Chapter 8: Stuff the Underwear Into His Mouth
The holiday was almost over.
After being quiet for seven days, the campus became lively again, filled with the carefree, cheerful, and slightly silly energy of college students.
Dorm Room 205
Qiu Cheng pulled Lin Wan and Sun Mao into the bathroom. The three of them quietly sneaked in without Zhang Dingding noticing. After closing the door, they began whispering.
Qiu Cheng looked serious.
"Doesn't something feel strange?"
Sun Mao rubbed the stubble on his chin.
"Strange? It's way beyond that. It's really strange."
Lin Wan shrank into a corner and spoke in a tiny voice.
"But... why are we talking in the bathroom?"
Ever since they came back from the holiday, something had been very wrong with Zhang Dingding.
He had always been a bit of a nerd before, but now he also looked... kind of creepy.
At noon, after returning to the dorm, he hugged his phone and stared at it without blinking, wearing a dreamy smile the whole time.
At first, Qiu Cheng thought Zhang Dingding was secretly watching some short videos.
He casually walked behind him, planning to loudly complain, "How could you keep something this good from your brothers?"
But when he looked closer, he realized the phone screen was actually off.
Zhang Dingding was simply staring at the black screen.
Sometimes he would zone out.
Sometimes he would suddenly burst into laughter.
He looked like someone who had completely lost his mind.
"Do you think Old Zhang picked up some evil spirit while he was home?" Sun Mao guessed.
"I think that's very possible!" Qiu Cheng nodded seriously. "I've heard that a man's underwear has the strongest yang energy. How about we find a pair and stuff it into his mouth to drive the evil away?"
"What? It's already the twenty-first century. How could..." Lin Wan wanted to argue.
But when he remembered the mysterious Spirit inside his own head, the words stopped in his throat.
"...That doesn't sound like a very good idea..."
Qiu Cheng asked, "Whose underwear should we use?"
Sun Mao thought for a moment before proudly shaking his head.
"Mine can't drive away evil anymore."
Seeing the smug look on Sun Mao's face, Qiu Cheng almost wanted to take off the underwear he was wearing and stuff it into his mouth instead.
"What about using Zhang's own?"
"Would that even work?"
……………………
Just as the three of them were quietly making plans, the dorm door was suddenly shoved open with great force.
It slammed against the wall with a loud bang.
"Brothers! Who wants barbecue skewers tonight? My treat!"
Zhang Dingding's loud voice echoed through the empty dorm and reached the small bathroom.
"Huh? Where is everyone?"
He had only stepped out to make a phone call.
How had the entire dorm disappeared?
He had not even seen anyone leave.
Sun Mao cleared his throat awkwardly.
"Ahem..."
Qiu Cheng forced out an awkward laugh.
"Heh..."
Lin Wan simply stood there with an embarrassed expression.
"(╯﹏╰)"
Right in front of Zhang Dingding's confused eyes, the three of them walked out of the bathroom one after another.
His phone almost slipped out of his hand.
I only made one phone call...
Have the three of you become so close that you even go to the bathroom together now?
But his mind was completely filled with thoughts of love, leaving little room to think about anything else.
"Brothers, I have an announcement!"
He proudly puffed out his chest.
"To celebrate the fact that I officially got a girlfriend during the holiday, barbecue is on me tonight!"
Sun Mao froze.
"Huh?"
Qiu Cheng was even more shocked.
"Huh... what?"
The two looked at each other. Neither of them could believe it.
How could Zhang Dingding possibly get a girlfriend before either of them?
Sun Mao waved his hand dramatically.
"Impossible. Absolutely impossible!"
Qiu Cheng laughed.
"Stop joking. Today isn't April Fool's Day."
"It's true! Look! This is a photo of the two of us. Don't we look great together?"
Zhang Dingding lit up his phone screen. His wallpaper was a photo of himself with a girl who had long, straight black hair.
The photo hit both of them like a critical blow.
They fell silent.
Then they turned around.
One picked up a mop.
The other picked up a kettle. Sun Mao weighed the mop in his hand.
"It feels pretty solid. Easy to use."
"I knew this day would come," he said. "But I didn't expect it to come so soon. No wonder you've been acting absent-minded all afternoon. We were even trying to save you!"
Qiu Cheng poured himself a cup of water and drank it in a few big gulps.
