Chapter 323: How Lucky to Have Us

The corridor was very quiet.

Those passing by were all classmates from the class.

Ning Qing held her books to her chest, stood straight, and looked at him quietly.

Seeing him smile, she couldn't help but smile too, then she walked up in two or three steps, lowered the hand holding the books, and hugged him very naturally.

The classmates nearby couldn't help but cast their gazes toward them.

Yet Ning Qing seemed not to notice, just hugging him quietly and gently, silently expressing her longing.

When she let go of him, her brows and eyes had already softened.

"Did you rush back?"

"You bet, I'm exhausted."

"Did you miss me?"

"A little bit, what about you?"

"The same as you."

"You only missed me a little bit too?"

"No, I missed you a lot."

"Hmm..." Chen Shu pondered for a moment, "How come you aren't shy at all when you say that?"

"I don't know how to lie, you do."

"Hmm..."

"Let's go, help me carry my books."

Ning Qing pushed her books toward his chest.

"Why should I?" Chen Shu didn't reach out, "Do you think just because it seemed romantic a moment ago, I'd help you carry them? You're wrong, I won't."

"?"

"Don't you have a Storage Artifact yourself?"

"It's too flashy."

"Then carry them yourself."

"Hurry up."

"I'm not carrying them."

"Bang!"

"You violent woman!"

Chen Shu took her fountain pen and looked at it; it was a set with his own, then he put them all into his Storage Artifact, and reached out to hold her hand, grabbing it quite easily—it was delicate and soft, making him not want to let go.

"Why aren't you going to watch the performance?"

"Going now."

"Alright, then you go alone, I'm going back to the Dormitory to play games."

"?"

"Hey, hey! I'm teasing you..."

Chen Shu gripped her hand tightly, grinning, and at the same time, hearing a sound, he turned his head to glance.

An old professor was walking at the very back, turning off the classroom lights; the classroom suddenly became pitch black, and the lights in the corridor were not very bright; the old professor was leaning on a Wooden Staff, walking slowly along the dim corridor, making a rhythmic tapping sound.

Seeing them here, he also revealed a smile.

Chen Shu nodded at him before withdrawing his gaze:

"Is that your teacher?"

"Yes."

"That old Mr. Ou?"

"Yes."

"He's quite old."

"Mm..."

The two turned the corner and went down the stairs.

Chen Shu continued to ask: "Have you finished your 'Thought' cultivation?"

"Finished."

"How long did you cultivate for?"

"No-thought for a long time, re-thought for two days."

"No wonder! It was those two days, right?" Chen Shu recalled, "I saw the messages you sent me, there were so many, all concentrated in those two days."

"Don't mention it."

"Why should I listen to you? Let me tell you, I've already taken screenshots and saved them; your cold and aloof persona has collapsed."

"Don't look at them."

"I say I won't look, do you believe me?"

"Swish!"

Ning Qing pulled her hand back and tucked it into her pocket.

"Hey!?"

How could this person be so stingy?

Chen Shu grabbed her hand, wanting to pull it out of her pocket, but this girl kept a straight face; she seemed quiet and still, but was actually secretly struggling against him—he pulled upward with force, and she pressed downward with force, preventing him from pulling it out, yet she pretended as if nothing had happened.

"Hurry up and let me hold it."

"Time is up."

"Lend me a bit more."

"No."

"I've been behaving so well lately, I should still have plenty of credit, right?"

"No lending."

"……"

What a heartless woman.

Chen Shu had truly learned his lesson.

He had thought that after not seeing each other for so long, she would be responsive to his every request out of longing, but it turned out she was still just as heartless.

The two walked out of the Teaching Building and headed toward the Sports Field.

Martial Cultivation Hall No. 1 was a martial cultivation hall used for competitions, located right next to the Sports Field, with spectator seating that could accommodate ten thousand people. It was already nearing seven-thirty, and students were still arriving one after another from the Dormitory, entering the Martial Cultivation Hall after passing inspection.

This checkpoint blocked Chen Shu.

"Uncle..."

Chen Shu decisively chose to betray Yujing Academy: "I really just forgot to bring it, and I forgot my Mobile Phone too. If you don't believe me, feel for yourself; I have nothing on me. I really am a student of this school, and this is my girlfriend. We got in together, and she has the campus card."

The security guard uncle had a numb expression; he had seen this kind of thing too often.

It was only because Ning Qing was truly beautiful; otherwise, he would have definitely asked: how much does it cost to bring in a student from another school?

"Your girlfriend?"

