“Why do you look so down? Didn’t I tell you to go after the one you love?” Ye Qingchang asked her club member, who sat there with his head hanging low.
“No, it’s just… I was wondering, if she’s already with that guy, would it count as stealing someone else’s love if I go after her now?”
He seemed to be caught in a moment of self-doubt.
Ye Qingchang walked over to a nearby bookshelf and stood on tiptoe, reaching for a while. In the end, it was the club member who came over to help her retrieve the remote control for the air conditioner.
Their meeting place was the literature club’s activity room.
Honestly, Ye Qingchang couldn’t think of anywhere else where they could meet naturally like this.
“What are you afraid of? Love is something you fight for, no matter what,” Ye Qingchang said as she turned on the air conditioner and cranked it all the way down to sixteen degrees.
Only after the cold air started blowing did she finally let out a small breath.
She needed that coolness to calm herself down a bit.
“Even if she really is with that guy, does that mean you’ve already lost your chance?” Ye Qingchang tapped her knuckles on the wooden desk with a crisp knock. “If you can beat him in a fair fight, then that’s your own ability. Do you understand?”
“President, wouldn’t that count as ruining someone else’s relationship?” the boy asked cautiously.
“Bullshit!”
Ye Qingchang smacked the desk. “Let me ask you — compared to that random guy who came out of nowhere, do you really think you love your online girlfriend less than he does?”
“No one could possibly love her more than I do.” The boy’s eyes firmed again at the mention of that topic.
“Exactly. If the two of them are together and you still manage to defeat him fair and square, doesn’t that prove you’re the better match?” Ye Qingchang met his eyes, those deep eyes hidden behind glasses.
“A goal is only impressive when there’s a goalie.”
Perhaps overwhelmed by Ye Qingchang’s twisted logic, the boy froze for a second.
“So… what should I do now?” he humbly asked for guidance.
“Don’t rush. Remember what I told you before? First, you need to get closer to her. At least get to the same starting line as that guy,” Ye Qingchang waved her hand.
“Then you need to learn how to win over a girl.”
“Learn what?” He didn’t seem to catch that clearly.
“Learn how to interact with girls, how to make them like you,” Ye Qingchang said calmly, moving on to the next phase of her plan.
She needed to build a relationship with him in real life, to pull him away from that fragile mental state where he would completely collapse without a spiritual anchor.
“How do I learn that?” The boy glanced around. “Are there books about that?”
Ye Qingchang took a deep breath and pointed at herself.
“Right now, just pretend I’m your white moonlight. How would you act when meeting your white moonlight?”
The boy looked at her. “She’s not as short as you. She said she’s around 170cm.”
That was something Ye Qingchang had said in her past life.
And truthfully, she wasn’t happy at all with this weak, short body she now had.
“Maybe she just exaggerated a bit. She might not be that tall in real life,” Ye Qingchang said with a shrug.
“President, you shouldn’t say that about her.”
Looking at the way her club member frowned at her in defense of her, Ye Qingchang’s already-exhausted heart felt even heavier.
“Alright, alright, I won’t say it anymore.” She gave in and compromised with the online version of herself.
“I was just giving an example, no need to take it so seriously. Just treat me as her, and I’ll play the role properly.”
Ye Qingchang straightened out her clothes.
Of course, this outfit had been carefully chosen. Unlike Zhu Niao, who pretty much only wore skirts, Ye Qingchang had put effort into dressing up for this meeting.
Back when she was a guy, she knew what kind of outfits would catch a man’s eye.
A chiffon ruffle strap dress for the lower half, paired with a sheer, buttoned cardigan up top. The white inner tank subtly revealed a delicate collarbone and fair skin.
The overall light palette, along with the refined glasses perched on her delicate nose, gave her a gentle and intellectual appearance — quite in line with the online persona she had built for him.
Noticing the boy’s eyes once again involuntarily drifting toward her, a trace of mischief flickered across Ye Qingchang’s gaze.
Hah, I’ve still got it.
“Have you ever had any close contact with girls before? Or… have you ever been in a relationship?” Ye Qingchang asked, pretending she didn’t already know the answer.
She certainly knew that her digital pet had never been in a relationship before—and that made it all the easier to coax him.
“No,” the boy shook his head.
“Then all the more reason you need practice. Otherwise, how will you know how to raise a girl’s affection level?” Ye Qingchang countered, successfully prompting the boy into deep thought.
“President, you’re right.”
In the end, he agreed to Ye Qingchang’s proposal, albeit through a combination of trickery and persuasion.
“Alright then, for now, don’t think of me as your White Moonlight. Just treat me as a girl you like and want to pursue.” Ye Qingchang adjusted her sitting posture and put on a warm smile.
She added, “Not just here. Whenever you see me elsewhere, you need to act the same way.”
“Uh…” The boy froze, stunned for a moment before he finally began to get into character.
“Uh, hello, my name is Xiao Yi’an.” He even reached out as if to shake her hand.
Ye Qingchang’s smile turned into a forced, stiff grin.
“Right now, the situation between me and your White Moonlight is the same. You already know a lot about me, so there’s no need to start with introductions.”
Xiao Yi’an also realized that he’d just said something pointless.
Though to be fair, it wasn’t completely useless. At least now, Ye Qingchang—who was both an incompetent White Moonlight and the president of the literature club—knew the name of his romantic target.
Before this, she hadn’t even known the guy’s name—ha!
But his online username? That, she remembered clearly.
Then, the two sat there, wide-eyed, staring at each other. Xiao Yi’an opened his mouth to speak several times but swallowed his words each time.
“What are you even doing?” Ye Qingchang couldn’t hold it in anymore and asked.
“I don’t know what to say,” Xiao Yi’an nervously twisted his fingers. “Just thinking that the person in front of me is her makes me unbearably nervous.”
“A relationship is supposed to be about two people sharing their hearts, drawing closer to each other. Why are you overthinking it with all this fake decorum? Just say what’s on your mind.”
Ye Qingchang said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Then she saw Xiao Yi’an’s expression shift—from surprise, to hesitation, and finally to determination, as if he had made up his mind about something.
He spoke up. “I like you. Please go out with me!”
“…That was a bit too blunt.”
Ye Qingchang wiped the cold sweat from her forehead.
What the hell is she teaching this pure guy?