"If this melody could record a love story,"
"The distant North Star answered in harmony..."
Chen Man'an sang a song called The Pianist. Her voice was deep, husky, and sexy, earning unanimous praise from everyone.
Wang Ge snatched the microphone before Zhou Liu could, then winked at Chen Yanxi. "Ahem, this song, Love Like Fire, is for my beloved Xixi."
The four people around them immediately let out a chorus of "Eww~"
The accompaniment began. Wang Ge raised his middle finger at his friends, lifted the microphone, and sang loudly:
"My heart is pounding—love is like a raging fire,"
"When you smile, I'm the madman."
"Love like fire will warm the heart,"
"I see the flames of love flickering!"
"..."
His level-three Singing Skill let him handle this song, which wasn't especially difficult to sing, perfectly. Moreover, he was practically shouting at the top of his lungs. His voice was so loud that it was almost noise. Anyone who heard him sing this song would be brainwashed by both its melody and Wang Ge's straining voice.
"I didn't feel any love like fire, but that volume is definitely like fire," Huang Wenyan said through gritted teeth.
"Mm, but Wang Ge's singing is indeed a little better than before. He used to go off-key all the time, but he hasn't gone off-key once in this song, Love Like Fire," Yang Songyue commented.
"He's indeed a little stronger than before. He barely has half my skill now." Zhou Liu nodded in deep agreement.
Wang Ge ignored this shameless braggart, ran over, and sat down beside Chen Yanxi. With an expectant look, he asked, "Well? Did I sound good? Did you feel my scorching love for you, blazing like fire?"
"...I feel like you want to drag me into the fire pit with you."
"Mm... A lovers' suicide?" Wang Ge pondered for a moment, then his eyes lit up. "That sounds pretty romantic, too."
"You call jumping into a fire pit together romantic?"
"Girl, you're too attached to appearances. Think about it: jumping into the sea is jumping, and jumping into a fire pit is also jumping, right? Just like in Titanic."
Wang Ge laughed and imitated Jack's tone from the movie. "Xixi, you jump, I jump!"
Chen Yanxi: "..."
She rubbed her temples helplessly.
At some point, this guy's way of speaking had become completely disorganized. He said whatever came to mind, leaving her struggling to keep up with Wang Ge's train of thought.
The atmosphere in the private room was fairly lively. After Zhou Liu and the others had taken turns singing, they went off to play love-song duets.
Unfortunately, Chen Yanxi couldn't sing, so Wang Ge couldn't join in.
The two of them could only watch from the sidelines.
Wang Ge actually enjoyed it quite a bit. He put an arm around Chen Yanxi and sat with her in the corner, listening to Zhou Liu and the others sing their duets, offering a few comments, bragging a little, and saying things like how they didn't sound as good as he did.
From time to time, he whispered a few words to Chen Yanxi, stroked her little hand, stole a few touches, and then had Chen Yanxi feed him several pieces of fruit from the platter.
As he ate the orange Chen Yanxi fed him, Wang Ge felt that life was truly wonderful.
If only this kind of happiness could continue forever.
"Do you not have hands, Wang Ge? You even need Chen Yanxi to feed you an orange?"
Zhou Liu had just finished singing a love-song duet with Huang Wenyan. Seeing how comfortable Wang Ge looked—and remembering that he had just sung Little Love Song with a grown man like Huang Wenyan—he immediately complained in displeasure.
"Sorry, I'm useless," Wang Ge replied lazily.
Zhou Liu: "..."
Wang Ge was difficult to deal with, so Zhou Liu turned to Chen Yanxi and earnestly advised her, "Chen Yanxi, listen to me. Don't spoil him all the time. I've known this guy since we were kids. He's the kind of person who becomes radiant after receiving even the slightest bit of sunshine. Now he's asking you to feed him oranges. Maybe tomorrow he'll ask you to help him pursue a mistress..."
He earnestly advised her for a while. After patiently waiting for him to finish, Chen Yanxi shook her head and said, "It's fine. I don't mind."
It was only a fake relationship, after all. What was there to mind?
Zhou Liu didn't know that, however. Hearing Chen Yanxi's words, he looked at Wang Ge with envy. "How did you get so lucky, finding a girlfriend as angelic as Chen Yanxi..."
Before Wang Ge could say anything, Chen Man'an stormed out. She reached up and twisted Zhou Liu's ear. "What do you mean? Are you saying I'm not good enough? Chen Yanxi is an angel, so I'm a demon, is that it?"
"How could that be? In my heart, you're, uh, you're... you're the King of Angels! You're the King of Angels in my heart, An'an!" Zhou Liu shouted, his survival instincts in full force.
The other four sat on the sofa and watched the spectacle, laughing happily.
After fooling around for a while, today's activities finally came to an end.
"Let's go home, let's go home. Bye-bye."
"Stay safe."
They said their goodbyes at the entrance of the KTV. Wang Ge hailed a taxi by the roadside and took Chen Yanxi home first.
"Did you have fun today?"
In the taxi, Wang Ge asked with a smile.
"It was an unforgettable experience." Chen Yanxi gazed at the scenery constantly sliding past outside the window. "It was my first time going out with other people. First experiences are always easy to remember."
"Did you usually play by yourself?"
"No." Chen Yanxi shook her head. "I had never gone out to have fun before. Whether it was a haunted house, a murder mystery game, or a KTV, today was my first time going to all of them."
"You nearly beat a veteran like me the very first time you played a murder mystery game. As expected of you." Wang Ge laughed.
Chen Yanxi smiled faintly as well but said nothing.
"But if you don't go out to have fun normally and stay at home every day, don't you get bored?" Wang Ge asked again.
"It's not like I stay at home. I have a lot of tutoring classes to attend."
"Tutoring classes? The kind where you learn hobbies, like piano and drawing?" Wang Ge asked curiously.
He had attended those kinds of hobby classes before, too. It was quite normal. Most parents wanted their children to have a few more skills, after all.
"No." Chen Yanxi shook her head. "They're just ordinary tutoring classes. The subjects are nothing more than Chinese, mathematics, and English..."
"Huh?" Wang Ge was shocked. "You're already this absurdly talented, and you still have to attend tutoring classes like that?"
"I don't understand it either."
Chen Yanxi rested her chin in her hand and said softly, "I don't want to attend those cheap tutoring classes either. The teachers there have wildly varying levels of knowledge, and some of them aren't even as knowledgeable as I am.
"But my parents are always dissatisfied with my grades. There's nothing I can do."
"You're already ranked first. How is that not satisfactory?" Wang Ge was shocked again. "The test is out of 750 points, and you score 730 every time. At that level, there can't be many people in the entire country better than you, right? And they're still not satisfied?"
"They have been satisfied before, but they won't stay satisfied."
Chen Yanxi said softly, "I suppose greed is simply human nature. A long time ago, all they wanted was for me to score higher than the children of our neighbors and relatives. Later, they wanted me to rank first in my class. After that, they wanted me to rank first in the school... A score of 730 stopped satisfying them a year ago."
P.S. It seems Chapter Eleven really does need to be changed beyond recognition. It's really painful. That was a fairly important piece of the plot...
After thinking it over carefully, how about we make a group? If any chapters are blocked and need to be revised in the future, I can post the original versions in the group. That way, everyone's reading experience won't be affected too much. What do you think?
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