Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Su Xingyao was brushing Coral's fur.

As soon as Lu Jiuxu spoke, both humans and animals turned their attention to him.

Sunset had already reached Lu Jiuxu first, sniffing with his nose, trying to identify what it was.

Coral also jumped off Su Xingyao, curiously looking at the skateboard.

Not long ago, Su Xingyao had just developed a longing for skateboarding, and now Lu Jiuxu had someone buy it back. Su Xingyao thought he was as incredible as Doraemon with his magic pocket.

Su Xingyao looked at the large toy in the other's hand, his heart immediately filled with excitement.

He walked over to Lu Jiuxu, took a skateboard, and gently ran his hand along the edge, with a mix of longing and hesitation, "But I've never played with this before."

While skateboarding is undeniably cool, beginners might end up taking some pretty funny spills.

"I don't know how to either."

Lu Jiuxu looked up at Su Xingyao, the corners of his narrow eyes slightly curved, "But there's no rule saying you can't try just because you don't know how."

After saying this, he ripped off the plastic packaging of the skateboard, stood it up, and with a flick of his fingers, spun it around a few times.

"Come on, Teacher Su, let's give it a shot."

Lu Jiuxu lifted the still spinning skateboard with one hand and headed towards the door first.

The setting sun's light bathed him, making him look especially handsome and dashing.

Su Xingyao looked at Lu Jiuxu's back, feeling inspired by him, and grabbed his skateboard with one hand.

"Wait for me, I need to change my shoes first."

While Su Xingyao was busy changing into sports shoes, Sunset, who had already figured out that the two owners were going out to play, followed by his side.

The little dog's shiny black eyes gazed at Su Xingyao, clearly wanting to come along.

Su Xingyao patted its head and patiently explained to it.

"I'd love to take you with me, but I might take a bad fall while skateboarding and not even be able to look after myself. Next time, when I get back, we'll play together."

Sunset whimpered and lay on the ground, letting out a couple of pleading whines.

Su Xingyao gave Sunset another comforting rub, and only then did the dog settle down.

After saying goodbye to the dog and the cat, Su Xingyao put on a baseball cap and hurried to the door to catch up with Lu Jiuxu.

The two didn't go far.

Lu Jiuxu led Su Xingyao straight to a small river behind the villa area.

There were few people living here to begin with, and the area around this small river is relatively secluded.

At this moment, on the wide field, apart from Lu Jiuxu and Su Xingyao, there were no other passersby around.

It was the perfect spot to practice skateboarding.

"This place is so quiet."

Su Xingyao had been staying here for a while but had never been to this place before.

Lu Jiuxu placed the skateboard on the ground, "It's pretty quiet around here. I only came here occasionally when I had time."

After saying that, he pushed the skateboard forward a short distance on the path.

The skateboard glided smoothly, covering a good distance.

After making sure the path was smooth and safe, Lu Jiuxu picked up the skateboard and nodded to Su Xingyao, "Wanna give it a shot?"

Su Xingyao, eager to try, quickly geared up and stepped onto the skateboard first.

He'd never tried it before, but he'd seen others do it plenty of times.

Su Xingyao stepped onto the board with his right foot, trying to get his balance.

Once he felt steady enough, he pushed off with his left foot, inching forward.

The dream was grand, but reality hit hard.

While kids and teens could spin, jump, and glide with ease, Su Xingyao was struggling to stay upright, fearing a faceplant.

For safety, he moved at a snail's pace.

Even at a crawl, lifting his toes made him wobble and lose balance.

After gliding ten meters, Su Xingyao realized he wasn't cut out for skateboarding.

But he wasn't ready to throw in the towel.

He told himself it was okay; with practice, he'd get better.

After psyching himself up, Su Xingyao skated a bit further, got the hang of it, and turned around.

Seeing Lu Jiuxu still watching, he laughed and waved.

"Lu Jiuxu, you're lagging!"

Lu Jiuxu's eyes sparkled with amusement, his narrow eyes crinkling slightly.

He replied softly, "On my way."

Seeing Lu Jiuxu about to skate, Su Xingyao stopped and waited.

Soon, he saw that while both were beginners, Lu Jiuxu was clearly more skilled.

Lu Jiuxu glided smoothly, his movements effortless.

