"Sister Yutong, get down here! Get down here! Something huge is happening!"
Liu Yutong had just arrived at the dorm and hadn't even put her backpack down when Li Xiaohui burst through the door, shouting urgently at her.
Liu Yutong was caught off guard by her energy: "What's wrong? Why are you in such a panic?"
"Don't tell me someone's picking a fight on campus?"
That would take some serious nerve.
"Oh no, it's not that! Stop asking—just come with me, that's all you need to do." Li Xiaohui grabbed Liu Yutong by the wrist and dragged her out the door.
Liu Yutong stumbled forward, one of her shoes nearly flying off her foot: "Little Hui, slow down! What is going on?"
"You'll see when we get there! Hee hee hee..."
Li Xiaohui let out a weird little giggle, casually wiped the corner of her mouth, and pulled Liu Yutong toward the stairwell, sprinting all the way.
A few classmates in the hallway, holding books, saw the scene. They froze for a second, then, as if remembering something all at once, tossed their books back in the dorm and chased after them.
Liu Yutong had a vague feeling something was off, but she couldn't for the life of her figure out what Li Xiaohui was up to.
The two ran out of the dormitory building, crossed the main road lined with plane trees, and headed straight for the sports ground.
Along the way, Liu Yutong noticed something very strange: the campus was too quiet.
Sure, it was the weekend, but usually there would still be plenty of people around at this hour. Yet she hadn't seen a single soul the entire way. It was bizarre.
"Little Hui, slow down! What's going on?"
"Shh~ We're here!"
Li Xiaohui stopped abruptly, pointing ahead with the proud look of someone showing off a treasure.
"Ta-da! Take a look!"
Liu Yutong stepped forward a few paces, glanced down at the sports ground below, and froze.
The field was packed with people—a sea of heads as far as the eye could see.
This wasn't just a few hundred people. There were at least a few thousand, maybe more.
Freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and a scattering of seniors had all shown up at the school, and even the teachers were out there on the field.
And every single one of them was holding something in their hands.
The moment Liu Yutong appeared—
A blinding spotlight suddenly blasted from the platform on the far side of the field, engulfing her entirely in its beam.
At the same time.
The students, as if receiving a signal, all lit up whatever they were holding at once—they were glow sticks.
Thousands of glow sticks were ignited in nearly the same instant.
Red, yellow, green, blue, purple... a dazzling array of colors burst to life, transforming the entire sports ground into a shimmering, rippling sea of stars.
Then, all at once, the crowd shouted in unison, their voices thunderously loud.
"Liu Yutong! Happy birthday!!!"
Nearly ten thousand voices converged into one, enough to make your scalp tingle from the vibrations.
Liu Yutong stood frozen in place, not knowing what to say or how to express the storm of emotions inside her. It felt like sand had gotten in her eyes.
She'd never really celebrated her birthday growing up.
She'd never let anyone celebrate it for her either.
She'd grown used to that.
But today...
"Hee hee hee... Sister Yutong, surprise? Excited?" Li Xiaohui hopped out from beside her, holding up a giant purple glow board that she'd somehow conjured out of nowhere. Written on it in neon marker were the words: [The best Sister Yutong in the world, happy birthday!]
Below that, she'd drawn a crooked little smiley face.
"Little Hui, what have you all..." Liu Yutong's voice caught slightly, and she found herself at a loss for words.
"Don't be mad, Sister Yutong. I know you don't like celebrating your birthday, but we all really wanted to do this for you. Truly."
"Don't worry—I cleared it with the principal in advance. He said have fun, just try not to tear down the school."
Liu Yutong was speechless at that.
The principal really was... so open-minded there was nothing left to say.
"And there's more, more!"
Li Xiaohui spun around and pulled out a megaphone straight out of the movies, aiming it at the crowd.
"Begin!"
The moment she said it, the students gathered in the middle of the field moved back in perfect sync, clearing an open space.
A temporary stage was revealed, already set up with a drum kit, guitars, keyboards, bass... every kind of instrument you could name.
Before long, members of the school's music club walked up to the center and started playing.
They played the happy birthday song, but the arrangement had been reworked to a much livelier tempo.
Nearly ten thousand students immediately started waving their glow sticks to the rhythm, singing along.
"Happy birthday to you~ Happy birthday to you~"
Li Xiaohui pulled Liu Yutong to the very middle of the field, and the students formed a circle around her, like stars orbiting the moon.
"Sister Yutong, don't just stand there!"
Li Xiaohui had somehow managed to appear again, still holding that giant purple board in front of her, shaking it right in Yutong's face: "This is just the beginning—the real surprise hasn't come yet!"
She then grabbed a walkie-talkie, pushed the button, and called out: "Let's go."
From the open area at the east side of the field came a deep, rumbling boom.
BANG!
