Qiao Luo: I thought of you as a brother, but you want to be my dad?
Inexplicably demoted by a generation, Qiao Luo faced Shen Xingshuo's cocky, ridiculous expression and clenched his fists, reminding himself to stay calm and maintain his image on camera. Then he did his best to force a smile.
"Pfft-" Shen Xingshuo burst out laughing, amusement filling his sharp eyes and brows. Completely ignoring Qiao Luo's aggrieved expression, he said, "That looks pretty forced."
Wounded yet again, Qiao Luo bared his teeth, looked at Shen Xingshuo's long legs, then at his own distinctly smaller shirt, and instantly lost his enthusiasm.
"Some people will probably leave today, and we'll have to get reassigned to dorms." Having finished winding up the huffy Qiao Luo, Shen Xingshuo casually glanced at the bed opposite. He felt no regret whatsoever over Jiang Can's elimination.
He had never been a tolerant, magnanimous person, so there was no way he would smile when someone took advantage of him. Even a clay figure had a temper!
"Right, they'll definitely shuffle the dorm assignments then." Qiao Luo was quickly distracted. He pressed his palms together and made a wish. "I hope we still get assigned to the same dorm."
"So we can carry on our father-son relationship." Shen Xingshuo was clearly in a good mood and did not forget to tease the miserable-looking Qiao Luo.
"You! I..." Qiao Luo had been well-behaved since childhood. He spluttered for ages at that, but simply could not get any harsh words out.
There were too many contestants in the talent competition, so the 120 who advanced were divided among thirty dorm rooms.
As expected, Shen Xingshuo and Qiao Luo were assigned together again.
"Your mouth must have been blessed." Shen Xingshuo marveled at the dorm assignments. "Don't tell me you grew up in Shaolin Temple."
Qiao Luo could not help rolling his eyes and walked ahead with his luggage. He finally understood: this was no aloof, lonely heartthrob like he had seemed at their first meeting. He was clearly a massive chatterbox.
The new dorm was not far away. The two had only just arrived when they saw an unfamiliar boy bent over, wiping down the bed boards.
Hearing footsteps, Yang Yi turned around blankly. At the sight of the two standing side by side, he immediately gave them a friendly smile.
"You're here! I've wiped all the bed boards three times." With his eager tone and the way he wrung out the cleaning rag, Yang Yi looked just like a good child hoping for praise.
"Thanks for all your hard work." Yang Yi's enthusiasm made Qiao Luo feel awkward. A beat late, he scratched his head and thanked him. "We'll bring you breakfast next time."
Hearing Qiao Luo's effortless "we," Yang Yi's smile stiffened slightly. He quickly concealed his embarrassment, his tone light and lively. "Sure! I'm Yang Yi."
"I saw your performance. You were really good." At some point, Shen Xingshuo had already started making his bed. Qiao Luo glanced at him rather awkwardly, grumbling about a certain someone abandoning his fellow soldier and fleeing first.
Why leave me to face this alone!
I have terrible social anxiety too, okay!
Unable to get away, Qiao Luo gave a polite, strained smile. Although he was fairly optimistic and outgoing himself, he knew when to dial it back. Yang Yi's enthusiasm made it hard for him to turn him down.
"Shen Xingshuo only sang one song, and now he's this arrogant?"
"Little Luoluo and our Yiyi are so great! And both of them are being friendly just to get the cold shoulder from him?"
"No, no, no, we Luoluo fans don't agree! Whatever else Shen Xingshuo does, he hasn't treated Luoluo badly! Yiyi fans, don't drag us into this."
Qiao Luo had gained quite a few devoted fans in a short time, and they even pinpointed the other fans' little schemes.
"Just a passerby, not a fan of anyone! I simply can't stand him."
"Exactly, exactly. We can't even give an objective opinion? Are all you fans this protective? No wonder you're no good."
"Fuck, just because us Stars aren't speaking up, you really think you can push us around! Passerby fans? More like paid fans."
