Chapter 39

Everyone stood on their toes and raised their heads to look for Fang Qiu in all directions. Yesterday, they were sitting a bit far from the stage, so they failed to catch a clear sight of Fang Qiu’s face.

Today, they finally had a chance to meet him in person.

Seeing the name Fang Qiu caused such a stir among the crowd, Li Qingshi looked kind of awkward.

He snorted inwardly.

“The higher he climbs, the worse his injury will be when he falls!”

“You brat!”

Zhu Benzheng murmured through gritted teeth.

It was obvious that he was deliberately provoking Fang Qiu into coming on stage.

The method Li Qingshi employed was rather lame, but the effect was ideal!

Now, regardless of his will, Fang Qiu had to take part in the competition.

“Relax. What are we here for? We’re here to get him!”

Fang Qiu whispered to his three roommates around him, “Now that he has sent himself to us, it actually saved us a lot of trouble.”

At these remarks, the three instantly looked relieved.

But they still felt quite unpleasant for being pushed like this by their enemy.

Fang Qiu lifted his arm and waved at the crowd with a smile as his response to Li Qingshi’s invitation.

“Wow! That’s Fang Qiu! How handsome! How handsome!”

“Which one? Which one? Why haven’t I seen him?”

“That one who is wearing a black T-shirt and smiling!”

“He is really good-looking! Really!”

…

Sitting behind the desk of the Acupuncture Association, Jiang Miaoyu cast a shocked look at Fang Qiu.

She was also astounded by Fang Qiu’s immense appeal.

But she felt more worried about Fang Qiu.

Because Li Qingshi clearly did not do it in Fang Qiu’s favor.

For some reason, she found Li Qingshi’s this act kind of disagreeable, which stimulated her concern for Fang Qiu instead.

Li Qingshi waved at Fang Qiu with a beam, and then announced, “Next, I’ll sing the song I Want You.”

At this point, he paused on purpose. Then, he said affectionately, “I want to present this song to one of the girls on the scene.”

After that, he flickered his eyes seemingly inadvertently towards Jiang Miaoyu.

“Oho! Oho!”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Hearing those words, the crowd raised a big hullabaloo.

They all smirked in a wicked way.

“I Want You? Present to a girl?”

“You are truly shameless. How straightforward it is!”

“But this confession is sort of romantic!”

On the scene, many girls already felt moved. They were praying that they were the girl that Li Qingshi just referred to.

Even if they were not, they all wished they could meet their Prince Charm who had the guts to confess his love in front of everyone.

Jiang Miaoyu pretended that she had not noticed Li Qingshi’s gaze and was preoccupied with the files on the desk.

A hint of disappointment flashed through Li Qingshi’s eyes. Then, he went on quite emotionally, “She has had no idea of my feelings for her. But I hope I can express my love for her through this song. I hope she will note it!”

As those words faded, people around him burst into applause.

They were applauding for his deep feeling and unrequited love!

“How disgusting! How hypocritic!”

Zhou Xiaotian spat hard onto the ground.

“Don’t think it’s disgusting. You can learn something from it. Perhaps it will come in handy when you confess your love in the future.”

Zhu Benzheng contradicted him from the view of pragmatism.

Sun Hao nodded in agreement. He sighed with chagrin. “It makes me sick to see such a touching way of confessing be used by that b*stard Li Qingshi. It should be me to say those words, because I am the romantic guy!”

“Don’t compete with me. This method of confession is mine now. You figure out something else!” Zhou Xiaotian hastened to clarify.

“Just listen to the song.”

Said Fang Qiu, who crossed his arms and prevented their discussion from sprawling further.

In the middle of the sports ground, Li Qingshi nodded at the members of the Chinese Folk Arts Association.

Those of the Chinese Folk Arts Association immediately gave him an “OK” gesture.

At this, Li Qingshi held the microphone with both hands, his face teeming with emotions, his troubled eyes looked up at a 45-degree angle, and started to pace slowly.

It made the crowd sense a melancholy feeling resulted from unspeakable love.

Zhu Benzheng, Sun Hao, Zhou Xiaotian quickly widened their eyes to capture every movement Li Qingshi did, then speedily analyzed whether it suited themselves or not and made notes for future uses.

