CHAPTER 8: YY BIRTHDAY SONG PARTY 

That evening, around seven o’clock, Shu Jia used her alt account to slip into Jiang Yuyu’s room.

On the mic, the host ppk was already warming up the crowd. The birthday party would officially start at eight, but the room was already packed with over ten thousand people, the chat scrolling by at lightning speed.

Shu Jia sipped on yogurt while scrolling through WeChat on her phone.

Jiang Yuyu messaged, asking if she was on YY yet.

She sent her alt account ID over, and a moment later, she was pulled into a private room.

As soon as she entered, she heard Jiang Yuyu laughing nonstop.

“Aiya, I’m so happy today, you all came to my birthday party!”

Shu Jia flipped through the list and spotted several familiar IDs.

Su Shao, Ling Xiyin, Aaron, Hei Boss, Qi k, Lun A., A Hao, Banana…

Shu Jia clicked her tongue inwardly.

Just for her birthday party, Jiang Yuyu had invited so many big names from different circles…

The cosplay circle, the gufeng circle, the esports circle, the writers’ circle… Jiang Yuyu really was a social butterfly.

A Hao had been chatting with Jiang Yuyu, but when he noticed a white horse icon enter the room, he asked, “Who’s this girl?”

Shu Jia turned on her mic, cleared her throat, and said, “Shu Jia.”

“Woah.” Aaron’s voice rose in surprise. “You’re the girl rumored with our DangDang?”

Shu Jia froze awkwardly. Were people always this gossipy now?

Before she could say anything, A Hao loudly denied it for her. “What nonsense, Shu Jia and Wan haven’t even met, okay? People online are just bored and love making things up.”

Shu Jia didn’t know how to respond, so she stayed quiet.

Aaron wasn’t convinced. “Hey, the girl herself hasn’t spoken yet, what are you butting in for?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Banana joined in. “Wan’s that handsome. Isn’t it perfectly normal if Jia Jia likes him?”

Ling Xiyin’s soft, hesitant voice piped up. “So… what’s the deal between Wan God and Shu Jia?”

Ling Xiyin was a gufeng circle goddess with a ton of fans. Petite, cute, with a sweet loli voice that boys adored. She loved cosplaying female League of Legends characters and had a big following of otaku fans.

But everyone in the circle knew…

She liked Zhou Dang. She’d even confessed openly on Weibo.

But the male lead had been cold as ice, flatly saying he didn’t know her. After that, hordes of female fans mocked her on her own page. Honestly, pretty pitiful.

Aaron paused, like he’d just remembered that awkward incident. “We outsiders are just guessing. Only the people involved really know.”

By now, Shu Jia was already tired of hearing people bring up her and Zhou Dang again and again. She didn’t like how others over-consumed their story.

So she said lightly, “There’s nothing between us.”

Aaron chuckled, as if speaking to someone beside him. “Hear that? She says she’s got nothing to do with you—cutting ties clean.”

Before Shu Jia could even react, Aaron added, “Zhou Dang’s right next to me playing games, hahaha.”

“What the fuck,” Jiang Yuyu groaned. “Can’t you wear headphones when you play at the base?”

Only then did Shu Jia realize—Aaron and Zhou Dang were in the same club, so of course they were together.

Which meant… Zhou Dang had just heard her say they had no relationship.

Crap…

Ahhhhhhh!

Shu Jia regretted it instantly. That wasn’t what she meant at all—she hadn’t wanted to distance herself from him.

She had no idea how Zhou Dang would react… maybe he’d ignore it.

Jiang Yuyu teased, “Xiao A, stop provoking Wan, or he’ll tilt so hard he can’t even play.”

A moment later.

“Hahahaha,” Aaron burst into laughter, voice full of innuendo. “Zhou Dang just quit the game.”

Qi k: “Bro’s mentality is shattered.”

Shu Jia was stunned.

Quit the game? Wasn’t that a bit extreme?

Then, through Aaron’s mic, everyone faintly heard a single word: “Get lost.”

The voice was low, hoarse, cold.

Shu Jia didn’t dare say another word.

In the end, it was Su Shao who smoothed things over, changing the subject.

Shu Jia muted herself, no longer in the mood to chat.

Outside, the party had already started in earnest. Shu Jia left the private room, opened a backing track on KuGou, and listlessly prepared to warm up her voice for the song she had to sing later.

As she sang, her mind kept circling back to what had just happened.

Had Zhou Dang really quit the game…? No, Aaron was probably just joking… right?

Just then, her phone on the desk buzzed with a new WeChat.

Absent-mindedly, Shu Jia picked it up and opened it.

Her eyes flew wide, nearly dropping the phone.

W: ?

Zhou Dang had sent her a question mark.

He… had actually messaged her first?!

She couldn’t believe it. Her heart leapt like ten thousand little people were samba dancing inside. But no matter how long she thought, she had no idea how to reply.

What did that question mark even mean? She really didn’t know…

After several minutes of agonizing, Shu Jia finally decided to send a “question mark bear” sticker back.

Acting cute was better than nothing.

W: What do you mean?

Shufu Jia: Umm…?

Shufu Jia: 0.0

W: You really think there’s nothing between us?

Pfft—

Shu Jia’s face turned scarlet.

Oh my god. Was Zhou Dang interrogating her? Or hinting at something?

She was so shocked she even started doubting if it was really him.

Shufu Jia: Did someone steal your phone?

W: No.

Shu Jia hesitated for a long time.

Shufu Jia: Can I… have something with you?

