Dazzling

Xing Wu had already strode out of the sports field with his long legs when Qing Ye caught up to him, panting heavily, and grabbed his arm. "Where are you going? Aren't you competing?"

He stopped and turned back. "Boring. Going somewhere for a smoke. Why'd you follow me?"

Qing Ye looked at him and declared bluntly, "Then I'm not going back either."

Xing Wu lowered his gaze, fingers gently brushing the tip of her nose. "Does it hurt?"

She immediately laughed. "Hurt my ass. It was just a stupid sandbag."

"Then why were you crying like that?"

Qing Ye tugged at his sleeve with a sly smile. "Actually... I'm an actress."

With that, she tried pulling him toward the tents, but Xing Wu's long arm yanked her back, making her stumble against his chest. He looked down at her from his height. "Worried about me?"

Her eyes flickered as she stared at him. "What do you think? This is someone else's turf. I was afraid those people would cause trouble for you. Don't get impulsive later."

Then she tilted her head and studied him. "But how did you notice that person hitting me while you were still rock climbing?"

The corner of Xing Wu's mouth twitched, his eyes glinting with a faint, captivating light. "I just happened to glance over."

"At what?"

"To see if you were watching me show off."

Suppressing a smile, Qing Ye tugged him forward again. "How could I not watch? Didn't you hear all those girls screaming for you? Feeling proud, aren't you?"

Letting himself be led, Xing Wu replied lazily, "Just a casual performance. Where are we going?"

"To eat."

Worried Xing Wu hadn't eaten enough, Qing Ye had already asked Shi Min where the food was stored. She brought him directly to their tent.

It was a tent shared by girls. Though empty, Xing Wu didn't enter, choosing to wait outside on the open ground.

Qing Ye went in and dug out a cup of instant noodles, poured hot water from a thermos, grabbed her container of preserved plums, and emerged.

Their tent was nestled among several others, shielded from the wind and bathed in warm sunlight. With everyone at the competitions, the area was silent and peaceful. Sitting side by side, they felt quite content.

Qing Ye handed the prepared pickled cabbage noodles to Xing Wu. The moment the lid was opened, the aroma wafted out.

She stared eagerly and asked, "Is it good?"

Seeing her craving expression, Xing Wu lifted a forkful of noodles to her lips. Qing Ye took a bite and praised sincerely, "Really delicious."

So they shared the noodles, taking turns until the cup was empty, even splitting the broth equally.

Qing Ye sighed wistfully. "Why are we so pitiful? Why did we pay eighty bucks to come eat instant noodles? I suddenly really want to go to that casual dining place. Wouldn't steak be way better?"

She popped a preserved plum into her mouth. Xing Wu leaned back on his hands, lazily eyeing her. When she turned to him, warm golden light danced in his pupils, reflecting a tiny image of her. His Adam's apple bobbed distinctly as his gaze swept over her lips. "Sour?" he asked suddenly.

"Mmm... a bit."

"Let me taste."

Just as Qing Ye reached for the plum container, Xing Wu leaned in and captured her lips. His warm tongue pried her teeth apart, deftly stealing the plum from her mouth before greedily gliding over her lips and tongue, boldly taking her breath away.

Qing Ye still held the container of plums. By the time she processed what had happened, the plum in her mouth had vanished—along with her dignity, thoroughly claimed by a certain someone.She raised her small fist and swung at him: "How can you do that?" Xing Wu didn't dodge, lowering his gaze with a faint smile.

She asked him, "Is it sour?"

"Sweet."

Around four o'clock, people started returning one after another. Pang Hu, feeling so hot he only wore a short-sleeved shirt, spotted Xing Wu and Qing Ye leisurely sitting in front of the tent from afar and shouted, "I, I was wondering where you two went? Why, why didn't you call me?"

The two of them gave Pang Hu a mysterious smile.

Qing Ye asked, "How was the battle?"

Pang Hu threw his jacket fiercely to the ground: "L, lost. If Brother Wu's match had been c, counted, we could've still fought for it. Such a d, damn disgrace. I wanted to argue, but L, Lao Dong wouldn't let me, said the important thing is participation. F, fuck that."

