The next day, Ji Zhaoxi ran toward the teaching building, gasping for breath.
She still hadn’t adjusted to her new schedule.
With only two minutes to spare, she stepped into the laboratory. It was quiet, with her senior brothers and sisters all bent over their experiments.
Under that sharp, piercing gaze, Ji Zhaoxi silently returned to her seat.
Just then, another set of footsteps sounded at the door. Their advisor finally lost her patience.
Holding her thermos, she sighed. “Students, I’ve said this many times before. I really don’t recommend cutting it this close.”
Then her tone shifted, and she looked serious. “For example, Lu Huainan. It’s not vacation anymore. You can’t keep arriving at the last minute.”
Running in out of breath only to need another long while to calm down once seated—how was he supposed to settle his mind enough to work?
“Sorry, Professor. It won’t happen again.”
The voice fell beside Ji Zhaoxi. She pretended to be deeply engrossed in her experiment.
The advisor walked over to one of the senior students and said a few words. Not long afterward, she left again, thermos in hand.
Only then did the laboratory liven up.
“Junior Sister, cutting it this close on your first day back? You’re getting bolder and bolder,” her senior brother complained mournfully.
A whole month of vacation. She must have gone completely wild.
He had seen all the posts on her social media. He hadn’t even felt like liking them!
“That’s what happens when you’re a huge influencer,” Ji Zhaoxi said smugly.
Wen Shuning smiled. “Junior Sister even sent me a voice message to thank me over the summer.”
She had only sent her a tiny amount of virtual gifts.
“I sent you several diamonds! Why didn’t I get a voice message thanking me?” her senior brother said in an eerie tone. “What a prima donna.”
Ji Zhaoxi answered righteously, “That’s a privilege reserved for senior sisters.”
Her senior brother was about to say something else when he saw Ji Zhaoxi take a step backward. Lu Huainan discreetly steadied her, then took the test tube from her hand.
That sort of gesture would have been perfectly ordinary between anyone else. But between those two, it was anything but ordinary…
“Zhaoxi, do you think that male influencer’s fans are going to curse you out?” one of their fellow students asked curiously.
Sanzi could be considered a veteran influencer. His livestreams had once regularly attracted more than a hundred thousand viewers.
Ji Zhaoxi smiled. “Probably. But so many people curse me out that I have no idea which fans they belong to.”
For instance, there was one right beside her!
Lu Huainan paused, then lowered his head dejectedly.
Ji Zhaoxi shot him a glance and gave a small snort.
Lu Huainan’s head drooped lower and lower, a gloomy air gathering around him.
Rubbing his chin, her senior brother observed the two of them from a short distance away. These two really did seem different now.
Wen Shuning turned around and immediately saw his expression. She couldn’t help saying, “Don’t make that face. You look so creepy.”
Her senior brother stared at her in disbelief. His hand trembled as he pointed at himself. “Me? Creepy? Wen Shuning, you’re calling me creepy?!”
“This is clearly a classic thinking pose!”
Wen Shuning pretended not to hear him. Her senior brother was practically about to cry from anger when he turned around in search of reinforcements.
“Wen Shuning said I look creepy.”
“Senior Brother, you really should stop rubbing your chin…”
That evening, everyone in the lab agreed to go out for dinner together, followed by karaoke. A certain huge influencer would be picking up the tab.
The private room was piled high with food and milk tea, while multicolored lights swept across every corner. Several people were arguing over who would report to the advisor the next day.
“You go!”
“You went last time. It’s your turn now, isn’t it?”
“Would Senior Sister Wen be willing to go?”
Wen Shuning pretended not to hear them.
Laughter filled the room. Just as the atmosphere reached its peak, Ji Zhaoxi began to feel a little restless.
Since no one was singing, why not let her?
She picked up the microphone.
Ji Zhaoxi stood in the middle of the private room, her face playing on the screen behind her. She sang with tremendous feeling, completely ignoring rhythm and pitch.
“Walking in the wind, today the sunlight suddenly feels so gentle…”
The noisy room fell silent in an instant.
Her senior brother nearly choked on his milk tea. Wen Shuning lowered her head and snickered several times, while the others rubbed their temples.
Lying sprawled across the sofa, her senior brother couldn’t help shaking his head. “Junior Sister’s voice really is a demonic assault on the ears.”
