Chapter 94: Party 

The double New Year’s Eve party was scheduled for the night of December 30th.

On this day, regular students’ evening study sessions were canceled, and the evening training for the student athletes was also canceled. Everyone was expected to go to the school’s grand auditorium to attend the party.

It must be said that Fenghua High School really had deep pockets—its auditorium was large enough to accommodate all the students, and there was still space, so the students could gather in a relatively comfortable spot to watch the event.

Every time something like this happened, Ouyang Ge would be particularly busy. He was responsible for arranging the seating and managing the on-site order.

When Ouyang Ge was busy, he would gladly enlist people from his own class to help, and today, Hou Mo and Sui Houyu were drafted into service.

They were assigned to wear a red welcoming sash across their chests and stand at the entrance of the auditorium to guide the classes in.

Before the event started, they needed to walk around the venue a couple of times to familiarize themselves with the positions.

Afterward, Ouyang Ge handed them a seating chart with clear instructions on where each class should sit.

What Sui Houyu and Hou Mo had to do was go to the teaching building, knock on the classroom doors, and inform the classes that they could head to the auditorium. Once the class lineup arrived at the entrance, other people would guide them inside and show them their seats.

After one class entered, the next would follow.

Sui Houyu occasionally had to step out for a walk. Since it was cold, he wore a long black down jacket meant for student athletes, which was much warmer. He wore the welcoming sash across his chest, looked at the seating chart, and led the next class into the auditorium.

This time, he was guiding Class Ten of the second year.

When Ai Mengtian saw Sui Houyu, she greeted him: “Sui Houyu, what’s with your down jacket? Did they mistake you for a female team member and give you the women’s version?”

By now, Ai Mengtian had gotten over her previous infatuation with Sui Houyu. She had once been charmed by his looks when she was young and naive, but after getting to know him better, she realized his personality was hard to handle. She decided to just be good friends with him.

Good friends were great; a good friend could openly admire his face without hesitation.

Sui Houyu, already irritated by being forced to work, replied listlessly: “It was chosen by Sister Su. She’s over there helping too, so if you yell louder, she’ll hear you.”

“Well…” Ai Mengtian was stunned. “Is the beautiful sister’s taste that sharp?”

“Yeah, why don’t you ask her yourself? If she gets angry, even our entire tennis team wouldn’t be able to deal with her. Do you want to challenge her?”

“No, no, no!” Ai Mengtian suddenly changed her tone, “She’s stunning! So confident! The team spirit just shines through.”

Sui Houyu gave Ai Mengtian an appreciative glance and then helped Class Ten settle down.

After leading them in, he stepped out again. The next class still hadn’t arrived, so he waited on the side, when he saw Hou Mo striding over.

Hou Mo reached out and blocked a girl who was secretly filming Sui Houyu, then smiled at her: “Want to take a picture of me? I look good too.”

The girl was startled and quickly ran off.

Recently, due to short videos, there had been a surge in people secretly filming handsome guys and beautiful girls to post online, claiming it was “catching the big fish,” or just for showing off the good-looking people they encountered.

Some of these were staged by marketing accounts, while others were genuine incidents.

Although some people didn’t have bad intentions, those being filmed were still not happy about it.

At least Sui Houyu didn’t like being filmed, and Hou Mo had skillfully blocked it without causing trouble.

Sui Houyu turned to look at Hou Mo and asked: “Aren’t you cold?”

“It’s fine, I’m mostly inside the auditorium.”

“I specifically borrowed a hand warmer.” Hou Mo said as he pulled it out from his jacket sleeve and secretly handed it to him.

Sui Houyu looked at it—it was a cute pink pig—and raised an eyebrow: “Who did you borrow it from? A guy or a girl? Do I know them?”

Hou Mo didn’t mind and answered happily: “I think you know him, his last name is Deng. He shares a dorm with us and is standing downstairs now, acting as a lookout, ready to call the classes.”

He slipped the hand warmer back into his sleeve and asked: “How come he bought this?”

“They had a promotion in his family’s store, and he took one as a gift.”

Sui Houyu chuckled as he held the hand warmer, waiting for the next class to arrive so he could lead them in.

Hou Mo walked beside him, asking: “How many more classes?”

