[You had your chance and you blew it!]
[Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed that Qiu Ye is already into you? His heart rate and body temperature shot up the moment he saw you in women’s clothing! You just need to take the initiative a little, act like a seductive little vixen, and bring out that energy you had when you were racking up your hundred conquests—then you can completely claim him!]
[Task completed, reward: one hundred dollars in cash]
No way!
How could Qiu Ye possibly be as hopeless as the system claims!
Bai Yao clutched his head with both hands, slipping into a sage-like mode of regret as if he’d just ascended, screaming internally.
Aaaah!!!
This can’t go on any longer!
How could he get addicted to cross-dressing?!
He’s a man!
A man!
This is way too perverted! Actually wearing such a short skirt!
In Qiu Ye’s eyes, doesn’t that make him look like he’s seducing him? His image is probably ruined forever!
So all this time Qiu Ye really hadn’t realized that the girl who sprinted past him in the rain that day was him?!
What a waste—he’d been worrying about it for nothing!
The light drizzle had already stopped.
At a fast-food place not far from the student street, the prices were quite a bit higher than the campus cafeteria, but the food tasted really good.
Students who cared about flavor often came here.
Bai Yao’s mind was a complete mess.
He sat at one of the temporary tables outside the fast-food place, not even bothering to hide his feminine posture anymore.
Face flushed like a lovestruck girl, head lowered, hands squeezed between his thighs, he was locked in a fierce internal battle between heaven and man.
Rationally, he knew—knew that what he was doing was extremely perverted! Completely unacceptable to normal society.
If this continued, the rest of his life might be destroyed!
But emotionally, he—who had almost never received any validation growing up—was actually getting a sense of accomplishment from cross-dressing…
That feeling was wonderful, addictive.
“Three meat dishes and one vegetable.”
Qiu Ye finished selecting food inside, came out, and set the tray on the table.
“I’ll go get two bowls of rice.”
“Mm.”
Only after Qiu Ye turned and walked back into the store did Bai Yao lift his head to look.
It felt like he was being taken care of… as if he were a girl.
He had already been puzzled by Qiu Ye’s strange attitude before, and now it seemed that a few days ago Qiu Ye had already been intentionally—or maybe unintentionally—taking special care of him.
Perhaps Qiu Ye hadn’t even realized he was treating him like a girl.
Honestly… he didn’t hate it.
Soon Qiu Ye returned with two bowls of rice and went to get two servings of seaweed egg drop soup.
He sat across from Bai Yao, picked up his bowl, grabbed a couple of chopsticks full of spicy stir-fried pork, and lowered his head to eat.
“It’s late, so not much left. You don’t eat spicy, right?”
While speaking, he didn’t dare look at Bai Yao; his gaze stayed fixed on his rice bowl or the tray.
“A little spicy is fine with rice.”
Bai Yao picked at the rice with his chopsticks—not out of ladylike restraint, but simply because he’d eaten grilled squid earlier and wasn’t very hungry now.
He tried a few bites of the dishes.
The flavor really was much better than the canteen’s, though the price was noticeably higher too.
“This meal’s on me.”
Bai Yao tried to keep things even, the way friends take turns treating each other.
“I already paid.”
Qiu Ye replied without lifting his head.
After just a few exchanges, the two fell silent.
One was still drowning in the shame of cross-dressing and couldn’t pull himself out; the other felt awkward and didn’t know how to face his suddenly much prettier and more tempting roommate.
“Bai Yao…”
“Mm?”
Qiu Ye’s eyes darted around; he could no longer look straight at the spots on Bai Yao’s short-sleeved shirt.
“Shouldn’t you… wear a bra or something? To cover it a bit?”
Bai Yao looked down.
The faint blush on his face deepened into another layer of crimson.
Whether the earlier excitement and tension hadn’t worn off yet, or something else had stirred again, even with the large pattern covering it, the outline was still pretty obvious.
“It’s inconvenient in the dorm.”
His voice was so soft that Qiu Ye almost didn’t hear it.
“Buy some sports pasties?”
“Mm.”
Qiu Ye immediately lowered his head and searched on his phone.
Medical-grade chest pasties only cost a few bucks for ten.
They were originally designed so athletes wouldn’t chafe and bleed during intense exercise; now they were perfect for Bai Yao to conceal things.
