Chapter 174

The afternoon club experience activity was just like the start of school, with each club setting up a small booth along Houde Road.

Each booth offered a small game related to the club's theme.

For example, the literature club had riddles, couplets, and poetry challenges.

Sports clubs like basketball or badminton were set up on the playground and basketball courts.

Rock club, by contrast, was directly placed inside the gymnasium.

The school gave every student a guidebook detailing the exact location of every club's booth.

Students could use it to precisely find clubs they liked and participate in related activities.

After all, people like Li Luo, who joined clubs just because they were interested, were rare.

After entering Fu No. 1 High, most students focused primarily on studying, typically joining one competition club and one interest club.

More often than not, they attended only competition club activities, visiting interest clubs only occasionally.

The better their grades, the more true this was.

Someone like Li Luo, ranked 15th in grade and not joining a single competition club, was extremely rare.

"What are you and Qiao Xinyan planning to do later?" Li Luo asked Ying Chanxi, sitting behind the literature club booth.

For students at Fu No. 1 High, the literature club was among the least popular.

Even rock club, which had few members, was relatively popular during the New Year's Eve party.

Many students enjoyed trying out instruments.

But the literature club truly had no visitors.

Only collectors aiming to gather stamps from every club might wander over briefly.

Since there was no lottery for afternoon club stamps, most students just strolled around aimlessly.

Some even brought three or five friends straight to the open field on the playground for a picnic.

"Xinyan said we should just wander around first," Ying Chanxi said. "Then, when we get tired, she brought a picnic blanket from home—we can invite acquaintances to sit on the playground. Are you coming?"

"Depends," Li Luo thought for a moment. "If the rock club isn't too busy, I'll slip over to find you."

"Okay." Ying Chanxi nodded happily, then pointed to the southwest corner of the playground. "That spot's quieter—if we picnic, Xinyan and I will pick that spot under the trees."

"Alright. If I come, I'll find you there."

Li Luo and Ying Chanxi chatted under the shade, occasionally greeting visiting students.

After about half an hour, the next shift of literature club members arrived to take over.

"Class monitor, you've worked hard," Liu Shaowen appeared before the literature booth with another student, ready to take over the next round.

As he came to relieve her, his expression hesitated, but he still gathered courage to ask Ying Chanxi, "Class monitor, do you have free time later? If you get tired from walking, let's go find an open spot on the playground for a picnic—I brought plenty of snacks, more than I can finish."

He didn't ignore Li Luo beside him, adding, "Li Luo can come too—it'll be more fun together."

"I already made plans with Qiao Xinyan to hang out this afternoon. You'd better ask someone else," Ying Chanxi politely declined, then stood up and winked at Li Luo. "I'm going to find Xinyan now. Bye."

Li Luo nodded to her, then turned to Liu Shaowen and smiled. "Thanks for the invite, but we'll leave the booth to you."

"Cough… No trouble at all. Go have fun," Liu Shaowen didn't lose heart; he calmly accepted the rejection and sat on the chair Ying Chanxi had just vacated, feeling slightly comforted. "We've got this."

Li Luo admired the guy's spirit. After parting ways with Ying Chanxi, he waved and headed toward the gymnasium.

…

Inside the gymnasium, it was bustling.

With Li Luo absent, Qian Siliang from Gao Er was also unavailable due to other club duties.

So the rock club was managed by Niu Qingling, Yan Zhusheng, Xie Shuchen, and Shao Youpeng.

Niu Qingling handled the drum kit, Xie Shuchen the keyboard, Yan Zhusheng the guitar, and Shao Youpeng the bass.

Most visitors to the rock club were girls.

This gave Xie Shuchen and Shao Youpeng a chance to show off.

Girls lined up at their stations, curious to try out the instruments.

Especially Xie Shuchen—he was quite handsome—and girls formed long queues just to learn how to play the keyboard.

Meanwhile, most male visitors headed to Yan Zhusheng's station to try the guitar.

Unfortunately, Yan Zhusheng was too serious about this—her three constant phrases were: "You played it wrong," "Not that string," and "Next."

