotions, because she knew that this kind of performance was absurd and too unserious, and probably wouldn't make it into the semi-finals.
But she could feel that the audience's reaction was more enthusiastic than she had expected. Not only her classmates, but even several teachers were laughing so hard they were doubled over, saying to each other that they didn't expect Ge Ouchen to be such an interesting person.
After the performance ended, applause erupted one after another. Jin Can even saw a classmate recording a video on their phone between the live comments, shouting, "Hilarious! Brilliant!"
As expected, the group failed to advance to the next round due to their "excessive play".
After the competition, Jin Can, who was both the logistics organizer for the arts and literature committee member and a participant in the competition, was called upon by the head of the teaching department to go to the event.
Although the words weren't harsh, they still made her bow her head and receive a good scolding.
"Your performance was quite creative, but it was too unreliable. Students need to be more mature!"
Just as she was feeling extremely embarrassed, Ge Ouchen appeared and said that the homeroom teacher was looking for them, which helped her out of the predicament.
As she walked out of the auditorium, a sense of loss gradually welled up inside her.
System panel task display — (0/1).
It seems the recitation competition has been deemed a complete failure.
"Um...it's okay, right? We call this entertainment first!" Shi Yanxi said nonchalantly, pushing up her glasses.
"After all, it's been repaired, so it should be," she added softly.
Lin Xiaoxiao laughed excitedly: "Hahaha, I saw that some people have already uploaded videos online. Maybe we can become a little popular."
"It's okay, being happy is the most important thing," Ge Ouchen whispered in Jin Can's ear, seemingly in a good mood as well.
Sure enough, the video went viral among classmates that night, generating a lot of laughs.
In particular, Jin Can's "I ignore it" and Ge Ouchen's waving hand were screenshotted and turned into memes, flooding the comment sections of online platforms, and the title of "Second Middle School's Hidden Dragon and Young Phoenix" spread from then on.
The next morning, her classmates teased her, saying, "Jin Can, don't ignore Brother Gou!"
I'm definitely shipping the "Sleeping Dragon and Phoenix Chick" couple.
Even some teachers joked with her when they saw her: "Your recitations are quite interesting, you're good at making headlines."
Jin Can was both amused and exasperated, and in no good mood either, feeling that everything had happened inexplicably.
Unfortunately, the system's cold notification quickly shattered her mood, as 5% of her attribute value was mercilessly deducted.
Points, base stats, and the aura of the Empress have all plummeted; forget about using skills next week.
"System, the performance was quite good, and it's been the center of attention. Please do me a favor."
[Hello, host! Winning a prize in the school finals and becoming the laughingstock of your classmates are two different things.]
[Please continue your efforts in the other group and strive for better results.]
This time, the system didn't give her any room for negotiation.
Jin Can felt a tightness in his chest, making it hard to breathe.
What does it mean to "become a laughing stock among classmates"?
That's a bit harsh... She worked so hard for so long, and this is the result she got!
After school on Friday, only a few students remained in the classroom. Jin Can dawdled, really not wanting to go back to practice the zither. Unfortunately, the system still urged her on. In the end, her test paper accidentally rubbed against her fingertips, which were red from practicing the zither every day, and her emotions completely exploded.
She slammed the sheet music to the ground, her voice trembling, "What are you doing?! I've already done my best, what more do you want from me?!"
"Oh my god, this shouldn't be happening!" Chao Ningning looked at Shi Yanxi, who then cursed.
Zhou Yu then looked at Ge Ouchen, who had just walked in.
Ge Ouchen was also stunned. Looking at her red-eyed appearance, he wanted to go forward to comfort her, but Jin Can pushed him away abruptly.
"Leave me alone! None of you should bother me!"
After she finished speaking, she turned and ran out of the classroom, leaving him shouting.
On a bench by the playground, the setting sun gradually dipped below the horizon, its afterglow spilling onto golden hair and casting a solitary silhouette.
She looked at the unfamiliar classmates on the playground, trying to calm herself down, but she could not calm the unease in her chest.
Just then, a cup of milk tea was quietly pushed next to her.
Zhou Yu sat down next to her and said softly, "Ge Ouchen said that consuming sugar can relieve mood."
Jin Can paused, looked down at the milk tea, and suddenly felt a surge of grievance.
She knew that her outburst of temper was unreasonable and had hurt everyone.
But in the end, she's just an ordinary person, and the pressure the system is putting on her like this is just too much.
She silently picked up the milk tea, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably.
The next second, she burst into tears, sobbing uncontrollably.
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