Ever since coming back from playing third wheel last time, Ji Yueniang couldn’t shake the feeling that the atmosphere in the dorm had gotten a bit strange.
But she couldn’t quite put her finger on what exactly was off, like now—
“Hu Li, do you think laundry powder is better, or laundry detergent?” Over on the balcony, Hu Li was carefully hanging up clothes, while Yao Shiming pestered him relentlessly, laundry powder in his right hand and detergent in his left, face full of indecision like a conflicted young wife.
“Laundry powder,” Hu Li answered coolly.
“As expected of Hu Li, you think the same as me.” Yao Shiming’s eyes suddenly lit up, and he almost pressed himself against Hu Li, looking every bit the loyal dog.
Ji Yueniang’s face twitched as she turned away.
It was the first time he felt the word “simp” could really be used to describe how one guy treated another.
After a moment’s thought, Ji Yueniang shuffled a little closer to Luo Yikang, who was completely absorbed in his game nearby, and, after glancing at the pair on the balcony, lowered his voice to ask, “Old Luo, do you think Old Yao’s family is from Chengdu?”
“How would I know?” Luo Yikang yawned, his faintly dark eye circles particularly obvious, making him look utterly drained.
“You’re really… take care of yourself.” Seeing his exhausted state, Ji Yueniang’s mouth twitched and he couldn’t help but offer some kind advice.
“I’d love to,” Luo Yikang said, taking a sip of his red date and goji berry tea, then pulling out a smile even uglier than crying, looking a bit dazed and absent-minded. “But Liu Yao is insisting on dragging me to get a room this afternoon.”
“Huh?”
“To play games in a gaming room,” he quickly corrected.
Only then did Ji Yueniang nod in half-belief.
Suddenly, the person beside him leaned over, and Luo Yikang deliberately lowered his voice, “Old Ji, are you free this afternoon? Just say you’re taking me out for a bike ride—I really don’t want to go get a room with Liu Yao, uh… to game.”
He stared at her with a look that was both pleading and full of longing, as if desperately hoping for her agreement.
Ji Yueniang felt a little softhearted under his gaze, unconsciously swallowed, and was just about to nod and agree when a light cough came from the upper bunk above their heads.
“Kangkang, what are you and Old Ji talking about?”
Luo Yikang immediately became alert, quickly putting distance between himself and Ji Yueniang as if avoiding a poisonous scorpion.
“Nothing, just discussing Wanquing City, dear… Yaoyao, let’s not get a room—get a room for gaming, that is—how about we go biking this afternoon? My bike skills are amazing!”
Ji Yueniang: ???
Why does this feel like the classic henpecked husband scene?
Back at her seat, Ji Yueniang looked at the two inseparable figures on the balcony, then at Luo Yikang still grinning obsequiously up at Liu Yao on the upper bunk, shook her head, and tried to press down the odd thoughts crowding her mind.
She chuckled dryly in her heart.
No way, absolutely impossible.
There was quite a distance between Wanquing and Chengdu, and after living with her roommates for two years, she was sure everyone’s orientation was as straight as an arrow, just as she was the ironclad fact of a real man.
Honestly, she never should’ve let curiosity get the better of her and peeked at those BL novels on her mom’s bookshelf.
*****
“So, you suspect there’s a gay guy at our school?”
Inside the rented apartment, Jiang Chi was, once again, used as Ji Yueniang’s tree hollow, listening to her pour out her troubles, and couldn’t help but ask in return.
“That’s right.” Ji Yueniang nodded vigorously.
Right now, she’d switched to “girl” mode—that is, the look of “Ji Qingchan.” Her long hair draped over her shoulders, dressed in a white T-shirt and a mini skirt, duck-sitting on the floor with her crossed, silk-clad legs, her posture lazy and relaxed.
Every time her head bobbed slightly, the little silver bell around her neck jingled softly, sparking the imagination.
Meanwhile, Jiang Chi sat like a general in a wooden grandmaster chair, looking down at the petite girl kneeling before him. For Ji Yueniang to meet his gaze, she had to tilt her delicate neck upward, looking up at him.
This above-and-below posture was like a master and a kitten, inevitably setting the imagination adrift.
“That’s perfectly normal—the diversity of the human species.” Jiang Chi replied lightly, reaching out to scratch the “kitten” under the chin, a playful look on his face.
“Is it possible the person kneeling in front of me is, in fact…”
“Hey! What are you spouting? You’re the gay one! And who’s kneeling? I, Ji Yueniang, only kneel to the heavens, the earth, and my parents, never to anyone else.”
“This is called duck-sitting. You jungle primitive, this is the most adorable, most sexy, most ‘girly’ pose, debated and crowned by countless netizens! Plenty of girls can’t even pull it off.”
“I’m letting you appreciate my duck-sitting and you call it kneeling? No artistic sense at all.”
Though her mouth was fierce, the girl’s body was surprisingly well-behaved. Facing the man’s chin-scratching, not only did she not dodge, but instead pressed herself closer to Jiang Chi’s leg, rubbing her face against him again and again.
“Jiang Chi.”
She looked up, licking her dry lips, big eyes blinking at him.
“I can’t wait any longer, let’s get started.”
“Please, play with me already.”
The girl’s legs shifted subconsciously, snuggling tightly against the man, clutching his leg, her eyes full of expectation.
“Ji Yueniang, are you really that thirsty?” Jiang Chi chuckled softly, reaching out to smooth the girl’s hair behind her ear, only for her to catch his fingers in her mouth.
Even though it was just a slightly suggestive gesture, the girl’s body trembled lightly, her face flushing red, as if parched earth in midsummer had received nourishing rain, or a starving beggar had finally feasted—her spirit instantly elevated, feeling safe at last, no longer lost.
Even though nothing had actually begun, it felt as if everything had already happened. Ji Yueniang leaned quietly against the man’s thigh, feeling as if she’d floated up into the clouds.
It seemed as long as Jiang Chi said a word, she could reach paradise on her own.
“Right now, I’m Ji Qingchan, I’m Yueyue, I’m a little succubus, a little temptress, a little glutton, I can be anyone—but I’m definitely not Ji Yueniang.”
Even with the man’s fingers in her mouth, even if she was already soaked, this so-called “real man” still kept up her tough talk as usual.
Suddenly, Jiang Chi seemed to think of something, a mischievous smile flashed in his eyes. He pulled his fingers away and took a deck of cards from his pocket.
As his hand left, the girl seemed to lose her support, immediately slumping to the floor, long hair scattering, looking at him with deep resentment.
Jiang Chi grinned, shaking the deck of cards in his hand, his eyes bright with laughter, “Don’t be impatient. Play a game with me first.”
“After we’re done, I’ll play with you.”
Hearing this, the girl’s eyes lit up, and she snatched the cards from his hand to take a look.
“Truth or Dare?”
She frowned, curling her lip in disdain, “How old-fashioned.”
Despite her words, she looked up at him, her long hair hiding half her face, “So? How do we play?”
“First, we play a couples board game. Whoever loses draws a card from either the Truth or Dare deck, then—” Jiang Chi hadn’t even finished explaining when the girl interrupted impatiently.
“I concede! I choose Dare.”
With that, she grabbed a card from the Dare deck at random and slapped it onto the floor.
Dare: Give your boyfriend a bite.