Super Zoo-Chapter 631 - 624: Performative Personality

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He Yanyan's voice was not particularly pleasant, rather deep, and maybe because she had been drinking, a bit hoarse as well—perfect for the style of this song.

Sitting beside Suming, Nangong Yan suddenly let out a deep sigh.

After a moment of thought, Suming spoke softly to her, "I had a thing with her in our freshman year."

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Nangong glanced at Suming, her smile tinged with sarcasm, "I know that."

"You know?" Suming was startled, but then it occurred to him that it wasn't impossible. Although he hadn't told anyone, during those few months, the two of them had been all over the city together—it was likely they had been seen by classmates.

"Naïve. I am a woman too, you know. The way she looks at you, her eyes practically light up. If I couldn't see that, I'd have lived all these years for nothing." Nangong Yan chuckled, "Listening to her sing, it's quite sentimental. Who doesn't have a past? After this reunion, why don't you ask her out for a meal?"

"For real?" Suming said.

"What's it to you? Having a meal is no big deal. After all, she's come a few hundred kilometers by plane to be here. You had a connection once, and maybe she's here especially for you. It's only right, as the host, to extend your hospitality," Nangong Yan added, "I won't come with you."

"Alright, stop trying to sound so understanding." Suming pinched Nangong Yan's cheek, laughing, "No need for that."

"I should be, shouldn't I? Why would I be jealous over something years ago?" Nangong Yan said proudly, wrapping her arm around Suming's, tilting her head in a coquettish manner.

"That's all in the past. Since it cannot be, there's no need to bring it up again—it does no one any good. She's just being sentimental because she's had a few too many. She's now a corporate executive, making her way on the coast. It's not like she can really do anything."

Nangong is a woman too. No matter how understanding she might seem, it doesn't mean she truly wishes Suming to go out with an old flame. Of course, if Suming did ask He Yanyan out, Nangong wouldn't find it a big deal in the end, but such an act would be meaningless. And likely, He Yanyan would be the one most hurt.

Their fate had run its course, and while Suming could not offer her any affection, he also did not want to hurt her just to satisfy a bit of vanity.

The best outcome for those who were once deeply involved is to never meet again, but to wish each other well from afar.

"Long time no see…"

He Yanyan drew out the last notes. As the melody ended, Suming led the applause, followed by warm clapping from the rest of the room.

He Yanyan stood up, bowed slightly to the classmates in the room, gracefully descended the stage, and calmly walked back to her table.

As she passed Suming, she casually nodded towards him. Her look was calm, but she did not linger or speak.

Suming felt as if he understood the meaning behind it—that was a look of closure and release.

He had a feeling that this woman had flown from the coast to Yangchuan City, just to sing this song at the reunion. With it sung, it seemed a certain burden had also been lifted from her heart.

"Bang!"

Suddenly, a loud crash echoed as Lin Mu smashed an empty bottle on the ground. His face flushed with anger, he stood up and glared at He Yanyan, as if he had a torrent of words to unleash.

The room fell silent, everyone staring at Lin Mu, confused. What was he doing smashing a bottle out of the blue?

His pursuit of He Yanyan back in their school days was common knowledge among their two dorms, but that was four or five years ago. He had been with other women since then—did he really need to do this?

Yang Tao reached out to hold him back, but Lin Mu shook off his grip. Wang Hao's face darkened slightly; with a cigarette in his mouth, he watched Lin Mu but didn't make a sound.

Lin Mu, still glaring at He Yanyan, looked furious but found himself unable to speak. Abruptly turning his head, he pointed at Suming and yelled, "Su, you're being fucking unfair!"

"What are you talking about, Mu? Let's go outside for some air," Yang Tao said as he stood up, attempting to escort him away.

Lin Mu had been a sports star during their school days and had spent the past year as a P.E. teacher. He was physically strong, and under the influence of alcohol, no one could stop him. He shoved Yang Tao so hard that Yang Tao stumbled backward, nearly falling down.

Wang Hao slowly crushed his cigarette in the ashtray, his eyes narrowing as he said coolly, "Little Mu, have you had too much to drink? Do you really need to disgrace us in front of all our classmates from room 303?"

"Mr. Wang, don't try to scare me—I'm not afraid of you!"

Once Lin Mu started his drunken rage, it just escalated. With a dramatic shake of his arms, he quite impressively turned to Suming and exclaimed, "You're being unfair, Su! If it hadn't been for you, I would've been with her a long time ago!"

Although he didn't specify, everyone knew who 'her' was, and their gazes shifted to He Yanyan.

Many were there to watch the drama unfold. It was an unexpected bonus not to see someone flaunting wealth, but to witness old grudges and romances.

He Yanyan stood up, her face cold. Her gaze swept inadvertently over Nangong Yan, then fixed on Li Mu as she said clearly, "Lin Mu, our business has nothing to do with Suming. It's not his fault."

"It does too!" Lin Mu said through clenched teeth.

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Wang Hao snickered coldly three times and turned his head to look around.

Seeing him do this, Suming knew that Mr. Wang was really pissed off by Lin Mu; he was looking for a suitable weapon. All there were on the table were bottles of baijiu, which could be deadly, so Wang was scouting for a beer bottle.

Lin Mu's fear of Mr. Wang had to do with exactly those beer bottles.

