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Join the ServerThe atmosphere on the other side of the private room was starkly different.
Lu Yang observed Su Mian and Shen Zhixia engrossed in their game, while the two beautiful women Xia had brought were left isolated. As the organizer, he felt a sudden imperative to liven things up.
With a flourish, he picked up the dice cup and proposed,
“Come on, let’s not just sit idle here! We’ll play dice. If we lose, we drink a cup.”
“Won’t the two beauties, Xia, Old Qin, and School Hunk Xiao, all give me some face?”
Xiao Moyuan had initially intended to refuse, but a glance revealed Xia already holding his dice cup, a subtle, knowing smile playing on his lips as he looked over. Xiao Moyuan’s eyes darkened slightly, and he nodded, settling silently into his seat.
Qin Xuan adjusted his glasses, offering no objection.
The two young women, whose gazes were practically melting over Xiao Moyuan, naturally did not refuse either.
The game commenced.
Lu Yang had envisioned himself dominating the table, showcasing his charm before the ladies. He never anticipated, however, that he would quickly become the true ‘protagonist’ of the evening.
Xia and Xiao Moyuan, two men of profound cunning and hidden agendas, seemed to treat this simple dice game as another silent battlefield.
Their calls for dice numbers always sounded perfectly reasonable, yet they consistently hovered at the critical threshold, frequently forcing the dice authority into Lu Yang’s hands.
Lu Yang, being straightforward, initially refused to believe in such bad luck.
“Three threes!” the short-haired girl Xia had brought called out a conservative number.
“Four fours,” Xiao Moyuan stated, his tone even.
“Five sixes,” Xia said, his smile gentle.
When it was Lu Yang’s turn, he held not a single six. Convinced this was impossible, a surge of adrenaline rushed to his head.
“Open! I refuse to believe there are five sixes!”
Yet, when the cup was lifted, including the communal ‘fake’ dice, there were exactly five sixes.
Lu Yang was dumbfounded, and sullenly downed a glass of beer.
From that moment, he seemed to fall under a peculiar curse.
He challenged the long-haired girl, and lost; he challenged Xia, and lost; he challenged Xiao Moyuan, and still lost!
He even placed his final hope in the perpetually taciturn Qin Xuan. “Old Qin, I’m opening you!”
Qin Xuan silently revealed his dice, the numbers neither too many nor too few, perfectly straddling the edge of Lu Yang’s fatal call.
“Damn it! This is cursed!”
Lu Yang grew increasingly agitated, his face flushed from drink. He clutched his hair, utterly bewildered.
He felt as though he was the only one constantly tilting his head back to chug beer; the two young women only occasionally joined him for a cup.
Xia and Xiao Moyuan, conversely, barely touched a drop. Qin Xuan, with his precise judgment, cleverly avoided drinking every time, his glass remaining full.
Qin Xuan sat quietly, his gaze, calm behind his spectacles, sweeping over everyone’s expressions, their movements, and the exceedingly subtle sounds as the dice fell into the cup.
He was unaware that Xiao Moyuan and Xia were employing abilities beyond normal human perception. Xiao Moyuan’s faint spiritual energy, subtly circling his fingertips, allowed him to discreetly sense the dice. Xia, meanwhile, relied on his vampiric super-hearing and manipulation.
However, Qin Xuan, through his extraordinary observational skills, logical analysis, and psychological insight, could always discern the fleeting truth.
He caught it from Xia’s seemingly casual smile, from Xiao Moyuan’s placid, ancient-well-like eyes, and from the minute variations in the sound of the dice colliding with the cup walls.
His own calls for numbers were always perfectly placed in the safe zone, inconspicuous yet flawlessly self-preserving, like a supreme rationalist.
Evidently, the clashing Xia and Xiao Moyuan had not noticed this subtle mastery.
***
Meanwhile, Su Mian and Shen Zhixia’s ‘sisterly gathering’ was unfolding quite differently.
