Lu Xingyan walked to the front holding a bouquet.
There was a certain height difference between the stage and the audience seats, and no steps. A school staff member came over to maintain order and asked him if he wanted to go backstage.
“No need.”
Lu Xingyan didn’t even give a glance, just stared straight at Shen Xingruo on stage.
The deep brown body of the violin was slanted on her shoulder. Her eyes were slightly lowered, her expression serious.
The violin bow moved with the rhythm, dancing on the strings, and her fingers, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, danced on the strings.
Her fingers were slender and graceful, the joints shiny and white, each movement was like a frame of dual enjoyment of auditory and visual.
Lu Xingyan leaned against the wall, engrossed, not blinking for quite a while.
It was hard to see clearly from a distance, but as he approached, he discovered that she was truly perfect.
If everyone’s life has some highlights, then Shen Xingruo was probably born with a spotlight, always shining wherever she went.
Especially when she stood on the stage, even her strands of hair exuded elegance.
Lu Xingyan had seen many “other people’s children,” but he had to admit that most of them were not as flawless in every aspect as Shen Xingruo.
And she was so beautiful.
Yes, mainly beautiful.
Sitting in the front row were some leaders and important figures. A prominent figure in the field of music education and the school party secretary praised, “Secretary Liu, your school has very high-quality students. The one on stage is an art student, playing the violin excellently, and her image and temperament are impeccable.”
Secretary Liu modestly responded, “Mainly, it’s the student’s diligence and eagerness to learn. All we can do at our school is to educate and guide.”
He paused, then added, “But this girl isn’t an art student. Her grades are quite good. She was even first in the sophomore humanities class in the last monthly exam.”
“That’s excellent.”
Secretary Liu smiled, “As you know, our school has always been relatively open and free, and we encourage students like her to cultivate their interests and hobbies while studying.”
Actually, as a secretary, he couldn’t recognize many students. He just happened to echo what the grade-level leader from the other side had said, conveniently ignoring the part about her being new to the school.
Lu Xingyan didn’t know what they were talking about, but as he glanced around the stage, he saw the leaders in the front row occasionally whispering to each other, all looking satisfied and nodding frequently.
The music stopped, and the performance ended.
Shen Xingruo moved the violin from her shoulder and bowed deeply.
Soon, thunderous applause erupted from the audience. The boys from the sophomore year enthusiastically cheered, shouting, “Goddess! Goddess!”
Xu Chengzhou and his group had initially thought it was a class performance, so they didn’t want to get too excited, just clapping politely.
But Chen Zhu, who had sneaked from backstage to watch Shen Xingruo’s performance, kept his eyes on the stage, but wasn’t shy about pinching Xu Chengzhou’s arm, “What are you staring at? Join in! You haven’t eaten yet!”
Xu Chengzhou stood there, arms crossed, for a few seconds, before finally leading the boys from his class in shouting together.
The noise below the stage became deafening.
As Shen Xingruo finished bowing, she happened to see Lu Xingyan jumping onto the stage effortlessly, one hand supporting himself on the stage floor, the other still holding the flowers.
In the brief moment of surprise on Shen Xingruo’s face, Lu Xingyan suddenly removed the hint of amusement from his eyes, stepped forward quickly, grabbed her wrist, stepped in front of her, and the hand holding the flowers wrapped around her slender waist.
—Bang!
In just a second or two, Lu Xingyan felt a dull pain at the back of his head.
The mineral water bottle was still half full, and it took some effort to throw it onto the stage, but he managed to throw it accurately.
The pain wasn’t particularly intense, but the sound was quite loud.
The audience below erupted into commotion, looking around to find the person who threw the mineral water bottle.
But that area was already dark, and the person who threw it had already run away. By the time they looked along the trajectory of the bottle, there was no one there.
Shen Xingruo hadn’t expected such an incident. If Lu Xingyan hadn’t stood in front of her just now, the mineral water bottle would have hit her face.
The injury wasn’t severe, but the person who threw it intended to embarrass her.
In just a few seconds, many thoughts flashed through her mind until she heard a faint “hiss—” and snapped out of it.
