CH 73

Chapter 73 – Payback With Own Coin

It was Gege going easy on me

With just this sentence, the screams that came from the fans were enough to almost overturn the entire studio. Even Cheng Qiang, who was backstage, felt that it was frightening when he heard it; he was afraid that Kaleido’s fans were mostly made up of TingJue CP fans. 

“Do online classes, Teacher Fang!”

“Ahhahahaha, livestream math lessons ba, Teacher Fang!”

Seeing everyone coax him in this manner, Fang Juexia became even more embarrassed. Because he wasn’t good at expressing himself in variety shows, when he went on one by himself, he tended to be silent, but whenever he had his bandmates with him, he would subconsciously rely on them. So he held the microphone in his hand and began to glance left and right, pleading for help from his bandmates.

His eyes met Pei Tingsong’s, who then quickly picked up the microphone. “But if Juexia Ge really went to teach now, maybe the students in his class wouldn’t do very well.”

Host Chen Mo said with a smile, “Yes, they probably all attend class just to admire the beauty of the teacher.”

The hostess then asked, “In other words, Juexia is the face of the group?”

Finally, the topic of discussion was pulled back to the group. Fang Juexia held the microphone in both hands and nodded.

Jiang Miao then introduced him, “Not just that, Juexia is the face, one of our lead singers, and a lead dancer of the group as well.”

“Wow, really an all-rounder.” This gave the host the cue to start with the introduction segment. “Then let’s introduce the other members of our K ba.” His hand stretched in He Ziyan’s direction, suggesting, “Ziyan, start us off?”

He Ziyan nodded and freely introduced his name and age. “I’m the secondary rapper who can arrange music and play electronic music in the group, while also being #2 of the number group.”

“Number group?” The host asked.

Ling Yi immediately jumped out and explained, “I’m Ling Yi, Ziyan is Two Fire, Miao Ge is Three Water, so the fans grouped the three of us into a name— ‘the number group’! I’m #1 of the number group.”

Chen Mo smoothed things out with, “This group really is a little too much.”

“Hahahahaha!”

Lu Yuan then introduced himself, going in order after He Ziyan, “Hello, everyone, I’m Lu Yuan. Thanks to Teacher Fang, everyone calls me Teacher Yuan. I’m also a lead dancer for the group.”

The hostess interjected, “They say that Teacher Yuan basically put together the entire choreography for ‘Break Through’?”

The members nodded one after another, while Lu Yuan put on a modest look while on the stage. “No, no, we all put forward suggestions. Juexia’s solo part was created by him and a classical dance teacher.”

The host praised, “That’s excellent, too.”

Jiang Miao also briefly introduced himself, “I’m a secondary lead singer, secondary lead dancer, and the group leader. Before joining K, I spent my entire time learning to play the guzheng.”

The host said to the audience, “In a bit, let’s ask Jiang Miao to play a guzheng section for us, okay?”

“Okay!!”

It now came to Ling Yi. “Hello everyone, I’m Ling Yi, the group’s lead singer and tenor, also everyone’s class clown and doted on group favorite!”

Pei Tingsong deliberately put on a cold face. “Who dotes on you?”

“Hahahahaha!”

He Ziyan also deliberately teased him, “He’s the doted on group favorite in his dreams.”

Suddenly, Fang Juexia’s face also seemed to carry an expression of sudden realization. “No wonder he talks in his sleep ah.”

The fans laughed as a group. “Hahahahaha, what’s with the gong bunch of this group?”

Ling Yi gave Fang Juexia a wronged look, and Fang Juexia rubbed his head. “You’re the doted on group favorite, you’re the doted on group favorite.”

Seeing Fang Juexia dote on Ling Yi, Pei Tingsong felt uncomfortable, but was unable to say anything presently. He took half a step back unconsciously.

A hawk-eyed female fan near the stage laughed loudly and shouted, “Hahaha, look at Pinot Tree Supreme’s tactical retreat!”

It was now Fang Juexia’s turn to introduce himself. “Just now, actually the captain has already said it all for me. My name is Fang Juexia, en.”