Shen Zhixia, though mindful of the command to get Su Mian drunk, wrestled with a deep-seated guilt and reluctance towards her. She played dice distractedly, almost deliberately losing, then picked up her glass, intending to drink more herself to reduce Su Mian’s alcohol intake.
“Zhixia, why do you keep losing?”
Su Mian, thinking Shen Zhixia simply had bad luck, and seeing her continuously drink, felt an ill-timed surge of ‘chivalry’ and protectiveness. She believed it was improper for a girl, especially one she cared for, to drink so much in her presence.
“It’s fine, my alcohol tolerance is pretty good,” Shen Zhixia forced a smile, reaching to pour herself another drink.
“No, no!”
Su Mian promptly pressed down on her hand, a stubborn resolve in her grip.
“How can I let you drink alone! I’ll keep you company!”
She snatched the bottle, and without a word, filled her own glass. “Come on, Zhixia, this glass is for you! If we lose, we drink together!”
She completely forgot her own terrible alcohol tolerance and Xiao Moyuan’s warning, feeling only the need to display ‘manly’ responsibility before Shen Zhixia.
Shen Zhixia gazed at Su Mian’s eyes, made even brighter and more luminous by a touch of alcohol, and her foolish persistence. A complex mix of emotions churned within her. Words of caution reached her lips, only to be suppressed by Xia’s cold will coursing through her veins.
She could only watch helplessly as Su Mian, in a bid to ‘accompany’ her, downed glass after glass of the spiked fruit juice.
‘This idiotic fox!’ Xiao Moyuan’s lips twitched.
After several rounds, though Su Mian hadn’t chugged as much as Lu Yang, the alcohol slowly began to take effect.
Her fair cheeks were noticeably flushed, her eyes grew a little hazy, and her voice acquired a soft, sweet nasal quality. Her entire being entered a relaxed, slightly tipsy state.
“How about it, A’Mian, should we stop drinking? Play something else?”
Shen Zhixia made a final effort to deter her.
“Nooo~”
Su Mian cooed, pouring herself another half-glass.
“I want to drink with Zhixia… happy…” Su Mian declared, her voice slurred with tipsy affection, as she poured a small half-glass more.
At this point, Su Mian’s inherent feminine traits, those small gestures typical of her ‘Sweetheart Marshmallow’ persona, began to inadvertently surface in her words and actions.
She would unconsciously tilt her head slightly when speaking, her fingers would idly twine around the hoodie’s drawstring, and occasionally she would raise a hand to tuck stray wisps of hair behind her ear.
Every subtle expression and movement exuded a natural, endearing naivety and sweetness.
Shen Zhixia watched these previously unseen gestures, momentarily lost in thought.
‘Is A’Mian… really this kind of personality? She feels so cute.’
She didn’t know that many of Su Mian’s unconsciously revealed ‘sweet’ behaviors had been secretly observed and learned in the past to imitate and attract her. Now, under the influence of alcohol, the deliberate effort had faded, leaving only instinctive naturalness.
Of course, Shen Zhixia was far from the only one to notice these changes.
Xia, who had kept part of his attention on Su Mian, saw the playful glint in his light blue eyes intensify.
Xiao Moyuan’s brows furrowed even deeper, the chill emanating from him almost palpable.
Qin Xuan murmured, as if to himself, “Six parts drunk.”
Lu Yang, who was leaning over, half-turned and heard the word ‘drunk.’ Mistaking it for himself, he immediately retorted with a thick tongue, “Old Qin! You underestimate me! What’s this? For me… at most three parts! Three parts!”
As the alcohol surged, Su Mian felt a slight distension in her lower abdomen. She uncomfortably pressed her legs together, her body subtly shifting, and inadvertently spoke to Shen Zhixia in a soft, almost coquettish tone.
“Zhixia… I want to go to the restroom…”
Shen Zhixia immediately stood up. “Shall I go with you?”
