CHAPTER 403: CHAPTER 399 OCTOBER

Brother Nan selected "Love Song King" and immediately pinned it to the top.

This was a medley, stitched together from classic lines of many songs, and was said to be one of the KTV anthems.

"Let’s take turns, each person sings a part."

"Sure!"

"Okay..."

Zhou Li knew how to sing this song. He just didn’t like to sing because he seldom did and also felt he wasn’t good at it, though he had listened to it quite a bit. Besides, singing in a KTV was different from singing outside. In KTV, with the accompaniment and lyrics, you could hum along to the tune of many songs you weren’t familiar with.

Stealing a glance at the fidgety Baozi, Zhou Li took a deep breath and readied himself. Only if he performed well and Baozi was the only one to mess up would he achieve his goal. Otherwise, the impact would be less than a tenth of what he hoped, and it would be a classic case of ’injuring the enemy by a thousand while losing eight hundred oneself.’

Brother Nan went first. She glanced at Zhou Li and began to sing, "Loving you... is not just because of your beauty..."

Her voice was exceptionally soft.

Zhou Li was silent.

It was his turn after Brother Nan. That was fine; better to get it over with. But how did the next part go?

"My love for you grows deeper..."

"Every look you give touches my heart..."

Even though the next lines were already up, Zhou Li embarrassingly realized he couldn’t remember how they went.

Luckily, Brother Nan gave him a look and seemed to see right through his thoughts, so she continued singing.

"I love you the most..."

"Otherwise, why would I..."

"..."

The corners of Brother Nan’s mouth stretched into a smile. She felt a sensation she never used to feel when singing this song in KTV before, probably because of Zhou Li’s presence. This feeling made her cringe. She wanted to stop, but she was stubborn and wouldn’t give up, even considering singing the next part after finishing this one.

"If this is love..."

"One should bravely stay upon turning around..."

"..."

Having sung three parts in a row, Brother Nan’s face felt hot. She was too embarrassed to hog the mic any longer. Besides, the next part seemed simple; if she sang it too, Zhou Li, that fool, might not know how to sing the one after that.

So she passed the mic to Zhou Li, rubbing her face. Her face was truly burning...

Zhou Li quickly coughed twice. "I want to become... the angel from the fairy tale... that you love..." Indeed simple, but a bit lengthy.

Zhou Li steeled himself and sang to the end. His unpracticed voice made his face turn slightly red. Thankfully, he was good at suppressing his emotional reactions. By the time he passed the mic to Huai Xu, his expression had returned to normal within two or three seconds, and he cast a sidelong glance at Baozi.

Coincidentally, Baozi was also observing him.

Seeing that he hadn’t shown any cowardice and had sung quite well, without hitting any wrong notes or going off-key, she felt deeply disappointed and became even more nervous. Next up was Huai Xu, followed by Mianmian and Qian Qian.

Finally, as Zhou Li had anticipated, the microphone was passed into Baozi’s hands.

Death isn’t scary. What’s frightening is waiting for death. During the excruciatingly long wait, Baozi was already tormented. Her pale hands trembled slightly as she took the mic, her whole body rigid.

Zhou Li watched her without blinking.

Baozi opened her mouth, her voice barely a whisper as she sang, "Tomorrow, I’m gonna marry you..."

Zhou Li immediately perked up his ears, using his talent to filter out all other sounds, leaving only Baozi’s mosquito-like buzz.

"Tomorrow, I’m gonna marry you..."

"If it weren’t for you asking me..."

"If it weren’t for you convincing me..."

"If it weren’t for the right moment, you making my heart flutter..."

Baozi’s normal speaking voice was very pleasant, very pure. However, she might be like Zhou Li, seldom singing and not good at it. As a result, her voice was extremely dry, and she struggled with the vocal turns, making it sound unpleasant.

And just within the first two lines, her voice cracked. Unfortunately, she sang so quietly, and the backing track vocals hadn’t been turned off. Zhou Li suspected that, aside from himself and Huai Xu, no one else had probably even heard if she was making a sound. Towards the end of her part, the considerate Brother Nan picked up another microphone and sang along with her. As everyone knew, Brother Nan always put a lot of effort into her singing, so her voice completely dominated. In the end, even Zhou Li couldn’t tell if Baozi had made any more mistakes.

