Winter Time Rendering

By the time class ended, Zhang Shutong had just managed to mentally prepare his speech, but then the bell rang for the second period.

Next was the long break after the second period of the morning.

There were usually two long breaks, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The morning one was typically for exercises downstairs. His only memory of these exercises was some routine called "Colorful Sunshine," though that wasn’t what they did anymore. For the students, it was just a chance to run wild outside.

The afternoon break involved running laps around the athletic field, which was a real chore. Luckily, the field had been frozen over for the past few days, so it was changed to free time instead.

Now, even the morning exercise break had been repurposed for them to give their speeches. This had already been announced over the school’s PA system. Zhang Shutong figured the students must be pissed, but judging by the reactions of those around him, everyone seemed eager. Apparently, just getting some fresh air was enough.

As a result, he didn’t get a chance to talk to Zhou Ziheng before the long break. Zhang Shutong found it strange how busy he’d become. ’I remember having a lot more free time...’ He decided to just get this over with and deal with everything else after the speech.

The classroom was a cacophony of noise. This time, Zhang Shutong didn’t ask Gu Qiumian to bang a stool for silence; he just left early.

Du Kang was still busy bragging to the people around him when Song grabbed him by the collar and dragged him away, motioning for the rest of them to follow.

The group hurried downstairs to the base of the flagpole, where Song Nanshan forced them into a rehearsal. As expected, none of them were easy to handle.

"Du Kang, isn’t this a bit of an exaggeration? The guy was so scared of a frog that he fell over? For real?"

"Ruoping, yours is too long. Don’t start from how you all got into playing mobile games..."

"Qingyi, cut those over-the-top dramatic lines. This is a reflection on a heroic act, not a dissertation on a man’s mission..."

"As for you, Shutong... never mind. Just go with what you have. Try to smile more."

"And finally, Qinglian. I know I said one sentence was enough, but you can’t *actually* just say one sentence. What is this, ’I’m very happy I subdued a thug last night’?"

After a long and hectic ordeal, an exhausted Song gazed up at the sky.

Next, they decided on the speaking order:

They all agreed Du Kang should go first to liven up the atmosphere.

Ruoping and Qingyi would follow.

Zhang Shutong wanted to be last. Ideally, the audience would be bored by then, and he could just mumble a few words and get off the stage. But one girl just didn’t get the hint. His three buddies had already lined up, but Lu Qinglian didn’t move.

Zhang Shutong had specifically left a spot open behind Qingyi, but when the girl saw it, she walked right around him to stand at the very end. He turned and stared at Lu Qinglian for two seconds. She met his gaze calmly. ’Am I supposed to cut in behind her now?’ He could only sigh.

Soon, the students were lined up below the flagpole. The morning sun pierced through the clouds, stinging the eyes. Melted snow trickled down the pole; looking up for its source, one would be blinded by the pale, bright sky... It was a very clean, crisp scene.

Next, a school leader came on stage to speak. Du Kang was already getting impatient, his face contorting as he stared at the leader’s pant leg, looking like he wanted to yank it right off.

When it was finally their turn, Du Kang bounded up the steps, while Ruoping took a deep breath below... Everyone had a different reaction. Zhang Shutong, however, was lost in thought:

’Why is the applause from below the stage so rhythmic?’

’First, it was loudest when sending off the school leader.’

’It weakened considerably for Du Kang.’

’Then it got a bit louder again when Ruoping went up.’

’The girl ran down, blushing, and when Qingyi went up with his deadpan expression, the applause was even louder than before.’

Next, it was Zhang Shutong’s turn.

He was a bit puzzled. Why did the applause suddenly erupt, even louder than when they sent off the leader? ’Shouldn’t they be getting more and more annoyed by now?’

He walked up the steps to the stage. He could even see people in the crowd waving at him. Looking closely, he saw it was the group of girls who had been with Gu Qiumian that morning. They were jumping up and down, faces alight with excitement, whispering to those around them like some kind of fan club.

