Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The insider knows the ropes, while the outsider comes along for the ride.
Not many truly understand something like the piano. Most of the students could only see that it looked great, but they did not know which part of it was great.
Su Chen, who had advanced level skills in piano, felt that Shen Tianze’s piano level was just mediocre.
Piano Level Ten sounds great, but it is just an amateur rating.
Su Mo had taken such an examination when she learned piano for half a year. After she passed an examination of the eight grades, she did not continue to take examinations of the next grades, because it was useless.
If he were to compare, Shen Tianze’s piano ability was much worse than his sister’s. Su Chen figured he should be better than he was, which was evident from the fact that his proficiency had not increased at all.
When Shen Tianze finished his performance, he stood and bowed to the crowd, and then very naturally walked down the stage. To him, performing at a university ceremony like this was routine.
He never turned down an invitation, and he tried at all times to present himself as the perfect image.
Rounds of applause came from all over the hall. Some girls blushed and clapped their hands with all their might as if they had seen their idol.
Su Chen stood up to take the guitar bag and whispered, “I’ll go backstage to prepare.”
“Brother Chen, all the best. Put this guy’s fire out,” said Pan Xiaojie.
“Come on, don’t lose to this annoying fella.” Guo Lei smiled encouragingly.
“Su Chen, all the best.”
“Sing well. We look up to you.”
His classmates encouraged him.
Su Chen smiled and nodded, and looked in the direction of Lin Yumeng. She stuck out her little head and gave him her best look.
Su Chen’s heart warmed when he saw this. He walked toward the backstage and passed Shen Tianze.
Neither spoke, but they looked at each other coldly.
“Look at that guy. He looks like he is going to perform.”
“That looks like a guitar!”
“Amazing. Is he going to fight against Shen Tianze and Zhao Tai?”
The students stared at Su Chen and whispered.
Su Chen came to the backstage, found a chair on the side, and sat down. He took the guitar out from the bag and tuned it.
Many students waited backstage. They secretly glanced at him from time to time. A few girls looked curious, as if they wanted to flirt with him.
The emcee’s eyes lit up when she saw Su Chen. She came with a smile toward him and stretched out her right hand.
“Hello, Su Chen. My name is Ren Xin. I’m looking forward to your performance.”
“Thank you, senior.” Su Chen got up, smiled, and shook hands with her.
“You have a nice guitar!” said Ren Xin with a smile.
“Senior, do you know how to play the guitar?”
“I know a little. I studied for a few months, but I have no talent, so I gave up. I envy skilled people like you.”
“That’s nothing. It doesn’t take much talent.”
The eyes of Xue Wei, the male host, shone with jealousy as he watched them chat happily.
Xue Wei and Ren Xin were both from the student council. They often worked together to host such activities because of their abilities and their good command of the language. Many who did not know the situation thought they were a couple.
Xue Wei had been pursuing Ren Xin for a long time, but she had not accepted him. He was naturally unhappy seeing Ren Xin smiling and talking to Su Chen like that at the moment.
He was Shen Tianze and Zhao Tai’s loyal lackey. He has been trying to get into their inner circle.
Su Chen had offended Shen Tianze and Zhao Tai, so Xue Wei was naturally annoyed.
“Ren Xin, why are you chatting with him? What kind of performance can we expect from a person who didn’t even want to come for rehearsal? Let’s hope that he doesn’t make a fool of himself on stage.”
When people heard this, their faces had a variety of looks. Anyone with any intelligence could see what Xue Wei was thinking at a glance.
Ren Xin frowned and looked at Xue Wei coldly. “Can’t you stop talking weirdly? It makes me feel uncomfortable.”
Xue Wei was even more annoyed when he saw her speaking up for Su Chen. “Have—have I said anything wrong? Did he even once come to rehearsal? I’d better cancel the show before such an irresponsible person goes on stage and makes a fool of himself. There’s a TV station here.”
“That is my business, not yours.” Su Chen frowned because he did not understand where this hostility came from.
“Xue Wei, can you shut up and stop talking?” Ren Xin snapped and interrupted. She wanted to say something else to Xue Wei too.
“Hmph!” Xue Wei snorted coldly and muttered, “You are such a conceited fellow that you dare to hit Young Master Zhao. I don’t see how you can be so proud of yourself.”
He spoke in a low voice, but not out of earshot.
Su Chen then understood that this guy was the two young masters’ lackey.
After two more performances, it was Su Chen’s turn to go onstage.
It was Xue Wei’s turn to host. He purposefully introduced Su Chen with only a simple sentence: “The following performance is by Su Chen, who is going to sing and play his guitar.”
“Ignore him. Just give your performance.” Ren Xin smiled and encouraged him.
“Thanks.”
Su Chen smiled and nodded, taking the guitar calmly onto the stage.
In the center of the stage were a chair and a microphone stand.
“Ohoh, Brother Chen. Go!”
He heard cheers from Pan Xiaojie and others.
“It’s starting. Look, quickly. Brother Chen is on the stage.”
Lin Yumeng nervously wrung her hands.
“Hiss…I know, I know. Can you let go of my hands? It hurts!” said Qian Manman as she clenched her teeth because Lin Yumeng held her wrist so tightly.
“Oh, sorry. Sorry.”
Lin Yumeng let go of the hand in panic and apologized in embarrassment.
“Can you calm down? Everyone knows your man is going to perform.” Qian Manman angrily rolled her eyes.
The students around them smiled strangely as they looked at Lin Yumeng
“Hey, what are you talking about!” Lin Yumeng was embarrassed and pinched Qian Manman in the arm.
“Did you pinch me? That’s too much. I’ll pinch you back!”
“I’ll pinch you. Pinch you. Who asked you to say that?”
“Okay, okay. Stop that now. The performance is starting.”
Li Jia opened her mouth and stopped this, which calmed the two of them down. She made them look at the stage again.
In the center of the stage, Su Chen sat in a chair holding a guitar and tried out the mic.
“Hello! Hello!”
The students below roared with laughter.
“Every junior down there, good evening. I succeeded in confessing my love just a few days ago. I have a lovely beautiful girlfriend now.”
At that point, students booed him from below the stage. One of them even raised his middle finger to express his outrage at him publicly displaying affection.
Lin Yumeng’s little face blushed like a fully cooked crab, and her face was hot.
“Ahem…The song I’m going to sing today is a song I wrote for her. It’s called the ‘Confession Balloon’!”
Su Chen did not expect to cause public anger. He quickly ended the opening remarks awkwardly, and his fingers gently plucked the strings.
The song began.
The hall was silent in an instant.