It wasn't long after their first year in college started, during a dormitory dinner, that Lin Mu, drunk as a lord, had embarrassed everyone. As he was strong and nobody could hold him back, Mr. Wang didn't say a word before smashing a bottle over his head, knocking him out cold.

Latter, Wang didn't mistreat Lin Mu and, upon sobering up, Lin Mu reflected on his excessive behavior and chose not to pursue the matter further. The incident passed, and after Wang Hao had a heart-to-heart talk with Lin Mu, their relationship surprisingly progressed. But Lin Mu's seed of fear towards Wang Hao was planted during that incident.

If Wang Hao was yelling and fuming at someone, it would probably be nothing serious, but if he began to laugh ominously, it meant he was ready to get physical. Seeing the situation unfold, Suming stood up and pressed down on Wang Hao's shoulder, "Sit down."

"Su, you really do have a good temper," Wang Hao grunted twice and sat back down.

Suming smiled at everyone in the private room, "You guys still don't know who Lin Mu is, right? Sober, he's defensive; drunk, he turns into a berserker. Everyone, keep drinking, I'll take him out to sober up."

After speaking, he patted Lin Mu on the shoulder, "If there's an issue, let's talk outside. It's my fault; feel free to take a swing."

"I didn't want to hit you but since I've spoken my part, otherwise I'll feel uneasy!" Lin Mu followed Suming out of the private room, and Yang Tao gave Wang Hao a knowing look, following them quietly.

"Will they be okay? Should we go and calm things down?" Peng Xue, a complete outsider to the situation, asked Wang Hao a bit worriedly.

However, Nangong Yan wasn't as concerned; instead, she reassured Peng Xue, "Boys will be boys; who doesn't have a few bumps along the way? They are dorm brothers, after all. After a drink, they just need a clear chat. We shouldn't interfere in their brotherly talk."

Wang Hao shrugged and said to Nangong with a smile, "No wonder Su is so head over heels for you. How does that saying go? No matter how much you give, it's no match for understanding me."

"That won't do," Nangong Yan giggled playfully, lightening the mood. She smiled at the others at the table, still in shock, "That guy Suming, always causing trouble. This time when we get back, I'm going to max out his card to teach him a lesson."

...

Outside the private room, on a circle of sofas in the lobby on the first floor, Suming and Lin Mu sat facing each other, with Yang Tao sitting in-between them.

"Alright, no outsiders here, whatever you want to say, say it now." Suming took a cigarette from his pack, lit it, and threw the cigarette box and the lighter on the table, "Lin Mu, I'm only going to listen once about right and wrong, and I'll explain once too. You'd better make yourself clear in one go."

Lin Mu had a habit of causing trouble when drunk, which Suming had disliked since college. But the guy's heart wasn't in the wrong place—in fact, it was extremely delicate. Despite his size, sometimes his thoughts were even finer than a girl's. Once, when Suming was sick and bedridden in the dorm, feeling terrible at the slightest noise, Lin Mu personally went around the four neighboring dorms above and below, requesting the students playing games and watching movies to keep the noise down. For that alone, Suming considered him a brother and tolerated as much as he could.

"Fine, Su, let me ask you, you and He Yanyan were an item, right? Back in our freshman year?" Lin Mu asked.

Yang Tao was startled; he hadn't known about this. During their freshman year, it was precisely when Lin Mu was pursuing He Yanyan.

"Yeah," Suming admitted nonchalantly, "I knew her for quite a while, and we started getting in touch after that party, after you got together with Sun Li."

"Then you can't blame Su, right? I told you to show off a bit that day. Who asked you to take it so seriously and end up with Sun Li?" Yang Tao said.

"Bullshit! Why did I end up with Sun Li? You think I really liked her?" Lin Mu's eyes reddened, "I did it because Sun Li said she was into someone else. The way she looked at you during that meal, I knew it was you, Su! If it weren't for you, would I have stepped aside?"

"What?" Suming and Yang Tao were both stunned. It turned out these two had been making way for each other, and Lin Mu's gesture was taken so literally that everyone believed it.

"Why didn't you say anything at the time?" Yang Tao asked.

"What could I have said? We're all brothers from the same dorm. Was I supposed to ask Su to step aside and not be with her?" Lin Mu's face turned crimson with indignation.

Suming stood stupefied for a while, realizing the problem was with Lin Mu's overthinking. If he had spoken up at the time, nothing that followed would have occurred, as Suming and He Yanyan weren't an item yet.

After a brief silence, Yang Tao said slowly, "Lin Mu, to be honest, even without Su, it's not certain you could have gotten together with her."

"I fell for her at first sight, it had to be her!" Lin Mu said, covering his face.

Suming finished his cigarette, feeling utterly speechless at Lin Mu's antics, then suddenly asked, "Have you sobered up yet?"

"I'm not drunk!" Lin Mu retorted angrily.

Well, Suming thought, whenever he insisted he wasn't drunk, he was definitely not sober.

"Bullshit, if you're not drunk and if you loved her, why did you sleep with every girl in the basketball team's cheerleading squad during the four years in college? Over a year since graduation, and I ended up with Nangong Yan, why didn't you pursue her?"

Stunned by Suming's outburst, Lin Mu murmured, "She's in another city..."

"Damn it, so it's true love in the city but not true love out of town?" Suming couldn't help but laugh at him sarcastically, "You're just performing an act for yourself, playing the pure-hearted little prince. That's called performance syndrome, suitable for an actor, not for love! Get lost, go sober up before we talk again."