Chapter 47: Extra Completed
As a qualified center position player, every move Jiang Zhong made was very standard, and the audience’s attention would naturally focus on him.
Xi Qin felt a bit dazed.
When he was still quite young, Xi’s mother often had to travel all over the country for performances. On a few occasions, when Xi Qin was on vacation, his mother would take him along.
Young Xi Qin would sit in the audience with his mother’s assistant, staring up at the stage without blinking, thinking that his mother was the most beautiful woman in the world. When she danced, she seemed like a butterfly, as if she would fly away the next second.
Later, Xi’s mother had a car accident. After treatment, she was either lying in bed or sitting in a wheelchair, torturing herself by repeatedly playing old videos of her performances. After watching them, she would cry and throw things.
No words of comfort from Xi Qin helped, and all he could do was silently clean up the mess his mother made in the room.
After getting a prosthetic limb, Xi’s mother tried to recapture her former grace, putting on her dance costume and practicing movements in front of the mirror day after day. However, the prosthetic limb could never compare to her real legs, and it was impossible to meet her own high standards.
Xi Qin couldn’t persuade her, and could only help her up when she fell, apply medicine when she got injured, and secretly wipe away his own tears when she cried.
Over time, it seemed as though Xi’s mother had let go of her obsession and stopped torturing herself.
However, she had lost all vitality, and every day felt lifeless. She stopped going out and always talked to Xi Qin about his future, preparing for his life ahead.
During that time, Xi Qin was quite scared. He could sense what his mother was thinking, and he tried hard to change her mind.
But how could such an independent woman like his mother listen to Xi Qin?
Finally, in the summer after Xi Qin finished his first year of high school, his mother peacefully passed away on a scorching hot night.
Since his mother’s accident, Xi Qin hadn’t watched anyone dance for about three years. He deliberately avoided any shows or videos that had dancing elements, first to prevent triggering his mother at home, and later because perhaps he couldn’t bear to watch himself.
On stage, Jiang Zhong had finished all the dance moves, and Xi Qin mechanically clapped along with the crowd.
See, it’s really like this. Even though Jiang Zhong’s two dances were not the same style as what Xi’s mother was good at, during the process of watching, Xi Qin still couldn’t help but think of his mother.
As the applause echoed throughout the studio, Xi Qin stood up and left his seat, walking briskly down the corridor toward the back door, “escaping” from the place.
For a while afterward, Xi Qin would occasionally hear Jiang Zhong’s name during class breaks, in the cafeteria, or even on the way to school.
It was strange. Before he knew this person existed, Xi Qin had never noticed the “campus star” at H City Shiyan High School. But after remembering Jiang Zhong’s face and name, he suddenly felt like there was a shadow of this person everywhere in the school.
Even when he rarely had lunch in the cafeteria once a week, he would run into this figure.
At that time, Xi Qin was lowering his head, eating some stir-fried pork with green peppers that didn’t have much meat. Suddenly, a boy sitting at the table in front of him shouted loudly.
“Jiang Zhong——” The boy shouted, waving his hand with force, “Over here——”
Like the other people in the cafeteria, Xi Qin first glanced at the boy following his voice and then followed the boy’s gaze to see Jiang Zhong.
Xi Qin clearly saw that Jiang Zhong’s ears turned bright red, and he mouthed “What the heck,” before hurriedly walking over to sit at the empty spot beside the boy. On the table in front of him was a plate of untouched food.
Jiang Zhong had his back to Xi Qin, and the distance between them was no more than two meters.
“Why the hell are you shouting so loudly?” Jiang Zhong gritted his teeth at the boy who had waved his hand.
“I was afraid you wouldn’t find us with so many people,” the boy said, feeling wronged. “The cafeteria is so noisy, if I didn’t shout louder, you wouldn’t hear me.”
The other two people sitting across from the boy almost burst out laughing. One was wearing glasses, and the other had a hat on. They both seemed to be Jiang Zhong’s friends.
The boy with glasses was a bit more serious. Under Jiang Zhong’s gaze, he quickly stopped laughing and cleared his throat. “Why are you so late? We’re almost done eating.”
“Our homeroom teacher dragged on the class for over ten minutes,” Jiang Zhong shook his head, picked up his chopsticks, and started eating. “Yesterday, only five people completed the test, so he was furious, and no one dared to say anything.”
“Did you finish it?” the boy who had waved asked.
“Of course I did,” Jiang Zhong leisurely added while chewing on a rib. “I finished the multiple-choice questions.”
“Pfft, I can finish all the multiple-choice questions in a test in ten seconds,” the boy with the hat scoffed. “By the way, why didn’t you bring Xu Shanshan with you?”
“Why would I bring her?” Jiang Zhong asked casually. “She knows where the cafeteria is.”
“Isn’t she your girlfriend?” the boy with the hat said. “If you’d told us in advance, we could’ve gotten her meal too. If you come late, there aren’t any good dishes left.”
“Who said she’s my girlfriend?” Jiang Zhong asked, widening his eyes.
“Lots of people are saying that,” the boy who had waved exaggerated. “Yesterday, our class’s class flower was so upset that you got a girlfriend, she cried the whole evening study session.”
“…” Jiang Zhong was speechless for a while. “Xu Shanshan and I are just friends, don’t believe those rumors.”
After a pause, Jiang Zhong added, “And don’t spread this around, it’s not good for a girl’s reputation.”
Xi Qin, who had heard the entire conversation, swallowed the last bite of his food, then picked up his tray and placed it in the recycling area.
This “campus star” was actually quite protective of girls.
The End
Translated By JustMeow18