He casually glanced at Lu Huainan and discovered that Lu Huainan had already raised his camera, holding it steady as he filmed Ji Zhaoxi.
The faint glow of the screen illuminated his profile. As Lu Huainan listened to Ji Zhaoxi sing, a trace of awe unexpectedly appeared in his eyes.
Her senior brother’s lips twitched. He lightly nudged Wen Shuning with his elbow. Wen Shuning followed his gaze, and a hint of amusement appeared in her eyes.
When Ji Zhaoxi noticed Lu Huainan filming her, she sang even more earnestly into the camera.
This could count as fan service!
Watching her sing with such seriousness, Lu Huainan couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth from lifting.
The next song was one Ji Zhaoxi had sung during a livestream. She suddenly remembered that Lu Huainan had sung it for her before, too.
“Lu Huainan.”
Although Lu Huainan joined in every time, this was the first time the others had heard him sing. Curiosity appeared in their eyes.
“I didn’t know Junior Brother could sing.”
“If you have a mouth, you can sing.”
“That’s not necessarily true!”
Lu Huainan stood beside Ji Zhaoxi, looking a little nervous. He held the microphone professionally and stared intently at the screen.
“Junior Brother looks so professional.”
“I heard he actually took singing lessons before.”
“Really?”
The moment Ji Zhaoxi and Lu Huainan started singing, the private room grew even quieter.
When Ji Zhaoxi heard Lu Huainan’s voice, she gave him an approving smile. Lu Huainan lowered his head bashfully.
Everyone else silently watched the scene.
What exactly were they approving of? What exactly were they smiling about?
It was awful! Absolutely awful!
Together, they were twice as awful…
But everyone still bared their teeth in cheerful encouragement.
“Wow, that sounded great!”
“So good, so good! Sing another one!”
It was hard enough to get out and have fun together. No matter how bad they sounded, everyone had to say it was good. They had to keep the atmosphere going!
As they all made their way back to campus, the two of them were still lost in the world they had just shared.
Ji Zhaoxi was immersed in the applause and cheers, while Lu Huainan was immersed in having sung a duet with Ji Zhaoxi.
“Lu Huainan, you sang pretty well.” Teacher Ji couldn’t help giving him her professional assessment.
Lu Huainan’s face flushed slightly. “I learned those songs by practicing along with recordings of you.”
Ji Zhaoxi stared at him in shock. The next second, she decided it actually made perfect sense.
That was how her fans were, too. Some people liked listening to her sing, while others didn’t. Yes, exactly.
Behind them, her senior brother covered his stomach as he struggled not to laugh. These two were really giving each other the most backhanded compliments imaginable.
“Pfft…”
He held it in until his face turned red. In particular, the sight of the two self-proclaimed singing gods wearing expressions of mutual admiration made his stomach ache from laughing.
Ji Zhaoxi and Lu Huainan heard the laughter behind them and turned around in confusion.
Her senior brother was leaning against someone else’s shoulder, shaking with laughter.
Ji Zhaoxi: “…”
Lu Huainan: “…”
Wen Shuning silently pinched her senior brother. He struggled even harder to hold it in, then finally clutched his stomach and crouched down on the ground.
Ji Zhaoxi and Lu Huainan tacitly pretended not to see anything. Their senior brother was always acting crazy.
Ji Zhaoxi took the tea Lu Huainan had given her back to the dormitory. On the way, she also posted the video of her singing that night in her fan group.
【If you like listening to me sing, give it a listen! If you don’t, feel free to ignore it!】
The fan group was nothing but praise, so Ji Zhaoxi happily hummed a tune as she went to take a shower.
Meanwhile, in a group chat Ji Zhaoxi knew nothing about:
【Who would dare listen?】
【Let’s listen tomorrow during the day.】
【She went back to school today. Who’s going to ask her if she can film a vlog?】
【Xixi Kitty: Why wouldn’t you dare? Xixi’s singing is really good!［Confused］［Confused］ I love listening to Xixi sing. Anyone who can’t appreciate this video is seriously missing out. What an adorable little cutie!［Kisses］［Kisses］】
【Qin Qin: Kitty says she likes listening every time, but she never actually clicks on it…】
【Xixi Kitty:［Guilty］】
【Am I the only one who cares about who filmed it?】
