The moment the words left his mouth, Xiao Chen regretted them a little. He should not have said something like that. At the very least, even if he wanted to say it, he should have been more tactful.
Lin Xuan frowned as well, clearly disapproving of what Xiao Chen had said. He was just about to speak up for Song Yanqiao.
Song Yanqiao, however, pushed up his black-framed glasses and answered good-naturedly, "I don't think I'm ugly."
"I dress cleanly and neatly. My face just happens to be ordinary. Xiao Chen, you're very handsome. You'd look good even if someone put you in a burlap sack, but you can't judge me by the standards of someone as good-looking as you."
"As an ordinary person, I'm perfectly satisfied with my ordinary appearance. Flowers don't only deserve to bloom if they're beautiful. Ordinary flowers should bloom too, and they should get to enjoy being in bloom."
"Casually judging other people's appearances is rude."
Song Yanqiao looked directly at Xiao Chen the entire time he spoke. He was completely sincere and did not even seem angry. He was simply explaining himself and expressing his point of view.
Xiao Chen froze. Then the normally unruly young man suddenly realized that perhaps he had been too arrogant and too critical.
Song Yanqiao had done absolutely nothing wrong. Even his inner thoughts were interesting.
They had only spent half a day together, yet that was already enough to see how entertaining he was and how steady his emotions were.
Song Yanqiao had not scolded him, but Xiao Chen's cheeks still burned. Remembering that Song Yanqiao had even called him handsome only made his face grow redder.
【Mm, he's seriously so emotionally stable. If Xiao Chen said something like that to me, I'd probably cry on the spot.】
【Emotionally stable little squirrel. He's already adorable. Why does he have to be good-looking too?】
【I'm actually crying, everyone. When people called me ugly or tacky before, it hurt so much. But after hearing Song Yanqiao say this today, I suddenly don't feel quite as bad. I can't even imagine how grateful I'd have been if, when people were insulting me, someone like Song Yanqiao had stood up and said I deserved to bloom too.】
【Song Yanqiao just said what I should've said when people called me ugly. So what if I'm ugly? Who gave you the right to judge me?】
【Our Lord Little Squirrel is the absolute best.】
After finishing, Song Yanqiao obediently sat back down and continued eating gossip.
Xiao Chen spent a long time blushing, his regret over calling Song Yanqiao ugly reaching its peak. After a while, he finally could not bear it anymore and blurted out, "Sorry."
The word came out so quickly and indistinctly that it was almost impossible to hear.
Song Yanqiao waved a hand and silently responded in his heart. {It's fine. I'm only a cannon-fodder NPC. Of course I won't look as good as you members of the protagonist group. What more could an NPC possibly ask for? At least I know my place. What's an NPC? Someone ordinary-looking, with no money, no background, and who still has to work hard for a living. TAT}
Lin Xuan had watched the entire exchange from beside him. Listening to Song Yanqiao's thoughts, he did not think Song Yanqiao's appearance was necessarily inferior to anyone else's.
Those hidden eyes alone were stunning enough.
On top of that, Song Yanqiao actually had excellent proportions. He was tall and slender, with a well-balanced head-to-body ratio. Even dressed like this, he could not really be called ugly. Somehow, he even managed to look cute.
{Sigh. What a miserable life this NPC leads.}
Xiao Chen had already felt much better after apologizing, but hearing that thought made him feel even guiltier. He could imagine waking up in the middle of the night just to slap himself several times and curse himself for being a terrible person.
Xiao Chen took out his phone. Before the show began, all the guests had been added to a group chat. He found Song Yanqiao, sent him a friend request, then poked him and turned his gaze away. "Uh, I added you. Accept it?"
Song Yanqiao: "?"
Song Yanqiao did not understand why Xiao Chen wanted to add him, but obediently accepted anyway.
The instant he accepted Xiao Chen on WeChat, he received ten transfers of ten thousand each, every transfer marked "voluntary gift."
