Only After I Was Reborn Did I Realize That I Had Childhood Sweethearts

Under Xia Yuan's encouragement, the members of the Yixia Band Squad opened up to one another about their true feelings. During the follow-up summary meeting, everyone also began targeted special training based on their individual situations.

As the lead vocalist, Liu Xiaoyu received extra special treatment from Xia Yuan. She was required to meet Xia Yuan's training benchmarks by becoming a street performer under the guidance of the well-known busker Peng Xue within the upcoming week, and to complete three street performances.

However, although these were street performances, Xia Yuan didn't impose any restrictions on Liu Xiaoyu in terms of time, location, or method of performance. As a captain's directive, it could be considered somewhat overly lenient toward Liu Xiaoyu.

But perhaps it was precisely because the training subject was Liu Xiaoyu—who was strict with herself—that Xia Yuan intentionally left her unrestrained, allowing her to carry out the special training in a way that suited her best.

Not wanting to disappoint Peng Xue's expectations, Liu Xiaoyu sought Peng Xue out and asked her about key knowledge related to street performance. Liu Xiaoyu invited Peng Xue to have milk tea at the "Encounter Milk Tea Shop" near Peng University and then began inquiring about street singing.

"Most street performers usually carry guitars, basses, or ukuleles, stuff like that. But if it's just targeted training for a lead singer, then bringing a microphone with a portable speaker should be fine too. That's still pretty common, right?"

"C-Com—Common?"

Liu Xiaoyu showed a surprised expression. "How come I've never seen it before?"

"You've been going to school in Jiangcheng for this long and haven't seen street performers singing at subway entrances or in the centers of commercial plazas? I didn't even study in Jiangcheng, but I've seen tons of them in Rongcheng. We even set up stages ourselves in malls to do busking."

Liu Xiaoyu carefully took notes in a little notebook. Seeing her so serious, Peng Xue couldn't help but chuckle.

"Liu Xiaoyu-classmate, do you even know what kind of people street performers are? To be honest, here in China, we're just a bunch of poor students chasing dreams, or folks singing for a meal to make ends meet. It's not much different from those selling stuff on the street."

"But isn't that against the rules? What if we get caught, wouldn't that be a hassle…"

"You really are the ultimate goody-two-shoes… Look at how timid you are—how the heck did you end up hanging out with Yuan Yuan?"

"I think Yuan Yuan is well-behaved too… We're the same kind of people."

"Oh please. Yuan Yuan is way braver than you," Peng Xue muttered under her breath. "She even dares to mess around with Youxi and share a man with her, and still flaunts it in front of me every day, bragging about it—if you had a boyfriend, would you dare to show off like that?"

"Well then…"

Liu Xiaoyu suddenly recalled the AAA-rated game they'd admired during the beach team-building event. Her face flushed instantly red, and she looked down, sipping her milk tea noisily.

"About that… I don't think Yuan Yuan's behavior means she's not well-behaved or honest. The reasons behind it are probably more complex and are influenced by multiple factors, including both subjective causes and the objective environment—"

Realizing Liu Xiaoyu was starting to go on a tangent, Peng Xue hurriedly cut her off:

"Alright, alright—that's enough. Whether or not she's been corrupted by Mei Dog and Youxi, at least she dares to think and dares to act. But you? You're just sitting here taking notes, huh? Your personality is just way too soft. There's a reason you ended up as the 'loser in love,' you know?"

Liu Xiaoyu drew little stars in her notebook and muttered while keeping her head down: "I never confessed to anyone… I'm not a loser in love…"

"Fine, I'm the loser, okay! Stop making passive-aggressive jabs at me."

Peng Xue gave Liu Xiaoyu's head a light pat. "If you want to argue just for the sake of arguing, I can bicker with you all afternoon. But you still wouldn't be able to sing as the lead properly, and you'd still end up letting Yuan Yuan down."

"Sorry, sorry… Let's not talk about that. I'll just listen to you."

Liu Xiaoyu put on a model student posture: "You just give the orders, I'll carry them out."

"You really are… always wanting others to command you, and never thinking for yourself. Whatever… can't force you either. In any case, if you want to be good in a band, the first thing is—you have to become cool. It's okay to be a goody-two-shoes in daily life, but on stage you must let go. If you overthink everything, you'll never be able to perform well."

"Mmhm, I got it."

Liu Xiaoyu put down her pen and closed her notebook. "Then I'll just listen to you directly. I won't do the planning anymore."

"Nice, that's pretty cool."

Peng Xue thought for a moment, then looked Liu Xiaoyu up and down. "Your current clothing style just screams goody-two-shoes. You probably need a punk makeover. You look way too easy to bully."

"Ah, does being in a bandhaveto mean rock, metal, deathcore and all that? I think with folk style, you don't need that, right…"

"You better understand this—nobody's asking you to turn into a rocker like me. I'm just telling you to shake off the 'Miss Goody-Two-Shoes' label, okay? Why are you always jumping in like that? Are you even listening to me?"