"And you think we can't tell who that little innocent flower of yours is taking passive-aggressive shots at? He even specifically said, 'I wiped them three times.' Even ten times wouldn't make them clean."
Netizens these days were no fools. They scrutinized any random detail with eight hundred layers of suspicion and dug up every little thing.
Shen Yu sat waiting for takeoff, his eyes fixed intently on the livestream for fear of missing a crucial detail.
Despite repeatedly checking that his headphones were not leaking sound, Shen Yu could still vaguely hear the livestream from outside them. He instinctively pulled his headphones off.
The sound was coming from the man diagonally ahead to his left. His headphones apparently were not plugged in properly, and he hurriedly muted the livestream.
Shen Yu's eyes widened in surprise. Although this talent show was pretty good, surely it was not enough to make a big shot follow idols. Could there be a runaway young heir from a wealthy family on the show?
Once curiosity sprouted, it became an unbearable itch.
Shen Yu held his head in his hands, torn, thinking of ten thousand ways to engineer an encounter. Unfortunately, Shen Yu, who squawked away at home, was socially anxious in public. He rubbed his sleeves until they were creased and still did not dare ask.
"Do you need to use the restroom, young man?" Seeing Shen Yu wriggle in his seat like a chrysalis, the flight attendant immediately asked with concern.
As the person specifically assigned to look after minors traveling by plane, Shen Yu was her main charge. The sweet, well-behaved boy kept calling her "big sister," making it hard not to like him.
Shen Yu's eyes lit up. Going to the restroom would take him right past the front. Couldn't he satisfy his curiosity along the way?
He nodded happily and skipped toward the restroom with the flight attendant accompanying him.
After finally psyching himself up, Shen Yu was returning to his seat and pretending to glance casually at the man when the man happened to lower his head. Then the flight attendant blocked half his view.
Shen Yu's face fell. So what kind of clown act was that whole round trip?
Returning reluctantly to his seat, Shen Yu let out a long, resentful sigh. Thinking the child missed his parents, the flight attendant immediately brought him plenty of snacks.
Shen Yu bit into a cookie sulkily, but his large eyes kept darting around. He refused to give up on discovering the man's true identity.
Social anxiety and this damned curiosity both plagued him. Shen Yu slapped his thigh in frustration, unexpectedly making the man turn around.
Chu Yao had no interest in his fellow passengers. The flight attendant's repeated visits had merely informed him that a child was traveling with them, but nobody had told him this child would go crazy too.
Shen Yu stared wide-eyed at Chu Yao and stopped chewing. He stayed where he was as though his entire body had frozen.
Chu Yao raised an eyebrow. Thinking he had frightened the boy, he shrugged, gave a little hum, and turned back around, putting on his headphones to continue listening to the livestream.
Shen Yu chewed rapidly. Only after swallowing the cookie completely did he gulp down several mouthfuls of milk to calm his wildly pounding heart.
An edgy cross necklace, a male college student, and a love of watching the protagonist's livestream!
Oh no, isn't this the culprit who brought down the Shen Family!
The very person who, for Qiao Luo's sake, went straight up against Shen Xingshuo and ultimately brought down the Shen Family!
Shen Yu's mouth formed an O. He kept sneaking looks at Chu Yao throughout the flight. Noticing that they were watching the same livestream, he quietly closed his laptop.
Once the plane landed, Shen Yu slowly made his way out with the flight attendant accompanying him. Chu Yao suddenly stopped, however, and gave Shen Yu an interested look.
"Kid, do you know me?"
Chu Yao was certain he had no memory of Shen Yu. Besides, he was in college, so it was difficult for him to come into contact with children outside his own age group.
Shen Yu shook his head like a rattle drum, clutching the snacks the flight attendant had packed for him in both hands. He followed behind the young woman like a hamster, yet his eyes still stole glances at Chu Yao.
Only after watching the two walk away did Chu Yao scratch his head in puzzlement. Abandoning his mysterious, cool demeanor from earlier, he muttered narcissistically to himself.
"Am I so handsome that even kids can't stop staring?"