【Orange Peeler: Use this to improve your living conditions. You're not allowed to refuse it. If you refuse, that means you haven't forgiven me.】
【Orange Peeler: If you don't accept it, that means you're looking down on me. You're not allowed to look down on me!】
Song Yanqiao's eyes widened. {The young master is throwing money around?}
{Wait, I can receive a hundred thousand just for letting a young master insult me once?}
{The young master really is beautiful inside and out. Young Master, why don't you insult me a few more times?}
{Don't be fooled by the fact that Young Master only transferred a hundred thousand. A hundred thousand is WeChat's transfer limit, not Young Master's limit.}
{47, I love this job so much!!!}
Xiao Chen: "…"
So noisy!!!
Had Song Yanqiao never seen money before? A mere hundred thousand could make him this happy?
Even the black frames could barely hide Song Yanqiao's shining, excited eyes. "Young Master, why don't you insult me a few more times? Otherwise I won't feel comfortable accepting this money."
Xiao Chen's entire face turned red. He spoke awkwardly. "Can you stop calling me Young Master?"
The corner of Song Yanqiao's lips lifted, his attitude impeccably cooperative. "All right, Young Master."
Xiao Chen: "…"
【Fuck, I feel like Song Yanqiao is having the time of his life acting this out.】
【I told you Song Yanqiao was a bootlicker. Look, he's already started. Calling him 'Young Master' over and over until Xiao Chen is literally speechless.】
【I was wondering why he talked back to Xiao Chen earlier. So it was just a little trick to get Xiao Chen's attention.】
【There are so many rich young masters on this dating show. That should be enough for Song Yanqiao to lick his way through, right?】
Being called Young Master again and again made Xiao Chen uncomfortable all over. Eventually, he forced out an explanation. "I just think what you said was right. Consider the money payment for teaching me a valuable life lesson. You don't need to think too much about it."
【What? He transferred money too?】
【Now all I want to know is how much Young Master's valuable life lesson was worth.】
Song Yanqiao nodded and could not help thinking, {That's true. Saying the wrong thing can genuinely get you beaten up. You really do end up with a burlap sack pulled over your head before someone beats you. That's why I said you'd still look good even in a burlap sack.}
Xiao Chen: "…"
So he had literally meant that Xiao Chen would look good inside a burlap sack.
{The author really is like your biological mother. She spent a full two thousand words writing the scene where someone puts a sack over you and beats you up. It hurt just reading it, but she still wrote you as looking pretty good. Blood on your face, completely shattered and fragile. Basically, the more miserable you are, the better you look.}
{47, when we eat gossip, can't it come with pictures? I really want to see Xiao Chen looking all broken and fragile.}
Xiao Chen: "…"
Was that author seriously supposed to be his mother?
So who beat him up?
Hey, couldn't Song Yanqiao spoil just a little more? Who was the one who beat him?
If he transferred another hundred thousand right now, would Song Yanqiao explain in more detail?
Why was WeChat's transfer limit only a hundred thousand? No—why had Song Yanqiao stopped thinking about it?
Xiao Chen almost wanted to ask Song Yanqiao directly who was going to beat him up. Yet when he opened his mouth, what came out was, "Croak."
Xiao Chen: "?"
Refusing to believe it, Xiao Chen tried again. Another loud "Croak?"
Song Yanqiao paid no attention to the first croak. But after a second, a third, and then croaks seemingly sounding everywhere, he stared at Xiao Chen in confusion. "Life has already become so dull, and now a frog is critiquing humans?"
Xiao Chen: "…"
Those two sentences nearly made Xiao Chen die of anger on the spot. Did a croak not obviously come from a frog?
What kind of thought process did Song Yanqiao have? Were squirrel brains all this abnormal?
—
To better let the guests' beauty strike viewers straight through the screen, Heartbeat Moment had chosen the highest-definition cameras available. They were so sharp that viewers could even see Xiao Chen transferring money to Song Yanqiao.
But the angle cut off at exactly the right point. In the end, netizens only managed to capture a screenshot showing a transfer.
As a result, less than twelve hours after Heartbeat Moment began livestreaming, Song Yanqiao and the entire program landed on the trending topics together.
#HeartbeatMoment SongYanqiao BrokeBootlicker ScamsMoney
#SongYanqiao ActsToughToXiaoChenThenBootlicks TwoFaced
#SongYanqiao GetOutOfHeartbeatMoment