Chapter 138: My laughter passes through your black hair in youth

"The skewer, here, take the skewer, Wanqiu! I, haha, support you in stabbing him to death!" As the only person besides Lin Li and Qu Wanqiu to hear the conversation, Ding Sihan held back her laughter while handing a skewer to Qu Wanqiu. She specifically picked a metal one, terrified that Lin Li might actually survive.

"You... Second Sister, let's not laugh at Big Sister." Hearing this, Lin Li scanned her up and down before letting out a scoff.

Ding Sihan stopped giggling and immediately initiated a cooperative hunt.

……

Lin Li's 1,800-yuan shirt really did get two holes poked in it this time, but pulling such a low-brow prank and not actually having his head fall off was a total victory!

Win!

Ding Sihan and Qu Wanqiu weren't actually angry; firstly, everyone had grown much closer, and secondly, Lin Li's teasing was done in private.

"Yes, yes, yes, you two are young and have promising futures. I'm just an old fossil; I don't understand."

Ding Sihan and Qu Wanqiu brought out the same "hope theory" as Chen Tianming, and Lin Li, the "old fossil" turning eighteen soon, could only echo them.

When they returned, Chen Yuying had finished her work and handed a steaming meat skewer to Lin Li.

"My hands are covered in grease, and there's sweat on my forehead! Do you need me to help you wipe it, Class Monitor?" Lin Li said with a smile as he took it.

"No need." Chen Yuying found Lin Li's obsession with wiping sweat amusing.

"Lin Li, if you want to experience a girl wiping your sweat so badly, I'll do it for you," Ding Sihan said.

Lin Li turned his head, ready to say that people are different from one another, only to discover that what Ding Sihan was holding was a steel wool scouring pad.

Indeed, there is a difference between a person and a humanoid.

"Thanks, but no thanks." Lin Li calmly refused, as he hadn't reached the point where he needed to practice that.

He took a bite of the barbecue in his hand.

Who said the fruits of one's own labor don't taste exceptionally good? Lin Li was going to refute that point.

"Delicious!" Under Chen Yuying's expectant gaze, Lin Li gave a thumbs up.

"Pfft—insincere!" Emperor Chen wasn't in a rush, but Eunuch Ding, holding the steel wool, was.

"It's the kind of delicious where, if I were reincarnated as a monkey in a zoo in my next life and happened to see it, I'd snatch it from a tourist and devour it even if I had to take a hundred slaps from the zookeeper." Lin Li changed his tune.

Ding Sihan: "……"

The imagery was there; this time, it was truly sincere.

After eating, Lin Li returned to his own barbecue grill.

It was now Zhou Baowei's turn to grill; whatever Bai Bufan had grilled had likely already been carved up by the two of them.

Sighing at their lack of loyalty, filial piety, and righteousness, Lin Li stood to the side, drinking bone ash soup through a straw.

"Grass!" Zhou Baowei suddenly roared.

Both Lin Li and Bai Bufan laughed.

How did Zhou Baowei manage to always be downwind of the barbecue smoke?

If he stood on the left, the wind blew left; if he moved to the right, the wind blew right.

"By the way, where are mine and Baowei's?"

After laughing, Bai Bufan saw Lin Li drinking lotus root starch and reached out his hand.

Oh, right, they had asked him to bring some back, hadn't they?

Because Lin Li had been sucking on the straw, it made intermittent sounds of drawing in air. After a long moment, he turned to look at Bai Bufan with a gentle and sincere smile:

"I swear on my 'little brother' that I really intended to bring a cup for both of you at the start, and I even had one prepared for you."

Bai Bufan: "……"

"You intended to at the start, but what about the middle and the end?" he asked with a smile.

"I forgot in the middle, and I forgot at the end."

……

With barbecue, it's hard to tell if you're full while you're grilling, and if you pair it with drinks, it feels even easier to get full.

Over an hour passed, and everyone left the barbecue area one after another.

Until only Zhou Baowei remained, fighting a lone battle in the barbecue area. With him in Class 4, there was truly no need to worry about food being wasted.

Some chose to pay out of pocket to play some of the base's activities, while others chose to share snacks and chat on the lawn.

It was summer, after all, and the sun was high at noon. Chen Yuying, Ding Sihan, and the others weren't very interested in outdoor activities, so after taking group and individual photos, they reapplied their sunscreen and returned to the mats in the shade of the trees.

