Chapter Fifty-Eight: New Students Report (Double Chapter)

On the day of registration for first-year students at the Central Conservatory, the scorching sun beat down, and crowds thronged the entrance. Everywhere, students and parents hauled suitcases, while upperclassmen, all wearing name badges, greeted each new student with enthusiasm.

Compared to the freshmen burdened with bags and boxes, Zhou Miao was much more relaxed. He carried only a small backpack, since he didn’t plan to live on campus; as long as he had his identification documents ready, he was set.

Following the signs, he found the reception for new students in the composition department, where a modest line had already formed.

A parent standing ahead of him turned around, eyeing him curiously. “You came by yourself? Where’s your luggage?”

Zhou Miao smiled. “I’m not staying in the dorms. I rented a place outside.”

The parent nodded, not particularly surprised. Families of music students were usually well-off; renting a place in Beijing was no big deal. He glanced at Zhou Miao a few more times. “You’re a good-looking kid.”

Zhou Miao only smiled, not replying. He’d been hearing compliments like that since he was little and had long since become immune. Instead, it was the daughter of the parent ahead, upon hearing the word “good-looking,” who perked up her ears at once.

Good-looking? A handsome guy? Where? She turned around and saw a young man in a black baseball cap, head down, playing on his phone. That familiar face made her eyes widen in an instant.

“Miao... Miao Miao...” The girl was so excited she started to stutter.

“What are you going on about? Move up, there’s so much space in front.” Her father urged her forward, baffled.

Seeing that she recognized him, Zhou Miao gave her a polite smile. After all, they’d be classmates soon, sharing the same classroom.

“Miao-ge! It really is you!” The girl finally finished her sentence, tugging excitedly at her father’s shirt.

Her father looked between them in confusion. “You two know each other?”

“He’s a celebrity!” The girl quickly explained to her father, while Zhou Miao maintained a modest smile. Ah, here came the compliments again; how troublesome.

“He’s the one from ‘Transformation Plan’!”

Zhou Miao’s smile vanished in an instant. Was this black mark on his history never going to fade?

Seeing Zhou Miao’s face darken, the girl realized she’d said the wrong thing and stuck out her tongue awkwardly. Every fan knew Zhou Miao hated being reminded of his stint on that show.

After that, the girl didn’t dare say anything more to him. There would be plenty of chances in the future anyway.

The line moved slowly forward until it was Zhou Miao’s turn. He handed his documents to the teacher for verification and filled in his information.

A superstar, Zhou Miao. The teacher in charge of welcoming new students glanced at the eager upperclasswomen nearby, then, with no mercy, picked a male student to show Zhou Miao around for the rest of the registration process.

The bespectacled upperclassman greeted him warmly. “Hi, I’m Zhao Kun. I’ll take you to set up your dorm.”

Zhou Miao shook his hand. “Nice to meet you, senior. I’m planning to live off campus—where do I go to apply for that?”

“You’ll need a parent to sign an acknowledgment. I’ll help you check the details in a bit.”

Zhou Miao nodded. Though he was planning to live off-campus, he still needed to register for a dorm; who knew, he might stay a few nights in the future.

At the dorm supervisor’s office, Zhou Miao completed his paperwork and received his assigned key. He thanked Zhao Kun, and they added each other on WeChat.

“203… this is it.” Zhou Miao pushed open the door and found the room full of people—his roommates and their parents.

Everyone stared at Zhou Miao in surprise until he greeted them with a smile. “Hello, everyone.”

“Whoa, Zhou Miao!”

“Miao-ge, you’re staying in 203 too?”

“Have a smoke.”

The three boys in the dorm immediately gathered around. The parents, overhearing the conversation, soon realized that their final roommate was a celebrity.

Zhou Miao politely declined the offered cigarette; he might drink on occasion, but smoking was a hard no.

His arrival delighted his three roommates, though they could tell from his empty hands that he wasn’t planning to stay in the dorms. They understood—he was a celebrity, after all, and campus life was inconvenient for someone so busy.

Still, they set up a dorm group chat together: Jia Yongsong, Shen Jiawei, and Pu Yujie. All three had pleasant personalities.

The dorm was nice: a four-person room with air conditioning and a private bathroom. If he hadn’t debuted yet, Zhou Miao would’ve been happy to spend a few years living there.

