Behind the Stage

When the enthusiastic cheers erupted all around, Lin Xiaolu had to cover her ears with her hands to block out the deafening shouts.

Good heavens, she had never attended such a grand event before. The deafening music and the surrounding voices combined to exceed her ear's capacity to hear.

Unlike her, Jiang Yuan had completely immersed herself in the fan group, waving her glow stick in unison to the music on stage and singing along. What was even more remarkable was that she could sing along to every single song since the start of the concert, clearly a loyal fan.

Lin Xiaolu's friend's enthusiastic response dispelled her idea of striking up a conversation. It was unwise to disturb someone when they were full of passion, and the best way to avoid spoiling their mood was to keep quiet.

Looking around in silence at the excited crowd, Lin Xiaolu suddenly felt a pang of loneliness.

She was neither a fan nor a music enthusiast; standing in the crowd, she seemed so out of place and odd, as if she shouldn't have been there at all.

She couldn't help but feel a little regretful, wondering if she shouldn't have come all this way just for the theme song of "Rainbow Sky Angel." Especially since the song she wanted to hear was taking so long to arrive, and the unfamiliar songs were difficult to listen to in the noisy environment, making it hard for her to truly enjoy the performance.

It's not that the concert itself was bad. In fact, even if Lin Xiaolu wasn't a fan of the singer "Asō Madoka," it didn't affect her ability to appreciate the singer's solid vocal skills. It's just that she was somewhat unable to engage with the music today.

--I wonder how things are going with Larkspur. Since they're not fans either, will they be able to really connect with the concert?

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but have this thought.

Rather, even now, she is still curious about why Larkspur came here.

A few days ago, after she told Larkspur about her upcoming concert trip, Larkspur surprisingly announced a change in patrol schedule and offered to let the entire team go to the concert together.

Such a strange decision was bound to puzzle the girls, but no matter how much they pressed for answers, the only response was "You'll find out when you get there," with no further information provided.

If that were all, it wouldn't be so bad. But what's puzzling is that while Lin Xiaolu was still completely clueless, Xia Liang and Bai Jingxuan already seemed to have figured something out, or even understood something.

When it comes to things she cares about, Lin Xiaolu is always inquisitive and seeks answers. However, when she asked Xia Liang what he had guessed, all she received was a mysterious smile and the annoying riddle, "I'm not sure either, so I can't say anything. Just enjoy having fun with your friends."

It's like nobody cares. If you don't want to talk about it, I don't even want to ask.

The thought of this made Lin Xiaolu's already low mood even worse. After muttering a few complaints about Xia Liang to herself, she put aside her chaotic emotions and decided to leave the venue temporarily to clear her head.

Pretending to go to the restroom, Lin Xiaolu left her seat, ran out of the venue, stood against the wall in the aisle, and then let out a long sigh of relief.

With a wall in between, the sound from the speakers wasn't so harsh.

She stood there blankly for a while, her mind blank, until the numbness in her eardrums subsided somewhat. Then she found a nearby vending machine and bought two bottles of drinking water.

The vending machine in the quiet corner became a rare haven from the noise; the deafening sound could travel through the walls to this place, but it seemed like the noise of another world.

Lin Xiaolu took out the drinking water, tucked one bottle under her armpit, intending to take it back for Jiang Yuan to drink later. She twisted open the cap of the other bottle, and as the mouth of the bottle touched her lips and teeth, the clear water flowed through her mouth, making her feel much more awake.

After standing silently for a while, pondering when she should go back, Lin Xiaolu dawdled for another ten minutes, during which time the songs in the venue changed one after another. With the concert almost halfway over, it really wouldn't be right not to go back soon, so she reluctantly started walking towards the venue.

However, before she could take two steps, she heard a commotion coming from the corridor beside her:

"So why do we have to wait until the concert is over to leave? We've already had so many shows, what's one more?" a slightly high-pitched girl's voice said.

"It's not about the number of shows, but because today's concert is the last stop of the tour, it has a different meaning," another woman's voice, which sounded more composed, replied.

"What's the significance? Just the last game? Will there be champagne after it's over?"

"No, not at all..."

"What else could it mean, just because Fangting City is her hometown?"

"No, to be precise, the teacher's hometown isn't Fangting City either."

"That's settled then. I have a very important opportunity and date coming up, so don't even think about ruining my plans!"

This seemingly random conversation piqued Lin Xiaolu's interest; one of the people in it seemed to share her reluctance to linger. A strange sense of resonance caused her to deviate slightly from her path towards the venue, following the sound deeper into the corridor.

Then she saw three girls who looked quite young, gathered together talking about something.