Su Xingyao, ahead, watched Lu Jiuxu catch up with ease, feeling defeated.

"We started at the same time, so why is there such a big gap?"

Actually, Su Xingyao knew his statement was wrong.

Because he had started a bit earlier, so they weren't exactly on the same starting line...

But in the face of his strong competitive spirit, he conveniently ignored that fact, forcefully equating their starting points.

As Su Xingyao was speaking, Lu Jiuxu, who had arrived in a dashing manner, brushed past him.

Immediately, a pleasant low chuckle reached his ears.

"Mr. Su, you've fallen behind."

The wind tousled his hair, leaving it slightly disheveled. When he glanced at Su Xingyao, his slightly raised chin looked even more sharply defined.

Seeing that Lu Jiuxu had echoed his exact words back at him, Su Xingyao, struggling to keep his balance, felt teased.

"Ugh! Just wait until I catch up to you."

Driven by his competitive streak, Su Xingyao pushed himself to skate forward.

But despite his bold talk, his movements stayed awkward, and he couldn’t pick up speed.

After gingerly sliding a few steps, he heard an even clearer laugh.

Just as Su Xingyao was clenching his teeth in annoyance, Lu Jiuxu braked his skateboard and walked back to him.

Seeing Lu Jiuxu approach, Su Xingyao blurted out.

"I think I need a lesson."

He looked up at Lu Jiuxu, eyes full of hope.

"Lu Jiuxu, could you teach me..."

Su Xingyao was so distracted talking to Lu Jiuxu that his legs wobbled, and he nearly toppled forward.

Caught off guard, his unfinished words immediately turned into, "Whoa, whoa, hold me, hold me!"

Luckily, Su Xingyao caught himself just in time.

Lu Jiuxu’s long, slender hand caught his arm, steadying him like an umbrella rib.

Seeing Su Xingyao struggle to focus, Lu Jiuxu stopped teasing and gave him his full attention.

"I’ve got you. Take it slow—no rush."

"Yeah," Su Xingyao quickly agreed.

Having someone there to steady him made him feel safer as a beginner.

With Lu Jiuxu’s hand firmly in his, Su Xingyao’s movements grew more confident.

As he skated, Lu Jiuxu patiently guided him.

Lu Jiuxu corrected the placement of his feet and showed him how to maintain his balance.

Su Xingyao lost track of time, but as the sky darkened, he felt more confident.

"Lu Jiuxu, let's test it out!"

After the lesson, Su Xingyao started calling him 'Teacher Lu.'

Lu Jiuxu didn't correct him, just saying gently, "Then I'll let go."

Su Xingyao readjusted his posture and then focused intently on skateboarding.

After some practice, he had made significant progress. Su Xingyao was getting the hang of it and could even stand on the board for several seconds.

Seeing that it was getting dark, Su Xingyao headed his skateboard toward home.

He was in high spirits and decided to skateboard all the way back.

But then, in an instant, an accident occurred.

In the dim light beyond the streetlamp's reach, Su Xingyao missed a sudden obstacle on the road.

By the time he realized it, the skateboard had already veered off course.

The sudden loss of balance made it impossible for him to steady himself.

With a clatter, the skateboard was sent several meters away.

Su Xingyao also fell off it.

The close call left him stunned for a few seconds.

When Su Xingyao snapped out of it, he realized that his knee was just a few centimeters from the ground.

A little further down, and he would have had a nasty fall.

"Teacher Su..."

The voice above him and the warmth against his cheek brought Su Xingyao back to reality.

He realized that he hadn't fallen and hurt himself because Lu Jiuxu had quickly caught him.

His heart was still racing from the near miss.

Su Xingyao quickly released his grip on the other's waist, stepped back, and thanked him.

"Thanks, I really appreciate it."

Lu Jiuxu asked, looking down at him, "Did you hurt yourself anywhere?"

Su Xingyao shifted his feet, "No, no, I'm fine. The skateboard didn't hit me."

After this little incident, Su Xingyao decided to walk home.

He hadn't brought his phone when he went out, and only after returning did he notice that Lu Zhiyun had sent him a bunch of WeChat messages.

At first, Su Xingyao thought Lu Zhiyun had something urgent to say.