She tilted her head slightly and locked eyes with Lu Xingyan. “Are you okay?”
“…”
“I’m fine.”
He remarked casually, “This isn’t my first time playing basketball.”
This was just a quick reaction.
After catching his breath, he took the opportunity to tease Shen Xingruo, “You usually have quick reflexes, but you froze when someone threw a bottle at you. Are you malfunctioning?”
“…”
“A peacock doesn’t display its feathers.”
Lu Xingyan “…”
There was a faint scent of grass and a hint of smoke on him. It wasn’t too strong, and she could tolerate it.
After three seconds of silence, Shen Xingruo said again, “When do you plan to let go? You’re hugging me like this, taking advantage of me.”
Lu Xingyan suddenly realized that his hand was indeed on her waist.
Her waist was slender.
Had she studied dance or something?
As the thought flashed through his mind, he felt his hand warm. He was about to withdraw it when he suddenly thought of something and didn’t pull away. Instead, he tightened his grip slightly, raised an eyebrow, and jokingly said, “Since no one can see us from below, what does it matter if I take advantage of you? If you have the guts, why don’t you bite me?”
“…”
“Do you have any shame?”
“What shame does a flower pig have?”
He had improved.
Fortunately, Lu Xingyan knew when to stop. After taking advantage for a while, he let go, stuffed the flowers into Shen Xingruo’s arms, and walked back down to the stage.
Shen Xingruo acted as if nothing had happened, bowed with the flowers again, and calmly retreated backstage.
In such a situation, they couldn’t afford to cause a scene because of a water bottle. The host quickly came to the front of the stage to smooth things over.
But Wang Youfu in the audience was furious!!!
“Who threw that?!”
“They did it on purpose to make me feel uncomfortable! Naked jealousy of the excellence of our class performance!”
“Wait till I find that person, I won’t let them off even if they copy the political outline eight hundred times!”
Li Chengfan was also angry, but seeing Wang Youfu on the verge of exploding on the spot, he hurriedly tried to calm him down. “Teacher Wang, don’t be angry. You’re not surnamed Fu…”
Wang Youfu glared at him, and Li Chengfan was so scared that he immediately shut up.
When Lu Xingyan returned, he was holding a mineral water bottle.
Wang Youfu was sitting in his seat, muttering to himself. His speech was faster than usual, about seven or eight times faster, looking like he was about to start a riot at any moment. He didn’t look anything like a political teacher.
Seeing Lu Xingyan return, Wang Youfu calmed down slightly and grabbed him, asking, “Is Shen Xingruo okay?”
Lu Xingyan “…”
The mineral water bottle had hit him squarely on the back of his head. How could Shen Xingruo be in any trouble???
He hesitated for a few seconds before answering.
Wang Youfu breathed a sigh of relief, repeatedly saying, “That’s good, that’s good.” Afterward, he remembered Lu Xingyan and asked symbolically, “Are you okay too?”
Lu Xingyan replied, “Teacher Wang, I feel a bit dizzy in my head. I might have a concussion. I need to go to the hospital for a check-up. Can you give me a sick leave for tomorrow’s class?”
Wang Youfu scrutinized him up and down, then said, “It’s okay. Whether you have a concussion or not, your brain doesn’t work too well anyway. Don’t waste your money.”
Lu Xingyan “…”
The unexpected incident at the end of Shen Xingruo’s performance made the security in the auditorium stricter. At half past five, the school ceremony ended without any further mishaps.
Before the end, several leaders from the audience served as judges and gave out awards. It wasn’t a formal competition, so there weren’t any first, second, or third prizes. Instead, there were awards for the best performance, outstanding performances, and the most unique, akin to consolation prizes.
After her performance, Shen Xingruo played on her phone backstage. She had only eaten a little at noon, and just as she was feeling hungry, He Siyue came backstage to find her. He first comforted her, then brought her a bread roll and a box of milk.
Coincidentally, Wang Youfu was thoughtful and worried that Shen Xingruo might still be shaken up. He asked Lu Xingyan, Li Chengfan, and others to go backstage and comfort her.
