Chapter Fifty-Three: A Band of Mischievous Children

The format of the audition was quite monotonous. All the contestants waited in the hallway; when the host called a name, that person would go in and sing a song a cappella. However, the judging process was very humane—no matter how you sang, even if the tune wandered off to the ends of the earth, the teachers would never interrupt you; they’d patiently listen until you finished.

Liu Siying was first in line. Her stage presence was excellent, and her rendition of “Dream Chaser” was clear and refreshing, making for a promising start. The beautiful Miss Yang and Mr. Wang exchanged a few quiet words, nodding repeatedly.

The next few contestants were less impressive. Well, Dong Yanyan admitted her own musical knowledge barely allowed her to read the staff, but the difference between pleasant and unpleasant singing was still very obvious, especially when singing a cappella—whether someone was on key or not could be heard within two lines. She frowned, glanced at the scores given by Li Jian from the Audio-Visual class on her left, then at Li Zhe’s scores on her right; the difference wasn’t much, so she decided to drop her worries and simply give low scores to those off-key.

She looked down at the list in her hand; before Gu Xiaohan was Ren Jiaxuan.

Ren Jiaxuan chose an old song by Xie Lei, “Spring Goes, Spring Returns.” The moment he began, Dong Yanyan’s spirits lifted. His bright voice suited the slightly nostalgic song perfectly. To convey a sense of vast, weathered emotion in such a calm melody required solid fundamentals—especially in a bare a cappella performance—yet he sang with such stirring resonance. It was truly remarkable.

Li Zhe turned to Dong Yanyan and asked softly, “Not bad, right?”

Dong Yanyan nodded in agreement. “Yes, listening to Ren sing is a real pleasure!”

Especially after her ears had been battered by so many off-key noises, Ren’s voice was like a glass of ice water on a sweltering summer day—just looking at it felt refreshing! Dong Yanyan thought she might become his fan.

Li Zhe smiled, clearly satisfied.

Dong Yanyan was most worried about Xiaohan. She’d advised her to choose a shorter song, to avoid forgetting the lyrics if she got nervous, but Xiaohan insisted on a long one—my goodness!

Gu Xiaohan was even more nervous than she was. Dong Yanyan listened with her heart in her throat, but fortunately, Xiaohan didn’t forget the words; her voice just trembled a bit, and she kept glancing her way. To avoid suspicion, Dong Yanyan sat up straight and stared into the distance until Xiaohan finished the last line. Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief. Before leaving the stage, Gu Xiaohan looked her way; Dong Yanyan quickly put on a reassuring smile, and Xiaohan beamed as she ran offstage.

Dong Yanyan sneaked a peek at Li Zhe.

“Not bad,” Li Zhe mumbled, chewing on his pen, conferring quietly with the senior next to him, who nodded in agreement.

Dong Yanyan’s anxiety finally eased. It seemed Xiaohan would make it through the preliminary round—tonight, their dorm would be spared a storm.

When the results came out, twenty boys and twenty girls were selected. Only four from their class made it—not even hitting the average.

Three girls passed. Xiaohan need not worry; making it to the semi-finals was already a blessing. After that, it would probably be down to Liu Siying and Mengmeng. The boys fared worse—only Lin Feng remained to fight alone.

What about Liu Qiang? Didn’t he register too? He’d been singing “Hopelessly Devoted to You” with his guitar day and night for over a month, nearly perfecting it; he could have easily made it to the semi-finals with that song. Where was he at the crucial moment?

After the event, she asked Yang Lili, who looked surprised. “You didn’t know? Liu Qiang twisted his ankle playing basketball at noon and is holed up in his dorm. All the girls in our dorm went to see him—didn’t you?”

“I should go visit!” Dong Yanyan said through gritted teeth, feigning a smile. “Isn’t it supposed to be like-for-like? I’ll go kick him myself—always dropping the ball at the critical moment!” With that, she stormed off.

Back at their dorm, Li Hui and Yu Xia pretended not to hear anything. Liu Ying and Leng Yue politely stated they weren’t familiar with Liu and didn’t want to go. Xinran simply rolled her eyes—“He was dumb enough to fall by himself, what’s it got to do with us?”

Dong Yanyan discussed with Xiaohan and Tiantian, and they finally decided to buy a case of milk as a present from Dorm 103 to Liu Qiang.

Poor kid!

After dinner, the three of them went to the supermarket, bought a case of milk, and took turns carrying it up to the fifth floor.

“My god, I’m exhausted!” Gu Xiaohan panted, kicking the door to Liu Qiang’s dorm. After a moment, Xu Cheng opened the door, warmly inviting them in when he saw who it was.

Dong Yanyan glanced around the dorm—it was as messy as a dog’s den, with a whiff of smelly socks in the air. How familiar and endearing!

Leng Haoyang jumped down from the top bunk, laughing. “Xiaohan, you finally came! Liu Qiang’s been waiting until his eyes nearly went blind!” He took the milk from Xiaohan and tossed it onto his own bed.

There was a leg wrapped in bandages resting on the lower bunk, with a guitar perched atop it. Liu Qiang peeked out from behind the guitar, and when he saw Gu Xiaohan, his voice stuttered with joy.

“You’re here!”

Gu Xiaohan leaned in curiously, bending down to look at his leg. “Didn’t you sprain your ankle? Did you hurt your leg too?”

Leng Haoyang waved his hand covertly, Xu Cheng exchanged a glance with Dong Yanyan and Lu Tian, and the four of them quickly dashed outside.

“Close the door! Close the door!” they whispered excitedly, pulling the handle tight, eyes bright with anticipation.

Dong Yanyan immediately noticed the seams of Xu Cheng’s jacket were coming apart, and his sweater underneath looked dirty. She couldn’t help it—after knowing him for over ten years, she was always troubled by his hygiene, so every time he went out, she’d check his clothes for cleanliness. It had become a habit; whenever she saw him, she’d subconsciously examine his outfit.

“So, do you think it’ll work this time?” Leng Haoyang grinned mischievously.

“I bet a hundred percent it’ll work! If it doesn’t, I’ll wash both your dirty clothes tonight!” Dong Yanyan quickly offered. She knew Liu Qiang and the others wouldn’t succeed, but Xu Cheng’s clothes really did need washing. She couldn’t just volunteer, though—at seventeen or eighteen, feelings were budding, and one careless move could lead to misunderstanding.

“Then I hope they don’t succeed,” Leng Haoyang joked, “I’ve been saving up dirty laundry for half a month, waiting for someone to wash it.”

“You’re shameless!” Tiantian kicked him, half-laughing, pretending to be annoyed. She quietly cracked the door open a bit, then closed it quickly, afraid the others would run out.

“So, are we just going to wait out here? How long will that take?” she asked, her voice sweet.

“Why don’t we set up a mahjong table by the door? By the time we finish a round, they should be done,” Dong Yanyan said, pinching her cheek and laughing.