Chapter 157: The scale’s rather great

Xu Tingsheng had not lied. The dance steps were indeed very easy. After having practised for an entire afternoon, everyone was already more or less proficient in it.

After they had left, Xu Tingsheng immediately went onto Hucheng, completely concealing Xiang Ning’s registration information. As for his own 5-Star home tutor account, it had already long since been deleted completely after he had accepted the Xiang Family’s home tutoring job.

After having learnt that the news regarding the performance had been leaked, Xu Tingsheng had actually predicted that a few media entities might appear at the time. Perhaps a few fans from Yanzhou City would come along to join in the fun as well.

Apart from that, Xu Tingsheng didn’t think too much of the issue. After all, the news that spread had clearly stated that Apple would not be coming. Thus, he thought that there shouldn’t be too many ‘fans’ and media entities coming.

As long as those crazy male fans of Apple who had been enraptured to the point of losing all their rationality did not come, the scene would probably not be all that chaotic.

Yet, the actual situation seemed much more serious than he had thought.

Apple called Xu Tingsheng rather panickedly, “The media asked me about Rebirth’s performance just now. Will you really be performing?”

“It’s just a single promotion in coordination with Hucheng Education, showing up in a very small school and singing two songs for the students and teachers,” Xu Tingsheng easily explained.

“You’re thinking about it too simply. If you’re really singing, hurry up and contact that school. Get them to properly take care of security and the order and stability of the scene. Otherwise, an accident might really happen. They’re already people forming groups on our webpage to go over to watch. Also, the media here has almost blown up as well,” Apple said earnestly.

“It’s that serious? But all we have are a few songs,” Xu Tingsheng didn’t really believe her.

“There’re even those singing just a single song in their entire lifetimes throughout the entire country. Don’t the people there go crazy as well? People are just like this. They go wherever the attention and liveliness is, easily getting emotional at it all,” Apple told him exasperatedly.

“Who asked you to act all mysterious last time? This is your and Fu Cheng’s first ever public performance, and you also unexpectedly chose the anniversary performance of an ordinary junior high for this...everyone’s feeling curious at this, you know? The key is this curiosity!”

“Now, the relationship between the two of you and that school is being spread everywhere. Everyone’s trying to find out whether you will be showing your faces this time, whether there’ll be any new songs released, whether the two of you are really very ugly in person. It’s...”

“Anyway, it’s a state of utter chaos. I was asked these questions for the entire afternoon earlier. Now, they’re all saying that Rebirth’s been successful in stirring up a frenzy yet again.”

Xu Tingsheng was rendered completely dazed. He had just wanted to celebrate Xiang Ning’s birthday for her. Then, it had just so happened that it would coincide with her school anniversary. Thus, he had decided on performing on the spur of the moment. However would he have known that the scale would actually end up so great?

“Alright, hurry up and ask the school to make good their preparations now. You’ll have to prepare for it on your end as well.”

Apple added at the end of it, “I’ve never sung together with you on stage before. Sigh, I’m so sad. How I wish I could come over and perform with you guys. Sadly, I’ve got a commercial performance on that day and can’t come.”

“There’ll be a chance. There definitely will,” Xu Tingsheng said.

The conversation having ended, Xu Tingsheng hurriedly gave Chairman Zhang of Xinyan Junior High a call. He told him the possible situation that Apple had reminded him about, asking him to make the proper preparations.

“We understand this. I’ve received so many calls from the media, and from your fans as well. I already knew that it would be like this then. Relax, we’re already all prepared for it. The school has contacted all the local police stations and security companies in the vicinity.”

Chairman Zhang actually understood the situation even better than Xu Tingsheng. After all, he was in charge of public relations. Thus, he had already made all the preparations beforehand.

After having finished discussing this matter, Chairman Zhang was silent for a while before he ventured rather hesitantly, “Actually, there’s still something that I’d like to discuss with you. About that...there’re a few local Yanzhou enterprises that have just contacted our school. They intend to take out funds to sponsor our school’s anniversary performance...”

“Sponsorship?” Xu Tingsheng could really believe Apple’s words now. There were even those who had taken the initiative to sponsor them.

“Right, sponsorship. It’s that they will give us money, and when you guys are performing, we’ll put up some banners and advertisement boards up on stage, promoting their brands. It’s not that you’ll have to help advertise for them,” Chairman Zhang explained a little uneasily.

“Well...alright then,” Since he wouldn’t be required to do anything, Xu Tingsheng still agreed after a moment’s hesitation.

“Thank you, thank you,” Chairman Zhang repeatedly expressed his gratitude before asking, “So, let’s see, how about you take seventy, no, eighty percent of the sponsorship fees, leaving twenty percent behind for the school? After all, the attention being so great this time, our school intends to spend some money to improve the scale of the event as well as the stage, the costumes and whatnot.”

“You’re talking about the sponsorship fees?”

“Yeah.”

“The school can keep all of it. I feel that the scale of the event really doesn’t have to be too great. That might instead cause people to find fault with the school for wasting money, also going against the simple, pure intentions of us as graduates wanting to contribute to the tenth anniversary of our former school.”

“As for that money, I feel that the school should use it to set up a scholarship fund, assisting kids who come from poor families in their lives and studies.”

As Xu Tingsheng finished speaking, Chairman Zhang was feeling even more certain that he had once studied in their school. What a good kid, feeling indebted to his former school as he thought from their standpoint in all matters, even having his juniors on his mind even now.

“Alright, let’s have it that way then,” Chairman Zhang said, “Other than that, I am personally curious about something. I don’t know if it’s convenient if I ask this, but when the two of you were studying here in the past, did...did I teach you guys back then?”

“This...” Xu Tingsheng thought for a moment before saying in a sincere, emotional tone, “You did. We often talk about you even now. Thank you, Mr Zhang. Thank you for your guidance and your teachings that year. Otherwise, not only would we not have arrived at where we are today, we might long since have strayed onto mistaken, deviant paths.”

“Wah...good, good. Good kid,” Hearing Xu Tingsheng say so, a very satisfied Chairman Zhang basked in his self-worth for a while before asking, “Then, as you see it, is there still anything else that you need us to prepare?”

“What else is there that can be prepared first?” Xu Tingsheng considered this, an idea suddenly springing up within his mind as he told Chairman Zhang, “Chairman Zhang, how about you give me your QQ number? I’ll send you a video in a while. There’ll be a very simple dance inside. If you can, arrange for the physical education teachers to teach it during break time exercises. The atmosphere might be better if we all dance together both on and off stage at the time.”

“Oh, this is good.”

An excited Chairman Zhang immediately sent over his QQ number as soon as he had hung up. Xu Tingsheng turned on the recording function on his computer and covered his face with a cloth. Then, he danced the steps he had choreographed and sent the recording over to him.

This was actually just a strange thought which had suddenly sprung to mind. He hoped that at the time, there could be a great amount of people celebrating Xiang Ning’s birthday together with him. A thousand people simultaneously dancing in joy at her birthday celebration-now wouldn’t that be a rare thing indeed?

The media, the school, the fans...everyone who had been drawn in by this incident and everyone who was involved, Xiang Ning herself included, would be unable to imagine:

Such a great scale, so many preparations. At the end of the day, it stemmed merely from the fact that a certain someone, for a fifteen-year-old girl called Xiang Ning, wanted to make up for...a lifetime’s worth of birthday celebrations that he owed her.

As well as, in person, a long overdue: Happy Birthday.