167. Welcome Gala

The freshman welcome party was organized by the Literature and Art Club of the Student Union. Those who signed up to participate included newcomers recruited by the Student Union itself, newcomers from various clubs, and those who registered in the name of their classes, like Chen Ruowen and her peers.

Because military training was dismissed early that afternoon, Guo Jingyuan brought the registration forms and several classmates who had passed the preliminary class screening to the Nanjing University Activity Center.

The assembly room, which had once been used for winter camp selections, was already packed with people waiting for someone from the next room to call their names for the audition.

"Hey, did you know? I heard from a classmate that this welcome party has backstage connections. People from the Literature and Art Club itself can just sign up and get on stage; they don't need to go through the selection process at all!"

"No way, isn't that super unfair to everyone else? What if their own people perform terribly? Wouldn't that ruin the effect of the entire party?"

"That's why they bother holding auditions! If they encounter a really good act that they can't plagiarize, they'll just force those people in!"

"You mean..."

Listening to the whispering behind her, a hint of worry flashed across Guo Jingyuan's brows and eyes.

"Ruowen, this..."

"Let's wait and see." Chen Ruowen's expression remained calm. She poked the small furrow between Guo Jingyuan's brows. "Don't believe everything people tell you. You're far too gullible."

Guo Jingyuan rubbed her forehead, smiled, and nodded.

The whispering in the back row continued. After comforting several classmates who were also sitting on pins and needles due to the rumors, she waited for about twenty minutes before an upperclassman finally appeared at the doorway of the assembly room.

"Guo Jingyuan, Li Mi, Ma Ke, Cheng Xiang, Li Yongjian, come to the audition room to get ready."

During registration, only one person needed to be listed for each act. Since Chen Ruowen disliked being in the spotlight, their act was registered under Guo Jingyuan's name. Those whose names were called took their partners and went to the adjacent audition room. Chen Ruowen noticed that the two boys from the back row who had been whispering the entire time also followed them, though she wasn't sure which ones on the list they were.

In the audition room, several people were performing on stage. Chen Ruowen glanced over and unexpectedly spotted a few more acquaintances.

Ma Yunan, Mo Xiaoxin, Gao Legao—that is, little Gao from the same winter camp group—along with a few people she didn't recognize well, were performing a short play. The script's author was unknown, but it was utterly nonsensical; in the three minutes they had been watching, the audience had already burst into laughter more than a dozen times.

Chen Ruowen glanced at the judges on the podium, then looked out the window, and pulled out her phone to check the time.

"Do you think this act will pass?" It was that male student from the back row again.

"It probably will, right? It's so hilarious; it would be weird if it didn't pass."

"Hah, I bet you anything it won't pass!" The boy pointed to a corner in the back of the audition room. "See that? Someone over there is recording with their phone. Without a doubt, this act is going to be stolen and used by the Literature Department itself."

"No, you're kidding, right?"

Once the performance on stage concluded, Ma Yunan and the others excitedly bowed to the podium and the audience, tugging at each other's sleeves. They had great confidence in the sketch they had written and arranged. Although the preparation had been a bit rushed, the audience's response just now had been exceptionally warm, so it definitely had to pass.

The judges on the podium discussed among themselves for a moment, and finally, the one sitting in the middle picked up a registration form.

"This is *The Female Top Scholar* by Gao Legao's team, correct?"

Hearing the name of the team leader, the waiting audience in the seats unconsciously chuckled.

"The one talking is Han Guanglin, the Head of the Literature Department—the most despicable and shameless of them all." The boy in the back row resumed his role as a low-voiced commentator.

The boy talking with him chuckled. "Han Guanglin? His name is funnier than Gao Legao."

Hearing the Head of the Literature Department personally ask a question, Gao Legao immediately put his utmost attention into it.

"Yes, this script was written together by Ma Yunan and me."

"Then you guys are quite talented." Han Guanglin flipped through the form in his hand and asked again, "With such talent, why didn't you sign up to join the Literature Department?"

Han Guanglin had asked this same question to several other groups of students earlier, and Gao Legao had prepared an answer.

"Well... I heard the Student Union has a lot of meetings, and I'm not someone who can sit still for long, hehe."

"Those are all rumors." Han Guanglin shook his head and finally began evaluating the act. "The creativity is not bad, and the script is written quite humorously, but your performance was not quite on point. It's a bit of a pity. Keep working hard next time."

Gao Legao and the others froze for a moment, seemingly not expecting to be rejected just like that.

"Senior, we only finished writing this script two days ago. I'm sure the issue with the performance not being quite on point can be resolved through rehearsals."

Han Guanglin shook his head once more, and the boy in the back row chimed in with his commentary right on cue.

"Told you this act wouldn't pass. Watch, 'Welcome' is about to start putting on a show right now."

They heard Han Guanglin say, shaking his head, "I have to be responsible for my program. Everyone has roughly the same amount of time for rehearsals. Under equal conditions, if someone else performs better than you, of course I will give priority to them."

"But Senior..."

"Alright, get the next group ready—"

Gao Legao's gaze dimmed slightly. As the group dejectedly prepared to step down, Mo Xiaoxin, who had been standing silently to the side, finally couldn't help but cry out.

"—You're lying!" Mo Xiaoxin clenched her fists and glared angrily at Han Guanglin. "The sketch performed by the group before us wasn't even as good as ours, yet you let them pass simply because they agreed to join the Literature Department! And what about that dance just because they refused to join the Student Union, you didn't let them pass! All that talk about being responsible for the program is just a lie!"

The atmosphere in the room shifted instantly. Some people who knew the inside story completely agreed with Mo Xiaoxin's words, but others would only dare think it—unlike this clueless girl who actually pointed it out to his face.

"This is bad, Han Guanglin holds grudges. He's definitely going to make trouble for this girl later!" the boy in the back row whispered in shock.

Han Guanglin picked up the registration form in front of him and looked at it over and over again.

"A freshman from the School of Computer Science, right? Good, good, very good." Han Guanglin said "good" three times in a row and slammed the registration form hard onto the table. "I didn't want to spell it out bluntly, but since you refuse to accept it, I'll lay out all the problems right here!

The story you wrote is about a woman disguising herself as a man to take the imperial examination—the very premise of this story makes no sense! How could something as important as the imperial exams not involve checking household registration, allowing anyone to just impersonate someone else so casually? And look at your actors: the female characteristics are so obvious, yet the characters in the play pretend to be blind and fail to recognize it. Does that make any logical sense?

And your lines! The story is set in ancient times, yet the dialogue is so modern with so many internet slang terms. The whole story is an absolute mess, completely worthless except for trying to be funny. You expect a program like this to pass the review? In your dreams!"

By this point, even the onlookers watching the drama were dumbfounded.

This Han Guanglin was simply nitpicking on purpose!