Chapter 181: Enjoy Your Youth!
The autumn sports meet at Jiangcheng No. 1 Normal School concluded amidst various commotions. Thanks to Xiang Bingbing’s outstanding performance, Class 3 ranked third in the overall scores among the twenty classes.
Xiang Bingbing thus received a small desk lamp, some stationery, a basketball, a pair of badminton rackets, and a total of 300 yuan in meal card credit, along with numerous certificates.
Xiang Bingbing’s appearance, holding a large number of prizes, was quite amusing. She even dubbed herself a peddler from Shennongjia, imitating the mannerisms of peddlers from her hometown, causing everyone to burst out laughing.
Xiang Bingbing was a very interesting and funny girl, and she was actually quite cute in appearance.
If she were a bit shorter, she would not only be popular in her class but also throughout the entire school.
However, most boys would mind that their height couldn’t match up to girls’, and in fact, there weren’t many boys who had romantic intentions towards her. They all treated her as a source of joy and a good friend, teasing and joking around with her. Xiang Bingbing treated most of the boys equally.
It should be noted that there was an exception, and this exception was Mei Fang.
Xiang Bingbing proactively gave Mei Fang the cute little desk lamp from her prize, saying it was compensation for the time he was knocked down by her; Mei Fang hesitated but eventually accepted it.
Remember to report to Yuan and You Xi when you get home after school tonight; they wouldn’t be so petty as to make a fuss over this.
In short, the sports meet at Jiangcheng No. 1 Normal School was an extremely memorable experience for Mei Fang.
Whether it was being knocked down by Xiang Bingbing or being caught by the two girls while going to the infirmary, these were all very interesting memories.
This must be what enjoying youth is like…
Only after returning home did Mei Fang realize that his reflections on youth were a bit premature, because he completely forgot about his promise to return Pero to Xia Yuan.
Of course, Yuan has a good memory and has been subtly hinting at Mei Fang. Finally, taking advantage of You Xi’s showering, she got the chance to Pero with Mei Fang in his room, and then left contentedly.
Before the New Year’s Eve party at the end of the year, nothing much more interesting happened in late 2011.
Although the first-year high school learning pressure wasn’t too heavy, the curriculum was still quite dense.
Everyone was busy studying while participating in some school-organized activities, but Mei Fang and Lin You Xi had games to play, and Xia Yuan had songs to write, so their participation wasn’t very active.
The New Year’s Eve party was the last highlight before the end of 2011. Xia Yuan finally got her wish to perform on stage, preparing to sing their latest song “Plain Face” together with Mei Fang.
The preparation work for the program was similar to the Golden Autumn Art Festival, and they didn’t even need new costumes for their performance.
Xia Yuan and Mei Fang waited backstage for the previous act to finish. Suddenly, Xia Yuan turned around, smiling and asking Mei Fang:
“Are you nervous?”
Mei Fang shook his head and patted his chest, “It’s not the first time, I’m quite familiar with it. But what about you… do you need my super energy boost?”
“This time, it’s not just me. You’ll be performing on stage with me.”
Xia Yuan patted Mei Fang’s shoulder, “Anyway, we both need to give our best and not disappoint You Xi’s expectations.”
“Okay.”
As the host announced their names, Xia Yuan and Mei Fang walked onto the stage under the spotlight, accompanied by their guitars. The first-year students, who had seen them before, immediately erupted in thunderous applause.
Xiang Bingbing’s voice was missing from the cheers. She had learned a lot of photography skills in the club and had become quite professional, which greatly pleased senior Wan Chaoxiong.
The musical accompaniment was independently completed by Liu Xiaoyu. As the synthetic voice mixed in, Xia Yuan closed her eyes and gently strummed the guitar, while Mei Fang adjusted his microphone and softly sang:
[Another quiet night]
Since Xia Yuan usually coached Mei Fang in vocal techniques, his voice now had a style more suited to the song. For “Plain Face,” his style seemed unrestrained and somewhat arrogant.
