TLCBITAR Chapter 174
by Volare“Ring ring ring”
In the dim room with the blackout curtains drawn, the alarm clock rang incessantly.
Zhou Zhou was awakened, opened his eyes, and gritting his teeth, pried open the arm tightly wrapped around his waist. As soon as his body moved, he sensed something, and his face instantly flushed red.
“Pei Yanlie! Get out of here!”
His whole body tensed up, and he began to struggle.
Pei Yanlie groaned and opened his eyes, his voice hoarse: “Zhou Zhou, don’t move around.”
Zhou Zhou stopped moving, clutching the quilt tightly in one hand, muttering under his breath.
Pei Yanlie let go of his hand, gently placed his palm on his side waist, reluctantly left with a tight lip, then sat up, picked up the phone on the bedside table, and cut off the ringtone.
“So cunning, sneaking in while I was asleep.” Zhou Zhou hid inside the quilt, putting on his shorts, his muffled voice coming out.
Pei Yanlie calmly put on his pants, raised his thick eyebrows, “You wouldn’t let me leave.”
Zhou Zhou suddenly lifted the quilt, sat up, and the area from his chest to his shoulders was covered in ambiguous marks. He glared at Pei Yanlie and said, “You’re lying without even thinking! When did I not let you leave!”
“Well, my mistake.” Pei Yanlie didn’t tease him anymore.
[So perfunctory.]
Zhou Zhou’s gaze followed Pei Yanlie’s back as he moved. There were five or six red marks above his spine, faintly bleeding. He pursed his lips and lowered his head to examine his fingernails.
[Are my fingernails that long? I actually scratched him like this.]
Pei Yanlie walked to the closet, took out a set of thermal clothing and placed it next to Zhou Zhou, “It’s okay, it doesn’t hurt.”
Zhou Zhou cleared his throat and asked in a low voice, “Would I make you more excited if I scratched you harder?”
Pei Yanlie leaned down to help him put on his clothes and said meaningfully, “You can try next time.”
[As expected, Pei Yanlie must have some perverted M attribute!]
After breakfast, Zhou Zhou and Pei Yanlie got into the car and arrived at the Mathematics Innovation Competition venue. As soon as he stepped into the audience seats, he shook Pei Yanlie’s arm and asked, “Pei Yanlie, which seat are you sitting in?”
[This question is a bit redundant. Pei Yanlie, this domineering male lead, will naturally sit in the C position.]
Pei Yanlie nodded slightly and chuckled in a deep voice, “First row of the VIP seats, in the middle.”
“Okay, okay, watch my performance.” Zhou Zhou scratched his palm with his pinky finger, smiling flamboyantly.
Pei Yanlie squeezed his hand, his thumb caressing the back of his hand ambiguously, his Adam’s apple rolling as he said in a hoarse voice, “Little fox spirit, seducing me all the time. Go ahead, I’m watching you.”
Zhou Zhou withdrew his hand, greeted him, and followed the contestants into the backstage lounge to prepare.
The lounge was large, and it was filled with fifty or sixty people, the sound of chatter rising and falling.
He carefully scanned the crowd until he spotted Li Yu’s figure before lifting his foot and walking over.
Li Yu was still wearing glasses, but his hairstyle had changed to a buzz cut. Zhou Zhou put a hand on his shoulder. Li Yu frowned, and when he looked up and realized it was Zhou Zhou, a light flashed in his eyes. “It’s been more than a month. Have you gained weight?”
A crack appeared in the smile on Zhou Zhou’s face, his mouth twitched, and he said unhappily, “Can’t you say I’ve become more handsome?”
Li Yu brushed off his hand, “Speaking the truth. It seems you’re being well taken care of by your man.”
Zhou Zhou touched his nose and changed the subject: “Did you suffer some kind of stimulation? Suddenly changing to such a manly hairstyle.”
“Some perverts keep mistaking me for a woman. No choice, I can only do this.” Li Yu replied casually.