As they lifted the backstage curtain, they saw Shen Xingruo receiving the bread roll and milk from He Siyue. She said, “Thank you. I heard there will be awards after the performance. Last year, they gave out prize money. If I win an award, I’ll treat you to dinner.”
“Sure, then I’ll wait for you to win the best performance award.”
He Siyue smiled and readily agreed.
When Li Chengfan and Zhao Langming heard this, they hurriedly chimed in, “Oh, that won’t do! We should also get a share since we’re present!”
While eating her bread roll, Shen Xingruo looked at them and said, “The class monitor has brought me lunch twice already. What about you guys? Why should I treat you to dinner?”
Lu Xingyan came in last, expressionless. Without waiting for Li Chengfan and Zhao Langming to speak, he stood aside and poured cold water on the situation, “Who knows if they’ll give out prize money this year.”
Originally, he wanted to say, “You’re quite confident, but there’s only one best performance award. Who knows if you’ll get it or not.” But if he said that, he felt Shen Xingruo would probably respond with, “So what if I don’t get it? Do I still lack money for a meal?” Then she would give him one of her patented condescending looks from head to toe. Maybe she would even add a bit of venom and say, “Besides, I won’t invite you anyway.”
But his goldfish brain only went halfway, not considering that as long as he spoke, Shen Xingruo could seamlessly counterattack him with, “So what if there’s no prize money? Do I still lack money for a meal?”
Shen Xingruo finished her statement and, with her signature condescending gaze, scrutinized Lu Xingyan from head to toe. Then, she added, “Besides, I won’t invite you anyway.”
Lu Xingyan “…”
Fortunately, at that moment, his gang of friends, also disciples of the Bright Summit, finally came in handy.
Li Chengfan said, “We should still go eat, Brother Yan. Shenjie, he gave you flowers, you know.”
“And he blocked that mineral water bottle for you,” Zhao Langming chimed in.
Li Chengfan continued, “We were also cheering for you from the audience. We should all go.”
“YeAh we should all share in the joy.”
With the two of them echoing each other, Shen Xingruo hadn’t even finished her bread roll before they had all been arranged.
Before long, the ceremony moved on to the award presentation.
As they chatted, someone suddenly approached Shen Xingruo backstage. “Shen Xingruo, get ready. You’ve won the best performance award.”
A burst of astonishment erupted backstage, followed by a series of exaggerated compliments.
“Sister Ruo, you’re amazing!”
“Sister Ruo, you’re truly the shining star of our class!”
“How do you know everything? Were you raised on clouds? Otherwise, how could you be so ethereal, like a fairy?”
“Stop bullshitting! Sister Ruo was already a fairy to begin with!”
Shen Xingruo “…”
Li Chengfan and Zhao Langming continued to praise her, thinking that just praising her was enough. After all, they couldn’t praise her too much, or else they wouldn’t get invited to dinner!
Lu Xingyan was starting to feel nauseous from listening to all the flattery. He kicked them both and gave them a little ideological education, “Shut up, both of you. Sacrificing your dignity just for a meal.”
Shen Xingruo stood up, and glanced at him, her eyes seeming to say, “What dignity does a flower pig need?”
Thinking of this phrase, Lu Xingyan couldn’t help but recall the slender waist he had held on stage, and then, quite inappropriately, combined it with some details from a dream to create a mental image.
Fortunately, Shen Xingruo didn’t notice him, focusing solely on her means of livelihood assistance.
She had heard that last year’s Best Performance award came with a thousand yuan prize. Even after treating herself to a meal, she could still pocket at least five hundred yuan, which wasn’t bad at all.
When they announced her as the winner of the Best Performance award on stage, she walked up to receive the honor certificate and a rectangular gift box from the leader’s hands.
Upon seeing the gift box, Shen Xingruo’s heart sank halfway. She didn’t show any outward signs of distress, only briefly expressing her gratitude for the award and extending congratulations on the school anniversary before stepping down from the stage.
After stepping down, she opened the gift box.
Inside lay a branded pen.
The remaining half of her heart chilled instantly.
Just then, Lu Xingyan came over to take a look. Shen Xingruo didn’t wait for him to speak before coldly remarking, “A pig’s brain with a crow’s mouth.”