Part 2
Bai Sinian really wanted to splash the water from his cup onto his face. In his mind, he had already beaten this stick figure, Cui Yeyi, hundreds of times.
Bai Sinian gave a fake smile. “If you have fans, you can’t do things detrimental to ‘Dazzling Star’.”
“What are you saying? I came here for ‘Dazzling Star’. How could I do anything detrimental?”
“For example, if you date five, six, seven, eight guys or girls, do you think ‘Dazzling Star’ can still go far because of you?”
Cui Yeyi stammered immediately. “I… I realized you… you person, your thoughts are dirty. What seven or eight guys or girls… don’t interpret it wildly!”
Whether it’s true or not is hard to say. After all, that was how his reputation collapsed in the previous life.
Bai Sinian pursed his lips and didn’t reply.
Just then, Bian Rui came over carrying three bowls of Lanzhou hand-pulled noodles and sat down. Cui Yeyi immediately took a bowl from the tray.
He said happily, “You guy, cold face but warm heart. You like to pretend, pretend not to care about people.”
Bian Rui slapped his hand away. “Did I say it was for you?”
Cui Yeyi grinned cheekily. “Aren’t there three bowls?”
Bian Rui: “Bai Sinian and I are having one and a half bowls each.”
Cui Yeyi guarded the bowl in his hands even tighter. “Impossible! I won’t let you split one!”
Bai Sinian shook his head with a smile, split a pair of chopsticks, and handed them to Bian Rui.
“By the way, have you guys looked into our school’s clubs? There should be music clubs, right?” Bai Sinian asked.
Cui Yeyi blew on his noodles and said, “There are too many music-related clubs in this school. Western music, folk music, piano club, guitar club… there’s practically a separate club for every instrument.”
“So many?!” Bai Sinian was shocked. He knew the instruments at a music academy would be diverse, but he didn’t expect the clubs to be even richer.
“Then, are there bands?”
“Loads of them too!” Cui Yeyi exclaimed.
So, while eating noodles, Cui Yeyi told them everything he had found out.
This school had five colleges, ranging from vocals, instruments, screenwriting and directing, to digital resource production, covering almost every profession in front of and behind the scenes of the entertainment industry.
Counting undergraduates and graduate students, there were over ten thousand people, and the types of clubs were numerous.
There were also many student-formed bands; just the ones with recognizable names numbered over a dozen.
Hearing this, Bai Sinian felt immense pressure. What was “Dazzling Star” here? Wanting to debut? It would be hard.
Bian Rui finished his last noodle, lifted his eyelids, and looked at Cui Yeyi. “Where did you hear this? Is it reliable?”
“Naturally! A senior sister in her fourth year told me! She’s studied here for four years; she’s basically a local boss. The news is absolutely reliable!” Cui Yeyi patted his chest proudly, face full of confidence.
Bai Sinian: …
“How did you hook up with a fourth-year senior sister already??” Bai Sinian couldn’t bear to look.
The smile froze on Cui Yeyi’s face. He could even imagine the scene where Bai Sinian roared at him again, forbidding him from dating.
Those memories from high school were vivid; he was almost having a stress reaction.
Cui Yeyi gathered his empty bowl and chopsticks, got up, and ran toward the food waste bin.
“I’m done! I have stuff to do! Bye!”
Bai Sinian: …
Really underestimated this kid.
“Bian Rui, do you plan to join a club?” Bai Sinian focused his attention back on the person beside him.
Bian Rui frowned, his expression solemn.
“Don’t want to join.”
“Why?”
After all, joining a club would mean more performance opportunities, and being able to spar with other experts meant learning a lot! That was what Bai Sinian thought.
Bian Rui put his finished bowl and chopsticks onto the tray, and incidentally put Bai Sinian’s bowl on it too. He went to dump the trash at the back kitchen, with Bai Sinian following closely behind.
Bian Rui: “Aren’t we forming ‘Dazzling Star’? Doing our own band is completely enough.”
Bai Sinian was worried. They had just arrived at this school and didn’t know the specific situation yet.
For example, would they have a place to rehearse?
Clubs could apply for space from the school, especially instrument clubs that needed open space to place large instruments like drum kits.
So how would their band rehearse?
Bai Sinian: “Then let’s familiarize ourselves with the school environment for a few days, and call the others then.”
“Mhm.”
Just as the two came out of the cafeteria, they were surrounded by several girls.
One of them actively asked for Bian Rui’s WeChat, and another came over to ask for Bai Sinian’s.
The result was that Bian Rui rejected the girl directly, while Bai Sinian successfully added the other girl on WeChat.
The girls left giggling. Bai Sinian lowered his head to send a “Hello” sticker to the girl while following Bian Rui toward the dorms.
Bian Rui: “So happy?”
“Huh?” Bai Sinian immediately put away his phone. “No, I just thought I could ask the senior sister about some things since the opportunity arose!”
