The younger generation, starting from where the wind blows...

Chapter 150 Qiao Jingjing's Special Mission
The front row of the auditorium.

"grass!"

Zhou Yiming squeezed the mineral water bottle in his hand until it was deformed, and looked at the four members of the Barbarian band on stage who were waving goodbye to the audience with displeasure.

Jia Kuan, who was standing to the side, hesitated to speak.

He's feeling conflicted right now.

On the one hand, he felt that the Barbarians sang really well, and when the audience shouted "encore" in unison, he wanted to shout it along with them.

Finally, seeing that Zhou Yiming looked terrible, he held back again.

On the other hand, Jia Kuan could also understand Zhou Yiming's dissatisfaction.

She spent two hours meticulously dressing up, hoping to "make a splash" during rehearsals, but her thunder was still stolen.

Zhou Yiming and his two friends have always regarded Old Boys as their biggest rivals during the formal performance.

Now there's another band, the Barbarians.

The thought that his carefully prepared and rehearsed performance for more than ten days would ultimately be relegated to a mere supporting role was bound to break Zhou Yiming's spirits.

I should never have listened to Lin Shaotao; I should have just sung the adapted version of "The Lone Warrior" during rehearsals.

They even deliberately concealed their weaknesses and feigned weakness to deceive the enemy.

In the end, they realized that in the face of absolute power, all schemes and calculations seemed so ridiculous.

When the rehearsal ended, Lin Shaotao came over and called out to Zhou Yiming and Jia Kuan, who were about to leave.

He apologized immediately, admitting that he had been careless and underestimated his opponent.

They thought there would be no opponents during rehearsals.

"Shaotao, I don't recognize the other three musicians in the Barbarian Band besides the lead singer. Aren't they from our college?" Zhou Yiming suddenly asked.

Lin Shaotao was taken aback.

"They're definitely not from our department. The drummer is from the School of International Business, and the guitarist and bassist were recruited from outside; they're all professional musicians."

Zhou Yiming said emotionally, "Isn't this cheating?"

Cheating?

Lin Shaotao and Jia Kuan were both stunned when they heard this word.

The song was written by the person himself, and he sang it himself. You call it cheating to hire a band to accompany him?

Zhou Yiming realized he had just lost his temper and quickly explained, "What I mean is, isn't it a bit unfair to openly recruit outside help like this?"

How can we talk about fairness without considering the facts?
Lin Shaotao really wanted to tell Zhou Yiming that if he could sponsor the gala with 100,000 yuan, he wouldn't mind lip-syncing on stage.

Considering their relationship, Lin Shaotao used a more tactful approach.

"The academy did not have a rule against hiring outside help. In fact, if your program is good enough, being able to hire outside help is a skill in itself."

Jia Kuan chimed in, "That's right, the songs we sing were written by others, so to some extent we're benefiting from their work."

Zhou Yiming loudly emphasized, "Don't forget, we wrote the lyrics ourselves."

Lin Shaotao said helplessly, "But without their music, our lyrics are meaningless."

They did write the lyrics themselves, but adaptations and original lyrics are not the same.

Lyric writing is a creative process that starts from nothing.

Adapting lyrics simply involves replacing the original lyrics with other phrases within a given format.

Miyuki Nakajima alone supports half of Hong Kong's music scene.

Just from this sentence, you can tell which is more important, originality or adaptation.

Knowing that Zhou Yiming was not calm, Lin Shaotao didn't want to argue with him anymore.

There were still a lot of things waiting for him, the student council president, to coordinate at the party, so he didn't have time to comfort Zhou Yiming.

"I pulled some strings for our show and moved it to the first performance of the night, so don't complain about it being unfair. Just prepare well tonight. I even arranged for someone to record our show, so don't mess it up."

After saying that, Lin Shaotao left.

Jia Kuan continued to advise Zhou Yiming to stop being so stubborn.

If we can't compete in person, we can always compete online.
If the Plastic Brothers could become famous with their nonsensical version of "The Lone Warrior," they certainly can too.

This is similar to the idea that if you're not pretty, you can only live a pretty life.

Even though Zhou Yiming was unwilling, he was eventually called away by Jia Kuan to have dinner.

Even though I had already avoided the most crowded Maple Tree Cafeteria, we still ran into Yang Muye at the Ginkgo Cafeteria.

Yang Muyi did not go with the other three members of the Barbarian Band, but instead led a man and a woman into the cafeteria.

The man is Xie Zhiyao.

The woman's name was Yao Wei, a girl with short, neat hair.

Perhaps because he had just finished military training, he still carried a sense of heroic spirit.

The three of them took the electric escalator to the second floor, found an empty table, left Yao Wei to hold the seat, and Yang Muye and Xie Zhiyao went to order food together.

There's a Yunnan-style tofu rice noodle shop here, and since it's lunchtime, there's quite a long queue in front of the window.

