Page 43

[Finally, a kind soul has come to fish Yuzu out]

["Fruit fishing"]

[Liang Zhisheng is a mom in training, hahaha]

[I'm like a dutiful security guard watching the monitors on the night shift, keeping a close eye on You Shu's safety]

[First time I've heard You Shu talk so much]

[Yuzu just woke up and he's so cute, waaaah]

At four in the morning, there were scarcely any viewers in the livestream. The bullet comments were as sparse as the hair atop a middle-aged dean of students facing a hair-loss crisis, but even those few were enough to snap a muddled mind awake in an instant.

Lai Yudong broke out in a cold sweat.

He... he really was pretty lively, huh...

Full of regret, Lai Yudong raised an arm over his face, remembering to close his eyes, which were the most likely to give his feelings away. His sleeve had rolled up, leaving his skin exposed, and the icy sensation against his eyes stimulated his brain. His memories from before he fell asleep gradually resurfaced.

Su Junzhe's little class for Class A had lasted until eight. Compared to a lead dancer leaving everyone to their own devices, correcting them one by one in front of the mirror was much stricter. But the trainees who had stayed weren't the sort to give up halfway, and they didn't complain once, even as sweat soaked through their class uniforms.

So, even though they were all starving when class was dismissed, they lay on the floor for a long time before slowly dragging themselves up.

Lai Yudong and Zhou Rui supported each other on their way to the cafeteria. Faced with the bland, low-oil, low-salt dishes, they both sighed.

"I really want fried chicken."

"Yeah."

"Ice-cold cola would make it even better."

"Milk tea."

That was the conversation they had.

After resting for a while after dinner, the two sneaked over to the Class A practice room and, unsurprisingly, caught Su Junzhe there. With him looking faintly as if to say, "You two again?" they dutifully stood in the back and made it clear they would just follow along.

Before they knew it, it was midnight. Su Junzhe, the backbone of their little team, finished his shift in glory, and the trio dispersed. Lai Yudong returned to the Class F practice room and practiced on his own for a while.

What happened next went without saying.

At the time, he had been so sleepy that his eyelids felt glued shut, so it was perfectly natural that he had accidentally fallen asleep in the practice room. But he hadn't expected Liang Zhisheng to come looking for him, much less that his mouth would rattle off a load of nonsense like a Threepeater, as though he had to make up for everything he'd been forced to swallow back over the past few days.

In short, he had slipped up in a situation he had never imagined.

"Do you need me to pull you up?" Liang Zhisheng looked in amusement at the light-blond-haired boy playing dead, thinking he was embarrassed about showing a less-than-cool side of himself.

It was normal for a kid to think that way.

If Lai Yudong knew he was being treated like a mentally immature little kid, his phoenix eyes would pop round.

Among his peers, he was always treated as an emotional radio station, and was undoubtedly the very picture of maturity and composure. Why would he fuss over acting cool? Besides, he wasn't even trying to act cool. Don't judge a book by its cover!

Lai Yudong carefully moved his arm aside and peered through the gap at Liang Zhisheng's expression. Once he was sure the other man showed no sign of suspecting that his persona had collapsed, he shook his head and quickly scrambled to his feet. "Sorry for the trouble."

Liang Zhisheng got up as well. "Don't be so polite all the time. You're making it sound like we just met."

[Didn't you two only meet last night?]

[It's past midnight, so it was the night before last]

[The night before last still counts as just meeting, hahaha]

The comments had a point, but Lai Yudong had no intention of contradicting him to his face. He smiled amiably. "Okay."

"All right, all right, let's go back." Liang Zhisheng stretched and headed out. "If I don't get into bed soon, I'm going to stop feeling sleepy."

"Wait a moment."

Lai Yusheng put the headphone cable and tablet scattered on the floor back where they belonged, then jogged after Liang Zhisheng, who was waiting at the door. He took the diary Liang Zhisheng handed him and finally turned off the lights and closed the practice room door.

The day's training had finally come to an end.

"Did you eat dinner?" Liang Zhisheng asked considerately.

"I did."

"Have you showered?"

"Not yet."

"Then let's walk faster. There's no heating in the hallway, so it's too cold. Next time you practice late into the night, remember to bring a jacket." Liang Zhisheng wrapped his padded coat tighter around himself as he went on, "Look at you, wearing just one thin layer. If you catch a cold, you'll be sneezing and sniffling onstage. That's not idol-like at all."

"The practice room isn't cold," Lai Yudong argued.

Liang Zhisheng dismissed that without question. "But you practice so intensely that you must sweat a lot. There's a big temperature difference between inside and out, and going from hot to cold makes it easier to get sick."

Lai Yudong drawled weakly, "Yeees—"

Liang Zhisheng continued fussing over him. "Remember to shower when we get back. Don't just flop straight into bed. No matter how sleepy I am, I'll fight it and drag you to the bathroom."

"No shower, no sleep."

"Good. Oh, right, keep your voice down when we get back to the dorm later. Don't wake the others. Though you got up like a ghost without making a sound, so I guess you won't make much noise anyway."

"I'll be careful."

"Li Xu has an early class too. Keep an eye on him when you get up. He said he wouldn't disturb us, but yesterday his alarm went off forever and he still didn't wake up. I had to shake him awake."

"No problem."

[The more I watch Liang Zhisheng, the more he reminds me of my mom]

[But you might not have a temper as good as You Shu's, lol]

Lai Yudong figured that even a fool should have more or less figured out this roommate's personality by now.

At university, he would definitely be cut out to be the dorm head.

One responsive answer after another made Liang Zhisheng glance over. He looked at the light-blond-haired boy answering so obediently. Although each reply was brief, it was a great improvement over their previous conversations, when the boy had relied more on gestures.

Relieved that the other had taken his words to heart, he teased, "That's great. I thought you only knew how to nod and shake your head."

Lai Yudong: "..."