茶杯狐 -CUPFOX

Chapter 61- Truth or Dare

Even though Yang Zhen’er was not a researcher, she could still answer a good amount of Xiang Kun’s questions.

In her pharmaceutical company, despite its modest scale, market value, and reputation nationwide, several well-known drugs for treating common colds and other upper respiratory tract infections had been developed. The company invested significantly in research and development, with multiple facilities in the city and neighboring provinces.

However, the questions Xiang Kun posed were merely to set the stage. Given that Yang Zhen’er was not a researcher, there was a limit to how much insight she could provide into his areas of interest.

Xiang Kun turned his gaze to Xia Libing. As the victor, he could ask each of them one question.

He actually wanted to ask this academic powerhouse with dual master’s degrees in psychiatry and psychology about the link between physical and psychological changes. Unfortunately, online resources had not yielded him much useful information on this topic.

However, having just asked Yang Zhen’er about her work, another question of such gravity might have made him look too purposeful and too boring.

So, he decided to ask Xia Libing something light: “Are you a fan of James?

Upon hearing this, Xia Libing looked at Yang Zhen’er, who chuckled and said, “Looks like I’ll have to answer this one. I’m the fan of James. Her shoes…” She paused, gesturing at Xia Libing’s outfit, “and her clothes, trousers, even socks, and underwear… damn it, they’re all presents from me!”

Yang Zhen’er sighed in disappointment: “Our Xia is not the average woman. She’s never cared about clothes or how to dress. My aunt and uncle were too busy to manage her, so they would just give her money to buy her own clothes. And she’d spend all that money on books and all sorts of miscellaneous equipment. She only got new jeans when her long legs grew to an extent that her old ones no longer fitted. Can you believe that?”

“She only started growing out her hair beyond ear length after losing a bet with me after high school. Otherwise, she’d have had short hair all her life! Just like a tomboy.”

“All her clothes and shoes for college were picked by me! You may be wondering why I gave her such oversized T-shirts, joggers and, men’s size basketball shoes? Because she doesn’t wear skirts! She doesn’t wear high heels! She doesn’t like tight clothes! And her feet are big! I’m at my wit’s end, damn it! I’m also desperate!”

“What a waste of a pretty face…” Yang Zhen’er complained as she reached over to pinch her cousin’s cheek.

Xiang Kun felt a bit lost. He didn’t expect his simple throwaway question to prompt Yang Zhen’er to launch into a long tirade. Clearly, she had been suppressing her grievances for a long time.

However, when he first walked in, he did notice her LeBron 17s. They did look big, probably around size 40 or 41.

Of course, Xia Libing herself was pretty tall. When she stood up, he estimated that she must be around 173 or 174 cm tall. So, it made sense for her feet to be proportionally large.

After the interaction between Yang Zhen’er and Xia Libing ended, Xiang Kun moved his focus towards Tang Baona.

However, before he could pose his question, Tang Baona hurriedly yelled: “I choose Dare!”

“Ah! Nana, you coward! Yang Zhen’er voiced her displeasure. She had been eagerly anticipating what question Xiang Kun would ask Tang Baona. It could potentially shed light on Xiang Kun’s attitudes towards her. But, who would have thought that Nana would chick out and choose Dare instead!

“Then sing a song.” Xiang Kun, not wanting to trouble her, casually proposed.

Yang Zhen’er immediately responded, “Don’t let her off easily, make her sing for a full two minutes! Uh, let her sing…”

Tang Baona quickly interrupted: “It’s not your win, you have no right to choose!”

“Teacher Saitama, you choose the song. Choose a challenging one!” Yang Zhen’er tried to stir Xiang Kun into action.

Recalling their first meeting at the coffee shop where Tang Baona had mentioned a certain song, Xiang Kun suggested: “Sing ‘Spring Mud’.”

Tang Baona smiled, not showing any signs of shyness, and started singing.