The others returned soon after. Xing Wu glanced over and saw everyone looking furious. He asked, "Another conflict?"

Xiao Ling Tong ran over, lifting his shirt to wipe his sweat, and said, "We cursed at them a few times. Even if we can't win the match, we can at least have the last word."

Xing Wu scoffed coldly, "How impressive." Then, with a stern expression, he said to him, "Pull your shirt down."

Before Xiao Ling Tong could react, Pang Hu reached out and tugged his shirt down, saying, "Y, yeah, why are you lifting your shirt? There are girls around."

Only then did Xiao Ling Tong belatedly glance at Qing Ye. But Qing Ye hadn't paid him any attention at all, remaining quite silent. Xing Wu glanced at her—though she showed no expression, he knew she was probably upset inside.

She wasn't one to care much about the outcome of insignificant competitions, but her innate sense of justice made her despise such behavior.

Still, a bunch of teenagers cursing a few times soon passed, and it didn't dampen the mood as everyone gathered to fool around.

At dinner, they finally had a proper meal. But the annoying part was that before eating, the An Zhong students had to watch Jin Zhong receive medals for the eighth Winter Camp, just to provoke them.

Even though it was just a lousy neck badge, the Jin Zhong students proudly flaunted it at the An Zhong crowd, their smugness no better than Xiao Ling Tong's earlier antics.

As a result, Pang Hu ate three big bowls of rice at dinner, as if venting his anger on someone.

During the meal, Qing Ye learned there would be a bonfire dance that night. Even though the two schools were at odds over the day's competition, it didn't curb the young men and women's excitement for the bonfire dance. For instance, Pang Hu, once full of energy again after eating, clung to Xing Wu's shoulder and said slyly, "B, Brother Wu, wanna go hook up with a Jin Zhong girl tonight?"

Qing Ye was standing right beside Pang Hu. She lifted her eyes and stared at Xing Wu. Sensing her gaze, Xing Wu half-smiled and said, "Get lost. They're all a bunch of misfits."

Pang Hu immediately protested, "Th, there's one who's pretty cute."

Perhaps boys always get excited when discussing girls. Then Pang Hu dragged Xing Wu aside, talking with such animated enthusiasm.

As night fell, the area used for the afternoon obstacle course was cleared, and a large bonfire platform was set up in the middle. Everyone gradually strolled over.

The crowd was sizable. The bonfire instantly ignited the vague, ambiguous feelings among the young men and women, especially with so many unfamiliar peers from both schools. Every face was lit with eager smiles, in this age of recklessness, exuberance, and passion.They gradually gathered around the campfire, sitting on the ground as boisterous cheers rose and fell. Portable speakers nearby looped popular songs, and before anyone realized it, students from the two schools suddenly started battling—though Qing Ye, who was talking to Shi Min at the time, had no idea how it began.

It wasn’t until everyone around them started shouting excitedly that Qing Ye and Shi Min stopped their conversation and looked over together. They saw a short student from Jin Zhong suddenly break into street dance moves to the intense music, arrogantly making provocative gestures toward the An Zhong side. Behind him, a group of Jin Zhong students erupted in rowdy cheers.

Xiao Ling Tong ran around anxiously, yelling, "Hurry, hurry, we need to show off some special skills too!" Everyone exchanged uncertain glances.

Qing Ye felt this was utterly humiliating. Who even started this?

Back in her class in Beijing, it was hard to find someone without a talent. Most parents had started cultivating their children’s abilities since kindergarten. The incident where An Zhong parents protested to cancel evening self-study showed how little people here valued their children’s education, let alone the development of other talents.

However, what Qing Ye didn’t expect was that while An Zhong students couldn’t showcase any proper talents, they were exceptionally skilled in bizarre tricks.

After a sophomore boy demonstrated the baffling special skill of wiggling both eyebrows up and down, others followed with acts like swallowing a fist, stuffing coins up their nostrils, holding water in their collarbones, and even a male student from Class Five who performed the mind-boggling feat of sitting on the ground and wrapping his leg around his neck. The Jin Zhong students watched in stunned disbelief.