"Girlfriend."

"Real girlfriend?"

"Real girlfriend!"

"Young lady, is this your boyfriend?"

"……"

"Uncle, my girlfriend is great in every way, except she's a mute and can't speak."

"Nod your head."

"Isn't this a coincidence? Besides being a mute, she's also deaf."

"Deaf and mute??"

"Isn't this a coincidence!" Chen Shu paused, and in order to make his words sound more credible, he even painfully betrayed himself, "Look, if she couldn't speak, with her looks, how could she have taken a liking to me?"

"You..."

"Uncle, you wouldn't discriminate against disabled people, would you?"

"……"

The security guard uncle was choked up by him. Just as he was about to ask how they usually communicated and tell him to have her type or use sign language, he heard him say:

"How about I give her a kiss to show you?"

The security guard uncle saw the anticipation on his face, which made the security guard uncle fall into hesitation.

"Then you..."

"Alright then!"

Chen Shu replaced the anticipation on his face with helplessness, turned his head to face Qingqing, automatically filtered out her speechless expression, hooked his arm around her neck, and as soon as his head leaned in, he planted a kiss on her face.

"Smack!"

"Is this okay now?"

"I meant... for you to use sign language..." The security guard uncle was stunned, then glanced at the calm-faced Ning Qing and waved his hand, "Go on in, go on in!"

"Thanks, Uncle!"

The two walked into the Martial Cultivation Hall.

Ning Qing followed behind him and spat out a sentence in a low voice:

"Put it on my tab."

"？?"

Chen Shu couldn't quite understand this heartless woman: "Wasn't this an unavoidable, stopgap measure to accompany you to watch the performance?"

"Put it on my tab."

"Aren't you being a bit too much?"

"No."

"……"

This young lady answered so frankly that for a moment, Chen Shu didn't even know what to say.

Forget it, forget it.

Put it on the tab then.

If you have too many lice, you don't itch; if you have too many debts, you don't worry.

The Martial Cultivation Hall was already a sea of people.

The central Competition Stage had been decorated like a stage, with a huge curtain raised, projecting the scene on the stage. The Martial Cultivation Hall had ten thousand seats. Except for the section of seats where one couldn't see the stage at all and could only watch the curtain, which had relatively fewer people, the rest of the seats were actually completely full. Many students had no choice but to stand at the very back, squat at the very front, or occupy the aisles and play a battle of wits with the management staff...

With so many people, if they were all students from Ling'an Academy and there weren't more than 20% outsiders, Chen Shu would stop being surnamed Chen and take Qingqing's surname instead.

"Let's go to the front!"

Chen Shu pulled Qingqing's hand and walked forward.

When a wall of people appeared in front, Chen Shu activated his Resistance Technique, squeezed the people blocking the way aside, and while squeezing, he shouted:

"Zhang Suannai is here! Make way!"

"Zhang Suannai is behind! Everyone make way, if you don't, I'll go to your dorms to find you tomorrow!"

"My big brother is Zhang Suannai!"

"What are you looking at? Are you not showing respect to my big brother?"

"Excuse me, excuse me..."

Ning Qing followed by his side, expressionless, her heart also very calm, without a ripple.

She had already been used to it for over a dozen years.

The two of them managed to squeeze to the front.

The very front of the spectator area was still some distance from the stage, and the spectator area was tiered, so the first row was also quite high; Chen Shu stood on the ground, his whole person not even as high as the floor of the first row of the spectator area, so he wouldn't block anyone.

There weren't that many security personnel here either.

One reason was that people in this world were generally more rational when chasing stars, and university students were especially rational; the university students of Ling'an Academy were the most rational of the rational, and would not do crazy things to chase stars during the school anniversary.

The second reason was that this was the Martial Cultivation Hall, and above it was the Arena, which itself had a Defense Barrier; when there was a performance on stage, these students couldn't break in anyway.

It was exactly 7:30.

The performance officially began.

Chen Shu took two chairs out from his Storage Artifact and sat side-by-side with Qingqing; at this distance and angle, they didn't need to look at the screen and could look directly at the stage.

The lights inside the venue dimmed.

The sound of music rose.

The first performance on stage was a dance.

A narrative dance.

The performers were a handsome man and a beautiful woman who had graduated from Ling'an Academy and joined the Royal Dance Troupe.

Amidst the beautiful music, the two interpreted a poignant love story; at this moment, the music and dance seemed no less inferior to language and text, and everyone present, regardless of whether they understood this art form, received the content it expressed.

