Chapter 24: Two Couples

After resting in bed for a while, Zhao Yicheng got up, took out a two-player gaming console from his suitcase, plugged it in, and pulled out The King of Fighters ’97.

He shook the game cartridge at Xu Yinsheng with a smirk.

“Little Yin, let’s see if you’ve improved over the years.”

Zhao Yicheng picked Joe Higashi, while Xu Yinsheng chose Mai Shiranui.

And then… he got utterly destroyed.

Game after game, defeat after defeat.

It wasn’t that Zhao Yicheng was going easy on him—over the past year, he’d been busy working abroad, while Xu Yinsheng had either been binge-watching anime, gaming at home, or chasing after pretty girls.

The gap between them was inevitable.

After about an hour of playing, Zhao Yicheng had lost far more than he’d won, and even those few victories felt like flukes.

“It’s 5:30 PM. Should we grab dinner first?”

Xu Yinsheng checked the time and rubbed his slightly growling stomach.

Zhao Yicheng, however, was still hyped up.

It had been over a year since they’d last played games like this together.

Flexing his wrists, he grinned.

“Let’s go.”

They headed downstairs to the first-floor dining hall.

The staff were scattered around, and since it was the off-season for tourism, the menu was limited—no extravagant feasts, just local specialties.

Bamboo tube rice.

Made with ten-year-old green bamboo, glutinous rice, and cured meat, cooked with mountain spring water.

The result was a dish infused with the refreshing aroma of bamboo and the sweetness of the spring water.

The sticky rice was fragrant, while the salted cured meat added a savory contrast—each bite was unforgettable.

In the dining hall, aside from Xu Yinsheng and Zhao Yicheng, there were four others: two men and two women.

After a brief exchange, Xu Yinsheng got to know them a little.

One pair was a college couple deeply in the honeymoon phase of their relationship—Yang Meng and Huang Gua.

The other was a newlywed couple still basking in marital bliss—Chen Xin and Xia Te.

“Sis Xu, are you here for the hot springs too?”

Yang Meng, who looked to be in her early twenties and was a freshman, had large, bright eyes that sparkled with curiosity.

“Yeah, the hot springs.”

Xu Yinsheng nodded, already numb to being called “sis.”

With his current ethereal trap appearance, even if he ran down the street shouting, “I’m a man!” hardly anyone would believe him.

“I heard the hot springs here are great for the skin—packed with trace elements that have beautifying effects.”

The mention of skincare instantly lit up the two women at the table.

They chatted away, jumping from celebrity gossip to beauty treatments, from their boyfriends to the skincare products their partners had gifted them.

Meanwhile, the three men sat at another table—well, two and a half men, if you counted Xu Yinsheng’s gaze drifting over.

Male camaraderie blossomed effortlessly over ice-cold beer, peanuts, and freshly sliced pig’s ears.

The trio was having a blast.

Xu Yinsheng licked his lips, craving a taste of alcohol, but since neither of the women at his table were drinking, he couldn’t very well order a bottle for himself.

“Yinsheng, what skincare products do you use? Share with us,” Chen Xin asked.

She appeared to be in her early thirties, tall and well-proportioned, dressed in casual wear with a lazy, cat-like demeanor.

“Uh…”

Xu Yinsheng’s lips twitched.

His flawless appearance was entirely due to his forced gender-bending—he’d never even used skincare products in his life.

“Lancôme.”

Back when he’d been chasing pretty girls, he’d taken his dubious friends’ advice and gifted them high-end skincare brands.

Of course, it had all been for nothing in the end.

After hastily wrapping up dinner with the two women, Xu Yinsheng dragged Zhao Yicheng—who was still buzzing from the alcohol—back to their room.

Chen Xin and Yang Meng exchanged glances: Sis Xu/Yinsheng must be the strict, controlling type in the relationship.

Xu Yinsheng finished showering quickly, stepping out in his pajamas with water droplets still trickling down his neck and disappearing into his collar.

“I’m done. Your turn. It’s getting late, so shower and rest soon,” he urged Zhao Yicheng.

It was 6:30 PM, and his daily gender-switching time hadn’t kicked in yet.

The longer he delayed, the higher the risk of exposure.

The last thing he wanted was to transform into a succubus girl in front of his best friend.

Zhao Yicheng, slightly tipsy, caught the alluring sight of Xu Yinsheng’s slender, damp silhouette.

The sight left him oddly parched.

“Can I sleep on the floor tonight instead of the back seat?”

Ever since the psychologist in white raised his speculation, Zhao Yicheng had spent the entire night tossing and turning in bed, replaying every moment of his life with Xu Yinsheng since returning to the country.

The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.

What if my best bro is actually… a girl?

And just like that, sleep abandoned him.

His mind raced through endless possibilities—from whether he should confront Xu Yinsheng directly, take “him” to the hospital, help “him” gradually accept a female identity… all the way to where they should honeymoon after marriage, whether they’d prefer boys or girls, and what names to give their future children.

He’d planned out an entire lifetime before dawn.

“What did you say? A man keeps his word!”

Xu Yinsheng gritted his teeth, shoving Zhao Yicheng into the bathroom and tossing his pajamas in after him.

“Hurry up and shower. After this, you’re going straight to sleep.”

Xu Yinsheng knew exactly how dangerous a succubus’s “extraction” abilities were.

Last time, just from accidentally ingesting a bit of succubus tail secretion, Zhao Yicheng had filled an entire cup and needed support just to stagger out of the villa.

If they really shared a bed tonight, and he transformed into a succubus at midnight?

Forget the social suicide of being exposed—by morning, Zhao Yicheng would be a desiccated corpse.

***

Late Night.

Inside the car, Zhao Yicheng had just taken his Kidney-Yang Locking Pills and antipsychotic meds.

He lay sprawled across the passenger seat, but sleep refused to come.

The AC was set too low, or maybe it was the pills—his body burned, heat pooling especially in his lower half, restless and throbbing.

He checked his phone. 

The stocks he’d recently bought were doing well; buying low and selling high could net him a quarter of a small target (a cool few million). 

Maybe he’d reinvest in real estate.

But then his mind wandered back to Xu Yinsheng stepping out of the shower in those soaked pajamas, clinging to every curve. 

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, they say—because now his brain kept superimposing Xu Yinsheng’s female form over the memory, teasing him, beckoning him…

Gulp.

His Adam’s apple bobbed. 

Then—

Nosebleed.

***

Meanwhile, in the locked hotel room…

Succubus-form Xu Yinsheng lay belly-down on the bed, gaming. 

When his teammate fed yet another kill, his demon tail lashed in irritation.

Watching his team’s Liu Bei fumble with blood-pressure-spiking incompetence, he finally cracked and unmuted his mic.

“Hey asshole, are you playing with your feet?! Uninstall the game and go jump into a ditch!”

From the other end of the voice chat came a shameless giggle, “Ooooh, scold me harder, big sis~ I’m getting excited!”

Xu Yinsheng:

“F* you! Your entire family tree—!”

“Your ancestors’ graves—!”

“Your future generations—!”

“YOU—!”

“FING SS-CRUSTED WORM—!!!”