Saturday, 8 PM.
Wen Yao walked briskly toward the crowd.
Today was the year-end school celebration.
Tomorrow was New Year's Day.
These two factors combined meant that most students should have already entered the holiday spirit today.
However, those students did not include Wen Yao.
A few days ago, she had agreed to help Teacher Li with recording duties.
So now she was sitting in the preparation room at the back of the auditorium, getting ready with the camera for recording.
The backstage of the auditorium was now in complete chaos; some people were reporting the time, while others were looking for someone.
"The last performance ran over by a minute, let the announcer move straight to the next segment." a teacher managing the backstage said.
"There's a little problem with the lights at position C2, put up a sign for the students behind to take a detour. Go to the control room and inform the lighting technician over there."
"Wait until the lights go down to bring up the props—don't move them early! How many times do I have to say this?" someone shouted while slapping the props.
Tonight was indeed chaotic. Wen Yao heard that a teacher had fainted and was sent to the hospital.
Wen Yao hurriedly walked up the stairs to the second floor of the stage, adjusted the camera, and checked the battery.
"All set," the sophomore girl in front of her nodded, "Thank you, senior."
Wen Yao nodded and slowly walked down the stairs.
She looked at the group of people moving around backstage and closed her eyes wearily for a moment.
She glanced toward the audience, her class was sitting in the middle.
Jiang Shuyi might be among them.
Wen Yao squinted, unsure of where Jiang Shuyi might be sitting.
---
"Jiang Shuyi, your tie is crooked."
A somewhat sweet voice rang out at the door.
Hearing the familiar name, Wen Yao looked toward the entrance.
Standing at the door was Yan Jingshu.
She was wearing a gown for tonight's performance, a black dress with complex lace designs. The neckline was quite low but hugged her figure elegantly.
Her slightly curled hair was elegantly styled at the back, making her look more mature compared to her usual sweetness.
"Oh." A familiar voice followed closely.
Reminded, Jiang Shuyi stood next to Yan Jingshu, calmly adjusting her tie.
She was wearing a simple white suit that seemed to match with Yan Jingshu.
Jiang Shuyi's hair was neatly tied up, giving her a clean and fresh look.
Wen Yao paused her actions, momentarily surprised by Jiang Shuyi's unexpected presence backstage. ". . ."
Wen Yao didn't know that Jiang Shuyi had a performance today.
She had looked at the program list, and while Yan Jingshu's name was indeed there among the performers, Jiang Shuyi's name was not listed.
". . ."
Wen Yao walked over to Jiang Shuyi with a hint of curiosity.
But just as she took a step forward, someone grabbed her wrist. "Senior Wen."
She turned to see the sophomore who had approached her earlier, her expression cold.
Seeing Wen Yao's cold expression, the girl instinctively pulled her hand back.
"What's wrong?"
Wen Yao adjusted her expression and pulled her wrist back.
"The teacher just told me that the number of earpieces is incorrect and asked me to go to the second storage room to get some. I don't know where the second storage room is..."
The girl looked a bit dejected.
Wen Yao hesitated, glancing at Jiang Shuyi, who was talking to Yan Jingshu in the distance. After pausing for five seconds, she changed her course.
"The second storage room is on the third floor. It's normal not to know, I'll go get it."
"Thank you, senior!"
After taking a few steps up the stairs, Wen Yao stopped and looked back toward Jiang Shuyi.
Yan Jingshu was saying something to Jiang Shuyi.
". . ." Then Jiang Shuyi nodded, pausing for a moment before suddenly laughing, as if recalling something amusing.
". . ."
Wen Yao closed her eyes for a moment and pressed her fingers against her temples, choosing not to look at the two anymore.
---
After Wen Yao went to the third floor's second storage room to get replacement batteries and earpieces for the recording camera, she quickly walked into the control room backstage, where the window provided a view of the auditorium stage.
