Shift! The Side-Character Heroine

: Praise

Unsurprisingly, such a grand New Year’s Eve party would be filmed by the school as promotional material for the school’s anniversary celebration. Some students had recorded the whole process from the start with their mobile phones.

Many more had recorded Zhao Youyue’s performance. They considered it to be the star of the show. No matter how you chose to look at it, Zhao Youyue’s performance had caused the greatest ripple among all others.

Zhao Youyue’s performance could be described as no less than a professional’s level. A symphony orchestra could easily be assembled around her. The performances by the other students, even those by specialized Arts students, greatly paled in comparison to hers..

With such a vast gap of levels, all else would lose meaning. Even jealousy would be stripped of all meaning. The only available option would be to drop to your knees and worship this entity.

Take Hang Yongming, for example. Before New Year’s Eve, he had contemptuously gazed at Zhao Youyue through the corners of his eyes. He considered her music tasteless and dead. Yet, he eventually realized that he could not have been more mistaken. How was she without taste? The moment she cut herself free, she went far beyond his wildest fantasies of freedom!

Her specially arranged song overflowed with spirituality. Her performance was so extreme that she spirited the audience away into her musical world. He could never get such magic out of his mind, having heard it only once.

Hang Yongming wholly bowed before Zhao Youyue’s music talent, due to her performance. He apologized to Zhao Youyue backstage before New Year’s Eve ended, saying that he had been too quick to judge. He did not realize that she genuinely understood music as he did. She certainly played her cards better than he did, knowing how and when to please the judges during competitions.

Hang Yongming knew that he was just blubbering out some excuses. He knew that his current level could only earn him a provincial bronze award. He was just an average guy who knew how to play some music. The moment he realized that he would never be able to get a gold medal no matter how much effort he puts in, he started to find another way. He wanted to get involved in something else to prove himself

The attempt backfired. Big time. As if an ordinary student who pursued the academic path. It only demoralized the student even further, and the student chose to abandon himself by writing an essay with 0 marks. The student cursed the essay question for being rubbish. Then, he severely criticized the examination-oriented education system and everything else related. These people were all losers. If one day, they chose to harshly criticize the education after giving them a pass with flying colors, it would be downright ridiculous.

Hang Yongming was such a loser. He knew that he might never attain the higher level. Therefore, he chose to cripple himself.

A person who knew how to win prizes, while being flexible enough to please the audience like Zhao Youyue, was just too cunning. She was the master of all trades, jack of none. All the benefits, with no drawbacks!

After New Year’s Eve ended, Zhao Youyue had a meeting with those great alumni. It as suggested by a certain writer, Ou Yang.

This great writer, Ou Yang was impressed by Zhao Youyue’s performance. He wanted to know more about this talented girl.

He even felt that Zhao Youyue’s music sent a cascade of inspirations raining upon him

Ou Yang had heard from the school leader that Zhao Youyue not only had achievements in music, but she also had flying colors in her studies. Basically, as long as she retains her current momentum, she would easily gain admission into any of the two best universities in the capital. The honor she had earned from the past music competitions could win her extra marks for her college entrance exams.

In addition to that, Zhao Youyue blew away the school with her deceptive athletism in the previous Autumn Sports event. Nobody had ever associated sports and her prior to that!

“All in all, Zhao Youyue is considered the best female student among the current eleventh grade batch in school. She is a true all-rounder!” Headmaster Ge Jun boasted actively in front of the great writer, Ou Yang.

Ou Yang was certainly amazed upon learning of all that. He had thought that Zhao Youyue was just another Arts student who specialized in music. Yet, he had never expected her to be so good in her studies as well

As for her athletism, it was less surprising. His first impression of Zhao Youyue was that she was a girl of energy and vigor. She did not once appear to be bothered by stage fright. She was as graceful as noble as any young lady could be. Had she remained as an emcee throughout the entire event, without once picking her violin up, many would still remember her.

Ou Yang did not know why, but he now felt nervous meeting Zhao Youyue. His identity and status were supposed to be way higher than a student’s like Zhao Youyue. However, Zhao Youyue’s extremely fantastical track record placed him under a fair bit of pressure

Zhao Youyue did not change out of her dress, as the dress belonged to her. She did however, remove her makeup. The two songs had drenched her in sweat. The layer of makeup only made it more uncomfortable.

Even after removing her makeup, she still looked as amazing as ever. She truly had too good a foundation. After growing out her hair, people looked at her differently. She was no longer a passerby.

But Zhao Youyue had always been a playful person. Someday she would blame herself for standing out too much, to the extent that she had been stripped of her freedom. Then, she might just decide to step down as a heroine and go back to being a passerby, and cut her hair short once again

Thus, she would be able to become a passerby once again. She would not be as dazzling as she currently was, with her short hair. People would think of her as a cute neighbor, not a beautiful, generous, elegant Lady.

This was already a rather extreme makeover, as her actual body was born with the “passerby” syndrome. If she had not placed so much effort in getting involved, how would she be the current Zhao Youyue of today?

“Hello, Zhao Youyue, your performance today was truly shocking. It felt like your music shook my entire body! I’m Ou Yang, a writer, also an alumnus of this high school. It was truly my honor to be able to attend the school anniversary celebration this time. Your performance came as a great surprise for me!”

After seeing the naked face of Zhao Youyue, he could not help praising her beauty within his heart. He remembered his time high school. Why wasn’t there such a perfect, dazzling girl, back then?

Then, he took the initiative to greet Zhao Youyue. He was rather modest and forthcoming. There was no hint of his arrogance as the famous writer of a best-selling book.

Zhao Youyue had never read any thriller novels, but she had once watched a movie adaptation of one of his works. The plot was filled with interconnecting details. The ending was unexpected, but made perfect sense. It was all exciting. Therefore, she responded to Ou Yang’s praise respectfully and graciously, demonstrating the full extent of her communicative competence as a noble Lady.