“You mean the girl the girl who was with me, she’s… my sister.”
Xiao Ding clearly didn’t believe me, “Sister, how come I’ve never heard you mention a sister before?”
I looked towards the ceiling, “She’s a distant cousin, who recently moved nearby for school. It’s normal for a brother and sister to stroll around in a zoo.”
“Wait a second.” Xiao Ding was still skeptical, “When I was acting as the tiger, I saw the girl holding your arm intimately…”
“That’s because she’s afraid of strangers, especially when she sees a psycho tiger, so she’s afraid.”
“Eh, I always thought I would only make people laugh, does it actually also scare some people?”
After finally being able to change the topic of conversation, Xiao Ding and I saw a super muscular man walk towards us when we left the washroom.
It was Peng TouSi, which meant Ai Mi and Xiong YaoYue were still in the zoo.
Peng TouSi greeted me affectionately, but he also greeted Xiao Ding before entering the washroom.
I was stunned, “You guys know each other?”
I couldn’t help but think towards a bad direction. Peng TouSi was gay and Xiao Ding was nervous in front of girls, did the two of them meet on one of those dating apps?
Seeing my smirk, Xiao Ding said: “What are you thinking, isn’t he the owner of the dog called ‘Obama’? You and Shu Sha walked the dog back and told me to contact the owner for you, he was the one who came to pick up the dog. He actually speaks really fluent Chinese for a foreigner.”
It turned out I was overthinking, I forgot about it because immediately afterwards, the class leader and I got blocked in an alley with no way out.
If Peng TouSi was here, then Ai Mi wouldn’t be too far away. Before I could reconvene with Xiao Qin, I saw Ai Mi receiving an ice cream cone that Xiong YaoYue had lined up to buy and was about to taste it with glee.
“Huh, it’s the manservant.” Ai Mi spotted me while standing at the top of the flight of stairs. She looked down at me with a smug look on her face, “Are you here to secretly protect me? It might be a superfluous action, but I’ll take note of your loyalty.”
Xiong YaoYue was also surprised to see me. She was responsible for helping Ai Mi buy snacks, and also helping her hold an umbrella to protect her against UV rays, she waved and greeted me, “What a coincidence.”
Xiao Ding pulled me aside and asked, “So, who’s this blonde loli?”
I blurted out: “She’s also my sister…”
“Stop lying, how come you know so many girls?” Xiao Ding said irately, “The previous one was your sister, and this one is also your sister. Who do you think you are?”
I said seriously, “She really is my sister.”
“Who would believe you.” Xiao Ding adjusted the tiger costume that was draped on his body, “I kind of believed you when you said the previous black-haired girl was your sister, but this blond one is obviously mixed, so if you are her brother, you should also look mixed.”
It’s ironic, I’m not sure if Xiao Qin will become my sister, but Ai Mi is my actual sister. I was telling the truth, but Xiao Ding took it as a joke.
“The manservant’s friends are all weird.” Ai Mi didn’t lower her voice at all, as if she deliberately wanted Xiao Ding to hear, then she said to Xiong YaoYue, “he’s actually walking around the zoo in a fake tiger costume Does he want to be locked in a cage, what a masochist.”
Xiao Ding couldn’t help but tear up after he heard, then he pulled me further away and said to me with a solemn expression.
“Little Ye, we’ve known each other for quite some time. Can you do me a favor since you know so many girls?”
“What kind of favor?” I was wary, “I’m not good at introducing girlfriends.”
Xiao Ding asked with a bitter face, “Do you remember, I told you before I’ll cut all ties with you if you play LOL.”
I was shocked, did he find out I secretly played LOL? I only played it occasionally because I was curious about the professional team Ai Mi wanted to make. I was doing push-ups whenever the game was loading.
I never expected Xiao Ding to continue and say: “To be honest, recently the dota faction and the LOL faction started a massive flame war in the Baidu forums…”
I took a sigh of relief, “Don’t you guys curse at each other every day?”
“It’s different this time. In the past we always talked about how much the other side sucked and how they needed to get more skills. But recently, the LOL faction actually attacked us by saying people who play dota can’t find a girlfriend.”
“Eh, so that means the ones who play LOL must have girlfriends?”
“Uh…” Xiao Ding hesitated for a moment, “A certain LOL player named ‘Unending Flow’, uploaded a lot of photos of him with his girlfriend along with a valid university student ID. He wanted to prove it wasn’t just elementary school students who played LOL and that many LOL players had girlfriends. After he started posting, both sides began to upload photos, but the LOL faction clearly had more couple photos than the dota faction. Also, some of the photos from the dota faction were revealed to be faked, so we lost more people…”
Don’t pretend to have a girlfriend if you don’t have one. It’s sad for you guys compared to those assholes who obviously have a girlfriend but pretend they don’t have one.
“In the midst of the flame war, we found out ‘Unending Flow’ was also from Dong Shan city. In the spirit of ‘Capturing the ringleader first’, I provoked him to bring his girlfriend and meet with us. If his girlfriend was also faked, then we will be the winners.”
