At the remarks of the principal, the people around him also nodded in agreement.
At this, the secretary of the Youth League Committee was overwhelmed by happiness.
It should be noted that during all the Start-of-Term Ceremonies held in the past, the principal never commented about any shows. He would merely watch and nod with a smile.
However, this year, it was unprecedented that he uttered his comment on a song.
“What does that mean?”
“I never expected that this year’s Start-of-Term Ceremony held under my leadership could be a complete success!”
“This is also one of my achievements in my official career!”
But he had no idea what the principal was contemplating now.
As the song went on, the principal heaved a deep sigh in his mind.
He had experienced his time of prime; he had also gone through the period of unrestrained youth; he had gulped down drinks with his buddies as well. But now, with his hair already grizzled, he was still trapped in all the trifles of the university.
Those things that had been bothering him did not include making efforts for the future of the students and the university. Most of them were bureaucratic affairs and social intercourse.
He felt exhausted.
It suddenly occurred to him that it had been a long time since he contacted his old buddies the last time. He wondered how they were doing now.
Unexpected, an urge of calling his friends flooded through him. He wanted very much to invite them to have a drink, to watch them roll up their sleeves and blow their own horn!
They would return to their youth and cast aside those mundane issues that did not matter.
How he wished he could live his life the way he wanted.
Even if he could only have one day like that!
He felt appreciative to hear this song today. This song performed by the little guy at the center of the stadium did liven up his heart, making him feel much younger.
“Great song! What a great song!”
“My flower-dappled horse.”
“My furs worth a thousand.”
“Hand them to the boy to exchange for good wine!”
“Bring in the wine!”
“Bring in the wine!”
“And we’ll drown away the woes of ten thousand generations!”
The song drew to its last part.
This heartening song had been performed in the most perfect way.
Everyone who was worrying about Fang Qiu now could be relieved.
Fang Qiu did not let them down.
His performance was even completely beyond their expectations!
The show was just too perfect, too impeccable!
While Li Qingshi, who had been eagerly waiting for the moment that Fang Qiu would embarrass himself, could only mutter his resentment to himself.
He had no comment for this performance.
“To say his show is too lame?”
“Or just ordinary?”
He was even too ashamed to make such unreal comments in his head.
Also, he had to admit that this performance could be said to be flawless or to be the most fascinating show at the whole Start-of-Term Ceremony.
But the better this show was, the higher dudgeon he was in.
“Why does Fang Qiu always have his moment?”
“Why?”
Meanwhile, standing on the stage, Fang Qiu rapidly calculated the time and began to sing the last part, which had the same lyrics as the previous one.
“My flower-dappled horse.”
“My furs worth a thousand.”
“Hand them to the boy to exchange for good wine!”
“Bring in the wine!”
“Bring in the wine!”
“And we’ll drown away the woes of ten thousand generations—”
When it came to the last word of “we’ll drown away the woes of ten thousand generations—”, Fang Qiu elongated the word with all his strength, venting his emotions as much as he liked…
At this point, the teacher in charge of the show arrangement froze the stopwatch on his smartphone and looked down at it.
It was precisely five minutes and 30 seconds!
Neither one second more nor one second less!
Hey controlled his show time just to the right amount!
Perfect.
From the beginning to the end of the show, only one word could conclude it— perfect!
Thunderous applause instantly broke out.
All the audience cheered.
“Fang Qiu!”
“Fang Qiu!”
“Fang Qiu!”
…
The song was just too beautiful, and too vigorous, rendering their heart afire, leading them up to endless meaningful afterthoughts.
They just had to applaud for him!
Even the officials sitting on the platform started clapping their hands.
They were applauding for real, not as symbolic gestures like they did before.
Many representatives from other universities even reckoned that the trip they took to attend this ceremony had not been made in vain.
After hearing this song performed at the Start-of-Term Ceremony, they felt it was worth all the trouble.
On the waiting passage, all the staff and the to-be-on-stage performers started to applaud sincerely for Fang Qiu.
They were the only ones that knew how many twists and turns this show had gone through!
They were the only ones that learned how much pressure Fang Qiu was under as he stepped onto the stage.
They were the only ones that knew how precious it was to have such a consummate show as the answer sheet to present to the officials!
But Fang Qiu made it. He put himself together under all the pressure, accepted the mission at the critical moment, and stood onto the much-anticipated stadium stage!
