Study Monster Cultivation System

Chapter 199 - 198 Life is full of disappointments, ten out of ten times.

At two o’clock sharp, the performance began.

For nearly two hours afterward, the group of four, including Li Zheng, spent their time studying, only pretending to applaud when necessary.

For Li Zheng, studying was natural; the relaxation brought by watching such performances wasn’t as good as watching others play "Animal Crossing."

As for Lin Yujing, when extremely bored, with nowhere to go and unable to sleep, she would usually choose to study.

Zhang Xiaoke, although seemingly frivolous about her interest in the two-dimensional space on the surface, had actually set high aspirations and would study whenever she had the chance.

Jiang Qinghua didn’t want to study at that time, but with many others studying, he felt obliged to do the same.

It is said that being close to a Study Demon influences one to study; spending long periods with Li Zheng, one would mysteriously be pulled into the vortex of studying.

As for the audience in the back, the students had long been sleepy, and many had already taken out their phones to fiddle with them.

Having seen many, the school’s cultural performance really couldn’t stir up much enthusiasm.

Instead, when the attractive male and female hosts announced the acts, many would look up at the screens momentarily.

In this regard, it really wasn’t as good as having a New Year’s basketball game or a battle of the singing kings.

At that moment, Chengzhu was faced with a dull performance, surrounded by the gravitational field of Study Demons, with a tidal wave of sleepiness behind him,

Having been through so much over the years, he suddenly felt that his life was quite a failure.

He also had no choice but to affirm his defiance with each round of applause.

At about four o’clock, a message finally popped up on WeChat, signaling that it was time for Li Zheng and the others to prepare for their performance.

Chengzhu finally had a chance to interrupt their studying and led them towards the preparation area at the edge of the field.

During this time, Li Zheng was still discussing something called "Schrödinger Equation" with Lin Yujing—Chengzhu couldn’t understand a word and couldn’t join the conversation at all.

Zhang Xiaoke, who seemed quite unsophisticated, kept saying things like "Yes, yes," "Brilliant," "Wonderful," non-stop.

Watching her bouncing figure, Chengzhu couldn’t help but doubt his own intelligence.

Has the threshold for the two-dimensional space become so high now?

As for Jiang Qinghua, he had withdrawn early on and, upon reaching the backstage preparation area, silently pulled out an object resembling a thick bamboo tube and began to wipe it solemnly.

This scene went unnoticed, and Jiang Qinghua had long been prepared to fade into the background.

However, life is full of disappointments, often not living up to one’s desires.

Contrary to one’s hopes seems to have been written into his destiny early on.

"Is this..." Du Shitong suddenly dropped everything, ran over, and stared at the instrument in his hand, exclaiming in astonishment, "A Shakuhachi?"

"Yes," Jiang Qinghua responded somberly.

Turning to Jiang Qinghua, Du Shitong’s eyes lit up: "You know how to play this?"

"Yes."

""

Seeing Jiang Qinghua’s reluctance to talk more, Du Shitong looked at the other instruments laid out on the ground around them, "Are you using so many instruments?"

"Yes."

"And you?"

"Just the Shakuhachi."

"That should be enough..." Du Shitong carefully raised her hands, "May I touch the Shakuhachi?"

"Yes."

As Du Shitong gently touched it, she felt none of the regularity of modern instruments, sensing instead a natural ruggedness and simplicity; she felt as if she was touching a carefully selected piece of bamboo, not an instrument.

Although she knew Jiang Qinghua was sparing with words, she couldn’t help asking, "There must be very few people in the country who can play this; how did you learn?"

"The teacher who taught me to play the flute taught me," Jiang Qinghua answered expressionlessly, "He is also a successor, but with no one else to pass it on to, he had to teach me."

Du Shitong swallowed hard and asked, "That teacher must be a formidable person, right?"

"Only I think he is formidable. Such ancient music isn’t loved by many, and I am just making up the numbers," Jiang Qinghua said with a quiet sigh, turning his back, "Go take care of Li Zheng and the others; don’t bother about me."

Watching Jiang Qinghua’s bleak and desolate back, Du Shitong felt a pang of unbearable sympathy and even some heartache.

"But... isn’t playing the Shakuhachi well worth the effort just as much as playing the guitar?" Du Shitong didn’t look at him and just stiffly said, "I play the Yaoqin; I understand the feeling of playing ancient musical instruments. It’s just that the audience for such music is small; this music is meant to be played for oneself—why care so much about what others think?"

Drip—Drop—

A drop of warm, gentle spring water, uninvited, merged into the frozen ground.

How...

Is it... springtime?

Jiang Qinghua suddenly turned to look back.

In the thawing of the surrounding frost, he finally saw the true face of the girl.

Peachy cheeks, furrowed brows, who says this isn’t soul-stirring?

But before he could say anything, the host’s announcement had already sounded.

