After the last class of the afternoon ended, Lin Jianqing didn’t leave the classroom immediately.
People gradually dispersed from the classroom, the sound of chairs scraping against the floor mixing together. The setting sun outside the window slanted in, dyeing the edges of the desks a faint orange.
Lin Jianqing sat by the window, looking down at his phone screen.
Shen Huaixue’s message had come ten minutes ago.
The content was simple.
“Come find me after class. Wear the outfit from yesterday.”
Those few words felt like a precisely targeted mental attack.
Lin Jianqing stared at the message for a long time, finally feeling a dull ache at his temples.
‘Yesterday’s outfit—she makes it sound so easy. That’s not the kind of clothes you just throw on and walk out the door. For Lin Jianqing, wearing women’s clothing was way too much trouble.’
He flipped his phone face-down on the desk and took a deep breath.
“It’s just work clothes,” Lin Jianqing muttered quietly. Even as he said it, he felt how absurd it sounded.
But what legitimate work clothes looked like that?
If he didn’t think that way, he really couldn’t convince himself to dig those clothes out from under the bed.
When the classroom was almost empty, Lin Jianqing finally slung his backpack over his shoulder and trudged slowly toward the dormitory.
Along the way, he pondered a very serious question.
‘What are the odds of success if I pretend I never saw Shen Huaixue’s message? I mean, if she asks, I could just say I didn’t see it and brush it off.’
But that was way too flimsy.
‘The probability of Shen Huaixue buying that is zero.’
Someone like Shen Huaixue—if she could predict he would go to the hospital, she could certainly guess when his class ended, when he got back to the dorm, and maybe even how many swear words he was muttering about her in his head right now.
Besides, he had already agreed to her request.
Thinking about it only made his headache worse. When he got back to the dorm, luckily no one was there. Otherwise, figuring out where to change would have been an issue in itself. With no one around, he breathed a sigh of relief.
He closed the door, locked it behind him, and then looked down at the suitcase under his bed.
The suitcase sat there quietly, but in Lin Jianqing’s eyes, it didn’t look like luggage—it looked like a silent bomb.
He stood there staring at the suitcase for a few seconds, then finally resigned himself to crouching down and dragging it out.
The sound of the zipper opening was especially loud in the silent dorm. He took out the thick winter clothes one by one, and the thing beneath them was finally exposed.
Delicate, soft, expensive—and it didn’t look like something that should ever appear in a boys’ dormitory.
Lin Jianqing was silent for a long time. Then he reached out and pulled out one of the sets.
The fabric slid through his fingers, giving a touch so smooth it was almost excessive.
It wasn’t the first time he had touched these clothes, but he still felt an indescribable discomfort.
‘It’s not the clothes that are the problem—it’s the person wearing them.’
Lin Jianqing spread the clothes on the bed and tried to recall how Shen Huaixue had told him to wear them yesterday.
Halfway through his recollection, he suddenly realized something more terrifying.
He actually remembered how to wear these clothes. Not only did he remember, he remembered quite clearly. That gave him a subtle sense of defeat.
“Great,” Lin Jianqing muttered under his breath.
“Do I actually have a talent for this?”
As soon as he said it, he shook his head, trying to force that horrible thought out of his mind. ‘It’s just because I was so nervous yesterday that the memory is stronger. Yeah, that must be it.’
The process of changing clothes went more smoothly than he expected. So smoothly that it only made his emotions more complicated.
When he finally stood in front of the mirror, the young man reflected back at him looked completely different from the one who had just entered the dorm.
The light-colored clothes made his skin look even whiter. His originally somewhat delicate features, accentuated by the outfit’s style, now carried a softness that was almost beautiful. His hair wasn’t fully styled—a few strands hung over his forehead—giving him an air of cleanliness and fragility.
Lin Jianqing stared at himself in the mirror, his expression gradually going blank. He had to admit, Shen Huaixue’s taste was impeccable. And… Lin Jianqing touched his own reflection in the mirror.
‘Indeed… a bit good-looking?’
But that didn’t mean he liked it. He looked down, adjusted his collar, and carefully checked to make sure nothing was strange about his appearance.
Not because he cared, but because the clothes were too expensive.
After everything was in order, Lin Jianqing packed his regular clothes to change back into later. Then he pushed the suitcase back under the bed. Once that was done, he picked up his phone and sent a message to Shen Huaixue.
“I’m coming down.”
The message had barely gone through when the reply came almost instantly.
“I know. Come downstairs. I’m waiting at the entrance.”
After receiving the message, Lin Jianqing looked at himself in the mirror again. ‘Wearing a backpack dressed like this seems even weirder.’ But he didn’t think too much about it; he grabbed his phone and went straight downstairs.
The walk from the dorm to the ground floor felt harder than going to the hospital to chase down a bill.
Fortunately, the sky had already darkened, and the hallway lights weren’t very bright.
He kept his head down the entire way, minimizing his presence as much as possible, and finally made it to the dormitory entrance without running into anyone he knew.
Still, feeling the gazes of the passersby around him, Lin Jianqing felt like he was about to fall apart.
Luckily, a black business car was parked not far away. One of the windows was rolled halfway down, and Shen Huaixue was leaning back in the driver’s seat watching him.
She wasn’t wearing sunglasses today. Her dark eyes looked especially bright in the night. As Lin Jianqing approached, her gaze swept over him from head to toe, and a smile slowly crept across her face.
That smile was so smug it made Lin Jianqing inexplicably want to turn and leave. Alright, then.
“Not bad at all,” Shen Huaixue commented.
Lin Jianqing pulled open the door and sat down in the passenger seat, his voice stiff.
“Can you not look at me like you’re inspecting merchandise?”
Shen Huaixue raised an eyebrow.
“Then what look should I use?”
“Just act normal.”
“I think I’m acting perfectly normal. Are you just being too sensitive?”
Lin Jianqing fell silent. He didn’t want to discuss this.
Because he vaguely felt that arguing about the word “normal” with Shen Huaixue was itself pretty abnormal.
Shen Huaixue watched him sulk, and seemed to be in an even better mood.
“You can put it on yourself now?”
Lin Jianqing’s movements paused.
“…I wore it once yesterday.”
“Good memory.”
“That’s not something worth praising.”
“Why not?” Shen Huaixue started the car, her tone casual. “At least it shows you were paying attention. Counts as some professional ethics.”
Lin Jianqing was almost amused by anger.
“What professional ethics?”
Shen Huaixue turned to look at him, the corners of her lips curling up.
“My private actor. How about that?”
Lin Jianqing was at a loss for words.
‘How had he never noticed before that Shen Huaixue’s mouth was this annoying?’