As Ye Shuang pressed the final note, Linlin finally finished singing the song.
The group bowed slightly to the audience.
"Thank you!"
The crowd erupted into thunderous applause—
"That was amazing!!!!!"
"Whoooooo!"
"Damn, that last line gave me chills."
"666666666!"
"..."
"Thank you, everyone!" Backstage, Linlin expressed her sincere gratitude to Ye Shuang and the others. If it hadn't been for Ye Shuang and An Shiyu improvising on the spot, the performance would have been a disaster.
"At least we managed to pull it off in the end," Ye Shuang said with a smile. "Though it was a bit chaotic."
He glanced at An Shiyu. "Where did you find that sheet music?"
"Just searched for it online. Though I might have picked the more complicated version," An Shiyu replied casually, blowing a bubble with her gum. "Didn’t expect you to nail it at over 200 BPM on the first try."
Ye Shuang deadpanned, "So you were betting on me failing?"
"Who knows…" An Shiyu shoved her hands into her pockets and looked away.
Ye Shuang: "..."
Never mind. No point arguing with this fish.
Meanwhile, Bai Yuyou, who had been quietly standing beside Ye Shuang, suddenly pulled out her phone. A message flashed on the screen:
Mom: Sorry, Rou Nü, something came up last minute, so I couldn’t make it to your performance.
Mom: I’ll definitely come next time.
Mom: [Transfer: ¥100,000]
Bai Yuyou tightened her grip on the phone, her usually calm eyes dimming slightly as she stared at the screen. After a pause, she slowly typed out "It’s okay" before slipping the phone back into her skirt pocket.
Her fingertips felt oddly numb, and she unconsciously rubbed her arms for warmth.
Gazing at Ye Shuang’s back, she reached out and tugged lightly on his sleeve.
"What’s wrong?" Ye Shuang turned to find Bai Yuyou looking up at him.
Bai Yuyou shook her head. "Nothing…"
Yet she wrapped her arms around his.
Ye Shuang studied her face. Though her expression remained as blank as ever, he sensed the subtle shift in her mood.
After a moment, he smiled. "By the way, did Aunt Xian and the others see your performance?"
Bai Yuyou didn’t answer, but her grip on his arm tightened slightly.
Understanding dawned on Ye Shuang.
With a silent sigh, he turned to Zhixia and the others. "Yuyou and I are heading out for a bit. We’ll be back later."
"Sure thing!" Zhixia replied warmly.
"Keke, come with us," Ye Shuang said to Tang Keke.
"Me?" Tang Keke blinked, scratching her head. "Won’t I just be a third wheel? The electricity’s already overflowing here."
"Let’s go."
"Huh?"
Though confused, Tang Keke obediently followed.
Ye Shuang tapped on his phone before leading the two girls out of the backstage area.
"Brother, where are we going?"
"The audience seats."
"Eh?"
Bai Yuyou, too, had no idea what Ye Shuang was planning. But the warmth of his hand around hers was enough to anchor her.
After weaving through the crowd for a minute or two, Ye Shuang suddenly stopped and grinned at Bai Yuyou.
"We’re here."
"Yuyou, sweetheart, you were incredible up there!"
"Such a brilliant performance!"
"Yuyou-jiejie, you sounded so good!"
Familiar voices made Bai Yuyou peek out from behind Ye Shuang. There, in the audience, sat Aunt Li, Chen Hai, Chen Qin, Chen Qiaoqiao, and the others—all beaming at her.
An indescribable emotion surged in her chest. She ducked back behind Ye Shuang, her fingers clutching the fabric of his shirt. Her eyes glistened faintly as she buried her face deeper, her ears turning pink beneath her hair.
"She’s shy," Ye Shuang chuckled, patting her shoulder gently.
"Big-chest sister, I recorded your part too!" Chen Qiaoqiao waved her camera at Tang Keke.
Tang Keke grimaced. "It’s Keke-jiejie."
"Huh?"
The exchange drew laughter, and Chen Hai’s wife pinched Qiaoqiao’s cheek in playful reprimand.
"Everyone’s here for you, Yuyou," Ye Shuang murmured. "Even if Aunt Xian couldn’t make it, you’ve got all of us. So many people care about you."
"Come on, look up."
Bai Yuyou slowly raised her head. The faces around her were filled with warmth and pride. Her lips parted slightly.
"Was… my performance good?"
"The best!" Aunt Li and the others cheered.
"Here, darling, Auntie took tons of close-ups! Let’s see which ones you like." Aunt Li brandished her DSLR, already planning to compile the photos into an album.
