Chapter 13: Friend?

The limit was exceeded! Is this teacher a devil or what!

I already did him the courtesy of coming to class, and he still marked me absent!

After the morning classes ended, Wang Zuhao cursed nonstop while dragging his suitcase at the front.

Bai Yao suppressed his schadenfreude deep inside, the corners of his mouth harder to control than an assault rifle, lagging behind several dorm mates as he snickered quietly.

Serves him right!

This guy ran off to smoke and conveniently take a dump.

Chen Zhilong and Lin Mingxin got the message and immediately rushed back to take attendance.

Wang Zuhao squatted in the bathroom five extra minutes and ended up missing the class.

As long as he saw Wang Zuhao getting humiliated, he felt great.

“Anyone want to order delivery? Let’s combine an order,” Chen Zhilong turned back and asked everyone.

“How about spicy hot pot?”

“I already ordered. I got dumplings.”

“I’m going home!”

Wang Zuhao turned a corner and headed toward the school gate.

“Don’t miss me!”

Lin Mingxin waved him off in disgust. “Get lost already. Who’d miss you?”

After being rejected repeatedly, Chen Zhilong looked at Bai Yao.

“I’ll eat at the cafeteria…”

He had completed tasks and earned some money these past two days, but his food expenses were getting high, and he had bought quite a few things online.

It made Bai Yao feel a little heartache.

He wanted to save up for a medical checkup, and even if he had money, he did not want to ask his family for living expenses. He could not keep being this extravagant.

“Perfect timing. I’ll go with you.”

Bai Yao looked at Qiu Ye in surprise.

They were not close at all, just exchanged a few words in class at most.

Qiu Ye, who had seemed difficult to get along with before, was unexpectedly gentle toward him and even took the initiative.

It looked like the task was not as hard as he had imagined.

The question was, what level actually counted as being friends?

After walking a few hundred meters toward the dorms, a three-story cafeteria sat beside the main road.

Bai Yao lowered his head and played on his phone, taking small steps as he followed Qiu Ye inside.

With the holiday approaching, the cafeteria was not very busy.

Only two sparse lines of students waited at the counters, and just about one-third of the tables were occupied, leaving plenty of empty seats.

He found the counter with the shortest line out of habit and, after waiting briefly, got one meat dish and one vegetable, a ten-yuan lunch.

“Over here!”

Qiu Ye had already gotten his food and secured a seat.

Bai Yao sat down across from him and silently buried his head in eating.

Whenever he faced Qiu Ye, he always felt a little nervous, overly cautious, afraid of offending him.

Even speaking required careful consideration.

On one hand, Qiu Ye had a history of conflicts with classmates, and he was afraid of getting beaten up.

On the other hand, he felt somewhat inferior.

This guy was tall and handsome.

Damn it, so enviable.

Standing next to him just made Bai Yao feel like background decoration.

“You’re only eating this much?”

“I… have a small appetite.”

“No wonder you’re so short.”

Bai Yao realized that Qiu Ye had quite a sharp mouth too.

“Ever considered cross-dressing?” Qiu Ye asked with great interest, smiling like a devil tempting souls.

“With your height, it’d be a waste not to be a cute boy.”

“No, no…”

Bai Yao shook his head rapidly.

“At the start of the semester, I thought you were a short-haired girl. Then I found out you lived next door and it scared me.”

“I don’t look that much like a girl…”

“You’re always looking down at your phone. I’ve barely seen your face straight on.”

Bai Yao awkwardly brushed his bangs aside, revealing his fair forehead.

He felt that since they were eating together, this should count as being ‘friends,’ right?

So why had the system not shown the task completion prompt yet?

Normally, between men, just sharing a cigarette, having a drink, eating a meal, or playing games together counted as being friends.

Yet by the system’s standards, he was treated like a perverted nymphomaniac.

Bai Yao took a deep breath and asked nervously, “Um… are you free during the National Day holiday?”

He was very afraid of being rejected.

He had always disliked making requests of others, but he could not worry about that now.

“What for? I’m free.”

