Chapter 2011 — Freshman Gala, Part One

Many of the handsome young men and pretty girls among the freshmen hoped to find their other half on the stage of the freshman gala—there had been precedents in every class year, and plenty of couples who had caught each other's eye ended up exchanging contact details after the gala and becoming friends, so everyone's enthusiasm for the event ran very high!

Who says college students are unwilling to take part in group activities? That is only because such activities lack handsome men and pretty girls. Once that element is present, who wouldn't scramble to attend?

Of course, this year's beauties were the two big stars, Xu Shilan and Cheng Yiyi. With stars lending their support, the turnout was naturally bound to be large.

So this freshman gala was more wildly popular than ever. The glow sticks, drinks, and snacks the student council had stockpiled were showing signs of running short; with an hour or two still to go before the performance began, the goods were snatched up clean—clearly the star power of Xu Shilan and Cheng Yiyi, whose presence boosted this year's show, had caused the audience to swell all at once.

Fortunately the school auditorium was large enough that even if every teacher and student on campus came, there would be seats for all; there were even second- and third-tier seating above, though all the good spots had already been claimed by students who arrived early.

Of course, the first few rows were reserved for freshmen and the older students were not allowed to sit there; even when scrambling for seats, they could only grab the ones at the back or up on the upper levels.

The student council, sensing that things were getting out of hand, urgently brought in another large batch of glow sticks and snacks from the wholesale market, along with small banners bearing the names of Xu Shilan and Cheng Yiyi. These proved a hit with the students and were snapped up in an instant.

At freshman galas in years past, filling even half the auditorium was considered quite good, but this year the place was all but packed to the rafters. Many students who could not find a seat in the front rows went around asking, "Hey, is anyone sitting here? Someone is? ...Ah, what a shame..."

This left the student council members keeping order in the auditorium drenched in sweat, and they had to hastily assign extra hands to maintain discipline. Meanwhile, members of the school TV station and radio station had long since picked out their spots, ready to record the hottest freshman gala in a decade!

At six o'clock in the evening, the annual freshman gala finally began in earnest!

After the school leaders took their seats one by one in the guest section at the very front, the lights in the auditorium gradually dimmed.

A male and a female host, he in a black suit and she in a red evening gown, walked to the front of the stage from behind the slowly rising curtain. The two hosts were of campus-heartthrob and campus-beauty caliber—not quite top tier, not the sort like Gu Mengyao, Shen Yushu, or Wang Xinyan who were listed on the campus BBS the moment they enrolled, but their dashing and elegant appearance still won them warm applause and cheers as they came on.

Still, both were second-year members of the student council, so it was mostly the older students who cheered; the freshmen merely had their emotions stirred.

"Respected leaders, teachers, and fellow students, good evening!" The male host bowed. "I am your host, Lai Yinming!"

Lai Yinming's words drew another round of screams from the audience—clearly this Lai Yinming was something of a celebrity on campus as well.

"I am your host, Su Xiaoxiao," the female host said, bowing as well. "May we all share an unforgettable and joyous evening together."

"The thirty-ninth Freshman Gala of Donghai Engineering University begins now!" Lai Yinming and Su Xiaoxiao announced together in loud voices.

Another round of warm applause rose from the audience, and the evening's program officially began. The first act was a group dance brought by freshmen from the English Department.

Girls made up a considerable proportion of the English Department, and those who came on stage were a uniformly lovely bunch, so the moment they appeared they drew waves of cheers and screams. As the pulsing music struck up and the spotlights flashed in time, the students below could not help but wave the glow sticks in their hands...

After the English Department's hot dance came a solo number by a male student from the Computer Science Department, "Brother Sleeping in the Bunk Above Me." This song, steeped in the atmosphere of campus life, completely won over the entire hall once the young man's somewhat melancholy, husky voice rose...

"Brother sleeping in the bunk above me, you who make no sound, those questions you once asked me—now no one asks them anymore..."

Though few dormitories these days still had bunk beds, the song spoke of the friendship between roommates in a college dorm, and so in one tune it voiced the innermost feelings of many students who had only just moved into their dorms...

The young man's voice was in fact not especially good, but the song was chosen exceedingly well, and in an instant it struck a chord with everyone present; many freshmen—and older students too, especially the seniors about to graduate—sang along...

Many had tears welling in their eyes as they sang. This was a gala to welcome the freshmen—but was it not also the last freshman gala the seniors would ever attend? So many hearts were filled with emotion...

And this song could be called a success; at the very worst it would not fall outside the top ten...

The first two acts could be said to have gotten things off to a fine start; both were quite good and drew a favorable response.

But the third act—originally a highly anticipated showpiece—ran into trouble!

Halfway through her piece, the girl grew more and more nervous, suddenly abandoned the piano, and fled the stage in tears, plunging the atmosphere on site into awkwardness.

According to the program schedule, the girl's piano solo still had more than ten minutes to run, and this threw the lineup into some disarray. The male and female hosts rushed onto the stage in a fluster to salvage the situation, offering a few words of comfort and encouragement.

"The Story of Youth" told of life at school and sang of the beautiful college years—of love, of friendship, and of frantic last-minute cramming before exams; the theme of the whole song was precisely a microcosm of college life.

So the moment Xu Shilan appeared, the atmosphere of the entire freshman gala was driven to a fever pitch!