At first, he felt Bai Yao was a delicate and thin young boy, but the longer he knew him, the more he felt it was a waste that this guy wasn’t a woman.
Teasing was one thing, but Qiu Ye could never say those true feelings out loud.
After dinner, Bai Yao felt a bit sleepy again, sitting drowsily on the bus.
Seeing that Qiu Ye was about to sit next to him, he stood up decisively and moved to an empty window seat in the row behind.
“Do you dislike me that much? Do I smell?”
Qiu Ye turned his head and asked, looking at Bai Yao with heartbreak.
Bai Yao looked out the window with an expressionless face, ignoring Qiu Ye’s fake crying and antics.
Before long, sleepiness washed over him…
During this holiday, he hadn’t been able to change his 8:00 AM biological clock; instead, he had developed the habit of taking afternoon naps.
With the swaying of the bus, Bai Yao’s forehead lightly bumped against the window.
He frowned and rubbed his forehead.
“How long until we arrive?”
“About 30 minutes.”
Hearing he could sleep for 30 minutes, Bai Yao wrapped his arms around his stomach and leaned his head back against the seat.
But sleeping with his head tilted back was also quite uncomfortable…
Mainly, having his face turned upward left it uncovered and completely exposed to the light, which made him feel uneasy.
He used to be used to sleeping against the window, but since the school was located in the suburbs, the road was uneven, and more importantly, he was afraid of pain now.
After finally adjusting his sleeping position, Bai Yao closed his aching eyes, yawned, and let his head drop.
The bus was a bit bumpy, making it hard to sleep, but even just resting his eyes was fine.
“Hey, Bai Yao…”
Qiu Ye turned back to chat, but he saw that Bai Yao had already curled up and closed his eyes.
‘Why does this guy’s sleeping posture look like a girl’s?’
His shoulders were hunched inward, arms wrapped around his stomach, head tilted down and to the side, revealing a soft jawline.
His legs were also pressed tightly together, leaning to one side…
This posture made Bai Yao look a few degrees more slender and fragile.
Like teasing a sleeping kitten, Qiu Ye secretly reached out and poked Bai Yao’s head.
“Mmh?”
Bai Yao hummed just like a cat.
It was quite cute.
Even his personality was similar — a cold, indifferent appearance that made people want to tease him on purpose.
Seeing that the guy was really about to fall asleep, Qiu Ye didn’t bother him further and sat back in his seat to play on his phone.
However, after a short while, Bai Yao suddenly woke up.
He raised the phone in his hand to take a look, his brows furrowing deeply.
After a slight hesitation, he answered the call.
“Hello? Mom?”
Qiu Ye turned his head curiously.
“Yeah, cousin? Which cousin?”
“When? At what time? Uh… alright.”
Looking at his expression, it was clear Bai Yao had been forced into something he didn’t want to do.
Once Bai Yao hung up, Qiu Ye asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
Bai Yao reflexively covered it up, but after a moment, he grumbled anyway.
“My cousin. He said he’s coming back from abroad for New Year’s and wants me to pick him up at the airport.”
“We played together well when we were little — but we haven’t been in touch for so many years…”
Along the southeastern coast, almost every household had relatives abroad.
His older cousin’s family had moved overseas years ago.
“Isn’t that great? You can hang out for 2 days.”
‘Was it?’
But in Bai Yao’s eyes, meeting a friend who hadn’t been in touch for years would always be strange and awkward; there was no sense of anticipation for an old friend’s reunion at all.
Besides, God only knew what his cousin looked like now, and what would his cousin think when he saw his current state?
‘Mom is even stingier than the System! At least System tasks reward me with money!’
Bai Yao glanced at the glass.
The bus window reflected his delicate face, which made it hard to tell his gender.
It showed his pale, thin arms and the slight bulge under his clothes…
To be honest, aside from his feminine physical traits, he actually quite liked his delicate and beautiful face.
‘If I cleaned myself up, I might even be a little hunk!’
But he also knew that the System’s goal was to raise him as a woman, which made him incredibly anxious.
“We’re here.”
“Okay.”
Bai Yao followed Qiu Ye off the bus.
Opposite the bus stop was a massive square with stairs stretching up the mountain, seemingly endless.
“It’s so high…”
His face was full of despair.
“I want to go back.”
Now he didn’t have time to worry about all that other stuff.
“We’ll be up there in about 1 hour.”
Bai Yao followed Qiu Ye, looking like he’d lost his will to live.
When they reached the stairs, his gaze was drawn to a blue road sign with white lettering.
“I miss you so much at Liupingshan?”
He had only seen similar phrases on Douying before.
Was it some kind of meme?
Quite a few people were taking photos of it, which made no sense to him.
“Come on, come on. Let’s take a picture together.”
“Huh? I’m not…”
Qiu Ye grabbed Bai Yao’s arm and dragged him under the sign, attempting to capture both of them and the sign in the lens using selfie mode.
“Stand on your tiptoes. You’re so handsome, yet you’re so shy about taking a photo.”
‘Heh~ handsome?’
Bai Yao suppressed his curling lips and strained to stand on his tiptoes, poking his head into the shot.
‘Lin Mingxin also said I was handsome before~ Am I actually handsome but just don’t know it? Then why haven’t any upperclassmen girls come looking for me?’
‘Qiu Ye is also handsome, but he doesn’t have a girlfriend either. It’s perfectly normal!’
“All set.”
After taking the photo, Qiu Ye happily posted it to his Moments.
Bai Yao’s eyelid twitched.
He really didn’t like sharing his life…
He had wiped his middle school Moments and QQ Zone completely clean.
“Let me see?”
“Here!”
Qiu Ye handed the phone to Bai Yao.
He took it and looked at the photo, finding it awkward no matter how he looked at it.
Even though his skin had improved and his features were more regular and beautiful than before, the photo still looked terrible…
Comparing himself to Qiu Ye beside him, he wasn’t exactly ugly; rather, his effort to stand on his tiptoes while peeking into the frame made him look like a little lackey.
Coupled with the phone’s built-in beauty and face-slimming filters, he looked even more like a girl!
“Maybe don’t post it?”
“It’s already out there.”
Bai Yao silently rolled his eyes and walked straight up the steps.
Qiu Ye followed with a grinning face.
“Doesn’t it look good?”
“You made me look like a girl.”
“Don’t you look like a heartthrob from a Korean boy band?”
It had to be said that although Qiu Ye was a bit pushy — always dragging Bai Yao to do things he didn’t want to do and having a poor sense of personal space — which made him feel slightly offended, he didn’t seem to especially mind…
Perhaps it was because he had never really had any friends.
“Bai Yao! Let’s see who gets to the top first!”
Before Bai Yao could react, he saw Qiu Ye take off like a gust of wind, dashing up the steps two at a time.
He instinctively wanted to give chase, but after two steps, he let out a scoff of disdain.
“Childish!”
‘Like I’d play such a childish game.’
Bai Yao continued to climb the mountain slowly at his own pace.
Anyway, with his thin arms and legs, it was impossible for him to keep up with Qiu Ye in a physical activity like mountain climbing.
‘Damn! How is this guy so good at everything? Is the gap between people really this big?’
Whether it was studies, games, or physical fitness, he was even handsome, at least 180 centimeters tall, and had a generous and cheerful personality…
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