Chen Pingjiang spent the afternoon playing CS at an internet café with Zhou Guanghan and his dorm mates, getting quite badly beaten by these younger guys.
He used to train his shooting for a month, staying up late for internet café competitions, but now after more than ten years of not touching it, his skills were completely trashed by Hu Kai and his crew.
It was already 7 PM when he returned to the dorm.
As he entered, Chen Pingjiang thought he had walked into the wrong dorm, taking a step back until he saw the room number 603 and realized he hadn't made a mistake.
"Are you guys dressing so flashy to steal my title of 'class heartthrob'?"
Chen Pingjiang looked confusedly at the several people dressed to the nines in front of him, all looking excited and a little flashy.
As he spoke, Dong Tinghui walked in from outside, shirtless, with wet hair, carrying a washbasin.
"Old Chen, you're back just in time. Don't just stand there, change your clothes and come out with us."
"Play what? No, I'm not going."
Chen Pingjiang was exhausted from running around all day and couldn't be bothered to move.
Zhao Shaoyang chuckled, his face full of ambiguity.
"Dong Tinghui has already hooked up with a girl from our class. They're going to sing karaoke at 7:30. Old Dong is too embarrassed, so he's calling it a 'dorm social gathering' as an excuse."
Chen Pingjiang gave Dong Tinghui a thumbs up, thinking to himself,
"What a damn talent! Only been in school for one day. As expected of the oldest kid in the dorm, he's got so many tricks."
"No, no, I'm not going. Isn't sleeping better? Why go and be fed a mouthful of dog food?"
Dong Tinghui ostentatiously showed off his hairstyle and said,
"This is a dorm collective activity, one boy, one girl. If you don't come, won't there be a girl from the opposite dorm left alone?"
"Bullshit. The script should be like this: You two sit together, being lovey-dovey, then the remaining ten people stare blankly at each other, and finally, everyone plays on their phones. Oh, and two microphone hogs will be constantly changing songs."
"Brother Chen, have a cigarette."
Hearing Chen Pingjiang say this, Dong Tinghui immediately pulled out a Red Nanjing cigarette and solicitously lit it for Chen Pingjiang.
Chen Pingjiang nodded smugly,
"Alright, since Old Dong is so sensible, for the lifelong happiness of my buddy, I'll go then."
"Is it that Cong Nini you took a fancy to earlier today?"
Chen Pingjiang asked after thinking for a moment.
Dong Tinghui didn't speak, just gave him a mysterious smile, which left Chen Pingjiang a bit confused.
The group arrived at a KTV not far from the school, then sat blankly in the private room.
The few of them had varied expressions.
Zhao Shaoyang ostentatiously styled his hair with gel, maintaining a stern, humorless expression.
Dong Tinghui occasionally sent messages and then looked at the door, with both anticipation and nervousness written on his face.
The remaining three 'good boys' sat obediently, their faces showing a mix of nervousness and novelty.
Only Chen Pingjiang sat calmly smoking, his feet unceremoniously propped on the bar, occasionally taking a self-indulgent sip from a beer bottle.
"They're here!"
Dong Tinghui's gaze shifted from his phone screen, he shouted, immediately got up and scurried out the door, and soon after returned with five girls into the private room.
He Siyu, Wang Lei, and Guo Dewen quickly stood up, waving greetings, not daring to make eye contact with the girls, and wearing constrained smiles.
It made Chen Pingjiang's 'embarrassment syndrome' kick in.
Zhao Shaoyang, this poser, still hadn't gotten over his 'dominant CEO' act.
He didn't even lift his butt, merely nodded faintly at the girls and said in a slightly deep voice,
"Hello."
Chen Pingjiang had some impression of Cong Nini, who was leading the group.
She was wearing a pink cinched-waist top with a white tiered skirt and her signature shiny black leather shoes.
Her looks were on point.
As for the other girls, he had no impression of them.
After they sat down, Chen Pingjiang saw the boys huddled together and the girls grouped together.
He smiled and said,
"Are you guys creating gender segregation? A pile of boys, a pile of girls. You must sit boy-girl, boy-girl."
The boys and girls, who were already quite nervous, were stunned by his shout.
