Chapter 21

“Why is she here?!”

Shu Wei’s whole demeanor changed upon seeing the girl standing beside Shang Yan. The subdued atmosphere in the private room was instantly silenced.

Shang Yan, who was about to seat the child, straightened his slightly bent long legs at the remark, raising an eyebrow as he looked over.

“Not welcome?”

Shu Wei bit her lip.

Shang Yan had almost gone to great lengths to get her to come, so of course, she was welcome.

But Su Miao Miao… Before Shu Wei could speak, the computer group next to her, who had been startled by her earlier voice, regained their composure.

Wu Hongbo’s face remained smiling, but his eyes showed a hint of displeasure. “Senior Shu, you invited our entire group. Our Little Su is our new member… Please give us face and don’t make it hard for our Little Su to join.”

Shu Wei clenched the hem of her thin skirt, her fingertips devoid of color from the force. If she insisted on not letting Su Miao Miao participate, the other members of the computer group, especially Shang Yan… would probably leave with them.

A few seconds later, Shu Wei’s lips curved into a smirk, blinking away her earlier cold expression. “I was just too surprised…”

Shu Wei walked inside. “Miao Miao is Shang Yan’s little apprentice. I know that, so it’s like having my little apprentice. Why wouldn’t I welcome her?”

As she spoke, Shu Wei had already approached the girl. Playful light flashed in Shu Wei’s eyes as she reached out to grasp the girl’s wrist hanging at her side.

Just a few centimeters away, the girl suddenly got pulled back by someone behind her. Shu Wei’s outstretched hand grasped empty air, and she looked up in astonishment.

Beneath the flickering lights, the clear and refined face of the young man held a faint smile, almost devoid of warmth. He chuckled lightly, his eyes cool.

“The apprentice I raised, how did she become yours?”

Silence and beauty tinged the young man’s pale face with a hint of laziness.

After speaking, Shang Yan smirked, turning slightly to look down at Su Miao Miao pulled behind him.

“Kid.”

His tone was not serious, his voice husky as he chuckled and asked, “Who am I to you?”

Su Miao Miao looked up at him in confusion.

The light from the spotlights cast a shadow on her eyes from the side, her long, slightly curled eyelashes forming butterfly-like shadows on her high, straight, pale nose.

The girl hesitated.

“Master…”

It was her first words after entering, a soft, low-toned voice with a hint of nasality, earnest and puzzled.

Shang Yan’s tongue touched his palate, and after a moment, he returned to his senses, lowering his gaze.

He made a light chuckle.

“Would I let someone else be your master?”

The question had not arisen before.

Su Miao Miao hesitated, unsure how to respond.

After a quiet moment, the girl lowered her head.

“No.”

Her voice was still soft, but this time, much more resolute.

Shu Wei’s face changed abruptly.In the quiet private room, whispers could be heard from various corners.

Shang Yan paused for two seconds, then suddenly burst into laughter.

He had even forgotten why he asked that question in the first place and completely ignored Shu Wei behind him.

“You’re lucky I’m being nice to you.” His voice carried obvious amusement as Shang Yan halted his movement, leaning down slowly until he was next to the girl’s ear.—“Once you’ve chosen a master, you can’t back out, otherwise…”

“…”

Su Miao Miao curiously looked up at him. Otherwise what?

Shang Yan paused.

The girl slightly turned to face him, her eyes bright and moist, her curled lashes fluttering, tantalizingly close, scratching at the heart.

Tickling sensation.

Unable to tease and being the “teased,” Shang Yan’s eyes darkened, and he quickly averted his gaze, straightening up and coughing lightly as he walked away.

The dimmed lights concealed the unnatural expression on his face.

“Otherwise, I’ll break your legs.”

Su Miao Miao: “…”

Yikes.

The students who could liven up the atmosphere began to feel awkward in the private room and made a few jokes to lighten the mood, bringing back harmony to the scene.

The sofa area and square tables were mostly occupied by seniors.

