Chapter 98: The Welcome Gala Begins

At 6:30 PM, the sun set, its golden afterglow piercing the horizon to light up the encroaching darkness, while the lights decorated the entire hall in a dazzling display.

By this time, the hall was already packed to capacity.

There were nearly three thousand freshmen, and with the addition of many upperclassmen who had come to join in the excitement, the entire main hall was squeezed full.

The freshman side was fine; they had class monitors maintaining order and were seated by class, while those upperclassmen who had been dragged along by force had to find seats wherever they could.

Some, unable to find seats, simply brought stools from their dorms and sat in the aisle at the very back.

Zhao Gaoyang and Sheng Bo were among this group; the two had arrived at six, and upon discovering there were no seats, they had rushed back to their dorms in a panic to grab stools before returning.

By the time they returned, there were hardly any spots left in the aisle.

"Damn, are these people crazy? We didn't have this many people at last year's Welcome Gala; it's like a temple fair," Zhao Gaoyang couldn't help but complain.

Sheng Bo stroked his chin and said, "I heard the higher-ups are coming, so the Student Union made it mandatory for all freshmen to attend and demanded that the hall be filled to capacity."

"Damn, the Student Union is truly idiotic," Zhao Gaoyang said indignantly.

He still remembered when he first arrived at school as a freshman last year; back then, he was naive and ignorant, and seeing everyone around him wanting to join the Student Union, he had followed suit and signed up, feeling that joining the Student Union was such an honorable and sacred thing, and something to boast about.

The written test went smoothly, but during the Student Union interview, they asked him if he was willing to contribute selflessly and give his all for the Student Union, so he joked that he only joined the Student Union to earn more credits, and then...

And then there was no then; he was rejected.

From that moment on, Zhao Gaoyang felt the Student Union was truly hypocritical, hypocritical to the core, unable to take a single joke, and whenever they met freshmen, they would talk about the spirit of dedication and collective sense of honor...

And now they were engaging in this kind of formalism at the Welcome Gala.

Trash!

"Where's Cheng Ge? Why hasn't he come?" At this moment, Li Xu and Zheng Yang, who were also carrying stools, squeezed in next to Zhao Gaoyang and the other.

Because Xu Heng had to perform, he was in the preparation room behind the stage, but it was unclear why Cheng Huaiyu wasn't with Zhao Gaoyang and the others.

Zhao Gaoyang said Cheng Huaiyu had gone to the women's dorm to intercept Dan Yuyue; Cheng Huaiyu wanted to move Dan Yuyue with his sincerity and bring her to watch the Welcome Gala together.

"No, Dan Yuyue is already here! I saw her when I just arrived," Zheng Yang said in surprise.

"Then Cheng Ge should be here soon," Sheng Bo said.

"The point is, I saw Dan Yuyue came with her roommates, without Cheng Ge."

To get to the bottom of the situation, Sheng Bo used QQ to ask where Cheng Huaiyu was.

Cheng Huaiyu: "【Image. jpg】"

"I'm waiting for Yueyue and the others downstairs at their building! 【Grin】【Grin】"

"Yangzi said he saw Dan Yuyue in the hall; you two probably missed each other."

"Hold on, coming now," Cheng Huaiyu replied a moment later.

However, there was some distance between the old campus women's dorm and the hall, and by the time Cheng Huaiyu arrived, the venue was completely packed, and he hadn't brought a stool.

"Damn! I calculated everything but didn't count on Yueyue coming to watch on her own. Old Zhao, lend me your stool."

Zhao Gaoyang asked, "What for?"

"I'm taking the stool to sit over by Yueyue; that's the only way I'll have a chance to talk to her. We're brothers, you wouldn't refuse to help with such a small thing, right?" Cheng Huaiyu said with a cheeky grin.

But Zhao Gaoyang only had this one stool, and he was planning to move it to sit by Fan Xi once the gala started, so naturally, he was unwilling to lend it to Cheng Huaiyu.

After being rejected, Cheng Huaiyu said speechlessly, "Can't you just squeeze in with Yangzi? You're both quite thin anyway."

"Cheng Ge, it's not that I don't want to lend it as a brother, but I have a major task to attend to here too!"

Zhao Gaoyang shook the box in his hand, which contained the roses he had meticulously prepared; he intended to confess to Fan Xi again today, so he was truly powerless to help Cheng Huaiyu.

"Damn, so it's 'every man for himself when disaster strikes,' huh?" Cheng Huaiyu turned to look at the others, but Sheng Bo and the rest were also unwilling to lend theirs; no one wanted to squat here for two or three hours.

With no other choice, Cheng Huaiyu could only shamelessly run over to Dan Yuyue's side to try and squeeze into a seat with the girls; as for whether he succeeded, Sheng Bo and the others didn't know.

Seeing Cheng Huaiyu leave, Zhao Gaoyang also waved at Sheng Bo and the others, signaling that he was heading off first; the original group of five instantly became a trio.

"It's a good thing my girlfriend isn't at Jin Da," Sheng Bo remarked.

"It's a good thing my girlfriend didn't come to the Welcome Gala," Li Xu couldn't help but say.

Seeing them both say this, Zheng Yang followed suit and mimicked, "It's a good thing I don't have a girlfriend."

"Is that something to be happy about too?"

"Isn't it good? No need to buy gifts for a girlfriend, no need to treat her to meals; the money saved is all my own, and I can spend several hundred more hours on World of Warcraft. How carefree."

"..."

As time passed, more and more people arrived.

Because Fan Xi was a member of the Student Union, she had special privileges and was assigned a seat near the front.

Zhao Gaoyang spent a great deal of effort to find her, smiling as he carried his stool and sat in the aisle to her left.

"Class Monitor, so you're here; I've finally found the organization."

Fan Xi glanced at him without responding, instead saying, "You sitting there is blocking people from passing."

"Hey, it's fine, if someone needs to use this path, I'll move. Who knew I'd arrive so late that there wouldn't even be seats in the back, so I had to sit here," Zhao Gaoyang said with a smile.

Fan Xi shook her head, knowing she couldn't drive away this persistent pest, so she didn't waste any more breath.

Zhao Gaoyang, however, wasn't so self-aware; he kept chattering away like a sparrow, then pulled some Lay's chips and roasted melon seeds from his backpack and asked if she wanted any.

Fan Xi said she had just finished dinner and didn't want any snacks.

"A gala needs atmosphere; without melon seeds and chips, it doesn't have that vibe," Zhao Gaoyang said with the air of an experienced veteran.

Fan Xi smiled awkwardly.

Once the gala began and the male and female hosts finished their lines on stage, the performances officially started.

As per tradition, the first act was a dance; this time was no different, as over a dozen upperclassmen with long, sexy legs took the stage and swayed their bodies, drawing cheers from the boys in the audience.

Zhao Gaoyang, however, had no interest in the long legs; he was single-mindedly focused on finding topics to chat with Fan Xi about.

"This program is really boring; when is Old Xu going on stage?"

"Xu Heng's performance should be later on," Fan Xi said helplessly.

"Why?" Having found a breakthrough for the conversation, Zhao Gaoyang immediately followed up with a question.

"Because Xu Heng's previous act was eliminated, and his later act was added in by force. It's impossible for the production team to arrange his act in the middle, as that would disrupt the program order that had already been rehearsed. I think there's a high probability that Xu Heng's act will be scheduled last."

"That makes some sense, Class Monitor, you're really smart." Zhao Gaoyang grinned and laughed.