But when he opened the chat, he saw that Lu Zhiyun was actually inviting him to play a game.

Su Xingyao glanced at the clock and saw it was still early, so he replied.

Su Xingyao: You still want to play?

Lu Zhiyun, on the other end of the phone, must have been glued to his phone.

As soon as Su Xingyao sent the message, Lu Zhiyun immediately replied.

Lu Zhiyun: Yes!

Along with the message, a team invitation was sent.

Su Xingyao clicked the shared link, and his phone automatically brought up the Honor of Kings login screen.

Since he had recently changed his phone number, he stopped using his old account. After logging in with his new account, he had to go through the newbie tutorial.

It took Su Xingyao a while to finally team up with Lu Zhiyun.

By then, Lu Jiuxu had finished showering and joined him.

Lu Jiuxu must’ve used some kind of shower gel—the scent was fresh and pleasant.

Su Xingyao looked up and showed him the screen. "We’re playing Honor of Kings. Wanna join?"

Lu Jiuxu didn’t say a word, just pulled out his phone and opened the game.

The familiar "timi" sound played, and Lu Jiuxu glanced at Su Xingyao. "Invite me."

"Okay."

After today, Su Xingyao wasn’t surprised anymore that Lu Jiuxu played games too.

He knew that even though the book painted him as ruthless and scary, in reality, he was kind and gentle in private.

Not long after Su Xingyao invited Lu Jiuxu, Lu Zhiyun, who’d gone to grab snacks, came back and froze at the sight of the extra person in the room.

He stared at the name in his friend list, double-checking the note, before finally realizing in disbelief that it was his older brother.

"Whoa, bro, what are you doing here?"

Lu Zhiyun glanced out the window.

It was already evening—no sign of the sun rising from the west...

Lu Zhiyun, playing a match with his brother for the first time, was clearly out of his element.

Only when Lu Jiuxu’s cool, familiar voice came through the headset did he finally relax.

"Hurry up and start."

The moment Lu Jiuxu spoke, Lu Zhiyun hit "start" without a second thought.

Lu Zhiyun started the game fast, but the matchmaking took forever.

Su Xingyao’s account was brand new, with no rank.

Lu Jiuxu clearly hadn’t played in a while, and his rank was pretty low.

Out of the three, only Lu Zhiyun had made it to King rank with twenty stars.

With such a huge rank gap, it took a solid thirty seconds to find a match.

When it came time to pick roles, Su Xingyao instinctively turned to Lu Jiuxu.

"Mr. Lu, what’s your usual lane?"

Lu Jiuxu didn’t pick a hero, letting Su Xingyao choose first.

"I can play any role. You pick first—I’ll fill."

Lu Zhiyun, who was in the same team, seized the moment to brag about his brother.

"Although my brother doesn't play games often, he has a high talent. He's quite good and can carry any game."

Lu Zhiyun actually wanted to say, "You don't need to worry about him."

But under the pressure of his brother's authority, he didn't dare to say it.

Instead, Su Xingyao immediately complimented, "That's awesome!"

After saying that, he confidently chose the marksman Sun Shangxiang.

While Su Xingyao was making his selection, the other two matched teammates chose a top-laner and a mage respectively.

After he filled the marksman role, Lu Zhiyun locked in the support hero Liu Shan.

With the four positions mostly assigned, the only role left for Lu Jiuxu was the jungler.

Without a word, Lu Jiuxu scrolled through the jungle heroes and selected Liu Bei.

Su Xingyao didn't actually notice what Lu Jiuxu had chosen; he was busy checking out the complete set of skins that appeared on his skin interface.

He had heard before that in Honor of Kings, once you recharge to V10, your teammates can share your skins.

However, this was the first time he encountered this feature, so he curiously looked through each one.

In the end, he picked an academic-themed skin for Sun Shangxiang that he liked.

As soon as he confirmed, a notification popped up next to his name.

"Thanks for sharing your skins, big spender~"

As soon as his message appeared, a similar message popped up next to Lu Jiuxu's name above him.

"Thanks for the share, awesome!"

Su Xingyao turned to look at Lu Jiuxu.

"Are you also using Zhiyun's shared skin?"

"Yeah, I didn't buy any."

