Lin Linya nervously licked his lower lip. His hand involuntarily moved towards the card on the right, carefully probing, “Really? You’re not lying to me?”
Qiao Yu shrugged. “I wasn’t lying to you earlier. You just didn’t believe me. I told you the card you were about to draw was the Old Maid.”
His long, slender fingers hesitantly rubbed the back of the card. Qiao Yu’s expression didn’t change; even the curve of his smile didn’t shift. The other two didn’t speak either, just watching the show with their arms crossed.
Better to get it over with quickly. Lin Linya chose to trust him this once, swiftly picking up the card on the right and flipping it over.
The Joker on the card face openly mocked his naivety.
Lin Linya: “…”
He was furious!
Qiao Yu drew a card from Little Yang beside him, discarded the last pair in his hand, and fell backwards onto the bed. “I win. You guys continue.”
[So evil! How could you trick Yaya like that.]
[He’s the most gullible. If not him, who else would he trick? The other two are as shrewd as monkeys.]
[The emotions in Yaya’s eyes just now contained confusion, grievance, and disbelief. Qiao Yu really led Baby on a wild goose chase.]
Little Yang drew a card from Ji Wensheng’s hand and threw it, along with the cards remaining in his own hand, into the discard pile. Ji Wensheng was also down to his last card.
Lin Linya still had two cards. If the one Ji Wensheng drew wasn’t the Old Maid, Lin Linya would lose this round.
Lin Linya knelt on the bed, nervously holding his breath, his gaze closely following the movement of Ji Wensheng’s fingers. Ji Wensheng directly pulled away the other card.
He gave Lin Linya an apologetic smile. “I still think that dance from earlier suits you better. Want to give it a try?”
Lin Linya: “?”
He even checked the back of the card to make sure there was nothing wrong, dejectedly tossing the Old Maid into the pile. “I lost. Do you all have wallhacks? How could you perfectly draw the other card every time?”
Little Yang sat sideways on the edge of the bed, unable to hold back a smile. “Because you’re too easy to read, dummy.”
Qiao Yu asked, “Anyone want a midnight snack? My treat. Let’s order some takeout. What do you want?”
Lin Linya, who was looking down at his phone watching the video to learn the dance moves, immediately turned his head. “Ah? I want milk tea. Get me a Strawberry Coconut Jelly.”
Qiao Yu couldn’t help but laugh. “Have you even learned the moves yet? And you’re already thinking about Strawberry Coconut Jelly.”
“What’s so hard about it? It’s super easy,” Lin Linya couldn’t stand even a hint of reverse psychology.
Although he said that, he was still a bit shy inside. He leaned closer to the livestream room’s camera to check the view, discovering the online viewer count had reached fifty thousand. He was greatly shaken. “What is going on?”
He had never seen so many people in his livestream room before.
[Heard there’s a beautiful youth dancing here, came to check it out.]
[So the wife likes strawberry drinks too. Would he like strawberry-flavored lollipops? (holding heart) (holding heart)]
[You danmei fans, please don’t be too…]
[Hahaha, why are there so many streamers watching with their main accounts in the livestream room, and pro players too, oh my god. Yaya, you really are famous now.]
[So everyone’s into this kind of thing.]
A small strand of his bangs slipped down onto his smooth forehead as he moved. The roots of his ears flushed red with shyness. The room lights had all been turned off; only the rear flashlights of three phones served as backlighting behind him.
Half of his delicate face fell into shadow. His full, rosy lips were curved upwards, and his long eyelashes cast a small gray shadow on his cheek. He was bashful, like a green, unripe fruit newly hanging on a branch.
The movements of his body, however, were a stark contrast. Following the ambiguously sultry music, the lines of his body were faintly visible under his pajamas. His soft waist swayed left and right like a spring willow branch too delicate to bear a single fold.
A small section of his waist was exposed with his movements, both sides forming a v-shape that dipped inward. His flat lower abdomen was full of grace, alluring enough to make one’s mouth dry.
