Performance

"Rou Mei, what are you up to?" On the video call, Zhou's Mother's voice was gentle and caring.

Bai Yuyou looked at the woman on her phone screen, hesitated for a moment, and finally replied softly, "At school..."

"Is it lunch break now?" Zhou's Mother continued, "I just went to the police station to sort out some things for you. How about having dinner together tonight? It's a rare opportunity."

Bai Yuyou lowered her eyes, a hint of unease flickering across her face. She knew Zhou's Mother was trying to bond with her, but perhaps because they had been separated for so long, she didn’t feel much closeness yet.

She glanced at Ye Shuang beside her, as if seeking his opinion.

Ye Shuang simply nodded. A meal together was absolutely fine.

Bai Yuyou would eventually return to the Zhou family, and this gradual process of reconnecting and integrating into their lives had always been Ye Shuang’s plan. After all, Zhou's parents were Bai Yuyou’s biological parents—blood was thicker than water. Moreover, they had lost Bai Yuyou by accident, not by choice.

Just as Bai Yuyou was about to agree, Zhou's Mother quickly added, "You can bring Shuang along too. We’ll all eat together."

"Okay," Bai Yuyou immediately agreed.

Zhou's Mother was momentarily taken aback. She had noticed Bai Yuyou’s hesitation earlier, but the moment Ye Shuang was mentioned, the answer came without delay.

With a silent sigh, Zhou's Mother continued, "Alright, I’ll send you the address later. Have Shuang drive you over."

"Mhm..."

After hanging up, Bai Yuyou stared at her phone, her bangs falling over her quiet expression. It was hard to tell what she was thinking.

"What’s on your mind?"

"Ye Shuang... I don’t want to leave you."

"Why bring this up all of a sudden?" Ye Shuang asked.

Bai Yuyou’s voice grew even softer. "I don’t know."

"Don’t overthink it," Ye Shuang said, gently patting her head.

After sitting under the tree for a while, Ye Shuang and Bai Yuyou rejoined Zhixia and the others. Since it was lunch break, the group was resting behind their small stall, where a tiny table was set up—

Zhixia and the others had laid out the snacks they bought earlier, treating it as their lunch.

The food sold at Yinshan Academy was relatively cheap. If this were a tourist spot, the prices could easily triple or quadruple.

"Teacher Ye, want to join us?" Zhixia called out as they returned, inviting them to sit.

"We’ve already eaten," Ye Shuang said. Bai Yuyou had been fed well by him.

Tang Keke’s eyes lit up when she noticed the goldfish in Ye Shuang’s hand. "Wow, a goldfish! Did you get it from a stall?"

"Won it from the goldfish scooping game," Ye Shuang replied with a smile. "Do you have a fish tank or something? I need to put it somewhere."

"Teacher Ye, I have a plastic container here. It was originally for lemons," Linlin said, standing up.

She soon returned with a food storage box. After pouring the fish in, it fit just fine.

Without an oxygen pump, they’d have to change the water more frequently to maintain oxygen levels.

There was a trick to keeping fish healthy—

Change the water often.

Change the fish often.

"I ordered a fish tank and an oxygen pump online. They should arrive tomorrow."

After setting the goldfish aside, Ye Shuang and Bai Yuyou sat down.

"When’s the performance?" Ye Shuang asked, as he wasn’t entirely clear on the schedule.

Zhixia explained, "It’s tomorrow night. Since it’s a school-organized event, if we rank well, we can get some great rewards."

"Rankings?" Ye Shuang thought for a moment. "So it’s a competition?"

"Yep. Music clubs compete within their category. The top in each category or the overall top five get prizes," Zhixia continued with a smile.

"But our Light Music Club is just performing for fun. The competition is tough."

"Aside from the Traditional Music Club, our biggest rivals are the Aikun Music Club and the Rock Club. They’ve even poached a lot of our members."

"Especially the Aikun Music Club. Every member who joins starts acting weird—they’ll randomly shrug their shoulders and hum a line or two from their club’s anthem."

"Our club only has me, Linlin, and a bunch of newcomers, so..." Zhixia didn’t have high expectations.

"We’ll just do our best."

After all, Zhixia’s initial goal was just to keep the club from disbanding—maybe even secure a corner to perform. Now that they had enough members, she was already satisfied.

As for rankings, they were just a nice thought.

"You won’t know unless you try," Ye Shuang said with a smile.

"Yeah! Let’s go for it! At least we won’t be last!" Tang Keke cheered, raising a fist while munching on her food.

Her enthusiasm lightened the mood.

They spent some more time discussing the performance details. Linlin, with her excellent voice, was the guitarist and lead singer. Zhixia played bass, Bai Yuyou was on rhythm guitar, An Shiyu handled drums, Tang Keke was on electric guitar (though hers was a no-string, one-touch electronic version—the "shame of guitars," as it required zero skill), and Ye Shuang was on keyboard and backup vocals.

It was a fairly standard lineup. Tang Keke, still unfamiliar with the ukulele, had switched to the no-skill-required electronic guitar—a bestseller for those who didn’t want to spend time practicing, like her.

Though she wasn’t passionate about music, she wanted to perform alongside Bai Yuyou.

For a school event, having fun was what mattered most.

"Speaking of the performance, where’s An Shiyu? We’re discussing it, and she’s nowhere to be found," Ye Shuang remarked.

"Oh, An Shiyu was here earlier, while you and Yuyou were out," Zhixia said with a laugh.

"She even helped us sell out all the lemon tea!"

"How?" Ye Shuang was puzzled.

Tang Keke gestured excitedly. "Bro, can you imagine? An Shiyu was flipping the cups like a bartender, doing tricks! She drew a crowd in no time."

Ye Shuang: "..."

He couldn’t quite picture a lemon tea stand turning into a bartending show. But since everything was sold out, it made sense why Zhixia and the others were relaxing early.