When He Zhao was done and the last note died away, no one said anything for several minutes.
Surprising. No one had expected it.
Xu Qingqing had been watching a video on her phone. Four minutes had passed while she hadn't been paying attention to the video's contents.
"Impossible," Xu Qingqing said, looking back. "Zhao-ge, he..."
She cut herself off halfway.
Because she saw He Zhao turn, as if to meet Xie Yu's eyes.
Yu-ge, whom no one in their class dared provoke, had not fully closed the curtain next to him. Sunlight shone through the small gap onto his hair.
The sunlight made him look warm.
—Xie Yu, who, at first glance, looked like a person without warmth.
Liu Cunhao was the first to react. "Prince of love songs, Zhao-ge."
Wan Da, bag of chips in hand and mouth open, said, "How about... how about an encore?"
He Zhao shut off the megaphone and handed it forward. "Nah. I'll let you all live."
The others started calling for an encore, too, but He Zhao really had no intention of singing any more. After passing the megaphone back, he turned off the music on his phone. He looked up and found that Xie Yu was watching him. "Stunned? Was it so good..."
He wasn't content with the praises of others and was about to praise himself to the skies, too.
As he drew nearer, Xie Yu stopped the praise in its tracks, smiled and said, "Yeah."
Since the singer with actual ability no longer wanted to sing any more, Class 3 had to listen to Old Tang sing. He sang oldies, with a very strong sense of the time period, which made all who listened feel like they had aged twenty years.
Two songs later they really couldn't take it anymore, but they couldn't bear to take a swing at Old Tang's confidence, either.
So, even though the bus seemed calm on the surface, their group chat was roiling.
[Liu Cunhao]: Who'll stop him?
[Xu Qingqing]: I can't think of a good reason. Next, please?
[Luo Wenqiang]: Beyond me, too. Next.
Xie Yu watched them discuss for a while and actually came up with something, albeit a strange approach.
Liu Cunhao raised his hand and said, "Teach, we'd better quiet down so we don't distract the driver."
The driver: "......"
Xie Yu had been tapping out a reply with one hand. His position was uncomfortable, so he just exited the group chat and took out a pair of earphones from his pocket. "Want to watch a movie, Prince of Love Songs?"
This newly coined nickname already sounded embarrassing.
He Zhao took one earbud and said, "Drop it. It sounds like I sing love songs to harass people all the time. I've only ever sung for you... what movie is this?"
Xie Yu had just randomly downloaded it.
It had been on his phone for a long time. Xie Yu had never had much patience for watching movies; occasionally he would put one on to kill time, but he didn't get invested and often fast-forwarded through it.
There was a mini-theater on Black Water Street where Dalei and the others would go when they had some spare change.
Xie Yu had been once before. An hour and 20 minutes. He had gone in blank-faced and come out blank-faced.
