Ji Zhuoran’s unusually enthusiastic behavior seemed a little off.
Although he was usually a lively and playful person, he mostly showed interest in having fun,
And it might be the first time he was so invested in school affairs.
Sang Miao picked up a piece of beef and put it in her bowl, smiling faintly.
“Classmate Ji, do you have some kind of recruitment quota or something?”
Ji Zhuoran choked slightly, looking a bit embarrassed, but still laughed and admitted frankly,
“I don’t have a quota, I just want to make it lively and exciting.”
After all, it’s a rare grand event,
it’s the perfect time for him to show his capabilities!
Sang Miao kept calling him “Classmate Ji,”
So naturally, like they were quite familiar with each other.
Meng Xici thought to himself,
she calls everyone “classmate,” doesn’t she…
He glanced at Ji Zhuoran, “You’re so dedicated,
it’s a pity you’re not the department head.”
Ji Zhuoran clicked his tongue at the remark and replied nonchalantly,
“Don’t worry, I’ll run for it next year.
There’s still one more sports meet in senior year to mess around with.”
Meng Xici gave a soft, joking scoff, “Good luck with that.”
Sang Miao listened with interest to their conversation and thought Meng Xici seemed to be talking more than usual today.
His tone and word choice were livelier, too.
Sure enough, people their age have things to talk about freely,
Their personalities aren’t that cold after all…
Well, his dad is naturally aloof too,
And when two cold people are put together,
What could they possibly talk about?
Speaking of this election thing, Ji Zhuoran suddenly asked,
“Isn’t there a reshuffle next semester?
You’re probably running for student council president, right?”
“Mm.” Meng Xici responded calmly.
Sang Miao was a bit surprised.
Student council work is complex and requires a lot of coordination with teachers and other students.
She thought Meng Xici was the type who wouldn’t be interested in any of that.
Unlike Ji Zhuoran, who had too much energy and a strong interest in organizing events,
Meng Xici didn’t seem to have much preference about joining the student council or running for office.
He simply saw it as something he ought to do.
The student council is one of the most important organizations in school, and it’s a form of practical experience.
Being accustomed to standing at the top of excellence,
it felt only natural to him.
When Sang Miao heard he was running for student council president,
She had no doubt he would win.
She hadn’t read many school romance novels, but if she thought about it,
he’d probably be considered the top-tier male lead in such stories, almost flawless.
She really couldn’t imagine what kind of situation would bring him and the female lead together.
From what she could see now, he was completely focused on academics and didn’t seem interested in relationships at all, just like his dad.
But the female lead was a special admission student,
and from what little she knew, she also seemed to be very outstanding.
Ji Zhuoran was full of confidence: “You’ll definitely be fine.
As for me, I probably won’t have any problems either.”
Xu Songyue thought he was just bragging and didn’t miss the chance to mock him sarcastically, “Oh~ really?”
Ji Zhuoran gave her a “just wait and see” look, and the two of them couldn’t help but bicker again.
Sang Miao chuckled, raised her glass of juice, and said,
“Alright then, I wish you both success.”
The atmosphere at Yuli High School had been particularly lively lately.
Although the school had a relatively open environment with many extracurricular activities, school-wide events like the sports meet weren’t very frequent.
It was one of the biggest events they had.
Even though the opening ceremony was still months away, the students remained enthusiastic.
During breaks, you could hear every class talking about it,
and with something to look forward to, even classroom engagement had noticeably improved.
Meng Xici had been especially busy at school this week.
Aside from homework and some student council tasks,
he had no free time during breaks.
It all started with Ji Zhuoran,
who boldly posted a notice on the school message board recruiting members for a band.
Campus celebrities had more influence in school than even the teachers or the principal.
As soon as the notice went up, it spread across the school within half a day.
??? So intense—are they already preparing for performances now?
A band? Did I see that right? Is Meng Xici really joining too?!
For real? This better not be a scam.
No way, who’d dare sign up for a music event after this? You’d never win!
The opening ceremony isn’t even a competition, don’t chicken out!
Kicking things off this strong, I swear, I can’t wait for the ceremony now.
Outsiders might not know what’s going on, but some classmates had a sharp eye.
LOL, he probably got dragged into this by Ji Zhuoran.
Young master, blink twice if Ji kidnapped you!