As soon as Lu Jiuxu finished speaking, the game countdown ended and the loading screen appeared.

Su Xingyao looked down and finally understood what Lu Jiuxu meant by "I didn't buy."

Lu Jiuxu, like himself, had not spent a single penny on the game.

At that moment, their accounts were next to each other, looking quite basic.

Meanwhile, Lu Zhiyun's account at the top was shining brightly, fully upgraded to V10.

"Wow, Xing Yao, you and my brother chose coordinating skins."

Lu Zhiyun, who had been quiet until then, suddenly chimed in upon seeing the login screen, even letting out a whistle afterward.

Su Xingyao, who usually didn't pay much attention to skins, looked and noticed that the skins he and Lu Jiuxu had chosen indeed had the same artistic style.

The heroes they chose, one male and one female, were positioned left and right, staring at each other like a pair, their eyes brimming with emotion.

After checking out the character skins, Su Xingyao curiously took a closer look at their names.

He noticed that both Liu Bei and Sun Shangxiang's skins were named "Lovers of Time."

Of course, a couple with matching skins...

Lu Zhiyun chuckled and quickly snapped a screenshot of the login screen, sharing it with Su Xingyao and Lu Jiuxu.

After returning to the game, he asked Lu Jiuxu, "Bro, why aren’t you using the new skin? It even has a rap—it’s awesome."

Lu Jiuxu, controlling his character as he headed to the jungle, replied nonchalantly after a moment, "Just went with whatever."

Although Su Xingyao hadn’t played Honor of Kings in a while, he quickly got back into the groove.

Lu Zhiyun, playing as the support, kept backing him up, and Lu Jiuxu often came to help as well.

This let him level up smoothly, making the game really fun.

The three of them worked together and quickly pushed into the enemy’s base.

When he teamed up with Lu Jiuxu once more, and after Lu Jiuxu’s Liu Bei chunked the enemy ADC, Su Xingyao quickly followed up with a shot to finish them off.

The enemy ADC couldn’t resist typing in the chat.

"All" Yu Ji: You two lovebirds are ganging up on me QAQ

Su Xingyao, busy taking the red buff, was a little confused.

Was the enemy referring to him and Lu Jiuxu?

But in the game’s storyline, Sun Shangxiang and Liu Bei are indeed a couple, and players often joke about it, so Su Xingyao didn’t bother to explain.

Forty seconds later, Yu Ji, who had just respawned, got wrecked again.

Lu Zhiyun’s Liu Shan controlled her, Lu Jiuxu’s Liu Bei dealt the damage, and Su Xingyao’s Sun Shangxiang once again took her life...

Unsurprisingly, the enemy typed again.

"All" Yu Ji: You three are seriously too much, wuwuwu

"All" Yu Ji: Picking on me, all by myself

Seeing Yu Ji’s adorable yet sad messages, Su Xingyao couldn’t help laughing.

He asked Lu Jiuxu, "Were we a little too rough on her just now?"

After all, she had just respawned and was immediately killed by their combined efforts.

Seeing Su Xingyao’s worry, Lu Jiuxu also looked at him, clearly amused, "Yeah, a bit."

Lu Zhiyun didn’t chime in but instead typed in the game chat to mess with Yu Ji.

But what he sent was—

"All" Liu Shan: Mom and Dad, carry me (*^▽^*) la la la la la

The two who were suddenly cast as parents: ...

Su Xingyao’s team completely dominated the match, and it ended in no time.

The three of them teamed up and played a few more games, and after a series of consecutive victories, it quickly reached ten o'clock.

After exiting the game, Su Xingyao immediately stood up and stretched his body.

Once his body was relaxed, he prepared to take a shower and go to bed.

However, just as he was heading towards the stairs, he saw an unexpected scene.

Luori was standing on the skateboard Su Xingyao had used earlier, rhythmically swinging its left paw back and forth, sliding forward on the skateboard with a leisurely and relaxed posture...

It was sliding very steadily, as if it had ten years of experience.

Su Xingyao stood there, watching for a long time, then realized that Luori could not only slide with its left paw but also switch to the right paw...

Seeing how skilled and confident the dog was, Su Xingyao suddenly realized in embarrassment.

He was actually not as good as Luori, the dog...

