Chapter 34: A Sour Expression

"Thunk—!"

The music abruptly stopped, a piercing screech blaring from the speakers.

This was the first group of students this afternoon whose performance was interrupted halfway.

On the large projection screen at the back of the stage, a silent montage of "Those Years with the Rabbits" continued to play. This background animation wasn't arranged by Guolun Huang for Zhang Liang and his friends; rather, the three students, inspired by "Born Stubborn," took the initiative. They believed the song paired with the animation would be even more stirring and infectious, so they enlisted a classmate skilled at animation to help edit and produce it.

If their performance had been flawless, the animation combined with their spirited singing would have made a powerful impact. Unfortunately, their execution today was simply dreadful.

Zhang Liang, especially, who sang the main melody, seemed completely absent-minded! This guy, when acting in class and eating "dirt" for a skit, had been so natural and confident, never shying away from the spotlight—so why was he so nervous singing on stage today?

Guolun Huang could not fathom it.

After Zhou Gang called a halt, murmurs and whispers rippled through the audience.

Guolun Huang could hear everything clearly. Sometimes, having sharp ears was a curse—things one would rather avoid inevitably found their way in.

For example, students waiting their turn on either side of the seating area were snickering at the trio’s poor singing, some even criticizing the song itself. Worse still, someone muttered sarcastically, "That Teacher Huang is better at reading racy novels than writing songs. What kind of nonsense is this?"

Another student expressed pity for Guolun Huang: "Looks like Teacher Huang really wanted to shine at this school celebration, but now he's going to embarrass himself."

A different student remarked, "I just don’t get it—why did Teacher Huang coach these three clowns for the competition? They can’t rap at all."

The boy next to her disagreed: "You’ve got it backwards. Why did these three blockheads choose Teacher Huang to coach them? And why sing his song? Ridiculous. Anyone with sense knows Teacher Huang is just coasting; his musical ability is far inferior to Teacher Meng’s."

A chubby girl sighed, "Well, this time, Teacher Huang tried to take advantage but ended up losing out."

All these chaotic comments gave Guolun Huang a headache. But what troubled him more was the performance itself.

They had practiced so diligently before, and rehearsed well. How could they fall apart at the crucial moment? This was the rhythm of wasted effort!

Vice Principal Zhou Gang was genuinely infuriated by Zhang Liang and his friends’ disorderly singing, feeling as though they were sabotaging the event. Compared to the high-level rehearsals of the art students trained by Xiaoyun Meng, the trio’s rap was nothing short of garbage.

Zhou Gang, fuming, called out to the staff: "Turn off the animation projection! What’s the point of keeping it on? It’s wasting electricity!"

Zhang Liang and his friends were intimidated by Zhou Gang’s commanding presence. He had previously been the school’s director of discipline, known for his strictness, and was the most feared person among the students—no exceptions.

Already nervous, the trio became completely flustered when Zhou Gang shouted at them, their minds buzzing, bodies feeling plunged into an ice cellar.

Faced with nearly a hundred pairs of eyes and their varied gazes, all that remained in their hearts was embarrassment, humiliation, and confusion.

Not knowing what to do, they looked pleadingly at Guolun Huang, who was seated in the first row as a judge, hoping he would come to their rescue.

Guolun Huang sighed silently, about to muster his courage to ask Zhou Gang to give the students another chance.

But Xiaoyun Meng, seated nearby, spoke up first: "Principal Zhou, these three students are just too nervous. This isn’t their true level. I’ve seen them rehearse this song before—they sang very well. Maybe let them try again?"

"What good is practicing well? Which athlete doesn’t train hard in private? But if they can’t deliver at the actual competition, it’s all for nothing! We need key performances; if students do well on practice exams but fail the college entrance exam, all their previous effort is wasted!" Zhou Gang was still furious. He knew Zhang Liang, the lead, was a problem student, and from his tone, it was clear he didn’t want someone like Zhang Liang onstage for the school celebration.

Hearing his words, Xiaoyun Meng dared not offer further suggestions.

In fact, she personally hoped Guolun Huang’s group would appear in the celebration performance.

Meng and Huang both taught music, so there was a bit of competition, but because Guolun Huang was so unambitious at work and never vied for anything, there was no conflict between them. Instead, they were good colleagues who supported each other.

Someone like Guolun Huang—wealthy, with deep ties in the educational world, easy-going, and pleasant—was someone every teacher in the school wanted to maintain good relations with.

