Jiang Zixuan’s brief pause naturally became leverage in Old Mei’s hands. He immediately raised his hand, pointed at Jiang Zixuan’s nose, and shouted, “Hey—! What was that pause just now?! Huh? You paused for a full two seconds!”

“…You suddenly leaned in like that. Any normal person would react for a moment, right?” Jiang Zixuan said helplessly.

“Oh? Now that’s not quite right,” Old Mei suddenly put on the air of an intellectual, even pushing up an imaginary pair of glasses on his nose with his middle finger. “Scientific research shows that the average reaction time of a normal human being is basically between 0.7 and 1.3 seconds. But you just took more than two seconds. Who knows what you were thinking during that extra second?”

Fu Bai almost instinctively shot back, “Here he goes again! Here he goes again! Old Mei’s playing scientist again!”

“Oh? Got a problem with that?”

“Before you say stuff like that, maybe check whether you’re even qualified—want me to search right now and see if that ‘scientific research’ you mentioned is real?” Fu Bai said as he pulled out his phone.

Seeing this, Old Mei immediately calmed down. He restrained that flippant smile on his face and shot Fu Bai a meaningful look.

Fu Bai was just about to search online, but the moment he caught Old Mei’s look, he instantly understood. He burst out laughing in realization and nodded emphatically. “But still! A normal person’s reaction time definitely wouldn’t exceed two seconds!”

“Right? Right?” Old Mei turned his spear back on Jiang Zixuan. “So now are you still saying you weren’t thinking anything else?”

Jiang Zixuan tugged slightly at the corner of his mouth. “But what I said really is the truth.”

“Oh? I really don’t believe that,” Old Mei suddenly stood up on the bed and looked down at everyone. He raised his right hand, first pointing at Jiang Zixuan, then sweeping his arm in a circle to point at everyone else. “Come on, let’s ask everyone else and see what they think, alright?! Do you guys think Old Jiang is talking nonsense? Anyway, I think he’s definitely lying.”

Shu Yuxin was the first to raise her hand, intending to clear her best friend’s name. “Seriously, stop guessing… Zixuan couldn’t possibly have feelings for me of all people…”

“You don’t count. Who knows, maybe you two are in cah— ahem, we all know you two are on the same side, right?” Old Mei retorted directly.

Shu Yuxin refused to accept that. “Huh? Why don’t I count? I’m a spectator too, okay? Zixuan being punished has nothing to do with me!”

“Fine then, let’s see what everyone else says, alright? Kai, Houlin, Old Guan, Old Wei, Fu-dog, hurry up and give us your opinions!” Old Mei couldn’t hold back anymore.

Naturally, the others weren’t about to stay idle and all voiced their views.

The result came out quickly. Other than Peng Xiaoxiao choosing to believe Jiang Zixuan’s answer, everyone else chose not to believe him. At this point, even Shu Yuxin’s belief didn’t matter—five to two, an absolute landslide.

Jiang Zixuan was very helpless.

On the other hand, Old Mei was delighted with the result he wanted. He chuckled and sat back down. “Old Jiang, see? This isn’t just my problem anymore, right? Look, so many people don’t believe you. Don’t you think you should say something?”

“What I said really is the truth…”

“Tsk, that’s no fun,” Old Mei waved his hand, pretending to be magnanimous. “How about this, I’ll give you one more chance to answer. If you tell the truth, we’ll let this round pass. How about it?”

Jiang Zixuan thought for a moment, then sighed. “I’ll choose dare.”

“Hey! Fine, fine,” Old Mei burst out laughing immediately. “Old Jiang, I gave you a chance, okay? You’re the one who didn’t cherish it.”

“You forced me to choose another answer. What else could I do?” Jiang Zixuan smiled indifferently.

Since he’d chosen dare, Old Mei didn’t dwell on the truth segment anymore. He picked up the card Fu Bai had brought back earlier and handed it to Jiang Zixuan, his smile gradually turning lewd. “Hehehe, here, take this. First, take out your phone. Then, call this number and order a sexy housewife.”

Jiang Zixuan: “…You’re serious?”

“Just order it and tease them a bit. Anyway, they don’t know where we are. After you place the order, improvise however you want—remember to turn on speaker,” Old Mei said, his grin growing even more obscene.

Seeing her best friend being put on the spot, Shu Yuxin naturally chose to fan the flames. “Sexy housewife~! Ha, if I remember right, Zixuan seems to like the younger-girl type more.”

“Like you?” Jiang Zixuan shot her a sideways glance, expressionless.

Shu Yuxin snapped back without mercy. “I’m a young adult woman in college now!”

“The ‘young-girl type’ should be junior high to high school age, right?” Wei Zhanpeng rubbed his chin and gave his opinion.

“Huh? Shouldn’t it be from graduating out of loli to around twenty years old?” Old Guan added his take.

“A ‘young girl’ generally refers to underage girls, roughly between twelve and eighteen,” Yan Zhikai also joined the discussion. “In the paper-character world, it’s basically all female creatures except lolis and onee-sans. In some people’s eyes, it can even include all females. Unfortunately, I’m into onee-sans.”

