Zhou Ping and Zhang Sheng plunged into the bustling auditorium.
It was already a chaotic mess inside, not at all divided by class or grade; whoever grabbed a seat got it.
The two skillfully weaved through the crowd and quickly found two familiar faces in the back row.
Jack, with his legs crossed, immediately spoke in a sarcastic tone when he saw Zhou Ping: “Well, isn’t this our Young Master Zhou? What brings you here?”
Wu Rui, next to him, chimed in: “Didn’t you say it was boring and you’d never come?”
Zhou Ping was too lazy to waste words with them, so he tossed the two bottles of iced drinks he had just bought from the convenience store, one to each of them.
“Drink up, can’t you keep your mouths shut?”
Zhang Sheng chuckled, exchanged a triumphant look with Jack, and then slapped Wu Rui on the back.
“Old Wu, admit defeat! The spicy strips and soda from the convenience store are on you!”
Wu Rui pouted, unscrewing the bottle cap unhappily, “I know, I lost, I lost. Can’t I afford a meal of spicy strips?”
The few of them chatted back and forth, their voices not too loud nor too soft, but still a bit jarring in the slightly noisy environment.
A girl in the front row turned around impatiently and glared at them.
Only then did the group quiet down a bit.
Just then, with a “bang,” the lights in the entire auditorium suddenly dimmed, leaving only a spotlight on the stage.
The host came on stage.
The party was about to begin… As expected, the opening was the school leaders' same old, repetitive speech.
Things like “looking back at the past and looking forward to the future,” and “the horn of the era has sounded”—every sentence was like a powerful sedative.
The students below were slumping, their faces, which had been full of interest a second ago, now all wore the same expression of utter despair.
Zhou Ping leaned back in his chair, tilting his head to gulp down the last mouthful of iced cola, the can crinkling loudly as he squeezed it.
This bit of coolness couldn't dispel the drowsiness.
“Damn, the director’s rambling is longer than my grandma’s foot-binding cloth,” Zhang Sheng muttered in a low voice, almost sliding under his chair.
Wu Rui weakly agreed: “Can the spicy strips I bet be exchanged for two self-study periods? I want to go back and do practice tests right now; it’s better than listening to this lecture.”
“Such ambition,” Jack sneered, glancing at the two of them, then nudged Zhou Ping with his elbow, “Hey, the main act is coming out soon, right? If she doesn’t come out soon, I’ll really fall asleep.”
Just then, the long and tedious speech on stage finally came to an end.
The host practically sprinted onto the stage, announcing in an overly excited tone:
“Thank you to our leaders for their wonderful speeches! Next, let’s welcome the first performance of the evening with our warmest applause!”
The drowsy students in the audience seemed to be instantly activated by this shout.
Countless people suddenly sat up straight, their previously unfocused pupils re-centered, and they all looked towards the stage.
“Please welcome—the girls from the Street Dance Club, to bring us their stage performance!”
“Boom!”
Before the words even finished, the atmosphere in the entire auditorium was instantly ignited.
“They’re here, they’re here!”
“Ahhh! Song Yuqi!”
“Senior, I love you!”
Screams and whistles, mixed with the clatter of tables and chairs, converged into a heatwave that almost lifted the roof.
This spectacle was not a campus party at all; it was clearly a large-scale fan meeting.
Everyone in the school knew that Song Yuqi, the soul of the Street Dance Club, had been scouted by a Peninsula entertainment company and was about to go abroad to become a star.
Tonight, though called a graduation party, most of the people were actually there for her performance.
“See that? What a display!” Zhang Sheng excitedly slapped Zhou Ping’s thigh, his expression more thrilled than if he had won five million yuan.
Zhou Ping didn't speak.
He just quietly sat up straight, the lingering drowsiness disappearing without a trace the moment he heard the name “Song Yuqi.”
His gaze pierced through the moving heads, firmly fixed on the center of the stage.
There, the lights suddenly extinguished, and the whole world plunged into darkness.
Immediately after, with a “thump,” a powerful drumbeat struck hard at everyone’s heart… If Zhou Ping used to scoff at the plotlines in comics and novels where an ordinary male protagonist encounters a mysterious senior from above.
Then now, he believed it.
The moment the lights exploded, the explosive music and drumbeats crashed down like war hammers.
In the center of the stage, that figure completely ignited the entire venue.
A striking head of golden hair, with every pause and every spin of her body, carved wild and unrestrained arcs in the air.
That was not some high school girl’s extracurricular dance at all.
Every movement was full of power, and every beat was precise and fierce.
She was like a lioness breaking into a flock of sheep, declaring with the most flamboyant posture that this stage was her territory.
Wild, confident, radiant.
Zhou Ping was completely stunned.
The senior who helped him pick up coins this morning and reminded him not to be late—was she really the same person as this “Lion Queen” who was freely exuding hormones on stage?
“Holy cow! Holy cow!” Zhang Sheng’s voice was hoarse from shouting, and he frantically slapped Zhou Ping’s arm, “Is this really a student from our school? She’s ready to debut already!”
Wu Rui and Jack had long forgotten about the spicy strip bet, each craning their necks, mouths agape wide enough to fit an egg.
Zhou Ping ignored them.
In his world, the tumultuous screams around him blurred.
Only the person in the center of the stage remained.
That golden hair, that explosive dance, that “I’m the best in the world” expression.
What she displayed had far exceeded the scope of an ordinary high school student.
It was the aura of a star, honed through countless trials, about to step onto a true battlefield.
Zhou Ping’s mind went “boom” again.
It was the exact same feeling as when their fingertips touched this morning.
He finally understood a little.
A teenage pig-headed junior really could encounter a lioness senior who made his heart stop.
And this captivating lioness senior could bring him something special… On stage, Song Yuqi was completely immersed in the rhythm of her dance.
Sweat splashed from her hair, every cell screamed, and every movement strived for perfection.
However, with a fierce turn, as she swept her gaze over the audience, she suddenly paused.
In the dense crowd and dazzling lights, she spotted that corner at a glance.
She saw that junior from this morning.
The unrealistic thought she had backstage earlier now landed squarely in front of her.
The fan clubs of her other sisters were either carrying cameras with long lenses or waving glow sticks, cheering wildly.
Only he sat there so quietly, watching her.
No, he seemed to have noticed that she saw him too.
Zhou Ping grinned, slowly giving a thumbs-up towards the stage.
It was this action that made Song Yuqi’s heart skip a beat, and her footwork actually faltered by half a beat!
One beat, missed.
Fortunately, years of practice and muscle memory took over her body within a tenth of a second, and the next movement flowed seamlessly, preventing anyone from noticing the flaw.
Song Yuqi secretly let out a breath, forcing herself to pull her attention back to the dance.
Don't look at him! Don't look at him!
But even though there were hundreds of people in this auditorium, why was it that every time the formation changed, every time she turned, she could always accurately pinpoint his location?
What was this?
A senior meeting an unforgettable, special junior?
And the information she had discreetly gathered that afternoon instantly flooded her mind.
This junior, it seemed, was not ordinary at all.