To be honest, when You Changjin first saw Zhou Yuwen and Jiang Xinyi playing the piano together on stage, he indeed felt a bit uncomfortable, especially when people around him were exclaiming, "Goodness, that girl is so beautiful!"
"Yeah, they are a perfect match."
"Is that female Zhou Yuwen's girlfriend?"
Any man would feel uncomfortable hearing those words. Even though You Changjin kept consoling himself that he shouldn't be jealous of his own student, emotions were impossible to control. Watching the two on stage playing in perfect harmony like soulmates, You Changjin genuinely felt a pang of sorrow in his heart.
'If I had the ti to learn the piano when I was a child, would I be the one playing with Jiang Xinyi right now?' he thought.
The sight of Zhou Yuwen and Jiang Xinyi playing the piano together filled people with envy, and seeing Jiang Xinyi in that white dress, looking like an ethereal fairy, left You Changjin feeling profoundly empty.
Once upon a ti, he had also possessed such a beautiful girl.
Thinking about it now, it suddenly felt sowhat surreal.
She was like a fairy.
And what about him?
He was just an ordinary face in the crowd.
'Perhaps, Xinyi made the right decision,' he reasoned silently.
They were never suited for each other to begin with.
Just as You Changjin was imrsed in these thoughts, Zhou Yuwen finally began to sing.
"In that fleeting year, how many tis did we actually say it."
"Delaying it ti and again after saying goodbye."
"?"
The mont those lyrics were sung, You Changjin froze, staring at Zhou Yuwen in utter disbelief.
Him!
Zhou Yuwen was actually singing out everything that he had wanted to say!
'Isn't this exactly what is in my heart?'
Even though they were clearly breaking up, You Changjin had stubbornly refused to give up at the ti. He had begged Jiang Xinyi in every possible way not to leave, asking her what he had done wrong.
He promised he could change!
He found himself completely captivated by Zhou Yuwen's song. The more he listened, the deeper it resonated with him, feeling as if the lyrics were written specifically about his own life.
Especially the line, "If we cannot say goodbye with red eyes."
"Must we still do it with flushed red faces?"
When Zhou Yuwen sang that line, You Changjin's nose stung and his eyes grew red. He truly felt that Zhou Yuwen was singing about his exact situation. Wasn't this exactly how it looked when he saw Jiang Xinyi again today?
Awkwardly saying, "Hi, long ti no see."
And receiving the reply, "Oh, long ti no see."
At this mont, You Changjin no longer felt any discomfort when looking at Zhou Yuwen. He even felt as though Zhou Yuwen had written this song specifically for him!
'How could he write such a song!?'
'Wait, why did he ask Jiang Xinyi to go up and accompany him?'
'Could it be that he is trying to make Jiang Xinyi stay for my sake!?'
You Changjin genuinely believed this at that mont. He desperately wanted Jiang Xinyi to hear this song Zhou Yuwen was singing! This song was practically narrating their love story!
If Zhou Yuwen had not invited Jiang Xinyi to accompany him on the piano, how could she have possibly attended this New Year's Eve gala?
Thinking of this, You Changjin even felt a surge of gratitude toward Zhou Yuwen.
Because Zhou Yuwen was helping him win back Jiang Xinyi, right?
Naturally, this song was not sung specifically for You Changjin, but it was undeniably easy for anyone who had experienced a broken heart to project themselves into it.
Setting You Changjin aside, even Zheng Yanyan and Tao Tian were affected.
Every single one of those girls had red eyes and continuously wiped away tears.
And it was not just these young girls.
Even Liu Jing, sitting in the center seat, and Li Ru, the university president, could not help but fall into a contemplative silence after hearing Zhou Yuwen start singing.
Whose youth did not have its own fleeting year?
Initially, Liu Jing was already thoroughly satisfied watching Zhou Yuwen and Jiang Xinyi play the piano, thinking to herself that he was indeed worthy of being the son-in-law she had her eye on.
Then, when Zhou Yuwen began to sing.
Liu Jing's expression inevitably beca subtle.
She looked at Zhou Yuwen singing earnestly on stage, carefully savoring every single line of the lyrics. In a daze, it felt as if she had traveled back twenty-five years to her own youth on campus.
