It’s a Bit Cooler on Your Side

At that moment, Chen Yuxi and Lin Chuxia finished singing a song.

The next song was one that Qin Su had previously prepared to sing with Su Yang, but she saw he was still playing games.

She turned her head and called out, "Su Yang~ it's our turn next."

"Is it? Then go ahead and queue it up, I'll be right there."

"Okay."

Chen Yuxi handed the microphone over. Su Yang had just beaten He Yuqing at the game, and he took the mic with a wink and a smile, saying, "Drink up."

He Yuqing bit her lip. "Fine, I'll drink. You sing first, and once you're done, we'll keep going!"

"No problem."

The screen began playing the intro to "Girl" — a song jokingly nicknamed the anthem of Hangzhou City because of Teacher Tong. It had become extremely popular in recent years, and of course, the song itself was very good.

Qin Su had always liked this song. Every time she heard it, she would sing along, though her singing was... a bit hard to describe.

That was why she'd asked Su Yang to sing it with her in the first place.

Su Yang held up the mic and called out, "Susu, should we do one line each or how do you want to do it?"

"Two lines each."

"Alright, you go first then."

"No no no, you start it off. I can't quite find the pitch."

Hearing this, Hong Ran chuckled. "When have you ever found the pitch?"

"Oh, sis, don't interrupt."

The intro quickly ended, and Su Yang started singing first.

The moment his voice came out, the expressions of Liu Wenjing, Chen Yuxi, and Lin Chuxia, who had arrived later, all changed at once — faces full of astonishment as they stared at Su Yang.

"Whoa? He sounds that good?" Liu Wenjing blurted out.

He Yuqing smiled and said, "Earlier he sang Jay Chou's 'Black Humor' — now that was something else, truly heavenly. Though this one is great too, I preferred the previous one."

"Really? Then I want to sing a duet with him too!" Liu Wenjing said, pulling out her phone to scan the QR code on the screen to queue up a song.

Su Yang's two lines ended quickly, and Qin Su picked up right after.

Everyone had been lost in enjoyment a moment before, but the moment Qin Su's singing came out, their expressions shifted again — the earlier reaction was surprise, this time it was discomfort.

The ones who reacted the most were He Yuqing, Chen Yuxi, and Lin Chuxia — all three had never heard Qin Su sing before.

They never imagined that such a stunningly beautiful woman could have such a drastic contrast in her singing.

The next few minutes saw the songs constantly switching between pleasant and not-so-pleasant.

It was more than a little torturous. Every time it was Su Yang's turn, everyone secretly wished he could just sing the entire song by himself.

But after just two lines, it would switch right back to Qin Su.

By the time the five-minute song ended, everyone felt like they'd been on a roller coaster — one moment soaring into the clouds, the next plunging to the bottom. It was utterly exhausting.

"Phew!" As the song wrapped up, Qin Su let out a breath and smiled at everyone. "Sorry about that, everyone~ don't laugh at me~"

"It's fine, it's fine — that was lovely, Susu, come have a drink." Lin Chuxia grabbed Qin Su's arm and pulled her down to sit, grinning, more than eager to make sure she didn't do another song.

Liu Wenjing then looked at the others and asked, "Are you all done singing?"

"Taking a break."

"Then I'll bump my song up to the top?"

"Go for it."

"Great." Liu Wenjing turned her head toward Su Yang and smiled, inviting him. "Brother Su Yang, could I invite you to sing a duet with me?"

"What song did you pick?"

"If Love Is Forgotten — do you know it?"

Su Yang nodded. "Yeah, let's do it."

"Great!" Liu Wenjing queued up the song and grabbed the microphone.

Hong Ran spoke up at that point. "This is the last one, everyone — after this, we're starting the games."

"Got it."

The song quickly began to play, and Liu Wenjing sang first.

Her singing was decent — about on par with He Yuqing — and this was a song she always requested at karaoke. However, she rarely sang it with guys, usually performing it with her female friends.

A few minutes later, the song came to an end.

The two had cooperated fairly well, and the performance was quite polished.

Applause immediately filled the private room.

"Great! Great!!" Chen Yuxi stood up and clapped.

Lin Chuxia stared at Su Yang like a fangirl. "I didn't know Brother Su Yang could sing this well — it's so captivating, especially the chorus when you two sang together. I got goosebumps all over."

"Haha, you flatter me. Come on, let's play some games." Su Yang set down the microphone.