Zhou Zhou was thoughtful. Has this cross-dressing Big guy Li Yu changed his ways?
“Don’t think wildly. I’m not doing this for anyone.” Li Yu raised his glasses, his brow slightly furrowed, his tone tinged with depression.
Zhou Zhou curved his lips and smiled, noncommittal.
“Beep—”
“There are only five minutes left until the competition. Please, students who are still in the lounge, proceed to the high platform to gather.”
Zhou Zhou walked out slowly, Li Yu followed behind him, and the two appeared on the high platform one after another, occasionally chatting a few words.
Sitting in the first row, Pei Yanlie stared coldly at the boy next to Zhou Zhou.
Li Yu seemed to sense something and met his dark gaze, “Zhou Zhou, your man is jealous.”
Zhou Zhou “uh”ed, raised his eyes to look at Pei Yanlie, “Oh, normal, ignore him.”
[Pei Yanlie is just a walking vinegar king.]
Pei Yanlie rested one hand on the armrest, tapping rhythmically, no longer looking at Li Yu, his gaze following Zhou Zhou closely, scrutinizing him wantonly.
Five minutes passed quickly.
The host held a microphone in one hand and a question card in the other, and said loudly: “The following are five regular competition questions. Whoever can get all the answers within ten minutes will directly enter the second stage. Otherwise, they will be eliminated.”
Zhou Zhou’s expression was serious, no longer lazy. Now that Pei Yanlie was watching, he couldn’t lose face.
As soon as the question card was in hand, he quickly spun the pen, his eyes scanning the questions one by one.
These were fill-in-the-blank questions, no need to write out the process.
In less than three minutes, he was the first to press the buzzer.
The host was a little surprised, “This student is finished answering?”
He walked over quickly and picked up Zhou Zhou’s question card.
Zhou Zhou nodded “uh”ed, his mouth hooked, his peripheral vision glanced at Pei Yanlie in a suit, his eyebrows full of smugness.
[Pei Yanlie, am I amazing?]
Pei Yanlie heard him, raised his eyebrows, nodded slightly, and praised him unreservedly.
Ten minutes later, half of the sixty contestants were directly eliminated, leaving only thirty.
Zhou Zhou tilted his head to look at Fu Jingxuan, who was not far away, her face haggard, a little surprised. It seemed that the vicious female supporting character had real skills.
He originally thought that she would not come to participate in the competition, but thinking that Fu’s company was bankrupted by Pei Yanlie, she was probably heavily in debt and wanted to try her luck.
After all, the first prize was very generous, a large flat worth ten million.
The competition quickly entered the second stage, a Q&A mode.
The host picked up the microphone, “The next stage is the Q&A mode. Please check the electronic screens in front of you. There are a total of one hundred multiple-choice questions. The students with the top twenty accumulated points will enter the third stage.”
“Next, please look at the first question, Q&A starts!”
“Ding—”
Zhou Zhou’s fair, slender hand pressed on the buzzer, raising his eyes to meet the host’s smiling face, “The answer is B.”
“Correct answer, congratulations to this student for earning 2 points.”
……
When the fiftieth multiple-choice question appeared on the screen, someone finally pressed the buzzer one step ahead of Zhou Zhou.
Fu Jingxuan’s face was dark and her voice hoarse: “The answer is A.”
“Correct answer.” The host breathed a sigh of relief.
His gaze returned to Zhou Zhou, muttering to himself: Where did this Awesome come from? He answered 49 questions in a row, without even thinking. Did he know the answers in advance?
Zhou Zhou got enough points and stopped participating, his eyes intertwined with Pei Yanlie’s.
[Pei Yanlie, congratulations on becoming the focus of the audience. Your head, it’s huge.]
[After the competition, I’ll treat you to a big meal.]
[Do you think I’ve really gained weight? I’m banning your feeding behavior from now on, I don’t want to become round.]
Pei Yanlie crossed his legs, deeply gazing at the vivid little expressions on Zhou Zhou’s face, his hard heart already softened completely.