Mu Qiu closed her eyes and carefully savored the taste of the red fruit drink, sincerely telling the others:
"It’s not that I’m deliberately treating it like poison; the flavor is so unique it’s indescribable. Of all the things I’ve tasted, I could describe every one—except this. The only thing I haven’t tasted is poison, so isn’t that just like poison?"
Li Yang: "Okay, we didn’t really need to hear your explanation. Next."
Mu Qiu: "..."
After her, Li Yang purposely called on Cheng Zhirang.
Since putting on those bunny ear headbands, Cheng Zhirang hadn’t been quite right. Being called on now, he was even more off, hesitating while holding his cup.
Any hesitation meant everyone knew something exciting was coming.
Shi Yuhuai: "Does it smell hard to drink or is the task impossible to do?"
Shu Ran: "Brother Cheng, what request has left you tongue-tied?"
Jiang Zhufeng: "Could it be asking you to feed it to someone else?"
Guan Yu: "Eh~ Really? I can sacrifice myself to fulfill this, what do you think, Brother Cheng?"
Li Yang: "Brother Cheng said that might not be feasible."
Guan Yu: "Are you a spokesperson or something? You’re too chatty! Donate that mouth for some cash!"
If they continued, they might just start arguing. Cheng Zhirang steadied his mind, tilted his head back, and drank the yellow fruit drink. After a difficult gulp, he rasped into the microphone.
"Meow~"
The entire venue was silent for three seconds, then erupted in frenzy.
A cat’s meow was invigorating, recalling it once more could banish fatigue.
Onstage, a group of people stared at Cheng Zhirang in disbelief, instinctively rubbing their tickled ears.
"What just happened?"
"I think I heard a meow, and it came from Brother Cheng’s mouth."
"Brother Cheng, is this your style now? So cute~"
"Wearing bunny ears and meowing, I admit I’ve been hit, ah, Cupid’s arrow—"
"Cupid’s arrow through you, please stop imagining."
"Come on, cat-eared boy Lin Lian, get up there and see who’s better at meowing!"
"Boo boo boo, my maiden heart~"
The audience below the stage grew even more excited, going wild, screams piercing the roof, rolling like boiling porridge, trying to escape the confines above.
Even security guards outside, from far away, could hear the high-powered kettle-like screams.
"He meowed!"
"Ahhhhhhh, he meowed!"
"We didn’t hear clearly! Meow once more!"
"Brother Cheng, you’re finally going down the cute path?"
"Brother Cheng! Meow once again!"
"Ahhhhhhhhhhh Brother Cheng, you’re killing me!"
"Ahhh, I can’t take it! I want to adopt a cat!"
"Cheng Zhirang! Meow once more!!"
"Cheng Zhirang! Meow again! Just one more time!"
"I’m fainting! Isn’t this just too endearingly unexpected!"
The reaction to that cat meow was chain-like, the venue’s continuous eruption spread online as well.
The barrage in the stage’s live broadcast room hit a peak again, now full of "cross-species communication."
[I’m drunk on meowing]
[I just stopped my nosebleed for him, now it’s happening again]
[Ladies, hold strong, don’t get anemia / dog head]
[I’m feeling hot, sweating from my forehead, excited enough to angrily write ten exercise books]
[Didn’t hear clearly! Meow once more!]
[There’s a reason the saying "live long, see much" exists; live long enough, and you’ll see and hear anything]
[Meow, if you want to reach me, meow first so I know you’re a kindred spirit]
[There’s so much in that meow, like he loves me]
[Like you’re deluding yourself]
[I’m poisoned, what’s the poison? Cat poison]
[It’s Cheng Zhirang’s poison, the poison of my heart]
[You guys are really so lame]
[Begging Xiao Bu to release a special recording of that meow! I’d trade a handful of my boyfriend’s hair to get it!]
[Meow~ Meow~ Meow meow meow~]
[Meowing lifted my soul, couldn’t help but pound the keyboard twice, now I’m searching everywhere for the escaped keys boo boo boo boo boo]
[My girlfriend’s pinching my thigh so hard it’s swollen, yet she can’t stop her fangirling laughter, I’m exhausted]
[Discovered two gems today—Shi Yuhuai and Cheng Zhirang, change personas guys, before I’m completely drained, I’m willing to pay for you both]
[Someone got so excited they jumped up with their phone]
[I can’t stand it anymore, I need to lie down and savor it twice, meow~]
[From now, it’s all cat talk, cat language]
Online and offline everyone got frantically excited, and the people on stage were no exception.
Mu Qiu lightly bit her finger joint, restraining herself from pouncing on Cheng Zhirang, her beautiful eyes gazed complexly at him.
Cheng Zhirang coughed, about to say something to lighten the odd atmosphere, but before opening his mouth, he was stopped by his girlfriend.
"Don’t speak human; use meow."
Cheng Zhirang raised his eyebrows, showing a puzzled expression: "...?"
Using meow? How does one meow?
Both on stage and off were brimming with enthusiastic screams; Cheng Zhirang never expected a single meow would have such an effect. Holding the microphone, he didn’t know what to say.
He could only wait for everyone to get tired of shouting, then seize the moment to bring the stage routine back on track.
"My punishment is done, the photos are taken, how about the next person, Li Yang?"
Li Yang, soothing his goosebumps, casually pointed: "Next... Brother Huai, it is."
Guan Yu: "Will it be a bark?"
Shi Yuhuai glanced over: "I’ll hit you barking."
Guan Yu: "...So fierce, wuuu wuuu wuuu."
Shi Yuhuai held a cup of dark blue fruit drink, looking indistinguishable from poison, he tightly furrowed his brows, taking a sip.
The next second, he had a retching motion, but a grown man can endure: even if desperate to vomit, he held back hard, showing a delicate gesture by holding the cup rim with a bent finger, clinking cups with the bewildered Zhang Li beside him, reciting his lines:
"This cup of 82-year-old blood seems expired, even has sediment."
Zhang Li: "...Huh? It, it might be expired? After all, it’s staining your teeth."
Shi Yuhuai immediately clamped his mouth shut, putting the cup down on the tray before him.
Li Yang strolled over: "This isn’t quite right, Brother Huai? You didn’t finish."
Shi Yuhuai muffled behind his hand: "Was there a rule to drink it all? There wasn’t, so I can leave it unfinished."
Li Yang felt stumped, though that sentiment was unexpected from him, but should have been...
"Mu Qiu, Sister Guan Yu, seriously reflect on why even Brother Huai got assimilated by you two."
Truly, standing on stage, a cauldron drops from the sky, Mu Qiu lazily ignored his slander, raising Shi Yuhuai’s cup to glance at the writing at the bottom.
[Chat about this drink with the vampire next to you]
"These days, vampires are quite trendy, wearing pink shorts and sipping expired 82-year-old blood."
After her quip, her gaze flitted across the director stationed at the back side of the stage, catching sight of his subtly smiling face.