After eating barbecue and wandering around outside, the two cousins returned to the hotel around 9:00 PM.
Bai Yao stretched and lay down on the bed, letting out two comfortable grunts.
He plugged in his phone and curled his legs on his side to play with it.
He had only finished one bottle of beer and wasn’t drunk at all, but alcohol always made him sleepy.
The sound of splashing water came from the bathroom; Lin Zhicheng was already showering.
Bai Yao hadn’t brought a change of clothes and didn’t plan on bathing.
Even though the hotel bedding was snowy white and clean, he still felt a bit uncomfortable, so he stayed fully dressed.
‘I’ll just shower when I get back to the dorm tomorrow…’
As he mused, Bai Yao opened his webnovel app, only to find that the author who usually updated once a day had surprisingly missed their post.
‘That lousy author!’
Now he really didn’t know what to do.
Out of sheer boredom, he swiped through his screen, opened Douyin, and scrolled aimlessly through videos.
After a long while, he opened his chat with Qiu Ye.
After a moment’s thought, Bai Yao sent over the photos of the night scenery at the Pedestrian Street.
He stared at the screen for a few minutes, but when no reply came from Qiu Ye, he felt a bit disappointed and flipped his phone face down.
‘Damn it!’
Last night, when he was dying of exhaustion, Qiu Ye had insisted on dragging him into a conversation until 3:00 AM.
Now that he was bored to death and wanted to chat, the guy was ignoring him.
‘Don’t even think about finding me for a midnight chat ever again!’
Lin Zhicheng finished his shower and came out after drying his hair.
Wearing only a pair of large boxers, he sat on the bed and looked at Bai Yao, who was curled up with his back to him.
“Aren’t you going to shower?”
“I didn’t bring clothes. I’ll wash up at the dorm tomorrow.”
Lin Zhicheng picked up the remote and turned on the TV to add some life to the room.
Then he leaned against the headboard and looked down at his phone.
However, as he played with his phone, his eyes kept drifting toward Bai Yao.
Usually, his cousin’s figure just seemed a bit slender, but the silhouette of him lying on his side made even his physique look like that of a girl.
Although Bai Yao was wearing loose, straight-leg pants, his curled-up position made the fabric tighten inevitably over his rear, outlining a small, peach-like curve.
His T-shirt had ridden up, bunching at his waist and revealing a sliver of fair skin and the two dimples on his lower back.
His shoulders were noticeably narrower than a normal male’s, almost the same width as his hips, and his thin back muscles made his entire frame appear delicate and frail.
Narrow shoulders, a thin back, a slim waist, and wide hips…
Though Bai Yao had looked like a girl when he was a child, secondary sexual characteristics weren’t obvious back then.
As long as a kid was cute and had long hair, it was easy to mistake them for a girl.
But he was already 18 and a college freshman; looking this much like a girl was getting a bit ridiculous, wasn’t it?
Bai Yao tugged at his shirt, covering his waist, and looked back at Lin Zhicheng with a confused expression.
“Tell me the truth,” Lin Zhicheng said.
“Huh?”
“Do you want to be a woman?”
“???”
Bai Yao’s head was full of question marks.
After a moment of stunned silence, he glared back in annoyance.
“No!”
‘Looking at this reaction, he doesn’t seem to be part of the LGBTQ+ community…’
Lin Zhicheng breathed a sigh of relief.
He had seen too many inexplicable things abroad that had drained his sanity, and he hadn’t fully adjusted after returning to the country.
“Then you really need to work out. Your hair is so long, too. It’s easy for people to mistake you for a woman.”
“Mm.”
Bai Yao pulled the quilt over himself, hiding inside.
But a moment later, he jumped up, stepped over the quilt, and hurried out of bed.
He put on the hotel slippers and headed for the door.
“Where are you going?”
“Phone call.”
Stepping out into the hallway, Bai Yao answered the call as he walked toward the window at the end of the corridor.
“Hello?” he asked in a cold tone.
“What is it?”
“I was gaming and didn’t see the message.”
The clicking of a keyboard and mouse could still be heard on the other end.
“Where did you go to play?”
“Pedestrian Street.”
“The photos were incomplete. Why didn’t you send a selfie of you and your cousin?”
“I’ll pass on that.”
Bai Yao had never liked taking selfies; he only used his front-facing camera to fix his hair occasionally.
He paused, then couldn’t help but complain to Qiu Ye.
“You have no idea how ridiculous it is. My cousin is only 24 or 25, and his family is already forcing him into blind dates. They’re even threatening to disown him!”
“This early?”
“Right? My cousin had a girlfriend before, but they were forced apart. And now they’re pressuring him again… If my family tried to force me into marriage or blind dates, I’d definitely pack my bags and run.”
Qiu Ye agreed wholeheartedly.
“I’m not accepting an arranged marriage just to ‘get by,’ either.”
“Exactly!”
Bai Yao leaned against the window railing, looking down at the night view.
Perhaps because they had chatted late into the night before, he was noticeably more talkative with Qiu Ye now.
He spent a long time complaining about his cousin’s situation.
Even though the other end was still gaming, Qiu Ye responded quickly, multitasking with zero effort.
After talking about his cousin, Bai Yao moved on to the lousy author who went on hiatus without notice.
Then he complained about the Moutai Ice Cream he had eaten earlier and marveled at the size and luxury of the airport, making himself sound like he had never seen the world…
They chatted for a full hour before Bai Yao noticed his phone’s low battery warning.
He hadn’t realized he could talk this much.
Looking at the time, he still felt a bit unsatisfied.
“It’s already been an hour…”
He intended to end it there, but Qiu Ye bragged from the other side.
“I ordered a late-night snack. Barbecue!”
“I just ate that. My cousin treated me. We spent over 100, and I’m stuffed.”
“I’m getting some oysters.”
“For your kidneys?”
“Can’t it be for my complexion?”
The conversation continued.
Half an hour later, the phone buzzed again with a 10% battery warning.
“Combat Guy didn’t come back again tonight. I bet he…”
Qiu Ye was still rambling, so Bai Yao had no choice but to interrupt.
“My phone’s dying. Let’s stop here for tonight.”
“Alright. My barbecue should be arriving soon anyway.”
Hanging up, Bai Yao stretched and murmured softly, “Two men just chatted for nearly two hours.”
He had never made such a long phone call in his life; it felt like they were whispering sweet nothings over the phone.
But he had to admit that talking to Qiu Ye was quite pleasant.
It gave him an outlet for emotions he usually had to process alone.
This put Bai Yao in a great mood.
He walked back to the room on his tiptoes like a young girl.
Only when he reached the door did he plant his feet firmly and do a quick check of his posture and behavior, reverting to how a man should act.
‘I’m so great! I’m getting better and better at switching!’
He pushed the door open and entered.
Lin Zhicheng turned to look at him.
“Girlfriend?”
Lin Zhicheng asked impatiently.
“You were on the phone for so long.”
He was still worried that since his cousin looked so much like a girl, there might be an issue with his sexual orientation.
Now he felt reassured.
“No.”
Bai Yao hurried to the bed and plugged in his phone.
Fearing his cousin might misunderstand that he was in a relationship, he explained more carefully, “Just a normal friend. My roommate.”
“A guy?”
“Mm.”
Lin Zhicheng’s expression turned strange.
He had felt reassured far too early…
Bai Yao looked up and saw that his cousin’s expression actually held even more worry than before.
It seemed the misunderstanding had only deepened!
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.