Xu Tingsheng delayed till the final hour of the deadline before handing in his aspiration form. There were not many who were as late as him. Ye Yingjing was amongst them.
Having handed in her aspiration form, while exiting the room, Ye Yingjing saw Xu Tingsheng. She greeted him, going over to wait for him by the doorway. While they had previously said âsee you tomorrowâ, they had not met each other on the day of the aspirations seminar.
When Xu Tingsheng and Chen Yulun had had their standoff before thousands of people, she and her mother had been in the midst of a conversation with her teacher in her office. In the seminar afterwards, she had not seen Xu Tingsheng as well.
It was still fine for Ye Yingjing, but Mrs Ye had been very disappointed.
Leaving from the handing in of his aspiration form, Xu Tingsheng found Ye Yingjing and Mrs Ye standing by the corridor.
âXu Tingsheng,â Ye Yingjing shouted, âIâve not seen you around, where did you fill in? âŚThis is my mom.â
âHi, auntieâŚI filled in a Qingbei to test my luck, then chose a few other schools to cover my bases. I estimate that Iâll only be able to go those schools covering my bases,â Xu Tingsheng said, smiling.
Ye Yingjing thought that this made sense. If one had the chance to, who wouldnât want to try for Qingbei, however much the risk?
Mrs Yeâs reaction was much greater as she asked, âWhy didnât you choose Jianhai University? Our familyâs Yingjing chose Jianhai University, you knowâŚwhat a pity.â
âA pity?â Xu Tingsheng was a little unable to wrap his head around it.
Ye Yingjing shot her mother a glare before saying to Xu Tingsheng, âLooks like thereâs no chance of us being classmates anymore. Itâs indeed rather a pity.â
Mrs Ye nodded vigorously. She virtually couldnât be any more satisfied with this child. His exploits her daughter had told her of aside, he was also the top scholar, also having helped her to vent her frustrations as well in having directly offed Chen Yulun by more than 30 marks. She had heard that Chen Yulun had even run off to rip his banner⌠Mrs Ye had nearly leapt up in joy upon hearing this, really wanting too much to call Chen Yulunâs household for ârevengeâ. It was a pity that she had been stopped by her husband and daughter.
Also, he was handsome, he looked gentle, and his family ran a big mall as wellâŚ
Xu Tingsheng felt a bit flustered by Mrs Yeâs staring. This was the gaze of a woman looking at her prospective son-in-law, and how could he have seen this before?
He wiped his sweat, saying, âItâs indeed rather a pity.â
âExactly. Will it be too late if you change it now?â Mrs Ye asked.
âChangingâŚmy aspirations?â
âRight, change it and go to the same school as our Yingjing.â
Xu Tingsheng was stunned. Asking me straight out to change my aspirations, isnât this a little too domineering? Just from Ye Yingjingâs personality and behaviour alone, though, he wouldnât have thought that she had such a powerful mother.
Ye Yingjing hurriedly pulled her mother behind her, saying panickedly, âXu Tingsheng, you donât have to take my mom seriously. Sheâs just joking.â
âYeah, I know.â
âCan we be friends then?â
Ye Yingjing extended her hand, straightforward and direct.
âOf course.â
Xu Tingsheng extended his hand as well.
âRight, you should communicate more in the future. Itâs fine even if you are in different schools,â Mrs Ye said from beside them.
If some appear to each other at the correct time, it might perhaps culminate in a deep, intense relationship or an unquenchable, unrequited love. Yet, if the timing is wrong, it might just be a greeting, a turning away.
Once, if at some particular moment, you had said one additional sentence, just happened to turn around for some reason, it may have been that that person was standing there, thereby leading to that personâs profession of love. But you didnât.
That is life.
That person might still be there, as your friend, or a mere acquaintance, or someone youâve never even spoken with before. Actually, ripples may have arisen between you at some point in time before. If you had extended your hand at that moment, the story of your life might have been different. And having let that moment go past without, such was merely just how it was.
In terms of personality, Ye Yingjing was actually a very suitable woman, magnanimous and tolerant, unflustered in the face of difficulties. Such girls were actually very rare. She had a breadth of mind not possessed by many girls; she was able to provide a sense of security. This was an even rarer thing for women.
