Before they knew it, Friday had rolled around again, and the six of them had agreed a few days earlier to go street singing on Park Street during the weekend. Therefore, after school, Wu Lingyu didn’t take a ride out of Hong Kong.
Street singing required advance preparation of audio equipment and such, so Xu Qingfan casually mentioned it to Zhang Chunxue in QQ, knowing that simply instructing her secretary would easily take care of it.
However, it was precisely this extra remark that propelled events down a track none of the six could have anticipated.
Zhang Chunxue turned around and shared the idea of the six kids’ street singing with four other mothers. Yes, the mothers had also secretly formed a chat group. Aside from Li Meijuan, who wasn’t in the group because she didn’t use computers, the other five mothers were all present.
And then the chat group burst into lively discussion.
Lin Jing, whose online name was ’Thorny Rose,’ replied: Support, support, the kids are amazing! [Applaud][Applaud][Applaud]
Next, the mother of Xiao Ruawen, who went by ’In The Water,’ said: Xiaoxiao’s mom is absolutely right!
When Wen Wanqing saw the content in the group, she typed out a message: Why don’t we spend some money to set up a stage for the kids to perform on? I want to see them in their Hanfu! [Sneaky Laugh]
[Wanning’s mom is right!][Thumbs Up][Thumbs Up]
The mothers, none of whom were short of money, poured out their ideas in the group and finally decided to go Dutch. They planned to book the central area of Gualv Square on Sunday evening and construct a big stage for the children to perform on.
The kids didn’t learn about this until Friday, and at that moment, in homes located thousands of kilometers apart, a sentence simultaneously erupted:
"What? Perform in Gualv Square, and they’re building a big stage?!"
"Mm-hm, your Aunt Zhang has already arranged everything. The stage can be set up by tomorrow, and after you rehearse, you can perform on Sunday," Yao Jiping pinched Wu Lingyu’s cheek affectionately and hummed a tune as she returned to the kitchen to cook.
"I mean, Auntie, why didn’t you guys say something earlier?" With his own mom gone, Xu Qingfan couldn’t help but complain to Lin Jing, who was sitting on the sofa watching TV.
"What’s the matter? Are you nervous? Auntie believes in your abilities, no need to be nervous," Lin Jing put down the newspaper, smiled reassuringly, and comforted them.
"We were just planning on a bit of small-time fun, but now with all this fuss, we’ll have to spend a lot of time rehearsing!"
"Then rehearse! You still have two days, I believe in your abilities," Lin Jing repeated confidently.
"Can you stop freaking out." Xia Xiaoxiao lifted a hand and tapped Xu Qingfan’s head, then sat down beside her mother.
As for Wu Lingyu, the girl immediately went to help Yao Jiping in the kitchen after she came home and dropped off her backpack.
"If it comes down to it, we’ll just sing the songs we performed at the primary school’s talent show!" Xia Xiaoxiao came up with a rather useful suggestion.
"Right!" Xu Qingfan slapped his thigh, realizing it had been a long time since he last contacted his primary school classmates after graduation.
Compared to the indifference of his middle school classmates, Xu Qingfan still treasured the friendships formed over six years of primary school.
"I wonder how Zhao Hao and Wang Junze are doing now." Thinking led to action, and he immediately slipped off his backpack, tossing it onto Xia Xiaoxiao’s thighs, and turned to go back to his room.
"Xu Qingfan, are you annoying or what?!"
"There’s no need to be disrespectful; when you were little, you used to call him Xiao Fan, didn’t you?" Lin Jing playfully caught her daughter’s hand.
"Did I ever call him Xiao Fan?" Xia Xiaoxiao searched through her memories.
"You didn’t act back then. Xiao Fan called you Xiaoxiao sister, and you called him Xiao Fan..." As Lin Jing recounted their childhood memories, a serene and warm smile appeared unconsciously on her face.
Back in his room, Xu Qingfan used his toes to flick open his computer and logged onto QQ, where their six-person group was already going crazy.
[Brother Qing Fan, did you know...]
[Brother Fan, my mom said...]
After scrolling and reading all the replies, Xu Qingfan typed with a smile, "I’m aware of the situation, no major issue, don’t panic."
Then he brought up his idea of inviting elementary school classmates to help out. In no time, the elementary school group on his QQ became abuzz with activity.
[The class leader is alive!]
[Long time no see, class leader!]
[Brother Fan has appeared as well! Brother Fan rocks!!]
[How many have you taken down now, Brother Fan? Smirk smirk]
Amidst a screen full of messages, Xu Qingfan spotted an odd comment. He immediately clicked to mute the person for ten minutes, regretting that QQ didn’t have a recall function yet.
[We are planning to set up a stage at Gualv Square this Sunday to perform, with the theme of commemorating the one-year graduation anniversary of the 2008 Experimental Primary School Class 6 (16). Press 1 if you’ll attend, and pi if you won’t.]
The chat was instantly flooded with "1"s as it had been a full year since they’d officially graduated, and they hadn’t had a class reunion yet.
After pulling aside classmates who had performed together in the past for private chats, their one-year anniversary party was preliminarily set.
It wasn’t long before the news spread to other class groups from Experimental Primary School. After all, Xu Qingfan was as big a celebrity as Michael Jackson back in elementary school, so there would be no lack of audience members.
It wasn’t long before Xia Xiaoxiao also joined him, sitting by his side and watching him chat and type.
"With such a big event, you’re not just going to sing the old songs, are you?" The girl nibbled on an apple and asked.
"What else?" Xu Qingfan looked up and asked back, considering that songwriting wasn’t something he could just do whenever he wanted to. He remembered many songs well, but not many lyrics.
The key point was that if the prelude didn’t play, he wouldn’t know the lyrics of the song at all.
It was like the poetry recitation part of a Chinese exam. If you have the first half of a poem, you could easily write out the rest, but if only the second half is given, then it’s really just a sorry affair.
However, looking at the apple in the girl’s eyes, Xu Qingfan suddenly changed his mind, because there was indeed one song he remembered.
The square dance viral hit, Little Apple!
His home was just across from Gualv Square, and in his past life, the song would play in a loop every day after seven o’clock. Xu Qingfan claimed it was really not his choice to remember it.
"Releasing a new song isn’t out of the question," he said, changing his tone.
"Really!" Xia Xiaoxiao’s eyes widened with surprise.
"Really." He pushed the girl gently, annoyed, and then opened a TXT document on the desktop and began typing.
"I planted a seed, and finally, it bore fruit... What song is this?"
"A good song!" Xu Qingfan chuckled and remained silent.
Although it felt a bit underhanded, he could only apologize to the Chopstick Brothers as he, Mr. Xu, was using the song first. If worst came to worst, he could give them the song’s copyright for free later.
"Hmph~" Xia Xiaoxiao didn’t argue with him. After all, being able to write songs was something very cool in her eyes. Just look at Xu Song, who became the idol of countless people.
Hope would bear fruit if planted, and after finishing the last line, another song’s shadow suddenly appeared in Xu Qingfan’s mind.
"Right, I have another one..."