Now Old Mei wasn’t happy. “Hey, hey, hey, what are we even discussing right now?”

“Dare,” Fu Bai replied.

Old Mei nodded. “We’re doing a dare now, okay? Save your otaku nonsense for later, will you?”

And just like that, everyone’s attention was pulled back.

Jiang Zixuan stared at the card in his hand for a while, then took out his phone. “It’s this number, right? Service hotline…”

“Remember to turn on speaker,” Old Mei reminded him.

Jiang Zixuan dialed the number printed on the card and pressed speaker.

As the dialing tone sounded from the phone, everyone except Jiang Zixuan held their breath, as if they were doing something bad.

Before long, the call connected, but what came through was a rough male voice. “Hello?”

“Ahem, um… do you guys provide services?” Jiang Zixuan asked tentatively.

The man was clearly stunned for a moment, then lowered his voice. “Yes. What kind would the customer like?”

Jiang Zixuan hesitated.

Seeing that he wasn’t speaking, Old Mei frantically made faces at him, looking like he was having a facial spasm.

“Sir, you don’t need to worry about privacy. We won’t leak your information to anyone. Please feel free to say what you want,” the man said, seemingly thinking Jiang Zixuan was just too shy.

Jiang Zixuan stared at the pretty girls printed on the card for a few seconds, then said, “Hello, do you have sexy housewives?”

“Yes,” the man replied immediately. “Everything in the advertisement is available. Are you sure you want to order? Would you like to pay per session, or for the whole night?”

“Wait a moment. Do your housewives include twenty-five-year-olds? Preferably with a bigger chest, better figure, ideally under a hundred jin in weight. And she needs to be able to withstand the weight of a 273-jin fat guy, preferably with good stamina. We have quite a few people here…”

“W–wait, wait, wait!” The man was completely confused. “What? Two hundred seventy-three jin?! Quite a few people?! How many people do you have?!”

“Oh, there are five of us besides me. College students, poor, we’re pooling money for one time. But we can only afford one person,” Jiang Zixuan said in one breath, clearly not planning to stop. “We’ve got a total of six hundred yuan. By sessions, that’s five times, just right for one each… How about giving us a discount since we have so many people? Can six hundred cover the whole night?”

“Are you fucking with me?! A discount?! You think this is shopping?! If you don’t have money, why are you calling?! Looking to get cursed at?!” The man exploded with curses and then hung up the phone.

Jiang Zixuan put his phone away and shrugged. “It’s over.”

Everyone, including Old Mei, was dumbfounded.

“Holy shit, not bad, not bad!” Old Mei was the first to react. He laughed twice, his gaze growing dangerous. “Old Jiang, what did you mean just now by two hundred seventy-three jin?”

Jiang Zixuan remained calm. “I just made it up. If you want to match it to yourself, I’m not stopping you.”

“Forget it, forget it,” Old Mei waved his hand. “Come on, next round, next round.”

Yan Zhikai shuffled the cards and quickly dealt the next round.

This time, the winner was Wei Zhanpeng, and the loser was Peng Xiaoxiao.

“Don’t ask anything too private!” As soon as she saw the result, Peng Xiaoxiao hurriedly said.

Wei Zhanpeng froze. “Uh… I wasn’t planning to ask anything too private…”

Old Mei smacked his lips.

Fu Bai smacked his lips as well.

After thinking for a moment, Wei Zhanpeng asked his question. “Um, Xiaoxiao, do you… have a boyfriend?”

“No!”

“Then do you plan to find a boyfriend?” Wei Zhanpeng asked eagerly. Afterward, as if realizing he was a bit abrupt, he added, “Heh, just curious.”

Peng Xiaoxiao smiled slyly. “That’s already the second question. I have no obligation to answer. And as for boyfriends—those don’t exist!”

Wei Zhanpeng: “…”

“Alright, alright, next round, next round!” Old Mei started urging again.

Yan Zhikai nodded and dealt once more.

This time, the result was quite interesting. The winner was Peng Xiaoxiao, and the loser was Wei Zhanpeng.

When the result came out, everyone froze for a moment.

“Ah… karma really goes around…” Shu Yuxin sighed.

Wei Zhanpeng stared at the card in his hand, feeling a bit dazed.

“Haha, Wei Zhanpeng, now it’s my turn to ask you. Are you ready?” Peng Xiaoxiao waved her card in front of his eyes.

Wei Zhanpeng immediately straightened his expression. “Ready. Ask.”

Peng Xiaoxiao narrowed her eyes, the corners of her lips curling up as her smile turned teasing. “You have to answer honestly~!”

“Mm!” Wei Zhanpeng nodded hard.

Watching this, Old Mei leaned close to Fu Bai and snorted like an old man. “Heh, reeks of sourness.”

“Heh, reeks of sourness,” Fu Bai echoed.

Then Peng Xiaoxiao asked her question. “Question! How old were you the last time you wet the bed? No lying!”

Wei Zhanpeng: “…Huh?”