Everyone, as if on cue, lifted their heads and looked at the night sky.
A golden trail of light shot up into the air, dragging a long fiery tail behind it, and exploded high above with a thunderous crack—blossoming into an enormous golden peony. Layer upon layer of petals unfurled slowly outward, painting half the sky in radiant gold.
"Fireworks! They're fireworks!"
"Oh my god! That's gorgeous!"
"Look, look, here comes another one!"
"..."
Then came the second volley, the third, the fourth... countless fireworks rose simultaneously from all four corners of the campus—reds, golds, purples—illuminating the entire sky.
Among them, dozens of golden fireworks formed the dragon emblem of the Wanlong Society, and it was nothing short of breathtaking.
Not long after the emblem faded, over a hundred more fireworks shot into the sky at once, exploding at the highest point to form a huge line of text—【Happy Birthday to The Young Lady!】
Those words hung in the night sky for a good ten-plus seconds before slowly dissolving.
The whole city of Mingzhu was shaken.
On the streets outside campus, passersby stopped in their tracks, all craning their necks to stare at the sky lit up by fireworks—a sight beyond words.
"No way, what's going on? So many fireworks!"
"Incredible! How much did this cost?"
"I've never seen fireworks this amazing in my entire life."
"Same here. This makes New Year's look like a joke!"
"Ridiculous amounts of money!"
"Look, there are even words in the sky—someone's birthday?"
"Rumor has it it's the Young Lady of the Wanlong Society."
"Now that's impressive."
"..."
The firework show lasted close to a full hour before it finally wound down.
As Liu Yutong was still savoring the moment, she heard a soft, sweet little voice by her ear.
"Big sis! Big sis!"
Through the crowd came her grandpa and grandma, holding a little round-faced bundle of cuteness in their arms, walking straight toward her.
Yaya was wearing a snow-white little princess dress today, with two round little buns on her head tied with pink hair ties, looking just like a doll that had stepped right out of a fairy tale book.
Her two little hands were also holding a bouquet of fresh flowers.
“Sister! Happy birthday!”
Liu Yutong bent down to take the flowers and gave Yaya a kiss on the forehead: “Thank you, Yaya.”
“Sweetheart, happy birthday!” Grandpa and Grandma also smiled and offered their birthday wishes.
“Thank you, Grandpa and Grandma!”
Just then, the principal also walked over with a cheerful chuckle.
This principal, who was always stern on a daily basis, had surprisingly worn a bright red traditional Chinese Tang suit today, looking all jolly and full of good cheer.
“Principal, how come you’re here too?” Liu Yutong said with a smile while holding the flowers, greeting him.
Principal: “Liu Yutong, today is your birthday. How could I, as your principal, not come?”
With that, he pulled out a document from behind him and handed it to Liu Yutong.
“What is this?”
“Take a look and you’ll see.”
Liu Yutong opened the document, and after reading the words on it, she froze.
[After deliberation by the university party committee, it has been decided to grant Liu Yutong the honorary title of ‘Distinguished Alumna’ and to appoint her as an Honorary Professor of the University of Finance and Economics.]
“Principal, I haven’t even graduated yet. Isn’t this inappropriate?”
“Oh, it’s perfectly appropriate.”
“Do you have any idea how much pressure you, a current student, are putting on your fellow classmates? Plenty of them feel utterly hopeless after seeing your resume.” The principal made a little joke.
“I figured I might as well give you a promotion. Anyway, being an Honorary Professor is just an honorary title—you don’t need to come to class every day. It’s enough if you can occasionally come back to campus when you have some free time and share your experiences with the younger students.”
Liu Yutong closed the document and nodded: “Thank you, Principal.”
The principal laughed heartily: “What’s there to thank me for? I’m honored that our school could have such an outstanding alumna as you.”
With that, he stepped aside and waved to the crowd: “Students, what are you waiting for? Bring out the cake and let’s get this party going!”
Liu Yutong: “.....”
She never expected the principal to be this... festive too.
Very soon, one cart after another was slowly wheeled out.
On every cart sat a giant eight-tier cake, each tier a different color and flavor, with a specially made firework candle on top, crackling and sparking away.
And on the side of every cake, different blessing messages were written in cream.
It looked like the school had really spared no expense this time.
From organizing the students to make such a huge fuss, to the singing and the cakes—and the fireworks were clearly arranged by the Yunchéng people.
Under everyone’s gaze, Liu Yutong closed her eyes, made a wish, and blew out the candles.
Then she took the microphone, looked at everyone present, and expressed her gratitude.
“Thank you all for your wishes!”
“To thank you all for celebrating my birthday so grandly, I announce that all your expenses tonight are on me!”
“Everyone, eat your fill and have a great time!!!”
“Ah!!!!”
“Yutong, you’re awesome!!!” A wave of cheers soared into the sky.
