Chapter 47: Jiang Mengyuan's Dorm Room

Chang Lingling is a freshman at Jinling University, average in appearance, with a medium-to-plump build.

Today, the official military training for Jinling University freshmen has not yet begun, under the pretext of letting roommates get to know each other for a while.

It just so happens that none of the four girls in Chang Lingling's dorm have boyfriends, so they can only huddle in the dorm watching Taiwanese idol dramas, while chatting about where they live, their college entrance exam scores, and their hobbies.

When they had watched enough of the idol drama, Chang Lingling suggested they play a game, saying everyone should name a niche song they consider the best, play it in the dorm, and have the others rate it; the person with the lowest score would have to clean the dorm for a week.

This little game, which involved a bit of competition, vanity, and a prize, was unanimously agreed upon by the rest of the girls in the dorm.

As soon as the game started, one girl immediately blurted out that her favorite song was "Love Transfer," and then the others said, "How can you count that as a niche song? You can't possibly not know how popular Eason is right now, right?"

"Then how about a song by Zhou Dong?"

"No, no, Zhou Dong is also very popular right now."

"Then what about 'Little' by Joey Yung?"

"Uh..."

Chang Lingling rubbed her chin, hesitant. "Little" had only been released for a little over a month, but after all, it had the backing of Jay Chou and Fang Wenshan, so its popularity was very high; it was in the top ten on both the Kugou Rising Chart and the QQ Music Rising Chart.

It was just that it seemed this roommate of hers really only listened to those massive hits; compared to other massive hits, "Little" was indeed niche.

The few of them reluctantly accepted the song "Little," and then it was the next roommate's turn, who directly reported the ending theme of some Kimchi drama, which was so niche that the other three present hadn't even heard of it.

After listening to it, they felt it was alright; although they couldn't understand the lyrics from the Kimchi Country, the melody was quite catchy, and they could hum along after listening to it once or twice.

"Next is you, Yuanyuan." Chang Lingling said she wanted to be the grand finale, letting Jiang Mengyuan, the only roommate left who hadn't reported a song, go first.

Jiang Mengyuan was the prettiest girl in their dorm, not good with words, and very quiet. Every day after showering, she liked to sit barefoot on a wooden chair and watch Naruto. She had been in the dorm for two or three days and basically hadn't interacted with the other roommates.

Like on normal days, when Chang Lingling and the others called her to go to the cafeteria to eat, she would shake her head in refusal, then hug a manga book and keep her head down without saying a word.

As a roommate, Chang Lingling felt that Jiang Mengyuan's personality was too withdrawn, so this little game was actually something she had planned to help Jiang Mengyuan quickly integrate into their collective environment.

After Chang Lingling finished speaking, Jiang Mengyuan pushed up her glasses, feeling a bit awkward.

The songs she listened to were all Two-dimensional songs from the Island Country, the kind that couldn't be brought into the light.

It wasn't that they were hard to listen to, but for a social anxiety sufferer like her, letting her roommates know she liked listening to this kind of music was a very difficult thing in itself.

She held back for a long time without making a sound, and finally, under the urging of her roommates, she had no choice but to mumble, "How about I clean the dorm for a week instead."

"..."

"..."

"No, you can pick any song you want, but you can't just forfeit, otherwise our win won't be honorable!" Chang Lingling said, intentionally raising her voice.

After understanding what she meant, the other two roommates also chimed in, "Yeah, yeah, Yuanyuan, it's just for fun, participation is what matters."

"Then... alright, it's just that the songs I listen to are all Island Country songs, I'm afraid you won't like them."

"Oh, it's fine, culture is about seeking common ground while reserving differences; didn't Lili just play a Stick song earlier~"

Since the roommates had said so, Jiang Mengyuan couldn't be coy anymore. She logged into her QQ Music and opened the playlist in her favorites titled "Three seconds to make you fall in love with Island Country songs! Super healing!"

She thought she would find a song that wasn't so Two-dimensional, and perhaps it wouldn't be awkward.

So, instead of choosing the anime theme songs she usually listened to like "Blue Bird" or "Pray," she prepared to choose a relatively less Two-dimensional-style sad Island Country song, and then she saw a song called "The Wind Rises" at the very bottom of the playlist.

She couldn't help but frown slightly; she had listened to this Japanese playlist no less than a dozen times and had never seen the words "The Wind Rises."

Was it a new song from the Island Country? But the singer's name was Liu Yiyan, and judging by the name, she was a Huaxia person.

She looked up at the expressions of the other roommates, then looked down at her computer screen, and her mouse cursor, which had been on "Planet," involuntarily slid over "The Wind Rises."

Maybe a Huaxia person could sing Japanese lyrics with a Huaxia flavor...

"I once turned my youth into her, and also plucked the midsummer from my fingertips; where the heart moves, let it follow fate~"

The moment this a cappella started, the few girls who had been laughing and joking instantly went quiet.

Jiang Mengyuan was stunned because she discovered that this song was actually not an Island Country song, but authentic Huaxia language.

The other three were like, "Holy crap! This voice, it's amazing!"

When the two words "follow fate" fell, the melodious guitar accompaniment officially began.

A good opening can always arouse curiosity about the rest of the song.

When Xu Heng finally arranged this song, he adopted the arrangement style of the Wu Qingfeng version, precisely to trick people into the main body of the song from the very beginning, preventing those with impatient temperaments from stopping after listening to the intro.

Jiang Mengyuan's dorm was shocked by this opening, and the few who had originally held a half-playful, half-listening attitude listened to the song seriously from beginning to end.

Some girls felt a sense of loss, perhaps thinking of the boy they hadn't confessed to on the day of their high school graduation; some girls felt their hearts surging, as if they saw their own brilliant future in college within the song.

Only Jiang Mengyuan was different; she sat there blankly, with many images appearing in her mind, mainly scenes from an animated film called "5 Centimeters per Second."

She felt as if this song was the song version of "5 Centimeters per Second," and although "The Wind Rises" was a Huaxia language song, it didn't feel out of place at all.

She actually rarely listened to Huaxia language songs, but "The Wind Rises" made her develop an extremely intense emotion toward a Huaxia language song for the first time.

"Yuanyuan, where did you find this song? It's so good, how could such a good song not be on the charts!" Chang Lingling's eyes were red, and she was a bit emotional.

She thought of the boy she liked in high school; because his grades weren't good, the boy had to repeat a year. In July, the two of them finally said their goodbyes at the cinema.

Just like what was sung in the song, along this journey, she came to this strange city alone. The moment before stepping out of the station, the wind blew up the past, that midsummer, turning over the different faces of the years, making one feel infinitely nostalgic.

"Who sang this song? I want to add it to my playlist." Another girl named He Li also said with red eyes.

Before Jiang Mengyuan could operate it, Chang Lingling took the initiative to lean over and click on the song interface.

The Wind Rises — Liu Yiyan

Composer: Xu Heng

Lyricist: Xu Heng

Accompaniment: Xu Heng