453: Chapter 453 The Second and Third Place Winners Are All Here—Bonus Chapter of "The New Type of Salted Fish"

These words were like a match,

And the moment it was struck, the air in the corridor, which had been pressed extremely low, suddenly burst into flames.

The corridor first fell into a brief silence,

Then someone suddenly lowered their head to scroll through their phone, while another looked up at Xu Changge's face,

And waves of muffled exclamations began to squeeze out.

"Xu Changge?!"

"Wait, the grandson of Mr. Xu Zhengqing?"

"Holy crap, for real? Let me see the photo!"

The light from phone screens lit up one after another among the crowd,

Some searched the news, while others flipped through screenshots of the award ceremony,

And others zoomed in on photos, looking up to compare inch by inch.

The same eyes, the same temperament, and that same composure that came from the bones and didn't need to be deliberately maintained.

The sound of sharp intakes of breath came from all directions.

The color drained from the tall boy's face bit by bit.

Xu Changge.

The grandson of Mr. Xu Zhengqing, the most highly regarded young man from a century-old family in the beijing school literary world,

And also the second-place winner in Fu Zhi Yao Competition finals who had been repeatedly studied by countless university literary societies.

He had just been standing here, using the three rulers of 'meter, imagery density, and precision of allusions' to measure a poem.

But Xu Changge had only deconstructed a few lines just now,

And it had already pressed down on the three rulers in his hand until they felt heavy—so heavy that for a moment, he didn't know how to lift them again.

The tall boy's hand holding the pen froze in mid-air, the tip of the pen tracing a crooked ink mark on the edge of the printed manuscript.

He looked down at it, and that ink mark seemed to suddenly tear through all the certainty he had just felt.

Xu Changge stood where he was, his expression not changing at all.

To him, being recognized was neither unexpected nor worth responding to.

He merely turned his body slightly, yielding some space as if making room for the person behind him.

Chen Jiahao's eyes darted around, and a grin suddenly spread across his face.

He knew exactly how to take over this scene.

"Oh, well, since you've all recognized him."

As soon as he stepped forward, someone nearby already thought he looked familiar,

As if they had seen him in the live broadcast of Fu Zhi Yao Competition award ceremony, but before that person could find the photo,

Chen Jiahao had already clapped his arm around Dan Yi's shoulder.

"Let me introduce him to everyone!"

Chen Jiahao's voice reached its maximum volume, full of vigor, like a host standing in the center of a stage.

"This person! The third-place winner of the swaying support National Essay Competition! Danyi Lopivich!"

Being held by him, Dan Yi's shoulder line clearly stiffened for a moment.

He subconsciously wanted to pull away, but his peripheral vision caught Lin Que standing calmly at the edge of the crowd.

That resistance stalled in his chest for half a second before he finally suppressed it.

He didn't break away; he only pushed the brim of his hat up half an inch.

That deeply-contoured mixed-race face was fully exposed to everyone's sight.

A high bridge of the nose, deep-set eye sockets, and gray-blue pupils glinting coldly under the autumn sun.

Such a face had once been remembered by countless people through the cameras of Fu Zhi Yao Competition award ceremony.

Almost everyone who had seen the live broadcast of Fu Zhi Yao Competition awards reacted instantly, and those who hadn't were quickly pushed by their companions to look up the photos.

In the live footage of Fu Zhi Yao Competition award ceremony, the boy in third place completely overlapped with the person before them.

"Is it really Dan Yi?"

"The mixed-race one! The one who wrote 'the ice surface of black river'!"

"My god, both the second and third place are here?"

The commotion in the crowd grew even louder.

The tall boy and the members of his literary society were now like they were nailed to the spot.

The printed manuscript in his hand was gripped into a deep crease, and the pen cap pressed against his fingertip, leaving a bruised-looking mark.

Second place. Third place.

Two of the nation's top young geniuses had been standing right in front of them just now,

Listening to them use a few rulers from their club's study session to nitpick a poem.

The feeling was like loudly critiquing a famous painting for its poor composition in one's own living room,

Only to turn around and find two top-tier peers at the door who could deconstruct the brushwork down to the bone.

Chen Jiahao's smile became increasingly radiant, and his shoulders straightened a bit more than before, as if he had just planted a great flag in the middle of the crowd.

But after his gaze swept across the scene, it naturally drifted back for a glance.

The onlookers also fell silent at this moment.

Because the position Xu Changge had yielded, the direction Chen Jiahao had just subconsciously looked toward,

And the spot where Dan Yi had remained standing all pointed silently toward the same person.

Among the top three of Fu Zhi Yao Competition,

The third place, Dan Yi, was here.

The second place, Xu Changge, was here.

The remaining name was already on the tip of everyone's tongue.

One, then two,

More and more gazes passed over Chen Jiahao, passed over Dan Yi, and passed over Xu Changge,

Finally converging, circle by circle, onto the boy at the edge of the crowd.

That boy looked far too ordinary.

A navy blue hoodie, dark cargo pants, and a pair of canvas shoes.

Like any student who had come to Beihai Park for a stroll in the early morning.

Compared to the boy standing under the lights of the podium in the news photos,

At this moment, he was tucked away at the edge of the corridor, his features softened by the autumn light, looking so relaxed he seemed like just a student passing by to buy breakfast.

But now, gaze after gaze bypassed Xu Changge and Dan Yi, finally pressing down entirely on him.

The second and third place were both here.

The one wearing the most ordinary clothes, standing the furthest away, and who had barely spoken from beginning to end, had instead become the final answer.

A wild guess spread through the minds of everyone in the corridor like a wildfire.

The tall boy's Adam's apple bobbed.

His gaze was fixed firmly on the face of the boy in the navy blue hoodie.

Chen Jiahao's mouth was already open, and that name was hanging on the tip of his tongue, needing only one last breath to let it out.

Lin Que glanced at him.

That glance was very light, but the sound in Chen Jiahao's throat came to a dead stop, and the name on the tip of his tongue was firmly pressed back.

Chen Jiahao understood.

In such a situation, if the name were shouted from his mouth, the weight of it would be much less.

They had to recognize him themselves.

The air in the corridor felt as if half of it had been sucked away; everyone held their breath, waiting for the final shoe to drop.

Lin Que, however, unhurriedly stuffed his hands back into his hoodie pockets, his gaze passing over everyone's heads to land on the reflection of the White Pagoda on the lake's surface.

In the distance, a security guard in a Beihai Park uniform rode past on an electric scooter,

The small loudspeaker still playing on a loop:

"Visitors, please take note: please do not make loud noises within the park area."

Yet at this very moment, the corridor was incredibly silent.

That reminder seemed to drift in from far away, and instead made everyone's heartbeats sound even clearer.

In everyone's ears, only the sound of their own heartbeats remained.

The next second,

Someone in the crowd finally called out that name with a trembling voice.

"Lin Que!"

...