“Ordered. They’ll arrive tomorrow.”
“I can buy them myself…”
Bai Yao barely ate a few bites before pushing his bowl aside, picking at the dishes absentmindedly.
Qiu Ye casually took his half-eaten bowl of rice over.
This time he finally couldn’t hold back:
“You don’t find it gross?”
“Huh? It’s fine.”
Qiu Ye lifted the bowl and shoveled rice in big mouthfuls, answering vaguely through the food.
“Can’t just waste it, right?”
Mainly because Bai Yao was so good-looking.
If it were anyone else’s leftovers, of course he’d find it disgusting.
That overly noble-sounding excuse left Bai Yao speechless.
After all, the idea of frugality had been drilled into him since childhood.
Whether he could actually live up to it was another matter, but he couldn’t argue against it either.
“Mm.”
Bai Yao finished the still-scalding egg drop soup, let out a long breath, and a thin sheen of sweat appeared on his forehead.
He turned to look at the street.
Because of the earlier rain, the pavement glistened under the lights.
The area was a little quiet, though the student street not far away was still bustling, steam rising in curls.
Looking toward the student street, he could see a couple cuddling together, feeding each other snacks.
So envious…
Bai Yao was still envious of the guy for having such a cute, pretty girlfriend, envious of his nearly six-foot height, envious of being someone’s pillar, envious of that kind of love that everyone would bless…
But he probably would never have that in this lifetime.
“Done eating? Wanna head back?”
Qiu Ye wiped his mouth with a napkin and stood up.
“Wanna walk around? It’s finally not hot.”
Just after the rain, the evening felt pleasantly cool.
“Sure.”
Qiu Ye followed behind Bai Yao as they strolled slowly along the quiet street.
Past the student street was the fast-food place they’d just eaten at; further ahead was a bridge.
Crossing it would take them to the spot where Qiu Ye had gotten drunk and broken his bone before.
Bai Yao reached the bridge, leaned over the railing, and gazed at the dark, shimmering water below.
Qiu Ye leaned against the railing beside him, stealing glances at Bai Yao’s fair, delicate profile.
The night breeze gently lifted the stray hairs by Bai Yao’s ear.
He raised a slender, pale arm, fingertips lightly tucking the strands behind his ear.
The streetlamp cast a warm glow over him like a soft veil.
His eyes moved, lingering on Qiu Ye for a moment before he turned his head to face him, a faint smile on his lips.
Perhaps Bai Yao hadn’t meant anything by it, but in Qiu Ye’s eyes, he looked as though his gaze carried autumn waves—bewitching and utterly captivating.
A direct hit to the heart!
Qiu Ye felt his breath catch; his heartbeat raced uncontrollably, cheeks flushing red.
“Qiu Ye…” Bai Yao’s voice came out soft, almost like a pout.
He sighed in frustration.
“Why do I look so much prettier in women’s clothes than in men’s?”
If he were handsome as a guy too, he wouldn’t have gotten addicted to cross-dressing.
Qiu Ye answered hoarsely, “You look… pretty good as a guy too… just a bit short.”
“Then there’s nothing I can do about that. It’s not like I can wear heels.”
“Not necessarily impossible? Elevator shoes.”
“Maybe later… I was thinking of going to the hospital in a few days for a full physical. Will you come with me?”
Just like he’d imagined before, Bai Yao planned to squeeze every last penny out of physical exam rewards, confirm he had no serious illnesses, then ditch the system for good and ignore all those perverted missions!
Though he was terrified, his increasingly warped mindset made him realize he couldn’t keep dragging this out.
Qiu Ye nodded without the slightest hesitation.
“I’ll go. I’ll take you. You don’t have to worry about anything.”
The way he said it…
Filled Bai Yao—who had been so uneasy—with a strong sense of security.
“You won’t start treating me like a girl just because you’ve seen me cross-dressed, right?”
“No way!” Qiu Ye’s fierce-looking eyes widened. “What kind of person do you think I am!”
Bai Yao’s shoulders shrank in fright.
This guy already had an intimidating face, and now he was glaring…
Seeing how startled he looked, Qiu Ye’s heart stuttered.
The next second his attitude softened, coaxing like he was talking to a child: “My bad, my bad. I got a little loud.”