“In a sky full of words, chaos falls on my ears, you and I remain silent. As I hold your hand, you start to cry, the journey feels long and endless…’ It must be said, her voice was pretty good, and she sang well too.

‘Spring Mud’ was truly challenging to sing, especially a cappella. Yet, she didn’t go off-key or lose the melody. Her performance was pretty solid.

Although Xiang Kun could tell from her heartbeat and the details of her voice that she was a bit nervous.

After her two-minute song, Xiang Kun couldn’t help but applaud and sincerely express his appreciation.

The card game continued. Xiang Kun thought that on such an occasion, asking too detailed questions related to psychology in the game of “Truth or Dare” would seem a bit strange. Besides, it’s not possible to ask directly. He decided to ask Xia Libing for her WeChat contact after today’s session and consult with her privately another time.

So in the following game of “Fight the Landlord” , Xiang Kun no longer deliberately pursued victory, no longer remembered cards or observed the condition of the three girls, he just played according to the cards in his hand, occasionally chatting on various topics with the three girls.

Especially with Xia Libing, he had to get a little more familiar with her, so it would be easier to consult her about psychological and mental concerns later on.

However, in comparison to Yang Zhen Er and Tang Baona, Xia Libing really didn’t talk much, essentially only responding when explicitly asked, she never initiated conversation.

But Xiang Kun noticed that Xia Libing’s gaze was mostly on him, the way she looked at him was similar to the way he observed her.

This brought to his mind a flashback from a few days ago at the comic themed coffee shop, when they made eye contact across several tables.

Wasn’t it she who stared at him first, and only then did he make her the target of his observation?

Soon, Xiang Kun realized that he really couldn’t afford to lose this game of cards.

For his first loss, the landlord Tang Baona won, he chose “Dare”. Baona didn’t give him a hard time and just had him sing a song.

He ended up singing Mao Buyi’s “Dispelling Worries”, but due to him being off key, Yang Zhen Er, who couldn’t stand it, called a stop less than a minute into his performance.

Then came his second loss, still with Tang Baona as the winning landlord. Maybe because Xiang Kun’s singing was too painful to bear last time, she didn’t have him sing again, but directly asked him to finish the remaining three pieces of watermelon.

If it were anyone else, it wouldn’t be a big deal, for an adult, eating three pieces of watermelon all at once would be quite simple.

Hearing this proposal, even Yang Zhen Er protested that Tang Baona was being too soft, claiming this wasn’t a “Dare” but a “Reward”. However, for Xiang Kun, this was a death sentence…

Force it down?

And then use the excuse of going to the restroom to throw up the watermelon?

After hesitating a bit, Xiang Kun didn’t choose to eat the watermelon. Instead, he said to Tang Baona: “I choose ‘Truth’.”

The surprised reactions of Yang Zhen Er and Tang Baona made it clear that it was bizarre for someone to refuse to eat watermelon.

Tang Baona immediately remembered that Xiang Kun had once told her about his peculiar eating habits. So it was indeed true.

“Nana, you can’t go easy on him this time Yang Zhen Er threatened.

Thinking about it, Tang Baona also agreed that since Xiang Kun chose “Truth” himself, it shouldn’t be that he had anything to hide. So, she asked: “How many times have you been in a relationship?”

Xiang Kun thought for a moment and said: “It depends on how you define a relationship…”

“What’s there to define about it? It’s just being in a romantic relationship between a man and a woman!” Yang Zhen Er couldn’t help but interrupt.

“Does writing love letters but never meeting in person count as a relationship?” Xiang Kun asked back.

Yang Zhen Er froze for a moment, then glared at him: “Of course that doesn’t count! It must at least involve hand-holding or kissing in real life! Just an online relationship doesn’t count!”

“One.” Xiang Kun responded. He thought it was better not to get into a situation where he was forced to answer questions, especially with Yang Zhen Er present, who knows what kind of strange questions she would ask if she won..