“That’s it?” Pei Tingsong looked at him, sighed, then began his introduction. “Hello, everyone, I’m Pei Tingsong, the lyricist and rapper of the group. I’m also the youngest member in the group, the group’s maknae.”

“Pei Tingsong is only 20 years old, right?”

Pei Tingsong nodded to the host. “But I’m the tallest. I’m announcing my latest height to everyone right now: I am now a full 1.9 meters.” With that, he flashed up the three numbers for 190 with his hands. 

Once he said that, besides the neutral smile that was on Fang Juexia’s face, all the other members of the group began to hiss.

“Here comes the beat-box group again!”

Kaleido possessed a strong sense for comedy, and the members were also very close to each other, so there was no need to create any program effects deliberately, and even the hosts were much more relaxed.

After everyone introduced themselves, the host invited the members to perform their talents one by one. Jiang Miao played the guzheng, He Ziyan had brought a whole set of equipment to play electronic music on-site, Ling Yi showed off a short high pitch to display his virtuosity, and Pei Tingsong rapped out a very difficult English rap song, doing it astonishingly fast.

Lu Yuan and Fang Juexia performed the duet that they hadn’t gotten to at the autograph event on this stage, and Pei Tingsong saw this dance for the first time. At present, their group was still inclined to dancing in a strong style, especially when it came to the choreography, where the movements were fast and had large-scale cooperation. Besides Fang Juexia’s classical dance, he seldom saw Fang Juexia dance sexy-style dances.

The beat of this song was strong, but the rhythm wasn’t fast, and mixed into this was the sound of a match being struck and then blown out. 

The waist of his loose jeans was a little big. When dancing, it would slide down, and the edge of his shirt wouldn’t cover the exposed part, thereby revealing a pale, thin waist. The shape of his muscles as they rippled and tightened could faintly be seen.

His eyes fell on Fang Juexia’s face. His expression didn’t show the slightest trace of seduction, it was as cold as usual. He just licked the corners of his lips unconsciously when he changed his movements, the tip of his tongue showing for a moment, then hiding away.

Pei Tingsong’s attention was drawn to the lyrics.

[Lips meet teeth and tongue, my heart skips eight beats at once.]

Following the music, Fang Juexia executed two slow and continuous waves. His black T-shirt was wrapped around his narrow waist, and this move made it look like an endless undulating tide in the night.

Right then, this line came out of the song just then:

[We all been found guilty in the court of aorta.]

In the court of inflated desire, you and I have both been found guilty.

Those faintly jittering arteries and the boiling blood in their bodies was the evidence.

Finally, as soon as the hip-thrust action appeared, all of the fans below screamed. When dancing, Fang Juexia was completely open and free, not afraid of expressing himself or being constrained by his introverted personality. But once the music stopped, he changed back into his shy personality.

“Wow! Let’s give Lu Yuan and Juexia a little applause, alright?”

Fang Juexia was sweating. He went back to Pei Tingsong’s side and took the microphone from him. Pei Tingsong lowered his head and drew close to his ear to whisper, “Gege, your waist is so flexible.”

That low voice, full of magnetic bass, burst by his ear, and it was like Fang Juexia’s whole body had been shocked with electricity, causing him to restlessly lick his lower lip.

After getting along for a long time, he had almost forgotten what a terrible unstable factor Pei Tingsong was.

This program conducted mainly indoor games, and after the brief self introduction and talent show, the host announced, “Then let’s start our game segment next!”

The staff brought up a mat that pretty much covered about half of the stage. The host introduced the rules of the game, “The first game is a blindfolded match. Just now, Kaleido drew lots and divided themselves into groups. Ziyan, Juexia and Ling Yi are the blue team, while the remaining Xiao Pei, Miaomiao, and Xiao Yuan are the red team. Next, our red and blue teams will send out one person each.”

Chen Mo took out a small balloon as he continued explaining, “We will tie balloons to your waist, with a balloon on each side, front and back. If they both pop, you will be eliminated, and someone else from your team will switch with you to keep competing; any contestant on your team who hasn’t been eliminated during the round can play the next round as well. However, please note that you guys will be blindfolded the entire time.”

