Chapter 72: Thank You
“Thank you, thank you everyone. The new semester has begun. I hope everyone enjoys the brand-new university life…”
Hearing the young girl on stage speak like this, Wang Heng, who had been sitting quietly in the crowd, suddenly had a bad premonition. His back seemed to tingle faintly.
Sure enough, the next moment, the premonition seemed to be coming true.
Pei Ningle continued, “Standing on this stage today, I also want to thank one person. Without him, without his support, I definitely couldn’t be here singing…”
In front of his eyes, a blood-red 【danger】 word seemed to float by.
He sat up straight, and then heard the young girl’s next words: “So… thank you, older brother!”
After saying that, Pei Ningle bowed, turned and went off stage, lifting her skirt hem and trotting away, disappearing from the audience’s sight. Only that crisp “older brother” seemed to linger in everyone’s ears.
“Oh my god, where did this little cutie come from!” Wang Ke clutched his chest, as if he was about to have a heart attack.
Fu Hanwen was clearly much calmer: “Little Ke, you’re not her older brother. No matter how cute she is, what does it have to do with you?”
Tang Hexing subconsciously looked at Wang Heng beside him again, and saw that this roommate had a rather strange expression.
Wang Heng’s right hand was also at his chest, but unlike Wang Ke, that hand was gently patting his own chest, as if he had breathed a sigh of relief.
Tang Hexing was slightly curious: “Teacher Wang, what are you thinking about again?”
Wang Heng: “I’m thinking… there’s a place in yesterday’s code that seems to be written wrong! Sure enough, you still can’t forget to check.”
Tang Hexing: “Whether the code has errors or not, just run it once and you’ll know.”
Wang Heng nodded seriously: “Yeah, just like life. It’s really full of accidents everywhere. What the future will really be like is hard to predict.”
Pei Ningle’s speech was indeed beyond his expectations, but thinking about it, it shouldn’t be a big problem. Anyway, she didn’t mention the name Wang Heng, so it wouldn’t bring him extra attention. And what Pei Ningle said was “older brother,” the normal assumption should be that kind of blood-related siblings, right?
Suddenly, Wang Heng had a sudden inspiration.
Since Pei Ningle called him that, why not just send her a little sister card? From now on, treat it as getting along like siblings. Wouldn’t that be a reasonable way to avoid an ambiguous relationship? As long as she dares to cross the warning line, he can remind her—don’t do that, I’m just your older brother!
Hmm, this path seems feasible.
The girl in the blue skirt ran off, and the applause died down.
The two hosts came on stage, and the female one smiled: “That performance just now was really great. Everyone liked it a lot! I believe the next program will also get applause from the classmates.”
The male host announced: “Next program, please enjoy the crosstalk performance by second-year university students from the Life Science and Technology College, Guan Honglang and Xie Hongbo—I’m a Scientist!”
After that, the two hosts stepped down.
Two boys wearing crosstalk-style lab coats, holding microphones, came up. One was Guan Honglang, one was Xie Hongbo, both so nervous their limbs were a bit stiff.
After all, performing after such a popular singing act created a lot of pressure. If they messed up, the contrast with the previous program would be too stark.
At this moment, Xie Hongbo had a sudden inspiration, gave his partner a look, then turned his head to gaze toward the backstage.
Guan Honglang got the hint and said into the microphone: “Hey, why are you stretching your neck so long?”
Xie Hongbo turned his head back: “That girl just sang really well!”
Guan Honglang: “Of course, do I need you to say that?”
Xie Hongbo: “I really like her singing!”
Guan Honglang: “Nonsense, I like it too.”
Xie Hongbo turned and took a step: “I’m going to ask her for her phone number…”
Guan Honglang yanked his partner back: “Is it her singing you like? You’re just craving the girl, you shameless one!”
Laughter erupted from the audience.
Guan Honglang and Xie Hongbo both breathed a sigh of relief at the same time—looks like the audience’s reaction wasn’t bad?
After finishing this impromptu gag, the two began their pre-memorized crosstalk…
In the audience, Wang Heng also laughed along.
But some people nearby weren’t listening to the crosstalk. For example, Wang Ke was still seriously discussing: “She shouldn’t be sixteen, at most fourteen!”
Tang Hexing turned his head: “Teacher Wang, what do you think?”
Wang Heng: “Eighteen.”
Wang Ke absolutely couldn’t agree and hurriedly retorted: “How could she be eighteen? Look at her, at most in junior high third year!”
Wang Heng waved: “If you think junior high third year, then junior high third year. No arguing. Quietly listen to the crosstalk. This crosstalk is pretty fun.”
That impromptu gag just now was only moderately funny to others, but to him, it felt especially familiar, hitting right on a meme that would become popular a few years later…
————
Pei Ningle returned backstage, found her mobile phone in the makeup room, and sent Wang Heng a text message:
【Was it okay that I said it like that earlier?】
Wang Heng: 【It’s fine. But since you said it like that, from now on just call me older brother.】
Pei Ningle didn’t think too much and simply replied: 【Okay!】
Putting down her mobile phone, she came in front of the mirror.
The young girl in the mirror had a brilliant smile on her face, her mouth corners uncontrollably curving up, unable to suppress it even if she tried.
“The singing just now should have been okay, right?” She patted her own face with both hands. “Mm-hmm, should not have embarrassed myself!”
At that moment, the door to the makeup room opened.
Bar owner Yan Zitao burst in: “Xiao Le, can we discuss something?”
The young girl turned around and asked: “Brother Tao, why are you here? What do you want to discuss?”
Yan Zitao said excitedly: “I thought of a plan. It’s to use you for advertising, to attract this school’s students to our shop. This operation is simple. Just hand out flyers at the school gate, telling them you’re singing in our shop every evening.”
Pei Ningle tilted her head: “Do I need to hand out flyers?”
Yan Zitao shook his head vigorously: “How could that be! I just need to print your photo on the flyers, then hire a few part-time students to hand them out at the school gate. But printing your photo on the flyers definitely needs your permission first…”
Pei Ningle thought for a moment and said: “I think it’s okay, but I want to discuss it with my agent.”
“Agent?” Yan Zitao was stunned. “You even have an agent now?”
Pei Ningle: “It’s my cousin, Brother Tao you know him.”
“Oh…” Yan Zitao’s gaze suddenly became a bit meaningful. “The ‘thank you’ you said on stage earlier was for this cousin, right?”
Pei Ningle: “Yeah, he’s helped me the most.”
Before the young girl finished speaking, Yan Zitao suddenly slapped his forehead hard. He thought of a seemingly interesting idea.
“I know how to print the flyers now… damn, I’m really a marketing genius!”
————
Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone, as happy as Wang Heng!（laugh）
This book has its fifth honor badge, with collections over five thousand. Plus recommendation tickets over three thousand, which makes the author feel the need to add an extra chapter… um, it’s decided just like that.