After speaking, Bai Sinian paused. Wait, isn’t this behavior a bit like Cui Yeyi’s…
“You didn’t add her?” Bai Sinian asked.
“No.”
As expected of my idol. The one I worry about least regarding dating scandals is Bian Rui!
There were many things to familiarize themselves with and understand right after school started. First-year classes were also heavy. Bai Sinian looked at his and Bian Rui’s schedules; the two barely had time to see each other.
Basically, no time to meet in the morning as both had 8 AM classes. In the afternoon, either Bian Rui had class or Bai Sinian did.
When Bai Sinian didn’t have class, he gathered relevant information from the senior sister, found the student council cadres, and applied for an activity room.
This activity room originally belonged to the Anime Club. This club only gathered here on weekday evenings, mainly for drawing, cosplay, etc. The rest of the time, it could be lent to Bai Sinian and his group.
They just had to register.
After finally enduring until Saturday, Bai Sinian took Bian Rui to this activity room early in the morning.
The campus on Saturday morning was as quiet as a paradise. Everyone was still asleep. Only a few individual students were walking on the main campus roads.
“Where exactly are we going? And what have you been busy with all week, acting so mysterious?”
Bian Rui narrowed his eyes and stared at Bai Sinian as he followed him, suspecting he was up to something shady.
Bai Sinian gave a silly laugh. “Revealing the secret soon!”
The activity room was at the end of the corridor on the fourth floor of the Comprehensive Building. Bai Sinian and Bian Rui took the elevator up. At this time, the empty academic building was quiet to the point of being eerie.
Especially since the corridor at the very end of the fourth floor was dark and didn’t even have motion-sensor lights.
Bai Sinian felt a bit creeped out. Worried that his idol was scared like him, he comforted Bian Rui even though his own fear made him stutter: “It’s fine. You… you don’t need to be nervous. Here… there won’t be any supernatural things here.”
“I think you’re the one who’s nervous,” Bian Rui noted, hearing the tremor in his voice.
“The room at the very end?” Bian Rui asked.
“Uh… yeah…”
Bian Rui grabbed Bai Sinian’s wrist, walked in front, and led him inward. Bai Sinian suddenly burst out laughing. “Why is this so like playing an escape room?”
“You’ve played one?”
“No.”
Thus, the topic came to an abrupt end.
Reaching the door of the activity room, Bai Sinian fished out a key and dangled it in front of Bian Rui. “From now on, we have a dedicated rehearsal room!”
A flicker of delight passed through Bian Rui’s eyes. Caught by Bai Sinian, it made his heart extraordinarily happy.
A smile from a beauty intoxicates the gentleman—that’s probably the feeling right now.
Bai Sinian inserted the key into the lock. With a turn, the door opened. The scene that greeted their eyes instantly made the two freeze in the doorway.
With this massive pile of stuff, where was the space for them to rehearse?!
“This is the rehearsal room you talked about?” Bian Rui took two steps forward to see more clearly.
He scanned the room in disbelief and said, “This stage… is quite unique.”
This activity room was only about half the size of a classroom. It contained at least three large tables. “At least,” because there were also many cardboard boxes piled inside covered in cosplay costumes, making it impossible to see if there were boxes or tables underneath.
And on the visible tables, everything was markers, cardboard, and some unfinished posters.
“This…”
Bai Sinian hesitated for a moment, then walked in, taking every step with extra caution, head down looking for a place to plant his feet.
“Let’s help them tidy up a bit without damaging their things.”
Bian Rui stood in place, his eyes cold. “Their things, let them clean up themselves.”
But they were using this activity room first. Bai Sinian felt like he was living under someone else’s roof and didn’t think there was any harm in helping to tidy up.
Just then, the sound of the elevator doors opening came from the corridor, followed closely by Cui Yeyi’s high-profile voice.
“Careful! Put it down gently!”
Bai Sinian bent over and poked his head out, waving at Cui Yeyi. “Over here!”
Cui Yeyi had called two workers to help move the instruments up. He ran quickly to the activity room door, shouting excitedly, “Too cool! We actually have a new activity…”
When he saw the stuffed activity room behind Bai Sinian, his voice cut off abruptly.
“Hehe, this… just needs a little tidying.” Bai Sinian laughed awkwardly.
The two workers moved the snare drum of the drum kit to the door of the activity room and asked Cui Yeyi, “Where does this go?”
Cui Yeyi was troubled. Piling it at the door wasn’t appropriate, but it wouldn’t fit inside.
Bai Sinian put on an obedient fake smile. “Uncles, how do you charge? We can pay for extra time. Can you help tidy this place up?”
Cui Yeyi’s eyes lit up. “Uncle, help us clean up. I’ll ask my dad to give you a raise later!”
Hearing “raise,” the two uncles laughed. “No need for a raise, just pay us the settlement. 200 an hour.”
“Okay, no problem!” Cui Yeyi agreed immediately.
Bai Sinian pulled him aside and muttered, “Are they from your dad’s company?”