There was one move where he touched his own chest.
People’s gazes simply couldn’t move away from his fingers. He was so beautiful he looked like a doll held carefully in one’s hands, his brows and eyes devastatingly pretty.
Yet he happened to be wearing the most casual daily pajamas. It wasn’t intentional thirst-trapping. It was as if a pretty and obedient little boyfriend had casually learned a dance, and after you’d come home exhausted from a hard day, he danced it just for you alone.
Gifts in the livestream room were going crazy. [This is what I deserve after a hard day’s work!]
[Too hot, too hot! This suits Yaya perfectly. It looks so good danced. I don’t know how to describe it. Like the kind of guy who could make a ton of money working at a host club, the type that rich older sisters and men into 4i and pegging would like.] (T/N: 4i is a Chinese internet term for a relationship dynamic where the female partner is dominant and the male partner submissive.)
[No, no, no. He’s the Little Young Master who doesn’t want to dance but is forced to, performing just for us to see. This face is way too superior.]
[Wait, are the other three men in the same room eunuchs? You have a bed right there. What’s the difference between this and your girlfriend wearing black lingerie and blowing in your ear while you just focus on playing games? Is this level of self-restraint a vow of celibacy?]
[Ugh, who else gets it? I started following for the visuals, but the more I watch, the more I become a mom fan. I feel like what he needs is a 180cm tan sporty college guy, or an elite lawyer, or a domineering CEO. In any case, his audience target isn’t a penniless 160cm female college student like me.]
[Play this video clip in landscape mode and add a progress bar. You’ll come back to thank me.]
The music was only a little over a minute long, but Lin Linya felt that minute was incredibly long.
It was too strange. Everyone was watching him.
The music stopped. Lin Linya ceased his movements. He hurriedly went to turn on the lights. Turning back, the three men were staring at him. His eyes darted away, belatedly feeling embarrassed.
He turned to Qiao Yu. “How did the recording turn out?”
Qiao Yu sat on the edge of the bed looking up at him, his gaze alarmingly intense. “I recorded all of it. Do you want to see?”
“Yeah!”
Lin Linya took his phone. After watching it once, his face burned red. “This is way too… that. Do we really have to post this? It feels a bit inappropriate.”
“If you’re embarrassed, then don’t post it. But fans definitely have screen recordings; it’ll spread later anyway.”
“Huh?” Lin Linya felt Qiao Yu had a point. “Then… then let’s just post it.”
He liked seeing people say nice things about him.
[Before now, I never thought I had a gaydar. After watching this livestream, I think I can identify danmei guys. Little Yang’s gaze is simple appreciation of good looks. The look in Little Yu’s eyes seems like he’s about to devour my Baby whole…]
[Brother Slow beside him too. I don’t know why, he gives me a vibe of a deeply hidden elegant scum / hypocrite in glasses.]
[Ah! I’ve screamed until my voice is hoarse.]
The next second, the livestream room turned into a completely white page.
Lin Linya immediately noticed something was wrong. He picked up his phone; a message popped up in the background. [Your livestream room has been suspended due to suspected lewd content. If you disagree, please click this link to appeal. Customer Service will re-review the livestream recording.]
Lin Linya looked utterly confused. “?”
Qiao Yu leaned in too. He didn’t understand the situation either, scratching the back of his head. “This is probably a false ban. Appeal it and try relaunching the stream.”
By the time the livestream room reopened, Lin Linya was already curled up in a corner of the sofa, covered by a small blanket, sipping his Strawberry Coconut Jelly. His little face was flushed. Biting his straw, his upturned cat-like eyes held an innocent expression.
The fans in the livestream room instantly felt protective sympathy.
[I’m really fed up. So many livestream rooms in other sections with much more explicit content don’t get banned, but my Baby just twists his waist a little and gets banned. Wolf Fang, do you even see what you’re doing?]
