"I didn't bring sunglasses." After a brief silence, Zhou Yang spread his hands and started playing shameless.
"I have some." Shen Xunye lazily raised a hand.
The expression on Zhou Yang's face was indescribable. "You really came prepared."
Shen Xunye couldn't be bothered with him. He turned to Chi Li. "I'll get them after hearing these two's punishments."
"Okay..." Chi Li's gaze landed on Fang Jin. "Look up three domineering CEO quotes, then recite them affectionately to the nearest camera."
"Giving the fans a treat?" Shen Xunye snorted with a laugh.
Chi Li nodded and said solemnly, "It counts as a boyfriend POV, too."
Fang Jin obediently opened a search app.
When he saw the top three domineering CEO lines, he slowly closed his eyes as though he had suffered a heavy blow.
[Fang Jin: I don't dare open my eyes. Please let this be my imagination.]
[I can't imagine a domineering CEO standing in front of me with a little turtle drawn on his face...]
[Isn't Chi Li basically these people's embarrassing-history generator...]
[I could watch him punish people all day.]
"Hmm, looks like he needs some time to prepare." Chi Li shifted his gaze to Xie Weishui. "Then you go first."
Xie Weishui gave an awkward smile. "...Okay."
"Let's continue with that truth question from earlier." Chi Li was still polite to him, neither humiliating him nor making him do anything ridiculous. "The person you first had a sexual fantasy about... I won't ask who exactly. Just whether they were male or female."
"I've never had sexual fantasies about anyone."
Before the others even had time to wonder why Chi Li had asked that question, Xie Weishui quickly gave his answer.
He had already decided to answer that way while they were playing mahjong earlier.
"The truth?" Chi Li asked, raising an eyebrow.
Xie Weishui's gaze was firm. "The truth."
The first step to deceiving others was to deceive yourself.
[If you don't want to answer, there's really no need to lie. [sigh]]
[Does Shuishui really think he's some pure, untainted fictional character? I don't believe he never watched TV as a kid and fantasized about living happily ever after with the lead.]
[He's still hiding his sexual orientation, really.]
[He wants to have his cake and eat it too.]
[Sexual orientation is private in the first place. What's wrong with keeping it secret?!]
[Exactly. Why does Chi Li insist on prying into someone else's private life?]
[Just say you can't handle the game. Chi Li doesn't strike me as someone who'd force anyone?]
"Okay." Chi Li didn't pick holes in it, simply treating Xie Weishui's answer as true before turning to Fang Jin with interest. "That just leaves you."
Fang Jin took a deep breath and summoned the courage to stand.
He lowered his eyes to his phone screen and quickly practiced the lines under his breath before finding the nearest camera and leaning his face toward it.
"Ahem." Staring into the pitch-black lens, he said in a low voice, "Woman, you're playing with fire."
[Hahahahaha, I was supposed to get into pampered-wife mode, but that little turtle is stealing the show. Sorry.]
[The nation's first turtle CEO.]
[I suddenly get what's cute about Fang Jin...]
[My toes are digging into the floor. At this rate, I'll have carved out a three-bedroom apartment with a living room in no time.]
In any case, the first line went fairly smoothly.
As he prepared to say the second, the corners of Fang Jin's mouth began to twitch. "The weather's turning cold. It's time the Wang Group went bankrupt."
By the third line, embarrassment washed over him. His whole face turned red, and he spoke at top speed. "You'll never escape the palm of my hand for as long as you live."
Once he finished, Fang Jin immediately dashed back to his seat and buried his head like an ostrich.
"That was actually pretty good," Chi Li comforted him with a smile. "It counts as building acting experience."
Fang Jin's voice was tiny. "...It only counts as building an embarrassing history."
"Cheer up. Win the next hand, and you can get your revenge." Chi Li smiled.
While they drew and played their tiles, Shen Xunye went back to his room to get Zhou Yang the sunglasses.
When he returned, he heard Zhou Yang, who hadn't won a single hand but was already waiting on a winning tile this round, shouting as he drew, "Five of bamboo-"
He turned the mahjong tile over. A nine of characters lay in his palm.
Like a deflated balloon, he instantly slumped.
Shen Xunye tossed the sunglasses into his lap. "Put them on yourself."
Chi Li discarded the tile he had drawn. "Five of bamboo."
Fang Jin said, "Pong."
Zhou Yang: "..."
Fuck, even the tiles were bullying him!
He indignantly put on the sunglasses and, hidden behind his mask, began silently cursing this fucked-up world.
After claiming the pong, Fang Jin discarded an eight of dots.
Two more circuits later, Xie Weishui won the hand.
First, he rescued Zhou Yang, who was sweating profusely from both the heat and his anger. "Take off one piece of clothing."
Zhou Yang couldn't wait to take off his down jacket.
Once he had taken it off, Xie Weishui spoke to Chi Li with almost equal eagerness. "Truth for you again."
Chi Li was unbothered. "Ask away."
Xie Weishui said, "What's your sexual orientation?"
He didn't believe Chi Li would dare reveal his sexual orientation publicly.
Nor did he believe Chi Li would dare copy his answer.
Then... how would he answer?
"Me? I'm moneysexual. My only crush right now is money," Chi Li said with complete sincerity.
[Actually, I'm moneysexual too.]
[Money loves me, I love money, money, come into my arms. (Performing a ritual]
[I guarantee that's one hundred percent the truth. Not a shred of doubt needed.]
Naturally, Xie Weishui wasn't particularly satisfied with that answer. "Didn't you just say you used to like a bastard? Was that bastard a man or a woman?"
Zhou Yang: "..."
"That's a second question." Chi Li refused with a smile. "Win another hand, then ask me."
Unfortunately, Xie Weishui didn't win another hand before the livestream ended.
All he got was a face covered in paper strips, along with question after question from Chi Li that seemed harmless but were difficult to answer.
Chi Li's face, meanwhile, remained perfectly clean.
Even when Fang Jin punished him by making him recite embarrassing lines, he could deliver them without blushing or batting an eye.
This guy... really had nerves of steel.
With the livestream over, the mahjong game naturally had to end too.
Chi Li, the biggest winner, stood first and stretched. "I had a great time today. If you do something like this again, feel free to invite me."
With no cameras filming, Zhou Yang dropped the act too. "When did you get so good at mahjong?"
When he and Chi Li were together, he had never seen Chi Li play mahjong with anyone.
As usual, Chi Li ignored him and walked straight out of the room.
Shen Xunye followed close behind. "You know how to count tiles, don't you?"
Chi Li's voice drifted in from outside. "A little..."
Fang Jin pulled the paper strips off his face. "I'll head back, then. Later... if there's a meeting, message me."
Seeing Fang Jin leave, Zhou Yang hurriedly said, "I'll get going too."
"Wait." Xie Weishui stopped him. "Before the big meeting, let's have a little meeting here."