A Young Woman's Heart

"Hehe, actually Lele and I went to the cafeteria early to get drinks."

"Oh, I was wondering why you took so long to wash your face." Mo Xueyao recalled that before the event was over, Hua Yinyin, who had slept on her shoulder for almost the entire day, woke up and said she was going to wash her face. She didn't come back for quite a while. Mo Xueyao thought she had gone to the restroom, but it turned out she had actually come to the cafeteria.

"But only one burger can be taken per person, otherwise I would have gotten one for you too." Hua Yinyin held up the bag she was carrying high, stretched out a big yawn, and looked particularly lazy in the afterglow of the setting sun. "Little Yaoyao, can I have a bite of your shrimp burger later?"

"I'll break off a piece for you..."

"Tch, my saliva isn't poisonous, I'll let you have a bite too!"

"Hmm... a spicy chicken burger, well... I'll give it a try."

"Hehe, Xiaoyaoyao is the best!" Hua Yinyin grabbed her arm, laughing smugly as she shook her vigorously.

"Alright, alright, stop shaking it! The bag's going to break if you keep shaking it!"

The students at the school are like flowers in spring, blooming everywhere, meaning that you can see students anywhere right now.

Except for the senior year of high school, students in other grades do not have evening self-study sessions. They are still at school when they should be leaving, and they are eating dinners distributed by the cafeteria that they can never eat normally. This feeling is really too strange.

Even on the basketball court, there were quite a few boys sitting side by side, eating their dinner.

It was as if these basketball courts were the homes of these boys.

As I walked up the lab building, I could hear other bands doing their final practice. Clearly, everyone was very nervous. Not being able to represent the school in the competition wasn't a big deal; the real problem was messing up the performance.

Face, though seemingly an intangible thing, is precisely what many people value.

Upon reaching the fifth floor, it was noticeably quieter. Mo Xueyao pushed open the door to the band room with a puzzled look, only to find not a lively scene, but an empty, deathly silence.

"Are the people in our band too nervous... or are they just not taking it seriously at all?" Mo Xueyao asked helplessly.

"Well, isn't it great that no one else is here? It'll just be the two of us eating together!" Hua Yinyin was quite happy. She ran into the classroom, picked up two full bottles of juice that were still a little warm, and waved them at Mo Xueyao. "Come on, little Yaoyao! Let's go to the rooftop for some alone time!"

"I don't want to spend time alone with you..." Mo Xueyao rolled her eyes. "If it were just the two of us in the world, I'd be driven crazy by your noise..."

"Tch, if it were just me and Yaoyao left in this world, maybe I'd be quite quiet?"

"Who would believe that!"

Mo Xueyao waited for Hua Yinyin to leave the classroom before continuing up the stairs.

A golden, withered leaf was swept up by the wind and blown into the corridor.

It's like a letter from autumn—sent out in autumn and not arriving until winter.

The rooftop emergency door was so heavy that Mo Xueyao couldn't even push it open with her left hand, so she tried her right: "Who closed the door? It's so tight..."

"Could it be locked?"

"Probably not," Mo Xueyao said blankly.

Moreover, the rooftop can't actually be locked because the lock was probably installed backwards. So, to lock it with a key, you have to stand on the rooftop. But if you stand on the rooftop and lock the door with a key... how do you get out?

"Yinyin!" She rolled up her sleeves, spat into her palms, and rubbed them together. "Hold this for me!"

"Hey, do you have to push it open with all your might?" Hua Yinyin took the bag from her. "Tsk tsk, does Xiao Yaoyao have that much strength? I remember last time when she couldn't open it, it was Xiao Xue who opened it."

"Hmph—Leave it to me!" Mo Xueyao took a deep breath, then kicked the door open with a 'bang'.

Yes, without using hands.

Hua Yinyin's lips twitched slightly, because the scene was so dramatic that she didn't know where to begin.

"You're here!" Mo Xueyao hadn't even seen the rooftop in front of her when she heard Wang Jiale's greeting.

The rooftop was surprisingly lively, with seven or eight girls gathered there, some standing and some sitting, eating hamburgers that quickly went cold in the wind as the sun was about to set.

Mo Xiaoxiao had just put a French fry in her mouth when Mo Zhuyou, sitting next to her, bit off most of it. The latter even raised her eyebrows at her sister with a satisfied look, carrying a hint of provocation.

"Youyou, how old are you?"

"Anyway, they're not adults!"

"Ah...so everyone's here." Mo Xueyao was a little disappointed, but was quickly filled with joy.

"Oh, come quick, there are some old newspapers here we can use as a mat!"

"They're here!" Mo Xueyao pulled Hua Yinyin's hand and sat down next to Wang Jiale and Li Wanyan.

As soon as they sat down, everyone fell silent, their eyes glazing into the distance.

Mo Xueyao and Hua Yinyin also looked over curiously—

What I saw was the setting sun, slowly sinking, finally about to disappear completely below the horizon.

—The last rays of light that are scattered.

……

Chapter 251 An Internationale

As night fell, a chill settled in. A gust of wind made Mo Xueyao sneeze, bringing everyone back to their senses.

This is no longer the rooftop, but the entrance to the backstage area of ​​the Great Hall of the People.

Li Wanyan closed the window next to her and walked straight inside.

As the host, she needed to get on stage early.

Mo Zhuyou looked at Wang Jiale, Wang Jiale looked at Mr. Xue, Mr. Xue looked at Mo Xueyao, and finally, Mo Xueyao looked at Hua Yinyin.