Niu Qingling, by contrast, was quite idle, since most people knew little about drum kits and had no real interest.

So she happily enjoyed the quiet, only demonstrating when someone showed genuine curiosity.

At that moment, Li Luo walked into the gymnasium.

Seeing Li Luo, Yan Zhusheng's eyes instantly lit up, despite the tedious students around her.

She waved at him, and Li Luo stepped forward: "You're handling the guitar station?"

"Mm." Yan Zhusheng nodded, then whispered to him, frustrated, "They're all so slow. Not as smart as you."

"Nobody's learned guitar before," Li Luo chuckled. "Don't be so demanding."

"I'm tired."

"I'll take over," Li Luo said. "Go find Xu Yinghuan or Ying Chanxi—she said she might head to the playground for a picnic later."

"I'll stay here with you," Yan Zhusheng refused to leave, standing beside Li Luo but handing over the guitar-teaching duty.

Honestly, Yan Zhusheng took music too seriously—but most boys lining up were really here for her face.

Seeing they weren't genuinely interested, she grew annoyed, though no one could tell from her expression.

Now that Li Luo had taken over, she could finally rest, so she sat beside him, watching him teach others to play guitar.

But the boys who had been waiting in line immediately scattered once Yan Zhusheng stopped teaching.

In contrast, some girls nearby, upon seeing Li Luo appear, began whispering among themselves—and soon, a few came over to join the queue.

Among them was Shen Shuhua from Class 16.

"Li Luo, we meet again." Shen Shuhua was pushed forward by the girls in her class, and soon she was at the front of Li Luo's line. She smiled shyly and greeted him.

"Oh, it's you." Li Luo glanced up at her, then handed a guitar to her. "Go ahead."

The lesson was very simple—just teaching them to play something like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, or Two Tigers.

According to their requests, Li Luo would occasionally show off a little.

Li Luo didn't pay much attention to Shen Shuhua's situation. After teaching her, he called for the next person.

And Shen Shuhua, who had left the gymnasium, was surrounded by her classmates, laughing and horsing around on the road.

"How did it feel? Didn't you say you like guys with musical talent the most?"

"He feels really charming, didn't you notice? Li Luo is a bit different from the other two guys next to him."

"True. The other two guys really love showing off… how do I put this… they have this feeling of deliberately flaunting that they can play keyboard and bass."

"Right, right, right! Now that you mention it, I just realized—those two always love showing off their skills, but Li Luo has been patiently teaching the whole time, and only plays a slightly more complicated piece when asked."

"His personality is really nice too, not as childish as those two guys next to him."

"Xiaoshu, aren't you tempted? I'm a little tempted already."

"But…" Shen Shuhua said helplessly, "that girl next to him seems to be pretty close with him, right?"

"Don't worry, I already went to Class Eight to ask." a female classmate said, "There was a rumor before that Li Luo and that girl were dating, but it was later confirmed to be nothing. Anyway, won't you know if you just give it a try?"

"You guys are something else…" Shen Shuhua smiled shyly, "I didn't say I was going to do anything."

……

Li Luo was completely unaware of all this, simply teaching them guitar in place of Yan Zhusheng.

After about half an hour, Yan Zhusheng took his place again, letting him rest on the side for a while.

At this moment, Xu Youyu wandered over to the gymnasium, walked in and glanced around, and immediately spotted Li Luo, this slacker.

"What are you doing?"

"Taking a break on the spot." Li Luo said, "Where's Senior? Here to patrol?"

"Nothing unexpected going on over here, right?"

"There is."

"Hm? What's the situation?"

"The president herself paying a visit—how is that not an unexpected situation?" Li Luo smiled and asked, "Does Senior want to come try it out?"

"I'll pass, I still have to go check on other places."

"What's the harm, it won't waste much time."

"But there are people lining up over there, I can't just cut in line, can I?"

"No one's at the drum set."

"You can play that too?"

"Senior, you're underestimating me a little." Li Luo beckoned to her, "Come on, let me show you what I can do."