Chapter 193

At nine-thirty at night, Li Luo stared at the single turtle card left in his hand, took a deep breath, and silently accepted the fact that he had lost again.

Yan Zhusheng, the first to finish all her cards, silently picked up the lipstick, glanced left and right, and sought approval from Ying Chanxi and Xu Youyu, her expression seemingly asking, "How should I draw this time?"

Li Luo crossed his arms and closed his eyes in resignation.

At this point, there was hardly any clean space left on his face.

He didn't know how it had come to this.

In this game of pure luck—drawing turtle cards—he seemed naturally more unlucky than everyone else.

From after dinner until now, barely over two hours, roughly every few minutes a round, he'd played twenty to thirty rounds.

Logically, with six people, each should have lost about four or five rounds.

But he had lost over ten rounds, his face nearly entirely painted red by them.

The only thing that comforted him was that the other girls hadn't escaped unscathed either—at least everyone had some makeup on their faces, so he wasn't alone in suffering.

Especially when Zhao Rongjun won and the loser was Ying Chanxi or the other two, Li Luo would unhesitatingly take the lipstick and apply it himself.

Zhao Rongjun was happy to let him, obediently handing over the lipstick and sighing with relief.

Now it was Yan Zhusheng's turn to act; seeing Li Luo's face almost entirely covered, she hesitated.

Finally, Xu Youyu had a solution, smiling cheerfully: "His eyelids are still clean, look—he's closed his eyes. Just draw one eye on them."

Li Luo: "..."

Hearing Xu Youyu's words, Li Luo's eyelid twitched involuntarily.

But since he had lost, he kept his eyes tightly shut and resigned himself to Yan Zhusheng's ministrations.

"Don't move," Yan Zhusheng said, one hand gripping Li Luo's chin, the other holding the lipstick, her face pressed very close as she carefully drew on his eyelid.

Ying Chanxi watched the distance between them intently, her gaze occasionally falling on Yan Zhusheng's fingers gripping Li Luo's chin, feeling she had learned a great deal.

"Are you done yet?" Li Luo asked helplessly.

"Almost," Yan Zhusheng frowned. "It's hard to draw on eyelids—I'm afraid if I go too heavy, I'll hurt you."

"So I should thank you for holding back?"

"No need to thank me."

Annoyed by Li Luo's constant talking making his face move, she suddenly pinched his cheeks, silencing him: "Be quiet."

Instantly, Li Luo could no longer speak.

Xu Youyu burst into laughter, collapsing onto the sofa with a "hahaha."

Only Ying Chanxi stared at Yan Zhusheng's hand, her grip on the sofa tightening slightly: "Zhusheng, that's enough—you don't need to draw so precisely."

"Oh," Yan Zhusheng nodded, finally stopping her hand, nodding with faint satisfaction.

Li Luo opened his eyes and patted Yan Zhusheng's other hand, signaling her to let go.

Only then did Yan Zhusheng realize she was still holding him and released his mouth.

But before he could speak, Xu Youyu was already urging: "Why are you opening your eyes? Close them again—I haven't seen it properly yet. Let's see how it turned out."

Li Luo: "... You're being too much!"

Ying Chanxi immediately stepped in, copying the method, pinching his mouth shut while covering his eyes with her other hand, carefully admiring Yan Zhusheng's artwork.

After being bullied in turn by these three, Li Luo finally broke free, sitting back on the sofa with a furious glare: "Hurry up! Next round! You're all going to pay!"

Unfortunately, the next round had nothing to do with them.

Zhao Rongjun won; Qiao Xinyan lost.

"Uh..." Seeing Qiao Xinyan, who had already accepted her loss, handing over the lipstick, Zhao Rongjun's hand trembled as he looked helplessly at Li Luo, trying once again to pass on the duty.

But Ying Chanxi had already swiftly inserted herself between them, smiling sweetly at him: "Zhao Rongjun, can you stop always making Li Luo draw? Don't you feel like you're not participating?"

"I still feel involved..." Zhao Rongjun muttered, "Besides, when I had Li Luo draw before, you didn't object either..."

"You've had so many chances—just draw one already," Ying Chanxi pulled Qiao Xinyan beside her, pressing her shoulder as she told Zhao Rongjun, "Is our Xinyan really that scary? Just draw something randomly."

Qiao Xinyan knew Zhao Rongjun's personality well—he got socially anxious around girls—so she grinned and joined in Ying Chanxi's teasing: "I don't mind at all. What are you afraid of?"

Cornered by the two girls on the sofa, Zhao Rongjun trembled, frantically blinking at Li Luo, sending out rescue signals like they were free.

But Li Luo only chuckled, arms crossed, watching from the side: "Just draw. Don't act like you're being punished for losing."

"I feel like this is punishment enough..." Zhao Rongjun's lip twitched. "Why not let Qiao Xinyan draw on me instead?"

"Accept your loss. Don't mess with the rules," Li Luo urged. "Hurry up—are you even a man?"