"A memento of our Yuyou’s first stage performance."
"Thank you, Aunt Li…" Bai Yuyou whispered.
Ye Shuang crossed his arms, watching as Bai Yuyou and Li Fugui huddled over the camera. A smile tugged at his lips.
Well, as long as she’s happy.
It was her debut, after all.
"You handled that well back there," a voice said beside him. Chen Qin rested a hand on his shoulder, her other hand poking his cheek.
Dressed in a sleek black evening gown adorned with jewels, her striking figure turned heads wherever she went.
"We were scrambling for most of it," Ye Shuang admitted. The audience hadn’t noticed, but the girls had been on the verge of panic mid-performance.
Chen Qin glanced around. "Did Aunt Xian show up?"
"Planned to…" Ye Shuang trailed off. "But no expectations, no disappointments."
"That’s why she never hopes for much. She’s used to being let down."
"Aunt Xian really…" Chen Qin sighed, then leaned closer. "Hey, Ye Shuang, why not just keep Yuyou by your side forever?"
"Where’s this coming from?"
"Just a thought." Chen Qin changed the subject. "Anyway, about Yang Wei—I dug deeper like you said. He did leak our confidential projects to Tianwei Group. How’d you sniff that out?"
reezy rom-com) Good news: Jiang Liu is quite the ladies' man. Bad news: He’s lost his memory. Lying in a hospital bed, Jiang Liu listens to a parade of goddesses spouting "absurd claims," feeling like the world is one giant game of Werewolf. "Jiang Liu, I’m your first love." "Jiang Liu, you’re my boyfriend—she’s your ex." "Jiang Liu, we’re close friends who’ve shared a bed, remember?" "Jiang Liu, I want to have your baby." The now-lucid Jiang Liu is convinced this must be some elaborate scam... until someone drops the bombshell: "The day before you lost your memory, you confessed your feelings—and got into a relationship." Jiang Liu is utterly baffled. So... who the hell is his actual girlfriend?! ... Before recovering his memories, Jiang Liu must navigate this minefield of lies and sincerity, fighting to protect himself from these women’s schemes. But things spiral even further out of control as more people show up at his doorstep—each with increasingly unhinged antics. On the bright side, the memories he lost due to overwhelming trauma seem to be resurfacing. Great news, right? So why are they all panicking now?
] This is a dark fantasy-themed dating simulation game. The main gameplay involves containing various monster girls and investigating the truth of a world shrouded in mist alongside your companions. However, due to his love for the dark and bizarre atmosphere, Luo Wei ended up turning a dating game into a detective mystery game. Women? Women only slow down his quickdraw! To Luo Wei, the female leads in the game are more like tools to perfectly clear levels and squeeze out rewards. For Luo Wei, flirting with every girl he meets and then discarding them is standard procedure. Worried about characters losing affection points? No need. With his maxed-out charm stat, Luo Wei is practically a "human incubus." A little psychological manipulation and those points come right back. It's a bit scummy, but the paper cutout heroines in the game won't actually come at him with real cleavers. However... Luo Wei has transmigrated. He's accidentally entered the second playthrough of this game. His past actions have caused all the girls to transform into terrifying yanderes. Due to the game's setting, most of the heroines he once contained are "troubled girls." Obsessive, twisted, mentally unstable, all aggressive yanderes... The type who will kill you if they can't have you... Luo Wei wants to cry but has no tears left. "I really just want to survive..." In short, this is a story of battling wits and engaging in a love-hate relationship with yanderes.
Cheng's father told him he was getting remarried—to a wealthy woman. Cao Cheng realized his time had finally come: he was about to become a second-generation rich kid. Sure, it might be a watered-down version, but hey, at least he'd have status now, right? The wealthy woman also had four daughters!! Which meant, starting today, Cao Cheng gained four stunning older sisters?? But that wasn't even the whole story... "My name is Cao Cheng—'Cheng' as in 'honest, smooth-talking gentleman'!"
u serious?" Chen Feng watched helplessly as his painstakingly trained disciple, fresh off a championship victory, publicly abandoned him. "You had your chance, but you didn’t appreciate it. Now, face the consequences of your choice!" Chen Feng possessed the "Master System," a treasure trove of supreme martial arts techniques, capable of molding ordinary individuals into peerless prodigies. "Legs like yours? A shame not to train in the Crippling Kick." "Ever heard of a palm strike that descends from the heavens?" "Auntie! I see extraordinary bone structure in you—a martial arts prodigy, one in ten thousand." The once-defiant senior disciple, now watching her juniors rise to fame one after another, dominating the internet, was consumed by endless regret.
