ECG -Chapter 148 Even the Lighter Went Crazy

The next morning’s semi-finals had Lin Hao placed in the third group. As expected, at exactly eleven o’clock in the morning, the organizing committee posted the announcement: only one contestant from the third group had advanced to the finals — Lin Hao.

After lunch, Lin Hao draped his suit jacket over his forearm and slowly walked back to the theater. He wanted to sit under the shade of the trees and smoke a cigarette.

The finals would officially begin at one in the afternoon, and a total of nine contestants would compete for first, second, and third place.

Lin Hao was the fourth one to perform.

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When he turned toward the tree shade where he had often sat these past two days, he was stunned. Two people were already sitting there — a man and a woman. They were none other than Wan Yong and his girlfriend, Chen Chen.

Since they had already come face to face, Lin Hao couldn’t just ignore them. He smiled and said:

“Chen Chen, I saw your name in the finals too. Good luck!”

“It’s you?”

Chen Chen was delighted. “I saw your name too. Wan Yong never told me which school he used to attend. I asked him for a long time just now before he finally told me. I didn’t expect Long Province Art Academy to be so impressive!”

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Lin Hao chuckled twice. “Which school are you from?”

“I’m a sophomore in the piano department at Beijing Conservatory of Music!” Seeing Lin Hao sweating, Chen Chen reached out and tossed him a bottle of drink from beside her. She giggled and said, “Look how hot you are. Have some water!”

If she had handed it to him, Lin Hao definitely would have politely refused. But since she had tossed it over, he couldn’t let the drink fall to the ground, so he had no choice but to catch it.

“Thank you!”

Wan Yong sat to the side without saying anything. Although his face was full of disdain, his eyes kept secretly watching Lin Hao.

Since yesterday morning, Wan Yong had often slipped out to observe him. At eleven o’clock today, he had also been secretly watching Lin Hao in the lobby, calculating that he would return around this time.

That morning, he had gone out again to buy several bottles of Fruit Orange. The bottle that he had added medicine to yesterday had been kept in his pants pocket the whole time, but the weather was too hot, and the other three bottles had already been finished. If he didn’t buy more, even the bottle with the medicine would probably end up being drunk by Chen Chen.

During lunch, he didn’t dare take Chen Chen too far away. After the two of them finished eating and came back, they sat beneath the same tree shade where Lin Hao had often stayed these past two days.

After sitting down, he took out a bottle of Fruit Orange from the plastic bag, twisted open the cap, and handed it to Chen Chen. Then he took out another bottle and placed it between the two of them.

They chatted for a while. After some time, Wan Yong casually took out the bottle of Fruit Orange with the medicine from his pants pocket and placed it beside his own bottle, deliberately putting it closer to Chen Chen’s side.

Sure enough, everything happened exactly as he had planned. Chen Chen was a cheerful and kind-hearted girl. Seeing Lin Hao sweating from the heat, she would definitely offer him a drink. And the bottle she threw over was the one closest to her — the one that had been drugged.

“Come on, sit down and chat for a while. There’s still more than half an hour left, isn’t there?”

Chen Chen moved slightly toward the side where no one was sitting and patted the flower bed.

A girl had offered him a drink and even made room for him. No matter how much Lin Hao disliked Wan Yong, he couldn’t just turn around and leave at this moment.

So he smiled and walked over. He even glanced at Wan Yong’s bottle of Fruit Orange.

After sitting down, he casually placed his own bottle of Fruit Orange on the flower bed, right next to Wan Yong’s bottle. Then he took out a pack of soft-pack Yuxi cigarettes, pulled one out, and handed it to Wan Yong.

Wan Yong felt guilty like a thief, and his heart was pounding wildly.

He glanced sideways at Lin Hao. He didn’t reach out to take the cigarette. Instead, his eyes lowered.

Lin Hao’s bottle of drugged Fruit Orange was too close to his own bottle.

“Look at you. Isn’t it just that I borrowed an eraser from you back when we were in school and never returned it? Do you really have to stay angry about it?”

Lin Hao smiled and extended the cigarette toward him again.

Chen Chen giggled. “I was wondering why Wan Yong has always looked so unhappy. So that’s what happened? Wan Yong, he’s already taken the initiative to make peace with you. Be a little more generous!”

Wan Yong reluctantly accepted the cigarette.