“Most are seated now. Su Anyi and the others are in charge of the international class, they’re sitting on the left. I’m in charge of the regular classes, sitting on the right. Gege is also selfless; our class has the worst seats in the entire school,” Sui Houyu replied.

“Well, it’s because we’re in Class Seventeen. The worst class.”

“Tsk.” The worst class was ranked in the middle in terms of average scores?

Once most of the seats were arranged, Sui Houyu, as the class monitor, took the welcoming sashes from the students who had helped and sent them to the backstage warehouse.

Ran Shu was still backstage, helping organize the performance lineup. When he saw Sui Houyu, he ran over and placed a headband on top of his head, then switched it on.

The headband had small devil horns, and when turned on, they glowed red.

This type of headband was a real test of looks, but it suited Sui Houyu particularly well. The devil horns matched his displeased but attractive face, which made for an interesting combination.

Sui Houyu was about to take it off when Ran Shu stopped him: “Don’t take it off. The lights will be turned off soon. I need to use the glow from your head to find my position!”

“Okay, then I’ll head back first.”

Ran Shu nodded.

Sui Houyu walked back with the headband on. When he passed the audience section, it caused quite a stir.

Many people were nudging each other to look at Sui Houyu, and those who knew him called out: “Brother Yu, you’re so cute!”

Wherever he went, it felt as if the students around him were like sunflowers, all facing towards him. He had become the moving sun.

He pursed his lips and returned to his class. After sitting down, he noticed that Hou Mo was staring at him, even taking out his phone to snap pictures.

Sui Houyu, usually unwilling to pose for pictures, surprisingly cooperated this time. He lifted the pink pig hand warmer, letting Hou Mo take his photo. After a while, he asked: “Are you done?”

“I’m recording a video.”

“…” Sui Houyu’s previously friendly expression instantly turned serious, and he gave Hou Mo a look.

Hou Mo just laughed.

The party officially began, and Ran Shu finally made his way back to Class Seventeen’s group.

The second floor of the auditorium was filled with six classes, and Class Seventeen of the second year had seats at the back, so Ran Shu found them easily.

After sitting down, Ran Shu told Sui Houyu: “X-Xu Youyi has a performance. She’s dancing.”

Hou Mo leaned forward, asking: “Our little sister dances well too?”

Ran Shu looked past Sui Houyu at Hou Mo and responded: “Who’s your little sister? Don’t get too close. You didn’t even make it into the door, you’re still stuck in the gap.”

Sui Houyu, sitting in the middle, hadn’t heard much of the host’s opening speech, but the two people next to him had already started arguing.

He couldn’t be bothered to listen, so he asked Ran Shu: “What’s your performance number?”

Ran Shu kicked his legs up, answering in a grand tone: “The closing act.”

“Just as expected.”

Ran Shu smiled brightly: “Of course.”

As he smiled, he turned his head and saw that he was sitting next to Sang Xian, and his smile instantly faded.

How did he end up sitting next to the grim reaper?

Being close to Sang Xian always seemed to reduce his happiness by three points.

He resigned himself to it; after all, Sang Xian was now his creditor.

The host was a student from the second year liberal arts class, and their hosting skills were pretty good—probably because they had studied broadcasting.

The school even had interest clubs for it, and the party atmosphere was quite good.

The school had just merged a semester ago, and now there was no sign of any tension.

During the intermission, the host asked if there were any students who hadn’t signed up but still wanted to perform.

After some chaos, a boy came up and sang a popular song with his guitar.

When the host came back on stage, someone suddenly started chanting Hou Mo’s name.

At first, it was just one or two people, but soon it became a full-blown cheer from the entire school.

Hou Mo sat in his seat, feeling helpless. Having too much popularity didn’t seem like such a good thing either.

Seeing Hou Mo’s embarrassed expression and recalling his singing ability, Sui Houyu sighed and stood up to step in for Hou Mo.

When the students saw that the person coming on stage wasn’t Hou Mo, but Sui Houyu, they were all pleasantly surprised and started cheering.

Recently, almost all the students at Fengyu High School had learned about the relationship between these two. This time, it was officially announced that they were close, as Sui Houyu, who usually avoids the limelight, came up to take over for Hou Mo. This was definitely seen as a huge favor.

