Chapter 2012 — The Freshman Gala, Part Two

"Xu Shilan! Xu Shilan! Xu Shilan!"

"Xu Shilan, I love you!"

Down below the stage, glow sticks and banners waved wildly, and Xu Shilan's voice rose like music from the heavens, conquering the students in the hall in an instant and silencing the earlier shouts all at once; everyone stood spellbound, utterly absorbed in her singing...

The few extras from the medical program now played their part as well, making the students present feel as though they were watching a music video live—it set their hearts racing...

Wei Zhao and Wang Xinyan sat quietly on the stage, playing the part of ordinary student extras.

The effect had already been achieved; Wei Zhao had only come along for the fun of it.

He had to admit—this girl Xu Shilan was rather pretty, wasn't she? It was the first time Wei Zhao had observed her performing at close range. No wonder so many people adored her!

Yet all the while the program went on, a figure in black was quietly, noiselessly drawing closer to the area below the stage...

This was Fan Ganhe's younger sister, a student from another university nearby, come to help stir up trouble.

At this moment she wore a tattered black windbreaker, her hair hanging loose and disheveled over her face, and her whole body was covered in red marks—"dripping with blood," truly frightening to behold...

"Classmate, what... what happened to you?" A member of the student council in charge of order at the scene caught sight of Fan Ganhe's sister and started in fright, asking at once.

"Oh, senior, it's a costume—our department's act is coming up any moment now..." Fan Ganhe's sister said cautiously.

"So it's a costume! Gave me quite a scare—I thought you'd been robbed!" The student council member relaxed and waved a hand. "Then go get ready, quickly—don't be late!"

"Yes, senior!" Fan Ganhe's sister nodded and, stooping low, made her way forward along the area below the stage—but when she reached the spot directly beneath Xu Shilan at the center of the stage, she suddenly straightened up!

Standing up as she did, she was right there, not far from Xu Shilan, close enough for Xu Shilan to see her clearly...

Xu Shilan was singing with all her heart, but when a person suddenly appeared before her eyes, it was naturally impossible not to notice; yet the moment her gaze fell upon Fan Ganhe's sister, a shudder ran through her whole body, and a flicker of panic and terror crossed her eyes...

In that instant, Xu Shilan felt the world spinning around her, and her head began to pound violently... This scene once again brought certain things back to her—painful memories of childhood, things buried deep in her memory that she did not wish to recall...

At that moment even Xu Shilan's voice began to quaver, and her face turned deathly pale...

"Hahahaha! It really works—it really has an effect!" Zhang Duopan had been watching the stage through his binoculars all along, and when Fan Ganhe's sister appeared and Xu Shilan's expression visibly changed, he slapped his thigh and howled with excitement: "That croaky-voiced bastard really didn't lie to us—this time Xu Shilan is done for!"

"That's wonderful!" Fan Ganhe let out a breath of relief as well.

And Fan Ganhe's sister, seeing that she had achieved her aim, quickly slipped away—if she lingered too long she might be caught, and that would spoil the fun.

What Xu Shilan could see, Wei Zhao and the other extras performing onstage could naturally see as well. At first everyone had wondered what that disheveled girl covered in red was doing, but when Wei Zhao saw Xu Shilan's expression change, his heart gave a sudden start!

This time Xu Shilan's headache had clearly struck harder than usual. Ordinarily the attacks came suddenly too, but never this severely! And onstage there was no way she could stop to take her painkillers—and she had not brought any up with her anyway!

Despite the pain, Xu Shilan fought to hold on with all her strength. This was what she had promised Wei Zhao, and she did not want her headache to ruin it; so though her head split with pain and sweat streamed down her face, she still struggled to persevere...

Of course, below the stage, apart from the few like Zhang Duopan who watched through binoculars, most of the people who did not know Xu Shilan well noticed nothing amiss. Even the momentary waver in her voice was taken as the natural result of being carried away by her live performance—hardly a flaw at all.

But Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu, who knew Xu Shilan well, vaguely sensed that something was wrong.

"Sister Yao Yao, Sister Shihan seems to be having some kind of problem..." Shen Yushu had observed rather carefully.

"...Don't tell me her headaches have flared up again? That would be trouble..." Gu Mengyao looked at Xu Shilan onstage with some concern.

"Then what do we do?" Shen Yushu asked.

"I don't know—let's see whether Wei Zhao can handle it..." Gu Mengyao said.

Wei Zhao frowned slightly. The program was only half over; the whole thing was an extended version of a music video, running about ten minutes or so, with seven or eight minutes still to go—Xu Shilan clearly could not hold out that long.

So without the slightest hesitation Wei Zhao rose decisively and walked toward Xu Shilan—and at that very moment the lyrics she was singing happened to be about the beautiful love of university campus life, about a girl's longing for a Prince Charming...

Wei Zhao's cool figure appeared all at once before Xu Shilan, as though he were the very Prince Charming of her song, descending from the heavens.

Xu Shilan was somewhat startled by Wei Zhao's appearance—this was not part of the rehearsed scene—but after a moment's blankness she understood his intent: Wei Zhao must have seen her condition and was coming to help!

Sure enough, Wei Zhao extended his hand and made an inviting gesture to Xu Shilan.

Had it been before yesterday, Xu Shilan would never have done anything intimate with Wei Zhao in public onstage, because until yesterday she had regarded Wei Zhao as nothing more than a good friend and her savior.

But since meeting him, he had not only cured her headaches but saved her time and again—it was impossible for Xu Shilan not to feel something for him...

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