209 The Righteous Aruba
Since he had already been discovered by his roommates, Wang Heng felt it didn’t matter if others saw him. After all, as long as they weren’t face-to-face at close range and speaking out loud, it was really hard for others to be sure that this simply dressed girl was the one who was looking for her brother on stage back then.
As for Wang Heng himself, he was a textbook otaku at school, not participating in any clubs or social activities. Besides his classmates, few people knew him.
However, since they were talking about serious business, it was better to find a quiet place. Fortunately, there was no shortage of quiet and uninhabited paths winding through the lush groves on campus.
The two walked side by side on the path paved with small square bricks, chatting about the invitation from the ‘Sing My Song’ program as they walked.
Wang Heng: “So, the program team’s requirement is to go to the Imperial Capital next Wednesday. It only takes three days of recording, and you can come back on the weekend?”
Pei Ningle nodded. “Because I only need to sing on stage once. They say three days, but I estimate one day is enough. The extra days should be for the contestants to prepare and rehearse.”
Wang Heng recalled the format of that program.
First was the blind audition stage, where four mentors listened to the songs and read the lyrics on the spot, and selected those that met the requirements. Singers selected by multiple mentors could choose their favorite mentor.
There were several episodes in the blind audition stage. The four mentors would select enough songs and then enter the next stage. The mentors would go through another round of elimination among the songs they selected, choosing a few songs to form an album. After that, they would choose a title song from these excellent songs, and the title songs of the four mentors would compete for the final championship…
Wang Heng mused, “In other words, you go to record one episode first. If you don’t pass the blind audition stage, it ends there. If you pass the blind audition, you go back to record again in a few days, right?”
“That’s right, but,” Pei Ningle couldn’t help asking, “how do you know about the blind audition?”
Of course, Wang Heng couldn’t say that he knew the format clearly, but this small question was too easy for him to explain.
“Didn’t you say it’s the original production team of ‘The Voice’? Think about it carefully. The biggest gimmick of ‘The Voice’ is the blind audition. The mentors only turn around when they hear really good singing. Since that’s the case, it’s normal for ‘Sing My Song’ to adopt a similar format.”
Hearing him say this, Pei Ningle didn’t think much about it and brought up another topic, a more important topic.
“Then this time, I’ll go there by myself?”
After speaking, the girl suddenly stopped and stared at him, with a hint of expectation in her eyes.
As for what she was expecting… did it even need to be said? The battle-hardened Wang Heng knew it all too well.
Taking two days off shouldn’t be a problem. In fact, considering the number of required courses on Thursday and Friday, just silently skipping classes should also be fine. But on the other hand, what about the intimacy with Pei Ningle?
Given that the girls’ affection was difficult to lower, what he could do was to suppress the intimacy with them as much as possible to prevent the appearance of yandere phenomena.
In that case, how to deal with the situation in front of him was self-evident.
Wang Heng said calmly, “Next Wednesday, I’ll go with you.”
Pei Ningle’s eyes lit up, she put her hands on her hips, raised her small face and said, “Okay, then I’m counting on you.”
Wang Heng: “But since it’s such an important opportunity, we can’t be too hasty. Let’s go all out.”
The girl smiled and nodded. “Mhm, mhm, of course!”
However, the next moment, Wang Heng added, “Going all out, since you have two managers, let’s go together. If it’s just me, I’m afraid it’s not safe enough. It’s better to add Han Yixuan.”
The smug smile on Pei Ningle’s face froze instantly.
Soon, the girl who came back to her senses asked, “Why would it be unsafe?”
Wang Heng shrugged and explained in a very normal and natural tone, “We don’t have experience with this kind of program. There might be places we haven’t considered. Isn’t it good to have someone to check for omissions and fill in the gaps? Besides, going to a strange place, having more people gives us courage.”
Pei Ningle couldn’t help but retort, “But I’ve been to the Imperial Capital. It’s not strange at all!”
