After saying goodbye to the junior at the intersection, Yu Qing watched her back disappear down the road toward Shu Xiang Yuan, and only then did the suffocating feeling in his chest finally dissipate.
He didn’t know whether to be relieved at escaping disaster or regretful for wasting another day.
Looking at the date, if he remembered correctly, the school anniversary should be at the end of November.
Now it was October 23rd, so there was almost a whole month left.
But now, the school anniversary didn’t seem so urgent anymore.
With the junior’s dance talent and the accompanying muscle memory, Yu Qing estimated that in less than half a month, he could reach the level needed to perform on stage.
The use of the second film also needed to be moved up on the agenda.
The uncertainty of the current Black Pearl was too great.
Although Yu Qing wouldn’t hesitate when it was time to use it, he still wanted to slow down the speed of change as much as possible.
“The junior has already gone back, so don’t worry.”
After sending a message to Lin Wei on his phone, Yu Qing headed toward the dormitory.
Since the misunderstanding with Lin Wei was resolved, this girl often came to chat with him.
They had just eaten together yesterday, and today she had proactively messaged him several times.
Although it was mostly about the junior and Project Genesis.
Still, this also showed from another angle that Yu Qing was quite capable of attracting female favor.
Probably?
A “ding” sounded—a reply from Lin Wei.
“Mm mm, thank you, Senior Yu Qing, for taking care of Yiyi! It’s getting dark, so you should pay attention to your safety too, okay～”
Look at that.
Even Old Yu has a day when a girl cares about him proactively.
Yu Qing touched the bridge of his nose, and his tired heart rarely felt a hint of embarrassment.
If it had been before, he might have been happy for several days over this message, but after all he’d been through, Yu Qing only felt a slight ripple.
The weak person he used to be had already died!
Unknowingly, Yu Qing had arrived at the dormitory door.
The lights inside were still bright.
It was after nine at night—just the beginning of nightlife for normal college students.
He pushed open the door and once again received the gazes of the three “good sons,” but this time he wasn’t in the mood to joke with them.
He silently returned to his seat and lay down, not playing with his phone or touching his computer.
He just leaned back in the chair, closed his eyes, and rested.
The dormitory fell into silence.
Anyone with eyes could see that Yu Qing was very tired—not just physically, but spiritually as well.
Zhang Li and Zhang Haoxuan looked at each other, both signaling with their eyes for the other to step forward first, but in the end it was Li Ming who took off his headphones, picked up his chair, and moved past the other two dummies to sit beside Yu Qing.
Yu Qing was startled awake by the sound of the chair scraping the floor.
He looked at Li Ming, who had somehow appeared beside him, feeling a bit wary.
“What’s up?”
“I think you’re hiding something from us.”
Li Ming pushed his glasses up, crossed his arms, and spoke with a hint of certainty.
Behind him, Zhang Li and Zhang Haoxuan also dragged their chairs over and sat beside Yu Qing.
“What could I possibly be hiding?”
Yu Qing felt a little nervous, but he pretended to be calm and waved his hand dismissively, trying to shoo them back to where they came from.
“I’m exhausted. I’m not messing with you guys. Go away, go away. I’m going to bed.”
He tried to break through the human wall in front of him but ultimately failed.
“I mean, you three shouldn’t overthink it. With my personality, if something was up, I’d definitely mention it to you.”
Yu Qing tried to persuade them, but it was ineffective.
“Old Yu, we’ve been brothers for three years. Do you think we don’t know your personality?”
Zhang Li sighed.
At this point, Yu Qing’s insistence on hiding things made it hard for his straightforward nature to bear.
“We’re not trying to force you to say anything, but seeing you like this just makes us worry.”
“I…”
Yu Qing tried to speak, but was cut off by Li Ming.
“Old Zhang, Haoxuan, you two wait a moment. I need to talk to Yu Qing alone. Yu Qing, come with me.”
He pointed at the balcony, indicating for Yu Qing to join him there, then opened the balcony door and walked out, not caring whether Yu Qing followed or not.
“Tsk, what’s with the sudden weirdness.”
Yu Qing was annoyed.
He wanted to just go to bed and ignore his three suddenly emotional roommates.
With Li Ming gone, he stepped over the other two and climbed onto his bed.
The two below exchanged looks, unsure what to do.
In the end, they didn’t move their chairs back.
They just sat there, took out their phones, and did who knows what, occasionally glancing at the balcony and then at Yu Qing on the bed.
The awkward atmosphere lasted for more than ten minutes.
“Damn, you guys are unreal!”
Yu Qing couldn’t take it anymore.
He got out of bed, opened the balcony door, and then slammed it shut.
“What are you on today…”
“Yu Qing, I know about your livestream.”
A bolt from the blue.
Li Ming’s words froze Yu Qing mid-complaint.
Even though he had suspected it, hearing Li Ming say it shocked him.
But Li Ming wasn’t finished.
His next words made Yu Qing’s heart turn even colder.
“The person in the livestream that day was Fu Yi, right? I remember her voice—it’s the same as during last night’s gathering.”
“……”
“You… do you realize what you’re saying?”
Yu Qing’s mouth went dry and his mind turned to mush.
He wanted to argue, but couldn’t find a single reason.
“The fact that I’m telling you means I’m certain about this much.”
Li Ming turned to face Yu Qing, his expression serious.
He genuinely cared.
Seeing that Yu Qing didn’t respond, he continued.
“I didn’t tell Zhang Li and Haoxuan because I wanted to keep your secret. The pressure tonight was my idea. I felt that if we didn’t clear things up while you were still in the dormitory, we’d never get another chance.”
“So you… really thought it through.”
Yu Qing snapped out of his shock and fell silent.
He didn’t know what else to say, or what else Li Ming might know.
He didn’t dare explain for fear Li Ming would discover even more.
How could this happen…?
A rare livestream.
A rare camera with the power to transform.
A single random sentence—and it just happened to be heard by his roommate?
How could all these coincidences happen to him?
Maybe he’d used up all his life’s luck.
“So your recent changes are because of Fu Yi?”
Li Ming walked up to Yu Qing, reached past him, and shut the door tightly behind him—blocking out the eavesdropping duo inside.
“Stopped being a shut-in, suddenly got into shopping, learned to dress up, spent nights doing mysterious things under the bed curtains…”
“And…”
“To win Fu Yi’s favor? You secretly took medicine to become more like a girl?”
?
A small head popped up with a big question mark.
He could understand the rest, but what did taking medicine for the junior mean?