Pei Tingsong finally realized where the clothes came from. He pressed a hand to his forehead and looked at Fang Juexia, eyes wide in a “you better explain yourself” kind of way.
But Fang Juexia was still lost in thought, sifting through his memory. After a long pause, he finally said, “I think it really was a fan at the station who gave it to me.”
Unbelievable. Pei Tingsong could only pretend nothing had happened and forcibly changed the subject. “Ziyan-ge, can you grab me the chips?”
“You want snacks? Not that easy,” He Ziyan crossed his long legs. “We’re playing a game. Win, and you can eat. Lose, and there’s a penalty.”
“What kind of penalty?” Ling Yi perked up instantly.
Lu Yuan had a flash of inspiration. “How about a kiss?”
The rest of the group: “……”
[LOL Lu Yuan, if you’re gonna talk like that, you might as well hold a concert!]
[How made winds!]
[Woc, kissing?? Hahaha! Is our little idol group this open? What do you guys do in the dorms??]
Ling Yi squinted and pinched Lu Yuan’s cheek. “You sure you’re not gay?”
Lu Yuan pinched his cheek right back. “If I’m gay, then you’re definitely a bottom.”
“I’m Ling Yi!”
Lu Yuan: “So are you a top or a bottom?”
He Ziyan immediately jumped in, “Top? Yeah right.”
Pei: “Where’s the top?”
Jiang Miao hurried to smooth things over. “Okay okay, let’s not go any further.”
[This squad is too much!]
[What kind of gay stand-up comedy troupe is this, lol]
[01: One of you is getting exposed in the next three days.]
[As expected, not a single straight man in Kaleido.]
Jiang Miao added, “As for the penalty… to keep it fair, let’s each write one punishment. Whoever loses will draw one and do it. Sound good?”
“Deal!”
[Ahhh I wanna see what kind of punishments they write! So curious!]
The director called from behind the camera, “Everyone gets one minute. Come up to the lens and write yours down. Don’t forget to show it to the camera afterward!”
Fang Juexia was still a bit spaced out, his mind stuck on the punishment ideas, when suddenly he heard everyone talking about him.
“Let’s make it clear—no math games,” Lu Yuan said while popping a fry in his mouth. “Otherwise, Teacher Fang will wipe the floor with us.”
As soon as he said that, everyone let out a collective sigh.
[LOL it’s happening again!]
[Human calculator Fang Juexia making a comeback??]
[?? New fans are confused. Someone explain, please!]
He Ziyan laughed. “I can still remember the trauma from all that Wangzai Milk.”
[Knew it! That Wangzai Milk joke never gets old!]
Ling Yi clapped his hands and launched into commentary, “Okay, here’s the backstory: Juexia was on a variety show a while back—there’s a cut of it on Bilibili, I think. There was this math segment, and the problems kept getting harder and harder. But Juexia crushed it with his insane math skills and ended up winning the grand prize—an entire truckload of Wangzai Milk. Yep. A whole damn truck.”
[What the heck?? A whole truck???]
[Why is this so hilariously ridiculous? LOL]
[Juexia really did so many bizarre variety shows in the early days just to get exposure. Protect my boy~]
“How long did it take us to finish drinking all of it?” Lu Yuan jumped in to ask.
Jiang Miao thought for a moment. “A month or two, maybe? Back then, the only thing we drank at home was Wangzai Milk.”
[Six guys, hanging out and downing milk together! I’m crying!]
[Wangzai, cut the check already!]
He Ziyan laughed so hard his white teeth were showing. “I remember Juexia even used the milk to make sweet soups for us every day. Oh yeah, and for the new fans: Juexia grew up in Guangzhou.”
[Ahhh he’s from the same place as me!!! I’m so happy!!]
Ling Yi, ever the roommate, added, “But I heard his mom’s from the north.”
Juexia nodded. “Shandong.”
[Kids with southern-northern parents are always the prettiest! No wonder he looks like that!]
[LMAO what even is ‘southern-northern hybrid’—girl you’re really reaching now!]
Lu Yuan shook his head. “Anyway, to this day, we still flinch at the sight of Wangzai Milk.”
Thinking back on it, Pei Tingsong couldn’t help but laugh. When they were filming that show, even the sponsors probably didn’t think anyone could solve those ridiculous math problems. That’s why they dared to offer such a wild prize. But Fang Juexia really pulled it off.
[Juexia actually got hate over that whole thing back then…]
Pei Tingsong remembered it clearly.
It was a small show—not very popular—so it didn’t make waves when it aired. But Juexia’s antis jumped on it like vultures. They accused him of being scripted, said he cheated, even wrote long posts analyzing the whole thing. If Pei hadn’t been there himself, even he might’ve been brainwashed.
Juexia might seem aloof, but around people he’s close to, his silence feels more like a kind of gentle slowness. He didn’t have much expression on his face, and his voice was soft as he weakly defended himself:
“Wangzai Milk tastes good…”
[AHHH he’s too precious today!! No matter how cool he looks on stage, off stage he’s all sweet and soft!!]
[That little trailing tone—SO cute!!]
Pei Tingsong glanced at him and noticed he turned to ask Ling Yi whether Wangzai Milk really did taste good.
This guy’s something else. The strangest person Pei had ever met.
While everyone laughed and chatted, Jiang Miao got them moving to prep for the game. When it came time to write the punishments, everyone scattered to different corners. Fang Juexia turned his back and lay on the sofa, pen in hand, thinking for a long time.
He really couldn’t think of any good punishments.
Ling Yi, quick as ever, rushed to the camera first and sneakily scribbled down “mystery drink concoction” with a big grin, proudly showing it off. Lu Yuan came right after, writing “film a cringey slow-motion hand-flip video” in bold strokes.