When Mei Fang finished his part, he turned to look at Xia Yuan, who gradually lifted her head and took over his part to sing.
Xia Yuan’s natural voice was very sweet and cute, almost effortlessly producing melodies that could melt one’s heart. Mei Fang played along cooperatively, but unlike Xia Yuan, he kept his gaze fixed on her throughout.
When Xia Yuan was about to finish her solo part, she noticed Mei Fang’s intense gaze. She suddenly felt flustered and almost laughed, but Mei Fang quickly joined her in the climax of the song.
[If I look at you again]
[Would there still be feelings?]
[Back then, plain-faced, how pure can purity be?]
Can “Plain Face” be considered a sweet song? From the lyrics alone, it definitely isn’t.
A boy likes a naive and young girl, but the girl becomes increasingly enthusiastic about dressing up. Eventually, they break up due to various reasons, but they remember the beautiful times they shared when they meet again.
But under the interpretation of Mei Fang and Xia Yuan, this song became a little sweet song. During the climax, their passionate gazes as they played the guitar showed no signs of regret.
Of course, such an interpretation would only add points during live performances. The students’ gossip emotions were touched by the intimate performance of Mei Fang and Xia Yuan.
After the performance ended, the audience burst into thunderous applause, and some even shouted “together.” Xia Yuan and Mei Fang simply smiled and ignored it.
We’ve been together for over ten years; we don’t need anyone’s urging.
Compared to Mei Fang’s previous works, “Plain Face” could be considered one of the most popular early works by Hao Ge. Its popularity might surpass all of his previous song works. Mei Fang naturally understood this.
With the promotion of C Station, their names would undoubtedly be more widely known.
And once Xia Yuan’s song recording was completed, their album would move from the campus to the online platform.
The Spring Festival of 2012 was on January 23rd. After the New Year’s Eve party, there were less than 20 days until the Spring Festival. In the remaining time, everyone was busy with exam-related content.
After two weeks of hard struggle in the cold winter, the three of them finally completed their final exams and were about to return home.
After talking to his parents on the phone, Xia Yuan finally realized:
“Yes… Fang will go back to Baizhou for the Spring Festival.”
The fact that Mei Fang had moved was not something Xia Yuan and Lin You Xi had felt strongly about, since the three of them still stayed together even after the move.
“Fang, are you not coming back for the whole winter vacation?” Lin You Xi reminded Mei Fang, “Didn’t you say you would come back for the Spring Festival?”
“I didn’t mention it just now, but I should be back before New Year’s Eve, right? To have New Year’s Eve dinner with my grandma and others. Baizhou and Baimei County are so close, I can ‘whoosh’ right back home.”
“You’d better ‘whoosh’ back here, otherwise, I’ll ‘whoosh’ to Baizhou City to drag you back.”
“You can come over too; you haven’t seen my new house yet. To be honest, I haven’t seen it much either. It’s a single-door courtyard like Yuan’s family’s, but much bigger.”
“Then… we’ll see it later. By the way… I think I’ll be moving soon too.”
Xia Yuan muttered, “My dad bought a new house in the Imperial Garden area. We should be able to move in by March this year, which will make it less convenient to come back here.”
“We used to live next door, and now we’re all moving away.”
Mei Fang couldn’t help but sigh, “Looks like in the future, only You Xi can often visit our neighborhood to recall childhood memories.”
“There’s no need to specifically recall the past; just come back for the Spring Festival.”
Lin You Xi gently held Mei Fang’s hand and said, “We have many things to do together in the future; there’s no need to linger in past memories.”
“That’s true…”
“So, Fang, bring Xiao Ya back quickly! I haven’t seen her for nearly half a year!”
“I wonder if she adapts to the new school and if she completes her homework well… the sooner she comes back, the sooner I can help her with her homework.”
“No need!”
Mei Fang and Xia Yuan almost simultaneously voiced their objections, because neither of them wanted Sister You Xi to be disliked by Little Ya.
Today’s update on the underworld came very early. There will be another update at noon.
(End of Chapter)