Seeing his best friend wouldn't help, Zhao Rongjun had no choice but to grit his teeth, close his eyes in resignation, and with trembling fingers, pick up the lipstick and inch toward Qiao Xinyan's face.

"You're going to poke me in the eye," Qiao Xinyan said, half-laughing, half-exasperated, dodging slightly. "At least open your eyes and aim properly."

"Ah... sorry, sorry," Zhao Rongjun quickly opened his eyes but dared not look directly at her, so he turned his head aside, glancing occasionally with his peripheral vision to confirm position, then lightly drew a stroke on her cheek.

"You're really gentle," Ying Chanxi remarked, glancing at the faint mark on Qiao Xinyan's face and clicking her tongue. "Look at Li Luo—he doesn't know how to hold back at all."

She pointed to the pig face drawn on her own cheek.

"On the game field, there's no gender—only winners and losers," Li Luo said solemnly. "I was showing respect."

As soon as he said this, after the next round ended, a second eye was drawn on Li Luo's other eyelid.

The one who did it was Xu Youyu—the very one who had suggested it.

But after this round, Xu Youyu said: "Your face is completely covered now. Let's switch to something else—let's wash off the lipstick first."

"Should we take photos as keepsakes?" Ying Chanxi raised her hand.

Yan Zhusheng nodded eagerly; Li Luo rolled his eyes, not only dragged into the photo but forced into the center, his face entirely smeared with lipstick, barely recognizable as a human face.

After taking several Polaroid photos with Ying Chanxi's camera, Li Luo gathered the playing cards and asked: "What now?"

"Let's play hide-and-seek!" Xu Youyu suggested enthusiastically.

"Hide-and-seek? There's nowhere to hide in this room," Li Luo glanced around, unimpressed.

But Xu Youyu pulled out a blindfold from who-knew-where: "It's not just regular hide-and-seek—the seeker has to wear a blindfold."

"You're really fancy with this game, huh?"

Xu Youyu ignored him, rolled her eyes, and continued: "The seekers put on blindfolds and wait thirty seconds on the spot. The hiders must choose their hiding places within the time limit, then cannot move from there."

"But hiders may adjust their posture as long as one foot stays planted."

"Whoever gets caught keeps applying lipstick, then takes the seeker's place."

"This feels so fun!" Ying Chanxi clapped her hands. "Let's try it!"

"Fine." Li Luo stood up, patted his backside. "I'll go wash my face first."

Taking Zhao Rongjun into the master bedroom bathroom, Li Luo spent a long time finally washing the lipstick off his face.

Even so, he still felt as if a faint red tint clung to his skin, as if no matter how hard he washed, it wouldn't come off.

"Why can you play so naturally with them?" Zhao Rongjun sighed beside him. "It feels so exhausting."

"You've got too heavy a filter for the opposite sex," Li Luo glanced at him. "But everyone's just human—why can you be relaxed with guys but not girls? Ultimately, you treat them as too special."

"You're the one being too casual!" Zhao Rongjun protested. "After all, men and women should maintain proper boundaries... this... in short, it's just not right to be so casual!"

"You've got a point," Li Luo smiled. "But there's a limit to everything. At least this isn't an excuse for being too scared to draw with lipstick."

"I really am nervous..."

"Don't see girls as girls—first, see them as ordinary people," Li Luo said. "They're human beings, students, your classmates, someone's child, friends."

"Everyone has many identities, yet you fixate most on gender distinctions."

"But everyone carries many other identity labels—don't deliberately amplify one. Just treat them normally."

"I don't expect you to change just because I say a few words. Just be yourself. Take it slow."

Li Luo patted Zhao Rongjun's shoulder and encouraged him with a smile. "At least today's better—you managed to say a few more words while playing cards than you did when you played ball this afternoon."

After giving his good friend some advice, the two walked out of the living room.

Ying Chanxi and the other three had also finished washing their faces. The six of them regathered in the living room and set the hiding range—only this side of the living room was allowed.

Then the six of them played rock-paper-scissors to pick the first victim—

"Why does my luck never improve tonight?" Li Luo sighed, taking the blindfold Xu Youyu handed him.

"Accept reality, kid," Xu Youyu chuckled. "Once we're hidden, we'll time three minutes. If you don't catch anyone within three minutes, you lose."

"Why wasn't this rule mentioned earlier?"

"Just thought of it. Good luck."

"Hmph." Li Luo stood in the center of the living room, slipped on the blindfold, took a deep breath, then suddenly roared: "Come on! Hurry up!"

"You scared me to death!" Ying Chanxi jumped at his sudden shout, kicked him irritably, then hurried off to hide.

The thirty seconds passed quickly.

The other five had all found their spots.

The alarm clock on the coffee table rang, signaling the start of the game.

"Here I come!" Li Luo, blindfolded, chuckled. His memory palace activated, perfectly reconstructing the living room's layout in his mind, one-to-one.

I can't win at drawing turtles.

How could I lose at hide-and-seek?