Gotta admit though, this is the best kind of kidnapping…
This year is so exciting…
If this were like the entertainment industry with teaser promos, the tickets would sell out instantly.
Anyone who sings well, go sign up now!!
One of the student council’s restrooms had been turned into their temporary base.
Once the news spread, during lunch break,
many students came to the door wanting to sign up, even students from other grades.
Most of them were girls.
“Move along, hurry up, don’t go in there and drag down the visual average.”
Another male student retorted,
“I got in here based on talent, okay?!”
The girls in front couldn’t help glancing back at him,
struggling to hold back their laughter, though deep down they didn’t entirely disagree.
Someone suddenly shouted,
“I’ll fight this face-value-obsessed world to the end!”
In no time, the hallway was buzzing with excitement,
it felt like sign-ups for some major event, filled with laughter and cheer.
With Meng Xici’s influence and Ji Zhuoran’s popularity,
their impact at school was something else.
Inside the lounge, Ji Zhuoran sat properly at the table collecting sign-up forms.
When there was a lull, he leaned in and whispered to Meng Xici, “See?
I told you it’d be easy.”
It was rare for Meng Xici to feel this kind of headache.
He glanced at Ji Zhuoran, increasingly convinced that getting involved in this mess was not the smartest move.
Meng Xici was someone who strived for excellence and self-improvement,
but he didn’t enjoy being in the spotlight.
And yet, things had already blown up before they’d even properly started,
Was it too late to back out now…?
He had assumed Ji Zhuoran already had a good lineup in mind,
which was why he seemed so confident.
Turns out, it was just a full-blown, flashy open recruitment and Ji had made it look all official too.
His event-planning skills were no joke.
The registration form didn’t just ask for class, name, photo, and contact info.
It also included instrument specialties, musical style, any awards received, and similar details.
Meng Xici looked over some of the forms,
several listed long strings of youth competition awards and certification exams.
It made him feel like their little band was kind of unworthy.
Especially considering the organizer himself had zero credentials in this area.
He was seriously starting to wonder how Ji had managed to attract these people at all.
After collecting forms for several days, Ji Zhuoran felt they had enough.
He promptly took down the recruitment notice from the message board.
He selected a few students who seemed suitable and planned to contact them soon.
Not a formal audition, really, but at least he wanted to see if they’d be a good fit as bandmates.
“Actually, I’ve got one more candidate,”
Ji Zhuoran said as he tidied the forms, suddenly sounding all mysterious.
“I heard Jiang Jingxun can play piano.”
Meng Xici looked at him, puzzled as to how he even knew that?
In class, those two usually stayed together most of the time,
and Ji Zhuoran didn’t seem to talk to other people much.
Rejected before he could even pitch properly, Ji Zhuoran’s mission was off to a rocky start.
But he wasn’t the type to back off just because of a little setback.
After hearing Jiang’s response,
he didn’t mind at all and continued saying what he wanted to say.
“If you can play, that’s good enough! We’re planning to form a little band for the opening ceremony of the sports day.
I’m on drums, Xici has already agreed to play bass, and we’re still looking for someone to play keyboard.
Want to join us?”
He added, “We’re all amateurs. It’s just for fun.”
Jiang Jingxun looked slightly surprised, but his answer didn’t change.
His tone was polite and gentle, but with a natural sense of distance.
“Sorry, I’m not really interested.”
He was more surprised that Meng Xici would take part in something like this.
If it were just Ji Zhuoran, he’d find it completely normal.
Ji Zhuoran hadn’t expected to convince him right away either.
There was still plenty of time, and he could try again later.
If it really didn’t work out, they could always pick someone else from the sign-ups.
Since the reply was pretty much what he expected,
Meng Xici gave Jiang a polite nod and returned to his seat with Ji Zhuoran.
This small rejection didn’t put a dent in Ji Zhuoran’s enthusiasm at all.
But for now, he couldn’t think of a way to convince Jiang.
He figured he’d just try a few more times, maybe, like Meng Xici, Jiang would eventually give in.
He kept thinking to himself, glanced once more at Jiang Jingxun,
who was already focused on his exercises again, then turned to Meng Xici and said,
“Why do I feel like he’s even harder to convince than you were?”
Meng Xici pulled out his textbook for the afternoon classes and lightly pushed Ji Zhuoran,
who was still turned toward him, back to face the front, quietly telling him to stop talking.
—
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