"Next, we invite from Lake Ying Middle School, Li Zheng, Lin Yujing, Jiang Qinghua, Zhang Xiaoke, and the music teacher to bring us—’Cross-dimensional Grand Medley’!"

"Okay, sorry to bother you... hurry up on stage." Du Shitong only said Jiang Qinghua was naturally aloof, and it wasn’t good to disturb his contemplation at this time, so she just twisted her body and sang softly, "Though I am far from your realm, I will automatically filter out the noise and focus only on the flute. Good luck!"

Jiang Qinghua didn’t have time to respond before Du Shitong had picked up the violin, following others to send it up to the stage.

By the time Jiang Qinghua caught up and everyone had finished setting up, he looked up only to see her retreating backstage.

What am I doing?

Jiang Qinghua asked himself.

Before he could ask, your name, ah...

...

After everything was set up and confirmed with the staff, suddenly there was a loud "bang," and all the lights in the hall went out.

This was planned, the solo part of "Fly me to the moon," where only two powerful spotlights would shine.

This sudden darkness caused the already drowsy audience to become restless.

Especially Shi Yang.

"Li Zheng’s fake is going up, oh, record this, watch him embarrass himself!"

"I don’t believe the Chem Competitions champion can play that well anyway..."

"Heh, Xu Zhu the little monk is someone who broke the intricate chess game."

"Alright, stop dragging your Physics Jianghu into this, the Literacy Department said this was a program pushed by Principal Zhou of Lake Ying, we haven’t even reviewed it, it’s all for Li Zheng to show off."

"I’m more concerned about those two girls... hope there are close-ups."

...

On the dark stage, Li Zheng and Lin Yujing stood back to back in the center, with Zhang Xiaoke and Jiang Qinghua temporarily standing aside.

According to the plan, Lin Yujing was afraid of facing the audience, so she hid behind Li Zheng.

Li Zheng, a fearless man, thus faced the entire audience directly.

In the eerie silence, the two close together seemed to feel each other’s pulse.

At the same time, it was very awkward.

Being an absolute gentleman with a sexy behind, Li Zheng tried not to let his buttocks touch her...

His lower body had to jut forward forcefully.

This resulted in his pose looking somewhat bizarre.

His breathing also became somewhat heavy.

However, at this tense moment, Lin Yujing adapted before Li Zheng.

"You don’t need this pose, it’s a performance." Lin Yujing whispered in the darkness, her eyes closed, savoring the moment, "Since I’ve decided to give you this gift, since I’m already here, let’s deliver a perfect performance."

"Oh..." It was then that Li Zheng straightened his knees, no longer thrusting forward.

Undoubtedly, there was also an inevitable touch.

In this indescribable time, at this indescribable location, accompanied by indescribable contact.

Li Zheng himself became indescribable.

He was flustered.

"Damn... I’m a bit nervous..." Li Zheng swallowed dryly, whispering, "Aren’t you panicking?"

"It’s okay, I’ve performed a lot since elementary school, and there were music tests and stuff."

"!! But aren’t you scared of facing crowds?!"

"That’s why I’m hiding behind you."

"..."

~~~

After a span of indescribable tension, Li Zheng vigorously rubbed his face, trying to motivate himself.

"It’s fine, we’ve rehearsed many times, and there’s only the spotlight anyway, you can’t see the audience anyway." Li Zheng took a deep breath and said, "Three seconds after my intro starts, the main lights will come on, don’t get startled."

~~~

"Damn, don’t act up at a time like this. Also, remember it’s ’I love you’ at the end, not ’I uh you.’"

"I what?"

"I love you!"

"~~~~"

"Are you taking advantage of me?"

"~~~~"

"Damn, we’ll settle this after the performance." Li Zheng sighed deeply, gently patting the piano case to find the beat, "5-second countdown."

"Okay!"

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

Ready or not, here it comes, just do it!

[Unparalleled II: Accepted!]

[Relaxation of vitality value limit has been lifted!]

[Countdown 10:00.]

Li Zheng kneaded and flicked.

As the fingers left the strings, the sound of the piano rose.

Unlike simple chord accompaniments, each of Li Zheng’s fingers played old blues, rolling out melodies that, while not endlessly complex, certainly had a few twists and turns.

In this slightly magical melody, the hearts in the darkness gathered together.

The atmosphere of the entire venue was instantly transported to another world.

In this piano sound, two spotlights timely lit up, illuminating the small universes of Li Zheng and Lin Yujing.

Only then did the astonished murmur of "Woom woom" rise.

More people turned their eyes to the hanging screen.

Inside, their hearts emitted exclamations similar to Chengzhu’s.

Is this guy really Li Zheng?

Amidst the rising exclamations, Lin Yujing closed her eyes, not needing to seek out the melody or beat at all, merely feeling the pulse from behind, she confidently raised the microphone.