Under the gaze of everyone.
He was not flustered or scared.
Instead, he stunned everyone with just one song!
He really deserved the applause.
Fang Qiu gave a deep bow in all directions. And then, with all the applause and cheers, he backed off with his guitar.
Only he knew that his back was drenched in sweat…
“This is big. After the Mid-Autumn gala, the youngest made his name in the whole school. Now, after the Start-of-Term Ceremony, he already made his name in the whole university.”
Sun Hao exclaimed as clapping, “The speed of his becoming famous is a bit too fast!”
“From now on, I am the most loyal fan of the youngest. If you ever dare to speak ill of the youngest, I’ll put up a desperate fight against you!”
Announced Zhou Xiaotian emotionally. After saying those words, he turned to look at Sun Hao and Zhu Benzheng fiercely.
Sun Hao and Zhu Benzheng felt chilled. “Shit! So soon, there is a blindly loyal fan of Fang Qiu.”
“He fell for him too rapidly!”
“Which matters most, your girlfriend or the youngest?” Zhu Benzheng asked after pondering over it for a second.
“They both matter!”
Answered Zhou Xiaotian at once.
“Which matters most, study, your girlfriend, or the youngest?” Sun Hao amended.
“Err…”
Zhou Xiaotian looked troubled. Finally, he replied with a stern expression, “Of course, study matters most!”
Zhu Benzheng, “…”
Sun Hao, “…”
“Seems that he is still in his right mind.”
As Fang Qiu walked down the waiting passage, all the people there applauded spontaneously.
They all stared at Fang Qiu with awed faces, as if admiring a hero who just made his triumphant return.
“He is so awesome!”
“I admire him!”
“Truly admire him!”
Liu Feifei even patted hard on Fang Qiu’s shoulder out of happiness and praised, “Well done!”
Fang Qiu replied with a smile, then, bowed courteously at everyone to thank them for their enthusiasm.
As he straightened up, he happened to meet Jiang Miaoyu’s eyes. But Fang Qiu merely beamed and headed to the back.
His show was over. Now, he had nothing to do with all this.
The Start-of-Term Ceremony was still going on. When Fang Qiu returned to his seat in his own class, roars of jubilating howls and applause hailed him.
His three roommates all made a thumbs-up to Fang Qiu.
Fang Qiu smiled, picked up his book and continued reading.
The more disturbing the environment was, the better it was to strengthen his willpower on concentration.
Reading the book was also a kind of cultivating.
Chen Cong, who was sitting not far off, cast an astonished look at Fang Qiu who was absorbed in his book, his eyes filled with shock.
“How strong his willpower is!”
“He must be a man with a clear goal and a determined mind!”
“I can’t compete with him!”
“Even if he is an ordinary man.”
Chen Cong sighed inwardly. At least, in such a boisterous environment, he did not believe he could read a book in peace.
But Fang Qiu did find quietness in a noisy atmosphere, and he practiced his ability to stay calm in all the racket.
Attributed to Fang Qiu’s surprising performance, the entire Start-of-Term Ceremony seemed to be high-classed. But in contrast, the rest of the shows were energetic enough but sort of weak and pale.
Before the ceremony was over, the campus BBS already came alive because of the Start-of-Term Ceremony.
The Start-of-Term Ceremony was always a big event for freshmen, but few sophomores, juniors, seniors, or those in their fifth year took part in it or paid attention to it. All they knew was that this event was held today.
However, this year was different. The news about the Start-of-Term Ceremony flooded the campus BBS.
It simply astounded those students in higher grades.
“What’s the matter?”
“Why is the screen brimming with posts about the Start-of-Term Ceremony?”
“This year’s freshmen are too rampant, aren’t they?”
“Don’t you know the campus BBS is not solely designed for news about you freshmen?”
Therefore, curious but also grouchy, they clicked the hottest post at the top— A Spectacular Song at the Start-Of-Term Ceremony Stirs Everyone’s Heart! As they did it, they grumbled, “What the heck?”
“Could it be the new campus belle Jiang Miaoyu performing a song again?”
“Jiang Miaoyu is also a freshman, and rumor has it that she also has a show at the ceremony.”
“If so, it might worth a look. But this title doesn’t seem to suit the image of our campus belle, does it?”
