“You’re really making me run the 800 meters—!”
Ye Qingchang let out a wail of despair.
The group was planning to head off-campus for dinner, but Gou Yu had already left ahead of them.
According to his exact words: going out to eat with four guys was one thing, but four girls… might as well go make some food deliveries.
But Zhu Niao could clearly sense that Gou Yu was hung up on some nonexistent issue. He never acted this way when going out with her alone.
Could it be that guy never considered her a person in the first place?
“You’re not even going to talk your Gou Yu down? If I run that 800-meter race with this body, I’m going to die.”
Ye Qingchang grumbled as she slipped over to Zhu Niao’s side.
Zhu Niao crossed her arms and sneered, “Like your old body could’ve survived an 800-meter run either.”
Ye Qingchang leaned in with a sour face. “So you’re not denying that he’s yours, huh?”
“If you’re that free, go chew on a lighter.”
The two of them bickered and joked as they walked, occasionally trading playful kicks when things got a little too emotional.
Liu Xie played the fence-sitter, tossing jabs at both sides without sustaining any damage whatsoever.
As for Yang Shuli, she was busily ogling every snack stall on both sides of the street, practically drooling.
At the noodle shop entrance, the four of them came to a stop.
“Beef noodles, four bowls,” Liu Xie shouted toward the kitchen.
The four of them sat around a table in a circle.
“To be honest, I think this noodle place tastes better than that second brother’s banquet we had the other day.”
Zhu Niao said this as she sat at a well-worn wooden table that looked like it had a patina from years of use.
Liu Xie shot her a look.
“The money we spent on that banquet last night could’ve bought out this entire shop.”
“But I had some of the leftovers packed up and brought home,” Zhu Niao added with a sudden pivot. “It tasted pretty good.”
Zhu Niao’s face turned a little awkward as Liu Xie stared at her silently, so she quickly turned to look at Ye Qingchang, who was engrossed in her phone.
“What are you looking at?” she asked.
“I’m trying to figure out how to create a fake boyfriend for this virtual identity,” Ye Qingchang frowned.
This wasn’t something she’d ever done before. She never imagined she’d find herself doing something like this.
“Then ask your bro here. Your bro will help you brainstorm.”
Zhu Niao leaned back in her chair. “Once I finish eating, I’m heading off to work, so strike while the iron’s hot.”
“In your dreams. You want me to beg you?” Ye Qingchang gritted her teeth. “Even our dorm leader wouldn’t agree to that.”
“Are you talking trash about me?”
Yang Shuli clearly sensed something and pointed at herself.
But Ye Qingchang brushed it off and dodged the issue.
With a quick glance, Yang Shuli suddenly stood up and walked over to another table not far away.
“Hey, Old Xu! How come you’re eating here and didn’t call me?”
Hearing that, the remaining three all turned their heads to look—toward the boy with the warm, gentle smile.
“Xu Nian? What’s he doing here? Did he come for the dorm leader?”
Ye Qingchang raised an eyebrow.
“Should we go drag the dorm leader back?”
“Then you’d just have two bottomless pits together. What’s that gonna lead to?” Liu Xie tapped on the table.
“And didn’t you see it was our dear dorm leader who ran over to him all cheerful and wagging her tail?”
“With all this free energy, why don’t you focus on how you’re going to deal with your digital boyfriend?”
“How am I supposed to fake being in a relationship when I’ve never actually been in one?” Ye Qingchang shot back.
“Come, let me teach you,” Zhu Niao offered, shifting slightly to make room for the boss to set down the noodle bowls.
“First, tell him you’ve met a really, really great guy. Ease into it, you know?”
“Ohhh, you mean I tell him I’ve met someone who seems like a good match, and then slowly start sharing my day-to-day love life with him, step by step?”
Ye Qingchang nodded in sudden understanding.
“Actually, I think that plan works too. At least it won’t feel so abrupt.”
Liu Xie agreed with Zhu Niao’s idea.
“You guys do make sense, but…”
Ye Qingchang picked up her chopsticks and stirred the noodles in her bowl.
“He already thinks that online identity of mine is in a relationship with him. I never confirmed it, but he definitely has feelings in that direction.”
“Even if I can explain my side away, wouldn’t this whole approach feel like death by a thousand cuts to him?”
Zhu Niao let out a frustrated laugh.
“You’re the one who insisted on flirting ambiguously, stringing him along without clarifying the relationship. Now that it’s blowing up, either you hurt or he does—pick one.”
“I was a guy before, you think agreeing to date him would’ve been remotely appropriate?” Ye Qingchang countered righteously.
“Then just reject him.” Zhu Niao pushed the point.
“His parents had just died. He’d lost all will to live. And now you want me to crush even his last thread of hope?”
Ye Qingchang doubled down, still defiant.
Liu Xie, who’d been listening quietly for a while, finally cut in.
“And how is what you’re doing now any different from crushing him?”
“It’s way gentler, okay? Plus, if I don’t ‘crush’ him now, what if he finds out who I really am and comes to literally crush me?”
Every one of Ye Qingchang’s points sounded pretty reasonable on its own, but string them together and they painted the picture of a person hiding behind a fake identity, stringing someone along in an unclear relationship—a complete jerk.
“Could’ve avoided all this if you’d just told him from the start that you were a guy,” Zhu Niao said, having finally pinpointed the root of the mess.
“Uh… back then I just… thought it was kind of fun…” The bespectacled girl averted her gaze, looking sheepish.
Liu Xie gave her a look of pure disdain.
“Then honestly, you deserved it.”
“Shouldn’t you be blaming him for falling for some illusion of a person online?” the accused tried to argue back, still unrepentant.
“Let me ask you something.” Zhu Niao took over the battlefield.
“Say you’ve just gone through something devastating. No one around you to rely on. And then someone of the opposite sex shows up—she cares for you in every way, comforts you, helps you through the worst of it, accepts you completely. What would you think in that situation?”
“…”
A moment of silence settled over them.
Yang Shuli quietly came back, picked up her bowl of noodles, and once again walked off toward Xu Nian’s table.
“You made this mess. You have to be the one to deal with it. Got that?” Zhu Niao patted Ye Qingchang’s shoulder with a tone both firm and heartfelt.
Then she reached out with her chopsticks and snatched a slice of beef from Ye Qingchang’s bowl.
“Don’t worry, your brothers will back you up,” Liu Xie added, patting Ye Qingchang’s other shoulder.
And also used her chopsticks to take the other slice of beef.
“There were only two pieces of beef to begin with. Don’t you think this is a little much?”
“Fine, fine.”
Zhu Niao frowned, then fished the cilantro out of her own bowl and dumped it into Ye Qingchang’s as compensation.
Liu Xie followed suit, picking out the scallions from her bowl and adding them in as well.
Ye Qingchang let out a deep sigh and took out her phone.
After much hesitation and inner turmoil, she finally sent a message:
[Hey hey, what kind of stuff do boys usually like? I want to buy a gift for someone, but I don’t know what guys are into.]
Almost instantly, the top of the chat interface displayed:
[Typing…]
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