“What? We still have to put on a performance?”
“You’ve got to be kidding. We’re in our third year of high school—we’re taking the college entrance exams next June. At a time like this, they want us to do performances instead of studying? What’s the school thinking? Do they not care about our chances of survival anymore?”
“I think it’s great. Studying is too boring—we need to balance work and rest, right? Just treat it as a way to relax…”
“Easy for you to say. You think rehearsing doesn’t take time or effort? If you want to relax so bad, why don’t you go up there and perform yourself?”
That classmate immediately went quiet, not daring to say another word.
The class activities rep cleared their throat: “Anyone want to volunteer? Raise your hand so I can keep count.”
The whole classroom fell dead silent.
Everyone glanced at each other—no one raised a hand.
The rep looked troubled. “We have to put on a performance. Every other class is doing something. If we’re the only ones not participating, it’s going to be super embarrassing.”
“Well, yeah, but rehearsing takes time… We’re already swamped with studying. Who’s got the time?”
The rep looked helpless too.
Just then, the class bell rang. “Alright, I’ve informed you all. Think it over. I’ll ask again before school’s out today. If anyone wants to sign up in the meantime, come find me.”
Liu Bowen leaned over and tugged at Lin Qiao’s sleeve. “Hey, you wanna do it?”
Lin Qiao glanced at him like he was a weirdo. “I can’t sing, can’t dance—what would I do? Go up on stage and eat snacks?”
Liu Bowen scratched his nose. “Good point… You really can’t do anything besides eat.”
“Liu Bowen! You itching for a fight?!”
Meanwhile, Wan Xiutong was asking Jiang Fuyue the same question.
She shook her head. “Not joining.”
“Huh? Why not?”
Jiang Fuyue waved the stack of test papers in her hand. “No time.”
While the activities rep was talking earlier, she had already filled out over half a page. Now, she flipped it over and continued writing.
Wan Xiutong let out a quiet “oh”—it wasn’t very obvious, but Jiang Fuyue still caught the faint hint of disappointment.
She paused, then looked up. “What, you wanted to join?”
“No, no.” Wan Xiutong quickly waved her hands, a shy look on her face. “I don’t have any talents.”
“Then why the long face?”
“I was just thinking… if you joined, our class would definitely win the gold prize.”
The school anniversary performances were always judged, with gold, silver, and bronze trophies, plus a few excellence awards—same as every year.
Whoever won gold would have bragging rights all the way to graduation. Rumor had it, the homeroom teacher even got a bonus.
“Me?” Jiang Fuyue couldn’t help but laugh. “Do you even know what talents I have?”
Wan Xiutong blushed and shook her head.
“Then why are you so confident I’d win gold?”
This girl’s faith in her seemed a little too much.
“I just know!” Wan Xiutong said firmly.
“?”
“When I asked why you weren’t joining, you said you didn’t have time—not that you didn’t have any talent.”
“That’s it?” Jiang Fuyue was half amused, half exasperated.
Wan Xiutong nodded solemnly. “That’s enough! It’s obvious!”
Jiang Fuyue: “?” Do you have some kind of misunderstanding about me?
Wan Xiutong stared at her, expression unwavering—absolutely not!
“…”
By the time school ended in the afternoon, no one had volunteered.
The activities rep stood on the podium, visibly stressed.
“If no one signs up, I’m just going to pick people at random.”
“No way… You’re going to force people?”
“Exactly! Everyone here doesn’t want to go, so why should the ones picked be forced to go? That’s so unfair.”
“Come on, a performance can be a group thing, or just one person. I say the class rep should take the lead—do a solo dance or sing a solo. Sacrifice yourself to save the rest of us. Wouldn’t that be great? Right, guys?”
“Yeah! Zhang Xinxin, you go up and perform!”
“Support for our activities rep to go solo!”
“I raise both hands!”
“Both hands and both feet!”
“…”
A group of boys started jeering and goofing around.
“You… You guys—” Poor activities rep. She was so angry she burst into tears on the spot, ran down the podium, and dashed out the door. “Do whatever you want! I’m done!”
That’s what she said, but the next day, she still got back on the podium and asked again if anyone wanted to sign up.
This time, she added something: “Since no one’s really interested, I talked it over with Teacher Xu. We’ve decided that anyone who signs up will be rewarded. Regardless of whether you win a prize or not, just participating will earn you 20 merit points!”
Boom!
As soon as she said that, the classroom exploded.
“Holy cr*p! Twenty points?! Doing a full day of volunteer work at the nursing home only gets you half a point! This is insane!”
“I wasn’t planning to go, but now that I think about it… maybe I could join. Ahem… all for class honor, of course.”
“Yeah right! You’re just after the points. Stop pretending.”
“Cough—see it if you want, but don’t say it out loud! Not two points, not ten points—twenty! Oh my god!”
Merit points affected graduation evaluations. Nowadays, college program placements were often based on evaluations.
High merit points and a good evaluation could land you in a university’s top program—like ACCA, CGA, business management, financial engineering, accounting, and so on.
So yeah, these points mattered, no wonder everyone got excited.
Sure enough, hands started going up soon after.
Wan Xiutong couldn’t help but ask again, “Jiang Jiang, are you joining now? You can get extra points!”
Author’s Note:
Can you guess if Sister Yue will end up performing?
And if she does, what would you like her to perform? Hehe~
