Chapter 76: Shared Earbuds

On Wednesday during lunch break, after the bell rang, everyone returned to their seats one by one, preparing for a short nap.

The weather in early September was still scorching hot, but fortunately the classroom had air conditioning; Li Luo sat right at the air vent, enjoying the first-hand treatment of cool breeze.

No wonder the Affiliated No. 1 High School lived up to its reputation; with excellent academic results and sufficient funds, it could actually equip every classroom with air conditioning.

Li Luo vaguely remembered that in his previous life, his high school classroom had only a few mediocre fans; if your seat wasn't angled correctly, you wouldn't feel a single breath of wind, and it was enough to bake you to death.

Just as he was thinking these thoughts and preparing to doze off for a nap, Yan Zhusheng next to him suddenly and stealthily patted his shoulder.

"What's up?"

"Shh." Yan Zhusheng made a gesture for quiet, then laid one arm across the desk and tilted her head to rest on it.

The next second, her other hand extended a wire toward him, with an earbud at the end.

Following the earbud wire with his eyes, Li Luo could just barely confirm, beneath her long hair, that the other earbud was in Yan Zhusheng's ear.

No wonder she hadn't tied her hair up.

Thinking this, Li Luo waved his hand anyway: "You listen by yourself; I don't listen to music when I sleep."

"It's 'Annual Rings,' and I sang it," Yan Zhusheng reminded him. "I recorded a version last night; give it a listen."

Hearing her say this, Li Luo finally realized.

So it wasn't simply sharing earbuds to listen to music together?

Li Luo had actually thought he possessed such great charm that Yan Zhusheng would make such an ambiguous move.

Turns out it was still about the song recording.

As long as it involved music, she always maintained a surprising passion and focus, exactly the same as in his previous life.

"Your efficiency is too high," Li Luo muttered as he accepted Yan Zhusheng's earbud.

Plugging the earbud into his left ear, Li Luo copied her example, tilting his head to rest on his arm and facing Yan Zhusheng.

The two faced each other like this; Li Luo watched as Yan Zhusheng pulled her phone, connected to the earbud wire, from her drawer and pressed the play button.

But just as the song "Annual Rings" began playing from the phone, Li Luo spotted Kong Junxiang slipping silently into the classroom from the back door like a ghost.

He wondered if every teacher came factory-equipped with this passive skill.

No matter what personality, style, or type of person they were before, once they became teachers, they all inevitably learned the trick of entering a classroom without a sound.

The kind where you couldn't hear a single footstep.

The moment Li Luo saw Kong Junxiang enter, he was startled shut his eyes tight, pretending to be asleep.

But the next second he cracked one eye open, swiftly reached out, and shoved both Yan Zhusheng's hand and the phone deep into her drawer.

"Teacher," Li Luo whispered without moving his lips, the faint sound squeezing through the gap to reach Yan Zhusheng's ear.

Understanding immediately, Yan Zhusheng silently pushed the phone deeper into the drawer, then closed her eyes, draped the jacket hanging on her chair back over herself to conceal the earbud wire between them, and pretended to sleep.

It had to be said that although Yan Zhusheng was usually simple, she wasn't stupid; in moments like this, her attention to detail was maxed out.

Meanwhile, seeing Kong Junxiang walking toward them, Li Luo immediately closed his eyes and entered a state of feigned slumber.

But what he didn't know was that Kong Junxiang had originally come to find him, the class monitor, about some matter, and was only inspecting the classroom as a side task.

Upon entering the classroom and confirming that all students were taking their lunch nap, Kong Junxiang walked straight toward Li Luo and Yan Zhusheng.

At this moment, Li Luo hadn't fully closed his eyes; squinting through a slight crack, he noticed Teacher Kong approaching and immediately felt a little panicked.

But right at this critical moment.

Something unexpected suddenly occurred over by Zhu Yufei and Zhang Guohuang.

These two clowns were also sitting in the back row; after lunch they had buried their heads to sleep, covering themselves with jackets, seemingly sleeping very soundly.

