The head of the Arts Club immediately grabbed Lu Xiaohan’s arm, conveying to Lu Xiaohan through her eyes —
?So cool!?
?I’m captivated!?
Lu Xiaohan smiled, indicating they should keep their composure. Then, she brought Bailian backstage.
A transfer student in Grade 12 was the talk of the school.
The student council members who had finished watching the piano performance came backstage to sneak a peek at her after hearing she was here.
Bailian took off her uniform jacket. Underneath, she only wore a white T-shirt embroidered with an ink-coloured white crane. She held the custom-made longsword Lu Xiaohan prepared, looking it up and down.
The longsword’s exterior was black, inlaid with gold patterns. About half her height with over a kilogram in weight.
Lu Xiaohan was originally afraid the longsword might be too heavy to wield. She did not expect Bailian to lift it with ease.
As if what she held was not a over-a-kilogram heavy iron sword, but a feather.
After examining it for a while, Bailian gave it an abrupt strong pull to unsheathe it.
The unsharpened longsword still exuded an icy gleam. Her darkened pupils were reflected in the sword’s brilliance.
With one hand gripping the sword hilt and another loosely holding the scabbard, her ink black hair pinned up at the back. Clutching the chilling sword, she resembled a wandering swordsman in white garb.
An oppressive aura naturally emanated from her body as she slowly kept the longsword. Turning sideways she asked, “It’s my turn?”
The several student council members were jolted back to reality. They pointed to the stage entrance for her. “The piano has been moved down. You go up here.”
When Bailian swept aside the curtain from backstage and ascended onto the stage, the few of them hurriedly streamed out.
Eagerly rushing to get a close-up view below of the transfer student’s performance.
Outside, in the corridor, the Student Council president and External Affairs Director were seeing Ren Wanxuan off.
“What are you all doing backstage?” the president spotted them.
Ren Wanxuan’s piano performance had been broadcasted on television. She had won awards. The school community looked forward to seeing her play, but opportunities to watch Ren Wanxuan’s performances were extremely rare. Thus, the school made an exception to invite Ren Wanxuan to be the finale this time since key guests from a long-term school benefactor were present.
The student council members were well aware that even before rehearsals began, the school forum crowd had been full of anticipation for long.
They were all here to watch Ren Wanxuan.
“We had just returned after watching earlier,” Lu Xiaohan’s group had gone ahead. The Arts Club president stayed back to explain to the president. “Bailian will be performing soon so we came out here to watch.”
“The new student?” Naturally, the president was also familiar with that name Bailian. “I’ll watch later too then.”
“Alright,” the Arts Club president waved her hands. “Remember to clap for the new student later! Her performance is less professional.”
After they left, only then did Ren Wanxuan turn to face the president. “Bailian?”
“That transfer student,” the president had not looked closely at the performance list. Taking it out now for a look, “I didn’t expect she participated in a performance too. Sword dance huh. But I heard she isn’t professionally trained.”
Ren Wanxuan looked at the rather lengthy list.
She herself was the last performer. A slot arranged by the school specially to retain the audience.
The third last performer was Bailian.
Ren Wanxuan casually retracted her gaze. “Is the second last item somewhat similar to mine? Let’s switch theirs with the previous one.”
Students tended to form cliques.
Whether wealthy family backgrounds or influential ones, Ren Wanxuan’s group could smooth over anything at home regarding them. They were accustomed to being the centre of attention.
The Ren family had even single-handedly sponsored an entire cafeteria for Ren Wanxuan.
Mingling with ordinary students for too long would inevitably surface class conflicts.
The more afraid these ordinary students were of provoking them, the more unbridled and aloof they became.
The president lowered his head to look at the list.
The second last was a pop music duet performance. It did not clash with piano playing but of course he would not refuse giving Ren Wanxuan any face.
“Alright.” He switched the second last item with the third last.
**
Outside, on the stage.
A group of boys lazily got up after Ren Wanxuan’s performance, shoving each other playfully as they prepared to return to class.
“Did you record it down?”
“I recorded it. Can’t upload it to the forums yet. I’ll secretly show you guys later…”
Could not disseminate any recordings before the school’s anniversary celebrations began.
Just as the stage lights came on again.
“What performance is this?” someone asked while leaving the hall.
“Bailian’s. I heard it’s a sword dance,” Wang Yu obtained the news from the Arts Club members and spoke up while holding his phone. “The Arts Club people just said to give the new student some face. Let’s cheer her on.”
“That’s normal. She’s so pretty, it’s not like she can do everything,” one boy laughed. “I sometimes doubt myself when I see Class 8’s group so outstanding in all aspects. I’ll stay behind to support her.”
“Then that’s good enough from you all,” some were anxious to return class. “I’ll watch the new student’s performance itself during the actual celebrations.”
Quite a few left. After all, most had come for Ren Wanxuan.
Only a minority remained, looking up at the stage.
Yet, no one secretly tried to record this time.