No reply.

Shu Jia waited and waited, emotions swinging wildly—from excitement and nerves, to a little disappointment.

She kept rereading their short conversation over and over.

The more she read, the more she regretted her rashness.

If she withdrew the message, it’d be even more awkward. Secretly, she cursed herself—was her brain kicked by a donkey when she sent that?

Sniffling, Shu Jia set the phone down sadly.

All her attention was consumed by Zhou Dang’s few words.

So when the moderator wrapped her in a red frame and dragged her onto the mic queue, she only then remembered.

Right. The birthday party!

Crap.

ppk’s amused gentlemanly voice came through, “Hello, can you hear me?”

Steadying herself, Shu Jia greeted, “Hello everyone, I’m Shudan Dan.”

The chat exploded instantly, the messages flying so fast her eyes couldn’t keep up.

【Su Qin: Goddess, your voice is so beautiful】

【Qi Shi: Waaaaa, it’s Shu Dandan!】

【Hou Hou︶ε╰: Front row watching wan’s rumored girlfriend】

【957 marry me: Pkk sounds gayer than gay】

【Ci Ji Pian Si Ru: wuli Dandan, good evening】

【News Anchor: I’ve always liked you, that kind of beauty that makes people feel at ease just by looking at you】

【Little Tiger Tooth xx: Why are you all confessing? Dandan, our VKK is the real absolute beauty】

………

Pkk clearly knew how to hype things up. “Everyone’s reacting so enthusiastically, tsk tsk, why don’t we let the goddess sing a song? After the song we can play a game.”

Shu Jia cleared her throat. “Good evening, everyone. I’ll sing Anhe Bridge to wish Yuyu a happy birthday.”

“Alright, then I’ll step off the mic first.” Pkk blew a flying kiss. “Dandan, catch it.”

Since she had just parachuted in, there weren’t any caption helpers for her. She directly clicked on the accompaniment, took a breath, and got ready to sing.

……

Let me take another sip
Of autumn’s wine
Keep driving south
It won’t be too long

……

This song was her phone’s ringtone. One day a friend asked her for the name, but she, out of possessiveness, didn’t want to tell them.

Back when her heart had been collapsing, she had listened to this song on repeat.

All because she liked that one line the most—

So hello, goodbye.

Shu Jia’s mind drifted everywhere. She held her phone, not sure what she was still expecting.

Her eyes stayed on the rolling comments on the computer screen, but her focus just wouldn’t stay there.

Suddenly, her phone buzzed in her hand.

Her heart jolted with it. Distracted, she kept singing while lifting the phone.

W: Do you want to have some kind of relationship with me?

On YY, the tens of thousands of people present — fans and big names alike — had all been immersed in Shu Jia’s pure, gentle voice.

But they hadn’t expected her singing to suddenly cut off, leaving only the awkward accompaniment playing.

A few seconds later, Shu Jia realized her slip, immediately shut off the music, and apologized nervously, fumbling, “Sorry, I’m not in a very good state right now.”

Pkk quickly jumped back on the mic to smooth things over. “Aiya, what are you saying? That was so good! Why stop all of a sudden? Smack, smack!”

“Sorry, something unexpected just happened here,” Shu Jia explained with difficulty.

But Pkk wasn’t about to let her off easily. “It’s fine, you can make it up to the fans by singing a little yellow song for them.”

The moment he said that, the barrage cheered in agreement.

The public screen was instantly flooded with the titles of various little yellow songs.

Pkk laughed helplessly. “Next time, when you’re requesting yellow songs, don’t just spam Little Slim Waist, Mighty and Majestic, Itchy. Can’t you pick something else?”

Shu Jia: “Can I… not sing?”

“That should be impossible,” Pkk cut in. “Other big names sing Fox Charm, Bone Flower, No.9 Mansion, Want a Hug, Want to Ppa, Ecstatic Lovebirds, Please Don’t Tease Me, Take a Gun on Parade, In Character, Lollipop Luxury… stuff like that. Okay?”

He rattled off a whole list.

The atmosphere turned lively, with barrages of 66666 floating across.

Shu Jia was dumbfounded.

Why did they have to pick on her right now…

In the end, after weighing a few choices, she decided to sing Bone Flower, which was relatively less shameless.

While she sang, the chat was locked to admin-only.

So she saw her friends forming neat “lines” of comments:

Yu Yu Jiang: Listening, I don’t feel anything… just slightly hard, out of respect.

A Hao: Slightly hard +1

Black Boss: 666

Aaron: 111

It made her feel awkward, especially not knowing if Zhou Dang was still sitting next to Aaron.

She really didn’t want him to hear her singing such a shameless song…

After the song ended, the teasing was inevitable.

It took quite a while before Pkk finally let Shu Jia off mic.

She breathed a sigh of relief.

Leaning back in her chair, resting her head on one hand, she stared at Zhou Dang’s message on her phone, not knowing what to do.

She hesitated for a long time, unsure if she should reply.

Then, Shu Jia made a decision. She logged into her main Weibo account and posted an update:

@ZhanYu-ShuDandanV: What should I do if I like someone?

Not long after, the comments section exploded. Some fans were heartbroken, some kept asking who it was, and many more were just eating melon seeds like indifferent bystanders.

Shu Jia randomly tapped open one fan’s reply:

If you like him, just rape him.

Worst case, go to jail.

When you get out, rape him again.

---

Author’s Note:

Who’s gonna hand me a Zhou Dang to rape!!

Every time I write my blood pressure spikes…