Playing Around with Him

[LOL, I'm dying laughing!]

[Gu Tang, why'd you have to provoke him?]

[Meitu Xiuxiu, I'm dead! He's mocking her for needing to edit her photos, right?]

[Nan "Master of Sarcasm" Zhou]

[Seriously, where does this little internet celebrity get the nerve to keep provoking Nan Zhou? If her family doesn't have a mirror, she can squat down and look at her reflection in a puddle!]

[Tsk, tsk, tsk. The fans of that green tea are just as crude, disgusting, and foul as she is!]

[Honestly, it's totally reasonable that Nan Zhou isn't interested in Gu Tang. There's a huge gap between an internet celebrity's looks and a star's.]

Nan Zhou's Meitu Xiuxiu comment had enraged Gu Tang's fans. They posted the clip directly to Weibo, then combined it with the earlier footage of Nan Zhou sarcastically mocking the show's production team to stir up public opinion. They wanted to brand him as uncultured and vulgar, and nail him to the pillar of shame.

But they hadn't expected their actions to provoke resistance from the CP fans of Huo Xingye and Nan Zhou. They faced pushback from Xingzhou fans and some who had only become Nan Zhou fans after watching yesterday's livestream.

Quite a few skilled editors among the Xingzhou fans isolated the clips of Gu Tang provoking Nan Zhou and turned them into a funny, fighting-game-style compilation.

Keywords like "provokes him again and again, loses every time," "play stupid games, win stupid prizes," and "what a huge white lotus" spread widely among people who were just there for the fun.

Gu Tang's fans had tried to land a blow but only hurt themselves. They watched as a trending topic originally meant to smear Nan Zhou was turned into one about Gu Tang being a combat-weak, scrappy rooster.

Following the directions provided by the production team, Nan Zhou drove to the basement of a building in an old residential complex, about a fifteen-minute scooter ride from the apartment.

This was the destination for the daytime task the production team had arranged for him.

The sound of instruments playing drifted faintly from the basement. Nan Zhou bent down and walked through the open roller shutter. The people inside immediately stopped what they were doing and looked at him, seeming a little ill at ease.

Nan Zhou's gaze swept over the lead singer, guitarist, drummer, and bassist one by one.

The band's lead singer was a cute, pretty young woman dressed in a Lolita style. She didn't look like someone who played rock at all.

Unlike the others, who seemed uneasy, a flash of delight crossed her eyes the moment she saw Nan Zhou.

"Hello, Teacher Nan Zhou. We're the SIXGO band. I'm Jia Jia, the lead singer. This is A He, our guitarist; Brother Jian, our drummer; Le Le, our bassist... and, um, the keyboardist..."

When she mentioned the last person, Jia Jia looked a little awkward. "Tang Yang might've overslept. I'll call and remind him again in a bit."

It was embarrassing enough that someone would show up late when a popular variety show had invited a small band like theirs to appear. And to make matters worse, it was a livestream.

But what worried Jia Jia more was that Tang Yang was being difficult and didn't want to show Nan Zhou any respect.

Tang Yang was a brash, straight Alpha who was extremely hostile toward traffic Idols.

Unexpectedly, Nan Zhou looked grumpy, but didn't mind the rude behavior at all. "Did the production team tell you everything?"

Jia Jia nodded.

"Good. Let me hear the love song you've prepared for Huo Xingye." Nan Zhou took off his guitar and pulled over a chair by the door to sit down.

The camera operator following them and Jia Jia were both startled by how he'd put it.

For... Huo Xingye... a love song.

"Wasn't this song supposed to be a surprise you prepared for Brother Ye... for Teacher Huo, to give him at Christmas?" Jia Jia asked.

"No, that's not my style."

"..."

Seeing that he wasn't following the script the production team had arranged at all, the camera operator and on-site coordinator were both at a loss. They were just about to remind him when Nan Zhou drawled, "Personally, I'd rather play around with him a little."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone there opened their eyes wide.

Jia Jia's eyes lit up and her cheeks flushed. She almost couldn't stop herself from grabbing the microphone and asking him something out loud.

Could he really say that?!

[!!!!!!]

"Play around with him? What kind of playing around? Is it the kind I'm thinking of?"

"Oh my god, Nan Zhou, you get up to that kind of stuff in private? And you had the nerve to say the production team was the one playing dirty!"

"Th-this means you really did it yesterday, right?!"

"My face is turning yellow. Could you tell us exactly what kind of fun you want to have with Brother Ye? Better yet, show us. Blushing."

"I've moved into this livestream and I'm going to collect tea seeds to make my fortune."

"What?" Nan Zhou asked, puzzled, when he saw everyone looking at him with shocked expressions. "Does anyone really put on a show for their lover at Christmas?"

...That wasn't very common.

Before everyone could recover, Nan Zhou added, "Besides, a song for him would be more suited to desire, wouldn't it?"

Everyone's eyes widened again.

Jia Jia's mouth fell open.

A song of desire? What was that supposed to be? What were you saying, Teacher Nan Zhou? What on earth did you and Brother Ye do together in private?

Jia Jia couldn't even imagine how indescribable Nan Zhou and Huo Xingye's time together was when they weren't on the show.

"Don't you think so?" Nan Zhou asked seriously.

"W-what?"

"He's so tempting."

"..." Jia Jia finally couldn't help speaking up. "Teacher Nan Zhou, nobody uses the word 'tempting' to describe an Alpha."

Especially when it was Brother Ye!

But that didn't stop her from getting another ship-fueling moment!

As expected, Xingzhou was the sweetest!

"Tsk. Don't you have any lists like 'walking sexual desire' or 'the man everyone in the world wants to sleep with most'?"

Teacher Nan Zhou, enough. Really, enough.

This was too much sweetness. If this kept up, the livestream would get shut down.

Jia Jia's fingers trembled. She was so deep into shipping them she could barely control herself, and the comments in the livestream were even worse.

They were filled with ** and notices saying certain comments had been muted.

Following Pei Feng's remote instructions, the camera operator quickly steered the conversation back to the main topic. The SIXGO band played the song for Nan Zhou once, then had him join in as the guitarist.

However, what no one expected was that Nan Zhou had already furrowed his brow slightly from the opening notes. The farther he listened, the more tightly his brows drew together.

Was the song too difficult for him to learn?

Or had he practiced yesterday's song in private?

As the final note faded, someone pushed the basement's roller shutter upward. At the same time, Nan Zhou's voice rang out in the quiet basement.

"Even the Trisolarans would have to turn right back and give up on taking over Earth after hearing this song on the way here."

With a clatter, sunlight poured in through the fully raised roller shutter.

A tall figure stood in the sunlight. His expression wasn't exactly unpleasant, but it was foul to the extreme.

The next second, Nan Zhou saw the word "terror" written on Jia Jia and the other SIXGO members' faces.