Summer, dusk, a gentle breeze...
On the school playground, the scent of green grass and damp earth mixed with the lingering daytime heat, creating a peculiar fragrance.
Back at Sunan University, after playing basketball with his roommates and passing by the playground at night, he could always smell this scent, though he had thought nothing of it at the time.
Yet now, two or three years after graduation, returning to campus once more and catching that unfamiliar yet familiar aroma, Liu Muye found himself momentarily in a daze.
On the night the military training ended, as the breeze brushed against his cheeks, he closed his eyes and inhaled the scent in the wind, feeling as though the lingering resentment within him had faded quite a bit.
Nangong Ye looked down at Liu Muye, who was sitting on the lawn, and asked, "What are you smelling?"
With his eyes closed, Liu Muye said, "Didn't you smell it?"
"Smelled what?" Nangong Ye frowned, imitating Liu Muye by closing his eyes and taking a couple of light sniffs. "There's nothing here."
"Did you really not smell anything at all?" Liu Muye opened his eyes, tilting his head back to look at Nangong Ye standing before him. "Didn't you smell that vibrant, full-of-life youthful aura filling the air?"
Liu Muye curled his fingers and then opened them wide, trying to use physical gestures to make Nangong Ye understand the feeling he was describing.
Yet Nangong Ye, this young master of privilege, clearly could not comprehend the special attachment a (former) ordinary salaryman held for the campus, and he shook his head blankly.
Liu Muye rolled his eyes at him and said, "Forget it, someone like you could never understand in a lifetime."
Nangong Ye curled his lip, too lazy to respond to Liu Muye, because in his eyes, Liu Muye was simply a strange fellow.
"What are you two up to?" Shangguan Yurou walked over, bringing Han Juyou with her.
Nangong Ye pointed at Liu Muye, who was sitting on the ground, and said to Shangguan Yurou, "Young Ye here says he's feeling the aura of youth."
"You call him Young Ye, and he calls you Young Ye—how come your nicknames for each other are so strange?" Shangguan Yurou's focus was rather unique.
Nangong Ye replied, "We decided on this after discussing it."
"Oh? You two even came up with cute little nicknames?" Han Juyou teased with a wicked smile, then looked down at Liu Muye and asked, "This 'aura of youth' you're talking about—couldn't be sitting on the ground and peeking up girls' skirts, could it?"
"Why do you always think of me in such a sordid way?" Liu Muye crossed his arms, raised his head, and rolled his eyes at Han Juyou. "Everyone's wearing camouflage pants; where am I supposed to peek?"
"Well, I wouldn't know about that." Han Juyou raised an eyebrow lightly, a charming smile curving the corners of her lips as she looked at Liu Muye. "Who knows if you have some strange hobbies?"
"…Can't be bothered with you."
Knowing he couldn't win the argument, Liu Muye turned his head away and looked toward the other side of the playground.
Watching Liu Muye get riled up by her teasing, the smile on Han Juyou's face grew even brighter and more captivating.
She herself didn't quite understand why, but whenever she saw Liu Muye thwarted in front of her, she found it exceptionally amusing and fun.
...
There was no training tonight. The instructors took portable speakers and led their own platoons in a song-off competition with other classes. The songs learned during the daytime military training were sung aloud on the playground at night, and whichever team produced the loudest voice and drowned out the others gained immense prestige.
Such collective activities could foster teamwork awareness and boost the participants' collective sense of honor.
The intention was good in theory, but reality turned out to be vastly different from the ideal.
When it came to the song-off segment, apart from a few classes whose voices were relatively loud, the rest was just the sound of the speakers.
Seeing that no one was willing to sing along, the instructor asked the crowd if anyone wanted to come up and perform a talent.
Performing a talent during military training seemed to be a fixed procedure—nationally uniform and the same every year. Moreover, in recent years with the popularity of short videos, singing well and getting posted online could even grant one a wave of internet fame.
Usually at a time like this, the pretentious show-offs would start coming up on stage to perform.
Four years of priority in choosing a romantic partner—success or failure hinged on this single moment.
Yet several students from Liu Muye's Finance Class 1 went up on stage one after another, only for each to turn into a total disaster. In the novel, this was the moment when the female protagonist would get into a petty argument with the male lead, go on stage to perform Beyond's "Sweetly/Lover", and instantly stun the entire audience.
It was also at this exact moment that Shangguan Yurou earned the title of Freshman Campus Belle.
However, this time Nangong Ye and Shangguan Yurou did not bicker or argue. The two didn't even put their minds into listening to the songs, instead stealing glances at each other out of the corners of their eyes.
Every time their gazes met, colliding in mid-air, they would flusteredly look away.
Liu Muye silently watched the two of them, thinking to himself: "This isn't right, is it? You two haven't even been through anything yet; how are you already exchanging glances and flirting? This doesn't make any logical sense! Shangguan Yurou, hurry up and go sing. If you don't go... it's not like I have to, right?"
"Hey."
Han Juyou nudged Liu Muye's arm with her elbow.
"What?" Liu Muye frowned, his thoughts interrupted as he looked at her.
A wicked smile played at the corners of Han Juyou's lips as she said to Liu Muye, "Why don't you go up and sing a song too?"
Liu Muye immediately retorted, "Why don't you go?"
Han Juyou said, "I'm tone-deaf."
"Well, I'm tone-deaf too." Liu Muye threw her own words right back at her.
Han Juyou shook her head and said, "I don't believe it. Unless you go up and try."
"Reverse psychology doesn't work on me." Liu Muye stood up. "Can't be bothered to mess with you."
The plot where the female protagonist performed on stage could no longer be triggered, so Liu Muye lost interest in staying on the playground to hang out and prepared to leave.
Han Juyou stealthily stretched out her foot and tripped him.
"Crap!"
Liu Muye stumbled, taking several steps forward before managing to steady himself.
The next second, a smartphone suddenly appeared right before his eyes.
Looking up, he saw the instructor smiling warmly at him and saying, "Young Liu, what song would you like to sing?"
As soon as the instructor finished speaking, the gazes of everyone in the entire platoon focused on him—things had reached this point; if he didn't perform something, it would be hard to back down.
"Me?"
Liu Muye turned around in utter bewilderment, only to see Han Juyou hugging her knees, sitting obediently in her spot, looking at him with an innocent expression as if she had no idea what had just happened.
Truly the most wicked and malicious female supporting character in my book—tripping me on purpose just to make a public fool of me. Such acting skills, such scheming; her heart is truly vicious.
Liu Muye cursed inwardly.
There was no help for it; he would just have to bite the bullet and sing one.
Since the female lead wasn't singing, Liu Muye thought to himself, he might as well sing "Sweetly/Lover" himself.
Liu Muye took the instructor's phone and searched for the instrumental accompaniment to Beyond's "Sweetly/Lover". The portable mini-speaker by his feet immediately blared the prelude.
With no microphone in hand, and not knowing where to put his other hand, Liu Muye could only awkwardly stuff it into his pocket.
Still feeling somewhat nervous, he closed his eyes...
Once his eyes were closed, he suddenly recalled that military training song contest back at Sunan University.
Back then, many talented people had showcased their skills, and he had actually wanted to get up and sing a song too, but because he was afraid of making a fool of himself, he could never take that first step.
That had become a regret of his.
Later on, he wrote that regret into his book, letting the female protagonist stun the entire audience in his stead.
The wheel of time turned, and this time, it was his turn to make amends for himself.
As the prelude ended, Liu Muye slowly began to sing:
【Hoping you were not shedding secret tears for me once again,
I do not wish to leave your heart empty...】
...