The reason they were described as young was mainly because the girls looked very youthful, and were generally around the same age as Lin Xiaolu herself. They were all wearing matching bright yellow T-shirts—which seemed to be the uniforms of concert venue staff. It's unclear why there were such young staff members here.

The earlier commotion came from two of the three girls. The shortest girl, who looked two years younger than Lin Xiaolu, was the one who was making a scene and wanted to leave. The girl had short, slightly shoulder-length blonde hair, and her slightly parted bangs revealed her large forehead. She was standing with her hands on her hips, looking aggressive and like she was about to interrogate someone.

Another girl, wearing glasses and appearing to be the oldest among them, possessed a rather intellectual and composed demeanor and was patiently advising the blonde girl.

As for the last girl, she clearly hadn't said a word from the beginning, just silently watching everything unfold before her. If Lin Xiaolu hadn't seen it with her own eyes, judging solely from the sounds of their conversation, she wouldn't have guessed there was another person there.

So what do they do?

Lin Xiaolu couldn't help but have this question in mind.

Despite being called fans, these girls didn't even want to stay in the venue, and like me, they hid in the aisle of the stadium halfway through. They were clearly not the kind of people who could properly enjoy a concert.

Despite being called staff members, they didn't look their age at all. Besides, with the concert in full swing, staff members should be incredibly busy; they wouldn't have time to chat idly here.

Most importantly, why did she feel that the blonde girl looked familiar? It was as if she had seen her somewhere before.

As Lin Xiaolu looked at the group of people in front of her with a puzzled expression, the girls who had been talking noticed Lin Xiaolu presence, stopped talking for a moment, and looked in her direction.

For a moment, none of the four spoke, and they remained in an eerie silence, frozen in place in the corridor.

The three girls probably thought Lin Xiaolu was just passing by, so they wanted to keep quiet and wait for Lin Xiaolu to pass. However, they didn't expect that she had no intention of leaving and just stood there watching.

This fruitless stalemate was finally broken by the girl with glasses.

"Hello, what's wrong?"

She abruptly changed her attitude, abandoning her previous composure and seriousness, and asked Lin Xiaolu in a rather friendly manner, "Excuse me, are you lost?"

But her question went unanswered, because Lin Xiaolu was frowning and staring intently at the blonde girl beside her.

The undisguised gaze naturally caught the attention of the three girls, who realized who Lin Xiaolu was looking at. So the other two girls also focused their gaze on the blonde girl.

"Looking for you?" the girl with glasses asked.

"Looking for me?" The blonde girl looked equally bewildered.

"They're looking for you," the taciturn girl suddenly confirmed.

"What do you want from me?"

The blonde girl blinked, turned to look at Lin Xiaolu, and asked, somewhat puzzled, "Is there something on my face?"

"... I have a strange feeling."

After staring at the other person's face for a while, Lin Xiaolu slowly said, "Have I seen you somewhere before?"

"Ha?"

The blonde girl was stunned.

The girl with glasses next to her also inexplicably pushed up her glasses.

The taciturn girl, who hadn't uttered more than a few words for quite some time, stared wide-eyed in astonishment.

"... Is this a way of hitting on someone?"

"This might be a pickup line."

"I... I've heard of this kind of pickup line technique before. My sister told me about it..."

They huddled together and whispered among themselves, occasionally glancing back at Lin Xiaolu, but after a long time, they hadn't come to any conclusions. Their conversation consisted of nothing more than pointless sighs.

Finally, it was the blonde girl who noticed something amiss during the discussion. After scrutinizing Lin Xiaolu repeatedly, she suddenly had a feeling that she had indeed seen her somewhere before.

She shared her thoughts with the other two, which immediately elicited another gasp.

"You feel that way too?"

The girl with glasses glanced back and forth between Lin Xiaolu and the blonde girl, somewhat puzzled. "Why is that?"

"It was love at first sight!"

The taciturn girl stammered, but said earnestly, "I... I've heard my sister say that this kind of thing is usually called love at first sight! It's a fateful encounter!"

The company has been making me work crazy overtime for the past week, and I've been going to the office every weekend. I haven't had any time to write, and when I get home I'm so tired that I have no inspiration at all. Actually, I could write according to the outline, and I really wanted to update every day, so I didn't ask for leave. But I'm just not satisfied with the quality of the writing, and I ended up just lying around in the middle of the night, feeling groggy. I'm so sorry.

I'll try my best to get back into writing mode and stabilize the updates. The story that follows is supposed to be very interesting, and I need to present it to everyone properly.

Thank you to readers Tengshe Lieyun, dahuangfgd, and 140930191734078 for their generous donations during this period. I am truly grateful and also very sorry. Thank you even more to all the readers who have supported me and waited patiently. Thank you all.