[There’s always a mystery drink punishment LOL]
[That flip video idea?? Lu Yuan you traitor!!]
[This man really isn’t worried about backfiring on himself, huh.]
Jiang Miao, ever the kind one, wrote down: “20 clapping pushups”.
Pei Tingsong casually scrawled: “send an ugly photo to everyone”.
Then it was Juexia’s turn. Still stuck, and with the timer ticking down, he hurriedly scribbled four characters and folded up the paper.
He had written: “elephant spins in circles”, and tossed it into the punishment box.
[Juexia and Jiang Miao are seriously the soft-hearted angels of the group. They never write mean punishments.]
[“Send ugly photos” HAHA—Pei Tingsong you really are 19!]
[Still waiting on our wildcard Ziyan—he’s always full of surprises LOL]
He Ziyan strolled up, scrawled something wildly on his slip, and flashed it to the camera. The others were told to turn around and not peek at the screen.
But when they finally turned back, the chat was still exploding.
[OMG! Ziyan really knows how to play!!!]
[Fire-ge is killing it today!! Can’t wait to see the punishment!]
[Respect to Fire-ge!!!]
What kind of punishment did he write? Fang Juexia was curious—and just a little envious. Funny people always came up with the best punishments.
The games started in rounds—basic stuff at first like charades and guess-the-song. But for some reason, Pei Tingsong just couldn’t catch a break. He kept losing. Out of six punishments, he got hit with three. First was handstand push-ups, then the dizzying elephant spins. Still woozy, he had to down Ling Yi’s “mystery drink” made of soy sauce, vinegar, honey, mustard, sesame oil, and milk.
“This your way of welcoming me into the dorm?” Pei choked between coughs. “You trying to kill me on day one?”
[LOL even the team tyrant gets karma! The heavens have eyes!!]
[How nasty is that drink, omg? Pei had to chug a whole bottle of Coke afterward!]
[Finally a same-brand product we can relate to—Ling Yi’s Special Brew™, as tasted by Pei Tingsong!]
[Look at the expressions from the sidelines HAHAHA priceless!]
Pei still felt nauseous and glanced around for another drink. But everything nearby was already opened. Fang Juexia, though stone-faced as usual, had a sharp eye. Everyone else was still caught up in the game, but he noticed Pei was looking for something. After only two seconds of hesitation, he silently slid his unopened orange soda over to him.
Pei turned his head and looked at him.
Fang Juexia mouthed: I haven’t had any.
Remembering the advice from Qian Xiang before the livestream, Pei picked up the soda. In truth, there wasn’t much camaraderie between them—at least not yet—so he automatically interpreted Fang Juexia’s gesture as just good PR.
[PEI JUST DRANK JUEXIA’S SODA!!!]
[Wearing gege’s clothes, drinking gege’s drink—Pei, you madman!]
[CP stans, chill. Stop seeing romance in everything. Just enjoy the games, please.]
The chat exploded with glee again as the director’s voice came on:
“Alright, time for the final game. You guys pick the task yourselves.”
A staff member brought out the game box. Pei set down his soda and rolled up his sleeves. “I’m picking this time. You guys picked last few rounds. My losing streak’s definitely ‘cause of that.”
He Ziyan laughed. “Oh? You think it’s philosophy now?”
[HAHAHAHA Fire-ge’s on fire! Studying philosophy, are we kid?]
[Classic Pei and his ‘philosophy’ memes—never gets old.]
Ling Yi: “No way! Not letting you draw!”
Jiang Miao held him back. “Let him. Just let him draw.”
[Honestly, Jiang Miao’s whole life seems to be made of two lines: ‘Don’t do that’ and ‘Just let him do it.’ This man’s tired LMAO]
Lu Yuan, bored, started doing popping moves to the background music. “Yeah, if we don’t let him draw, he’ll never admit he’s the human black hole of games.”
“Who said that? I’m amazing at games,” Pei declared, wearing the cockiest expression. “These low-tier games just aren’t worthy of me.”
To Fang Juexia, though, that dramatic drag on amazing just made Pei sound like an overconfident little kid.
“How about this,” Lu Yuan said. “We let you draw. But if we lose again because of you, then we’ll stack an extra punishment on top: filming one of those cheesy slow-mo TikTok vids. Deal?”
Fang Juexia nearly laughed. Lu Yuan really had a vendetta with that short video punishment.
Lu Yuan had been eagerly waiting for someone to draw the punishment he carefully crafted, and up until now, it still hadn’t been used. He was secretly mourning that missed opportunity—until Pei Tingsong walked right into it himself.
“Alright,” Pei said coolly, not intimidated at all. He reached straight into the game box. Fang Juexia quietly popped a chip into his mouth, eyes fixed on him, a creeping sense of dread rising in his chest.
Crunch.
And just like always, his gut feeling was dead on.
Pei Tingsong was never one to drag things out. He reached in, pulled out a slip of paper, unfolded it, and took a look.
The director’s voice came in:
“Show it to everyone.”
Pei flipped the paper over, frowning slightly. “Pass the candy wrapper? What the hell is that?”
Meanwhile, the comment section had already exploded:
[AAAAAAHHHHHHHH IT’S THE CANDY WRAPPER GAME?! IS IT THE ONE YOU PASS USING YOUR MOUTH?!]
[OMG I’ve seen this in another idol group’s variety show before—super high-energy!!]
[Passing a tissue is already intense—CANDY WRAPPER though?? That thing’s basically invisible! Shoutout to the genius director!!!]
[WOC I can feel the texture just thinking about it—I’ve got goosebumps!]
[@LuYuan congrats, your dream of kissing a teammate on camera is finally coming true 😂]
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