Seeing that Wang Lei and He Siyu were still embarrassed, Chen Pingjiang directly pulled their arms and made them sit next to two other girls.
"Hey, there's still someone from your dorm, why didn't she come?"
Dong Tinghui whispered to Wang Liwen.
Wang Liwen took a bite of fruit from the fruit platter and said vaguely,
"There's another one who's not from our major, she's from International Trade. I called her, and she said she'll come later."
"Why do you have someone from another major in your dorm? Aren't dorms usually for people from the same major?"
Wang Liwen shrugged,
"I don't know, maybe it was assigned randomly. Maybe our class was short one, and their class had an extra."
Dong Tinghui nodded without dwelling on it.
"Alright then, go order some songs, the atmosphere is really awkward."
Chen Pingjiang secretly observed them.
He thought,
"This damn Dong Tinghui is quite cunning. All day he kept praising Cong Nini, making everyone think he was pursuing Cong Nini, but it turns out he's actually trying to hook up with Wang Liwen."
Although Wang Liwen was not as pretty as Cong Nini, she was also very delicate.
Although Zhao Shaoyang liked the type like Qin Bei, when Cong Nini sat next to him, for some reason, he still couldn't drop his 'dominant CEO' act, exuding an indescribable aloofness in every gesture.
As for Chen Pingjiang?
He sat alone at the song request station, rapidly ordering ten songs, and nodded in satisfaction at his 'achievements'.
He was the "overlord" of the KTV; as soon as he started singing, everyone else could only listen in silence.
Wang Liwen turned her head in disbelief and asked,
"Didn't you say Chen Pingjiang took a fancy to Cong Nini? Why isn't he talking to her, just constantly singing?"
Dong Tinghui also looked at Chen Pingjiang speechlessly.
He was usually so good at handling things, but once he was in KTV, he turned into a microphone hog.
The girls wanted to sing but were too shy to go up and request songs.
Even after one managed to request a song, Chen Pingjiang rapidly ordered several more and put them all at the top of the queue.
"He's probably just a closet exhibitionist, trying to attract Cong Nini with his singing," Dong Tinghui said, taking a sip of wine to cover his nervousness.
He wanted to ask Wang Liwen out, but was afraid she would reject him, so he used the excuse that Chen Pingjiang had taken a fancy to Cong Nini, inviting her dorm mates to sing together.
Now, the boys' dorm side thought Dong Tinghui and Wang Liwen were hooking up, but fearing that Wang Liwen wouldn't come if asked out alone, they used the "dorm social gathering" as a roundabout way to achieve their goal.
The girls' dorm side, however, all thought Chen Pingjiang was pursuing Cong Nini, and were watching Chen Pingjiang's performance with 'auntie smiles', intending to eagerly 'ship' this couple.
From childhood to adulthood, Cong Nini had always been quite confident in her looks.
In high school, she didn't know how many boys had given her love letters.
What was going on tonight?
One boy next to her was acting aloof, like a high-stakes player, speaking in a lowered voice.
And Chen Pingjiang, who supposedly wanted to pursue her, was solely focused on being a microphone hog.
In the afternoon, Wang Liwen told her that Chen Pingjiang, the most handsome boy in their class, was going to ask her out to sing.
Cong Nini was lost for a while in her friends' 'rainbow farts'.
"Is Chen Pingjiang that tall, handsome one?"
"Nini is still amazing, she immediately captured the heart of our class heartthrob."
"Exactly, Qin Bei can't compare to Nini at all, she's too flirtatious and wild."
Cong Nini shook her head:
"Don't just randomly pair us up like mandarin ducks. I'm not interested in Chen Pingjiang. If I'm going to look for someone, it has to be a rich second generation, otherwise, those boys don't even have money for dating themselves."
…
Cong Nini greatly enjoyed such compliments.
Her primary criterion for a partner was money; looks and physique all came second.
She didn't believe a university student like Chen Pingjiang could have much money.
Anyone who wanted to be her boyfriend had to be a rich second generation.
But this didn't stop her from attending a gathering and getting to know Chen Pingjiang; it greatly satisfied her vanity.
(End of chapter)