After Zhou Xueyin had sent Guo Yu away, she returned to Yao Shanshan's side.
By then, she was no longer as emotionally charged as before, just somewhat indifferent.
"How is Shanshan doing?" Zhou Xueyin asked with concern.
"She's finally calmed down but looks like she lost her soul…" Li Jinyuan pouted to signal Zhou Xueyin to look at Yao Shanshan's dazed state.
"Old Guo said that after the awards, we'd all have dinner together… With Shanshan like this..." Zhou Xueyin hesitated, unsure whether Yao Shanshan wanted to go home now or wait until it's over.
"Eat! Let's go eat with them! I want to turn my sadness into appetite!" Yao Shanshan suddenly stood up as if resurrected from the dead.
"Shanshan… are you alright?" Zhou Xueyin looked at Yao Shanshan with concern.
"I am not alright... I do have issues! But if I remain this sad, wouldn't that be exactly what some scoundrel wants!" Yao Shanshan's character wasn't usually like this, so how had she suddenly become so strong?
"Right! That's exactly what Shanshan should do! You shouldn't hurt yourself over some despicable man and woman!" Li Jinyuan stroked Yao Shanshan's head.
So that was it…
Seeing the expression on Li Jinyuan's face, Zhou Xueyin knew that Li Jinyuan must have counseled Yao Shanshan while she had been talking to Guo Yu, otherwise, Yao Shanshan wouldn't have so resolutely decided to go to the dinner.
Li Jinyuan! Well done!
"KK, you're coming with us too, right?" Zhou Xueyin looked at Kang Siyin.
"Am I supposed to go home and starve by myself?" Kang Siyin joked, rolling her eyes at Zhou Xueyin.
"Great, let's head back to watch other clubs perform. After that ends, we can have dinner with Old Guo and the others!" Zhou Xueyin took Yao Shanshan by the hand and pulled her back to the audience area.
The second half of the show was like a battle of the gods.
There was the World of Warcraft performance by the Southwest Association from Chengdu. Their costumes and props were exactly like those in the game, even the battle damage was perfectly replicated.
When they appeared on stage, the audience was in awe, murmuring that they had to be the champions of this event.
However, when a club from the Jiangsu and Zhejiang Region took the stage, the audience was even more astounded. Their costumes were unprecedented and unmatched.
They were cosplaying from the most decorated novel illustrations in ACG history, "Holy Demon Blood", with individually molded and customized clips on the uniforms, sparkling with gold and dazzling to the eyes.
Of course, the local Beijing club, Count Cain of Poison, with many handsome men and beautiful women, also caught everyone's attention.
Compared to the following clubs, Yao Shanshan and her group's Final Fantasy performance was indeed somewhat inferior.
In the end, the grand prize was unsurprisingly awarded to the Southwest Association's World of Warcraft, the best costume went to Holy Demon Blood, and the best storyline was credited to Count Cain of Poison.
But Yao Shanshan and Ding Wuping unexpectedly still won the best dance award, which really was beyond their expectations.
"See, I told you staying would bring good things!" Li Jinyuan ruffled Yao Shanshan's hair.
"Ugh… I cried so much I couldn't even see… Let Guo take the award for me…" Yao Shanshan didn't want to go on stage looking like this.
After the event, since the two fast food restaurants near the military museum were packed with cosers, Guo Yu suggested going to a self-service barbecue near Hangtian Bridge for dinner.
A group of people made their way to Hangtian Bridge in taxis...
At the destination, when counting the number of people to buy the buffet tickets, Guo Yu realized that He Tong was nowhere to be found.
He thought for a moment that it was actually better this way—he could comfort Yao Shanshan, and he unconsciously started feeling happy.
However, Yao Shanshan, not seeing He Tong in the crowd, felt increasingly upset. She knew she shouldn't be troubled by him anymore, but she couldn't control her thoughts from wildly speculating about who He Tong might be with at the moment.
Zhou Xueyin and a few others were sitting face to face with Wei Jingzhu and his group—after all, they were considered logistics personnel and couldn't join the conversation with the group of Cosers.
Li Jiniang, on the other hand, was very happy to be sitting face to face with Li Ranxu—it was a perfect opportunity to chat with a handsome guy, so why not enjoy it?
Sitting opposite Kang Siyin was Zhao Kai, who was similarly reserved, and it was likely they wouldn't even exchange 10 sentences by the end of the meal.
Yao Shanshan, seeming to have lost her soul again, sat on the chair and zoned out. Guo Yu, sitting opposite her, kept asking her what she wanted to eat, volunteering to get it for her, but Yao Shanshan just nodded mechanically—at this point, anything would do.
Zhou Xueyin and Wei Jingzhu were busy ordering food, fetching water, and other miscellaneous things.
The barbecue started, yet no one knew what to say, and they awkwardly listened to the sizzling sounds from the grill.
"Hey, so it's just you guys from the dorm coming here? Where are the others?" Zhou Xueyin said, trying to find a topic for everyone to talk about.
Following her cue, Wei Jingzhu realized they might have forgotten something. "Hey? Where's Han anyway?"
"Right, where is Han?" Li Ranxu also just realized this.
They only remembered that a few of them had come to watch Ding Wuping's performance, but Han Linqing had wanted to browse the exhibition, so they had split up.
They had planned to call him after the event but got carried away chatting and completely forgot about him.
"I need to call Han quickly, otherwise he might still be waiting for us at the venue..." Wei Jingzhu picked up his phone and dialed Han Linqing.
As it turned out, Han Linqing, having finished touring the exhibition and bought a lot of things he liked, had returned to the dorm. It was only once he was back that he remembered he'd forgotten to tell the others...
"That Han, he's already at home and forgot all about us..." Wei Jingzhu said with a helpless smile.
"That's just what he's like, always just thinking about himself. When he's happy, he forgets everything else..." Li Ranxu added.
"I remember, there's also someone named Wang Bo in your dorm, right? Where is he? Why didn't he come with you guys?" Zhou Xueyin asked casually as she flipped the meat on the grill with tongs.
"He went back to his hometown with his girlfriend. Come on, the meat is ready, let's eat!" Wei Jingzhu distributed the cooked meat to everyone.
"Here you go, ladies first." Li Ranxu actively placed the grilled meat in Li Jiniang's plate.
"Ah, thank you, thank you, eat some too," Li Jiniang said politely. "By the way, I heard from Xiaojing that the food in Lin University Canteen is really good?" She also made conversation.
"It's just okay," Li Ranxu said modestly, "By the way, I heard from Xiaojing that you guys are starting a business together? Must be quite tough in the early stages, right?"
"It's okay. It's mainly Yinyin running around; sometimes I join her for shopping sprees—it's quite fun." Li Jiniang wasn't lying; she indeed found wandering around Beijing to be better than sitting in an office.
While Zhou Xueyin and Li Jiniang's conversation was heating up, Kang Siyin and Zhao Kai just focused on eating, having no desire to talk to each other.
"Wuuwuu, I don't need you to remind me! I know all that you've said! I was thinking of turning a blind eye, why did you have to spell it all out?" Whatever Guo Yu had said, it made Yao Shanshan burst into tears again.