An Open Scheme?

Seeing them laughing so hard, the people nearby naturally grew curious and came over to find out what had happened. Once they learned the whole story, the other tables started laughing as well.

It took quite a while before Jiang Ruolin and the others finally recovered from their laughter.

One girl at the table, laughing so hard that tears streamed down her face, glanced at Liu Shang. "Liu Shang, are you trying to make us all laugh to death so you can have this whole table of food and drinks to yourself?"

Over on the other side, Zhou Liang, Tan Feng, and the others frowned at the chaotic scene.

What should have been a perfect opening had somehow turned into this.

The image they had wanted to create of Tan Feng as a bold, generous, manly guy had naturally been greatly diminished as well.

At that moment, Tan Feng rubbed his forehead hard. "Zhou Liang, where did you find those two idiots?"

Zhou Liang could only sigh. "Everyone at that table is one of Jiang Ruolin's closest friends. It was really impossible to plant just anyone among them."

"They only needed to play along a little. Who knew those two useless fools would put on such an exaggerated act?"

By then, all the dishes had been served, and everyone began eating. Every table was chatting and laughing, and the atmosphere was exceptionally lively.

As expected, Jiang Ruolin, who normally ate very little, served food to Liu Shang beside her, drawing good-natured laughter from everyone.

"Ooh, Ruolin is so considerate. I'm jealous!"

"Our Miss Jiang personally serving food to someone—especially a boy—is truly something we've never seen before!"

"Ruolin, I'd bet that if you were serving someone else food, you'd have blushed and gotten embarrassed long ago."

"But your guy is just calmly enjoying it all. He's really got some nerve!"

After the girl finished speaking, Liu Shang looked up at her and said in his usual flat, emotionless tone, "Could you not talk about that sort of thing while everyone is eating?"

The girls at their table burst into laughter again, and two of them nearly choked to death.

Fortunately, Jiang Ruolin, who had not been eating anything, laughed as she smacked Liu Shang twice more.

The girl who had called Liu Shang thick-skinned was already bright red with embarrassment. Yet she could not stop laughing, so she could only lower her head and use her hair to hide her mortified state.

After quite a while, one girl put down her chopsticks as she struggled to suppress another burst of laughter. "Sigh, there's no way I'm getting full from this meal today..."

"Mm-hmm, I agree. We especially have to be careful when eating, or we might choke to death on the spot."

"Exactly. Ruolin, does your guy always say such stylish things so casually?"

"Seriously, after this meal, I'm going to laugh wrinkles into my face."

As the atmosphere at their table grew more and more harmonious and lively, Tan Feng, Zhou Liang, and the others looked increasingly unpleasant.

So Zhou Liang brought out his second scheme ahead of schedule.

"Classmates, I have a suggestion."

"To make the banquet atmosphere even livelier and let everyone eat and drink more happily, I suggest each table send out one male representative to sing a song for everyone."

"I'll start us off and make a fool of myself first."

Zhou Liang then sang Andy Lau's "Forget Love Potion." He was quite skilled, earning applause and cheers from the crowd.

After his suggestion and demonstration, talented people from the other tables also stepped forward one after another to sing.

There were quite a few talented people among the freshmen.

The second-to-last person to perform was Tan Feng, whom Zhou Liang had deliberately arranged to go on. The song had also been selected beforehand: the sentimental English song "without you."

Its central meaning was roughly a deeply emotional expression that without you, I might be unable to go on living.

It had to be said that Tan Feng had prepared thoroughly for the song. His pronunciation was accurate, and he sang it with considerable feeling.

But like most people, he lacked the original flavor of an English song.

Moreover, Mariah Carey's rendition of the song was rather mournful, so it did not work particularly well in the atmosphere of today's banquet.

After Tan Feng finished singing and the applause died down, Zhou Liang's gaze naturally shifted to Jiang Ruolin's table.

At this point, theirs was the only table that had not sent anyone out to sing. And unfortunately, Liu Shang was the only boy at that table, leaving no other option.

"Hehe, now this table will take the stage for the grand finale."

"Since there are no other male classmates there, let's give Liu Shang a warm round of applause and welcome him directly onto the stage!"

"And everyone may have already heard some very heavy news: our beautiful Jiang Ruolin is no longer unattached."

"I think everyone familiar with Jiang Ruolin knows that, as a top student, she loves English the most."

"So I suggest that Liu Shang sing an English song as well, for our beautiful Jiang."

"Of course, it's only a small suggestion. The final choice is still Liu Shang's."

It had to be said that with just a few words, Zhou Liang had placed Liu Shang over the flames of everyone's hostility.

Even if many people had no particular designs on Jiang Ruolin, having a beauty taken by someone else was never going to feel good to a man.

Amid the crowd's jeering encouragement, Liu Shang walked onto the stage with a smile that showed no emotional fluctuation and accepted the microphone from Zhou Liang.

Throughout the process, Jiang Ruolin felt vaguely worried, because she herself had no idea how well Liu Shang could sing.

"Ruolin, I'm really curious. How well does your guy sing?"

"I bet Ruolin's guy is pretty good. Look at how composed he is—he doesn't seem nervous at all!"

"Not necessarily. Didn't Zhou Liang say Liu Shang had to sing an English song? In such a sudden situation, English songs aren't that easy to sing."

"Ha, Zhou Liang is pretty nasty too. Look at all those people egging him on. Right now, even if Liu Shang sings well, as long as he doesn't sing an English song, they'll probably jeer and laugh at him."

Faced with the girls' guesses and questions, Jiang Ruolin, who was feeling nervous inside, merely smiled and said nothing more.

Over on the other side, Zhou Liang secretly gave Tan Feng and the others an OK gesture.

He believed that with his planning and judgment, Liu Shang would not get through this hurdle easily.

What pleased him most was that this was an open scheme. Even if Jiang Ruolin was dissatisfied, she could not really say much.

After all, they were classmates gathering together and singing songs. It was not as if anyone had deliberately targeted anyone, right?

Even if Liu Shang embarrassed himself in front of so many people, sang poorly, or could not sing an English song at all, it would only mean that he was all ambition and no ability, unworthy of Jiang Ruolin!