After settling their kids in, the parents left. It was nearly noon, so the boys went to get their meal cards and then headed to the cafeteria together.

People always said cafeteria food was bad, but Zhou Miao found the food here quite decent.

The only annoyance was people constantly sneaking photos of him—even coming over to say hello—making the meal much less enjoyable.

After lunch and a short rest, someone came to announce the upcoming class meeting. By the time Zhou Miao and his roommates arrived at the classroom, most students were already there.

As soon as Zhou Miao entered, a few girls in the class squealed in excitement. This wasn’t a drama or film academy where celebrities were everywhere; at the Central Conservatory, Zhou Miao was the only famous artist—a blazing star in the music world. No exaggeration, half the class were his fans.

Zhou Miao smiled and waved at everyone, then sat with his roommates in the back row.

Soon, the counselor arrived—a young woman who looked as if she’d only recently graduated herself.

“Hello, everyone. I’m your counselor, Hua Yushan. If you have any questions from now on, feel free to come to me.

“Today’s meeting is mainly for us to get familiar with each other. Let’s start with introductions, beginning with the student by the door.”

Introductions... The most awkward part of entering a new environment, Zhou Miao mused.

One by one, the students took the stage. Zhou Miao glanced around; the class, as a whole, was quite attractive, and, being musicians from a young age, they all had a certain aura.

Dozens of minutes later, it was finally Zhou Miao’s turn. He walked up, and as he looked up, he saw all his classmates—and even the counselor—holding up their phones to record him. He couldn’t help but smile wryly.

“Hello, everyone. I’m Zhou Miao from Suzhou, Jiangsu. I’m happy to meet you all and hope we can learn and grow together...”

“Don’t be shy, Miao-ge!” shouted a boy from the back.

“Miao-ge, I love you!” another bellowed, prompting a round of laughter.

The afternoon meeting ended quickly. The class had just over twenty people—student numbers at the Central Conservatory were truly low. Zhou Miao’s entire year, across all departments, had only a little over three hundred students admitted.

As his roommates discussed where to eat that evening, Hu San called.

“Is your class meeting over?”

“Yeah, just finished. We’re about to go out for dinner. What about you?”

“I’m almost at your school. I’ll treat you to dinner tonight.”

Zhou Miao glanced hesitantly at his roommates. “But we’ve already agreed to have dinner together.”

“Oh... I see. Well, never mind, then. You go ahead.” Her voice turned a little downcast.

“Why not join us? I’ll treat everyone,” Zhou Miao said, covering the phone and telling his roommates, “I have a friend coming to join us.”

His roommates exchanged knowing glances. “Oh~”

“Really? Then I’ll come over!” Hu San’s voice instantly brightened.

“You’re already here; I can’t let you go home hungry. Wait for me at the gate.”

Zhou Miao reserved a private room at a nearby hotpot place and sent his roommates ahead to order.

When he reached the school gate, Hu San was craning her neck, peering inside. She wore a floral short dress and looked especially demure.

Zhou Miao glanced around and, sure enough, spotted a person in a nearby car frantically snapping photos.

He walked up to Hu San. “Let’s go; my roommates are already there.”

As they walked toward the hotpot restaurant, Zhou Miao looked back—sure enough, the car was still trailing them. Annoyed, he flashed his middle finger at the photographer. Take that!

In the private room, Hu San shyly greeted the group.

“Hi, take a seat.”

Jia Yongsong gave Hu San a searching look and gossipily asked, “So, are you two together?”

Hu San glanced at Zhou Miao. “Not yet...”

Seeing the broth was boiling, Zhou Miao changed the subject. “Let’s get the meat in.”

When Zhou Miao deliberately didn’t answer, Hu San pinched him hard under the table.

No one liked to drink, so they just ordered a few soft drinks, but everyone was soon chatting happily. They discovered that, despite his fame, Zhou Miao had no trace of a celebrity’s airs—an attitude that earned their admiration. With a mindset like his, no wonder he was so popular.

Halfway through the meal, Pu Yujie, browsing Weibo, suddenly frowned. “Miao-ge, you’re trending.”

“Trending? I’m used to it.” Since the release of his album “Listen,” Zhou Miao’s name popped up on the trending list every few days. He was completely unfazed by it now.