A piece of slow and soothing music streamed out from the sound system and fluttered across the entire sports ground.

In an instant, the crowd all quieted down.

There was no sound of wind but the chirping of cicada.

“I want,

You to stay by my side.

“I want,

To watch you do your makeup.

Here arrived the evening breeze,

Which tickled my heart, oh, my girl,

I’m far from home, staring at the moon.

Gift you, this beautiful dress.

Watch you, put on makeup before the mirror.

The night is so tense,

Time goes so slow, oh, my girl.

Where are you, watching the sunrise.

…”

After singing this part, everyone was amazed.

The surroundings were still silent, with no wind blowing.

Even the chirping of cicada seemed to have been gone.

“Beautiful!”

“Really beautiful!”

His voice was magnetic and affectionate.

The crowd seemed to have seen a perfect couple—the lady was sitting in front of a dresser and serenely combing her hair.

While the man, standing next to the lady, was quietly watching her with a beam and a pair of eyes full of love.

At this time, a gust of wind blew the scene away and a new one appeared.

The night was chilling, and a dark moon was hanging up in the sky.

The man stood by a window alone, holding a newly made beautiful dress in his hands. He gazed at the moon and let out a sigh of grief.

“I’m staying on an alien land. And how are you holding up, my girl?”

What a gorgeous scene!

The most important point was that many simply reckoned the man as Li Qingshi, as if Li Qingshi was precisely the guy who had to bury his love at the bottom of his heart.

At least, many on the scene believed so.

On the stage, Li Qingshi appeared to have forgotten the environment he was in and was fully immersed in the conscious realm of this song, expressing its meaning as much as possible.

“It is the night to blame, which is wildly stirring.

It is the guitar to blame, which sounds too gloomy.

Oh, I want to sing,

And miss you silently, my girl.

Where are you, watching the sunrise.

This was the climax of this song.

The moan of the man substantially displayed his deep love.

He presented this song to a girl whose whereabouts he did not know.

People around the stage all seemed to be affected by the skein of sorrow. They were silent, more silent than ever.

Normally when someone was performing a song, it was usual to hear applause.

However, this song performed by Li Qingshi silenced the whole scene.

We had to admit it was a very successful performance.

“It is the night to blame, which is wildly stirring.

It is the guitar to blame, which sounds too gloomy.

Oh, I want to sing,

And miss you silently, my girl.

Where are you, watching the sunrise.”

Li Qingshi repeated the lyrics once more. When he sang this part the first time, it sounded as if he was groaning to the sky. But during the second time, he appeared to be mumbling to himself.

Although it was less powerful without the loud cries from the first time, its impact was not reduced by even an ounce.

As the sorrow retreated to his insides, he looked even more forlorn!

As Li Qingshi finished this part, a piece of music that sounded like traditional Chinese opera spread out from the sound system.

“Go to the corners of the world,

To look for my soulmate.

I sings while my darling plays the music,

We are of one mind.

…”

Li Qingshi held the microphone and continued his pacing.

At this time, Sun Hao seized the chance and asked Fang Qiu in a concerned voice, “The youngest, can you get him or not?”

Zhu Benzheng and Zhou Xiaotian also fixed their eyes on Fang Qiu’s face.

But they were all worried now.

From their view, the song Li Qingshi performed was too moving, too flawless.

Even though they had not listened to the original version, they did not believe it could get any better than this.

Thus, they started to worry for Fang Qiu.

They were afraid that he would not only be defeated but also make a fool of himself.

“You don’t have faith in me?”

Asked Fang Qiu beamingly.

Then, he turned to look at Li Qingshi on the stage.

“Li Qingshi indeed sang this song perfectly.”

“His emotion and intonation are all in place.”

“And most of all, there is no sigh of imitation. Generally, as people sing, they will involuntarily imitate the voice of the original singer, especially when singing the songs they are not familiar with.”

“But Li Qingshi did no such thing.”

“That means this song is his ace.”

“And he must have performed it numerous times.”

“No wonder he dared to call my name and push me to confront him on the stage. He sure has had everything prepared for this.”