The few in the computer training group, accustomed to being indoors, except for Wu Hongbo, were as quiet as chickens in this kind of setting.

When choosing seats, Wu Hongbo took the lead, and the others followed without hesitation towards the area with high stools at the bar that no one was occupying.

After Wu Hongbo and his companions had seated themselves, only two high stools nearest to the stage were left.

Shang Yan lifted his foot and tapped the circular footrest of the nearest high stool, suddenly recalling something and turning back to look.

The petite girl stood not far away, her feet having stopped moving at some point.

She stared somewhat blankly at the other high stool, unmoving.

—

Seemingly questioning why there was a chair whose height reached her chest in this world?

“…”

Shang Yan chuckled.

He retracted his leg, slipped a hand into his pocket, and leaned against the bar to watch.

“Kid.”

Following the girl’s gaze, he lightly raised his chin, indicating the high stool.

“You go first.”

Su Miao Miao: “…”

“If you can’t get up, just behave and admit you’re only one meter fifty.”

Shang Yan teased her with a smile.

Su Miao Miao: “…………”

Su Miao Miao’s gaze hesitantly returned to the high stool.

These bar stools were always high, but Su Miao Miao had never been to such a place before, so she was somewhat startled.

Now focusing, she noticed there were footholds beneath both the stool and the nearby bar.She should… be able to climb up.

Uncertain, Su Miao Miao thought, her gaze wandering.

Beyond the oval stage nearby, there was also a row of similar high stools on the opposite side.

As Su Miao Miao’s gaze fell there, she saw a girl stepping onto the marble footboard beneath the bar, gripping the bar, and effortlessly sitting on the stool by raising her tiptoes.

It seemed quite simple…Su Miao Miao felt slightly relieved and turned back.

Seeing the girl cautiously take two steps forward, Shang Yan raised an eyebrow, a sly smile playing on his lips.

“Really going to try?”

“…”

Shang Yan: “Then let’s bet. If you can’t get up, don’t cry.”

“…”

Su Miao Miao was tempted to kick him, but in the end, she only clenched her fingertips, tilting her face up slightly annoyed, her voice soft yet carrying a hint of menace.

“I can do it!”

—

A short person’s final stubbornness.

Shang Yan chuckled hoarsely, pulling his hand out of his pocket and gesturing forward. “Please.”

Just as Su Miao Miao was about to move, Wu Hongbo, who couldn’t bear to watch any longer, spoke up boldly beside her. “Brother Yan, don’t bully our little Su like this, okay?”

“…”

Shang Yan raised an eyebrow, his smile turning chilly.

“‘Your little Su?”

Wu Hongbo swallowed nervously. “…Slip of the tongue. Yours, I meant, yours.”

Shang Yan was satisfied. “How am I bullying her?”

“Since it’s a bet, shouldn’t both parties have a stake?” Wu Hongbo winked at Su Miao Miao. “If Little Su loses and has to admit she’s one meter fifty, then if you lose…”

Su Miao Miao finally understood.

After hesitating for a moment, she turned her head to look at Shang Yan.

“If I manage to do it, then what about… what will Master say?”

“…”

Shang Yan’s eyes narrowed slightly.

The girl’s previously fair cheeks now carried a hint of blush, her eyes dark and moist, still tinged with lingering annoyance, staring at him unblinkingly.

Being stared at like this for a few seconds, Shang Yan inexplicably felt a dryness in his mouth.

He cleared his throat and casually picked up a glass from the bar in front of him, not bothering to check its contents, and emptied it in one gulp.

The glass spun half a circle in his hand.

“If I lose…”

Shang Yan’s lips curled into a smirk, his voice husky from the alcohol.

This smile was tinged with cruelty and a hint of wickedness.

“Whatever you want to do… hmm?”

The implication was profound.

Su Miao Miao was stunned by this smile.

After a few blank seconds, as her mind slowly regained clarity, an inexplicable warmth spread to her cheeks.

It burned her thoughts.

