Chapter Fifty-Six: Courting the Girl from Your Family

On Saturday morning, after hurriedly delivering the newspapers, Dong Yanyan returned to the dormitory to tidy up, preparing to head out to the mall to buy clothes. She had to leave early and be back by noon, as there was a competition in the afternoon.

So Song Mingcheng went back to the classroom alone. Early as it was, only Lin Feng was there, working on his assignments.

Hearing the door, Lin Feng looked up, saw who it was, and greeted him with a smile.

“You’re working hard today,” Song Mingcheng remarked casually. He returned to his seat to organize his books, taking care of Dong Yanyan’s as well. Suddenly, he noticed a piece of letter paper under her English textbook.

“I would turn into a stone bridge, to endure five hundred years of wind, five hundred years of sun, and five hundred years of rain, only to await your footsteps crossing over me.” He recited slowly, then turned to Lin Feng with a faint smile. “Five hundred years—the number of people who might cross that bridge? Aren’t you afraid the flowers along the way will bewilder you? Should I understand that your waiting through centuries of wind and sun is just to seize opportunities as they come?”

...

Dong Yanyan made it back to school before one in the afternoon. She was relieved she hadn’t taken Xinran along—otherwise, they would have been delayed for sure. She bought herself a red down jacket and picked up a light gray sweater for Song Mingcheng. She recognized the style while browsing the mall, and the price was acceptable, so she bought it.

Back at the dormitory, the door was already locked. She hurried to the classroom, but it was empty—everyone must have gone up to the sixth floor. Grabbing her pen and paper, she rushed upstairs. Passing the fifth floor, she noticed the door to Song Mingcheng’s room was ajar, so she knocked. Jiang Fan answered.

“You haven’t gone up yet? Is Song Mingcheng here?” Dong Yanyan asked, thinking the fifth-floor residents had it good—they could leave five minutes early and never be late.

“Hold on, I’ll call him,” Jiang Fan replied with a laugh, turning back to call for Song Mingcheng.

He responded and came out. Dong Yanyan shoved the sweater into his hands, saying, “I bought this for you, try it on and see if it fits.”

Song Mingcheng looked at her in surprise. “Why are you buying me clothes?”

“To thank you for helping me deliver newspapers the other day. I got paid today, and saw this sweater while passing the mall. Just picked it up for you,” she said. Just then, she heard someone calling her from upstairs. Looking up, she saw Li Jian from the Audio-Visual Class and Zhao Jing from the Broadcasting Class waving at her.

“I have to go, you’d better hurry and not be late.” She waved at Song Mingcheng and dashed upstairs.

“You’re here early,” she greeted them with a beaming smile as she caught up.

“You’re not late—there’s still twenty minutes,” Li Jian replied with a laugh. “Yanyan, Du Xinmeng from your class did well yesterday. Lin Feng too—I like his voice.”

“Sis Li, I have my eye on He Ming from your class—looks like Aaron Kwok, sounds like Andy Lau, absolutely unbeatable,” Zhao Jing chimed in.

“For star performers, Zhao Jing, your class’s Li Ling is unstoppable with her high notes. As for the boys, Sister Li, who do you think is strongest?” Dong Yanyan grinned.

“I agree, Li Ling’s high notes are impressive. For the boys, I think Ren Jiaxuan from the Broadcasting Class is promising,” Li Jian replied.

Dong Yanyan nodded. “I like his stage presence too; I’m looking forward to his performance today.”

Li Zhe, busy nearby, overheard and teased, “Yanyan, according to Old Six, you think all the boys in our dorm are mountain eagles. Do you especially like that kind of presence?”

Old Six referred, of course, to He Jingxuan.

“That’s slander—outright slander!” Dong Yanyan protested at once. “You know He Jingxuan has always been at odds with our dorm.”

“Is that so? But honestly, your dorm isn’t exactly friendly either,” Li Zhe replied, raising an eyebrow.

“What do you mean by friendly? He takes our spot, flirts with our girls, and we’re supposed to welcome him with open arms, treat him like a lord?” Dong Yanyan puffed her cheeks, retorting indignantly.

Li Zhe burst out laughing and flicked her on the forehead. “We’re definitely flirting with your girls!”

“What’s making you all so happy?” The glamorous Yang came bustling over, slinging her arms around Dong Yanyan and Li Jian’s shoulders in a friendly gesture.

Zhao Jing quickly gave up her seat with a laugh. “Teacher, you’re here!”

“Thank you.” The elegant Miss Yang sat at the judges’ table and called over Du Zixuan and Ren Jiaxuan. Only with her influence could her prized students always take center stage at every event, even as freshmen.

Du Zixuan wore a fitted light-blue dress, while Ren Jiaxuan was in a white striped shirt and black suit—together, they looked like the golden couple of the nineties.

Dong Yanyan, pen in hand, pondered over the contestants list: Mengmeng and Liu Siying were in good positions, in the middle. But Xiao Han was third, and Lin Feng was second to last. She wasn’t too worried about Lin Feng—it didn’t matter now, since the semifinals would require a new draw. But she feared Xiao Han might get stage fright going so early. Looking toward her class, she saw all four participants had arrived and were chatting with others. Teacher Chen was there too, sitting in front of the Broadcasting Class, chatting with their class leader, Qiu Dong.

Teacher Wang Yu had tested the sound system on stage and returned to the judges’ table, greeting Miss Yang.

At exactly one in the afternoon, all the students were seated, judges and contestants in position, and the competition began. The second round followed the previous format, alternating performances between male and female groups, then selecting the ten highest-scoring contestants for the semifinals.

This time, contestants could bring their own accompaniment tracks and instruments to showcase their strengths.

Li Ling from the Broadcasting Class was up first, singing “Eighteen Bends of the Mountain Road.” She opened with soaring high notes, delivering the song with intricate twists and turns. Honestly, Dong Yanyan didn’t find the song particularly pleasant, but the singing was undeniably good.

When it came time to score, she gave her a 9.6—holding back a bit since she was the first performer and scores couldn’t be too high, leaving room for those who followed.

In the end, Li Ling’s average score was exactly 9.6, and Zhao Jing could barely contain her delight.

Xiao Han was third. She sang “A Thousand Songs.” From her seat at the judges’ table, Dong Yanyan saw her stiff movements and the clear signs of nerves—her mind blanking out. Fortunately, she’d practiced the song well enough that muscle memory could carry her through.

Just as she thought that, the music stopped abruptly. Xiao Han, propelled by habit, sang half a line before stopping as well. Flustered, she was at a loss when the accompaniment started up again.

Dong Yanyan knew this wasn’t good—the little mishap had thrown Xiao Han off. Standing on stage, Xiao Han blinked her big, watery eyes at her, seeking help. Dong Yanyan could only sigh inwardly: What’s the use of looking at me now? Even as a judge, I can’t prompt you. Look to your classmates below! They were all mouthing the words to her, nearly shouting, but Xiao Han didn’t catch on and kept glancing around. In the meantime, an awkward silence settled over the stage.