Under everyone's watchful eyes, Wang Haoran walked to the podium and picked up the microphone.
The cheers and shouts around him quieted at just the right moment.
Then, Wang Haoran's rich, magnetic voice slowly rang out through the amplified multimedia speakers:
"Dreams need to be tempered by wind and rain. They must also endure disappointment and confusion. But as long as you keep moving forward, you can break through layer upon layer of fog and let the sunlight pierce the clouds, shining with incomparable brilliance.
"This song, 'Dream It Possible,' is for myself, for every student here with a dream, and of course, for Beautiful Teacher, who teaches us English."
"Woohoo!!!"
That brief opening speech instantly ignited the students' boiling blood and drove the atmosphere in the air to its peak.
Nearly everyone present was a senior high school student preparing for the college entrance exams. They were passionate boys and girls around eighteen years old—who among them did not have dreams?
Even Song Zhenyu, as a teacher, inadvertently recalled the days when she had taken the college entrance exams herself, and her blood began to stir.
However, Song Zhenyu was worried that Wang Haoran would mess up the song.
This song actually had a Chinese version too, called "My Dream."
The English version was much harder to sing.
Was Wang Haoran being too overconfident just to save face for her, his English teacher? The cheers continued for a while before the song's intro slowly began.
The students stopped cheering and fell quiet.
Wang Haoran began singing, "I will run, I will climb, I will soar." (Translation: I run, I climb, I spread my wings and soar.)
His voice possessed the ethereal quality of a youth, yet also carried the magnetism of a man. Those two qualities should have contradicted each other, but they blended together flawlessly, as if formed by nature itself, exuding an indescribable charm.
Just one line seized the attention of everyone present.
This was probably what they meant by making people kneel the moment you opened your mouth.
The worry in Song Zhenyu's heart completely vanished after that single lyric.
"I'm undefeated." (Translation: I am unstoppable.) "Jumping out of my skin, pull the chord." (Translation: Breaking free from my own shackles, plucking the strings.)
"Yeah, I believe it." (Translation: Yes, I believe it.)
"The past is everything we were, don't make us who we are." (Translation: History determines who we once were, but it cannot determine who we are now.) The melody was low and subdued, not stirring or impassioned—there was even a faint sense of oppression.
Just like on the journey toward dreams, when people tasted loneliness and solitude, or encountered hardships and obstacles.
As Wang Haoran continued singing, the melody gradually shed its heaviness.
"When your dreams come alive, you're unstoppable." (Translation: When your dreams come true, you are unstoppable.)
"Take a shot, chase the sun, find the beautiful." (Translation: Spread your wings, chase the sun, find beauty.)
"We will glow in the dark, turning dust to gold." (Translation: Shine in the darkness and turn dust into gold.)
His voice soared, seeming to seep into everyone's hearts and souls, giving the students walking the path of dreams the courage to carve through thorns and brambles.
The melody and lyrics of this song had originally given people a wonderful sense of encouragement, but after Wang Haoran sang it, that feeling was amplified several times over.
Every student present, along with Song Zhenyu, was stunned by Wang Haoran's performance.
More than half the students even took out their phones to record the soul-stirring voice.
Xu Muyan truly regretted not bringing her phone to school today.
She turned around, wanting to urge Wen Jing beside her to record a video, but before the words could leave her mouth, she swallowed them back.
Because Wen Jing was already recording.
To be more precise, Wen Jing had actually been the first person there to start recording.
The boy singing was her idol and her secret boyfriend, okay?
She was more enthusiastic than any other girl present! "When your dreams come alive, you're unstoppable." (Translation: When your dreams come true, you are unstoppable.)
"Take a shot, chase the sun, find the beautiful." (Translation: Spread your wings, chase the sun, find beauty.)
"We will glow in the dark, turning dust to gold." (Translation: Shine in the darkness and turn dust into gold.)
"And we'll dream it possible." (Translation: Our dreams will come true.) As Wang Haoran's final lyric fell, the classroom of around fifty people erupted into thunderous applause and cheers.
Of course, a few students were rather out of place, such as Chu Bai.
Wang Haoran can actually sing too?! Chu Bai felt unbearably bitter inside.
This guy was handsome, did well in school, came from a good family, and could sing well too.
Heaven was far too unfair!
"Wang Haoran is really hiding his talents. I've been the homeroom teacher for over two years, and only now, with graduation so close, have I discovered that there's such a good singer in our class." Song Zhenyu was both surprised and delighted, though she was also a little annoyed.
She complained:
"We held several campus singing competitions before, and no one from our class signed up. Why didn't you participate back then?"
Before Wang Haoran could speak, Wen Jing, his number one fangirl, said excitedly:
"What campus singing competition? Going there would only lower Wang Haoran's status and standards!"
Song Zhenyu nodded in strong agreement when she heard that.
When she had watched the campus singing competition before, she had thought those students sang fairly well. But compared to Wang Haoran's skill, they were simply not worth mentioning.
The difference was like bronze versus a king.
If you were a king, would you have any interest in comparing yourself to a bunch of bronze players? "That may be true, but Wang Haoran, you still went too far. You deserve a punishment—your punishment is to sing another song!" Song Zhenyu said.
"Another song!"
"Another song!"
A bunch of people below chimed in and egged him on.
Wang Haoran had not had enough of singing yet, so this was exactly what he wanted. "Then I'll sing 'The One I Love Is You.'"
"Woohoo!!!"
"Awoo!!!"
Another wave of strange cries rose up.
This was a love song meant for confession, which naturally made people's imaginations run wild.
Wang Haoran had chosen this song with a purpose.
Soon, the song's accompaniment began to play.
Holding the microphone, Wang Haoran stepped down from the podium and paced around the classroom before stopping in front of Song Zhenyu.
Song Zhenyu froze for a moment.
"Teacher Song, I need to work up a bit of emotion for this song, so I'll sing while looking at you," Wang Haoran explained with a smile.
Suddenly, the song's intro ended.
Without blinking, Wang Haoran gazed into Song Zhenyu's eyes and began singing deeply, "In the Happy Kingdom of Love."
"You are my only one."
"You are the only one I love." "You are the one I truly love." When those lyrics fell, Song Zhenyu was so nervous that her toes curled tight.
His exceptional singing ability, coupled with that devastatingly handsome face.
Song Zhenyu truly found it a little hard to withstand.
"You only understand how to cherish something after losing it."
"But I cherish you."
"The more pain heals."
"The deeper the love becomes."
Song Zhenyu gradually immersed herself in the scene, overlooking their respective identities and treating herself as an ordinary girl.
And before her stood only a boy singing a love song to her.
At the same time, Wang Haoran received two system notifications.
Ding, one of the Female Leads, Song Zhenyu's affection toward the host has increased by 10. Current total affection: 40. (Very close) Ding, you have influenced the original plot's course and obtained 200 Villain Points.
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