But since An Zhong had fewer people, almost everyone had to participate to keep up with Jin Zhong. So they simply went from left to right, each performing a unique trick.

Qing Ye asked Xing Wu with a dark expression, "What should we do? Should we make a run for it?"

Xing Wu, sitting cross-legged, glanced sideways at her. "Is that all you’ve got? Weren’t you quite talented?"

"I can play most instruments, but there aren’t any here. What’s your plan?"

Xing Wu turned to Fang Lei and the others. "Got any paper and a pen?"

Fang Lei tossed him a pen and borrowed a notebook from a girl in Class Three.

Just as Xing Wu took them, it was Pang Hu’s turn on his left. Everyone looked at Pang Hu, who suddenly stood up, adjusted his shortened down jacket, took a deep breath, and gathered his energy.

When he emitted the first note, everyone—students from both An Zhong and Jin Zhong, along with the teachers and instructors—felt their hearts leap. The noisy surroundings fell into complete silence.

To Qing Ye’s utter astonishment, he launched directly into the climax of "Nessun Dorma," the classic piece by Pavarotti. Everyone’s emotions surged with the powerful, passionate delivery. Pang Hu’s robust voice seemed to carry its own amplification, and as his solid high notes resonated, goosebumps broke out all around. Qing Ye stared at him in disbelief, as if even the flames of the campfire leaped and danced in rhythm with his singing.His final "seiTu" (it's you) grew increasingly powerful in intensity, the continuous eruption of high notes causing the strength within him to burst forth like a breached dam, igniting everyone's passion and emotion. Many were instantly moved to tears. His gradually fading conclusion allowed those tangled, complex feelings to suddenly clear along with his singing, leaving the entire venue in a stunned silence.

Pang Hu had been singing with his eyes closed, completely immersed. When he opened them and looked around, he was startled himself. "Fuck," he muttered, not understanding why everyone looked so dumbstruck.

The next second, as a short student from Jin Zhong stood up across the way, almost everyone rose to their feet, wildly applauding and whistling for Pang Hu. Xiao Ling Tong and a few other guys immediately jumped onto him.

At this moment, distinctions between Jin Zhong and An Zhong disappeared—all those moved by the song sent their applause to Pang Hu. The magnitude of ridicule Pang Hu had suffered during the day was now matched by the magnitude of praise he received.

Even Qing Ye raised both thumbs and shouted at him, "Amazing! You could debut right now!"

Pang Hu lowered his head with an embarrassed grin. Probably in all his life, aside from the few hundred fans on his singing app, this was the first time he'd been praised so directly to his face—it felt pretty awkward.

However, while everyone was excited for Pang Hu, Xing Wu remained sitting on the ground, head bowed as he wrote something in his notebook. Few people noticed him. After a few minutes, as the excitement gradually faded, Xiao Ling Tong started getting cocky again and began taunting the Jin Zhong students across the way.

The next performer from Jin Zhong was a girl—petite with a round face and large eyes. Coincidentally, she also sang, performing "The Girl With Wings." Though her voice was quite clear and pure, unfortunately Pang Hu's tenor performance had been too explosive, and by comparison she clearly fell short.

The girl grew increasingly unconfident as she sang, her face reddening, and she left the stage before finishing. There was only scattered, sparse applause, making her feel quite humiliated. But then Pang Hu suddenly took the lead in clapping and shouted, "Well done!"

The girl looked up at Pang Hu with a grateful glance. Pang Hu nudged Xing Wu beside him and said, "Look, look, she's the one I was talking about. Isn't she cute? I just found out—she's the school beauty of Jin Zhong."

Xing Wu glanced up briefly before lowering his head again, capping his pen and tossing it back to Fang Lei. At that moment, everyone's attention turned to Xing Wu.

Qing Ye leaned over and whispered a well-intentioned suggestion in his ear: "How about you smash the speakers and perform an on-site repair?"

"Are you crazy or am I crazy?"

"..."