Chapter 124 - Sticking out his tongue.
Lulith, thank you for your Ko-Fis!
You Liangxing did not reply but that only served to increase Kang Shengzhe’s belief that his intuition was correct. “Liang Liang, are you…”
“You-xuezhang!” That female student from the student union abruptly ran up to them from the backstage. She wanted to speak, but when she realised that Kang Shengzhe was plastered on You Liangxing’s person as she moved closer, she faltered unconsciously. She said,”Did I, um, interrupt something?”
Kang Shengzhe nodded his head: “Yes.”
You Liangxing shook his head: “No.”
A magnetic male voice and a delicate girlish voice landed at the same time, and Kang Shengzhe’s aura was stiffly pressed down by half.
And that allowed the female student to successfully ignore Kang Shengzhe and ask her question with some expectation and caution. “School senior, are we allowed to share the videos we recorded of the stage just now? Like QQ, WeChat Moments, Weibo and whatnot.”
Prior to this, people had been using their phones to record the event while You Liangxing was on the stage. Under such lively circ.u.mstances, recording it down was common practice, but the fact that they approached him for the sake of his permission made it hard for You Liangxing to reject it.
“En.”
“That’s great!”
The female student clapped her hands happily and skipped out to share the good news with the people who were waiting on bated breaths. After running a few steps out, however, she turned her head back again, and she seemed to be suppressing the urge to ask something because she did not dare to voice her question.
“What’s the matter?”
You Liangxing frowned and the female opened her mouth right away. Her gaze flitted left and right to scrutinise You Liangxing and Kang Shengzhe before she leaned closer and whispered: “That, I would like to ask a question, I promise that I’ll tell no one about it! You can rest a.s.sured, I swear on my own dignity that I’m secretly asking this on my own accord, and if I were to say it out loud, all the male celebrities I’m a fan of in the future will all announce that they’re in a relationship the next day.”
Such a poisonous oath. Kang Shengzhe said: “Ask away.”
Face glowing red, the female student asked softly, “Just, just… the two of you, are the two of you lovers!”
This was really an excellent question. Immediately, Kang Shengzhe said: “Yeah!”
Simultaneously, You Liangxing said: “No.”
Kang Shengzhe’s facial expression collapsed. Meanwhile, the shorter man was calm, still steeped in his annoyance. The female student looked left and right, a little uncomfortable, “Is it a yes or a no?”
Kang Shengzhe said: “Yes.”
You Liangxing said: “No.”
The scene repeated itself and You Liangxing’s gaze grew colder. Affected by his stare, Kang Shengzhe choked back all the words he wanted to rant and shut his mouth mournfully.
The final answer was: No.
The female student’s expression changed but rather than saying she was unhappy, she was just a little disappointed. She let out a hasty cough in an attempt to alleviate the awkwardness. “Hahaha, if you’re not together, then could you partic.i.p.ate in the last round later? With the amount of people in the venue, you would be hard-pressed to leave either way, because you would get obstructed.”
What was known as the final round was a game to choose their true love and it mainly consisted of giving the entire student body – whether male or female – a flower, and the girls could give their flowers to the boys they admired first. Afterwards, it was the boy’s turn to give their flowers to the girls they liked. If the two managed to mutually exchange flowers, they had to hold hands to signify their success.
The female student issued You Liangxing and Kang Shengzhe a single rose with much enthusiasm and explained: “Later, You-xuezhang will be going up first, and the scene it will cause will definitely be particularly hectic.”
The flower was coloured in a deep red and it was in perfect bloom. However, Kang Shengzhe’s mood was the opposite of the flower’s appearance because he was withering tragically. “If you ask Liang Liang to go up first, can the show even go on afterwards?”
The female student did not notice the sour taste in Kang Shengzhe’s words and answered his question seriously instead. “That’s the point. When You-xuezhang takes away a large portion of the female students, wouldn’t the girls who chose to keep their flowers to give to another boy be considered true love when they successfully pair up?”
Now that she said it, there really was a logic to it. Unexpectedly, Kang Shengzhe realised that he could not refute her words.
He raised the rose in his hand and said with a sullen voice: “It’s already Double 11, where did all these roses come from?”
“These two stalks of roses are real, whereas the others have paper folded ones. Our student union is so poor, where do we even find the budget… wait, that’s not the main point, how did I get to this topic. Anyway, we’ll be arranging it as such, are you okay with it, You-xuezhang?”
You Liangxing, who had been quiet throughout, finally spoke. “En.”
As he laid down his words, his eyes met Kang Shengzhe’s for three full seconds before he moved his gaze away. “However, you might be wrong in your conjecture, it’s not certain whether I will receive a lot of flowers.”
Kang Shengzhe laughed coldly. “Impossible.”
And as reality would prove it, it was absolutely impossible.
After You Liangxing took to the stage, the paper flowers in his hands seemed to multiply in quant.i.ty, and the people who sent him flowers were not limited to females, for the male students did not lose out in numbers either. For example, Liang Chulin had squeezed into the male pile, screaming with his cla.s.smates as he stuffed the flower into You Liangxing’s hands.
