Chapter 59: Winnie: Come over to my house to play with an AK during the break. (Begging for monthly votes!)

Leaving the studio, Li Can felt a wave of comfort.

He arrived at the Sanlitun Taikoo Li shopping center.

Reaching the agreed-upon café, Li Can stepped inside.

Amidst the envious gazes of men and the lovesick eyes of women, he sat down opposite a beautiful blonde stunner sitting by the floor-to-ceiling window.

"Sorry, Winnie, I've really been quite busy lately..."

"Huh?"

Winnie raised her head, looking at Li Can with some confusion.

"What is there to be sorry about? When I'm busy, I don't like being bothered either."

"Ah..."

Li Can was slightly dazed.

He had already prepared himself to coax a woman, only for the other party to throw away the rulebook completely?

Seeming to notice Li Can's perplexity, Winnie smiled.

"The things you Huaxia men focus on are really strange sometimes, but I like it."

"..."

Li Can was genuinely surprised, but this seemed even better.

"Now that you've finally managed to get some free time, I want to hang out more. Come with me."

Winnie cheerfully packed her backpack, stood up in her high heels, her height easily rivaling one hundred and eighty centimeters.

"Let's go then."

Li Can didn't dwell on it too much, standing up and towering over Winnie by a fraction.

Side by side, they looked precisely like a pair of runway models.

Walking down the street, the tall and handsome man alongside the stunning woman—who also happened to be a blonde foreigner—drew an immense amount of attention.

They walked all the way to a nearby archery club.

Winnie paid decisively, took the competitive recurve bow, leaving Li Can not even a sliver of an opening to pay the bill.

Weighing it slightly in her hand and pulling the bowstring, Winnie frowned and asked the attendant.

"It's a bit light. This doesn't even seem to be 20 pounds. Do you have anything heavier?"

"…Ah, I'll switch it for you right away."

The attendant was somewhat taken aback, but quickly went to fetch another bow.

Even though Winnie was very tall, she was still a woman after all, so the attendant had subconsciously chosen a basic 16-pound bow for her.

Never had he expected her to find it too light.

"This one won't really do either. What's your maximum draw weight?"

"3… 36 pounds."

"Tch, then make it 36 pounds. Too light is boring; it's only fun when there's some real kick to it."

"?"

Amidst the attendant's bizarre expression, Winnie switched to the heavy bow, stepped up to the thirty-meter shooting lane in her high heels, and without needing a coach's instruction, she expertly nocked an arrow and loosed it with a *swish*, embedding it squarely in the target.

The score wasn't high, but it hit the target.

"Wait, Winnie..."

This level of proficiency made Li Can break out in a slight sweat.

Recalling the popular Russian stereotypes on the internet, he subconsciously blurted out, "Winnie, back home, the things you played with weren't AKs, were they? Pink ones?"

"You've got some heavy stereotypes." Winnie pouted with mild dissatisfaction. "Where we're from, it's very hard to own a gun; you need permits. Besides, what does archery have to do with guns?"

"Oh..."

Li Can's heart had just settled, but before he could calm down entirely, Winnie's next sentence choked him right back.

"But I do have them. Though not pink, and not an AK, it's a Saiga. Of course, there's also a TT-T, but not pink either—it's blue."

"!"

Seeing Li Can's pupils tremble, Winnie let out a dainty laugh, her smile carrying a good deal of mischievous delight.

She pulled Li Can over and handed the recurve bow right into his hands.

After helping him set up his shooting posture, Winnie gave a light slap to the back of Li Can's thigh and raised an eyebrow teasingly.

"Come on, shoot for me. Do well, and I'll take you home to play with my AK."

"Didn't you say you don't have an AK?"

"I don't. I didn't say my dad doesn't."

"Huh?"

The sunlight from outside the window poured indoors, casting a soft halo over Winnie's blonde hair and making her bright red lips and white teeth appear even more tender and fresh.

For a girl as beautiful as an elf to enjoy a sport like archery didn't seem wrong at all.

Once the arrows were all shot, the two walked out of the experience center. Li Can felt as though he had unlocked some incredible new interest, likely rooted in the combat genes inherited from his ancient ancestors.

This archery experience was thoroughly fulfilling, and Li Can was left wanting more.

Draping his arm over Winnie's shoulder, the two of them chatted with high spirits.

"That was pretty fun. Let's come again next time."

"That's not fun. Things that spit fire are fun."

Hearing Winnie say this, Li Can's interest instantly spiked even higher.

His combat genes had just been upgraded by a keyword.

"Winnie, does your family really have an AK?"

"Mhm, I'm not lying to you. I have the license."

"Can I really go play with it?"

"Sure. Out in the countryside, secretly lending it to you to shoot a few rounds is no problem. But you have to be careful, don't mess around blindly, and someone has to supervise."

"No problem, that's awesome!"

"…AKs aren't fun, trust me, bro. Shotguns are where the fun's at. Shoot at a brittle target, and *bang*, it shatters completely. Super satisfying."

