City A No. 1 High School is the finest secondary institution in City A. Every year, thousands of eager students break their necks trying to gain admission to this prestigious school, which boasts top-tier educational resources.
The semester had been underway for a month now, and aside from the pre-semester military training, nothing particularly exciting had happened. Today was different, however; the bursts of music drifting across the playground tugged at the hearts of the students currently attending evening self-study.
Tomorrow night, the school's first major event since the start of the term—the National Day Gala—would be held there. In truth, compared to the gala itself, Xiao Ye was far more looking forward to the National Day Golden Week holiday starting the day after tomorrow. She knew that for school-organized events like this, leaving aside whether there would be any wonderful programs, even if there were, given her personality, she wouldn't want to fight anyone for a front-row seat; going there would only let her see a sea of black heads. Therefore, while everyone else was heatedly discussing tomorrow's gala, she was pondering whether to bring a deck of cards so she could play Landlord. But didn't the school forbid gambling? Well... that was a bit troublesome.
Just as Xiao Ye found herself caught in the dilemma of "bring them and risk disciplinary action; don't bring them and be bored to death," a familiar melody drifted into her ears: "Lingering, on the road..." A spark of light suddenly appeared in her obsidian-like eyes. She patted the shoulder of her deskmate and close friend Huang Li, who was currently gossiping with the person behind them, and asked with a hint of excitement, "Hey! Lizi, what song is this again?"
Huang Li also said excitedly, "It's 'The Ordinary Road'!"
"Whoever's singing this sounds amazing!" Xiao Ye praised without reservation.
"Of course, look at who's singing it!" The girl sitting behind Huang Li was named Yao Na'er, and the proud look on her face almost made people think she was the one who sang the song.
"Who's singing it?" Xiao Ye and Huang Li asked curiously.
"He Yi!"
He Yi? "Who's that?"
"You guys don't even know Brother Yi?!" Liu Yiqian, Yao Na'er's deskmate, stared with wide eyes, his face full of disbelief, and Yao Na'er wore the exact same expression. It scared Xiao Ye and Huang Li into thinking they had committed some heinous crime against heaven and reason. The two of them exchanged glances, seeing the confusion in each other's eyes, and then looked at that pair of deskmates with identical expressions, cautiously shaking their heads. Not only were their expressions the same, but even the frequency of their headshakes matched completely—truly worthy of being raised wearing the same pair of pants.
"You really don't know him?!" Even though it was lowered for evening self-study, Yao Na'er's voice still couldn't conceal her disbelief. "The campus male god, and you actually don't know him?!"
"Exactly, I'm a guy and I know him, how can you two girls not know him?!" Liu Yiqian chimed in from the side.
"Both of us girls don't know him, and you, a guy, actually do?! Your tastes are... a bit heavy, aren't they?" Xiao Ye looked at him with a teasing expression.
"Hey! Yezi, you can't put it that way. How does that saying go..." Huang Li struck a thoughtful pose at the side. "Oh! Right, 'The common people each have their own joys,' right?" As she spoke, she jerked her chin toward Liu Yiqian, looking entirely as though she were speaking up for him.
"......You two are really... I only know him because I've played basketball with him, alright! Can your minds be a little purer, day in and day out?" Liu Yiqian said with a disgusted expression.
Huang Li: "Hey, hey, hey! What did we say? How was that not pure?"
Xiao Ye: "Oh, letting your own imagination run wild and misinterpreting things, and you still have the nerve to lecture us!"
Both of them wore utterly shameless expressions, extremely punchable.
"Hey! You few up there, you're getting off topic!" Yao Na'er tried to pull the conversation back on track from the side. "Weren't we going to talk about my great male god Brother Yi..."
"Thump, thump, thump," the sound of desk-pounding came from the podium. "The teacher knows you're excited, and the teacher is excited too, but this is evening self-study time, keep it quiet!"
The restless classroom returned to peace.