He Ziyan squatted on the ground and pressed the mat in front of him. “No wonder you brought this big and thick mat. I’m afraid that we’ll play and play and end up wrestling each other.”

“Probably even scarier than wrestling.”

Lu Yuan raised his hand. “It’s not fair ah, our strongest player is injured.”

The host said, “Xiao Pei can choose not to play and give his chance to his other teammates.”

Fang Juexia was most worried about Pei Tingsong. Even though he had checked and made sure that Pei Tingsong’s fracture was actually a minor injury, and he was also young, so his healing speed was fast, Fang Juexia still felt afraid that he would get hurt or that he would feel uncomfortable, even if the person himself always said it didn’t hurt at all.

“You’d better not go up ba.” Fang Juexia couldn’t help but dissuade him.

Pei Tingsong smiled. “But I want to go up ah.”

Lu Yuan suggested, “Then what if he’s not blindfolded?”

“It’s fine, after getting my hand put in a cast, I’m not afraid of it getting bumped. It’s hard to hurt my hand when it’s covered with the cast.” Pei Tingsong explained, “This is actually a pretty minor injury, and the cast is going to be taken off soon. I can be blindfolded, and also, there are so many cushions in here.”

The program team had known about one of their members being injured before, so they had specially invited a medical team. Now, this team went on stage to reinforce Pei Tingsong, wrapping his left arm in a crash pad and fixing it to the front of his chest.

“Then, since Xiao Pei is down one arm, he can also have one less balloon.”

“Every master just has one arm.” Ling Yi patted him on the shoulder.

Lu Yuan laughed and remarked, “You’re implying he’s Yang Guo, I have proof.”

Ling Yi immediately turned to Pei Tingsong and said, “Guo’er, Guoer, you need to fight on!”

After the preparatory work was done, Chen Mo looked at the teams on both sides and asked, “Okay, now the red and blue teams can send out their first contestant. Who wants to take the lead?”

Fang Juexia, who had been silent the entire time before, suddenly took the initiative and told He Ziyan and Ling Yi, “Why don’t I go ba?”

Pei Tingsong knew the game’s ending as soon as he read the rules. As the only person on the field who knew that only Fang Juexia with his night blindness could be his opponent, this maknae was very excited. 

Upon seeing Fang Juexia show this much initiative, his two teammates were naturally happy. “Okay ah, then our group’s Juexia will be the first to go up!”

Pei Tingsong didn’t plan on being the first one. He wanted Fang Juexia to have a good time for a bit, so he poured oil on fire and let Lu Yuan be the first one. The staff fixed the balloons on their waists, after which Fang Juexia and Lu Yuan put on black goggles, took off their shoes, and were helped to two far corners by their teammates.

After they got on the mat, they walked forward carefully.

The other members and hosts sat cross-legged on the ground to watch the battle, and sometimes used their voices to interfere with the contestants’ sense of direction and actions.

Ling Yi waved at the blindfolded Lu Yuan. “Lu Yuan, I’m here!”

“Hahahaha!”

Suddenly falling into darkness would make people lose their sense of direction, but for Fang Juexia, memorizing his location had already become his routine, and the dark was even more familiar to him than the light. After hearing Ling Yi’s voice, he soon had a basic prediction in his heart.

Logically, the rest of their teams and the hosts should be roughly located in front of the blindfolded people, and there shouldn’t have been any big changes in that since the game started. A huge blank mat appeared in front of Fang Juexia’s eyes, with four corners, and his bandmates seated on the long edge. His sense of distance and direction provided by his hearing had already let him roughly realize his position on this mat.

Ling Yi continued to tease Lu Yuan, “Lu Yuan Gege, you’re the hottest, you are my little loser!”

Lu Yuan was also amused by him into laughing and saying, “You shut up ba.”

Just as Lu Yuan made a sound, Fang Juexia instantly reacted and changed his position. He turned his head, shifted the direction of his body, extended out, and was perfectly able to point in the exact direction where Lu Yuan was.

