Chapter 51: Is This Title Correct?

Chapter 51: Chapter 51: Is This Title Correct?

Lao Wang has such a big mouth.

"I didn’t want to sign up. He got on his knees and begged me to, even said he’d divorce his wife if I didn’t go."

"He’s full of it, right? What did you say?"

"I said it’d be a good thing if he did."

"Stop messing around. Teacher Wang said you’re a good singer. The auditions are tonight. I’m in the Arts Department, you know? At least give me some face, okay?"

Li Yingying was in the college’s student union Arts Department, mainly responsible for matters within her own college.

"Let me think about it."

"Don’t think about it. I heard you sing during military training. You were pretty good."

"That was just a group sing-along for training. How can you compare that to a real performance?"

"It was still better than how other people sang."

"Fine. When the time comes, I’ll drop a big one for you."

"That’s what I was waiting to hear."

Clearly, Li Yingying didn’t understand what "dropping a big one" meant.

"What are the rules for the competition?"

"The university has 14 colleges. Each college will select 5 people to compete, so that’s 70 people in total for the university-level competition. Then it’s from 70 down to 30, then 30 to 15. The remaining 15 will compete in the auditorium, and that’s how the Top Ten Campus Singers will be chosen."

"Did a lot of people from our college sign up?"

"Not many. There are 14 right now. With you, that’s 15. The chances of getting through are pretty high."

Chen Yuan nodded. ’There’s still a chance for me,’ he thought. ’I can just bomb at the college-level audition and be done with it.’

"The competition is tonight?"

"Yep. It’s just a simple audition to pick five people. What kind of backing track do you need? I can find it for you."

"I haven’t decided yet. I can find it myself."

"OK."

Li Yingying made an "OK" gesture and turned to head back to class.

As for what to sing, Chen Yuan really hadn’t decided. ’I’ll have to dig through my song library.’

Chen Yuan barely paid attention during his second period advanced math class in the morning or his first period advanced physics class in the afternoon. It took him a long while to find a suitable song.

During evening self-study, Li Yingying came to get Chen Yuan.

"Have you decided what song to sing? Found the backing track?"

"All taken care of. I’ll definitely sing it loud and clear for you."

"If you get selected, I’ll treat you to Nayuki, and I’ll throw in a small cake."

"Xuenai is fine, but I’ll pass on Nayuki."

"Xuenai? Is that a new brand? Is it good?"

"It’s decent. Not too sweet, and most importantly, it’s nutritious."

"Alright, as long as you make it into the top five, I’ll buy it for you."

The two of them went to Classroom 201 in the First Teaching Building. It was a lecture hall that had been requisitioned for the night by the Xinyuan Student Union.

At the same time, Fang Youning and another girl were walking out of the restroom.

The girl’s name was Fan Siyu. She was a member of the School Student Union’s Arts Department, could play the guzheng, and was also a computer science major in Xinyuan.

In the entire student union, the only departments that required any real technical skill were the Arts Department and the Publicity Department. You had to have some artistic talent or a background in fine arts, or you wouldn’t get in.

As for the other departments, they were more like administrative positions in a company; the requirements for personal skills weren’t as high.

"Ningning, what are you looking at?" Fan Siyu asked.

"I saw someone I know."

Looking at Chen Yuan’s back, Fang Youning felt she couldn’t be mistaken. ’It has to be him.’

"Are you talking about Chen Yuan?"

"You know him?" Fang Youning was a little surprised.

"Not really, but he’s from our college. He’s really handsome, plays basketball, and is very popular with the girls in our college."

Fan Siyu watched the direction they had gone and muttered to herself.

"Why are they going to 201?"

"What’s wrong with 201?"

"The Top Ten Campus Singers competition has started, hasn’t it? The Xinyuan Arts Department is holding auditions there tonight. He didn’t sign up too, did he?"

Fan Siyu was a bit of a fangirl. "He plays basketball and he can sing, too? How did all the good traits end up on one person? Why don’t we go take a look and hear how he sings?"

"I don’t think that’s a good idea. We’re not from the Xinyuan Arts Department, and we still have things to do."

Fang Youning actually wanted to go. She was curious about Chen Yuan, thinking he was amazing, which had completely overturned her perception of guys. She wanted to find another chance to thank him.

"Let’s take care of our business first, then we can talk about it when we get back."

"Okay."

Meanwhile, Chen Yuan and Li Yingying had already arrived at 201.

When they entered, there were a dozen or so people inside. Most of them were familiar faces. After all, they were from the same college and had been together during military training. They saw each other all the time, so they’d basically all met, even if they couldn’t put a name to the face.

Chen Yuan’s arrival caught the attention of many people.

The guys knew Chen Yuan because some of them had played basketball with him. He wasn’t a ball hog at all, constantly dishing out assists and setting up easy shots, so they all liked playing with him.

For the girls, it was much simpler: they were more focused on his looks.

Chen Yuan was one of the few truly presentable handsome guys in Xinyuan. Those taller than him weren’t as handsome, and those more handsome weren’t as tall. All things considered, very few could compare to him.

Now that he was here, he naturally became the center of attention.

"Brother Yuan, what are you doing here?"

The person who spoke was Li Baichuan, a computer science major. He had played basketball with Chen Yuan before; their friendship was at the level where they’d treat each other to drinks.

"You’re here, so isn’t it normal for me to be here too?"

"If you can sing on top of everything else, is there any hope left for the rest of us?"

"I’m just here to join the fun. The more contestants there are, the more impressive it’ll be when you guys make it through the tough competition."

"Hehe, if you put it that way, I won’t guard you next time. I’ll let you drive to the hoop a couple of times."

"Get lost. I can juke you so bad your own mother wouldn’t recognize you."

While the two were talking, Li Yingying went up to the two department heads.

"Brother Long, Sister Chen, everyone’s here. We can start now."

The two department heads of the college student union were named Liu Jinlong and Qi Chen. Both of them specialized in singing, especially Qi Chen, who already had over forty thousand followers on Douyin.

"Then let’s start. I see Chen Yuan is here too. Why don’t we start with him?" Qi Chen said.

Li Yingying looked back at Chen Yuan and mouthed a question.

"You want to go first?"

Chen Yuan waved his hands, refusing. He planned to check out the situation first.

"Sister Chen, I had to drag him here. It might be a little difficult for him to go up first," Li Yingying said in a low voice.

"Then let’s just go in order."

"That works too."

After that, the auditions began, with people going up one by one in order.

Chen Yuan didn’t really understand how to properly critique singing, so he could only judge everyone from a very subjective point of view.

All he could say was that everyone who dared to sign up had some skill; they were all pretty good singers.

"Is Li Baichuan here?" Li Yingying said.

"Here."

"It’s your turn."

This stage was basically the open auditions, so it was all pretty casual. When it was someone’s turn, their name was simply called out.

"Sing well. Don’t be nervous," Chen Yuan said.

"It’s time to show you my true strength."

"What strength is that?"

"When the God of Music goes to war, not even a blade of grass will survive!"

Chen Yuan: ???

’Is that title even right?’

...