"Nine dots." Zhou Yang discarded a tile, only catching the two retreating figures out of the corner of his eye. "You know, those two actually have pretty good couple chemistry. I'm starting to ship them."
Those two had better lock it down already. Shen Xunye standing beside Chi Li was an absolute eyesore.
"Kong." Chi Li laid down the three nine-dot tiles in his hand and said evenly, "You'll ship anything. You must have some strong teeth... Three bamboo."
Zhou Yang grinned. "The cutest height difference, right?"
Fang Jin said, "One dot."
"Junior, you should focus on the mahjong in front of you." Xie Weishui drew a tile but didn't look at it. He carefully felt its markings with his thumb, then discarded it straightaway. "Eight characters."
Zhou Yang immediately buttered him up. "Senior, you can read tiles by touch too?"
Xie Weishui gave a restrained smile. "Practice makes perfect."
The four at the table kept drawing and discarding tiles. Soon, everyone except Zhou Yang was waiting on a winning tile.
[Does anyone understand? I impulsively bought memberships for all four of them just to see everyone's tiles, and now I'm jumping between their livestreams.]
[That was definitely impulsive.]
[I wanted a first-person view to immerse myself, so I randomly picked Zhou Yang's. Two minutes in, my intolerance for stupidity flared up, and here I am again...]
[Xie Weishui can read tiles by touch, and instead you picked Zhou Yang, who handed someone a kong...]
[Fang Jin and Chi Li would work too. At least they're both waiting on a winning tile.]
[Am I the only one waiting to see who wins the first round before switching over?]
[With three players waiting to win, this has nothing to do with skill anymore. It's pure luck.]
"Mahjong." Chi Li drew a seven-dot tile and eagerly laid his tiles down. "Thank you for your kindness."
The corners of Zhou Yang's mouth lifted slightly. "Well, congratulations to you."
Still keen on keeping things moving, Xie Weishui asked, "Have you decided what punishments you want us to do?"
True to his original intention, Chi Li pointed at Fang Jin. "Take something off."
Fang Jin said, "..."
Very slowly, he took off his light jacket and draped it over the back of his chair.
"As for you..." Chi Li pointed at Xie Weishui next. "Starting now, no laughing for ten minutes. That includes smiling."
Xie Weishui's expression stiffened. He forced the corners of his mouth down little by little, looking extremely unnatural.
["Prescribing the right medicine."]
[Why on earth would anyone be foolish enough to play a punishment game with Chi Li? He looks very good at torturing people.]
[He's clearly looking out for the viewers!]
"What about me? What about me?" Zhou Yang asked eagerly. "What do you want me to do?"
"You." Chi Li pressed the control button in the middle of the mahjong table. "Go find a mask and put it on."
"?" Zhou Yang was instantly unhappy. "Why?"
He had been hoping to take his clothes off and show Chi Li his muscles up close.
Chi Li said, "It's easy to mistake your face for the one-dot tile."
Fang Jin hurriedly raised a fist to his mouth to hide his rising lips.
["Asking to be humiliated."]
[Not asking to be humiliated. Actually, he's "enjoying every second."]
[Wifey, be honest. Is your main job being a master of passive aggression?]
"Laugh if you want." Zhou Yang shot Fang Jin an expressionless glare and sprang to his feet. "I'm going to get a mask."
Fang Jin gave two dry laughs. "Haha."
Luckily, they weren't very far from the dorms. About two minutes later, Zhou Yang returned wearing a black mask.
"Much easier on the eyes." Chi Li tossed out the comment as he sat down, then pressed the dice button.
For once, Fang Jin took the initiative to chime in. "A shrimp boyfriend?"
Zhou Yang was displeased. "What's that supposed to mean? Edible with the head removed? You're saying I'm ugly, then?"
"That's not what he meant." Xie Weishui jumped in to mediate. A smile was just starting to form on his face when he forcibly lowered it again, looking extremely awkward. "...He's complimenting your physique."
"True. It's all because my physique is so outstanding that my face becomes unworthy of mention."
With that, Zhou Yang shot Chi Li a resentful look.
That look roughly meant-You let Fang Jin strip, but not me. You have no taste.
Chi Li refused to receive his signal and elegantly discarded a tile. "One dot."
Zhou Yang said, "..."
From that moment on, he and the one-dot tile were mortal enemies!
Fang Jin won the second round.
Following the principle of reciprocity, he first had Chi Li take off his jacket.
Then he gave Xie Weishui the mild punishment of sticking a strip of paper on his face.
But Zhou Yang... He was a little torn.
According to his previous persona, he ought to make things unpleasant for him.
But as luck would have it, the two of them had already "reconciled"...
So he would go easy on him for the first punishment-
"Do three squats."
"What a boring punishment." Zhou Yang pursed his lips.
He pushed back his chair, stood, and quickly did three squats.
Xie Weishui won the third round.
Since his "no smiling" punishment still hadn't ended, he could only ask Zhou Yang with a straight face, "Do you want to take your mask off?"
Zhou Yang immediately reached up to remove it. "You're the one who cares about me, Senior."
Chi Li immediately interrupted his casting. "He only asked if you wanted to. He didn't tell you to take it off."
Fang Jin slowly added, "Besides, taking off a mask can't count as a punishment, can it?"
"It could," Chi Li said with complete seriousness. "But it could only count as a punishment for me. If that's acceptable, let him keep taking it off."
Zhou Yang said, "..."
Fuck... Just how long was Chi Li going to keep humiliating him...?
"Ahem." Xie Weishui naturally couldn't agree to that. He hurriedly reached out to stop Zhou Yang. "Junior, you'd better keep your mask on."
Expressionless, Zhou Yang put his half-removed mask back on properly.
"Stick a strip of paper on your face." Xie Weishui first returned Fang Jin's "punishment."
Fang Jin silently complied.
"As for you..." Xie Weishui turned toward Zhou Yang. "How about three frog jumps?"
"...Why do I always get physical punishments?"
Though reluctant, Zhou Yang still did them properly.
"As for Chi Li..." Xie Weishui looked at the man opposite him, his expression wavering. "Let's give you a truth question."
"Sure." Chi Li accepted calmly. "What do you want to ask?"
Xie Weishui eagerly spoke. "Of everything you've done in your life, what do you regret most? Preferably something you still regret when you think about it now."
Everyone had many moments of regret.
A love letter never delivered during their school days, a particular talent or skill they hadn't kept studying, a proper hug they hadn't given at parting, a different path they hadn't taken...
Most harmless regrets were regrets about "not doing something."
But he had asked about "something he had done."
That meant it must have caused some kind of "bad outcome."
With the added qualification of "still regretting it now," that "bad outcome" had to have been very serious.
Even if Chi Li didn't tell the truth, making him recall an unbearable past would at least be a way to sicken him.