After watching the little dog for a while, Su Xingyao pulled out his phone and recorded a video of Luori.

After Luori had enough sliding and went to rest, he returned to the bedroom and shared the video with Lu Jiuxu and Lu Zhiyun before taking a shower.

After taking a shower, he found that both of them had replied to him.

Lu Zhiyun wrote an 800-character essay expressing his surprise and praise for Luori's intelligence and excellence.

Lu Jiuxu asked him, "Are you asleep?"

Seeing that Lu Jiuxu had sent the message five minutes ago, Su Xingyao quickly replied, "Not yet."

As soon as the message was sent, Lu Jiuxu also replied to him instantly.

"I'm at your door."

"I need to talk to you about something."

After reading the message, Su Xingyao immediately got out of bed and ran to the door to open it for Lu Jiuxu.

Through WeChat, you can't tell the tone or emotion of the other person's words.

So when Su Xingyao, thinking there was something urgent, quickly opened the door, he was very surprised to see Lu Jiuxu holding something in his hand.

Because Lu Jiuxu was holding a small night light, with an acrylic photo of him wearing a coral headgear, posing with Luori and Coral.

Lu Jiuxu handed the custom-made night light to Su Xingyao, didn't say much, simply saying, "I forgot to give it to you earlier when we were playing games."

Lu Jiuxu lowered his eyes, and Su Xingyao couldn't see his expression clearly.

But as he took the night light, he heard Lu Jiuxu say, "Good night."

Su Xingyao placed the night light on the bedside table and turned it on.

The warm light and the presence of Luori and Coral completely dispelled the darkness.

That night, Su Xingyao had the brightest dream he could remember.

*

The day after Su Xingyao got back, the second episode of "The Voice of Heaven" aired as scheduled.

The audience, who had been kept in suspense by the show's teaser for a whole week, tuned in as soon as possible.

The audience, having been through many deceptive experiences, knew well that the scheming production team would not follow the sequence of the previous episode and place the "one-line" singer first.

As soon as they opened the video, the audience quickly started skipping through the video.

After testing several times, the experienced viewers quickly found the exact moment Su Xingyao started singing.

"Found it, folks!! 1:33:26"

"1:33:26, no need to thank me, just call me Lei Feng"

"1:33:26, quick jump"

"1:33:26, got it?"

"This production team is really sneaky, placing it in the middle makes it hard to find"

After seeing the time stamp left by kind-hearted viewers, those who joined later quickly followed the hint to that part of the video.

Everyone eagerly jumped to that part, and the video first played the prelude of "Goodbye Yesterday" from last week.

Although this segment was short, it had already been watched over and over by the audience.

Realizing that they could finally hear the full version today, many were so excited that their breathing quickened.

The camera zoomed in on a number plate.

It was only then that everyone realized the singer's number was 78.

After a few seconds on the number plate, the camera cut to the atmospheric stage lighting just as the song's prelude ended.

At the same time, the audience finally heard that soft and melodious voice.

The viewers, who had been eagerly commenting, suddenly fell silent.

They stopped all their actions and listened intently to the song sung by contestant 78.

From start to finish, the performance of this challenging song was consistently top-notch.

The singer's voice was even more beautiful than anyone had expected.

The presentation of the song was surprisingly brilliant.

Touching songs always resonate with people and can make listeners temporarily forget many things.

So caught up in the song, the audience only snapped out of it after the performance ended.

"Ahhhhhhhh, what a heavenly singer!!"

"So good, so amazing, so incredible"

"This is the best version of 'Goodbye Yesterday' I've ever heard, hands down"

"This performance is epic"

"Attention, this is not a drill, this is not a drill—this is heavenly music"

"Heavenly music sharpens your senses, I feel uplifted"

"Damn, I was so caught up in listening to the song that I just realized the production team only showed us the lighting and the contestants' reactions the whole time??"

Prompted by this reminder, the audience gradually realized.

"Holy crap, I didn't even notice, so where is he? Where is he? 78 sang a song and there wasn't even a close-up?"

"Where's the buzz?? What are the mentors doing, why didn't they buzz in for such a good performance?"

By the time the audience realized, it was already at the very end of the song, just the final instrumental part.

And the production team seemed to have predicted the audience's reaction, even zooming in on the ten-second countdown.

