You're my wife, don't doubt it!

"Xiaoyao!"

Incited by the ringleader, the students from St. Francis Secondary School in the stands began to shout in unison.

The cries blended together.

"plum!"

"Xiaoyao!"

"plum!"

"Xiaoyao!"

"plum!"

"Xiaoyao!"

Damn it, it's that bastard Xiao Yao again.

As a fellow sufferer of narcolepsy, is this guy really that famous?

I've heard of this guy before... Tao Tian thought.

The cheers and shouts around me grew even louder.

Is this ever going to end...? Are you some kind of attention-seeker?

Wait, is this?

Amidst a deafening roar of cheers and applause, two more girls walked out from the left and right sides of the stage.

Under the spotlight, the two girls slowly moved toward the center of the stage.

The girl on the left, like the boy named "Xiao Yao," was tall and thin, wearing a pure white long dress, and holding a small... uh... large...

"What's this violin called again?" Tao Tianyi turned his head and asked the person next to him in a low voice.

"The cello."

"Viola."

"No, it's a double bass, you idiots."

"Damn it, it's a cello! I'm the music class representative, you guys don't know anything!"

Wait, what about the one on the right...?

A petite girl in a long black dress, barefoot.

She was holding a bell in each hand… Sasha… what was it called again? She was running around the entire stage at high speed under the spotlight.

"Holy crap!" Tao Tianyi suddenly stood up, pointed at the stage, and shouted to the people around him, "Isn't that my deskmate in the black dress? Isn't that her? Isn't she my deskmate?"

Update notes for December

2023-12-08

First of all, I am very happy to tell you that this book will be completed in December.

Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I can't say.

This book was published last November and made available for purchase this January. It has been serialized for a whole year, accompanying everyone for a whole year. Of course, everyone has also accompanied me for a whole year. As it is about to come to an end, I want to thank all the readers who have followed it this far, and thank all the readers who have subscribed to the full version. Whether you have been following it for a year or are a newcomer, thank you all!

Thank you to everyone who voted for me with a monthly pass, thank you to every Silver and Bronze Alliance Leader, thank you to everyone who tipped me, and thank you to everyone who helped me during the creative process (including but not limited to reviewers, proofreaders, operations staff, consultants in various fields, etc.).

This single is mainly to inform readers that I will **not** be updating daily in December.

This might seem like a bad thing to many readers, but I don't think so.

Looking back on the past year, I find it quite amazing that I haven't missed a single month of my minimum living allowance since the book was released on January 6th, the day of the Epiphany. I've had perfect attendance all year, making me a model worker.

Qidian (the website) gave me two leave slips per month, which means that in the past 11 months, the total number of days I missed updating may not have exceeded 22 or 23 days, including the two times I tested positive for COVID-2.

For me, a draftsman working in a design institute, this is nothing short of a miracle.

As everyone knows, I work until 6:30 every day, and sometimes I have to work overtime until 8 or 9 pm. It takes more than an hour to get to work, and when I get home, there are all sorts of trivial matters to deal with, like family and mother-in-law issues.

And yet, despite having almost no drafts saved up for a long time, I managed to maintain perfect attendance for nearly a year.

To be honest, the full attendance bonus is very small, only 1000 yuan, and after tax I get 800 yuan. Do I really need that 800 yuan?

It's bad in some ways, but not bad in others.

With this 800, I won't fly to the sky; without it, I won't starve. It's just the cost of a few hot pot meals.

However, in order to prevent myself from losing self-control after the constraint of full attendance allowance, I gradually developed from updating every two or three days to updating weekly and then monthly. Therefore, I decided not to compromise with my laziness and to resolutely make sure to earn the minimum allowance of 800 yuan every month.

To put it bluntly, it's not about the money, but about having something to keep myself in check, that's all.

However, what brings success can also bring failure. The pressure of receiving a minimum living allowance sometimes forces me to rush to finish a project and get it published quickly. This makes it impossible for me to think things through carefully and to meticulously refine and revise each chapter. As a result, the quality of my updates is sometimes inconsistent.

At the same time, some filler content is sometimes unavoidable in chapters, which further reduces the overall quality of the work.

