Rebirth: The Comeback of the Girl
Chapter 103: Singing Contest

Chapter 103: Chapter 103: Singing Contest

Mrs. Zhen took another look at her daughter and let out a sigh, "Your grandparents already decided to move to Dayang Tree last month, their house has been rented out long ago."

Zhen Yu’s mind raced, and then it clicked.

"You’re just finding out now!"

Zhen Yu spoke with a certain tone, it wasn’t a question.

Mrs. Zhen looked down, her voice low, "Heh... That’s right! I just found out!"

From her mother’s words, Zhen Yu could tell she wasn’t in a good mood. She racked her brains for comforting words, but in the end, all she could muster was, "A married daughter is like water splashed out of the house, we’re all outsiders now."

Mrs. Zhen looked up at her daughter, "..."

A look that confirmed she was indeed trying to comfort her.

But, geez! That was a punch to the heart, my girl!

Early Monday morning, Teacher Cao entered the classroom with a grim face.

The students instantly froze, each thinking that some fearless ’hero’ had gotten on his bad side.

But, in fact...

"Cough! Considering the limited after-school activities in winter, the school has decided to host a New Year’s singing contest! There will be groups for primary and middle schoolers, and everyone is welcome to sign up. Each class can nominate three to five acts, and the top performers in the school-wide competition will receive prizes."

"Buzz~" As soon as Teacher Cao finished speaking, the classroom erupted into buzz.

With so many students wanting to participate, three to five spots were hardly enough.

Clearly, Teacher Cao had thought of this as he coughed twice and said, "Quiet! Those who are interested should first report their act to the class president. Don’t have too many people in each act, ideally no more than five! We need to do a preliminary selection within the class before deciding who will compete."

Teacher Cao paused before continuing, "Make sure the content is positive and uplifting! Qiao Xian, give me the list by Wednesday!"

"Got it!"

Since the first period wasn’t math, Teacher Cao made his announcement and quickly left.

Once he was gone, the classroom became a total mess—some were actively looking for group members for their acts, others were discussing potential performances with nearby classmates, and then there were those coaxing others to join in on an act.

-

Liu Ting was constantly egging Zhen Yu on, pushing her to put an act together.

"Zhen Yu, why don’t you do an act? You’ve got quite a nice singing voice!"

"No, thanks."

"Come on, Zhen Yu, just do one~ I really enjoy hearing you sing~"

"I’ll sing for you when I have the time."

"Tsk~~ Look how proactive the other class officers are! And you’re just, "

"I’m not one."

Liu Ting was taken aback, remembering that Zhen Yu was no longer the history class representative, but quickly changed her approach and continued persuading.

"Even more the reason you should! Show the teachers that you’re supportive too! Maybe then,"

"I don’t want to show support."

Well, that’s it! Looks like Zhen Yu has resigned herself to her fate.

Liu Ting rolled her eyes and shut up.

-

For Zhen Yu, this was merely a minor episode. She had no desire to stand out, so once her desk mate quieted down, she calmly returned to her book, finding peace amidst the chaos.

When the bell for break rang, Zhen Yu was still engrossed in her book, pondering over the formulas for the 8th grade math, which were somewhat of a challenge to memorize without putting them to use.

But with her good memory, Zhen Yu had no problems.

Unfortunately, not everyone knows to mind their own business, especially someone like Fu Yu—who is self-centered most of the time, only thinking about himself.

He had something to say and didn’t care what you were doing, he just had to say it immediately, and you had no choice but to listen.

"Bang bang!" Every time before Fu Yu would speak, he’d kick Zhen Yu’s chair legs twice, as if the chair had some longstanding feud with him.

"Zhen Yu! Are you signing up for a performance?"

Without turning her head, Zhen Yu said: "No."

Then she continued reading her book.

"Bang bang!" Fu Yu persistently and awkwardly continued to kick, "Turn around!"

"Just say what you want to say." Zhen Yu’s eyes remained glued to the textbook, ignoring Fu Yu’s ’unreasonable’ request as if she hadn’t heard it.

"I want to register for a performance! Give me some advice!" Fu Yu leaned forward, wishing he could press his head against Zhen Yu’s back as he spoke loudly.

"Ask Zhen Yan!" Zhen Yu firmly refused.

"I won’t! I’m asking you! His singing is off-key!"

"Let’s talk after school!" After saying this, Zhen Yu stopped paying attention to him, no matter how much Fu Yu called out to her, she simply ignored him.

Fu Yu reached out to pull on her sleeve, only to meet Zhen Yu’s deathly glare, and he immediately backed off both hand and voice, not daring to make a fuss anymore.

-

Since it was a school-wide activity, each class was notified early in the morning, so after school, the friends gathered to discuss the matter.

"Xiao Yu~ are you signing up for a performance?" Bai Xue asked, linking arms with Zhen Yu.

"No, what about you?" Zhen Yu rarely showed concern for her ’childhood friend.’

"I haven’t decided yet!" Bai Xue said somewhat shyly, but then added, "Xiao Yu~ if I choose to sing, which song should I pick?"

A small smile tugged at the corner of Zhen Yu’s mouth; it was evident that Bai Xue intended to sign up for a performance but was just a bit too embarrassed to admit it.

Zhen Yu softly asked, "Which songs are you considering?"

Bai Xue got excited upon mentioning the songs, and after bouncing twice, she laughed and said: "They’re all by Little Tiger Team! There’s ’Love’, ’Red Dragonfly’, ’Butterfly Fly’, I want to sing them all!"

"Hey hey! Don’t you compete with me! I also want to sing ’Love’!" Fu Yu got anxious upon hearing this, as that was the song he most wanted to sing too!

Bai Xue retorted, "What do you mean by competing with me! Just sing if you like! The capable one will win the prize!"

"Tsk! As if I’m scared of you!" Fu Yu responded with a haughty face.

Zhen Yu watched the cousin duo speechlessly and felt like facepalming.

Everyone went silent for a while, proceeding slowly forward in the cold wind, when Han Mingyue suddenly said in a melancholy tone, "Stop arguing, this song can’t be sung."

"Why can’t it be sung?" Fu Yu immediately asked.

Han Mingyue hesitated for a moment before answering.

"!" As an avid pop music fan, Zhen Yan was only stunned for a moment before he quickly caught on, "I know!"

Bai Xue blinked and looked at Zhen Yan, "???"

"The lyrics talk about ’loving freely at will’, the school definitely won’t allow it!" Zhen Yan explained.

"..."

-

After passing up on her favorite song, Bai Xue quickly decided on the performance she wanted to register for—a solo of "Butterfly Fly."

And after asking Zhen Yu several times without getting an answer, an infuriated Fu Yu made up his mind to do a solo of "Red Dragonfly."

Inner thoughts of Zhen Yu, "Annoying kid! The more you indulge him, the less you should care! Otherwise, he’ll learn that this trick works, and I’ll be driven mad by him!"

As they were nearly home, Zhen Yu finally had the chance to chat with Han Mingyue.

"You’re not signing up,"

"You’re not signing..."

"Heh," they looked at each other and smiled.

Zhen Yu reined in her smile, gently shook her head, "Seems like neither of us likes to join in the bustle."

Watching the fleeting soft smile on Zhen Yu’s face, Han Mingyue’s gaze became a bit fixed, then unknowingly followed suit by letting her own smile fade away.

"Yeah, it’s enough to just watch," she responded casually.