Liu Xiaoyu immediately shut her mouth and nodded repeatedly. Only then did Peng Xue feel relieved and let out a breath.

"I'm going to the restroom real quick, wait here for me."

"Okay."

So Liu Xiaoyu lowered her head and started playing with her phone. She opened up Mei Fang's profile and began scrolling through Xia Yuan's private Weibo.

While Peng Xue was working hard to guide her special training, Xia Yuan was also helping Bing Bing with her drummer training—

The two of them were playingTaiko no Tatsujintogether at an arcade.

They wereactuallyworking on rhythm sense!

But still, this was basically just playing, right…

Xia Yuan's Weibo had a photo of her and Xiang Bingbing battling side-by-side—so who took the picture?

The answer was soon revealed. A group photo of three appeared on Xia Yuan's Weibo: Bingbing and Xia Yuan stood up front, drenched in sweat, while Station Master Mei Fang had a helpless "forced participation" expression on his face as he made a peace sign alongside Xia Yuan.

LOL!

This really does look like Mei Fang's just babysitting the kids, doesn't it…

While Liu Xiaoyu was happily enjoying Xia Yuan's live updates about her daily life, she had already been marked as the new target of Peng City's rich second-gen, Li Andy.

Ever since getting smacked in the face and suspended from school for half a month by the ultra-rich lady Xia Zaozao and her simp boyfriend, Li Andy had re-evaluated his college strategy.

Upon deeper reflection, Peng University was a hidden-dragon-crouching-tiger kind of school, where many students came from insanely wealthy backgrounds. His supposedly decent family background was barely worth mentioning here, just a drizzle in the grand scheme of things. And mixing in those circles would only recreate the same love life he'd had in high school.

No need to mess around with those rich girls. They only liked to be flattered and pampered by puppy-like boys, and once they got bored, they'd toss you aside and switch to a new one—never would they be obedient to you.

I'd rather pursue thattrue first-love experience!

It's college after all—I should go for those pure, innocent girls from small towns!

Those kinds of girls are easy to coax, easy to handle. Take them out to see the world, and they'll instantly fall head-over-heels for me.

And most importantly, these girls are likely still saving themselves for their destined one, longing for a sweet, beautiful romance. A tall-rich-handsome guy like me is tailor-made for them!

Who needs a Porsche 912 GT anyway?

College is for chasing that first-love feeling!

That's why Li Andy chose to look for serendipity in this modest milk tea shop.

Perfect—on his first visit, he already found one.

This girl in a light beige dress—okay, maybe she wasn't quite at the level of "National First Love" Yuan Bao, but she still gave off that classic delicate-and-demure Miss Goody-Two-Shoes vibe.

Compared to that otherworldly, bespectacled rich lady Xia Zaozao, maybe she lacked a little charm—but she'd definitely do!

So Li Andy tidied up his appearance and, brimming with confidence, walked over with a sunny, friendly demeanor and began hitting on her:

"Hi there, classmate. I think you have a really elegant aura. Can I add your WeChat so we can get to know each other? Maybe hang out sometime, sing a little karaoke…"

"Ah… I-I'm kind of a homebody!"Introvert-mode Liu Xiaoyu triggered,and she quickly waved her hands, flustered. "Better not…"

Yes, yes,thatbashful vibe—this is it! You can't fake this!

"No worries, no worries! Just adding WeChat is fine. We can take it slow. I won't bug you or anything."

"Well, um—"

Liu Xiaoyu hesitantly took out her phone. But just at that moment, a hand suddenly reached out and blocked the boy's WeChat QR code.

"Classmate, I'd advise you not to add her."

Whoa, this girl's got some bite!

Li Andy showed a confused yet polite smile. "Uh… may I ask why?"

Peng Xue responded calmly to the boy: "This girl's already being kept by a major corporate boss. The people behind her—are way out of your league."

"Hey, are you serious…"

"Why would I lie to you? I'm saying this out of the goodness of my heart." Peng Xue waved her hand dismissively.

Damn it…

Should I say, as expected of Peng University?

Why is it that the top-tier girls I take a liking to are always already snatched up by someone else…

No, wait, it's also possible this is just a way of brushing off unwanted attention—

Li Andi was still unwilling to give up. "Classmate, don't joke around. This is a matter concerning this student's reputation, you really shouldn't talk nonsense."

"Then why don't you go ask her?"

"Hmm?"

Seeing Liu Xiaoyu's expression showing clear difficulty, Li Andi thought: no girl would be willing to be slandered like this, right?

And so his confidence was slightly broken, and he could only say "sorry for bothering you" gently before walking away dejectedly.

"……"

After sending Li Andi off, Peng Xue turned to look at Liu Xiaoyu, who was still seated. "Are you just completely incapable of rejecting people? Can't even do that?"