Jiang Miao whispered, “Juexia is so powerful.”

Pei Tingsong bent his knees and kept his eyes pinned on Fang Juexia’s every move.

Blindfolded, he was so smart he seemed like a beautiful cheetah, and easily found the trail of his prey.

Lu Yuan hadn’t completely entered into his game state, and only cared about quipping with the interfering factor, Ling Yi. He totally hadn’t discovered that his opponent had already quietly approached his vicinity. The fans below the stage kept as quiet as possible as they could, following the hints given by the hosts, and many fans also covered their small mouths.

They watched as Fang Juexia moved forward step by step, seeming to have a clear picture of the whole scene in his heart, and each stride forward had the exact same distance. 

Soon, there was only half a meter of distance left between them. Fang Juexia stopped, wanting to judge his position a bit. He Ziyan saw his intention, so he deliberately teased Lu Yuan into talking.

“Yuanzi, Yuan’er~”

Seeing that his teammate didn’t know his opponent was right in front of him, Jiang Miao immediately reminded him, “Cheer up ah, Lu Yuan. Quickly, get ready to fight.”

“Fight what ah, I don’t even know where Juexia is?”

As soon as he finished saying that, a hand had already reached out and touched his chest. Lu Yuan was startled and reflexively stepped back. Fang Juexia had guessed that he would step back, so he simply slammed into him and knocked him down. The small balloon behind Lu Yuan popped as he was crushed into the ground, and in the dark, Fang Juexia felt for the balloon in front of him and squeezed it energetically. 

The balloon attached to Lu Yuan’s front also exploded.

In just a short period of time, Fang Juexia had taken first blood while keeping himself completely undamaged.

“Wow!!!”

“Juexia Gege is so explosively hot!”

The host exclaimed, “Juexia is really strong, and in this round, blue team wins!” The staff helped him up, and instead of removing his blindfold, they directly took him to a corner of the mat, this one different from where he was at the beginning of the game.

“We won’t directly say the name of the next red team contestant. In a bit, the audience and the other members  shouldn’t call out their names to disturb Juexia.”

This was a real obstacle for Fang Juexia.

Because in his mind, his opponents were only divided into two categories – Pei Tingsong and the others.

As long as it wasn’t Pei Tingsong, he could attack with all his strength and fight a quick battle to force a quick outcome. But if it was Pei Tingsong, he would worry about his injured hand and would be much more restrained.

He could only first try to classify it all out. 

Fang Juexia stood in the same place, listening as everyone started to kick up a new round of fuss. 

“He’s up, he’s up, red team is up.”

He listened to the sounds and found his position in the same way he had just done before. After that battle, his next opponent must be clear that if he made any noise, he would be found, so Fang Juexia also changed his tactics and prepared to head directly to the center of the mat and listen for any sounds from his opponent.

He fumbled forward boldly, holding out his hands to keep his balance. Walking on a cushion gave the feeling of walking on froth, and it was very easy to fall down.

Ling Yi was still persistent in provoking the enemy. “Red team, are you scared?”

Fang Juexia had already followed the sound to come to the center of the mat at this time, and he focused entirely on listening for sounds. 

“He won’t make any noise, don’t worry ba.” Lu Yuan, who had already failed once, talked with his previously gained experience. 

Ling Yi scorned him, “Who said that? If he loves me, he’ll make a noise!”

Suddenly, in the midst of this noisy quarrel, Fang Juexia heard a laugh. It couldn’t be more familiar to him, and it was very brief, coming from very near him, just behind him, not too far away. 

“Pei Tingsong?” Fang Juexia tried to turn around.

Everyone in the audience was shocked. Many people waved their hands at Fang Juexia, because in their eyes, the blindfolded Fang Juexia not only correctly identified his opponent’s position, but also called out his name directly.

Pei Tingsong was just behind him, only one meter away from him.

The host was also surprised and couldn’t help asking, “Is Juexia’s eye mask fake?”

“Did he just casually guess Xiao Pei?”

Jiang Miao sent a message to his teammate. “Don’t talk ah, he’s already close to you.”