In the middle of the stage, Bailian wore the blue uniform pants and white shirt. Grasping a longsword in her right hand with the sword tip facing outwards. Head lowered, tall and straight as a jade pillar. Even before she started, an oppressive aura could already be sensed.
The voices below gradually died down.
“Boom boom–“
An intensely rhythmic drum beat sounded.
Her head abruptly jerked up, a pair of jet black eyes opened. Raising her right arm.
As the zither and flute sounds joined in, her right arm swung outwards. The blade edge drew two circles left to right. After the short crisp zither sounds ended, her wrist flicked up pointing the sword tip to the ground!
The tinkling zither sounds resembling gurgling streams gradually blended with the flute’s distant and serene tones. The drums rejoined.
Bailian somersaulted into the air out of nowhere. Her entire body suspended midair. The sword left her hand for an instant, revolving once around her wrist before she re-grasped it upon landing!
The drums grew from soft to a crescendo.
Her steps moved in circles as her sword danced. While flipping continuously, her right hand spun the sword near twenty times!
The sword tore through space as though a swimming dragon. Its chilling flash burst forth erratically.
Yet her steps were light as clouds, body nimble as drifting fog.
Bailian’s eyes shifted along with the sword’s edge. As the original composition entered its coda alongside her sword motions, she tilted her body backwards. Her right hand flipped the sword to sweep past her chest before she somersaulted again to promptly sheathe it!
“Boom–“
The drums stopped short!
Holding the sword upright before her chest, she slowly raised her head following the sword hilt. Revealing that bone-chillingly cold pair of eyes!
The stage lights fixed solely on her, like thunder abruptly silenced. A tempestuous sea suddenly restored to calm.
Bailian still stood in the stage’s center. Without the chilling sword and its silhouette, her figure was outstanding, as though she towered atop a frigid snowcapped mountain peak.
The entire hall was soundless.
Until Bailian held the sword sweeping aside the black curtain to return backstage. The previously silent grand hall seemed like a pot of placid oil met by a single drop of water, erupting chaotically.
“Ahhh Lu Xiaohan,” at the left side of the stage, the Arts Club president looked just about ready to strangle her. “You call this unprofessional? If this is unprofessional, then what is considered professional?! This is all your fault I didn’t record it!”
Beside her, a girl from the Arts class softly said, “Let’s not even talk about her sword whirling techniques… Just that string of flips alone, even our Arts students can’t accomplish it so seamlessly….”
Lu Xiaohan who nearly got strangled: “……”
Below in the seating area.
The group of youths were stunned speechless for a long time. “Wang Yu, did you record it? Well?!”
Someone lunged to grab Wang Yu’s phone.
Wang Yu whose phone got snatched: “…..”
“I only reacted later on, only managing to capture the last twenty odd seconds. Y’all better be gentle, don’t accidentally delete it from excitement…”
The boys hastily opened up the video.
Not filmed from a close distance to the stage. After zooming in they could only make out Bailian’s silhouette.
White clothes, blue pants. The blurry red wristband above her hand. The white spotlight over her head. Even through such a remote camera lens, it was still evident how striking that shade akin to hibiscus was on the maiden.
Vivid and impactful.
The sword like frost and snow. That ethereal fairylike sensation simply stunned!
**
Backstage, no one was around.
Bailian already had her jacket on by the time Lu Xiaohan’s group came in.
“Help keep our longsword properly,” Lu Xiaohan conscientiously passed the longsword to the logistics student.
The logistics student’s gaze was still on Bailian. Accepting the sword, he said, “Leave it to me.”
The student council members actually wanted to interview Bailian more, even hoping to feature her in a school paper exclusive. But as Bailian was anxious to rush back to do her assignments, she did not stay long.
Only after leaving the grand hall, did Lu Xiaohan slowly turn to look at Bailian.
Bailian took out her vocabulary booklet. Brow slightly raised, “Speak.”
“Didn’t you say your longsword skills were ordinary?”
“That’s right.” Bailian was puzzled.
The Bai family excelled in spearmanship and horseback archery. Those were her strong suits too.
Aside from “etiquette”, she had mastery over the remaining five arts1. Her literary talents in zither, books, poetry, wine, tea were slightly superior.
As for longsword, she only knew some flashy moves.
It was passable for an impromptu sword dance, but in real combat, the spear still suited her better.
Lu Xiaohan understood now that Bailian genuinely felt her longsword skills were ordinary. She was not being modest.
“No no, you call that ordinary?” Recalling the Arts student’s words earlier, Lu Xiaohan wondered, exactly what kind of environment did the new student grow up in?
Bailian nodded. “What else could it be?”
Lu Xiaohan: “…..”
If this was ordinary, what about the rest? Do they even need to keep living?
Bailian’s phone buzzed. A look showed it was the courier notification informing her that her delivery had arrived at the school.
She returned her phone into her pocket. Deciding to collect it only at night.