“No, look.” Pu Yujie handed him the phone.

Zhou Miao glanced at it: a photo of him flipping the bird, captioned, “Zhou Miao’s first day registering at the Central Conservatory—meeting up with his girlfriend at night, caught flipping off a reporter. Terrible attitude!”

Zhou Miao snorted in disdain. “Is that all he could come up with? Ignore him. Let’s eat.”

The reporter thought he’d found a juicy story, but while netizens were interested, no one was particularly shocked.

“Isn’t that the same girl Zhou Miao gave a ride to last time? I thought it was someone new.”

“Miao-ge’s got a temper—you get any closer, you’re gonna get smacked.”

“Are they together or not? The suspense is killing me.”

“Miao-ge even looks cool flipping someone off. I’m saving this as my screensaver.”

...

After dinner, Zhou Miao walked Hu San back to her dorm. She looked around nervously, afraid of being photographed.

“What are you looking for? You’re acting like a thief.” Zhou Miao flicked her forehead.

Hu San rubbed her head. “I’m just afraid of being caught by paparazzi.”

“So what if they take pictures? I’m not afraid—why should you be?” Zhou Miao shrugged.

Hu San leaned in, peering into his eyes. “You’re really not afraid?”

Zhou Miao gave her a sidelong glance. “What’s our relationship, anyway? Is there something to hide?”

“You!” Hu San pointed at him, at a loss for words, and in the end, her lips pouted in disappointment. Right, they weren’t anything—what was there to be afraid of?

When they were a few hundred meters from her school, Hu San stopped. “Do you remember what you said at my house that time?”

“What did I say?”

“You didn’t believe my feelings for you were genuine. You said if I still liked you after getting into college, then it was real.”

She looked up at him, eyes earnest. “To keep up with you, I studied like crazy for a year—didn’t go to bed before midnight once. Now, I can finally stand in front of you and tell you: I still like you, very, very much. Do you believe me now?”

Zhou Miao gazed at her quietly. In her eyes, he saw only his reflection. “I believe you.”

“So... would you consider being my boyfriend?” Her voice wavered with nervousness.

“Dating me is exhausting—you’ll be scolded by my fans, stalked by paparazzi, watched everywhere we go, with no privacy at all. Are you sure?” Zhou Miao laid out all the problems.

Hu San nodded without hesitation, her resolve melting the last barrier in Zhou Miao’s heart.

He’d always been wary of relationships. In his previous life, he was plain and sickly and had once confessed to a crush, only to be cruelly rejected—her reason: “I like handsome guys.” This life, blessed with good looks, he was left with a deep sense of insecurity and doubt about love.

At school, plenty of girls had chased him, but he always felt they liked only his face. That kind of “love” was shallow—infatuation, not affection.

At first, he thought Hu San was the same. But over the years, her persistence gradually moved him. He had to admit—he liked her too.

“All right, then.”

As Zhou Miao gave his answer, Hu San’s eyes lit up, and she threw herself into his arms, clutching him tightly as if afraid he might slip away.

Zhou Miao hugged her back, feeling her trembling—two hearts pressed close together.

“Zhou Miao.”

“Hmm?”

“Let’s not go public yet, okay?”

“Why?”

“I just don’t want any unnecessary trouble.”

Zhou Miao understood—she was worried that revealing their relationship now might affect his career.

“There’s no need to hide, but no need to announce it either. If someone asks, I’ll admit it. If not, I won’t bring it up.”

“Okay.”

“All right, it’s late. Get some rest.”

“Okay.” Though she agreed, she had no intention of letting go.

Zhou Miao smiled helplessly. “Come on, it’s not like we won’t see each other again. Go on.”

After several reminders, Hu San reluctantly released him.

Then, quick as a flash, she pecked him on the lips and ran off before he could react.

Zhou Miao shook his head—what a silly girl.

Back home, he received a message from her: “How did it feel?”

“What do you mean?”

“The kiss just now. That was my first.”

“Too quick—I didn’t feel anything.”

“Hmph!”

“Next time you come over, I’ll make sure to really feel it.”

“In your dreams!”

...

That first night after they became a couple, neither could sleep, and they messaged each other late into the night.