"…Your family doesn't happen to have a tank, do they?!"

"That for sure we don't have, but we have homemade explosives. If we go to an experience center, they have those, and RPGs too. Do you want to play with one?"

Mentioning this, Winnie seemed extremely interested, immediately rattling off a menu of items like she was naming dishes at a restaurant.

"To convert the price, a grenade is 50 yuan, full-power 7.62 or shotgun shells are 15 yuan each, and an RPG is 600 per shot."

"Is this even something I'm allowed to play with?"

Li Can constantly felt like his conversation with Winnie was dangerously explosive.

Yet, for some reason, he was growing inexplicably excited.

It just sounded thrilling.

"Mhm~ Then once the break starts, I'll go home first, and then you can come visit me!"

"You said it yourself. If I don't come, you're gonna beat me to death?"

Chatting and laughing, the two returned to the campus.

After walking Winnie to the bottom of her dormitory building, Li Can spoke up.

"Winnie, see you at rehearsal tomorrow then. After the performance the day after tomorrow, let's go out for drinks again."

As soon as those words fell, Winnie suddenly reached out, placed her hand on Li Can's shoulder, leaned in close, and whispered softly in his ear.

"But I think... once we go out, I might not feel like drinking anymore."

Looking at Li Can's stunned expression, Winnie let out a giggle, waved her hand, and turned around, walking briskly back into the dormitory.

"Hiss..."

An implication like this made Li Can's heartbeat quicken slightly, and he couldn't help but stand in place in deep thought.

He had a feeling he might have misinterpreted it, but then again, maybe he hadn't.

This Russian girl... she was truly unpredictable.

***

Time passed quickly.

The next day, everyone gathered in the studio for the final comprehensive rehearsal of the joint gala's program items.

Lin Feng, who had just rushed back from a commercial appearance, looked noticeably exhausted.

Han Jiayin, however, was full of energy.

It was easy to tell that Brother Feng took exceptionally good care of his partner.

The entire day of rehearsal flew by in a flash.

In the blink of an eye, the day of the official performance arrived.

At the entrance of the China Conservatory Grand Theater, welcoming floral baskets and red carpets had already been laid out.

Promotional posters and directional signposts were set up.

By early afternoon, tour buses could be seen bringing the performance crew from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) to the theater, and the audience members from USTC didn't arrive much later, showing up almost back-to-back.

The students from USTC were mostly graduate students, with only a few undergraduates.

Yet, stepping off the buses, they still curiously strolled around, looking at everything.

Just walking about casually, they spotted a familiar figure.

"Huh? Isn't that... isn't that the really popular singer recently? What's his name again?"

"…Lin Feng? Right! It seems his name is Lin Feng!"

Several students looked over curiously.

It wasn't out of star-struck obsession, merely a normal reaction to seeing a celebrity in person.

"Is that Han Jiayin next to him?"

"They must have a performance in the show too."

"Are those people around them their assistants or team or something?"

No sooner had the USTC students spoken a few words than they heard students from the China Conservatory not far away enthusiastically waving at Lin Feng's entourage.

Curiously, however, the focus of the two groups seemed completely different.

"Senior Li Can!!"

"Wow! Senior is so handsome, Senior!"

When the few USTC students looked over again, they realized that the 1.9-meter tall, handsome male model walking in the middle of Lin Feng's group was smiling and waving cheerfully at the younger students.

"Li Can?"

"…Who is Li Can?"

The USTC students looked at each other in blank dismay.

If you didn't follow the entertainment or music circles, you might know Lin Feng and Han Jiayin from the internet.

But you certainly wouldn't often hear the name Li Can.

Hearing the remarks from the USTC students nearby, several female students from the Conservatory didn't get annoyed. While gazing excitedly in Li Can's direction, they began to introduce him to their joint-school peers.

"Him? He's our Conservatory's celebrity."

"Right, a absolute genius! Just a bit eccentric like an artist."

"Chen Meijing was launched by him, and Senior Lin Feng and Senior Han Jiayin were launched by him too."

Amidst the curious gazes of the USTC students, several Conservatory junior female students explained eagerly, one after another.

"There's a saying at our Conservatory: If even Li Can can't make you famous, then you really need to look for the problem within yourself!"

"Yeah, yeah! The way our teachers roast us nowadays is by saying... 【Study hard, don't always think about getting famous. With your skills, even Li Can couldn't make you a star】."

Li Can?

He was that formidable?

The several USTC students exchanged glances, instantly developing a considerable amount of interest.

Flipping through the programs in their hands, they searched for the acts, but didn't see the names Li Can or Lin Feng anywhere.

"Ah, this... Could it be they're doing this rock band performance? The instruments they're carrying look kind of like..."

Their eyes landed on a band name listed on the program.

【The Power of Evil】

"Huh? Rock?!"

The USTC students raised their heads, glanced at the classical-style grand theater before them, and felt a bit lost.

No way.

People play rock music on this kind of stage?

My dude?!