To that campus surrounded by lush greenery during July and August.
The boys wearing school uniforms, and the girls wearing dresses.
"Do not bla that day for being too cold, tears freezing into ice."
"Did the spring breeze also fail to blow into the frozen photograph?"
Girls were indeed a bit more emotional than boys. If asked whether she was happy, Liu Jing would certainly say that things were quite good now—she lived a comfortable life and had a lovely daughter.
But if asked whether she had married for love.
Liu Jing would undoubtedly remain silent.
Zhou Yuwen's song plunged her into mories. She rembered that twenty-five years ago, such an excellent boy had also appeared in her life.
The two of them had truly loved each other, but in their relationship, there had been misunderstandings and anger.
Just like what Zhou Yuwen was singing.
And now, with Zhou Yuwen singing right before her eyes, Liu Jing found herself in a trance, unexpectedly thinking of that young man from twenty-five years ago.
The second half of the song was indeed a plea to stay from a boy's perspective.
"Like who is willing to be completely untethered from each other."
"Wanting to owe one another."
"Wanting the lotus root snapped but fibers still connected."
The pitch of each line was a degree higher than the previous one.
Until the very last line, which returned to tranquility, the sound gradually fading away.
At this mont, Jiang Xinyi followed Zhou Yuwen's rhythm, playing an outro that lasted for about twenty seconds, leaving a lingering lody that seed to echo through the auditorium.
The entire audience sat in absolute silence.
While he was singing the song, there had definitely been people whispering to one another.
Soone would say, "Goodness, his singing is so beautiful."
"He is way too handso."
But during that final segnt, Zhou Yuwen sang each line higher than the last. It was a pure display of vocal technique that genuinely shocked everyone, which was why the auditorium was now at its absolute quietest.
Until the sound completely ceased.
Jiang Xinyi stood up and walked to the front of the stage alongside Zhou Yuwen.
They bowed.
"Clap, clap, clap, clap!"
At this mont, the most enthusiastic applause erupted from the audience. It was the loudest ovation of the entire gala so far. Everyone clapped with all their might, as if this was the only way they could tell Zhou Yuwen.
That his singing was truly phenonal!
The endless applause lasted for over forty seconds. Even after many people stopped, so were still clapping so hard their necks turned red.
It was only then, watching Zhou Yuwen and her daughter taking their curtain call on stage, that Liu Jing finally snapped out of her daze.
She heard Li Ru, the university president beside her, say with a smile while clapping, "Your daughter and nephew are both so excellent. I feel like I just attended a free concert."
"?" Liu Jing regained her composure and simply gave a gentle smile.
Looking back at the stage, she saw that so students couldn't hold back and had rushed up with bouquets of flowers.
A girl was handing a bouquet to Zhou Yuwen.
However, Zhou Yuwen imdiately turned and offered it to Jiang Xinyi.
Jiang Xinyi signaled that she didn't want it.
They were too far away for anyone to hear what Zhou Yuwen was saying, but judging by his gestures, he seed to be insisting that the flowers were for their joint performance.
anwhile, Jiang Xinyi rely rolled her eyes at him.
The performance was a massive success; the applause said it all. For the perforrs, both Zhou Yuwen and Jiang Xinyi, this mont was a source of genuine joy. It had been a long ti since they had enjoyed such an ovation from an audience.
So people went up to the stage wanting to take a photo with Zhou Yuwen.
Zhou Yuwen naturally had no problem with this. But when the girl pulled out her phone to take a selfie, she also urged Jiang Xinyi to look at the cara.
Jiang Xinyi was pleasantly surprised. "I'm included too!"
"Nonsense, you played the piano so beautifully, of course you're included," Zhou Yuwen replied.
Jiang Xinyi shot Zhou Yuwen a reproachful glare, while the girl who ca up to the stage covered her mouth and giggled.
She expressed how much she genuinely loved Zhou Yuwen and Jiang Xinyi's performance.
She even went over to hug Jiang Xinyi!
Several female students went up on stage, but feeling too shy to hug Zhou Yuwen, they settled for hugging Jiang Xinyi instead.
