Chapter Fourteen: The Enchanting Song of the Dolphin

There is nothing in this world more blissful than embracing the man you love in front of everyone! Overwhelmed with joy, Dong Yanyan clung to Lin Feng’s waist, her heart brimming with excitement.

In truth, his features weren’t particularly handsome, nor did he possess that standard, classic good looks. Yet she had fallen for him at first sight all those years ago, and even now, she could vividly recall the feeling. Some say that lovers from a past life will feel a surge of familiarity and excitement upon meeting again; if that’s true, then the best outcome would be to continue that unfinished story, wouldn’t it?

"Who is Wu Yuanheng?" Lin Feng lowered his head, searching for something to say.

At his words, Dong Yanyan’s heart skipped a beat. A great scholar like you, asking such a question—how disappointing to your perfect image in my mind! But I’ll forgive you. If I hadn’t lived a dozen years more than you, I wouldn’t know either.

"He was a chancellor during the Tang dynasty, contemporary with Bai Juyi. He wrote many poems—there were so many poets in that era. Which one do you like best?" she replied, feigning nonchalance.

"I like Li Shangyin," Lin Feng answered with a smile.

"So do I! His poetry has that unique elegance of the time, yet carries a distinctive charm all his own," Dong Yanyan immediately agreed. Having once been obsessed with unofficial histories, this was just the kind of topic she loved.

And so the two of them spent the evening drifting from Wu Yuanheng to Li Shangyin, then on to Xue Tao, Yuan Zhen, Bai Juyi—after all, the Tang dynasty was full of poets and beauties, and one night wasn’t enough to cover them all. It was a night of pleasant, aimless chatter.

At ten that night, still reluctant to part and wishing they’d met sooner, they said their goodbyes.

With a spring in her step, Dong Yanyan descended the stairs. The weekend lights would burn until midnight. She returned to her class, where a few students had already come back and were chatting in small groups. Entering through the back door, she immediately spotted a boy sitting alone in the last row, immersed in his homework with an air of quiet detachment.

His name was Song Mingcheng—an excellent student, well-liked, tall and poised, exuding an understated calm. When the TV drama "Vacuum Love Record" was all the rage, he became the class heartthrob because he resembled the male lead, Chu Zhengyan, and was always reserved and taciturn, giving off an effortlessly cool vibe. With few boys in class above average in looks, he really stood out. He was something of a legend: whenever someone spoke to him, his replies rarely exceeded five words; if, on a rare occasion, he used six, Dong Yanyan would be flattered enough to thank him profusely.

Only later did Dong Yanyan realize his composure wasn't just an act—no one could keep up a façade for more than a decade. He wasn’t one to chase fame or fortune, lived at ease, and came from an ordinary family. He led a simple, single life, content in his own way. Sometimes, she and Xu Cheng would drop by his house for a meal or a visit; having once been his deskmate for a year, Dong Yanyan always felt a special warmth when she saw him again.

"Song Mingcheng, why aren’t you upstairs dancing?" She tapped his desk, making small talk.

He looked up, forcing a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. "Doing homework."

Three words.

"My homework’s not done either. Help me out?" Dong Yanyan sidled closer, trying to get friendly.

"I don’t know it either." He met her gaze, wearing that same unchanging half-smile.

Four words.

Feeling deflated, Dong Yanyan walked away. She didn’t believe for a second there was a question he couldn’t answer. Fine, if he didn’t want to lend her his homework, she’d just go find Xiaoying! Xiaoying, whose full name was Liu Siying, was a girl from the next dorm—easygoing, well-liked, and a model student in the teachers’ eyes. When Dong Yanyan asked to borrow her homework, she handed it over without hesitation.

But copying homework all the time wasn’t a solution; she needed to buckle down and catch up! As she hunched over her desk, scribbling away, she quietly resolved to work harder.

Even though she’d stayed up late, Dong Yanyan, accustomed to rising early, woke up at dawn on Sunday. Seeing her friends still sound asleep, she didn’t want to disturb their dreams. She slipped quietly out of bed, washed up quickly in the bathroom, and headed to the classroom on the second floor with her books.

As she approached, she heard a chorus of "ah, ah, ah" from the broadcasting class across the hall. She knew the students there had a habit of practicing their voices in the morning; whenever they did, the whole building could hear it.

Finding herself alone in the classroom, Dong Yanyan perched on the windowsill, gazing out at the street below, the hurried pedestrians and the flow of traffic. The sounds from across the hall stirred her restless heart, and suddenly, seized by a youthful impulse, she felt like belting out a long-neglected dolphin note.

"Ah, ah, ah, ah—" She tilted her head back in mock rapture, hand to her ear, imitating the style of the "Dolphin Princess," Jane Zhang, and sang her heart out to the world outside the window. She was in the midst of her performance when suddenly, the classroom door burst open and five or six boys from the broadcasting class rushed in. Startled, Dong Yanyan stared at them with wide eyes, instinctively hugging the window frame.

"What are you doing? Get down from there!" Without waiting for an explanation, they pulled her down from the sill. Dong Yanyan stumbled and fell to the floor, clinging to a desk leg, and asked, wide-eyed and innocent, "What do you want? Is it forbidden to sit on our classroom windowsill?"

"We heard a noise and came running! We thought something had happened! What was that just now? You sounded so miserable!" Li Zhe, the monitor of the broadcasting class, asked anxiously.

His question caught her off guard for a moment, but then she burst out laughing. "That wasn’t a scream, that was a dolphin note! Haven’t you heard of dolphin notes? All right, I admit I sounded a bit tragic, but really, you guys… you’re just too sweet…" She explained between fits of laughter, and the more she thought about it, the funnier it seemed, until she was doubled over, clutching the desk, unable to stop.

Just as she was laughing uncontrollably, the front door of the classroom opened. Lin Feng and Yang Xiaohai walked in, chatting and smiling. Seeing a crowd in the room, they hurried over, and Lin Feng immediately spotted Dong Yanyan sitting on the floor; his face changed instantly.

"Brother Li, what happened here?" he asked Li Zhe with a polite smile.

Li Zhe, infected by Dong Yanyan’s laughter, nearly lost his composure over what wasn’t really a funny incident. Seeing Lin Feng, he pointed at Dong Yanyan and managed, between laughs, "Ask her yourself. She was belting out dolphin notes in the classroom—it startled us all!" With that, he and the other boys left, still chuckling.

Dong Yanyan looked up at Lin Feng, her mischievous mood completely gone. For him to see her in such a ridiculous state—how embarrassing!

Lin Feng glanced at her in confusion, then couldn’t help but laugh. "Yanyan, are you all right? Just now—" He reached out to help her up.

"It was just a misunderstanding, nothing happened!" Dong Yanyan grabbed the desk for support, stood up, and, trying to cover her embarrassment, returned to her seat with as much composure as she could muster.