"Fly ~me to the moon~"

"Let me play among the stars"

"Let me see what spring is like"

"On Jupiter and Mars~"

Actually, by the second note, the audience already had goosebumps all over.

This was truly an inexplicable voice, not about showing off vocal runs or techniques, but just purely pleasant to the ear.

In the center of the stage, the two seemed unrelated to others, immersed in their own separate universe.

Back to back.

One playing the piano, the other singing.

To those in the audience, it was utterly unbearable.

These two people...

Are they feeding us dog food here?!?

As for Shi Yang, not only were his hairs standing on end, but his eyes were bloodshot too.

Even now, he couldn’t figure out who exactly was Lin Yujing.

But he had at least figured out one thing.

The one deeply singing with Li Zheng now, and the one who traveled thousands of miles to deliver supplies that day, were two different people!

Does this scumbag have more than one girlfriend?

Isn’t that scummy???

Some are starved to death by drought and others drowned by flood!

Inside the venue, Camera 4 took a large circle to finally capture Lin Yujing’s face.

In the midst of her singing, her eyes gently closed, seemingly smiling.

He didn’t even know why he was laughing.

When that close-up appeared on the suspended screen, not a single person felt sleepy anymore.

This happiness and indulgence.

First, it was sweet.

Then, it turned sour.

Sour to the root of the tongue, the kind of sour that makes you shiver on a hot day.

This face would only ever be associated with the name "Lin Yujing," never "Zhang Xiaoke."

Although most people admired in awe.

There were always some who would start talking.

"Ah... this is Lin Yujing..." Shi Yang trembled with mixed feelings as he stared at the girl on the screen, "The probability of her being a chemistry girl is 0.002%, the probability of her being a super beauty is 0.5%, and the combined probability of both is one in ten million... and the probability of her falling in love with someone... is infinitely close to zero... Why... damn it why... is mathematics... so absurd..."

"Isn’t listening to music good? Why think about this..." Sweeping Monk advised.

"Old master, I feel sour... I really feel sour this time..." Shi Yang lowered his head and grabbed his pants, "What about Prague... does it even matter... I finally understand why Li Zheng was so eager to come back to school..."

Yue Buqun sighed lightly, "Truly, Xu Zhu’s thoughts are impure, while his body is in the Chem Competitions, his heart is already in the Physics Jianghu."

Guo Xiang from the back row scolded, "Shut up and listen to the music, you guys are so annoying."

Meanwhile, in the front row.

Two principals sat side by side, equally filled with emotions.

Even Principal Li of the City First School’s high school division couldn’t help feeling a bit jealous and couldn’t restrain himself, asking, "Principal Zhou... how did you recruit these two students?"

"It was just the normal middle school entrance exam, it seemed they both chose it because it was close to home." Liu Xiaodong sighed, "Don’t tease me, our Lake Ying has this much luck only once in decades."

"Don’t say that." Principal Li hurriedly patted Liu Xiaodong on the shoulder and leaned close to him, whispering, "Aren’t they still going to participate in the Physics Competitions? A good ranking in the Physics Jianghu can really weigh a lot, if they get a good position, and you market it well, Lake Ying’s enrollment next year is certainly going to jump a grade up."

"I’ll take your good word for it, haha." Liu Xiaodong could no longer contain himself, laughing broadly.

"And another thing..." Principal Li glanced at the two on the stage, his smile becoming more sly, "How long have they been dating?"

"About a semester now," Liu Xiaodong chuckled, "That’s something I’m quite experienced in; you can’t always discourage young people harshly, sometimes you have to play along a bit."

"You truly are Principal Zhou, using unexpected tactics."

"Not at all, just going with the flow."

...

Back to the center stage.

Li Zheng’s performance, in truth, wasn’t fully exerted.

Because he was always glancing toward the vitality value.

[Current Recovery Rate: 2752/minute]

This indeed was the highest recovery number he had ever seen, nearly 8000 people meeting expectations.

But... it still wasn’t enough...

If he needed to recover 500 hours within 10 minutes, this number had to consistently stay above 3000 to be stable.

Fortunately, a brief interlude solo came up at this moment, and the camera switched to Li Zheng, allowing him briefly to break 4000.

Good!

Keep it up!

Keep So-ing for a while!

That was the plan, but just when Li Zheng had been So-ing for a few seconds, he suddenly heard a collective "hmm" from the audience, and the rate suddenly dropped back to 2000.

What? Could it be he played a wrong note?

Filled with agitation, Li Zheng suddenly felt an inexplicable sensation and turned his head to the left.

Before he knew it, Lin Yujing had quietly moved to his side.

At that moment, she was gazing at him, quietly listening.

Her expression was rather intriguing.

Li Zheng felt a bit panicked.

They had agreed to just wing it back to back.

Suddenly opting for a deep emotional gaze?

That wasn’t in the plan!