[Maybe we went too far with our comments earlier. Let’s be more careful about our online language from now on.]
[Wolf Fang has indeed been stricter about this aspect this year. Almost as bad as the neighboring novel platform, Jin Waterworks.] (T/N: Jinjiang Literature City, a major Chinese web novel platform, is known for its strict censorship.)
[If it really doesn’t work out, just quit the gaming section. Go to a different platform, I’ll just directly support you.]
[I disagree, wuwuwu. Watching Baby play games every day is my source of happiness. Worn out from school every day, I survive day-to-day relying on Baby.]
Ji Wensheng suggested, “It’s past ten now. Let’s play one more round and then rest. We still have offline fan meeting activities to attend tomorrow.”
“This game is not the least bit friendly to me,” although he said that verbally, Lin Linya still, protesting in words but complying in body, sat back down beside them.
He set a flag for himself. “This time, I definitely won’t let you guys see through me.”
Taking advantage of Qiao Yu shuffling the cards, he secretly tugged Ji Wensheng’s sleeve and leaned close to his ear to whisper a request, “Bro, let’s switch places. I don’t want to draw from Qiao Yu’s hand anymore. He’s too mean.”
They were too close. Ji Wensheng could even smell the strawberry fragrance on his breath.
He had absolutely no reason to refuse him.
Lin Linya got his wish and moved to sit between Little Yang and Ji Wensheng. Coincidentally, Qiao Yu was sitting directly opposite him. The moment he looked up, he met Qiao Yu’s teasing gaze.
He asked fiercely, “What are you staring at me for?”
Qiao Yu grinned happily. “Nothing. You just look nice.”
After he dealt the cards, before Lin Linya even had time to organize his own hand, Qiao Yu opened his mouth half-jokingly, “I bet this time the Old Maid really is in Baby Ya’s hand.”
Lin Linya was calm and collected. “Impossible. How could I be that unlucky?”
According to the Law of Luck Conservation, there was no way the Old Maid could be in his hand right from the start.
He confidently flipped over the cards in his hand. An enormous Old Maid was sandwiched within the deck. Instantly, “…”
Qiao Yu, seeing his expression, was laughing so hard his shoulders shook. Glared at by Lin Linya, he cleared his throat and spoke with veiled innuendo, “I have a friend who likes playing gacha games. Every time he pulls, he thinks that since he hit pity last time, he couldn’t possibly hit pity again this time. But guess what?”
“A-ha, he hits pity every single time!”
His tone was utterly obnoxious. Lin Linya’s fists clenched hard.
[I came to watch a livestream, not to look in a mirror. This unfortunate gacha player is about to be angered to death.]
[Yaya is so angry he’s rolling his eyes. As everyone knows, the probability of a little kitten assassinating a human is very small, but not zero percent.]
[I’m a Yu fan. I’m very satisfied with this sister-in-law/significant other, but I seriously doubt his current mental state will let him successfully get a wife. The two next to him seem so much more normal in comparison.]
At the D.K Esports Club, Sprite was slacking off on his smurf account, happily watching the livestream. He glanced at Chu Fengyi, who was focused on training beside him, and sent him the link.
He also kicked his chair. “Quick, look at what I sent you.”
Chu Fengyi was irritated. “Tch, I’m in a teamfight. So annoying.”
Sprite laughed sincerely. “I hope later, when your wife calls to say she’s breaking up, you can just as decisively say, ‘In a teamfight, don’t bother me.'”
Chu Fengyi said expressionlessly, “Stop being crazy.”
When he finished that game, he rubbed his overworked wrist and finally picked up his phone.
At that moment, the severely out-of-the-loop Chu Fengyi saw the livestream link, along with a long message Sprite had sent: [The little streamer Yaya and three tall, handsome men were passionately wrestling on the bed. The little streamer was even messed with till he cried, so pitiful. Aren’t you going to come see?]
Chu Fengyi: “……?”
Do you even hear what you’re saying right now?