Though hazy with drink, Su Mian’s remaining rationality made her reluctant to appear too weak before Shen Zhixia. She shook her head vigorously, trying to seem clear-headed. “No need! I can go by myself!”
She abruptly tried to stand, but the alcohol severely impacted her balance. Halfway up, her legs gave out, and she plopped back onto the sofa with a muffled thud.
Shen Zhixia: “…”
She watched Su Mian helplessly.
Ultimately, Su Mian insisted on going alone, her steps wobbly and stumbling as she fumbled her way out of the private room towards the restroom.
Upon entering the relatively quiet and private space of the restroom, Su Mian immediately splashed cold water on her face. The icy sensation brought a slight measure of clarity.
She braced her hands on the edge of the sink, looking at her reflection. Her face was flushed, her eyes sparkling, clearly in a state of charming inebriation. Her heart sank.
“It’s over… I think I really drank too much…” she mumbled, her voice tinged with annoyance.
She lingered in the restroom for a long time, repeatedly using cold water to stimulate her nerves, trying to dispel the increasingly heavy dizziness.
Inside the private room, Xia noticed Su Mian had been gone for a while. A sharp glint flashed in his light blue eyes.
He rose elegantly, a perfect arc gracing his lips, his tone gentle:
“Excuse me, I need to use the restroom.”
History, it seemed, was fond of repeating similar dramas.
Just as Xia stood up and took a single step, the private room door was pushed open once more.
Su Mian had returned.
The droplets of water on her face hadn’t completely dried, her temple hair was damp, and her eyes appeared even more bewildered than before. Her steps were unsteady and faltering.
She seemed utterly oblivious to Xia, who was about to leave, or perhaps, her perceptive abilities had been dulled by the alcohol.
Xia’s steps faltered, his perfect smile freezing for a fleeting moment. He then smoothly prepared to sit back down.
However, Xiao Moyuan’s cold voice cut through the air, carrying an undeniable challenge: “Weren’t you going to the restroom?”
Xia turned to face Xiao Moyuan, his smile impeccable, his tone light. “I suddenly changed my mind.”
At this moment, Lu Yang also noticed Su Mian’s return. He called out in a loud voice, concerned, “Mianzi! Why were you gone so long? You weren’t hiding in there throwing up, were you?!”
Su Mian turned towards Lu Yang, her gaze unfocused, only vaguely responding, “Mm… I am a little dizzy…”
Her voice was softer, imbued with profound weariness.
Then, under the gaze of everyone in the private room, Su Mian performed an action that instantly solidified the air.
She did not head towards her original seat, nor did she acknowledge Shen Zhixia, who was within arm’s reach. Instead, with wobbly steps and a clear destination, she stumbled directly to the sofa where Xiao Moyuan was sitting.
Xiao Moyuan looked up at her, his eyes deep and inscrutable.
Su Mian, as if having expended her last ounce of strength, and driven by a deep-seated reliance and trust that even she couldn’t comprehend, her body softened, and she directly leaned against Xiao Moyuan, sitting beside him.
Immediately after, her small head naturally tilted, finding a comfortable spot with precision, gently resting on Xiao Moyuan’s firm arm.
She even unconsciously rubbed her cheek against the well-textured fabric, like a small animal confirming a source of safety. Then, she closed her hazy eyes, her breathing gradually becoming even and long. She had, in full view of everyone,
fallen asleep against her ‘love rival,’ Xiao Moyuan.
The entire private room was plunged into an eerie silence.
The music still played, the screen still flickered. Lu Yang’s mouth hung open, his expression blank. “Are these two even love rivals?”
Xia’s smile vanished completely, his eyes churning with cold fury and jealousy.
Shen Zhixia’s pupils constricted, her hand gripping her cup suddenly tightening. Her emotions were complex and indescribable; she struggled to comprehend Su Mian’s actions.
Everyone: “… … … … … …”
The adventure continues! If you loved this chapter, The Shining Knight’s Odd Eyes is a must-read. Click here to start!
Read : The Shining Knight’s Odd Eyes
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