Chapter 17
Author's Note: How many chapters... I'm not entirely sure about the exact number either, but it should be at least ninety thousand words. You know, A-Yi is straight, after all~~~~~~
"Cute? Where exactly do I look cute?" I stared at my reflection in the mirror, searching for any connection to the word "cute." "My eyebrows are pretty thick—barely meeting the standard for a sword eyebrow, I suppose. My nose is quite prominent too. Don't they say in face-reading that this kind of nose brings smooth sailing and wealth? My eyes aren't big, but they're functional. Big eyes容易近视—I have small eyes that gather light better. As for my face shape... hmm, it's a bit round, but overall it's still an inverted melon seed face."
I muttered to myself, recalling everything I knew about physiognomy and facial features. In the end, I arrived at a conclusion of slightly above average.
"Is this really what they call cute?" I raised my arms like a bodybuilder, striking a pose, then waggled my head side to side. No matter how I looked at it, I was just an ordinary guy, at best mildly handsome. No one would ever mistake me for a woman, and I definitely had nothing in common with cute anime characters.
"Could it be my skin?" Thinking about that unfortunate "tofu theory," I touched my face. It did feel smooth to the touch, and it did have some connection to tofu, but that was about it. Plenty of guys had good skin. Like Shangguan, for instance—his face never had so much as a pimple.
I couldn't figure it out. I pursed my lips and was about to leave when suddenly there was a splash of water, followed by the click of a door lock. A man walked out of the stall behind me.
I immediately turned to stone!
A man! There was another man in the restroom! Of course, this was the men's room, so of course the person walking out would be a man. But when did this man come in? I had clearly done reconnaissance!
The man walked to the sink with unhurried grace, a faint smile playing on his handsome face. My heartbeat grew faster and faster, my face growing redder and redder. Looking in the mirror, I looked like a red-dyed egg used for celebration—purely for festive occasions.
The man walked over to where I stood and placed his hand under the faucet. He glanced at me sideways, his expression neutral, but that one glance was like suddenly spotting a budding rose in an icy snowfield—it struck me with a breathtaking beauty.
My heart raced even faster. I broke out in a cold sweat from nervousness.
The man turned away, squeezed out some hand soap, and began washing his hands very carefully. I secretly breathed a sigh of relief and was about to leave when I heard a low, clear voice: "You really are cute."
Boom!
Volcano erupting, magma spewing, typhoon making landfall...
I fled the restroom without even turning my head, escaping like a refugee. I'd barely made it two steps out when Shangguan called. This time he didn't scold me—just gave me the room number for the karaoke place.
When I arrived on the fifth floor and turned the corner, I saw Shangguan right away. I hurried over and habitually explained: "Um, I was in the restroom just now."
Shangguan tilted the corner of his mouth. "Go on in."
When we reached room 0533, just as I was about to push the door open, Shangguan suddenly grabbed me. "Are you... okay?"
"Huh?"
"Your face is really red. Do you have a fever?"
"N-no, no, I don't." I mumbled some vague response, not daring to lift my head. Shangguan was terrifyingly shrewd—I was really afraid that if I said a few more words, I'd accidentally reveal my embarrassing behavior from earlier.
Inside the karaoke room, Xiaowei and Yilin were dueting with microphones. I secretly breathed a sigh of relief, choosing a seat as far away from Qianqian as possible, trying my best to make myself small. I hoped these people still remembered my horrifying singing voice and wouldn't pressure me to get on stage.
My prayers held true for a while, but after Shangguan himself was pressured into singing some English song I didn't know the name of and couldn't understand, everyone's attention turned back to me.
"I'm a terrible singer. I go completely off-key—it's scary."
I resisted with all my might, but as before, after several rounds of tug-of-war, I had no choice but to comply with the popular demand. After all, singing couldn't be worse than letting three witches take a bite out of me. If they dared to listen, what was there for me to be afraid of?
But...
But what was I supposed to sing?
Staring at the TV screen, my mind went completely blank.
"Hurry! Hurry! We've already prepared ourselves psychologically—just sing whatever you want." the others urged. "Pick something already! If you don't have a specialty, at least choose something familiar."
A specialty? The only song I could really call my specialty was "I Picked Up Two Cents on the路边"—from kindergarten through elementary school, under teacher's organization I'd sung that song at least a thousand times. Even now I still remembered all the lyrics. But even I knew I absolutely could not pick that song now, or I'd definitely be laughed out of the room.
That eliminated the specialty category. I had to choose from the familiar list. Thinking it over, the only song I could claim to be familiar with was the one Shangguan had downloaded to my phone. Even though it was in Cantonese, well, whatever. These people probably didn't know Cantonese anyway, so maybe I could bluff my way through.
"'偏偏喜欢你'? That's such an old song." Chen Zhongyang said, but he still pulled it up for me.
I don't know if it was from listening to it so often, or if my voice had gotten more accurate with age, but I actually didn't sing off-key! When the song ended, even I was surprised.
But after that song, there was no way I was singing a second one. Down here I hadn't felt it, but once I got up there I realized it really required good mental fortitude. Even with just a few people in the audience, when all their gazes were focused on you, it was absolutely pressuring. Especially when those gazes were all so peculiar—even with my back turned, I felt like they could pierce right through me. And I really couldn't find a second song I knew well enough.
After another round of back-and-forth, this time I finally managed to gain a slight upper hand. But as compensation, I had to down three glasses of red wine in a row. According to Chen Zhongyang, they hadn't gotten to drink their fill last time, so this time they had to make up for it somehow.
No choice but to pour that supposedly non-intoxicating wine down my throat. Then I retreated back into the shadows, resolved to hold my ground this time!
This time I really did hold my ground—not because these people mercifully let me off, and not because I'd suddenly erupted with some divine power that terrified everyone into silence—but because I fell asleep.
I don't know when I drifted off. Maybe it was while Chen Zhongyang and Ma Ting were singing duets. Maybe it was during the two guys singing erhuang and I was being pressured to drink again but Shangguan blocked them. Either way, when I opened my eyes again, I was back in my own comfortable double bed.
I blinked, tried to lift myself up, but before I could sit all the way, I flopped back onto the bed.
"My head..." I groaned, clutching my pillow, when I suddenly noticed someone hunched beside the bed.
"Shangguan?" I called out in confusion. Why was this guy sleeping on the floor instead of in his own bed?
"You're awake?" Shangguan sat up straight, rubbing his eyes. And suddenly I understood why those girls called me cute, because—that was exactly the feeling Shangguan gave me now!
Whether in figure or features, Shangguan belonged to the cool-guy category. His facial features were as hard as granite, with icy eyes and lips pressed into a thin line. This combination, while attractive, always gave people an impression of cold ruthlessness. But now, with him rubbing his eyes, his face carrying that drowsy look—his features hadn't changed at all, yet he suddenly looked like the cartoon version of Shangguan.
See for yourself—