"Ahem—! Is it finally starting?" Hua Yinyin coughed heavily. "We've practiced so many times already, we have to win the championship this time! Otherwise, all our previous efforts will have been in vain!"

"...Compared to other classes, we haven't practiced much at all..." Mo Xueyao was a little unsure.

Fortunately, everyone still has plenty of time to prepare—compared to other classes.

The performance was arranged from back to front, meaning the first to go on stage was Class 7 of Grade 11, and the last was Class 1 of Grade 11.

Class 2 of Grade 11, which ranked second to last, was the final one.

The backstage area of ​​the Great Hall of the People is very large, divided into many changing rooms, which are also used as meeting rooms.

Class Two stayed in their own meeting room, placing their respective musical instruments around them.

Mo Xueyao used the black and red extended electronic keyboard that Qiu Yi had specially lent her. Before this performance, she had only practiced for a week. Although she was not exactly rusty, she was still a little nervous.

There was a small color television in the dressing room, broadcasting the situation on stage live via the school radio.

"Class 7 is on stage!" Although it was another class, Mo Zhuyou still seemed a little excited. "They look so calm..."

"Don't be nervous when we go on stage." Mo Xueyao licked her dry lips. During the day, Hua Yinyin was the most nervous, but now, she was the most nervous.

"Stop talking, stop talking... I'm getting nervous if you keep talking..." Although she wasn't sitting in front of the drum set, Mo Zhuyou still gripped the drum set tightly in her hands. Compared to Mo Xueyao's nervousness, she was more expectant—with a bit of the fearless expectation of a newborn calf.

Class 7 used the school's sound system, with a long cable that ran all the way to the backstage area, and then the music was broadcast throughout the school. Even if you weren't in the auditorium, you could still hear their performance.

This time, three students from Class 7 came up, dressed like a street performer duo.

One boy was holding a suona (a traditional Chinese wind instrument), while the other was carrying an erhu (another traditional Chinese stringed instrument). He even wore a pair of round black sunglasses, which made the students below the stage burst into laughter.

The last burly boy carried in a large red drum, and when he placed it on the stage, a distinct vibration could be heard.

Each class needs to perform three pieces, which can be chosen by the students themselves or they can create their own.

However, these three students from Class 7 did not seem to have created their own songs. As soon as they sat down, they picked up a piece called "Erquan Yingyue" with a slightly sad tone.

"It feels like the technique isn't quite there yet? Not sad enough?" Mo Xueyao asked softly, her attention slightly distracted, as she glanced at Hua Yinyin.

"Hmm...it is indeed a bit different from the usual one, but I heard that the original version of 'Erquan Yingyue' didn't have that half-dead feeling. It should be like this, with a bit of a carefree attitude." Hua Yinyin gently stroked the pipa in her arms and started plucking it softly as well.

This was, after all, a band, so it couldn't just be the erhu playing. Then, the drums behind them started to sound, followed by the loud suona.

The combination of the suona and erhu should have been a double dose of sorrow, but for some reason it instead came across as somewhat comical.

The drumbeats behind them seemed out of place, which made even more of the audience laugh.

Their expressions, however, were extremely serious, and this stark contrast between their stage presence and their off-stage demeanor seemed to make many people find it even more ridiculous.

Mo Xueyao couldn't laugh; she just felt that the scene was really strange, as if the audience and the performers were in two different worlds.

After "Erquan Yingyue" ends, comes "Gaoshan Liushui," a piece that is relatively less 'sad'.

The erhu and suona played quite well together this time, but the drum sound still felt a bit strange.

This is largely because most people believe that "High Mountains and Flowing Water" should be an elegant piece of music, and even if it is played with a suona and an erhu, there should not be a drummer playing it.

It's like two elegantly dressed dancers are dancing when suddenly a burly man with bare chest—wearing only tattered trousers—walks into the room.

Seeing the audience's reaction and the undeniable sense of incongruity, Mo Xueyao suddenly felt more at ease.

At the very least, the Snow Music Band has absolutely no problem playing familiar pieces.

Unlike them, they didn't coordinate well from the start.

The people on stage clearly noticed the laughter of the audience below, but it was not laughter of praise, but rather laughter tinged with ridicule and sarcasm.

Even though many of the people sitting in the seats didn't know how to play the instruments, that didn't stop them from laughing at the people on stage.

The man who was sitting and playing the erhu slowly stood up and glanced at the man standing next to him playing the suona.

It's funny, really. It's like a blind person suddenly regaining their sight...

The music had stopped, and the laughter from the audience was quite loud. The three performers on stage took a deep breath and then played as if they were using all their strength.

The microphone that had been sitting in front of me without being used finally had a chance to be put to good use.

"stand up--"

When the word first came out, Mo Xueyao was stunned for a moment. She thought that the Class 7 band had not practiced any other songs, so they planned to use the national anthem as the last song.

She even felt that this was just "filling in the numbers," since everyone knows how to sing the national anthem and it's much simpler to play.

"Ugh... The Internationale!" Mo Zhuyou bit her lip hard and exclaimed in surprise.

"Huh? Oh right, it's The Internationale..." Mo Xueyao slapped her forehead, remembering that she had learned this song in junior high school.

However, music classes were always taken up by main subjects, and students were basically doing homework for the main subjects during class. Even when they went to the music room, they were usually in a daze, and would just sing along with others for a couple of lines and that was it.

"The Internationale? No wonder it sounds so familiar..." Wang Jiale nodded blankly, "But... I don't think I've heard it much before."

Inside the small color TV with its large head, the three people on stage continued to sing.

To be precise, it should be said that only those who play the erhu can sing.