"I thought only someone like me had the right to betray the single people's alliance. I never expected this! Old Zhang, you looked so honest, but you actually got a girlfriend before me!"
Zhang Dingding took a step back, with one foot already outside the dorm door.
"So... are we still going for barbecue?"
He knew he could not handle the anger of three single guys and was ready to run at any moment.
"Of course we are!"
"We'll eat until you go broke!"
The two of them took off their belts, held up their pants, and marched out of the dorm.
They had already decided.
Tonight they were going to eat as much as possible.
If they didn't leave with completely full stomachs, they weren't going back to the dorm.
Lin Wan followed behind them.
As he walked past Zhang Dingding, he quietly reminded him,
"Old Zhang... you'd better keep an eye on your underwear."
Zhang Dingding scratched his head while looking at Lin Wan's back.
He muttered to himself, "What? Is there some kind of weirdo in the men's dorm now?"
The group left campus.
Led by Zhang Dingding, they arrived at a barbecue restaurant.
The moment Qiu Cheng and Sun Mao saw the sign that read All-You-Can-Eat Barbecue, 41 Yuan Per Person, they pointed at Zhang Dingding and started complaining.
"You really are shameless!"
"You're not treating us, you've tricked us!"
Zhang Dingding shrugged.
"I have a girlfriend now. I'll have to save money from now on."
On the grill, the meat skewers sizzled as the fat dripped onto the fire.
Sun Mao swallowed.
"Old Zhang, is your girlfriend from our university?"
"No. We went to the same high school."
Qiu Cheng snatched away the meat skewer that Sun Mao had just finished grilling.
"What? Then how did you win her over? Every day in the dorm you either play games or sleep. Did you already get together back in high school?"
"No. Our families lived next to each other. We went to the same elementary school, middle school, and high school. After the college entrance exam, she went to another province for university, so we had to separate."
Sun Mao nearly snapped the metal skewer in his hand.
"Even rabbits don't eat the grass around their own home, but you actually made a move on your childhood friend! You're unbelievable!"
He wasn't jealous. Not jealous at all.
"I didn't make the first move! She confessed to me first!"
"What?"
Sun Mao leaned closer as if he hadn't heard clearly.
"Qiu Cheng, did you hear that fantasy story Old Zhang just told?"
"Nope. I'm not listening."
That night, Qingnan City officially gained two more people with 'red-eye disease'. They were so jealous their eyes were practically red.
As the saying goes, it's not the barbecue that gets people drunk. People get carried away on their own.
Zhang Dingding began telling everyone the story of how he and his childhood sweetheart fell in love.
Lin Wan was naturally a quiet person.
He simply listened in silence.
He felt a little jealous.
Not only because of Zhang Dingding's childhood-friends-to-lovers story, but also because of how boldly the other two chased love.
As for himself...
He didn't even dare think about romance.
Until his body was healed, he felt he had no right to fall in love.
Since two of the four roommates didn't drink alcohol, they didn't order any beer.
After several bottles of soft drinks and a few plates of meat, everyone was completely full.
Sun Mao and Qiu Cheng also kept the promise they had made before leaving.
They held onto the wall as they walked back to the dorm, their stomachs stuffed.
The four of them each sat down at their own desks.
Tonight they planned to queue together and crush random players like a dump truck running over everything in its way.
Looking at his rank, Lin Wan thought,
Once I reach Diamond, I should be able to work as a low-level booster and earn some money, right?
Qiu Cheng shouted, "Tonight I'll carry every single game!"
Sun Mao declared, "If I don't get MVP, you can roast me instead!"
Lin Wan said, "I've invited you all."
"Okay. Bye, sweetheart."
Under the sharp stares of his roommates, Zhang Dingding ended the call with his girlfriend.
As another saying goes,
When roommates sit together playing games, they only become quieter and quieter.
The four people from Dorm 205 had planned to play until midnight.
Instead, before ten o'clock, they had all climbed into bed.
No one wanted to say a word.
Only when the lights went out did Qiu Cheng quietly break the silence.
"It's definitely because Old Zhang's hands got slower."
Sun Mao added, "I agree. Women only confuse a man's mind!"
Lin Wan quietly said, "Isn't it because you two kept feeding the enemy?"
Qiu Cheng replied, "Already asleep. Do not disturb."
Sun Mao answered with fake snoring.
"Snore... zZZ..."