Wang Heng raised his eyebrows in feigned surprise. “So you mean you don’t want Han Yixuan to go with us? But she is also your manager. Why?”
Pei Ningle was instantly choked.
After a moment of silence, she whispered, “Alright then, let’s call her along.”
Wang Heng: “We might not be able to call her. Three days, she has classes too.”
Pei Ningle: “Hmph, she will definitely be willing to go.”
Wang Heng asked knowingly, “How do you know?”
Pei Ningle pouted and didn’t speak, just secretly complained—does that even need to be asked? She definitely won’t be happy to sit by and watch another girl go on a long trip with you!
The girl took out her phone and dialed Han Yixuan’s mobile phone on the spot.
After connecting, she just explained a few sentences, and heard Han Yixuan on the other end of the line hurriedly say, “Count me in, I’m going too! Boys are careless and unreliable. Little Le, you definitely need me to take care of you!”
“Then I’ll count on you to take care of me…” Pei Ningle squeezed the phone tightly.
After hanging up the phone, she glared at Wang Heng and said, “See, she agreed.”
Wang Heng: “Isn’t this great?”
Pei Ningle: “Hehe…”
**
When Wang Heng returned to the dormitory, as soon as he pushed the door open, he realized something was wrong—there seemed to be people on his left and right.
However, before he could react, his left and right arms were tightly hugged. Wang Ke was on the left, Fu Hanwen was on the right, locking him tightly, making it difficult to break free.
Tang Hexing went around to the back, closed the dormitory door, and locked it.
Wang Heng said in astonishment, “What are you doing?”
Tang Hexing: “This is a righteous interrogation!”
Wang Ke: “That’s right. To prevent more innocent girls from being poisoned by you, we need to take action…”
Fu Hanwen: “Come, come, Little Ke, you hold his hands, Little Fu and I will take one leg each!”
Soon, Fu Hanwen and Tang Hexing each picked up one of Wang Heng’s legs, while Wang Ke was behind Wang Heng, still locking his hands.
Wang Heng had learned a lot in the martial arts gym, but only then did he realize that those combat skills were all for one-on-one fights. There was no skill that told him what to do when he was held by three people. What’s more, they were obviously just playing around now. It wouldn’t be good if he really used force and hurt his roommates.
So, he could only watch his roommates lift him up, bring him to his chair, spread his legs, and push him towards the back of the chair…
“Holy shit, no way?” Wang Heng shouted, “You guys want to play Aruba!”
Fu Hanwen said seriously, “What Aruba? This is a righteous interrogation!”
Tang Hexing: “And here we call it ‘le ka’ (grinding the crotch).”
Fu Hanwen: “Anyway, confess honestly, how many girls do you have improper relationships with?”
“None at all…” Before Wang Heng finished speaking, he saw his crotch rapidly approaching the back of the chair. “Stop, stop!”
While shouting, he exerted force suddenly and clamped the back of the chair with the inner sides of his thighs.
Fu Hanwen and Tang Hexing exchanged glances and tacitly lifted Wang Heng up—logically speaking, this way his legs wouldn’t be able to clamp the back of the chair.
However, the next moment, the entire chair was lifted by Wang Heng, leaving the ground.
Fu Hanwen said in astonishment, “Holy shit, your waist and abdominal muscle strength is a bit strong!”
Tang Hexing: “How did you train this? Specially trained the psoas muscle?”
Wang Heng: “Aren’t you going to put me down? If you don’t put me down, do you believe Daddy will fuck you up later!”
In the dormitory, the unrestrained laughter of four boys echoed.
***
Translator’s Notes
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Aruba (阿鲁巴, Ālǔbā): A prank/game popular among male students in East Asia, involving lifting someone up and ramming their crotch against a post, tree, or corner. It’s also known as “grinding the pillar” (磨柱子) or “happy corner” (开飞机).
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Le ka (勒胩): A dialect term for the same prank.