"Shall I play some music?" Qu Wanqiu asked.

No one had any objections.

Qu Wanqiu took out a mini speaker the size of a palm. After operating her phone for a moment, music—not exactly high-fidelity—began to drift out from the speaker.

But they weren't pursuing sound quality; they needed the atmosphere it provided.

Not far away, a commotion louder than the music erupted.

It was Lin Li and his group.

They weren't playing any paid activities, but they weren't resting either.

A group of them was chasing Lin Li and Bai Bufan again. This time, it wasn't because of persimmons, but because they had their eyes on the wooden sticks in their hands.

Lin Li hadn't lied to the girls; these sticks actually held such terrifying charm for these boys that they could drop everything to chase them—with the exception of Zhou Baowei, who was still grilling.

But then, they seemed to have made some sort of agreement, and the group began to play "cockfighting" on the lawn—hopping on one leg while using the knee of the other to bump into each other.

It looked interesting enough; if they were closer, cheering them on wouldn't be out of the question.

The boys seemed to be using this method to decide who would own the wooden sticks. Lin Li and Wang Ze appeared to be the two "rooster kings" of the group, each holding a wooden stick with their heads held high.

The others didn't seem dissatisfied—except for Bai Bufan.

Lin Li walked under the shade of the trees, picked up his bag, unscrewed his refilled water bottle, and drank deeply, his Adam's apple bobbing with every clear gulp.

"Whose playlist is this? Such good taste." Listening to the music, Lin Li nodded in approval.

"That's right!" Qu Wanqiu responded.

After moistening his throat with water, Lin Li began to sing along loudly to the song.

Chen Yuying thought it was unexpectedly good.

"Can you turn off the original vocals? He's so noisy," Lin Li said with disdain after singing a line.

Chen Yuying thought his shamelessness was exactly as expected.

"You want to sing? Then I'll play the instrumental for you." Qu Wanqiu was quite interested and nodded immediately.

"Might as well do mine too." Lin Li was unceremonious, pushing his luck.

Discovering that Lin Li was going to sing, Bai Bufan, Wang Ze, and the others immediately ran over, spontaneously surrounding Lin Li, either sitting or standing.

"Whoa! Brother Lin Li! Onii-chan! I'm crazy for you! I'm wild for you! I'd crash into a wall for you!" Bai Bufan instantly became a fan, though his intelligence was questionable.

Wang Ze and the others joined in the heckling, one by one reverting to their ancestral state and making gorilla noises.

Lin Li, keeping the beat, swayed his body gently. As the notes fell, he began:

"At this moment, the orioles are flying and the grass is growing~ The person I love is on the way~"

"I know they are traveling through wind and rain~ passing by the sunset without stopping to admire it~"

Bai Bufan gradually stopped giggling, his expression becoming solemn.

As comrades who had struggled together singing during countless morning reading sessions, Bai Bufan knew Lin Li's singing level very well; it was pleasant to hear, but it absolutely shouldn't be *this* pleasant.

Did he practice in secret? Did he sneak into other morning reading classes?

You dog.

Noticing Bai Bufan's gaze and that expression as if he'd swallowed a fly, Lin Li felt immensely smug inside.

The most useful time the system had ever been.

Bai Bufan was suspected to be the biggest victim since Lin Li obtained the system.

After "The World is Beautiful and Intertwined with You" finished, everyone, boys and girls alike, applauded for Lin Li.

But Lin Li, operating the phone, didn't let the instrumental track pause at all. This time, more people immediately recognized the song as "Old Boys."

"That is the person I miss day and night and love deeply—"

Lin Li sang the first half himself. As the second half began, he swung the wooden stick in his hand fiercely, pointing it at Bai Bufan.

"Me? How should I express myself? Will she accept me~"

Bai Bufan didn't react at first, but he quickly caught the rhythm and sang the second line.

Bai Bufan's singing voice was also quite good.

The two sang back and forth, and the surrounding teenagers swayed slightly to the rhythm.

"Dreams are always out of reach—" Lin Li swung the wooden stick again, circling it to point at Wang Ze and the others.

"Should we!! Give up!" Wang Ze and the others immediately sang loudly.

Because there were so many people, the voices varied in pitch, and Wang Ze, who was the loudest, went from the first ring to the eighteenth ring, making it sound very chaotic and unpleasant.