Yang Muyi and Xie Zhiyao stood in the queue, and the conversation inevitably turned to Yao Wei.

"The one you saw during military training?"

"Can you be a little more tactful? We're just friends now, we haven't gotten to that point yet."

Yang Muye glanced at Xie Zhiyao.

"Still putting on an act in front of me?"

Xie Zhiyao raised his hands in surrender:
"Okay, okay, we did meet during military training, but how did you guess so accurately? It's like you saw it with your own eyes."

"Military training is the best test of a girl's looks. Think about it, there's no limit to how ugly military training uniforms can get. If a girl still looks good in a military training uniform, then she's truly beautiful."

Yao Wei's situation is even more unique.

A girl with a heroic appearance like her would actually look even better in a military training uniform.

After listening to Yang Muye's analysis, Xie Zhiyao was full of admiration.

Do you think there's a chance for us?

"Want to hear the truth?"

"of course."

"That means there's no chance."

"what?"

Xie Zhiyao was dumbfounded.

"Actually, as long as you are thinking about this question, it means you are hesitating."

"You mean, I don't actually like her that much?"

"You'll have to ask yourself that, but I think it's a good thing. It means you're not blinded by lust, or what's called being love-struck."

"She's from Hunan Province and wants to develop her career in the south after graduation, while I—unless something unexpected happens, I'll definitely stay in Yanjing."

"They say that college isn't complete if you don't fail a course or break up with your boyfriend. My college life is destined to be incomplete, but you might have a chance to try."

"Get lost! Is that how you comfort people?"

Xie Zhiyao was left speechless, both amused and exasperated.

Yang Muye shrugged.

"If I don't comfort you like this, do you expect me to teach you how to be a jerk who's chasing girls with the intention of breaking up with them?"

Xie Zhiyao was defeated once again.

He shouldn't have asked Yang Muye for advice; wasn't he just asking for trouble?

Ten minutes later, Yang Muye and Xie Zhiyao returned to their seats with three small bowls of rice noodles.

"There are quite a few people in line, sorry to keep you waiting."

Xie Zhiyao sat down opposite Yao Wei and said apologetically.

Yao Wei shook her head, took out her wallet, and asked Xie Zhiyao how much the bowl of rice noodles cost.

The two had agreed beforehand that they would split the bill for the meal.

Xie Zhiyao hurriedly waved his hand and said, "No need, no need. Today's meal is on my classmate's treat. We're having rice noodles from our hometown. Try it and see how it differs from the noodles you have back home."

No sooner had he finished speaking than Yang Muyi, who was sitting next to him, slurped up a large mouthful of rice noodles.

In Yunnan province, rice noodles are called "shuai mi xian" (甩米线), while in Hunan province, rice vermicelli is called "suo fen" (唆粉).

They all mean roughly the same thing.

Regardless of his eating manners, the food sounded delicious. Yao Wei was about to give Yang Muye the money, but he waved his hand and refused while eating.

"If you insist on giving money, give it to Xie Zhiyao, because when I go back to find Xie Zhiyao, I'll definitely make up for today's meal."

Upon seeing this situation, Yao Wei knew that she definitely wouldn't be able to pay the money today.

"Okay, when you come to our school later, remember to have Xie Zhiyao let me know, and I'll treat you to an authentic Hunan rice noodle shop on our campus."

Xie Zhiyao looked at Yao Wei and Yang Muye.

"If you two invite each other, what am I supposed to do?"

"I don't have to pay a penny. Isn't it good to have two free meals?" Yang Muye replied without looking up.

"Of course that's not good. What do you take me for? Here's what we'll do: come to our school for two meals later. I'll treat you in the morning, and Yao Wei will treat you in the afternoon."

Yang Muye had no objection, but Xie Zhiyao was mainly saying this to Yao Wei.

Seeing that Yao Wei agreed, Xie Zhiyao happily picked up his chopsticks.

Yao Wei lowered her head and tasted a mouthful of rice noodles, her eyes immediately narrowing into beautiful crescent moons.

"Well, it tastes good!"

She praised it as she ate.

"I specifically asked the owner to add extra chili; you Hunan girls should be able to handle it," Yang Muyi explained while engrossed in eating his rice noodles.

Yao Wei nodded.

"Then you should also like the taste of Hunan rice noodles at our school."

Yang Muye ate his rice noodles in large mouthfuls without saying a word.

Just as Xie Zhiyao was about to reply, a sweet-sounding female voice suddenly rang out beside him.

"Is this seat taken?"

A tall girl with long hair walked over carrying a bowl of beef noodles.

She was wearing a mask, which covered most of her face.

A pair of deep, captivating eyes, like jewels, looked at the empty seat next to Yao Wei.

"no one."

Upon seeing that it was a girl, Yao Wei immediately took the bag she had used to reserve a seat from the seat next to her.

The girl sat down with her noodles in hand, and paused for a moment when she saw Yang Muye across from her, who was engrossed in eating his rice noodles.

