Chapter 34

“Exactly, just propose directly!” Lu Wenhao’s lips stung from the spiciness. He took a gulp of water, then suddenly realized something was off. “Wait… amethyst? What amethyst?”

Jing Huan casually replied, “First kill reward.”

“Their first kill reward was actually amethyst?!” Gao Zixiang’s eyes widened, bubbling with envy. “Damn, if we’d been just two seconds faster, could we have gotten amethyst too… Wait, how do you know Heart’s Desire got amethyst?”

Lu Wenhao: “Yeah, how do you know?”

The two of them looked puzzled at this former Nine Heroes player who had quit the game two years ago.

Damn it.

What the hell kind of ring is this? Who the hell proposes like this?

Why can’t you just keep your damn mouth shut, Jing Xiaohuan.

After silently cursing in his heart, Jing Huan looked up from his food: “I… heard it from someone.”

“Who told you that?” Lu Wenhao asked. “Aside from us, does anyone else around you play Nine Heroes?”

“An old gaming buddy. We happened to chat on WeChat today, and he sent me a screenshot of the system announcement to complain.” Jing Huan looked composed, having concocted an excuse in just a few seconds.

Luckily, the two didn’t overthink it and quickly resumed their sour-graping.

After eating and drinking their fill, just as Jing Huan was about to ask if they wanted to go play basketball, Lu Wenhao dragged him to the computer instead.

Lu Wenhao clasped his hands together: “Huanhuan, help me out in this time of need!”

Jing Huan sensed trouble: “What kind of help do you need?”

Lu Wenhao opened a webpage: “I want to participate in this…”

Jing Huan glanced sideways—the 7th JiuXia Singing Competition is now open for registration~

Jing Huan glanced over and then averted his gaze, saying inexplicably, “If you want to participate, just go for it.”

Lu Wenhao: “But you know, with my raspy voice, I can only sing like A-Do.”

Jing Huan: “…Looking down on A-Do?”

“No, no, it’s just that my voice sounds like his, but I can’t sing as well as he does. There’s no way I’d win any awards.”

Jing Huan laughed upon hearing it: “You still want to win a prize? Oh, you might get a participation award.”

“I want that limited-edition mount,” Lu Wenhao got straight to the point. “Even though I can’t win a prize, you can, Huanhuan! You sing so well, it wouldn’t be a problem for you to easily make the top three…”

“Wait, stop,” Jing Huan said with a complicated expression, interrupting him. “You’re not thinking of asking me to compete for you, are you?”

Lu Wenhao looked at him with gratitude. “You know me so well, Huanhuan.”

He spoke up before Jing Huan could refuse: “No matter what the final ranking is, the prize money goes to you—I just want the mount! If we really make top three, I’ll cover all your takeout for the semester! I’ll even save your seat in class every day! And for classes I’m not in, I’ll still show up to sign you in!”

The terms were quite tempting, especially that last one.

Jing Huan only thought for two seconds before replying bluntly, “No.”

Lu Wenhao deflated. “Why not?”

Jing Huan pointed to a particular item on the schedule: “They want us to go to the official voice channel for a live singing competition. If we make the top three, we even have to attend a player meet-and-greet to collect the prize. I don’t have time for that.”

Gao Zixiang nodded and said, “And Hao’er, you’re basically deceiving the audience and the judges. Tell me, how is this behavior any different from your cross-dressing ex-girlfriend?”

“Damn it! It’s not that serious!” Lu Wenhao got worked up at the mention of it. “I just want the mount—I’m not scamming anyone’s feelings or money! It’s totally different from those guys who pretend to be girls or use cross-dressing accounts to trick men!”

Jing Huan felt personally offended.

But he quickly convinced himself. Lu Wenhao’s “ex-girlfriend” was indeed a scumbag for cheating people out of their money.

What he was doing wasn’t cheating—it was eliminating harm for the people and upholding justice.

It’s a pity there are so many scumbags in the world—he could only rid the poor girls of one of them.

“Forget it, I just had a sudden idea.” After thinking it over, Lu Wenhao realized this method was indeed a bit troublesome. “I’ll just go for the participation prize then.”

Many players have already uploaded their contest entries. As Lu Wenhao spoke, he seemed to remember something and casually opened the competition interface, inputting the filtering criteria.

Gender: Female players; Server: Match Made in Heaven.

Jing Huan smirked, “You’re so superficial.”

Lu Wenhao retorted, “I call this having a clear objective.”

After saying that, he played a contest audio clip, where a girl sang with a melodious and emotional voice.

Lu Wenhao nodded twice in a pretentious manner, like a judge, and then promptly sent a friend request to this female player.

Jing Huan: “…No surprise there.”

“Of course.” After saying that, Lu Wenhao exited and continued listening to other songs.

Seeing him skip several works in a row, Jing Huan raised an eyebrow: “Why aren’t you listening to these?”

“Ugh, look at these songs,” Lu Wenhao said. “‘Invisible Wings,’ ‘Rice Field,’ ‘Brave’—not only are they all worn-out, but they’re also all inspirational. At first glance, they’re boring. No one would listen to them.”

Jing Huan froze for a moment, a sudden thought flashing through his mind. He murmured, “Is that so…”

After listening to music with Lu Wenhao for a while, Jing Huan remembered the reason he had come back to the dorm. “Wanna go play some night basketball?”

Gao Zixiang refused. “No way, my girlfriend’s calling me soon.”

Lu Wenhao was busy replying to the message from the girl who had just been singing and didn’t respond to him at all.

Jing Huan gave up and stood up, preparing to leave. “Then I’m heading back.”

“Don’t go, Huanhuan,” Lu Wenhao called out to him. “Why not stay over tonight? We can squeeze in together and talk about next month’s trip while we’re at it.”

“You’d rather squeeze in here than sleep on a big bed—are you crazy or am I?” Jing Huan waved his hand dismissively and walked away without looking back. “You guys can discuss the travel plans; I’m fine with anything. I’m out.”

On the way back, Jing Huan took out his phone and sent a message to Heart’s Desire.

Xiao Jing: What are you doing, big brother?

Xiang: Outside.

Xiao Jing: What are you doing outside, big brother?

To: … watching the game at the court.

Xiao Jing ya: I want to see how you play ball, big brother >.<