In the evening, the sky was ablaze with a glorious sunset.
Tang Yuan walked leisurely along the tree-lined path at school, his backpack slung over his shoulders, followed by Guan Yuntao and Li Qiming, who resembled two guardian generals, their heads close together, whispering incessantly.
Finally, Guan Yuntao couldn't hold back anymore. He quickened his pace and scurried over to Tang Yuan, "Yuan Ge, hehe..."
"Just say what you need to say. Can you please stop smiling so lecherously?"
Tang Yuan glanced at Guan Yuntao, immediately seeing through his little scheme.
Guan Yuntao scratched his head, "Yuan Ge, I'm really not a gossipy person, but I'm just too curious. What exactly is your relationship with Su Xiaoxiao and Wen Muxue?"
"What do you think our relationship is?"
Tang Yuan knew Guan Yuntao was going to ask about this. He didn't answer directly but instead counter-questioned with interest.
"Hehe, how would I know?" Guan Yuntao grinned, "The main thing is that rumors are flying everywhere now, with all sorts of versions, each forming its own system. I feel like if I keep gossiping, I'm going to start believing them myself, which is why I came to ask you, to get the first-hand verification from you."
"People's mouths are on their own bodies; let them say whatever they want."
"As for my relationship with Su Xiaoxiao, for now, we're just ordinary friends. It's not as exaggerated as the rumors outside make it out to be."
Tang Yuan shook his head, feeling a bit speechless thinking about the online rumors.
With that kind of imagination, wouldn't it be better to write a novel on Qidian?
Earn some small money, tease readers, get some resources—isn't that better?
While Tang Yuan was muttering to himself, Guan Yuntao was somewhat skeptical.
Ordinary friends?
Can ordinary friends, a single man and a single woman, play until midnight before returning?
Can ordinary friends wait for you to shower in the living room in the morning?
However, since Tang Yuan had said so, Guan Yuntaonaturally couldn't ask anything more.
...
In the evening, Tang Yuan played basketball with his classmates at the outdoor court, then returned to the dorm. After a comfortable shower, he called Guan Yuntao and Li Qiming over, and they started playing "PUBG."
After this period of training, Tang Yuan was now a qualified PUBG warrior. He and Guan Yuntao and Li Qiming had a clear division of labor: as the assault player, he was responsible for rampant killing; Guan Yuntao, as the sniper, was specifically responsible for covering Tang Yuan and clearing out the "old sixes" on the battlefield; as for Li Qiming, he served as a medic, carrying nothing but a "Treat All Equally" shotgun, with everything else being smoke grenades, stun grenades, energy drinks, and large first-aid kits—all life-saving supplies.
Oh...
At critical moments, Li Qiming also acted as a human shield.
For no other reason than to make his big brother happy, and when his big brother was happy, with a casual wave of his hand, hundreds of rare treasure chests and keys would appear. In just a few days, the value of his Steam account soared.
In the game, time flew by.
In the blink of an eye, it was already late at night.
"I'm not playing anymore, I'm going to rest. If you two want to keep playing, Li Qiming, you can take my spot."
Another second-place finish. Tang Yuan yawned and stood up from his gaming chair, stretching lazily as he spoke to Li Qiming, who was sitting at the island counter nearby.
"Yuan Ge, it's only 11 o'clock. Tomorrow is the weekend, let's do one more. We'll definitely get a chicken dinner next round!"
Guan Yuntao looked unwilling and tried to persuade Tang Yuan to stay.
Tang Yuan waved his hand, "I have something to do tomorrow, let's do it another time."
"Oh..."
"Alright then."
When Guan Yuntao heard Tang Yuan say he had something to do tomorrow, he immediately stopped pressing and turned to Li Qiming, saying, "Are you sleepy? If not, come to my room and we'll play two rounds of King of Glory?"
"Okay."
Li Qiming was clearly not sleepy, agreeing very readily.
Seeing the two start another game, Tang Yuanignored them, went to the bathroom to wash up, and then returned to his own room.
...
He turned on the humidifier and bedside lamp, then added a few drops of sleep-aid essential oil to the humidifier. Then he turned off the main bedroom light, and a sleep-conducive atmosphere immediately emerged.
Tang Yuan lay down on the bed and habitually started browsing his Moments before sleeping.
As he scrolled, Tang Yuan gradually felt sleepy, but this drowsiness didn't last long before it was dispelled by a set of nine photos Wen Muxue had posted half an hour earlier.
Wen Muxue was wearing a purple backless yoga outfit, sitting on a yoga mat, performing various difficult yoga poses. The first photo was a very famous yoga pose—Staff Pose.
As the name suggests, this pose requires one to assume a posture resembling a staff, with both arms folded at ninety degrees to support the entire body, the waist and left leg forming an arch, and the right leg straightened towards the sky. To complete this pose, extreme flexibility is required, otherwise, one might easily get injured.
Despite the extreme difficulty of such a photo, Wen Muxue performed it with ease. Her long, slender, beautiful leg was like a straight javelin piercing the sky, combining stillness and movement, exuding an astonishing sense of beauty.
Next, there were nine photos in total: Standing Split, Hanumanasana, Bow Pose, Plow Pose, Forward Fold Pose, Downward-Facing Dog Pose, Meditation Pose, and so on. Each photo had a different kind of beauty, making Tang Yuan instantly lose all sleepiness and feel full of vigor, even overflowing.
"This little vixen..."
"Is this her losing her composure?"
Tang Yuan looked at the photos on his phone and murmured.
Although it might sound a bit overconfident, Tang Yuan felt that Wen Muxue's sudden posting of such a set of photos at this time was meant to stimulate him.
Clearly, Tang Yuan and Su Xiaoxiao's high-profile appearance in the cafeteria today had given Wen Muxue a sense of crisis.
Actually, from the very beginning, when Tang Yuanactively flirted with Su Xiaoxiao, part of the reason was for Su Xiaoxiao herself, and another part was to create a sense of crisis for Wen Muxue, deliberately stimulating her.
What does an angler do when a big fish is about to get off the hook?
Of course, they tighten the line and pull it back desperately!
But little did they know, this process is extremely dangerous, because if they're not careful, the angler could very well be dragged into the sea by the big fish, and the roles of prey and hunter would be reversed.
Now, Tang Yuan was that big fish, and Wen Muxuewas that angler. What Tang Yuan needed to do now was to make Wen Muxue tighten the line, and when the time was ripe, he only needed to exert a little force to drag Wen Muxue off the boat, thus sinking her into the vast sea where he resided.
As for Su Xiaoxiao, while she brought a sense of crisis to Wen Muxue, how could Wen Muxue's existence not also create a sense of crisis for Su Xiaoxiao?
Choose one?
NONONO!
Only children choose; adults, of course, want them all.
After Tang Yuan finished admiring Wen Muxue's photos, he did nothing else. He quietly opened Douyin, entered Su Xiaoxiao's live stream, gifted 10 Carnival gifts in one go, flirted a couple of times, and then quickly went offline.
After doing all this, Tang Yuan put his phone aside and went to sleep...