But as Kong Junxiang passed their seats, he saw the jackets of these two fellows trembling, and a suppressed sound of laughter emanated from within.

This made Kong Junxiang sense something was amiss; walking to the space between the two, he looked down, then helplessly chuckled, shook his head, and reached his right hand inside.

"You two, come to my office."

Holding a phone in his hand, Kong Junxiang then walked out of the classroom.

At that exact moment when an extra hand suddenly appeared beneath their jackets, the hair on Zhu Yufei and Zhang Guohuang's backs stood on end.

The jackets were whipped open; the moment they saw Teacher Kong, the two nearly screamed, their souls almost frightened out of them.

By the time they came to their senses, Kong Junxiang was already standing outside the back door of the classroom, beckoning to them.

Zhu Yufei and Zhang Guohuang exchanged a glance, then immediately resembled two wilted eggplants, hanging their heads in dejection as they walked outside.

At this moment, Li Luo opened his eyes, watching the two warriors embark on the road of no return, then heaved a slight sigh of relief.

Coincidentally, the singing in his ear reached the climax.

"Counting ring after ring of annual growth~"

"I am serious~"

"Sealing all my heart's concerns~"

"Dense and packed is my self-respect~"

It had to be said that Yan Zhusheng's emotional interpretation of this song was quite good; it didn't look like the kind of effect the usually expressionless Yan Zhusheng could produce.

Thinking that his own sacrifice and contribution were part of this, Li Luo felt quite gratified.

At least he had exerted some effort and been helpful.

To be honest, only Yan Zhusheng wouldn't mind; otherwise, for a recording service like this, including arrangement and providing vocals, one would definitely have to charge a large sum of money.

However, Yan Zhusheng didn't think that much; after the song in the earbuds finished, she blinked and asked softly, "So, is it okay? If there's anything bad, I can go home today and record it again."

"It sounds great, perfectly fine," Li Luo gave her a thumbs-up. "This is good enough; no need to fuss over it anymore."

Neither of them were professionals anyway; as long as it was roughly acceptable, laypeople wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Yan Zhusheng's singing skills were already excellent, and coupled with the emotional techniques she had figured out herself, even if her rendition of "Annual Rings" wasn't as good as the original singer Li Luo heard in his previous life, it certainly wasn't bad.

"So that's it?" Yan Zhusheng paused for a moment, not expecting Li Luo to be done so quickly.

"That's it," Li Luo nodded. "We'll go to your house on Saturday to record the other one."

"Oh."

"I'll buy some ingredients and come to your place then, to cook a good meal and reward you," Li Luo added. "Is there anyone else living at your home?"

"No." Yan Zhusheng shook her head. "I live alone."

"Then it's settled?"

"Okay."

"I will post this song online," Li Luo added. "Should I use your real name or something else for the singer's credit?"

"Sheng Sheng Bu Xi," Yan Zhusheng said. "That's my online pen name."

"Alright."

Hearing this familiar name, Li Luo felt a momentary daze.

He vaguely remembered that in his previous life, the Douyin account he managed for Yan Zhusheng had used this exact ID nickname.

After the lunch break ended, Zhu Yufei and Zhang Guohuang finally returned to the office; both looked listless, and it seemed their phones would not be returned anytime soon.

"What were you two doing with your phones during the lunch break?" Li Luo asked curiously.

"Reading a novel, the one I mentioned to you yesterday," Zhu Yufei said with a sigh.

"It's all that damn author's fault," Zhang Guohuang couldn't help but complain. "Just as he wrote about the male protagonist dating a female star, he runs into another female lead, and they pretend to be siblings; reading that nearly made us burst out laughing."

"Indeed." Zhu Yufei nodded repeatedly as well, complaining discontentedly, "The key is that the bastard actually ended the chapter on a cliffhanger! I won't get my phone back until school ends on the weekend; that's still several days away! It's making my heart itch."

Listening to their explanation, Li Luo immediately twitched the corners of his mouth: "Didn't I tell you before? I said to be careful, and now you've been caught, haven't you?"

Serves you right!

Why read any Online Novels?

Focus on your studies, kids.