“It’s not a matter of faith. It’s a matter of losing face or not! The youngest, tell me honestly, can you really get him? Don’t keep us in suspense.”

Demand Zhu Benzheng.

At this time, Li Qingshi’s singing came to the last part.

“I want,

You to stay by my side.

I want,

To watch you do your makeup.

Here arrived the evening breeze,

Tickled my heart,

My girl.

…”

As the singing ended, loud applause broke out in all directions.

The whole sports ground instantly grew into a sea of applause.

Whistles also rang.

All were praising and exclaiming.

“Excellent!”

“So amazing!”

At all the praises, members of the Chinese Folk Arts Association felt honored as well.

After all, the performer was the vice-president of their Chinese Folk Arts Association!

Meanwhile, Li Qingshi bowed to the crowd around him with a smile.

He found the reaction of the audience quite satisfying.

This song was his trump card.

He never sang it in public before.

Actually, he had been waiting for such an opportunity to stun everyone with it!

To learn this song, he even asked a famous vocal music teacher to teach him singing, and that was how he could do such a perfect performance today.

He did not believe Fang Qiu could do a better show than his.

Even if Fang Qiu sang Bringing in the Wine, he was confident that his own performance would throw Fang Qiu’s into the shade.

The reason why the song Bringing in the Wine had caused such a sensation actually was all about the environment, or the venue of the performance.

An enclosed place, such as the stadium, was definitely suitable for a majestic song like this Bringing in the Wine. It could be said that it was the stadium that accomplished Fang Qiu’s Bringing in the Wine!

But here was not suitable, for it was an open space.

If Fang Qiu chose to sing Bringing in the Wine, his singing would probably become loud cries that could only entertain himself but not produce any resonating effect.

How he wished Fang Qiu would sing Bringing in the Wine. If so, he would win this competition hands down!

As long as Fang Qiu’s singing was a little worse, he believed Jiang Miaoyu could certainly tell the difference.

“As long as Jiang Miaoyu can tell the difference.”

“It’s enough!”

That was the result he wanted.

“Fang Qiu, come and take this!”

After he bowed to show his gratitude to the audience, Li Qingshi straightened up, grabbed the microphone and said, “Thank you for your warm applause. Now that I’ve done my humble part, I wonder if it can spur some more splendid performance.”

Then, he looked Fang Qiu’s way beamingly.

Students around him instantly got the idea and started to applaud and shout.

“Fang Qiu!”

“Fang Qiu!”

Among those shouts, girls’ voices were quite vigorous.

“Let’s wait and see!”

Said Fang Qiu to his three roommates near him, as his reply to the question Zhu Benzheng just asked.

As he told them so, he marched to the middle of the sports ground, smiling all the way under everyone’s gaze.

People saw Fang Qiu come forward.

They cheered even more feverishly.

“Fang Qiu!”

“Fang Qiu!”

…

“So which song will you pick, student Fang?”

When Fang Qiu came to the center of the sports ground, Li Qingshi asked with a faint smile. “I’ll ask them to play the music for you.”

On the surface, the two were behaving very politely and gracefully. No one could see any sign of any estrangement between them.

But Jiang Miaoyu was staring at the two in the middle of the sports ground with a slight frown.

She began to feel a little worried for Fang Qiu.

Though she had no idea why she was feeling like so.

There seemed to be some reason…

And it made her slightly distressed.

“No need. I’ll just choose the song you did. I also like the film Mr. Donkey and its theme song very much!”

Standing in the middle of the sports ground, Fang Qiu declared with a beam.

At those words, Li Qingshi’s face twitched despite himself.

His smile turned a little rigid.

“Fang Qiu is going to sing the same song!”

“This can’t be more self-evident!”

“He is challenging me!”

However, after giving this a thought, Li Qingshi felt overjoyed.

“All I want is to outperform Fang Qiu. If he had chosen another song, the effect might not be huge. It’s best that he could sing the same song.”

“People will only learn the difference after a good comparison!”

“I have absolute faith in my ability!”

Those in the surroundings also captured the conversation between the two through the sound system, and instantly a burst of catcalls sounded.

“Haha, singing the same song.”

“What’s his game?

“He is challenging Li Qingshi!”

“Now it’s getting interesting!”