He just wanted to let him get close.

The corners of Pei Tingsong’s mouth rose, and he stood in the same spot, calling out Fang Juexia’s name in a deep voice. These three words let Fang Juexia confirm that his previous judgment was correct.

The identification was finished, but what was his next step going to be?

Was he really going to take action against Pei Tingsong?

Shrouded in darkness, Pei Tingsong’s hearing and sensitivity weren’t as good as Fang Juexia’s, but he could still judge whether someone was near him from the sensation of the mat collapsing and rising. So he crouched down and put his palm on the mat.

For every step Fang Juexia took, the cushion would collapse a bit and then recover, but the closer he got, the degree of collapse could be felt by his palm more obviously. Plus, there was also the rustling sound of Fang Juexia’s pants. 

Pei Tingsong had the pleasure of paying back someone with their own coin. 

One step.

He was still one step away.

Fang Juexia stretched his arm and felt it was a bit strange. According to his calculations just now, he should have already arrived at that spot, but he couldn’t touch Pei Tingsong. It couldn’t be that he had changed his position without making a sound already. 

If that was the case, there still should have been a sound though.

The collapsing of the floor mat was very obvious to the palm of his hand. Just then, Pei Tingsong resolutely stretched out his right hand and accurately grasped Fang Juexia’s ankle.

Oh, no. Fang Juexia knew that he had missed a step. 

The strength of this surprise attack pulled him to the ground. Fang Juexia tried to resist and keep the balloon behind him from popping. However, he couldn’t retrieve enough of his strength to do that, and before he knew it, his entangled legs were already being pressed down.

He could feel Pei Tingsong sitting on his leg, his weight pressing on him, his right hand touching his body and fumbling upwards, just like how Fang Juexia fumbled around for a direction in the dark, passing his knee, thigh, hip bone, and lean waist.

The audience below the stage couldn’t help screaming, with everything on-stage having reached the white hot stage. 

The blindfolded Pei Tingsong felt Fang Juexia’s hand pushing and struggling against him. The blue balloon fixed to the front of his waist trembled pitifully in the lingering sensations of the violent impact.

Pei Tingsong’s hand had already touched his waist. Fang Juexia didn’t know whether he was doing it on purpose or not, but he could even feel the touch of his fingertips rubbing against his skin, which made his pores shiver in the middle of this duel of victory or defeat. 

He still had a chance to fight back. Fang Juexia tried to keep his upper body turned somewhat sideways to make room for the balloon behind him. He tried to reach out to find the balloon at the front of Pei Tingsong’s waist. He touched it at his first try, but he soon realized that Pei Tingsong had found the balloon tied to his front, so he quickly withdrew his hand to protect his own balloon.

Pei Tingsong’s back exuded sweat, and he didn’t know why he was feeling so hot. The balloon that he had nearly grasped was covered by Fang Juexia’s slender fingers again. Pei Tingsong had no patience to keep inching forward like this; his palm covered the back of Fang Juexia’s hand, wrapped around his hand and squeezed the balloon until it burst. 

After a perfect assault, Pei Tingsong was in a happy mood and imitated the sound of the pop to Fang Juexia, “Boom.”

Fully provocative. Only the shreds of the balloon were left in Fang Juexia’s hands. He was incited and struggled away from Pei Tingsong’s hands, ready to grab the balloon on Pei Tingsong’s waist.

Pei Tingsong guessed his next step, and went from sitting on him to straddling on him, kneeling on the outside of his thighs. He used one left hand to check Fang Juexia, so he grabbed one of Fang Juexia’s wrists, lifted his arm to the mat, and pressed it with his kneeling leg. He also fumbled around and quickly found Fang Juexia’s other hand, lifting it up and using his hand to press it down. 

“Don’t move.”

Fang Juexia, who had just lost a balloon, was nailed by him to the ground.

“You are too cunning.” Fang Juexia gritted his teeth. His voice came out a bit strenuous, but it sounded sexy to Pei Tingsong.

