On the afternoon of the second day, all the students from the Art Institute who promised to participate in the program arrived at Jiangling College on time.
They each performed their respective programs.
After the seven performances ended, Xu Xiuwen had not yet spoken, and the Head of the Literary and Arts Department, Ning Rong, decisively said, "It's them!"
Xu Xiuwen was confident in the students from the Art Institute, but he was still amazed by their performances; their level was quite professional.
Especially the senior sister who sang Huangmei opera, once she started her performance, even the boys with weak constitutions probably felt weak in the knees.
For someone like him who had endurance, it was also very enjoyable to watch.
The Marketing major of the Management and Engineering Department reported a song performance, the Accounting major reported a magic show, and the Software Information major reported three performances, including Xu Xiuwen and Shen Minyao's song performance, as well as Bai Yue'er's dance performance.
In total, there were 12 performances.
Usually, preparing about fourteen to fifteen performances for the party would suffice.
Yang Baishan found someone from the neighboring sports school to help and recruited a gymnastics performance.
Dong Jun contacted the school's choir and brought in a group of people to perform a large choir piece.
Others didn't particularly like the idea of a large choir, feeling it wasn't suitable for the freshman welcoming party.
But Xu Xiuwen was the exception; he felt a large choir was perfect for this event with an evaluative aspect.
However, the choir songs needed careful selection.
The members of the choir wanted to sing English songs, but Xu Xiuwen thought it wasn't a good idea and suggested a different song.
After careful consideration, he believed that singing a patriotic song would be best. After discussion, they settled on the song "My Patriotic Heart."
Since many people didn't like the idea of a large choir, Xu Xiuwen managed to go against the consensus.
He said to everyone, "This program is decided."
But Cheng Lu, who had been silent, spoke up.
She gave Xu Xiuwen a blank look and said, "Decided? Why decide? Just because you're in charge, you don't consider others' opinions? I was sent here by the University to help, and you don't listen to my ideas?"
When others spoke, Xu Xiuwen would usually assert his authority as the leader, but with Cheng Lu, he naturally didn't do that.
He really liked the idea of the large choir, but he could only ask Cheng Lu, "So, what's your idea?"
Cheng Lu stared at him for a moment and suddenly said, "My idea is... to go with them."
Seeing the smile on Cheng Lu's lips, Xu Xiuwen realized he had been fooled.
He was surprised; he didn't expect Cheng Lu to have such a mischievous side.
Anyway, the program was decided.
So, there were fourteen performances, which was enough, actually even fifteen would be fine.
Xu Xiuwen originally planned for fourteen, but someone approached him.
It was the school's Crosstalk Society.
During the last school welcoming party, the Crosstalk Society's performance fell flat and almost ruined the atmosphere of the event.
If it weren't for Xu Xiuwen's impressive performance later, the event might have ended disappointingly.
The two members of the Crosstalk Society who participated in the program were severely scolded by their president after they returned.
This time, upon hearing that Jiangling was organizing the departmental welcoming party, the president of the Crosstalk Society saw it as an opportunity to restore the honor of the society and approached Xu Xiuwen proactively.
Originally, Xu Xiuwen didn't want a crosstalk performance, but he couldn't resist the president's earnest assurance, so he reluctantly agreed.
Thus, the program was set, with a total of fifteen performances.
Among them, there were three language-related performances: sketch comedy, crosstalk, and Huangmei opera; four dance performances: street dance, ballet, Bai Yue'er's solo dance, and a group dance from the school's dance society; five song performances: a male-female duet from the marketing major, Shen Minyao's solo, Xu Xiuwen's solo, a female solo from the Arts Institute, and a choir performance from the school's choir; and three other types of performances: a magic show from the accounting major, a guzheng solo from the Arts Institute, and a fitness routine from the sports school.
After careful consideration and discussion, the order of performances was also arranged.
It started with the guzheng solo from the Arts Institute, Xu Xiuwen's male solo as the climax, and the choir's grand finale.
Once the program was finalized, preparations and rehearsals began.
Xu Xiuwen was responsible for managing and coordinating each performance.
This task was not easy.
He had to take care of each performance.
Any mistakes or unexpected issues during rehearsals had to be resolved promptly.
Moreover, with fifteen performances involving so many people and several institutions, coordinating everyone's schedules was not a simple matter.
Xu Xiuwen was busy from dawn till dusk every day.
Time flew by, and almost half a month had passed.
On the night of December 30th, in Jiangling College's auditorium.
At 9:30 PM, the final rehearsal for today ended.
Because they had been rehearsing in the auditorium for the past three days, they had already rehearsed many times.
Despite some stumbling at the beginning, things had become smoother as they progressed.
The effects of each performance were also quite good.
Everyone, including Xu Xiuwen, was confident about tomorrow night's event.
After returning to the dormitory from the auditorium, Xu Xiuwen collapsed on his bed from exhaustion.
He slept for six hours, and at 5 AM the next morning, he was the first to wake up. He then woke up all his roommates and together they rushed to the auditorium.
There were no rehearsals this morning; they still had two rounds of rehearsals in the afternoon.
They rushed to the auditorium now to arrange it before the rehearsals began.
They couldn't let the performers do these tasks, and with mostly female class monitors and female group leaders in several classes, many tasks couldn't be done. So, they had to get all the male students from the Software Information major to help out.
Whether it was the remaining four members of 412 or other male students, none of them complained.
After all, it was the Management and Engineering Department's event, and as students of the Management and Engineering Department, they were all willing to contribute.
Nearly a dozen male students worked tirelessly until nearly ten o'clock, and the entire auditorium was finally set up.
During this time, members of the Literary and Arts Department, as well as female class monitors and female group leaders from the other three classes, gradually arrived at the auditorium.
Cheng Lu was the last one to arrive.
After she arrived, she felt embarrassed and said, "You've all worked hard."
During these days, Cheng Lu sometimes took leave to come and help, so Xu Xiuwen often spent time with her.
Although there didn't seem to be much change in their relationship, observant people would notice that they were talking more often, and Cheng Lu was often amused by Xu Xiuwen's words.
Every night, Xu Xiuwen would walk Cheng Lu back to her dormitory.
Of course, all of this was kept secret from everyone, even Yang Baishan had no idea that Xu Xiuwen escorted Cheng Lu back to her dormitory every night.
Because they had become much closer, when Xu Xiuwen saw Cheng Lu, he exclaimed, "We're so hungry, we're practically starving!"
Cheng Lu gave him a playful glare and said, "No one else is complaining of hunger, are you just being delicate?"
The boys immediately chimed in unison, "We're so hungry!"
Cheng Lu didn't say anything, just turned and walked out of the auditorium.
The boys watched her leave, wondering where she was going.
After a short while, Cheng Lu returned.
She was carrying a black plastic bag.
Walking over to the boys, she said, "The cafeteria is closed, so I bought some braised eggs from the small shop nearby. It's not much, but it'll have to do for now."
She then went around and handed each person two eggs, but conspicuously didn't give any to Xu Xiuwen.
Xu Xiuwen was about to speak.