Lin Hao took out a disposable lighter. His finger lightly turned the wheel that controlled the flame size, then he brought it over.

Wan Yong held the cigarette in his mouth and leaned forward with his face turned slightly to the side.

“Whoosh!”

A flame more than half a foot long suddenly shot out.

Wan Yong was so frightened that he cried out, “Ah!”

Lin Hao watched as the strand of long hair hanging down beside Wan Yong’s face was singed by the flame. The instant Wan Yong covered his face, Lin Hao reached out with his left hand and switched the positions of the two unopened bottles of Fruit Orange.

Chen Chen heard Wan Yong’s scream and hurriedly stood up. “What happened?”

Wan Yong covered his face with both hands, scaring Chen Chen quite badly.

“Ah, it’s nothing. The weather’s too hot, even this lighter has gone crazy. The flame suddenly got too big!” Lin Hao quickly reached out to touch Wan Yong.

“Don’t fucking touch me!”

Wan Yong panicked. At that moment, he smelled the scent of burnt hair coming from his nose, and his heart became even more fearful, worried that his face had been burned.

Lin Hao hurriedly apologized. “I’m really sorry, sorry! It was my fault!”

“It’s fine!” Chen Chen was initially very worried, but after seeing Wan Yong let go of his hands and noticing that his face was fine, she casually said, “It’s just a few strands of hair. They’ll grow back in a few days! It’s nothing!”

Lin Hao stood up and casually picked up the bottle of Guo Li Cheng that he had already swapped. He apologized again, “I’m really sorry. I didn’t do it on purpose. Luckily nothing happened. Wan Yong, I’m sorry, I’m really sorry…”

In this situation, Wan Yong still didn’t forget to glance at the bottle of Guo Li Cheng beside him. The position of his own bottle hadn’t changed. Seeing that Lin Hao had taken away the bottle with the added medicine, he finally relaxed. It seemed that what happened just now really was an accident. The weather was simply too hot.

At that moment, he only wanted Lin Hao to drink it as soon as possible, so he stopped bothering with this matter. He waved his hand and said, “Forget it. It’s nothing serious!”

Lin Hao took out his phone and checked the time. “It’s about to start. I’ll go in first!”

After saying that, he raised the drink in his hand and said to Chen Chen, “Thanks.”

Chen Chen giggled. “Come visit Beijing when you have time!”

Lin Hao nodded and turned around to leave.

Wan Yong stared resentfully at Lin Hao’s back as he walked up the steps. Thinking about the delightful scene that would happen once Lin Hao went on stage, he became extremely happy. He reached up and smoothed his singed lock of hair, feeling a pang of heartache.

He took out his lighter, lit the Yu Xi cigarette, and smoked while cursing under his breath.

“Damn it! If you hadn’t gotten me kicked out of the Dock, would I even be able to smoke Yu Xi now?”

In early May, the midday sun in Shanghai was scorching. Wan Yong chatted with Chen Chen for a few more minutes, and after finishing his cigarette, his mouth felt even drier. He picked up the bottle of Guo Li Cheng, twisted open the cap, and gulped down more than half the bottle in one go.

After drinking it, his entire body felt refreshed from the inside out. In a little while, he would get to watch Lin Hao’s “performance.” Haha!

Chen Chen glanced at the watch on her wrist, stood up, and said, “Let’s go, it’s about to begin!”

Lin Hao carried the swapped bottle of Guo Li Cheng into the theater lobby, then casually threw it into the trash can.

He didn’t know whether the drink Chen Chen had tossed to him earlier had any problems, but he never drank water or beverages given to him by outsiders in situations like this.

Although Chen Chen seemed like a girl without any schemes and probably wouldn’t harm him, what about Wan Yong?

One should know that Wan Yong hated him to the bone. If it weren’t for him, he would still be singing at the Dock, earning 150 yuan a day—how nice would that be! If it weren’t for him, he would still be studying at the Art Academy, still a proud university student blessed by heaven. So how would he have ended up going to Beijing to become a drifter chasing dreams?

As for the lighter “accidentally” switching bottles when he was lighting the cigarette, that was just something he came up with on the spot—a simple prank.

If there really was something wrong with the drink, then Wan Yong would only have himself to blame.

When dealing with enemies, he would not show mercy.

And if there was nothing wrong with the drink, then at worst he had only burned a strand of Wan Yong’s hair.