Sui Houyu came on stage wearing the black sports uniform typical of an athlete, and stood beside the host to take the microphone.

The host, seeing Sui Houyu, eagerly asked: “I’ve heard so much about how versatile you are, Sui Houyu. Can you perform something different today?”

During military training, many people had seen Sui Houyu dance, and the host didn’t want him to just sing a song and leave—he hoped Sui would dance as well.

Sui Houyu didn’t respond immediately, only staring at the host in silence.

The host, feeling a bit flustered, quickly changed his tone: “Uh… singing works too.”

He immediately backed down.

Not making things difficult for the host, Sui Houyu said: “Lend me an instrument.”

The host suggested a common one: “A guitar?”

Sui Houyu answered: “An erhu.”

This performance was definitely going to be different.

The erhu, a classical instrument, had long been revered, and when Sui Houyu held it, it didn’t seem out of place at all.

With his strong Chinese aesthetic, the young man contrasted sharply with Hou Mo’s exotic looks.

It seemed like… Sui Houyu was just naturally suited for such classical things.

After the previous male student finished his song, with the stand, microphone, and chair still in place, Sui Houyu casually sat down.

It didn’t matter whether he sat or not, but once he did, his long legs became noticeable.

The chair on stage had high legs, and the previous boy had his feet resting on the footrest, while Sui Houyu’s feet touched the ground.

Once seated, he tested the pitch of the two-stringed fiddle, then spoke into the microphone: “Let me sing something familiar, so you won’t have trouble understanding a more obscure song.”

Still wearing that arrogant attitude, yet none of the students found it bothersome. 

This was just how Sui Houyu was.

With that, he began to play the erhu and sang a verse from Su San Qi Jie^[1], in the male role version.

What does it mean when someone’s voice makes you “fall to your knees”?

The moment Sui Houyu started singing, a wave of astonishment rippled through the crowd, and soon after, silence fell, everyone eager not to miss a note.

After finishing the song, Sui Houyu set down the erhu and prepared to leave the stage, but the host came up again, using an exaggerated tone: “Not enough! Right?!”

The students in the audience eagerly played along, shouting for more.

Reluctantly, Sui Houyu returned to his seat, thinking for a moment before picking up the erhu again. This time, he sang The New Butterfly Dream^[2].

Sui Houyu’s voice had a youthful, noble quality to it, a standard boyish tone that couldn’t convey much sorrow. Plus, with his previous training in opera vocals, his singing had a unique flavor.

This song was almost reinterpreted; he sang it without sadness but with a certain lightness, and his voice even carried a touch of laziness.

Like a cat lounging on a windowsill on a lazy afternoon, stretching its paws and letting out a relaxed meow.

As he sang, his eyes occasionally drifted up, seemingly looking toward the second floor.

He knew that person was surely watching him, and he could almost guess that they were smiling, their light-colored eyes full of joy.

He continued playing the erhu and singing the old song.

The little devil headband on his head still glowed with a dark red light, and his delicate face showed a rare softness.

As he sang, a subtle smile tugged at the corner of his lips, unexpectedly charming.

Once the song ended, Sui Houyu didn’t stay any longer. He walked off the stage, and no amount of shouting could make him stay; he had already been very generous with his performance.

Back in his seat in the class, Ran Shu couldn’t help but ask: “You-you sang a song like that? It’s not your style!”

“Oh.” Sui Houyu replied, grabbing his down jacket to cover his legs: “Some b*tch loves to hear it.”

“Damn, I was careless.” Ran Shu cursed.

Just as Sui Houyu sat down, Hou Mo reached out and gently hooked his pinky finger. Sui Houyu didn’t pull away.

Hou Mo quickly got bolder, his index and middle fingers tracing along the back of Sui Houyu’s hand like tiny feet, then he placed his hand on top, slipping his fingers into the gaps between Sui Houyu’s. Soon, they were holding hands tightly.

In the dimly lit auditorium, with the stage still alive with performances and the audience buzzing, they secretly held hands under the cover of their jackets in the back corner of the room.

Hou Mo slowly turned his head and whispered into Sui Houyu’s ear: “It was beautiful, I really liked it.”