“Am I cunning?” Pei Tingsong pressed his wrist hard and said, “I have one life, and you also have one life left, but you have two hands, while I only have one.”

His body was hot and dry, and his low voice was panting because of the intense exercise.

“Gege, go easy on me.”

Having both his arms pulled apart by Pei Tingsong, Fang Juexia’s whole body was lifted from half-lying there to just laying flat. The balloon behind him was in danger, and the smooth rubber and soft foam air cushion rubbed against each other to make a dangerous sound.

This was his last balloon.

Pei Tingsong’s strength was great, and since Fang Juexia also couldn’t go all out as he did in the face of other opponents, he could only seek ways to protect himself first.

So he arched his waist as much as possible to make room for the balloon, thus presenting a beautiful arced waist line.

Fang Juexia, who had lost his head with ideas of victory and defeat, naturally did not know how attractive this action of his was.

In the dark, Pei Tingsong seemed to have already seen through Fang Juexia’s presence; his state, his posture, his blindfolded face, and as he breathed hard, his slightly opened lips— everything was in front of his eyes.

His hearing had become more sensitive, and he could even hear Fang Juexia’s gasps as they wormed into his ears and made them itch. 

He finally understood how Fang Juexia could simulate having sight in the dark. He felt exactly the same as him now.

Screams and cheers sounded from below the stage, and it was very noisy. Pei Tingsong was reluctant to keep pressing down Fang Juexia’s hand the entire time and got ready to initiate a quick battle to force a decision. 

At the moment he released Fang Juexia’s wrist, Pei Tingsong’s arm rubbed against the floor mat, passed under the arched waist carrying some heat from the recent friction, and grabbed the innocent balloon and looped around Fang Juexia’s waist.

The arm tightened, the palm exerted force, and in this half embrace that had appeared in a flash, Fang Juexia heard the sound of something bursting.

The air filled sphere on his back disappeared in an instant. There was now no barrier between his hand and Fang Juexia’s waist, and they stuck close together. Pei Tingsong’s last attack had fulfilled his mission, and the weight of the whole person also hit Fang Juexia’s body.

Winning or losing was meaningless at that moment. Fang Juexia’s heart beat wildly as he was being held tightly.

Game over. Huge cheers broke out from the audience, and Pei Tingsong rose up from his embrace.

He should have known long ago what Pei Tingsong was like when playing games. He is so good at laying things out and would make use of everything that could be used. Utilizing Fang Juexia’s own sensitive hearing against him, he deliberately lured him to fall into the trap step by step, and then attacked.

The host spoke a lot, but Fang Juexia didn’t hear it very clearly. He pushed the blindfold up a bit to look in front of him, and the first thing he saw was Pei Tingsong’s face. Pei Tingsong pulled off his blindfold with one hand, threw it to the ground, and then extended his hand towards Fang Juexia.

Fang Juexia gasped for breath and raised his hand feebly, letting him hold it to let himself be pulled up from the ground by him. Although Pei Tingsong’s face seemed to be as usual, Fang Juexia was still a little worried. He raised his hand and touched Pei Tingsong’s hand. Pei Tingsong very quickly understood, shook his head, and rubbed Juexia’s arm for a bit.

“Are you alright, Xiao Pei?” The host came forward and asked attentively.

Pei Tingsong shook his head. “I’m okay, but I can only play one round. Let’s change the players for the next round ba.”

“I was even stressfully sweating for them.”

“Xiao Pei is so powerful. This match was really wonderful.”

Pei Tingsong’s hair was so sweaty that it stuck to his face. He wiped at it, and modestly said, “Not really,” a statement that didn’t even come close to his nature. He looked at Fang Juexia, the corners of his mouth hooking up. “It was Juexia Ge going easy on me.”

With that, he grabbed Fang Juexia’s hand and pressed it on the red balloon at the front of his waist. He held his hand and crushed the balloon without any hesitation.  

Fang Juexia was stunned. It had all happened too fast, and he didn’t even get any time to react. He just saw Pei Tingsong look at him, and with a childish smile on his face, speak in a low voice—

“My last life, I give it to you.”