This made Jiang Xinyi incredibly happy, making her feel truly acknowledged!
Standing on stage with Zhou Yuwen, she once again made people feel as if the idiom 'a golden boy and a jade girl' had materialized before their eyes.
Watching everyone eagerly going up to the stage to offer hugs.
Zheng Yanyan could no longer sit still in her seat. She was just about to stand up.
When her wrist was suddenly seized by soone.
"?" Zheng Yanyan froze, only to realize that the person grabbing her was actually Su Qing.
She heard Su Qing let out a cold sneer and say, "Don't think I don't know what you're trying to do!"
At this mont, Zheng Yanyan felt utter disgust toward Su Qing. "Everyone else can go up, so why can't I!"
"Everyone else can go up, but you absolutely cannot!" Su Qing displayed undisguised hostility and wariness toward Zheng Yanyan.
"You!"
During the brief minute they spent arguing, Zhou Yuwen and Jiang Xinyi had already walked off the stage. After all, accepting flowers and taking photos had already delayed things for a few minutes; they couldn't linger on stage forever.
However, anyone with discerning eyes could see that from the mont Zhou Yuwen stepped on stage, the best performance of the night had already been decided.
A piano accompanint paired with a solo vocal performance.
And an original song on top of that!
Zhou Yuwen's reputation as the Jinling Talent was truly well-deserved. Even after stepping down from the stage, a crowd of fanboys and fangirls sward over, trailing eagerly behind him.
Of course, following this song, Zhou Yuwen was not the only one who reaped fa.
After receiving such thunderous applause, Jiang Xinyi also experienced a subtle shift in her heart.
She had started learning the piano at the age of four. In the beginning, she had also received plenty of applause and flowers. Because of her family background, Jiang Xinyi could easily obtain anything she wanted.
Until her first ti performing on a real stage, when she encountered a true genius.
It was then that she realized just how inadequate and insignificant she truly was.
A month of painstaking piano practice might not even compare to what soone else could achieve in half a day. From then on, Jiang Xinyi rarely played the piano in front of others. Let alone going on stage, even during family gatherings, if her mother asked her to play a piece for the relatives...
She couldn't even be bothered to move.
Until today.
A group of eighteen and nineteen-year-old youths looked at her with adoring eyes and said, "Classmate, your piano playing just now was so beautiful!"
"Classmate! Which college are you from? You look so pretty!"
"Goddess, are you Zhou Yuwen's girlfriend!?"
"Ah!?" These few questions left Jiang Xinyi feeling both shy and delighted, unable to stop herself from pressing her lips together in a smile.
'What is wrong with your eyesight?'
'You guys actually think I am your classmate?'
'I am already twenty-four years old!'
'Haha, you actually think I am the sa age as you!'
The more Jiang Xinyi thought about it, the happier she beca, even casting a smug glance at Zhou Yuwen.
That look seed to say, 'See that? You still complain that I'm old, but they think I'm the sa age as them.'
Zhou Yuwen's resulting gaze, naturally, was full of disdain.
However, Zhou Yuwen's thoughtfulness and gentleness were visible to everyone.
They were both currently wearing formal attire.
Since Jiang Xinyi was wearing a dress, it was inconvenient for her to step down from the stage.
Yet Zhou Yuwen chivalrously offered her a steadying hand.
And this very scene was instantly captured on cara by so students.
'Goodness! They have such great chemistry!'
They looked exactly like the male and female leads walking right out of a movie.
After stepping off the stage, many students still ca over to express their fondness for Zhou Yuwen and Jiang Xinyi, and both of them offered polite thanks in return.
This continued until they returned to the backstage area.
Zhou Yuwen managed to handle it relatively well, but Jiang Xinyi already had her small face flushed red. Clearly, she was extrely excited at this mont.
Because earlier, so many girls had been praising Jiang Xinyi. So called her 'classmate,' while others called her 'Senior Sister,' saying things like, "Senior Sister, you play the piano so well," and "Senior Sister, you are so pretty!"
Who wouldn't enjoy being surrounded and showered with praise?