While counting down, the video also showed the nervous and confused state of the contestants on the scene that day.

The audience had already prepared themselves mentally that contestant 78 would definitely advance.

But seeing the contestants so nervous in the video, their hearts tensed up.

Yet, at this most critical moment, the post-production team sneakily threw in a slow-motion effect in the last ten seconds.

The screen suddenly switched, with the camera counting down while focusing on the base of the rising stage.

The audience collectively held their breath.

"I just wanna punch this post-production dude right now."

"Why am I still so nervous, even though I know the mentors will definitely buzz in?"

"This is torture!! But I dare not skip a second, afraid to miss..."

"Same here, afraid to miss."

No one wanted to miss this crucial moment, so they had no choice but to follow the production team's lead.

The countdown continued, and when it hit 2, there was still no buzz.

At this moment, the audience panicked.

But just as their hearts were gripped at this critical moment, the production team suddenly cut to the last second, showing the three mentors buzzing in for Su Xingyao.

The audience's hearts raced with each of the three loud buzzes.

After such a nail-biting moment, the audience thought this was the limit.

But they didn't expect that the next appearance of contestant 78 would be so shocking.

When the audience discovered that the cute cat head slowly rising onto the stage was the same person who sang so amazingly, the "one-sentence singer" they'd been hyped about all week, the comments exploded.

"OMG!!!!!!"

"Holy crap..."

"Holy crap..."

"It... it's actually a cat head..."

"This is an opening I never expected."

"I can only say this is really amazing!"

"I almost thought I was seeing things, but I wasn't!!"

The stark contrast left the barrage silent for a few seconds, followed by an overwhelming flood of "ahhhs."

"Who would have thought such a beautiful song was sung by a cat?!"

"Ahhh, this cat headgear is just too adorable."

"Hold up!!! Why does this cat headgear look so familiar?"

"Isn’t that the one who interacted with the frog moms?"

"No way, it really looks like it..."

"I remember when the show’s Weibo was flooded with requests to reveal the singer’s identity—didn’t they post this picture?"

After this discovery, many quickly grabbed screenshots to compare with the recently viral video.

At first glance, no one noticed, but after comparing, everyone realized that whether it was the time of interaction with the frog moms, the details of the costume, or even the location, everything matched up with the cat singer from "The Voice of Heaven."

With this revelation, the tone of the barrage shifted again.

"So, did they run into the frog moms after recording 'The Voice of Heaven'? Hahaha."

"The show actually dropped hints about the singer’s identity earlier, but no one picked up on them."

"They just posted a cat emoji—who would’ve thought it was a clue?"

"I couldn’t resist rewatching the video of the cat and the frog moms—it’s just too adorable."

"Who would’ve guessed that such a cute headgear hides such a vocal powerhouse?"

"The cuter the headgear, the more powerful the singing (*▽*)."

"Ahhh, who would’ve thought? My dream cat (headgear) and my dream voice are the same person!!"

"Wuwuwu, it’s a shame we can’t see the real person, but!!! This cat headgear totally stole my heart."

"But I’m dying to know—what kind of fascinating soul (and face) is hiding under that headgear?"

The moment the second episode of "The Voice of Heaven" aired, the cat head singer became the talk of the town again.

From his headgear-clad singing on the show to his voice-changer antics, the stark contrast between his voice and image, and even that viral video with the frog moms...

Each of these elements alone sparked endless debates.

And now, they all came together in one person!!

Of course, besides these, the cat head singer's performance itself received high praise from the entire online audience.

In an industry where singing is often lackluster, hearing such a stunning voice left many viewers hitting replay over and over.

The performance was such a hit that the show released a pure version the next day, racking up over 50 million plays and topping the charts.

A partnered music platform even snapped up the rights to this version.

Once the pure music version dropped, it skyrocketed to the top of the new music charts overnight.

For a time, the cat head singer became the hottest topic among fans and audiences.

At night, Su Xingyao also received an urgent WeChat message from Xiao Li, the director who had approached him before.

Xiao Li: Mr. Su, when you come to record the show tomorrow, remember to use the VIP entrance.

Xiao Li: Your popularity is through the roof now—I’m worried fans might try to sneak a peek under your headgear QAQ.