“Yeah, they often haul goods for my dad’s company. My dad can order them around; he’ll pay them. Don’t worry!”
Bai Sinian exhaled and said, “Then I’ll organize the room with the two uncles. You guys go move the instruments; put them in the hallway first.”
“Let’s go.” Hearing their conversation, Bian Rui left the activity room first.
Cui Yeyi threw a few air punches behind Bian Rui’s back. Bai Sinian thought, Truly childish, and shooed him away.
So, Bai Sinian cleaned and organized with the two uncles. They moved the large tables to the wall and re-stacked the cardboard boxes, clearing out a large empty space.
Bai Sinian specifically ran to the school supermarket to buy a few mobile clothing racks to hang the costumes. This way, the space became much larger.
They arranged the activity room into two halves: one half dedicated to storing the Anime Club’s things, and the other half for their instruments, even running several power strips.
By the time they finished all this, it was approaching noon.
Every one of them was sweating profusely, soaked through. But seeing the refreshed scene before them, it was all worth it!
“Mommy, there isn’t even AC. What use is this ceiling fan!” Cui Yeyi was too weak to complain properly.
Bai Sinian leaned against the corner of the wall, pulling at his collar to fan himself.
“Hey, Cui Yeyi. Fan Hongyi and Shen Bei will be here soon. Tell them to bring some food and go to my dorm to eat.”
After speaking, Bai Sinian noticed Bian Rui leaning by the door, his clothes wet and sticking to his body. He quickly grabbed a piece of cardstock and went over to fan Bian Rui.
Bian Rui looked back, smiled at him, and didn’t refuse.
Instead, he calmly enjoyed the comfortable cool breeze.
Seeing this, Cui Yeyi wasn’t having it. Why do I have to send messages while Bian Rui enjoys himself over there?!
He ran over and squeezed Bian Rui aside to enjoy the natural cool breeze Bai Sinian was providing.
Unexpectedly, Bai Sinian aimed the wind back at Bian Rui. Cui Yeyi continued to squeeze him, and Bai Sinian continued to change directions.
The three of them spun in circles on the spot.
Bai Sinian: …
“Alright, let’s go back to the dorm and blow the AC!”
“Let’s go!” Cui Yeyi followed quickly.
Just as they walked back downstairs to the dorm, Bai Sinian received a WeChat message, so he ran to the school gate to pick up Fan Hongyi and Shen Bei. They had brought two large bags of KFC.
The five finally reunited.
Sitting around in Bai Sinian’s dorm, blowing the AC and eating fried chicken.
Fan Hongyi’s hair had grown a bit longer. Wearing a basketball uniform, he looked a bit more “manly” than during summer vacation.
Shen Bei seemed to have grown even cuter. His face was still fair, currently tinged with pink from the heat. Wearing brightly colored clothes, he looked like a sunny, cheerful boy at first glance.
“Shen Bei, are you used to your school?” Bai Sinian asked with concern.
Shen Bei had ultimately been sent by his brother to a private college. This college was jointly run with a “Project 985” university. Having the prestige of a 985, it attracted many applicants. The admission score wasn’t high, but it was a school that was easy to enter and hard to graduate from.
He was studying art, so everything had turned out as he wished.
“It’s okay.” Shen Bei gnawed on a chicken wing and licked his lips.
Even if he wasn’t used to it, he wouldn’t say too much to everyone. It was just his nature.
Fan Hongyi didn’t wait for anyone to ask him and started complaining. “I was forced by my mom to study Chinese Language and Literature. I’ve really had enough. Who studies Chinese in college?! And the Book of Songs? Isn’t that for girls to study? I’m no different now than I was in high school!”
“Don’t be grumpy. Eat more,” Bian Rui said concisely.
“I’ll take you to see our rehearsal room later. We can meet every weekend from now on!” Bai Sinian was happy from the bottom of his heart.
Everyone stuffed food into their mouths like crazy and drank cola. The five big boys were just like they were in high school—the atmosphere harmonious, getting along happily.
Especially with the AC. After eating, Cui Yeyi let out a burp. “I’ve been meaning to ask but forgot.”
“What?”
Cui Yeyi: “Why are you two in different majors but living in the same dorm? Why can’t I squeeze in here?”
Bai Sinian “uh”-ed for a long time but couldn’t say the reason. He hadn’t thought that much about it. Was there a reason that absolutely had to be said?
Bian Rui said out of the blue, “Our personalities are similar, interests align, and we get along.”
Shen Bei suddenly said weakly, “I want to live with Sinian-ge too…” After all, he is our “male mom.”
Bai Sinian patted his chest and guaranteed, “You’re sleeping over at my place tonight!”
“Really? Can I?!”
“Would I lie?!”
“Yay!” Shen Bei shouted softly.
Cui Yeyi glanced at the three of them, then muttered softly, “When Shen Bei leaves, I’m coming to squeeze in.”
Only Fan Hongyi heard him. He glanced at Cui Yeyi with a mix of surprise and disdain.
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