“Could it be talking about another guy?”
When they saw a video was attached to the post, a lot of them resolutely scrolled down to read the comments first.
If the comments did not speak highly of the performance, they would not watch the video, in case it was a waste of time.
But it turned out that all the comments were praising the show, which made them utterly amazed.
“So beautiful!”
“Imposing! The song is truly imposing. It made my blood surge!”
“This freaking show definitely expressed the mind and spirit of the great poet Li Bai. As I enjoyed the song, scenes of Li Bai raising his cup and singing heartily surfaced vividly in my mind!”
“What does the spirit of scholars mean? What does militant pride represent? This show is the best answer!”
The comments really dazzled all the viewers. The campus BBS was known for its snide comments. No one had ever given such high ratings to a song on the BBS before.
“Why are all the post writers so good-tempered today?”
As they scrolled down, more positive comments appeared.
“I played the video three times in a row. The more it is played, the more fascinating it sounds! I’ll play three times more…”
“What an unbelievable guy! With a guitar and a song, he shocked all the audience. I wonder if you’ve noticed the reaction of the students— they were literally frozen out of shock!”
“This song is so great that my ears are intoxicated. But the video is not very clear. How I wish to have a look at the performer’s face! His singing is uniquely beautiful!”
After reading this comment, the viewers could not fight back their curiosity anymore and hastily scrolled up to play the video.
They were all anxious to see what kind of song could win such a high evaluation.
As a result, when the first line came out, they were all on their knees.
Countless comments they just read instantly flooded through their minds.
Not a single nice comment was fake!
“It’s really amazing! Majestic and full of grandeur!”
One of the viewers played the song three times even without noticing. Then, still immersed in the feelings the melody brought about, he posted his comment in the comments section.
“This is the best version of Bringing in the Wine I’ve ever heard!”
As he was done with writing his comment, he glanced at the total number of comments—his comment was already the 256th. When he was watching the video a moment ago, there were only about 100 comments. But in such a short spell, the number doubled!
It should be noted that today was still on the weekend. Everyone should be busy going out and having fun instead of surfing the Internet. Even if some people were checking the BBS, only a handful of them would be willing to leave a comment. Thus, such a large number of comments was indeed unusual, and it was still growing at an incredible speed.
Now, everyone was wondering who the performer was.
Deeply intrigued, the viewers continued to look through the comments, hoping that someone else shared the same thought with them.
“Who could tell me the identity of this student doing the show? The video shot with a mobile phone is too fuzzy to make out.”
“The singer is called Fang Qiu. I watched the live show there. You have no idea how amazing the scene was. His one song led the whole ceremony to its climax!”
“Fang Qiu? It sounds familiar. Where have I heard it?”
“Let me fill you in. Fang Qiu is the guy whose popularity index is now ranked third among freshmen! Only second to Jiang Miaoyu and the mysterious man. He first made his name when he performed a song with Jiang Miaoyu. His singing is indeed marvelous! What is more precious is his imposing manner as well as powerful emotions. That is why he could present such a majestic and heart-stirring song!”
“Thank you for your information. Men of talent are really coming out in succession among this year’s freshmen. With the girl named Jiang Miaoyu, a boy named Fang Qiu, and a super mysterious ‘mysterious man’, I can tell how lively the University of Jiangjing Chinese Medicine will be! As those guys’ senior, I can’t help but feel it’s time for me to step down from the stage of history. I’m shedding tears…”
“Upstairs, you never really stepped onto the stage of history at all!”
“Upstairs, I don’t allow you to say such a nasty comment. As the saying goes, don’t beat others’ faces even when you’re fighting, and don’t rake up others’ faults even when you’re quarreling. Nor can you blurt out the truth!”
“You two downstairs, I’ll duel with you!”
…
At this, those reading the post exclaimed despite themselves, “They fu*ckingly digressed again!”
“Fine, quit reading the comments and go back to listen to the song!”
However, some people with more unflinching curiosity dug out the post about Fang Qiu that was posted quite a while ago.
They actually made the post, Sounds of Nature Arrived, the Perfect Pair Presented the Perfect ‘Hélène’, became popular again.
Fang Qiu’s popularity index was also skyrocketing.
It was approaching the index of the mysterious man and had paralleled with Jiang Miaoyu’s for now.