It was clear they were the ones who hadn't worked hard during morning study.

But Lin Li gave Wang Ze and the others a thumbs up.

"Flowers bloom and fall, another season passes—" This time, the wooden stick in Lin Li's hand, now acting like a conductor's baton, turned sharply and swung toward the girls in the shade.

Chen Yuying didn't remember the lyrics to "Old Boys" very well and opened her mouth slightly, hesitating, but Ding Sihan and Qu Wanqiu beside her had already let out their voices.

"Spring, where are you!"

"Strong! Much better than me!" During the brief interlude, Wang Ze stood up and applauded.

"You won't make them happy by praising them like that..." Lin Li said with disdain. "It's like if I said you were more handsome than Bai Bufan; would you be happy, Wang Ze?"

"Grass! Indeed not! Your example is too filthy." Wang Ze was at his most understanding.

"Lin Li, your mother—"

"Zhou Baowei!" Lin Li suddenly shouted super loudly toward the barbecue area.

"Huh?" Zhou Baowei, still eating skewers, turned his head.

Lin Li took a deep breath, waited for the rhythm of the music, and then—

"Youth is like a rushing river! Take it!"

Because he used too much force, his voice cracked on this line.

"Gone! Never! To! Return! No! Time! To! Say! Goodbye!" But even with Lin Li's cracked voice, compared to the power contained within Zhou Baowei, it was still too weak.

The things Zhou Baowei ate, besides being used for pooping, ultimately had some other uses.

However, although there was power, it was ear-splittingly terrible, and it seemed like he hadn't even finished chewing the food in his mouth.

"Good!" But after he finished roaring, everyone applauded vigorously, and Zhou Baowei waved his skewer at his fans to signal his acknowledgment.

Everyone laughed.

"Next, everyone together!" Conductor Lin Li ordered again.

"Look at the flowers drifting in the sky, withering at their most beautiful moment..."

Finding the lyrics on her phone, Chen Yuying swayed with the surrounding voices, singing along softly.

……

Xue Jian listened to the chorus of his students from afar, a gentle smile on his face that Lin Li never usually saw.

A song about the regrets of youth, yet they had sung it with a feeling of youthful exuberance.

But then again.

They were already in the midst of their youth.

……

After "Old Boys" finished, Lin Li changed the song; this time it was the even more familiar Phoenix Legend.

He quite simply divided everyone present who was interested into male and female vocal parts, standing in the middle and pointing them around (physically).

Perhaps knowing that some people would be shy and afraid to sing without the original vocals, Lin Li would always provide backing vocals to guide them at the right moments.

The atmosphere on the lawn gradually became heated.

Even for the shyest and most introverted Yu Yu, Chen Yuying could hear her voice singing along with everyone else.

And Wen Shuyang, who loved singing the most in the dormitory, took the initiative to have Lin Li play a few songs so she could lead the singing.

Chen Yuying looked at the lyrics on her phone from time to time, and then at Lin Li, who was shining in the sunlight, occasionally catching a few drops of sweat falling that contained vigorous vitality.

Lin Li bathed in the breeze, his spirit unrestrained, and the action of constantly waving the conductor's baton in his hand was full of youthful spirit.

……

Another new intro began to play.

When Chen Yuying, who was a bit dazed, came back to her senses, she suddenly realized this was the intro to Su Yunying's "Wild Child."

And the first line of this song is...

Chen Yuying looked up, and Lin Li also turned to look at her, the straight conductor's baton cutting through the air, connecting their gazes.

"No matter how fierce the wind blows, my heart sways even more—"

The world seemed to respond to Lin Li's will, and the conductor's baton in his hand turned into Harry Potter's wand.

The wind picked up.

A gust of wind that suddenly grew stronger blew over everyone present, rolling up the corners of the picnic mats, blowing away someone's hat, and bringing about someone's exclamation.

Chen Yuying pressed her hands against the hem of her skirt to prevent it from flying up.

But because of this, her waterfall-like hair was unrestrained, swaying wantonly with the wind.

Many, many strands of hair covered her face.

But through the gaps, Chen Yuying could still capture Lin Li's brilliant smile.

I wonder if Lin Li can see my smile through them?

The wind was still growing stronger.

"No matter how fierce the wind blows, my heart sways even more—"

……

No matter how fierce the wind blows, my heart sways even more?

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 139 =====