Chapter 47: Bro
When the song ended, the entire music classroom fell silent.
A moment later, the first applause sounded.
It came from Zhou Qikuan.
Soon, more and more students started clapping.
In the end, the whole classroom was filled with thunderous applause.
This was completely different from what Li Nuo had imagined.
There were no mocking voices.
No ridicule.
No questioning looks.
For a moment, he did not know how to react.
At that time, Xiao Ying stood up from her chair and walked toward him while clapping.
She smiled and praised him. "Li Nuo, that was an amazing performance. And your singing voice is really unexpected."
"R-Really?"
Li Nuo scratched the back of his head shyly after hearing the compliment.
Xiao Ying closed her eyes as if she was still immersed in the song.
"Your voice has the ethereal feeling of a young girl's voice, but it also carries a trace of the clarity of a boy's voice. It's a very pure and beautiful sound."
At that moment, An Ran'er also walked over.
She grabbed Li Nuo's arm and bowed toward the students below the stage.
Then she smiled and reminded him.
"Don't forget to bow to the audience after a performance."
"R-Right, I understand."
Li Nuo quickly nodded.
After the applause died down, the students began discussing among themselves.
"Why does his singing voice sound exactly like the original singer?"
"Yeah! I thought the same thing."
"But isn't the original singer supposed to be a girl with long blue hair?"
"It's probably just a coincidence that their voices sound alike. There's no way he could be my goddess!"
The chubby boy covered in acne suddenly said angrily. The students around him looked at him speechlessly.
"Didn't you just say your goddess was An Ran'er?"
"Not anymore! Sob... My goddess is Li Nuo now! Li Nuo-chan is my goddess!"
The chubby boy bit his shirt and cried dramatically.
"Uh... right..."
The people beside him were covered in cold sweat and had no desire to continue the conversation.
………………………………
This performance during music class greatly increased Li Nuo's confidence.
And he knew exactly why.
Part of it was because of An Ran'er's encouragement.
The other reason was that he had finally been able to tell someone about the painful memories he had carried for years.
After talking about them, he felt much lighter. After school, he saw An Ran'er walking toward the school gate. He quickly caught up with her and walked beside her.
"Classmate An, thank you so much for today. If it weren't for you..."
Hearing this, An Ran'er stopped walking.
She turned around and said seriously, "If you really want to thank me, then work hard to become more confident. Because one day, you'll be performing on much bigger stages."
"I know. I definitely will."
Li Nuo quickly nodded. Then he excitedly stepped in front of her and said,
"Anyway, thank you so much!"
"Alright, alright."
"If you really want to thank me, just cook something delicious for me."
An Ran'er turned her head away and waved her hand awkwardly.
"Something delicious?"
"Got it!"
Li Nuo immediately agreed. But then An Ran'er suddenly remembered something. She quickly added with a serious expression.
"And don't make everything vegetable dishes again!"
"Uh... alright."
Li Nuo scratched his cheek and agreed.
Although An Ran'er herself did not eat much meat, things had gotten even worse since Li Nuo moved in and started cooking.
To save money, he often made cheap vegetable dishes.
Even when there was meat, it was usually just tiny pieces of diced meat or minced meat.
Although An Ran'er had offered to pay most of the grocery costs, Li Nuo still preferred buying inexpensive ingredients in large amounts.
His cooking tasted great. But eating vegetables every single meal was becoming unbearable.
An Ran'er had suffered enough.
While they were talking, a tall boy around 1.8 meters suddenly appeared.
He wrapped an arm around Li Nuo's shoulders, pinched his cheek, and grinned.
"Hehe, you little brat. Got a girlfriend and forgot about your bro, huh? And you had the nerve to lecture me before."
An Ran'er turned around and looked at the newcomer.
After recognizing him as Li Nuo's friend Zhou Qikuan, she did not pay much attention to him.
She simply said, "You two chat. I'm leaving first."
"Okay."
Li Nuo nodded.
After An Ran'er left, Li Nuo finally escaped from Zhou Qikuan's embrace.
"What girlfriend?"
"Classmate An and I are just... just normal friends."
"Normal friends?"
Zhou Qikuan looked completely unconvinced.
"Normal friends hug each other tightly in front of everyone now?"
Then he lightly punched Li Nuo's arm.
"T-There was a reason for that."
"Oh?"
"What reason?"
"Well..."
Li Nuo immediately got stuck. He could not explain it himself. Seeing his reaction, Zhou Qikuan gave him a knowing look.
"If you can't think of an excuse, don't bother. Whether you're dating or not has nothing to do with me anyway. But honestly, if it weren't for today's music class, I never would have known you were so talented. And your singing was really good."
"There are lots of things you don't know about me."
Li Nuo replied with a smug look.
"Really? Then do you have some even bigger secret you haven't told me?"
"Hmph, of course. After all, I'm currently—"
Halfway through the sentence, Li Nuo suddenly covered his mouth.
"What are you currently?"
"N-Nothing."
"You heard wrong."
He waved his hands and forced a smile. Inside, however, he was panicking.
He had almost revealed that he was actually the lead singer of The Girls.
Seeing that Li Nuo clearly did not want to talk about it, Zhou Qikuan stopped asking.
Instead, he said, "If I'd known your singing was this good, I would've invited you to that KTV mixer the other day."
"KTV mixer?"
"Yeah."
"A few of my friends dragged me there."
"But didn't you say you liked Ye Feilu? Why would you go to a mixer then?"
The moment Zhou Qikuan heard Ye Feilu's name, his expression darkened.
"What does liking her matter? She already blocked me, and I only went there to clear my mind. I wasn't interested in meeting new girls at all."
"Why did she block you? Did you do something?"
"How would I know? It happened for no reason."
Then he suddenly thought of something.
"Wait, isn't An Ran'er friends with her? Can you ask An Ran'er to help me find out why Ye Feilu blocked me?"
"Uh..."
Li Nuo looked troubled. After all, he had no idea whether An Ran'er would be willing to help.
"Brother Nuo... No, Brother Nuo the Great! You have to help me! This concerns my entire future happiness!"
Zhou Qikuan bent forward, clasped his hands together, and pleaded sincerely.
Seeing him act like this, Li Nuo could not think of a good reason to refuse.
Besides, Zhou Qikuan was his best friend.
So he nodded.
"Alright, I'll help you."
After all, it was just asking An Ran'er to pass along a question. It should not be a big deal.
The moment Zhou Qikuan heard that answer, he instantly came back to life.
Tears appeared in the corners of his eyes as he threw his arm around Li Nuo again.
"Ohhh—my dear bro!"
"Mmgh! Mmph... mmph mmph...!!"
Meanwhile, Li Nuo, trapped inside the bear hug, could only make a series of muffled sounds that nobody could understand.