When Lu Xiaohan entered her classroom, the rest instantly flocked around her.
To avoid making Bailian nervous, the arts committee member did not follow them along.
“How was the rehearsal?” She anxiously asked.
Lu Xiaohan took out her books and fiercely thumped the table. “F*ck! No recording! I can only say… it’s your loss for not seeing it live with your own eyes. Only then would you know what it means to be awestruck.”
After the previous department head, it was now Lu Xiaohan’s turn to suffer getting strangled.
If she had not spoken, things might have been fine. Yet now hearing her, the others simply felt like beating her up.
“Are you using the standard answer template?” The Arts Club member heaved in relief after the scuffle. She saw the language test paper Lu Xiaohan had traced with a model answer format on it.
The neat words written resembled the standard answer template used.
“This?” Lu Xiaohan spread out Bailian’s test paper. “It’s Bailian’s. I used it to trace and copy.”
“Wait–” The Arts Club member gazed at her, dumbfounded. “She could write this out even for the optional elective poetry excerpts?”
Earlier, Lu Xiaohan had only paid attention to Bailian’s composition. Neglecting that she had a full score of 90 for the basic portion.
At her words, Lu Xiaohan instinctively lowered her head for a closer look.
There was an extremely niche question among today’s classical poetry excerpts fill-in-the-blanks section.
?Q16. In Bai Xiangjun’s On a War March (Part 2), the lines “——, ——” expressed her heroic unbridled aspirations. It also sparked various interpretations by later generations of readers.?
Teacher Lu had yet to teach them this poem. None of them had studied it before.
Yet, Bailian’s answer sheet neatly contained this line —
“I’ve just mounted the battle chariot crying bloodstained blades, raise the wine cup to the moon, charging the vault of heaven.”
Lu Xiaohan instinctively turned back to look at Bailian again. Bailian currently had her head lowered seriously solving a geometry question.
Hence, she awkwardly helped Bailian explain, “Bailian might have studied literature differently before… probably.”
Lu Xiaohan had practically blurted a baseless “probably”.
The people of Xiangcheng knew Bai Xiangjun’s poems by heart. The test questions in Xiangcheng No.1 Middle School had always heavily featured her works. Even someone coasting like Zhang Shize would not make mistakes with her poems.
Yet this particular excerpt today was considerably more obscure.
Bailian managing to write this out… it really was bizarre.
**
Final week of tutoring lessons.
Most students knew the two placements were practically Ren Wanxuan’s and Chen Zhe’s with a 90% certainty.
Yet no one gave up, studying diligently still.
The Class 8 form teacher sent down today’s practice questions. His gaze lingered lastly on Tang Ming. “From today onwards, the question difficulty will continue escalating. Everyone still has a chance. I hope none of you give up.”
Like Bailian, Tang Ming and Ning Xiao did not immediately work on the questions either. Ning Xiao blatantly took out Jiangjing University Physics to casually flip through instead.
He asked Tang Ming, “When will you be reading this?”
Tang Ming was reviewing previous explanations without even lifting his head. “Let’s talk later. No time now.”
After the Class 8 form teacher left.
Most stole involuntary glances at them, particularly towards Tang Ming after what he said.
Those familiar with Ren Wanxuan and Chen Zhe changed topics. Asking Ren Wanxuan, “Weren’t you both around 290 plus for the sciences?”
“Mm, the questions this time weren’t that difficult.” Ren Wanxuan looked away.
“That’s amazing.” The other student sighed. “I only scored 277. Just 104 for physics. I got quite a few wrong despite their similarity with the tutoring questions.”
Ren Wanxuan and Chen Zhe were accustomed to the attention and compliments from others. She was indifferent.
Amidst their chat, someone suddenly glanced at Bailian’s side. “Hey, how do you think the new student fared?”
This sentence instantly sparked great curiosity in them.
After all, Bailian had been singled out for mention by the principal before. Strongly refused permission for her to take arts.
“Should be quite outstanding right? Have you forgotten she was specially recruited in?” Someone mysteriously said. “Also, I saw on the forums mentioning the new student’s performance item was very stunning.”
“Really?”
Everyone’s discussions revolved around Bailian.
Ren Wanxuan lowered her head and packed her bag slowly. A frigid mocking expression on her face.
Performance item?
What professional aspect?
Just a presentable face probably.
“Ning Xiao scored 296 for the sciences,” they had gone through this science paper’s question types in tutoring class before. The only difference lied in chemistry and biology. Chen Zhe was also extremely curious what marks the new student obtained. “Wonder what Bailian scored.”
Chen Zhe scored 297 this time while Ren Wanxuan was exactly 290.
Ren Wanxuan sharply zipped up her bag. Glancing at them, she casually remarked, “You guys were talking about the new student? She scored 110 for science, 450 total.”
- six arts – Refers to the six main categories of scholarly pursuits in ancient Chinese culture: rites, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, mathematics. ↩︎
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