Jiang Xinyi's family was wealthy, so she never lacked beautiful clothes or expensive bags.
However, it was precisely because she lacked nothing that she sotis felt bored.
It felt as though there was nothing left in life that could truly capture her interest.
Until this gala.
Until this ti, when she was applauded by countless people.
Jiang Xinyi discovered that this feeling was truly wonderful.
When they had just stepped down from the stage, so many people ca over to give Jiang Xinyi flowers that she could hardly believe the bouquets were ant for her.
Even now, Jiang Xinyi still couldn't calm her state of mind. With her small face flushed red in excitent, she told Zhou Yuwen, "I played several notes wrong just now. I thought I was dood, but I never expected them to still like
so much!"
Zhou Yuwen replied, "They've never heard this song before anyway, so whatever you played was the correct version."
Hearing this, Jiang Xinyi couldn't help but reveal her beautiful dimples and burst into laughter.
The stage performances could be seen from the backstage area, where the lighting remained dim. Being so highly regarded by so many people for the first ti, Jiang Xinyi's mood was so thrilled that she didn't know how to express it for a mont.
So, she simply gave Zhou Yuwen's thigh a vicious pinch!
Zhou Yuwen had finally managed to sit down. By this point, his phone had long since blown up with notifications. Many girls in the university already had his contact information, and at this very mont, they undoubtedly started reaching out to him again, even sending the videos they had recorded for him to watch.
Zhou Yuwen went through them one by one to see if any of the recordings turned out nice.
Suddenly, Jiang Xinyi inexplicably pinched him, leaving Zhou Yuwen quite speechless. "Seriously, are you crazy!"
Jiang Xinyi, her small face flushed red with excitent, replied, "I wanted to see if I was in a dream!"
"..."
Zhou Yuwen was left speechless. Jiang Xinyi was wearing a long dress, so her legs were not exposed. However, because she was wearing high heels, her legs appeared exceptionally long. Moreover, she was sitting very close to Zhou Yuwen right now, so even through the long, thin fabric of her dress, the shape of her legs was clearly visible.
Zhou Yuwen did not stand on ceremony and gave Jiang Xinyi's thigh a pinch right through her long dress.
"What are you pinching
for!?" In her current state, Jiang Xinyi definitely wouldn't overthink the gesture.
Zhou Yuwen replied, "Didn't you say you were in a dream? Well, does it hurt?"
"It hurts!" Jiang Xinyi pouted, unexpectedly giving off a hint of coquettishness.
Unfortunately, Zhou Yuwen was completely obtuse to such things. He simply said, "Oh, then that proves it isn't a dream."
"You!"
Jiang Xinyi was so angry she could vomit blood. But considering that Zhou Yuwen had brought her such a massive mont in the spotlight this ti, she could let it slide, and even keep a beaming smile on her face.
The next performance on stage had already begun. It seed to also be a musical act involving a piano...
For this, the bla truly fell on Su Qing. The program Su Qing had submitted for Zhou Yuwen was a solo vocal performance.
Who could have anticipated that Zhou Yuwen would actually add a piano accompanint!
The current perforr's piano skills were actually quite decent. However, with the flawless gem of Zhou Yuwen and Jiang Xinyi's performance preceding them, no matter how good the subsequent acts were, the audience found them completely dull to watch.
Jiang Xinyi watched from backstage for a while. The more she watched, the more boring she found it. She turned to Zhou Yuwen and said, "Hey! She doesn't even play the piano as well as I do."
"Mhm," Zhou Yuwen humd in acknowledgnt, keeping his head down as he was busy chatting with others, completely lacking the ti to humor Jiang Xinyi.
This made Jiang Xinyi angry, and she humd in displeasure, saying, "I am talking to you! Are you even listening to !"
In truth, it wasn't just Jiang Xinyi who felt this way. After Zhou Yuwen stepped down from the stage, basically no one was in the mood to pay attention to the remaining performances. They were all whispering to each other, fervently discussing Zhou Yuwen's act.
Back in 2013, there was no Douyin.
However, Weibo was already quite mature. Zhou Yuwen had only been off the stage for five minutes, yet the university's Weibo page and the students' personal forums were already flooded with various updates featuring videos of him.
