Chapter 52: 052 As Expected Of You
After dinner, it was karaoke time.
The business district near the school wasn’t high-grade or large-scale, but small as it was, it had all the vital organs. The top floor above the restaurant was a KTV. Twenty or thirty young boys and girls came out after dinner and took the elevator in batches to reach the final stop of tonight’s activities.
Just like the previous two stops, Sun Xing Si had already booked a large private room, big enough to accommodate all these people.
“Okay, everyone, pick some songs!”
After leading everyone into the private room, Sun Xing Si pointed at the song selection station and said loudly.
The boys and girls looked at each other, and the scene was a bit awkward for a moment.
There were mic hogs among these classmates, but today’s occasion was somewhat special after all. There were too many people in the private room. As soon as you picked up the microphone, you’d become the focal point of twenty-plus pairs of eyes, and there were too many members of the opposite sex…
At this moment, Sun Ruimin stood up.
She picked an old song from several years ago, Dai Yiling’s 《Say I Love You》, then picked up the microphone: “I’ll go first and make a fool of myself. Everyone, don’t be shy, don’t be embarrassed.”
The familiar melody drifted out from the speaker, with the volume just right. Following the rhythm of the drum beat, Sun Ruimin gently shook her head, seemingly casually glancing over.
Over there, Wang Heng lowered his head to look at his mobile phone again.
Sun Ruimin couldn’t help feeling a bit dejected, but at this point the intro had just ended, and she started singing along with the subtitles:
“My world has become wondrous and even harder to describe,
I thought it was a dream that fell from the sky,
Until I confirmed that the warmth in my hand came from your heart,
At this moment, I finally bravely say I love you…”
Singing to this point, Sun Ruimin glanced over again. This time, she finally met Wang Heng’s gaze.
However, in that fleeting glance, she didn’t see any surprise or emotion, it seemed there was only… indifference?
But Sun Ruimin continued singing:
“At the beginning, I only cared about looking at you,
Pretending to be casual, but my heart drifted over,
And I secretly rejoiced that you didn’t notice me, hiding in the corner…”
At that moment, Wang Heng held his mobile phone to his ear, pretending to be on a call, and quickly walked out of the private room—although there was no evidence, Sun Ruimin felt he was definitely faking it; there was no call at all.
“About romance, there was no fanciful ending in the past,
But from that day on, it overturned my own logic,
My doubts, all answers became clear because of you,
Spinning around, I really met Mr. Right…”
A strong sense of grievance surged into her heart. Sun Ruimin was still singing, but her vision suddenly blurred a bit. She blinked, as if singing with extra devotion.
That annoying figure had already disappeared from the private room, and the more she thought about it, the angrier she got. But the lyrics coming out of her mouth were still in a sweet young girl style, which made her even more irritated. In the end, she even raised the pitch by an octave, turning the perfectly fine 《Say I Love You》 into a 《So Grievous》 feeling.
When the song ended, everyone clapped. The girls did it out of courtesy, but quite a few of the boys clapped really hard.
Sun Ruimin had already adjusted her expression. Holding the microphone, she smiled: “I made a fool of myself. Whose turn is next?”
Another girl took the microphone.
Sun Ruimin sat back on the sofa, took out her mobile phone, and sent a text to her cousin brother:
【Screw his Wang Heng, I’m not playing along anymore.】
Sun Xing Si: 【???】
Sun Ruimin sent another: 【Send me that Wang Ke’s phone number.】
Sun Xing Si couldn’t care less about continuing to win people over and lowered his head to text his cousin sister: 【What exactly happened???】
Sun Ruimin: 【Nothing, just a joke.】
Sun Xing Si: 【You’re changing targets?】
Sun Ruimin: 【No, too lazy to date, going back to review.】
Sun Xing Si was completely baffled. Not long ago, his cousin sister had been so determined, ready to take down that Wang Heng in minutes as an offering to heaven. What was going on now? And that Wang Heng was strange too. By rights, with his cousin sister being so proactive, why was he playing hard to get?
“Really…” Sun Xing Si sighed inwardly, “People’s hearts are so fickle!”
————
Wang Heng waited a few minutes in the restroom, figuring the song had ended, and prepared to return to the private room. But right then, a real call came in.
The call was from Pei Ningle.
“Agent classmate, this is really troublesome!” The young girl’s voice on the phone was clearly a bit anxious. “That video you told me to make, I’ve clearly already recorded it, but I just can’t upload it!”
Wang Heng: “Is the format and file size okay?”
Pei Ningle: “No problem. Don’t believe me? Come over and see! And there’s more. That music editing software you told me about last time, it’s all in English! My Gaokao English score was under 60. Are you deliberately making things difficult for me?”
“You can learn it by looking up a dictionary bit by bit.” Halfway through, Wang Heng felt it was really too difficult for her. “Forget it, I’ll come over and help you with it. But the video you’re making now shouldn’t need music editing, right?”
Pei Ningle: “Not for now, but when I finish writing my new song and it’s time for recording, I’ll need it! Should I not learn it now and then come find you during recording?”
Wang Heng: “By the way, those songs you posted online before didn’t use software, and they were fine, right?”
“So the effect was terrible! With such poor sound quality, anyone can tell it’s pure amateur! And the person who made me learn those things isn’t you, my agent classmate?”
When she said the three words ‘agent’, the young girl emphasized them heavily, as if placing them right in front of him in bold, italicized, extra-large font.
Wang Heng sighed: “Alright, I’m coming over now. Wait for me.”
Over the past week, he and Pei Ningle had been in contact via mobile phone, making calls or sending texts. As her agent, going over to see her in person when she needed help was only right, wasn’t it?
And thinking about it another way, this bit of trouble now was initial investment. Once Pei Ningle really became famous, how much would he earn back?
He returned to the private room, found Sun Xing Si, and said quietly: “A friend just called me. I have something to handle, so I’m heading out first.”
“Leaving so early?” Sun Xing Si instinctively tried to persuade him. “Don’t go. It’s just getting started.”
Wang Heng waved his mobile phone: “Put it this way: a girl is looking for me, and it’s serious business.”
“Serious business… okay!” Sun Xing Si suddenly understood, and within a second, he had imagined a whole plot.
Wang Heng turned and left.
Sun Xing Si looked at the figure disappearing behind the door, then at his cousin sister sitting in the corner, sighed, and sent her another text:
【Big sis, no wonder you’re giving up. It’s a love triangle!】
Moments later, Sun Ruimin: 【???】
Sun Xing Si: 【Not surprisingly from you, big sis. Withdrawing before too much sunk cost, still so rational!】
Sun Ruimin: 【Thanks for the compliment, but what do you mean love triangle?】
Sun Xing Si: 【Wang Heng and his girl.】
Sun Ruimin: 【???】
————
