“Let me take you backstage.”
Wang Shiyu’s one sentence stopped Xu Ye and Yang Fei’s argument cold.
“Backstage?”
She pointed at the temporary stage that had been assembled in the space. “There’s room on both sides of the stage — you can stand there and watch from the wings. This welcome party is organized by the Arts Division under the Student Union, and the division head is a senior from my high school. Just follow me.”
The three of them exchanged glances, then followed her backstage.
“Backstage” turned out to be a large tent that had been thrown up for the night.
The tent was packed, mostly with students who were performing that evening.
Yang Fei worked up his nerve. “Wang Shiyu, what are you performing tonight?”
“Dance,” she said, smiling. “There are only two dance numbers tonight — one from us freshmen, and one led by Senior Jiang Wei with some of the upperclasswomen.”
Before she’d even finished—
“Shiyu, Shiyu.” A girl in a matching outfit stood up and waved her over.
Wang Shiyu moved quickly to meet her. “What’s wrong?”
“Xiaoru still hasn’t got two of the moves down. Should we run through it one more time?”
Wang Shiyu nodded. “Yeah, let’s. Give me a second to talk to my friends.”
She turned back to Xu Ye. “Make yourselves at home, I need to go rehearse. If anyone asks why you’re back here, just say I brought you.”
“Sure~”
Wang Shiyu flashed a bright smile and headed off to warm up with her teammates. Yang Fei, watching that smile, felt something in his chest go soft.
“God, she’s so cute.”
Xu Ye smiled faintly, drifted toward the tent’s entrance on his own, and pulled the curtain aside — and came face-to-face with a striking figure heading in. The two made brief eye contact. He stepped aside without a word, letting her pass.
Once she was through, he walked outside.
He’d barely cleared the entrance when Yang Fei came barreling out after him. “No way — was that Senior Jiang Wei just now? The campus belle?!”
Xu Ye looked at him flatly. “Could you tone it down? Every time I go somewhere with you, I end up embarrassed.”
“Just tell me — is she even better-looking in person than in photos?”
Zhang Xinzhou shrugged. “She’s fine, I guess.”
“Xu Ye, what do you think?”
“Nothing special,” Xu Ye said, almost bored.
What none of the three of them knew was that Jiang Wei, after stepping inside, hadn’t gone off to rehearse like the others. She’d stopped near the entrance, phone out, texting her teammates — and despite the noise in the tent, she’d been close enough to catch every word of what Xu Ye, Yang Fei, and Zhang Xinzhou were saying outside.
Making it as the campus belle of a school with the female ratio that the Finance School had was no small feat — her looks spoke for themselves. She’d heard every kind of compliment imaginable. But “nothing special” was a first.
Yang Fei, watching Xu Ye stay completely unbothered, scoffed. “Sure, big talk when it’s just us. Let’s see you say that to her face.”
Xu Ye gave him the kind of look normally reserved for people who’ve asked a very stupid question. He was about to say something when a sharply dressed senior yanked a freshman out of the tent — a kid with a guitar slung across his back.
“Your name’s been in the program for weeks, and now you’re standing here telling me you’re too scared to go on? Zhang Kai, are you serious right now?”
“Senior, maybe you guys can find someone else. There’s so many people, I’m not sure I can—”
“There’s nobody else. The MC’s intro script is already written. You’re an adult. Can you please not be this spineless? You’re scared because there’s a crowd?”
“I just—”
“No more excuses. You’re going on tonight, your slot is late in the program, so pull yourself together.”
The senior swept back into the tent.
The older student in the blazer was clearly one of the night’s hosts. The one left outside — this freshman named Zhang Kai — just stood there, staring out at the audience already filling the seats, visibly trembling.
Xu Ye could see his legs shaking from where he stood.
Classic stage fright. Plenty of people with shaky nerves hit this exact wall right before they had to perform — sometimes it even came with dry heaving.
Not his problem though.
Yang Fei turned to Xu Ye. “Xu Ye, can you actually sing?”
“Of course.”
“Actually, or just saying that?”
“Are you kidding? I’m basically a love song prince.”
“Sure you are.”
“And it’s not just singing,” Xu Ye added, genuinely proud of himself. “I play guitar too. I’ll show you sometime.”
“If you can actually play guitar, I’ll eat the guitar.”
“Zhang Xinzhou, how many times has this guy made a bet like that now?”
“Lost count.”
At seven sharp, the welcome party officially kicked off.
Four hosts — two men, two women — took the stage, ran through the obligatory opening remarks, and the show got underway.
Songs dominated the lineup: solo performances, duets, a couple of band sets. What surprised Xu Ye was that they’d squeezed in a comedy sketch too. [TL: 小品 — a short comedic skit, typically involving two or three performers; a staple of Chinese variety shows and the Spring Festival Gala]
After the sketch, the first dance number finally arrived.
When Wang Shiyu and her freshman classmates stepped out onto the stage in their light skirts, the crowd of male students went absolutely electric.
“Holy—!”
“Yang Fei, you idiot, why are you grabbing my hand?!”
“I’m in love, I swear!”
“Get off me!”
After an energetic routine, the five girls struck a pose at the end, cute and coordinated.
Yang Fei, spotting Wang Shiyu’s gaze drifting toward where they were standing, lost his mind entirely.
“She’s looking at me! She’s looking at me!”
Xu Ye, watching, thought privately: She’s not looking at you, you fool. She’s making eyes at me.
Once the dance wrapped up, a run of solo singers took the stage. Wang Shiyu found her way back to the group shortly after, smiling sweetly. “How’d I look just now?”
Zhang Xinzhou: “Not bad.”
Yang Fei: “Amazing!”
Xu Ye: “Wasn’t really paying attention. I was looking at the leggings.”
“Xu Ye, you’re terrible~”
Yang Fei weighed in with the conviction of a man stating established fact: “He always has been.”
Zhang Xinzhou, watching the expression on Wang Shiyu’s face, had a feeling she was holding back the second half of a sentence — something along the lines of: but somehow I kind of like it.
Xu Ye had half a mind to head back to the dorm — he had things to take care of tomorrow. But when he checked the time, there was under half an hour left. He decided he might as well just stick it out with Yang Fei.
The singers kept coming, one after another.
Eight-ten.
The campus belle Jiang Wei, who the entire audience had come to see, finally took the stage.
Six performers in total — every one of them around 165 centimeters, [TL: roughly 5’5″] all of them genuinely striking, and all dressed in matching tank tops, pleated skirts, and knee-high boots.
The moment the six of them walked out, the whole audience detonated.
Screaming. Hollering. An absolute wall of noise that just kept going.
Even Xu Ye looked faintly stunned.
Really?
All this over that?
What an absolute bunch of country boys who’ve never seen anything in their lives.
(End of Chapter)