"Holy crap, it's only been five minutes, and the engagent has already surpassed a thousand!"
"And there's a ton of comnts! I feel like Zhou Yuwen is about to blow up!"
In just a few short minutes, everyone was scrambling to leave comnts under the videos.
People were saying things like they had never heard such a beautiful song before!
"If Zhou Yuwen had sung this song earlier, my girlfriend and I wouldn't have broken up (cry)."
"Zhou Yuwen sang out the innermost thoughts of all us boys!"
"Now I'm just curious about what kind of girl could make Zhou Yuwen write a song like this. Zhou Yuwen must have extrely deep feelings for her!"
"Yeah, if my boyfriend could write a song like this for , I'd chase him back even if I had to cry my eyes out!"
Reading these comnts as they flooded in one after another.
Su Qing felt imnsely proud. Without a second thought, she used her main account to post a comnt: "Zhou Yuwen wrote this song for ! He wrote it back in high school! When we were having a breakup fight—"
Just as Su Qing was typing out her comnt with triumphant glee.
A new comnt suddenly popped up: "It was definitely written for Zheng Yanyan! Have you guys forgotten that he and Zheng Yanyan just broke up!"
"?" Su Qing froze.
Before she could even process it.
"At first glance, it's obvious this song was written for an ex-girlfriend. The whole university knows Zhou Yuwen's ex-girlfriend is Zheng Yanyan! They had a huge, highly public falling out recently, did you guys forget!"
"Ah, that makes sense then. No wonder it's called 'In That Fleeting Year'. It turns out it's based on a real experience!"
"I'm sobbing! Suddenly I don't want them to break up anymore!"
"They should just reconcile!"
With comnt after comnt rolling in, Su Qing hadn't even had the chance to establish her own sense of presence. By the ti she refreshed the page, she was stunned to find that the entire comnt section had been taken over by ntions of Zheng Yanyan.
It should be noted that a while back, everyone was eagerly following the drama surrounding Zheng Yanyan and Chang Hao.
They had all said that Zheng Yanyan deserved being dumped, as she already had a boyfriend yet still entangled herself with other boys.
And after Zhou Yuwen's song ca out, everyone's bleeding hearts overflowed with sympathy for him!
'Sigh, such a great boy, how could he get played by soone scummy.'
"But I feel like Zhou Yuwen still likes Zheng Yanyan!"
The forum was filled with groups of people who had listened to the song and were now discussing the situation between Zhou Yuwen and Zheng Yanyan.
Su Qing frowned deeply as she read this. 'Could this be sothing Zheng Yanyan orchestrated in advance?'
She looked up at Zheng Yanyan and saw her keeping her head down. She figured Zheng Yanyan was probably ssaging Zhou Yuwen again, and judging by her typing speed, she was likely pleading, "Hubby, please get back together with . I promise to act obediently from now on."
But looking at Zheng Yanyan's expression, it was safe to assu Zhou Yuwen was ignoring her.
'No, it couldn't be Zheng Yanyan. She doesn't have the intellect for sothing like this.'
Su Qing's frown deepened.
anwhile, Zheng Yanyan, having listened to the entire song, felt incredibly depressed. She realized that she truly could not live without Zhou Yuwen. No matter what, she had to beg Zhou Yuwen to take her back!
Making up her mind, Zheng Yanyan raised her head, intending to search for Zhou Yuwen.
"Hey! You must be Zheng Yanyan, right!?"
Unexpectedly, at this mont, a group of students had banded together to co over and see what Zheng Yanyan looked like.
"?" Zheng Yanyan looked at them in confusion.
She then heard the group of girls say, "You should reconcile with Zhou Yuwen. Zhou Yuwen still has feelings for you!"
"Yeah, it's obvious Zhou Yuwen wrote this song for you. He cares about you so deeply, so why were you still flirting with other boys?"
"?"
Zheng Yanyan was stunned, looking sowhat bewildered.
Imdiately after, she turned her head and cast a glance at Su Qing.
Seeing Su Qing's eyes brimming with resentnt.
In a flash of insight, Zheng Yanyan suddenly understood...
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