Hong Ran chimed in, "Right, right, right — let's pause the singing and start playing games and drinking!"

"What should we play?" Qin Su asked.

"Let's play something different. Doing dice cups and finger guessing every time gets boring."

"Oh? You have some new game in mind?" He Yuqing smiled.

"It's not exactly a new game. You've all played the tissue-tearing game, right?"

Hearing this, Liu Wenjing waved her hand and laughed. "I've never played it!"

"I haven't either — I've only watched others play it." He Yuqing followed up.

Hong Ran threw the two of them a look. "I might believe anyone else hasn't played it, but you two saying that? You really think I'll buy it?"

The two of them just smiled and said nothing.

Then Lin Chuxia raised her hand and asked, "How exactly does the tissue-tearing game work?"

"You've never played it either?" Hong Ran was taken aback.

Lin Chuxia looked completely clueless — she genuinely seemed to have never played it. She shook her head. "I've never even heard of this game."

Chen Yuxi covered her mouth and giggled. "I haven't played it either, but I've seen it on social media. Isn't this game a little bit... you know..."

Hong Ran shrugged carelessly. "What's the big deal? We're all young people here. Nothing to be shy about."

"Then maybe Sister Hong can explain it." Lin Chuxia said, taking a bite of watermelon.

"Alright. It's actually simple — one person takes a tissue, holds it in their mouth, and passes it to the next person. The receiver also has to bite the tissue with their mouth, tear off a piece, and pass it to the next person, and so on. The rule is that you can't touch each other. If the receiver touches the other person, they drink. Or if they're too scared to come close and refuse to take it, they also drink. That's basically it."

"Um... but there's a guy here. Isn't that a bit awkward?" Qin Su glanced at Su Yang.

If she were playing alone with Su Yang, she'd be perfectly happy about it — but with everyone else around, she was a bit reluctant inside.

Hong Ran laughed. "What's awkward about it? Oh, come on, you guys, what era are we living in? Why so conservative? You're not shy when you're flirting with handsome guys. Anyway, if you're afraid of touching, then just drink. Simple as that."

"That's right, it's no big deal. Let's do it." Liu Wenjing said with a smile.

Lin Chuxia, once she knew the rules, became very interested. "I'm in."

The others also nodded in agreement. It wasn't that Qin Su didn't dare play — she just really didn't want to see Su Yang getting too close to other girls.

But the atmosphere was already set, so there was no turning back.

"OK, OK — everyone sit down properly." Hong Ran said, walking over to take a seat between Qin Su and Chen Yuxi.

The seating arrangement from left to right was now: He Yuqing, Su Yang, Liu Wenjing, Chen Yuxi, Hong Ran, Qin Su, Lin Chuxia.

At that moment, He Yuqing felt a bit of an urgent need. She glanced around at everyone seated, then stood up. "Hold on a moment, everyone. I need to go to the restroom."

Hong Ran noticed, leaned in and whispered something into Qin Su's ear. Then she also stood up. "Qingqing, I need to go too. Let's go together."

"Sure."

With that, the two of them headed out of the private room. Though there was a restroom inside the room, it could only be used by one person at a time.

If two people needed to go together, they'd have to use the public restroom outside.

After the others left, Qin Su bit her lip, stood up, and moved to sit beside Su Yang.

"Why did you come over here?" Su Yang asked, startled.

"It's cooler on your side."

"Really?" Su Yang smiled but didn't call her out.

Just moments ago, one person was telling her to sit there, another telling her to sit here—he knew exactly what these girls were thinking.

Tonight's drinking party was, without a doubt, the most scheming and cutthroat gathering he'd attended in a long time.

His friends back in Haicheng were never like this. Coming to Modu certainly made things more interesting.

A few minutes later, Hong Ran and He Yuqing returned together.

But the moment she stepped into the private room, He Yuqing was baffled—how had her seat been taken?

Though a bit annoyed, she couldn't really say anything. After all, Qin Su and Su Yang had a closer relationship.

In fact, it had been Hong Ran who told Qin Su to take the initiative and sit beside Su Yang just now. She pulled He Yuqing over to her original seat and sat down.

Now the arrangement was Qin Su on the far left, with He Yuqing essentially swapping places with her.

Hong Ran then pulled a tissue from the table and said with a smile, "Okay, okay, time for the game to begin. Which side do we start from?"

"Let's start from Chuxia's side," Liu Wenjing said, turning to look with a smile.

......