“Just… play games together? Europa Universalis co-op or something?”

Qiu Ye looked at him with a confused expression.

Bai Yao’s face flushed crimson, like pig liver.

He hurriedly tried to recover.

“Valorant is fine too! I just started playing.”

“I don’t play that either. I’ve been playing single-player games lately.”

“Oh… okay.”

Seeing that bright red face made Qiu Ye want to laugh.

He was all shy and awkward, like a little girl.

He had somewhat feminine features, and his build was even more slender, like an underdeveloped girl.

There was even a faint rise visible on his chest.

Bai Yao keenly noticed Qiu Ye’s gaze landing there.

He shrank his neck, drew his shoulders inward, and tried to cover himself.

“I was chubbier as a kid…” Bai Yao explained guiltily.

“Then work out a bit. Getting sturdier would help.”

‘No matter how much I work out, I won’t get sturdy…’

Bai Yao felt so miserable he was almost on the verge of tears.

With this damn system around, as long as he exercised for more than half an hour, he would receive the punishment of a slight improvement to his figure along with one hundred yuan as consolation.

If this kept up, he would probably end up with soft chest muscles at a D cup, a curvy figure with pronounced curves.

He was getting further and further away from the imagined eight-pack abs, solid pecs, and lean, defined muscles.

In just a few minutes, Bai Yao finished his one meat and one vegetable.

There was still a bit of rice left.

He wanted to go straight back to the dorm, but seeing that Qiu Ye had not finished yet, he could only wait patiently.

Unexpectedly, Qiu Ye pushed his own tray forward.

“Want some?”

“Huh? No, I’m full.”

Qiu Ye had ordered three meat dishes and one vegetable, stacking the tray full.

Sweet and sour pork, steamed minced meat with egg, braised pork.

They all looked pretty good.

Bai Yao was only about seventy percent full and had even left some rice.

He glanced at Qiu Ye’s dishes a few more times, swallowed, hesitated for a moment, then chose to lower his head and play on his phone.

Why had the system still not shown the task completion prompt?

He idly scrolled the screen, absentmindedly thinking.

Because the system treated Bai Yao as a perverted creep and required him to seduce men, he always carried a sense of guilt and unease toward Qiu Ye.

Even though he had no interest in men at all, the system’s target was clearly Qiu Ye’s body.

Damn it.

Disgusting.

“Heading out?”

Qiu Ye finished eating, picked up his tray, and called out.

“Yeah!”

Bai Yao picked up his tray too and jogged in small steps to follow Qiu Ye.

Only then did the system notification ring in his head.

[Task completed. When facing your male idol, you performed poorly due to nervousness, but you still became friends.]

[Reward: one hundred yuan.]

So stingy.

Only one hundred again.

He was getting numb to this amount.

He had been quite happy at first, but now Bai Yao was starting to feel it was too little.

“Hey!”

Distracted by the system prompt, Bai Yao failed to notice the turn ahead.

His waist and hip slammed directly into the corner of a table.

He sucked in a sharp breath of pain.

His hand loosened instinctively, and the tray fell to the ground.

Bowls and chopsticks clattered and rolled, and the remaining rice scattered everywhere.

He bent over in pain, clutching his hip with both hands, letting out gasps of pain.

But when he saw the mess on the floor, his body stiffened abruptly.

He felt as though dozens, maybe over a hundred pairs of eyes in the cafeteria were focused on him, watching him make a fool of himself.

He worried that the cleaning staff or cafeteria management would come over and scold him harshly.

He felt afraid.

Qiu Ye appeared in his field of vision.

He squatted down and picked up the tray and bowls one by one.

Not far away, a cleaning lady in charge of tray collection came over with a broom and dustpan.

“Little miss, are you hurt?” the woman asked in a thick accent while sweeping up the rice.

“Do you need to go to the infirmary?”

“Little miss… haha!”

Qiu Ye burst out laughing.

Already panicking, Bai Yao’s ears instantly turned red with embarrassment.

He shook his head frantically, kept his head down, clutched his hip, and hurriedly fled out of the cafeteria.