Chapter 24

Lu Fengfeng’s fingers seemed to have been kissed by angels, with the notes flowing from his fingertips as if they could dance.

A string of joyful and lively melodies continuously flew out of the black piano, diving into the audience’s ears and turning into sweet, rich honey, sinking into their chests, making them feel as if they were falling through the clouds, their hearts racing and minds drifting.

It was a piece of music Yan Ning had never heard before, its tune at times cheerful and graceful, at times delicate and melancholic. The listeners didn’t feel sadness, instead, their emotions were stirred up, rising and falling, creating a bittersweet, irresistible feeling.

What a strange feeling.

Yan Ning shook her head, but the entire audience in the venue was undoubtedly drawn into Lu Fengfeng’s emotions. Yan Ning felt as though she was surrounded by a sea of pink, everyone seemed to have been purified by holy light, becoming soft and adorable.

Hei Jing raised an eyebrow, a hint of surprise in his eyes, not expecting that he would choose this particular piece.

Lu Fengfeng’s fingers seemed to have a mind of their own, knowing exactly where to move next.

He himself was actually resisting this light, floating sensation. This was not the piece he had originally prepared, he had intended to play something more conventional.

But when he stepped onto the stage, his mood inexplicably soared, as if lying on soft, fluffy clouds—warm and comfortable—and his emotions refused to be suppressed by logic. This piece, buried deep in his memories, suddenly sprang into his mind, and even his body began to act uncontrollably.

It was an ancient song from his hometown, about the pure and beautiful innocence of young boys and girls tentatively exploring each other’s feelings when they first fall in love.

He thought he would never remember this song in his lifetime, let alone want to sing or play it.

But how could this happen?

For the first time since arriving on Earth, Lu Fengfeng’s heart was in turmoil.

What irritated him was that the more his heart was in turmoil, the smoother the melodies flowing from his fingers became. Everyone became a captive of his piano music.

When the piece ended, thunderous applause erupted.

Lu Fengfeng stood up and bowed to the audience. Behind him, the vote count on the screen soared, finally stopping at 12,385 votes.

There were about 5,000 people in the auditorium with voting devices. If each person voted the maximum of three votes, the total votes would be around 15,000.

Lu Fengfeng’s vote count surpassed more than four-fifths of the total votes and even beat all previous contestants, including the one who had a famous band perform as backup. He was the only contestant so far who hadn’t brought in outside help and still managed to secure such a high vote count.

Even after Lu Fengfeng stepped off the stage, the audience continued to gossip excitedly.

Many young girls gathered together, laughing and chatting, their eyes sparkling.

It was the age of blooming youth, the most imaginative and romantic time. They couldn’t help but wonder who Lu Fengfeng’s piano piece reminded them of.

The next contestant was Yan Wan, but Yan Ning wasn’t interested, so she slipped backstage to find Lu Fengfeng.

She felt that Lu Fengfeng had dug a big hole for Yan Wan. Even if Yan Wan played a beautiful tune, it would be hard to win, the emotional depth was simply too difficult to surpass.

Yan Ning returned to the backstage, where she saw Lu Fengfeng squatting alone in a corner, eating something. He had a bag of cotton candy and kept shoving pieces into his mouth one by one.

She walked over, and when she was three steps away, Lu Fengfeng suddenly raised his hand to block her, saying, “Don’t come over yet.”

“Hmm? What’s wrong?” Yan Ning asked, confused.

“My mind’s a bit messy. Give me a moment, just need to catch my breath,” Lu Fengfeng said weakly, his tone a little awkward.

After getting off the stage, he kept thinking. The moment things started feeling off was when Yan Ning performed that hand-kissing gesture.

“What’s wrong with you? Are you sick? Or not feeling well somewhere?” Yan Ning sat down next to him, looking at him with concern, wanting to touch his forehead.

“No… no, I’m fine. Just answer me one question,” Lu Fengfeng blocked her hand.

“Okay, go ahead.”

“Why did you… why did you do that?” Lu Fengfeng pointed to the back of his hand.

“Hand-kissing? Didn’t you do that first?” Yan Ning gave him an innocent look.

“…I…” Lu Fengfeng remembered. It was indeed his own fault. Whenever he did something like that in the past, the girls would always shyly lower their heads, not daring to look at him.

He didn’t expect that Yan Ning, who seemed quite ordinary, would be so bold and turn the tables on him, making him all confused.

“So, you mind that? If I offended you, I apologize. Actually, in some places, the hand-kissing gesture is a way for subordinates to show loyalty to their superiors. It caught me by surprise at that moment, since there’s no hierarchy between us, I did it back to make it even.” Yan Ning noticed that Lu Fengfeng seemed troubled, so she explained to ease his emotions.

“Is that all?” Lu Fengfeng asked in surprise, and then remembered that some planets indeed had such customs.

“Mm, that’s all.”

Lu Fengfeng continued to squat in the corner, eating cotton candy, but didn’t stop her from sitting next to him this time, though his mood remained somewhat delicate.

Even though he hadn’t allowed it, Yan Ning still sat right next to him, completely unconcerned about his small awkwardness.

Yan Ning took out her phone and saw a message from Gu Han. She had something to discuss with him, so she stood up and walked outside.

When she returned to the lounge, Qiao Yingxue had already come back.

“How’s it going out there?” Yan Ning asked.

Qiao Yingxue popped a cotton candy into her mouth and took a sip of water. “Senior Lu was amazing. After his performance, everyone else really fell behind. Two more contestants brought celebrities on stage, but the effect was clearly not as good as before, and their votes were pretty average.”

“Only Student Council President Qin Li performed decently. His violin playing was really good, and he earned 9,000 votes. The worst has to be the school belle. She ranked behind Senior Lu, and also played the piano. After hearing Senior Lu’s piano piece, watching the school belle’s performance was just bland and lacked any emotional impact. She only got a little over 9,000 votes, which is even slightly lower than Qin Li’s.”

“9,000 votes? That’s not bad,” Yan Ning said casually.

“Ningning, you don’t understand. They were aiming for first place. The school belle has a lot of loyal fans at Minghua, mostly boys. Before the talent competition even started, they were already bragging that their wife Wanwan would definitely take first. They were hyped about it, and even put others down.” Qiao Yingxue’s tone carried a hint of frustration.

“Put down who?”

“Put down… ah, never mind, that’s not important. The funniest thing is that after all this, the school belle won’t even make it into the top three, let alone first. Others might not notice, but I can see it clearly—when she got off stage, she almost lost control of her expression management.” Even while discussing this gossip, Qiao Yingxue remained extremely elegant.

What she didn’t mention was that the school belle’s diehard fans had been posting on forums before the talent competition, dissing Yan Ning, simply because Yan Ning’s appearance was outstanding, and at Minghua High, she was someone who could compete with Yan Wan.

In Qiao Yingxue’s eyes, Yan Ning’s features and figure were far superior to Yan Wan’s pale, lifeless face and flat chest. Obviously, Yan Ning outshone her. But the school belle’s male fans would say Yan Ning was dumb, and because of that, she didn’t deserve to be compared to Yan Wan.

If Yan Wan didn’t approve and subtly encouraged this, she would have written her name backwards.

The funniest thing was that some people implied Yan Ning had an unsavory background, unlike the school belle, whose family was powerful.

Qiao Yingxue had been angry at first and almost started a massive online argument. But now, she couldn’t help but laugh.

She was waiting for the day when Yan Ning would slap them in the face!