But it didn’t matter. He would still achieve his goal.

Little Cousin quickly put the mic back on the coffee table as if it were red-hot, then cast a grateful look at Brother Nan before sneakily glancing at Zhou Li. Zhou Li was laughing secretly with his head down.

!!

Little Cousin was utterly mortified, her fair and delicate baozi-like face turning bright red.

At this moment, Brother Nan began the next round.

The song lasted twelve minutes.

Little Cousin’s hands clenched into fists as she stared unblinkingly at the large screen, feeling that time was dragging on exceedingly slowly, even slower than the night she couldn’t sell her apples.

「Midnight.」

A group of people walked out of the KTV.

Brother Nan, Huai Xu, and Cotton Swab all seemed unsatisfied, as if they hadn’t had enough. After all, they’d only sung for a little over three hours. On average, that was about fifty minutes per person, roughly ten songs. For those who loved to sing, they had barely scratched the surface of the song library. They were talking about booking an all-night session next time.

Zhou Li cradled Tuanzi as he approached Baozi, his eyes brimming with anticipation. "Did you have fun?" he asked.

With a deadpan expression, Baozi turned her head, her eyes filled with hostility.

She lifted her hand.

Her pale fist swung out, striking Zhou Li’s chest with about the same force as Tuanzi’s usual slaps.

Zhou Li was suddenly taken aback. What the heck?

Normally, this Little Cousin was a real pushover, ranking at the bottom of Dormitory 106’s food chain—at least on the surface. If something happened, she’d only dare to make a mental note of it and retaliate quietly later. But now she actually dared to hit him!?

Zhou Li felt the need to self-reflect. Perhaps he came across as too easy to bully.

Just then, Brother Nan appeared beside him. It seemed she had something to say, but she quickly noticed something was off. Looking back and forth between Zhou Li and Baozi, she asked, "What are you two doing?"

"Nothing..." Baozi withdrew her gaze.

"Nothing," Zhou Li also said. "What’s up?"

"You guys should go back and pack your stuff." Brother Nan still eyed them skeptically. "We’re heading to Tengchong tomorrow."

"You chose Tengchong?"

"Yep!" Brother Nan paused. "I decided with a coin toss."

"That’s good then."

The group reached the roadside.

Zhou Li looked at them. "The dormitory’s sure to be locked by now. Can you still get back in? Or else, I can book a room outside for you, or you can come to my place. Huai Xu and I can give you our room and crash in the living room."

Cotton Swab was instantly tempted by the idea of sleeping in Huai Xu’s room.

However, Brother Nan immediately waved her hands. "No need, I’ve already arranged with the Dormitory Auntie; she’ll open the door for us..."

"Aww..." Cotton Swab was filled with disappointment.

Zhou Li, on the other hand, simply nodded. Brother Nan always used to chat with the Dormitory Auntie; apparently, it wasn’t without its benefits.

So Brother Nan drove the three girls back to the school, while Zhou Li and Huai Xu grabbed a shared bicycle, put Tuanzi in the basket, and wobbled home under the streetlights.

"KTV is so fun! You people from this era sure know how to have fun!" Huai Xu said.

"..."

"You probably didn’t find it fun, since you didn’t sing much," Huai Xu remarked, then added, a little puzzled, "Why don’t you like to sing? You just sat there like a log."

"Just not into it."

"I can teach you!"

"I’m telling you, I don’t like to sing."

"I don’t believe it! You must think you sing badly!" Old Monster insisted, continuing to guess. "When you were so withdrawn back then, you didn’t have anyone to hang out with, so no one would have taken you to KTV. It’s perfectly normal that you can’t sing. Then you got better, you met me, and realized how good I am at singing, which made you even more embarrassed to sing."

"Don’t talk nonsense."

"That’s the truth!"

"I can’t be bothered with you."

"I wouldn’t laugh at you..."

"..."

When Zhou Li got home, he first took a shower, washing away the stale smoke smell from the KTV private room, before lying down on his bed. He replied to a few messages from Yin Le, then started searching on his phone about Tengchong. Tengchong is a county-level city, right on the border. Looking at pictures, the scenery seemed rather nice.

As he was looking, a little head emerged from underneath the blanket on his chest, staring intently at the phone screen, which tickled Zhou Li.