"Yang Muye?"

When the girl called out Yang Muye's name, Xie Zhiyao and Yao Wei were both stunned.

The girl took off her mask, revealing a beautiful and delicate face.

Xie Zhiyao's pupils dilated instantly.

It's not just because the girl is pretty.

More importantly, he knew this girl.

Qiao Jingjing, the most beautiful school beauty, became an internet sensation after her ID photo went viral at the start of the school year.

Wasn't she studying at a university in Shanghai? How did she end up at Yanjingmao?
Yang Muyi slurped a mouthful of rice noodles into his mouth and slowly raised his head.

"Why did you come to the Ginkgo Cafeteria? Didn't Zheng Peipei come with you?"

Qiao Jingjing shrugged:

"Peipei is waiting for Xia Qing and Yu Tu at the Maple Tree Cafeteria. You said you wanted to keep it a secret, so I can only eat here by myself."

"That's quite a coincidence."

Yang Muyi glanced at the small bowl of beef noodles in front of Qiao Jingjing: "Is this enough? If not, you can use my card to pay."

"That's enough. I didn't eat much this afternoon anyway."

After Qiao Jingjing finished speaking, she turned to look at Yao Wei and Xie Zhiyao beside her.

"Hello, I'm Qiao Jingjing."

Yao Wei and Xie Zhiyao both smiled and nodded at Qiao Jingjing, while also feeling very curious.

What exactly is the relationship between Yang Muye and Qiao Jingjing?

“When school started, she became popular online, right? I thought I could take advantage of the cheap price and ask her to be the spokesperson for Werewolf. The contract was already signed.”

As Yang Muye was introducing things, Qiao Jingjing suddenly blurted out something.

"Do you regret it now?"

"A little bit, indeed."

Yang Muye speaks the truth.

Old Boys is much more popular than Qiao Jingjing now, and even Plastic Brothers is more famous than Qiao Jingjing.

The key issue is that Qiao Jingjing isn't even "one of us".

Giving her the endorsement contract for Werewolf feels like a bad deal.

Qiao Jingjing glared angrily at Yang Muye.

They look down on me, yet they still called me here.

Go ahead and terminate your contract with me if you dare!

In the end, Xie Zhiyao stepped in to smooth things over.

"He and I are often like that too; sometimes he says things that make you want to stab him."

Qiao Jingjing nodded, expressing her strong agreement with Xie Zhiyao's words.

Meanwhile, at the Maple Tree Restaurant.

Zheng Peipei, Xia Qing, and Yu Tu, carrying the Yangzhou fried rice they had finally managed to buy after queuing, circled the dining area but couldn't find an empty table that could seat three people.

While queuing, Zheng Peipei noticed that there were too many people, so she queued up herself and let Qiao Jingjing save a seat.

Midway through, I suddenly received a call from Xia Qing, who said that she and Yu Tu were on their way.

Qiao Jingjing had no choice but to retreat.

She has other business purposes in Yan'an this time, and cannot meet with acquaintances for the time being.

It can be a little awkward, especially when these two acquaintances meet.

Seeing that there were no seats available, Xia Qing suggested going downstairs to see if there were any empty seats.

Just as Zheng Peipei was about to agree, she suddenly saw two people over there who had just finished eating and were about to leave, so she quickly called Xia Qing over and went over with them.

There was already an empty seat at that table, but now it's just enough for three people.

After sitting down, Cheng Pei-pei kept her eyes fixed on something else.

"Qingqing, did you notice how pretty those two senior girls who just left were? They dressed so maturely, they didn't seem like students."

"What if they start their internship early during their senior year, or they're in graduate school?"

Xia Qing replied.

She didn't pay attention to the appearance of the two people who had just left, only remembering that one of them had a figure that resembled hers.

He's tall and has long legs.

Coincidentally, the two "senior sisters" who had just left were also discussing the same thing.

"Sun Xin, didn't you notice that the girl just now had a figure that looked a bit like yours?"

"Why, you know her?"

"Someone created a mini-program called 'Campus Beauty Rush' on the school's intranet before, which selected the campus beauties of various schools. Although it was taken down after a few days, I noticed it at the time, and if I'm not mistaken, that girl was on the list just now."

"Are you from our business school or the art school?"

“Our junior from junior high school, like me, is a tourism management major. She is one of the four beauties of the business school.”

"Really? So she might be one of the hosts tonight?"

"Possibly. I remember you hosted the freshman welcome party for two consecutive years during your freshman and sophomore years. Time really flies; it's already been a year since we graduated."

As Yang Tao was reminiscing, she suddenly heard Sun Xin exclaim, "Oh dear!"

She raised her hand and looked at her watch.

It's almost seven o'clock.

"No, I have to get back to the hotel right away. If I rush there and then leave early, my old classmates will definitely yell at me!"

He waved to Yang Tao and hurried away.

(End of this chapter)