In fact, although the dress was indeed exceptionally pretty, that was not enough to make Chu Youwei truly tempted. The main reason was that the store owner was simply too good with her words.
Calling her "your girlfriend" over and over again had almost completely turned Chu Youwei's head upside down. At that moment, she just wanted Su Can to buy the dress right away, as if tacitly accepting the relationship between the two as boyfriend and girlfriend.
With no other choice, Su Can had no option but to drive a merciless final bargain.
"888!"
"Boss, let's go with this number, it's lucky!"
"If you agree, I'll pay right now, otherwise I'm turning around and walking out!"
Hearing the resolute tone in Su Can's voice, the store owner rolled her eyes and said, sounding rather reluctant.
"Oh my, oh my!"
"Fine, fine, young man, pay up."
"Consider it me taking a loss today to make a friend!"
"At 888 I'm not making a single cent and actually losing money, you two have to bring your little girlfriend back often to support my business from now on!"
This remark made Chu Youwei blossom with inward joy, while only Su Can's heart was bleeding.
I bargained it down too much! Definitely bargained it too low!
Still, since things had already reached this point, and Chu Youwei liked it anyway, what else could he do? Just pay up honestly, right?
...
After buying the dress for Chu Youwei, Su Can went and put together a suit for himself as well.
Must admit, handsome men and pretty women walking down the street always command a high turnaround rate. All along the way, who knows how many people turned their heads again and again to stare at the pair. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought some minor celebrity was out shooting a TV drama by the roadside!
Back at school, Su Can first had his good buddy from the dorm register the two of them. The program was their original song, "Wind Rises"! Then, Su Can pulled Chu Youwei along to the school's piano club. After all, he had already changed into a suit; strumming a guitar with crossed legs on stage would have looked somewhat out of place. A piano suited a suit much better.
Su Can happened to know a thing or two about these instruments. Mostly because back when he had wealth in his past life, in order to break into certain high-society circles, he had gone out of his way to learn about and dabble in all sorts of hobbies and interests. He could certainly manage to play the piano a bit.
Before going on stage, the two still needed to rehearse the song a few times to ensure that no errors or accidents happened when they performed.
...
Chu Youwei never expected that Su Can actually possessed the skill to play the piano!
Looking at Su Can in his white suit under the soft lighting, his slender fingers flying across the keys, she found herself momentarily mesmerized. She suddenly felt as though Su Can was simply like a treasure, always able to bring her various surprises again and again.
Right at that moment, Su Can asked with a puzzled look, "Huh? Why aren't you singing? Did you lose the tune?"
Only then did Chu Youwei finally snap back to reality, remembering that the two of them were here to rehearse.
At this very moment, in the empty piano club music room, the two of them were joining forces to interpret a melodious song, while most of the other students had rushed off to the auditorium to enjoy the various wonderful performances put on by the upperclassmen!
...
"Great!"
"You sang so wonderfully!"
"Goddess Shanshan, we love you!"
"Is this the campus belle chosen from the previous batch of freshmen?"
"Well-deserved, truly earned!"
At around eleven o'clock that evening, the freshman welcome party was finally drawing to a close. As one of the grand finale acts, the moment Lin Shanshan stepped onto the stage, she instantly became the focal point of the entire audience.
Her rendition of "Because of Love" even moved several boys to tears. If Su Can remembered correctly, it was precisely this song that someone later uploaded to the internet, leading to her participation in the national college campus belle selection contest. Although Lin Shanshan only placed tenth, it undoubtedly completely made her name. Even before graduating, she had already become a moderately well-known little internet celebrity.
And this was precisely one of the main reasons why Lin Shanshan was so unfazed by all her suitors later on. Because she never had to worry about a shortage of men wanting her; all she had to do was select the best among them, picking the absolute finest from the men pursuing her.
At that moment, back-stage, Su Can felt a wave of nausea and disgust as he recalled these past events. He could never understand how his past self had been so thoroughly bewitched by such a manipulative woman. It was simply too absurd.
Right then, as Lin Shanshan's performance concluded, it was finally time for the very last act of the freshman welcome party.
In fact, Lin Shanshan had still been somewhat puzzled as she walked off the stage. She clearly remembered that her act was supposed to be the absolute grand finale. At the time, she had checked the program list to make sure no one else was submitting late acts before she finally signed up, purely to perform last and prevent anyone else from stealing her spotlight.
Yet she never expected that someone would actually debut even later than her tonight!
"Please welcome the final two contestants of this freshman welcome party!"
"The original song—'Wind Rises!', brought to you by Senior Su Can and Senior Chu Youwei!"
...
As the host finished their emotional introduction, the audience in the seats was utterly dumbfounded!
Su Can was a minor celebrity of sorts in school, primarily because out of all Lin Shanshan's suitors, Su Can was definitely the most sincere one! Many people even believed that Su Can and Lin Shanshan were the most compatible match, except that Lin Shanshan had continually refused to accept him.
As for Chu Youwei, who on earth was she?
Let alone the other students, even a small portion of Su Can and Chu Youwei's own classmates hadn't even noticed there was such a transparent little wallflower in their class.
Then the stage curtains were slowly pulled open!
The instant Chu Youwei appeared under the spotlight dressed in all black—a black dress and long, wavy hair—nearly all the teachers and students in the school were stunned into silence!
Gorgeous! Simply breathtakingly gorgeous!
No one had imagined that the final act would feature such a super beauty who would dazzle the entire audience! She completely overshadowed even Lin Shanshan, who had just stepped off the stage.
If Lin Shanshan could be considered a one-in-ten-thousand rare beauty among ordinary people, then Chu Youwei under the spotlight right now was a peerless beauty with zero blind spots from any of the 360 degrees!
Her face alone was enough to overthrow a kingdom and leave people utterly spellbound.
And the other even more delightful and unexpected surprise was Su Can!
Su Can, currently wearing a white suit and standing beside Chu Youwei, didn't look out of place in the slightest. On the contrary, it was an extremely fitting match! It looked as though the two of them were meant to complement each other—a match made in heaven.
Because while Su Can didn't look bad—falling into the category of a mildly handsome guy—it was precisely because he wasn't the drop-dead gorgeous type that he carried virtually no aggressive edge. Instead, it only served to further set off Chu Youwei's stunning beauty.
To everyone else looking on, the sight of the two of them standing together under the spotlight at that moment resembled a naturally formed landscape painting, so beautiful that no one had the heart to disturb it.