Chapter 5: The Campus Belle Says So

[Look at yourself—no masculinity at all.]

[What kind of boy looks like you?]

[Don’t let me down.]

Zhu Niao took a deep breath, brushing away the words that echoed relentlessly in her mind, and opened her eyes.

“I have to turn back. I must turn back.”

Upon hearing this, her three dormmates fell silent.

They all knew, to varying degrees, that Zhu Niao’s family situation was complicated.

But Zhu Niao never liked to talk about what went on at home.

Still, having received their own romantic mission assignments, they understood just how difficult what she was attempting would be.

“If I’m not mistaken, your mission target is your roommate, right?”

Ye Qingchang, the third in their dorm, finally spoke again.

This time, her expression was a little more serious:

“Then ask yourself—do you think falling in love with him is going to be easy?”

Zhu Niao frowned, unable to come up with a single rebuttal.

“Come on, Third…”

Dorm leader Yang Shuli nudged Ye Qingchang with her elbow, trying to ease the pressure from her intense questioning.

This kind of heavy, suffocating atmosphere wasn’t what their dorm was supposed to be about.

“I know, what she said is right. But even so, this is something I have to try.”

Zhu Niao understood that Ye Qingchang was just laying out the facts.

She also knew that turning brotherhood into romance was essentially a form of betrayal.

They’d been through so much together, and not once had she ever felt anything for Gou Yu beyond brotherhood—and she was sure he felt the same.

So how was she supposed to pull off something like this when she’d never even been in a relationship before?

And even if she managed to succeed, wouldn’t the fact that she was doing it with ulterior motives only hurt Gou Yu in the end?

She was sure of one thing: she couldn’t fall for him.

Even now that she’d become a girl… there was no way she’d fall for her own bro.

Right?

“Ugh… fine.”

The other girls in the dorm knew that Zhu Niao wasn’t the kind of person to be easily swayed—she wasn’t some stubborn fool, after all.

“Anyway, let’s stop moping around.”

“Listen, I’m telling you—if one of us walks up to the counter right now and asks for a free milk tea, the boss will definitely give it to us.”

Liu Xie’s gaze drifted toward the shop’s front counter.

“Why would he? You think he’s just gonna give up on running a business?”

Zhu Niao, realizing she’d dragged the mood down, decided to play along.

Liu Xie took a sip of her drink and gave a friendly wave to some passersby who were visibly gawking through the glass.

“Click…”

Sitting right by the floor-to-ceiling windows, Ye Qingchang clearly wasn’t a fan of all the attention.

She turned her head away, opting to look at their tiny dorm leader instead—who was currently tipping her cup back and desperately trying to suck up all the toppings at the bottom.

Goddammit.

She even managed to choke on them.

Better just check my phone…

Zhu Niao also realized the one thing all four of them had in common: looks.

Each of them had their own distinct vibe, but they were all undeniably beautiful.

“Hey,” Ye Qingchang suddenly said, “do you think the four of us count as ‘beauties that could sink fish and geese, or shame the moon and flowers’?”

“I’d say we’re more like the Eastern Heretic, Western Venom, Southern Emperor, and Northern Beggar,” Zhu Niao shot back without hesitation.

“Didn’t expect you to adapt to this identity switch so fast.”

“What are you talking about? Aren’t you the one who’s adapted the most? You’re literally wearing a dress.”

Zhu Niao instinctively looked down at the white dress she had on.

Only then did she realize that although all her roommates were dressed in girls’ clothes, she was the only one actually wearing a skirt.

“Don’t look at me,” Ye Qingchang quickly raised both hands in defense, “I only wore shorts because there weren’t any long pants in the wardrobe.”

So… only her wardrobe was full of questionable stuff?

Zhu Niao had a growing suspicion that the damn rookie goddess might be targeting her on purpose.

“Wait—what are you doing? You seriously going up there to beg for a free milk tea?”

Zhu Niao noticed Liu Xie getting up and quickly grabbed her wrist to stop her.

“What do you mean beg? This is called making strategic use of my looks.”

“Then I think you might as well start a livestream and launch a VIP private fan channel,” Zhu Niao suggested bluntly.

“Yeah, let’s not go that far.” Liu Xie shrank back into her seat.

“By the way…”

The blonde girl tapped her chin and turned to look at Ye Qingchang, who was quietly browsing on her phone.

“What are you looking at? If you’re watching pretty girl streamers, you might as well just turn on the front-facing camera.”

“She’s probably flirting with that virtual pet of hers,” Zhu Niao sighed dramatically.

“Alas, the pain of someone being emotionally misled.”

“I’m browsing the school forum,” Ye Qingchang clarified, deadpan.

“And for the record, I wasn’t misleading him emotionally. We both got our emotional needs met—it was mutually beneficial.”

“Whether he saw it that way is another matter entirely—” Zhu Niao and Liu Xie exchanged knowing smirks and shrugged in unison.

Ye Qingchang shot a glare at Zhu Niao, who immediately covered her mouth in mock fear.

Then she held up her phone for them to see.

“Seems like a few things changed for us on the school forum after our little ‘transformation.’”

Zhu Niao looked at what was displayed.

It was the campus belle ranking.

And topping the list—was a picture of herself.

“What the hell is this?”

“Oooh, there’s even a description,” Liu Xie squinted at the screen.

“Listen to this: ‘Delicate as if hand-crafted by God, with the melancholy grace of a caged bird’… Isn’t this from the day you got food poisoning from your group meal app, Little Bird? I remember this being on the campus hunk rankings!”

Zhu Niao stared at it, expressionless.

She felt no joy or sorrow—only the quiet despair of being toyed with by fate.

But once she scrolled down and saw the next two names, she couldn’t help laughing.

“You two are tied for second and third?”

“Lemme see.” Liu Xie snatched the phone and held Ye Qingchang back with one hand as she tried to reclaim it.

“Looks like the ‘lovers of extra large’ and ‘lovers of extra small’ started a flame war over us.”

“What about me, what about me?”

The little loli dorm leader, Yang Shuli, raised her hand, clearly just recovering from choking on the milk tea toppings.

Liu Xie glanced at her, then gracefully swiped through the phone with her long fingers.

She scrolled and scrolled until finally stopping.

“You’re… uh, five hundred and thirty-second.”

Liu Xie couldn’t hold back her laughter the moment she saw the comment.

“The description says…

‘Whose kid is this?’”

“Bullshit!” Yang Shuli bared her teeth and snatched the phone from Liu Xie’s hand, refreshing the page.

“How come it’s blank now for number 532?”

“I know this one,” Zhu Niao raised a finger.

“Non-students and minors can’t be ranked.”

“I am a student here!” the tiny dorm leader pointed at herself.

“I think it’s probably the second part of the rule,” Zhu Niao replied, glancing at Liu Xie beside her.

The two locked eyes and promptly burst into laughter.

“Look at yourselves,” Ye Qingchang said with mock disapproval.

“A bunch of grown men getting worked up over a campus belle ranking.”

She grabbed the phone back with a righteous air and scrolled down a bit.

“There, I just voted for myself. I’m second place now, and Old Two, you’re third.”

“You mother—!”

Right at that moment, the phone lying next to Liu Xie lit up.

The smirk on the blonde’s face froze.

Zhu Niao raised an eyebrow and leaned over to peek.

[Son, we’re planning to throw you a back-to-school banquet. Invite your friends, okay?]

The message was from Liu Xie’s family.