"Ah, you brought the earpieces, thank you."
The technician in uniform inside the control room thanked her and began adjusting the equipment. Wen Yao nodded and turned to leave but heard the technician at the control console say:
"Put the lights on Yan Jingshu and her accompanist."
"Turn off the background lights."
Wen Yao paused in her steps.
She turned around and looked at the stage from the control room.
On stage, Jiang Shuyi and Yan Jingshu walked up one after the other and bowed, with Yan Jingshu moving to the front.
Jiang Shuyi then sat down in front of a somewhat expensive-looking grand piano and flipped through the sheet music.
She adjusted the piano bench, and the sound of the bench echoed in the auditorium.
After pausing for a few seconds to adjust her sleeves, Jiang Shuyi tuned the piano strings, and Yan Jingshu smiled at her.
Then, the sound of the piano quietly filled the auditorium, followed by the gentle addition of the violin.
One would think that a performance by high school students wouldn't be anything special.
However, the two of them played beautifully.
Their performance was anything but bland. Within the quietly flowing notes, the piano and violin seemed to be engaged in a conversation, possessing a calming power.
Jiang Shuyi had little expression, gently caressing the piano keys with her fingers, as if she were tenderly touching the skin of a loved one.
As they played, they occasionally exchanged glances, appearing to have a deep understanding of each other.
Wen Yao watched the interaction between the two on stage.
For some reason, an image of Yan Jingshu and Jiang Shuyi practicing together in a closed room without anyone else came to her mind.
In such a closed environment, what kind of gaze did Jiang Shuyi have when looking at Yan Jingshu?
It seemed so natural for Yan Jingshu and Jiang Shuyi to be together.
One played the violin while the other played the piano, and their combination sounded quite fitting.
Wen Yao gazed at Jiang Shuyi's slender fingers as they quietly and gently fell on the keys, and for some reason, a scene flashed in her mind of Jiang Shuyi gently lifting Yan Jingshu's chin with her fingers.
". . ."
Before long, Wen Yao silently walked out of the control room.
---
After the performance ended, Jiang Shuyi and Yan Jingshu walked out of the preparation room.
As soon as they stepped out, Zhou Jingtang and other students gathered around them.
"To think you could coordinate so well without practicing even once—Miss Yi, you're amazing!"
"It's not the first time I've seen this score," Jiang Shuyi replied calmly with a smile, "I actually played a few notes wrong just now."
"Really? I thought from your expression that it was a piece of cake for you." a classmate exclaimed in surprise.
"It was all an act."
"But," Yan Jingshu tugged at Jiang Shuyi's shoulder, smiling sweetly, "Shuyi still played very well, many parts were perfectly in sync."
"I think she plays better than the teacher."
Yan Jingshu looked up at Jiang Shuyi, her expression gentle and affectionate.
Jiang Shuyi smiled modestly, "You're exaggerating."
"Don't you have any feedback on my violin? It's been half a year since you last heard me play."
Yan Jingshu narrowed her eyes playfully at Jiang Shuyi.
Jiang Shuyi paused, considering her words. "...Your handling of harmonics on the violin was quite good."
"However, if you could use more varied tones with the same melody at the beginning, I think it might be even better and more captivating."
Jiang Shuyi put her hands in her pockets, hesitating as she looked at Yan Jingshu.
Yan Jingshu paused, looking at Jiang Shuyi. "You're right."
"...You've changed a lot."
Jiang Shuyi looked up, unsure how to respond, and in that instant, she spotted Wen Yao.
Wen Yao was not far away, seemingly noticing her as well.
Jiang Shuyi intended to walk over to Wen Yao.
"Jiang Shuyi, Yan Jingshu, come over here for a photo."
The supervising teacher said, pulling the two of them aside to take a picture.
Jiang Shuyi glanced at the teacher and then at the departing Wen Yao, only able to respond with a "mm."
---
⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆Charvinovel ⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