By the time he reached the microphone, the applause still hadn’t stopped. From what he could see, the boys had already stopped clapping. It was only the girls who were screaming and shouting. He glanced at a few of them; they were all unfamiliar faces.

’Wait, no way...’

Zhang Shutong’s eyelid twitched as a ridiculous suspicion surfaced.

But if they weren’t going to stop, that was fine by him. He could use the noise to get his speech over with. He cleared his throat, and a sharp feedback squeal echoed as the microphone picked up the cough. But then, confound it, the applause actually stopped. Pairs of curious eyes all turned to look at him.

Zhang Shutong’s gaze swept over the faces of his peers and the underclassmen. He had no idea what they were so excited about, but he wasn’t one to get stage fright. Just because he disliked these situations didn’t mean he couldn’t handle them. He stood calmly on the stage, looking down at the crowd.

He didn’t need to look at his script. It was only a few sentences, and a single glance was enough to memorize them. He began in a suitably calm and even tone. As he spoke, he spotted a familiar figure in the crowd.

Gu Qiumian was just too conspicuous. She was wearing her school uniform jacket on top, but on the bottom, she wore that light brown skirt, which made her stand out completely from the sea of students.

The girl stood with her hands behind her back, looking very proud. But every so often, she’d stomp her feet, which rather ruined her dignified image. Clearly, Miss Gu had chosen beauty over warmth.

She still had that red scarf on. Normally she’d take it off for the morning exercises, but since today’s activity was just standing in the cold wind and clapping, she had put it back on.

Their eyes met for a moment before Gu Qiumian looked away. It was unclear what she was thinking. By then, Zhang Shutong was nearly finished with his speech. He bowed and left the stage amid a new round of applause, brushing past Lu Qinglian on his way.

And then—

The crowd erupted.

Besides clapping, the boys below started hooting and hollering. Some even started jumping up and down.

If Song hadn’t been staring him down, Du Kang would have been howling too. It got so bad the gym teacher had to grab the microphone and yell to get control of the crowd. But by the time he was done shouting, Lu Qinglian had already drifted off the stage like a gust of wind. She didn’t even bow before turning to leave.

And so, another wave of howling and wailing arose—though this time, it wasn’t out of excitement, but regret.

’I’d better not participate in this kind of event ever again.’

That was Zhang Shutong’s only thought on the matter.

As some perfunctory music played over the speakers, the gym teacher tried to maintain order while everyone filed out—in reality, it was descending into chaos.

The group of them also hurried back to their classroom.

Du Kang was muttering about which girl had given him an extra glance.

Qingyi sighed, staring at the speech in his hand. He had wanted to add an impromptu line to wow the whole school, but Song had shut him down with a single glare.

Ruoping, meanwhile, was discussing with Zhang Shutong whose entrance got the louder applause: his or Lu Qinglian’s. They concluded that with the school’s 6:4 male-to-female ratio, the Temple Priestess had beaten him by a small margin.

But Zhang Shutong had no desire to discuss this with her. When he showed his reluctance, she would just give him a sidelong glance and say, "What, can’t wait to get back and chat with your deskmate?"

Zhang Shutong could only endure it.

Just then, Qingyi came over to discuss "a man’s mission" with him again. Zhang Shutong rolled his eyes and said, "Well, it’s definitely not ’endurance’."

They all crowded together up the stairs. The people in front entered the classroom first, but for some reason, someone suddenly cried out in surprise and stopped in their tracks.

The moving crowd came to a standstill. Some complained, others were curious... but then, only shock spread through the group.

The chaotic noise suddenly died down.

Zhang Shutong had been listening to Ruoping and wasn’t paying much attention. He bumped into the student in front of him. Frowning, he squeezed his way through and followed everyone’s gaze—

The building-block castle from the bookshelf had been thrown to the floor, its pieces scattered everywhere. Buried in the wreckage was a white piece of paper. On it, written in large letters with a black marker, were two words:

DROP DEAD.