After careful consideration, I decided to bravely give up my December allowance, the last month of which I would receive, so that without the pressure of working on a project under the burden of the allowance, I could write this book seriously and with high quality, bringing it to a perfect conclusion.

Therefore, the update frequency in December will be random.

My initial plan is to finish the book before Christmas.

I will also update the VIP group with the extra chapter 343 that everyone has been eagerly anticipating in December.

After the book is finished, I may, and I mean may, continue to update some extra chapters for those who have already subscribed.

(After finishing this explanation, I let out a sigh of relief, lit a cigarette, and started the game.)

Chapter 404 Xiao Yao in the Spotlight (Part 2)

2023-12-25

While some of the previous contestants appeared in teams, they were either boy groups or girl groups. This was the first time everyone had seen a male-female pairing. With the man being handsome and the woman being beautiful, their appearance naturally drew a lot of attention.

Tao Tianyi was slightly taken aback when the boy started playing the guitar.

It turns out it's folk music, not rock.

However, compared to their perfect entrance, everyone was slightly disappointed when the first line of their song came out.

"I want to sing this song for you~~~ while we're still young and beautiful~~~~" Accompanied by the acoustic guitar intro flowing from "Li Xiaoyao's" fingertips, the first to speak was a petite girl in black. Although her dance moves were sweet, her singing skills were rather average.

The reason she is considered average is that her voice is decent, with a natural sweetness, like a natural, unpolished gem. However, apart from that, her singing skills, airflow, and enunciation are all subpar. Fortunately, at least she is on key for every word.

Tao Tianyi: Happy.

After all, she was my deskmate. Once, when we were chatting, she mentioned that she was tone-deaf when she sang. In that case, being tone-deaf was an understatement, but her singing ability was indeed not something to be proud of.

How could someone of this caliber—how did they even dare to pass the qualifiers?

Have you no shame at all?

Ah, yes, Xu Qingwei has also been infected with narcolepsy.

Come to think of it, did she infect me, or did I infect her? The timing seems to be roughly the same...

"Flowers, bloom freely~~~~ Adorn your years and my branches~~~~~" The last two lines were spoken by the tall girl in the white dress, and her voice was met with a round of applause.

This girl sang much better, and with Xu Qingwei's preceding performance, her voice was like a heavenly melody, truly captivating.

So, my deskmate Qingwei got there by clinging to someone's coattails? No, wait, was her role just to be a foil? Tao Tian wondered.

Following the rule of one person singing two lines, the fifth line is "Li Xiaoyao".

Xiao Yao: "Who can replace you?"

Girl in white dress: "(And) who can replace you?"

Xiao Yao: "Love to the fullest while you're young, okay?"

Girl in white dress: "(And) love?"

A flawed, black-clad gem: "My dearest one?"

The three sang together: "The journey is long, but let's stay together?"

Xiao Yao: "I'll sing it for you..."

Xu Qingwei: "(And) I'll sing it for you..."

Tao Tianyi was still immersed in a kind of "shock".

Because of the voice of "Li Xiaoyao", his first feeling was that a male celebrity had come to the scene, and his second feeling was that this guy was probably lip-syncing from a CD, otherwise it would be too unbelievable.

It's not a matter of whether it sounds good or bad, it's just that kind of...

Sadness, weariness, and a hint of hoarseness—he didn't seem like a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy at all, but rather like a disillusioned middle-aged man.

Listen closely, and you'll find a youthful innocence mixed in with this magnetic baritone voice—it truly comes from a young boy's voice.

Tao Tian listened intently, as if following the voice to see a young man struggling through life, his first love arriving gently, his lover departing silently, all in the soft, watery moonlight… Over countless years, this young man quietly grew into a middle-aged man. He had experienced too much joy and sorrow, too much confusion and loss, but he no longer grieved or clung to the past. Instead, he let go of them, reconciled with the years, and reconciled with himself—he had seen through everything, smiled at each other, and remained calm and serene… Yes, that was the feeling, only the tone still carried that faint, almost imperceptible, lingering trace of heartache.

That faint scar, which can never be healed in a lifetime, is almost invisible to the naked eye.

Damn, that's so good!!!

Tao Tianyi came to his senses and realized that he, and many people around him, seemed to be captivated by the siren's song.