“And what was the result?”
“The result was that he actually agreed very quickly. He told us to send three three active members from each faction that’s in Dong Shan city with girlfriends to meet in the cafe. I’m one of those three members from the dota side, I bragged about having a beautiful girlfriend. The meeting is next week and I still haven’t found someone who will go with me.”
Pretending to have a girlfriend is already playing with fire, and you actually agreed to meet up in person. Let’s see how this ends out.
Xiao Ding put his hands together and pleaded: “So, Xiao Ye you have to help me out. Introduce a girl you know to pretend to be my girlfriend and deceive them. If not, then the LOL faction will get carried away and my dota companions will also accuse me of lying and bragging.”
I frowned, “What, I’m a middle school student, so the girls I know are mostly all middle school students. You already graduated from university, but you’re looking for a girlfriend in middle school, are you a lolicon?”
Xiao Ding made a shush gesture, “I already said it’s just pretending to be my girlfriend and eating one meal together. Do you not understand what type of person I am? I will never make a move on them, it’s all just to prove the superiority of dota!”
I couldn’t really think of any suitable candidate, so I declined.
“Although I know a few girls, but we’re not familiar to that extent, I’m afraid I can’t help.”
Xiao Ding kept persisting and asked, “Don’t you have two sisters?”
He was referring to Xiao Qin and Ai Mi, there’s no way those two can pretend to be your girlfriend. Xiao Qin has androphobia, and there’s no way Ai Mi would do something that condescending..
See me think, Xiao Ding said: “I won’t make them come out for nothing, I will pay ¥500… no, ¥1000 as compensation. I’m working hard to act as a tiger to earn money for this. You can’t let me get embarrassed in front of my friends and enemies!”
Xiao Ding was quite pitiful, if he was willing to pay someone to play his girlfriend, then Xiong YaoYue may agree, after all, who would refuse money along with a free dinner?
But wait, Xiong YaoYue is too careless, she may reveal everything accidentally with a few words. Plus, she herself is part of the LOL faction, if they an argument over the two games, Xiong YaoYue might involuntarily join in and then Xiao Ding would be disgraced.
“Sorry, I really don’t know anyone suitable.” I shrugged my shoulders to express regret.
Xiao Ding looked at me as if he was saying “you’re really not being a good friend”.
“In that case, I might have to tell Shu Sha about you going to the zoo with your two sisters some day…”
“Hey, don’t tell her.” I couldn’t help but panic. Although I told the class class leader that Xiao Qin might become my sister, I still didn’t feel a peace at mind.
Seeing my panicked expression, Xiao Ding knew he had caught my weak spot. He snorted twice and threatened:
“Shu Sha comes to the pet hospital almost every day to do volunteer work. Even if I clam up in front of girls, I can still tell Dr. Zhao first, and then let him spill the beans to Shu Sha! When the time comes, you can go and explain to Shu Sha yourself exactly how many sisters you really have.”
I really didn’t think I would have my weak spot grabbed by an otaku who’s only good at dota. I suddenly thought of a more than suitable candidate out of retaliation.
“Okay, I promise you, I’ll get it done by next Friday, just wait for the good news.”
Xiao Ding was overjoyed when I agreed so quickly. Then, someone came to him to act in the second round of the performance, he told me never to not forget, and went to continue working to earn money.
As I was talking with Xiao Ding, Xiao Qin, who came to look for me after waiting for a long time, ran into Ai Mi and Xiong YaoYue. Peng TouSi also came out of the washroom at the same time.
“I was wondering who it was, isn’t this the violent girl?” Ai Mi narrowed her eyes as she looked at Xiao Qin’s white dress, “Do you think you’re a white swan by wearing a white dress, in my eyes, it’s more like the KKK.”
“Eh, so the two of you know each other?” Xiong YaoYue was surprised and turned her head to ask Peng TouSi, “What’s the KKK, it sounds so familiar.”
Peng TouSi’s expression briefly turned serious: “It’s a group of people who specialize in persecuting us.”
Then he immediately smiled again, “But Miss Xiao Qin is definitely not a part of the KKK.”
I thought to myself, “It’s not the KKK, it’s the Triads, which is another illegal organization”.
Xiao Qin ignored Ai Mi’s mockery and waved her hand at me, “Ye Lin classmate, over here.”
Ai Mi crossed her arms in front of her chest and asked with a sneer, “Are you following my manservant? Don’t you know that he’s here to protect me.”
“Hmph, Ye Lin classmate is not here to protect you.” Xiao Qin stuck her tongue out at Ai Mi, “We’re on a date.”
Ah, I was too late to stop it, Xiao Qin said it. Ai Mi had a look of disbelief and she looked at me as if waiting for me to deny it. Xiong YaoYue also opened her mouth wide in surprise, she pointed to Xiao Qin, and then pointed to me, as if she wanted to ask:”You’re really dating?”