Even the serious Zhou Gang treated him warmly in daily life.

Although Guolun Huang had once made a formal apology at a staff meeting for reading questionable novels, the school leadership and teachers treated it as a humorous anecdote and never held it against him.

Guolun Huang’s lack of ambition at work was widely acknowledged. School leaders were disappointed in him because of his lack of drive; with his attitude, they couldn’t lift him up even if they tried.

But when it came to personal relations, every teacher and leader at the Experimental School wanted to stay on good terms with him.

Who doesn’t have family events, happy or sad? If they ever needed to buy top-notch cemetery plots for a departed loved one, having a connection with Guolun Huang meant they could ask him for help.

Not that they were taking advantage of him, but by buying burial plots from his family, they knew they wouldn’t get cheated.

For that reason alone, there was no reason not to befriend him.

Moreover, Old Master Huang’s influence in the education world after so many years was almost equal to that of a bureau chief.

If anyone needed help in the educational circle, they could use Guolun Huang’s connections.

Even those who secretly envied or resented him would always treat him well on the surface.

Initially, Zhou Gang truly wanted to give Guolun Huang a chance to shine, to bring his coached students onto the school celebration stage.

But after seeing the trio’s performance, Zhou Gang’s anger rose uncontrollably!

He felt that Guolun Huang’s initiative in coaching students this time was nothing but perfunctory!

In terms of work, this guy was indeed unreliable—so disappointing!

Zhou Gang glared at the lyrics in his hand, berating Guolun Huang: "Teacher Huang, you wrote such good lyrics—‘I am proud of my country, let the five-star red flag fly freely!’ Why didn’t you make it a mainstream piece? If you can’t write it yourself, why not ask Teacher Meng to help? Why turn it into this mishmash? What kind of nonsense are you coaching these students to sing? You’ve ruined a fine piece!"

A clever assistant quickly brought Zhou Gang some tea to help him cool off.

Guolun Huang replied, "Principal Zhou, you have things backwards. The purpose of my song was to write something more in line with youth trends, better suited for our energetic students—a rap piece. With that concept and main melody, I wrote the lyrics."

Zhou Gang snapped, "Don’t talk to me about technical details. I only care about results! Like the college entrance exam—our school focuses on admission rates, top universities. What use is a good idea? Without results, even the best intention is meaningless!"

Guolun Huang, undeterred, continued the discussion, "You always compare our rehearsal to the college exam, but I disagree. I think today’s rehearsal is more like a diagnostic test, not the final exam. Next year’s celebration is the real exam."

"Oh? Are you arguing with me now?" Zhou Gang was so angry he almost laughed.

"I’m not arguing. Please have some tea, calm down, and consider whether I might be right. Today’s rehearsal is at most a diagnostic test. Such tests help students understand their position, but more importantly, they allow students to make mistakes and learn from them. That’s the real purpose of rehearsal. Mistakes are inevitable—even professionals slip up in rehearsal. When problems arise, you find the cause and fix them; that’s what rehearsal is for."

"The problem is, the performance these three students just showed—does it look like a matter to be fixed? If this is a diagnostic test, they scored 300 out of 750. With that score, they want to get into Peking University? Impossible! The main purpose of this rehearsal is not to allow for mistakes, but to weed out the underperformers! They know this themselves—if they do badly today, tomorrow they won’t have a chance to perform formally. Their performance was poor; what more is there to say? Off the stage, now!"

Zhou Gang sternly admonished the trio: "Go back and study hard. Stop messing around!"

Zhang Liang was so angered by Zhou Gang’s scolding that he wanted to lash out. However, he knew he wasn’t the type to hit a teacher. He could only swallow his frustration and bow, pleading, "Director Zhou, please, just give us one more chance. Teacher Huang’s song is really good. We truly want to do well tomorrow and present it as a tribute to our alma mater."

That fool Zhang Liang actually called Zhou Gang "Director," which only aggravated him further.

Zhou Gang replied coldly, "Don’t waste my time with useless talk! If you wanted to do well, why didn’t you practice harder before? Now you think you can get on stage with half-baked preparation? What a joke! Off with you! Don’t waste everyone’s time!"

Seeing Zhou Gang so harshly dismiss the three students, Guolun Huang couldn’t bear it anymore.

His expression soured, rarely so. Normally, only when Tao Huang, his daughter, acted up uncontrollably would he show such a low-pressure face.