"I would reject someone if they confessed to me… but just adding a contact doesn't really seem like a big deal—"

"If you don't want to add, then don't. You being all wishy-washy like this is totally uncool. There's no charm in it. How could Mei Dog possibly like you like this?"

Hearing that, Liu Xiaoyu instantly felt slightly triggered. She stammered as she retorted Peng Xue's opinion:

"I don't… I don't want him to like me anyway!"

"Yes, yes, that's the kind of energy you need!"

Peng Xue clapped and said: "For our first street performance, let's just do it on the school track field."

"But—"

Liu Xiaoyu only got out a single "but" before closing her mouth. Then after a pause, she nodded seriously and said: "I'll listen to you!"

"Alright, alright, alright! Since it's the first time, I'll do it with you! I'll accompany you on the instrument, and you sing."

"Wuwu… Xiaoxue…"

Liu Xiaoyu said as she went to hug Peng Xue, but this move was immediately met with disdain from Peng Xue.

"Alright, alright, don't come clinging to me, I'm telling you! I only cling to YuanYuan!"

Peng Xue was the kind of person who acted as soon as she decided on something. The very next day, she found her own way to get hold of sound equipment and microphones. Their special training wasn't announced in advance; it was only after setting everything up on the school's track field that she tagged Xia Yuan and posted it to her friend circle.

Today, under Peng Xue's wardrobe makeover, Liu Xiaoyu had a touch of intellectual charm. She was a cool girl with a single ponytail, wearing a baseball cap and denim overalls.

"Alright, the power's all set up. You can start."

It was currently evening, and there were quite a few students strolling around the track field. Everyone was curious about what Peng Xue and Liu Xiaoyu were setting up.

"What's going on here? I didn't hear anything about an event on the field today?"

"Let's take a look."

"Wait a sec… I think I recognize that Senior."

Seeing more and more students gathering to watch, Liu Xiaoyu's social anxiety started to kick in a little. Standing beside her, Peng Xue, having tuned her bass, nudged her.

"Don't be afraid. I'm here with you."

"Mm… mmn."

Ever since middle school, when she was misunderstood by her best friend, Liu Xiaoyu had rarely received this kind of support and trust from anyone except Xia Yuan. She was truly grateful for everything Peng Xue had done for her.

So, Liu Xiaoyu cleared her throat and began her first public performance.

【The wind of July / the rain of August】

【Humble me likes the faraway you】

【Your past, I cannot take part in】

【But I still—like you】

Liu Xiaoyu sang some simple, little love songs that they had written themselves, using a gentle and sweet female voice. Gradually, the curious—

"What song is this? I don't think I've heard it before."

"So nice."

"Senior is so pretty, I'm in love, I'm in love."

"The girl playing the guitar is also super cool!"

"That guitar design looks awesome, it's different from the usual ones. I'm gonna ask her later where she got it."

Since there wasn't much performance pressure this time—or rather, because Xia Yuan wasn't here and there was no one she felt she had to account to—Liu Xiaoyu was clearly much more natural than last time on stage. Even though the songs were all soft, emotional little love songs, at the very least, her performance was spot on.

Very quickly, the Peng University Tieba forum had started discussions about this duo music act, and more and more students came to the field after hearing about it, soon surrounding Liu Xiaoyu and Peng Xue in an impenetrable crowd.

The student council of Peng University soon received word of it. They were extremely displeased with this kind of impromptu street performance without proper approval and immediately prepared to send people over to shut it down. But at the gate of the field, they were stopped by a second-year student.

"You guys are from the student council, right? Don't stop their performance just yet, give me a second…"

"Why are you stopping us? We've got something to handle."

"Dude, wait a second, how can you not even givehimface?"

One of the student council officers held his companion back and said: "Don't you know who that is?"

"I don't care who he is. Even if he's the site manager of C-Station, he can't interfere with student council business."

"Heisthe site manager of C-Station, okay!"

"Hmm?"

"Huh?"

"For real for real?"

"Of course it's for real!"

"Ah, um—"

"Classmate, don't worry. I'm not asking you to do me a favor… That would be bad for my reputation too. Just wait a bit, they've got the permit."

Mei Fang paused, then started chatting with the student council guys about their thoughts on FGO's recharge gacha pull rates. Everyone was complimenting FGO's extremely generous drop rates and asking Mei Fang what the next event would be.

Before long, Xia Yuan came running from the distance. She supported Mei Fang with one hand while handing over a slip to a few student council officers.

"This is the performance permit slip. We already applied for it this morning, but the teacher from the Student Affairs Office wasn't on campus at the time, so we forgot to inform the student council. Sorry about that."

"Ah, it—it was our side that didn't get the situation straight. Really, really sorry…"

Holy crap… They actually had national idol Yuanbao running errands to deliver the permit slip. Just who the heck are these performers in this band duo?

And so, the student council officers joined Mei Fang and Xia Yuan to enjoy the performance by Peng Xue and Liu Xiaoyu together.