Chapter 296: Commencement of the School’s Anniversary Celebrations
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Upon entering the hall, Jiang Yuqian and Xia Ruxue hurriedly ran to look for Xia Ruya.
“The few rare large diamonds in the world have already been collected by wealthy people from all around the world. The Brilliance of the Mountains, which was openly auctioned two years ago, fetched 25 million yuan. Although the Star of the Sea isn’t as huge as the Brilliance of the Mountains, it’s worth at least 10 million yuan.
“How can diamonds be compared to a precious wood like the yellow rosewood—due to its extremely long growth period, it almost became extinct in the Qing dynasty. However, whenever such items appear in the market, they’re snapped up by the very rich for their private collection. With each item priced from tens of millions to a billion yuan, compared to the blood diamond’s exorbitant price jacked up by Country M, a precious wood like the yellow rosewood is truly priceless. Grandma Wen gave Wen Xinya a set of yellow rosewood accessories passed down from the Ming dynasty. She wears them frequently—you guys should have seen it.
“The Henry Poole Family is situated at the Savile Row in London. Since 1856 when Henry became the French king’s royal designer, the Poole store has already been patronized by tens of countries’ royal families. Price is not the primary factor to get a customized outfit from such a tailor family. More importantly, its reputation and quality are a symbol of status.”
Upon hearing such information from Xia Ruya, Xia Ruxue and Jiang Yuqian felt like burying themselves in a hole when they recalled their dumb actions earlier.
At 6 P.M. sharp, the students settled down on their seats. All the lights in the hall came on together instantly, the bright glow like the broad daylight.
Firstly, a director of the Board of the Institute came forward and delivered a speech. Then, the president of the Institute announced the commencement of the school’s anniversary celebrations. The hall instantly filled up with waves of thunderous claps.
Amidst the sea of passionate clapping, a couple took the grand stage from the backstage.
The man wore a white suit with a bow tie and the woman was clad in a blue gown with exquisite makeup on her face. They were the emcees for the school’s anniversary celebrations today.
After a brief opening speech, it came to the highlight of today’s banquet—the performances of the school’s anniversary celebrations officially begun.
With a wine glass in her hand, Wen Xinya stood at a corner of the grand hall as she watched the interesting performances on the stage. She had to say that the performances of the school’s anniversary celebrations at the Lan Feng Institute were really up to the mark with really great singing and acting.
“I heard that the freshman, Wen Xinya, will also perform today. Wonder what performance will she be putting up later—I’m so looking forward to it!” Beneath the intense acts happening onstage, students engaged in whispered discussions.
“Surely not! I sit next to a student union member in class—she said that Wen Xinya isn’t going to participate in the school’s anniversary celebrations performance.”
“Your news is outdated! Three days ago, the student union has already posted on the discussion forums confirming that Wen Xinya will participate in the school’s anniversary celebrations performance—you can go check if in doubt.”
“Oh really—then do you know what performance she will be putting up?”
“Nope. The student union didn’t announce.”
“I think it’s quite miraculous. I heard that Wen Xinya led a wandering life for fifteen years. Even if she has the guidance of her Grampy, Old Mr. Mo, in her schoolwork, it can’t be possible that she also has outstanding talents!”
“I heard that she’d originally not prepared to perform. However, due to the voting on the discussion forums, President Chu from the student union personally approached her and requested her to perform. Thus, she had no choice but to perform.”
“Seems like she’s but a dumb wealthy girl who’s slightly stronger academically, yet without the least bit of talent!”
“Exactly! What’s the use of being academically strong as a wealthy girl in the upper-class society—talents are a better boost for reputation.”
As Wen Xinya listened to the discussions offstage, her lips curled up slightly. Everything was exactly as imagined by Xia Ruya—the students of the Institute who had originally spoken positively about her now had their attentions shifted to whether she had outstanding talents.
The Lan Feng Institute had always focused on an all-rounded development. Thus, the majority of the students in the Institute had outstanding talents. And she, as a dumb wealthy girl devoid of talents, in an Institute that focused so much on talents as Lan Feng, seemed to be in even worse shape in comparison.
Naturally, Xia Ruya heard the whisperings all around. She came up beside Wen Xinya with a glass of fruit juice in her hand and asked softly in a concerned and inquisitive voice, “Xinya, you’ve still not confirmed the performance happening in a while?”
She needed to confirm that Wen Xinya had indeed not thought of the performance item instead of having some tricks up her sleeve—after the numerous sparring with Wen Xinya, she did not dare to let her guard down.
“Not yet.” Wen Xinya saw that she wore a snow-white Versace handmade mini gown. The gown’s hem ended right at her knees, the folded hem appearing very flowy, and the simple tailoring appeared grand yet not excessively boastful.
“The emcees asked just now and Big Brother Chu has also especially gotten me to come over and ask you. Xinya, you’ve got to decide quickly!” Xia Ruya looked at Wen Xinya. She was also clad in a snow-white attire, except that the pleats of her skirt were filled with gorgeous white, purple, and blue crepe myrtle flowers which looked peerlessly brilliant when she stood still, yet beautifully charming when she moved.
They were both in snow-white gowns, yet her gown was gorgeously and brilliantly white on her, an elegant and classy aura vaguely seeping through. She subconsciously tugged at her mini gown and actually started to become ashamed of this gown that she had carefully selected for being too quiet.
Wen Xinya frowned and looked very troubled. “Many items have already been performed at the school’s anniversary celebrations. I really don’t know what to perform—why don’t you give me an idea?”
Wen Xinya’s words raised Xia Ruya’s guard—Wen Xinya had always been high and mighty towards her, speaking harshly and sternly. Why did she suddenly seek her input—could she be up to some tricks. “You’re performing as the representative of the freshmen and was slotted in halfway through. Many students of the Institute are focusing on you. Naturally, you can’t perform any ordinary item—otherwise, many freshmen will be unhappy.”
“Then what should I do?” Xia Ruya’s words appeared to be fretting for her but were actually intended to utterly destroy her last resort of putting up just any performance if she couldn’t think of an item. Now, her situation became such that either she put up a spectacular performance or nothing at all.
Xia Ruya observed her expression closely and realized that she indeed looked helpless and unsettled. She thought of how precisely she had plotted this time. Firstly, she had put up a voting post on the discussion forums. Then, she had suggested to Big Brother Chu to invite her to participate in the performance on the pretext of being the representative and role model of the freshmen, making it impossible for her to reject. After confirming that she would perform, she had immediately posted about her upcoming performance on the discussion forums, so that everyone in the Institute knew, and thus looked forward to it greatly.
The greater the expectations, the greater the disappointment, and naturally, the greater the rebound.
Regardless of putting up a bad show or backing out, it would make all the students in the Institute utterly disappointed in her. Additionally, it would embarrass her in front of all the teachers and the president of the Institute—so why not.
Xia Ruya looked at Wen Xinya with hesitation and only tactfully said after a long while, “If you really can’t think of anything, why don’t you just feign illness and not perform.”
Backing out at the last minute—this would suffice to destroy the reputation that Wen Xinya had worked so hard to build at the Lan Feng Institute!