The âlonelyâ Xu Tingsheng actually lacked a sense of security. The âpowerâ of rebirth could not wipe away his loneliness and fear, and his precognitive powers entailed pressure as well. This kind of person was just what he needed.
It was simply logical that if Xu Tingsheng had come to this world without that stubbornness over Xiang Ning, he might eventually have gotten into some sort of relationship with Ye Yingjing. Afterwards, it was highly possible that they would love each other deeply, blissfully.
That little bit of tacit understanding between them in his interaction lesson was like meeting a kindred soul who truly resonated with your heart amidst tall mountains and flowing rivers, oneâs whose intelligence could always clash with yours, birthing sparks, never failing to liven up your spirits.
In terms of admiration, due to Xu Tingshengâs experience as well as psychological state, he actually admired Ye Yingjing even more than he did Yao Jing and Wu Yuewei.
Yao Jing was a youthâs curiousness.
Wu Yuewei, having moved him and caused him guilt, had perhaps once even caused his heart to flutter.
Ye Yingjing was the one most suitable for him, also being the one he admired the most.
However, Xiang Ning, was life.
This was life. Ye Yingjing extended her hand, and Xu Tingsheng did as well. Still, this might forever be the most intimate contact between them, and their story might not hold any continuation, this being like that sudden flutter of your heart on that street in your youth.
Even you yourself might already have forgotten it.
Girls like Ye Yingjing would always find happiness, whereas Xu Tingsheng didnât know, didnât know where he might end up.
âYouâve filled in specialisation flexibility, right?â Xu Tingsheng reminded her.
âYeah, I did,â Ye Yingjing said, âWhat will you be doing in the holidays? Will you be busy?â
âI guess so. My familyâs setting up a mall, and Iâve got to help out as well.â
âThat one with the âwait for meâ, right?â
âItâs already been changed. Now, itâs âGuess?ââ
âWell thenâŚbye.â
âBye.â
âRight, that song you sung- âWe are all good kidsâ. I couldnât find it.â
âŚâŚ
Because of this final question of Ye Yingjingâs, Xu Tingsheng realised something. It seemed like that had to appear soon. Otherwise, if it appeared in some singerâs original album in the future, Xu Tingsheng might come to face suspicion.
Therefore, other than messing around and helping out in the mall, another major theme prevailed in Xu Tingshengâs upcoming time as well. He learnt the guitar from Fu Cheng while also looking for a way to record and publish this song, however it might be a little rough at the edges.
With regard to Fu Cheng, Xu Tingsheng admitted to him that the song was an original work by the one who had played the guitar on the rooftop that night. As for who he (or she) was and why this song would not be published by its original owner, Xu Tingsheng resolutely refused to reveal it, just saying that these were the wishes of that person.
Having played the guitar for a few years, Fu Cheng knew some similar people on the internet. Of course, they were also the kind of people that just messed blindly around.
On the last two days of June, Xu Tingsheng made a trip to the nearby Wenshui City along with Fu Cheng, meeting up in an abandoned warehouse with some band-playing friends, or, more accurately, online friends of Fu Chengâs.
Specialising in heavy metal, this band expressed great disdain towards the soft and fluffy . Fortunately, they still agreed to help record it in the end.
After a few simple rehearsals, the band found a crude recording studio and roughly recorded this with Fu Cheng as the lead singer, helping to take this small matter off Xu Tingshengâs heart.
Iâll not be doing this again. Having been bothered greatly by this matter, Xu Tingsheng decided that he would never do this deed of plagiarising songs again. It wasnât profitable, and was plenty troublesome as well.
Very quickly, this slipshod âinternet songâ that was accompanied by jarring background noise, wrong drumbeats and scattered accompaniment stealthily appeared on a few websites for original songs.
Perhaps the only thing that was worthy of note was Fu Chengâs voice that was rather good as well as his slick playing of the guitar.
This song spread on a small scale. Xu Tingsheng did not see any occurrence like it abruptly shooting to fame overnight, shocking the visuals of many all around.
TL Note:
Apparently, the author felt greatly emotional in writing the first half of this chapter. He actually wanted to delete some stuff afterwards but just couldnât bear toâŚ
More importantly, even with Xu Tingshengâs rebirth, fate is elusive. Many things are uncertain, and perhaps many things will change. Assumptions? Beliefs? Only time will tell.