Her heartbeat quickened considerably.

Su Miao Miao averted her gaze somewhat flustered, unable to meet the boy’s eyes again.

She slightly parted her lips, taking a deep breath cautiously, her eyes filled with confusion…Today, her heart really wasn’t right…Beside her, Wu Hongbo and Luan Wenze, who were the closest, finally snapped out of it.

“Damn, Brother Yan,” Wu Hongbo exclaimed in disarray, “you can’t treat our Little Su like this—your smile is too… too seductive, too tempting for a young girl, it’s unfair!”

But even Luan Wenze, usually the most honest one, couldn’t bear it and joined in accusing Shang Yan with his gaze.

Shang Yan turned back, swirling the glass in his hand, chuckling hoarsely.

“She doesn’t understand anyway.”

There was a hint of regret in his tone.

Wu Hongbo: “…”

This shameless old rogue.

Not content with tormenting all the girls in the school, he even targeted their team’s little sunshine that always rose at five or six in the morning.

Growing bolder, Wu Hongbo turned his head, lowering his voice to encourage Su Miao Miao. “Little Su, give him a tough one. Since he’ll do anything if he loses, make him take off his shirt when he loses!”

“…”

Shang Yan heard it, and the slender joints of his fingers playing with the glass paused.

He turned sideways, his gaze sweeping past Wu Hongbo, and landed on the girl.When their eyes met…

After a few seconds,Shang Yan chuckled dumbfounded, seemingly surprised.

“…Really want to see?”

Before Su Miao Miao could shake her head to deny it, the boy beside the bar set down the glass in his hand.

Turning around, leaning against the bar, he rested his right elbow on the counter and casually placed his left hand on the high stool.

Then, he lowered his eyes to look at her, a lazy and careless smile on his lips.

“Quite ambitious, little one. Want to see Master take off his shirt? You’re quite ambitious.”

“…”

Under this lightly teasing tone, Su Miao Miao blushed. After a difficult moment, she spoke with a hoarse voice, “I—I didn’t…”

Seeing the girl blush so beautifully, and the accusing glances almost materializing, Shang Yan finally smiled and withdrew his gaze.

He didn’t tease her anymore.

“So, it’s settled. If you lose, you’re one meter fifty, and if I lose, I’m one meter fifty. Fair?”

“…”

Since a while ago, Su Miao Miao had been feeling inexplicably anxious. Now, she nodded vigorously.

Taking a deep breath, she approached, grasping the high stool and the bar counter, imitating the movements of the girl she had seen earlier. She placed one foot on the marble footboard under the bar counter, then gently raised herself.

…..

Su Miao Miao froze—She couldn’t… couldn’t get up.

She could distinctly feel that the seat of the high stool was stuck just below her lower back.

Just a few centimeters…A world apart.

She turned back, looking dismayed and hopeless—Confirming with her eyes that it was indeed a stool she couldn’t reach even on tiptoes.

Watching from the sidelines, Wu Hongbo held back for a while, but now he couldn’t contain himself and burst out laughing.

Luan Wenze couldn’t hold it either and turned away.

Stuck at this halfway point, the girl looked utterly defeated, on the verge of tears.

Her dark eyes seemed to dim, filled with an unbearable sense of grievance.

As Wu Hongbo laughed, clutching his stomach, he turned his head to make a comment.

“Haha… Brother Yan, you’re just… hahaha… you don’t have to embarrass the little…”

The girl lowered her head even more.Before the sentence could finish, she suddenly felt a tightness around her waist.

Before she could react, Su Miao Miao was lifted into the air.

The next moment, she was placed on the high stool by a strong arm around her waist.

Su Miao Miao was stunned.

The air around her vibrated lightly with that husky voice, lazy and smiling—

“Now you’ve won. I’m one meter fifty, I admit defeat.”

“…”

After a long daze, Su Miao Miao blushed belatedly.

Not far away, on the sofa, Shu Wei gripped the cup in her hand, her expression fierce.