True art must not require prior practice in its appreciation techniques.

After that, it was mainly pop songs.

Chen Shu also saw Crown Princess Zhusha and Wen Han.

Interspersed in between were musical instrument performances, including solos on the pipa, guzheng, and keyboard, as well as ensembles of several instruments; sometimes they played pop music, sometimes they played musical scores from a thousand years ago, and sometimes they played improvisation, getting messy as they played.

This performance was very unstructured; whoever wanted to come up and sing could come up, sometimes they would decline each other, sometimes they would change songs or go to pass accompaniment tracks on the fly, and sometimes they would invite students below to come on stage together, either to sing or play together.

Yet it was precisely this feeling of ease, unconstrained and following one's heart, that everyone liked, pushing the atmosphere to a climax very quickly.

"'High Mountain Red' is missing a flute, is there anyone who knows how to play it?"

"Does anyone know how to sing 'Sweet Encounter'?"

"'Apple Luck', let's have a girl with a sweet voice, it doesn't matter if you don't sing it well..."

"..."

By the end, they were gradually having a blast, and the venue often echoed with sing-alongs, with even students going up to sing solo.

Time gradually passed 10 o'clock, then passed 11 o'clock; the school did not come to disturb them, nor did it impose a time limit on them. Some students gradually felt tired amidst the excitement, while others were getting more and more hyped, with students appearing on stage frequently.

Chen Shu also seemed to be infected by this atmosphere, his heart itching uncontrollably.

Until Crown Princess Zhusha went up to sing "Time Boils the Rain"; in the process of singing, as her gaze scanned routinely, she suddenly saw Chen Shu, and in her surprise, her eyes lit up instantly, and in the gap between two lines, she waved vigorously at him.

After she finished singing and thanked everyone, she then said with a smile: "I seem to have seen an acquaintance down there, I want to pull him up to perform."

As she spoke, she walked to the edge of the Arena:

"Good evening, Teacher Chen Shu."

"Good evening."

"Come up and sing a song."

"Forget it, forget it..."

"Oh, come on! I know you won't be shy! And I know you sing well!"

"Emmm..."

Chen Shu glanced at Qingqing beside him, then no longer declined, stood up, and walked toward the stage.

About two minutes later.

Under the gaze of everyone, Chen Shu sat on the stage, cleared his throat, and without feeling timid, only said: "This song is called 'So Many People in This World', the lyricist is Wang Haitao, the composer and arranger is Peng Fei; I just like it, think it sounds good, so I'm singing it for the person I like."

Upon hearing this, a cheer immediately erupted from below.

Everyone was very supportive...

Chen Shu thought to himself, smiled, and met Ning Qing's eyes; when the venue became quiet again, he pressed the keys, his voice gentle and delicate:

"There are so many people in this world

"In the crowd, a door is left open

"In my hazy eyes, it lingers

"First meeting you, a blue morning

"There are so many people in this world

"How lucky, I have a 'us'

"The Morning and Dusk in this long destiny

"Often make me gaze into the distance, lost in thought

"..."

"In the evening breeze, a few frames of the past flash by, spinning in the flight, have they already disappeared..."

The venue became increasingly quiet, with only Chen Shu's voice echoing; the moment this unfamiliar song appeared, it moved many people.

In all fairness, this song still sounded better sung by a female voice, but fortunately, he was a good singer himself, and he sang it well today. Unlike the regretful tone of the original, there was no regret in his singing, but rather more calmness; he was simply singing out some of the plain sense of story and palpitation he liked in this song, which was what he wanted to sing for Ning Qing to hear.

"Floating amidst the laughter are a few old faces,"

"Remaining in the field of dreams, never to disperse..."

Crown Princess Zhusha stood to the side, her two hands tightly twisted together; how could a young girl's heart withstand such torment? It had already melted.

Below, the eyes of countless young women also grew misty.

The most composed one was, conversely, the woman sitting in front of the spectator seats; she wore only a faint smile on her face, looking toward the Arena, her eyes holding only that figure.

"Still moved, after all..."

Ning Qing could not help but let out a sigh in her heart.

The song ended, and cheers erupted like a tsunami.

That person stood up to return the salute.

The giant screen was filled entirely with him.

Ning Qing's gaze followed only that figure, and as for what the millions of people behind her were cheering for, she did not care.

---Author's Note---

Apologies, I used up my stockpile during the May Day holiday, and I overslept this afternoon, which caused today's scheduled update to fail... No! I must save up my stockpile again and continue my method of scheduled updates!