Honestly speaking, the people sending him flowers were not truly seeking for answers. It was just that after such a long time, You Liangxing had already solidified his image as the poster boy for the word ‘popular’ in A University.
It was rare for them to have such a chance; no matter their initial jeering sentiments, they still wanted to give their flowers to You Liangxing.
The hall echoed in one uniform voice. “You-xuezhang!!!”
When the first female student gave her flower, Kang Shengzhe felt like he had some troubles breathing, but by the twenty-third female student, Kang Shengzhe was close to breathing his last.
The audience’s cheers gradually changed: from yelling out You-xuezhang’s name, they started counting the number of people who sent him flowers.
“Twenty-five!!”
“Twenty-six!!”
Another person placed their flower in You Liangxing’s hand, and the Year One female student said shyly albeit sincerely, “School senior, you’re really handsome.”
You Liangxing smiled soundlessly and patted her head in reply.
Kang Shengzhe turned his head and made a hand gesture to his female comrade from the student union. Choking on his sobs, he said: “Did you see that, I’m about this close from pa.s.sing away on the spot.”
The female student: “……”
The emcee on stage overpowered the screams happening below and said loudly: “Twenty-eight flowers!! You-xuezhang has received twenty-eight flowers! Is there anyone who still wants to give You-xuezhang their flower!!”
As his voice reverberated through the hall, Kang Shengzhe seemed to be in the throes of a heart attack. The female student was about to offer him a few sentences of consolation when Kang Shengzhe’s figure disappeared from where he stood, leaving her sight empty.
In the next moment, the two-metre-tall little giant rushed up the stage and stood in front of You Liangxing.
The stage lighting and the gazes of hundreds was focused and fixated upon them. Kang Shengzhe offered the fresh rose in his hand to him. Waist and back straightened, he told You Liangxing: “Take it.”
The air was silent for a moment.
Subsequently after, the entire hall exploded with a thunderous roar.
“AHHHHHHHH KANG SHENGZHE!!”
“This…. Is this… a live confession?!!”
“Lying down!”
Deep in the crowd, Liang Chulin’s complexion was tea leaf green. “Kang Shengzhe, you big b.a.s.t.a.r.d!! What are you doing! Stay away from my Brother Liang Liang!!”
Afraid that he would get squashed by others while attempting to go to the front due to his pet.i.te stature, Liao Su could only place himself behind him and wrap his arms around him to protect him. “Xiao Linzi, slow down.”
The audience were screaming together but time seemed to have stood still on the stage. No matter how composed You Liangxing was, he did not expect that things would develop in such a way. His heart slammed against his ribcage, and at that moment, he felt a little slow-witted.
But the main culprit Kang Shengzhe did not seem to realise that he was currently doing something extreme. He extended his flower further and continued to insist: “Take it quickly.”
The crowd would never think in other directions if another boy were to send You Liangxing a flower but this was Kang Shengzhe who was giving his flower to You Liangxing. Even if the audience wanted to think straight, it was hard to not misconstrue it. A tidal wave of rowdy jeering surged up and Kang Shengzhe could hear the yells of the people below the stage: “School senior, don’t take it! School senior, don’t take it hahahaha!!”
It was only then that You Liangxing snapped out of it jerkily and their gazes collided in mid-air without warning. At that instance, Kang Shengzhe’s brain abruptly emptied out and a mutter bubbled from his throat and he appeared to have uttered something.
The people below the stage could not hear his words, and despite being in close proximity with him, You Liangxing could not hear him either. Amidst the rancour that were filling up the skies, You Liangxing only felt his body lightened and a jolt of pain spread from his waist before his entire body was plucked off the ground.
He was being carried over the shoulder by Kang Shengzhe.
“Move move move! Move away!”
Kang Shengzhe yelled out as he rushed off the stage. Taken aback by his imposing manner, the crowd below gave way to him out of conditioned reflex.
Underneath everyone’s wide eyed gazes, Kang Shengzhe carried You Liangxing away. Then, someone in the crowd exploded: “Kang Shengzhe!!”
“You’re violating the rules ah!!”
Despite having to carry the proportionally weighted You Liangxing over his shoulder, Kang Shengzhe had the surplus strength to turn his head to say: “Lue lue lue!”
No matter what the audience’s following reaction was, Kang Shengzhe used both hands to hug You Liangxing’s b.u.t.t and sprinted away like a streak of smoke.
The entire hall was in an utter mess but no one chased after them. Instead, there were only voices equally high in volume rising and falling in succession.
“What are you standing there in a daze for, hurry up and record!!”
“Video it ah!!”
Like the wind, he dashed out of the hall. Kang Shengzhe was too excited to feel the strain on his shoulder, and it was only when he had run far away that his cranial nerves recovered their normal operations. Then, as he gasped quickly for air, dread filled his heart.
… c.r.a.p.
In retrospect, he realised that even as he carried the person over his shoulder for a long time, You Liangxing hadn’t made a sound.
He didn’t explode in anger, right…?