bdsm-fiction Chapter 14 The Treatment of the Nobody
Chapter 14 The Treatment of the Nobody
On the other end of the phone, Su Yiyi chuckled: "Yu Ji is still the same. She clearly did a good deed, but she insists on making it sound like she was just casually giving alms."
"Sister Zhou is a good person," Wang Bo said sincerely.
"Yes, but she won't admit it herself." Su Yiyi paused for a moment, "Then let's proceed as planned. I'll contact the school's practice rooms tomorrow, and we can start rehearsals tonight. Send me the list of musicians as soon as possible, and I'll also check if there are any I know, so it'll be easier to communicate."
"it is good."
After hanging up the phone, Wang Bo looked at the project file for the school anniversary song on the screen and suddenly felt that everyone he had encountered during this time travel was a benefactor.
Ten days passed in the blink of an eye.
The day before the provincial university's centennial celebration gala, all programs were to undergo their final dress rehearsal.
The location was the provincial stadium—a venue that can hold tens of thousands of people, but it was empty at the moment, with only the stage area lit up.
Wang Bo arrived at 2 PM with his temporary band.
The band members were a diverse bunch – there was Lao Zhao, a veteran drummer whom Zhou Yuji had poached from a bar; there was a string quartet student whom Su Yiyi had borrowed from the provincial music academy; and there were two wind instrument players.
"We called ourselves the 'Avengers' band," Zhou Yuji said at the time. "The members had complicated relationships, but we all shared the same goal: to make money, and incidentally, to create art."
At 2:30 p.m., while the band was still setting up their equipment, a stagehand came over. He was a young man wearing black-rimmed glasses and had a "volunteer" sign hanging around his neck.
"Which program are you performing for?" The boy glanced at the form in his hand. "Wang Bo... a solo? Is the backing track ready? We need to test the sound effects beforehand."
"We'll use a live band," Wang Bo said.
The boy paused for a moment, then adjusted his glasses. "A live band? But it's not on the program. Besides, the school requires us to use backing tracks whenever possible; a live band takes up too much time, and setting it up is a hassle..."
"We've already reported to the teacher in charge." Su Yiyi walked over. Today she was wearing a light gray knitted dress, the hem of which reached her calves, with a beige long cardigan over it. Her hair was tied up with a simple wooden hairpin, revealing the elegant lines of her neck. She spoke gently but firmly, "This is the approval slip."
She handed over a piece of paper with the signature of the teacher in charge of the arts department of the provincial university.
The boy glanced at it and frowned again: "But you only have twenty minutes for rehearsal. There are several other programs after that, including Guan Lin—that internet celebrity singer with eight million followers on Douyin. She has forty minutes for rehearsal. You need to hurry."
"Twenty minutes is enough," Wang Bo said.
The boy pursed his lips, clearly not believing it, but still turned around to mediate.
The musicians began preparations, but problems arose one after another—the venue's sound system was not suitable for a live band and needed to be readjusted; two sets of stage monitor headphones were missing; the string section didn't have enough music stands...
By the time everything was finally in place, it was already 3:20 PM.
The rehearsal, which was scheduled to start at 3 p.m., was 20 minutes late.
"Wang Bo Band, get ready!" a staff member shouted from below the stage.
Wang Bo took a deep breath and stood in front of the microphone.
Behind them, the band members were all in their positions.
As the intro begins, the sound of the guitar comes through the venue's sound system; it's a bit dry and lacks reverberation.
But the musicians were very professional and quickly adjusted the intensity of their playing.
The first verse went smoothly, but during the interlude, the trumpeter suddenly coughed—not on purpose, but because he was genuinely choked by dust.
The solo was interrupted halfway through, and the whole band's rhythm was thrown off.
"Stop, stop, stop!" A middle-aged man in a suit stood up from the audience. He was the vice director of the school's arts department. "What's wrong with you guys? You can't even practice this part properly, what kind of live band are you putting on? The rest of the show is waiting!"
Wang Bo gripped the microphone tightly: "I'm sorry, could you give us another chance? Just one more time."
The deputy director glanced at his watch, his face grim: "Five minutes at most. Guan Lin's team will be arriving in five minutes. They'll be bringing over a dozen staff members, and their equipment is all professional. They don't have time to waste with you."
These were very harsh words, and the band members all looked unhappy.
Drummer Lao Zhao muttered something under his breath, but the bassist stopped him.
"Let's do it one more time," Wang Bo said to the band. "Don't worry about anything else, just treat this as a formal performance."
However, the mindset had already been affected. In the second take, the string section entered half a beat too early. Although it was adjusted in time, the overall effect was diminished.
The deputy director waved his hand dismissively: "Alright, alright, that's fine. Can't you just use a backing track? Why make it so complicated?"
Just then, a voice came from the side door: "What's wrong? The provincial university's stage can't accommodate a live band?"
Everyone turned their heads.
Zhou Yuji stood at the door; today, she looked like she had stepped out of a fashion magazine.
The burgundy velvet jumpsuit features a deep V-neck that reveals a large expanse of fair skin and delicate collarbones, while a wide belt in the same color cinches the waist, accentuating a slender waistline.
The trousers were wide and flared, but the material was smooth and draped, swaying with her steps.
He wore a black coat over his shoulders, not properly, just hanging it down.
She wore a pair of seven-centimeter stilettos, the sound of the heels striking the ground crisp and rhythmic.
Her wavy hair was meticulously styled, each strand shimmering with shine. Her makeup was a typical Western style—upturned eyeliner, red lips, and perfectly applied highlighter, making her already striking features even more stunning.
As she walked over, all eyes in the venue were drawn—including the deputy director.
"You are..." The deputy director was clearly intimidated by her aura.
"Zhou Yuji, Wang Bo's boss." Zhou Yuji walked to the front of the stage, looked up at Wang Bo, and then turned to the deputy director, "Director Liu, right? I heard that the theme of the provincial university's centennial celebration is 'Inclusiveness, Innovation, and Heritage.' What, does innovation not include innovation in musical form? Does heritage not include respect for live musical art?"
She spoke slowly, but every word carried weight: "Wang Bo's program was personally recommended by Teacher Su Yiyi. Teacher Su is a specially appointed lecturer at the Provincial University's School of Music. Is her professional judgment inferior to your pursuit of 'ease'?"
Su Yiyi, sitting in the audience, looked completely bewildered. "I'm a specially invited lecturer? How come I didn't know that!"
As expected, the prettier a woman is, the more likely she is to lie, except for me.
The deputy director was taken aback, his face flushing red and then turning pale: "Ms. Zhou, that's not what I meant, it's just that time is really tight..."
"The reason for the tight schedule is that you've given a lot of time to internet celebrity singers," Zhou Yuji said bluntly. "I'm not saying that internet celebrity singers are bad, but since it's the centennial celebration of the university, shouldn't we give more opportunities to programs with real artistic value? I've listened to the full version of Wang Bo's song, and I can say with certainty that it deserves this stage and more preparation time."
She paused, her voice lower but more forceful: "Director Liu, many alumni will be returning for the provincial university's centennial celebration, including many senior figures from the cultural and musical fields. What would they think if they saw the university treating a carefully prepared music program this way?"