“Egg fried rice, fried noodles, and two more beef stews, for takeout.”
It was evening, and the sun was setting.
The sky had already begun to dim, and the brilliant lights of street lamps and high-rises flickered on, shrouding the entire city in a neon glow.
Qiu Ye stepped out of the Shaxian Hotel, carrying two bags of dinner.
He turned into the small shop next door to buy two bottles of cola and a bag of potato chips.
He wasn’t in a very good mood.
‘Why do I care about Bai Yao so much…?’
Qiu Ye grumbled under his breath.
He didn’t consider himself a particularly good person.
His parents always called him an ungrateful wolf, so he truly lived as one, refusing to keep anything close to his heart.
He was a shiftless sort who would fight whenever things didn’t go his way.
From elementary school through high school, and even into university, he frequently clashed with others.
He rarely came out on the losing end and even felt a bit of pride in that.
School wasn’t enjoyable for him.
During the most critical year of Senior 3, he had simply locked his door to focus on playing video games.
Even though he only got into an average undergraduate college and everyone around him said he was a lost cause, he was just relieved to finally be free from his family.
Yet, Bai Yao’s emotions had affected him, making his own mood just as heavy and sluggish.
He wanted to do something, but he felt helpless.
It was a deep sense of powerlessness.
Returning to the guesthouse, Qiu Ye pulled his emotions together and swiped the card to open the door.
The lights inside were off, and the curtains were drawn.
It was pitch black, making it impossible to see anything.
Turning toward the bed, he could faintly see the silhouette of a lump under the covers and hear Bai Yao’s heavy breathing.
Qiu Ye put the dinner down stealthily, thinking he hadn’t made a sound.
However, the breathing paused; Bai Yao had been woken up anyway.
“Mm…”
After sleeping fitfully for the entire afternoon, Bai Yao stretched and sat up.
His sleep quality was poor, leaving him in a constant state between dreaming and being awake.
He woke up with a pounding headache and a sharp sense of discomfort.
Rubbing his swollen eyes, which still bore the dried tracks of tears on his cheeks, Bai Yao stared blankly for a moment before looking up at Qiu Ye.
“Turn on the light?”
“Yeah.”
Qiu Ye flipped on the room light.
He saw that Bai Yao had already regained his usual cold expression.
“I bought fried rice and fried noodles. Which one do you want?”
“I don’t have much of an appetite…”
Bai Yao climbed out from under the covers, slid into the hotel slippers, and headed for the bathroom.
“I’m going to use the toilet.”
Walking into the bathroom, he stopped in front of the vanity.
He caught a glimpse of his own exhausted, disheveled face in the mirror—a look that would make anyone’s heart ache.
He leaned over, turned on the faucet, and splashed cold water onto his face with both hands.
The icy tap water helped Bai Yao clear his head.
He wiped his face and finally moved to the toilet.
Pulling down his waistband, he glanced down.
It was pink and cute.
He estimated it wouldn’t be long before the “little brother” who had accompanied him for eighteen years finally departed.
‘I haven’t even used it properly yet.’
Bai Yao couldn’t help but think, ‘Since I’ll eventually turn into a girl completely, I might as well get a taste of meat before then.’
But as soon as that dark thought appeared, he shoved it to the back of his mind.
**[Task complete. Cash Reward: 100]**
**[Your current emotions are stable. The power of love can heal all wounds~ Do you really not intend to possess him completely, turning an ambiguous object into a boyfriend or even a husband? You’re already in your thirties—in two more years, no one will want you. A woman’s greatest capital is her youth!]**
**[Friendly reminder: You are now capable of giving birth.]**
Bai Yao remained silent, feeling as if another blade had been driven into his heart.
He was so frustrated that he nearly burst into tears again.
‘System, why don’t you look down for a second! What kind of woman looks like me?!’
Because of the System, he was now neither truly man nor woman, possessing both female and male “parts.”
However, from a physiological standpoint, he was probably a woman through and through now.
The “little brother” had merely become a deformed organ.
Bai Yao let out a sorrowful sigh.
After finishing in the bathroom, he returned to the mirror to check his appearance again.
His eyes were still a bit red.
Even though he kept his face cold, his expression still looked wronged and pitiful.
He rubbed his face hard twice, but it didn’t help.
He had no choice but to leave the bathroom and face Qiu Ye.
Qiu Ye was currently eating the fried rice.
Seeing Bai Yao come out, he gestured.
“Come try some. This beef stew tastes pretty good.”
“Okay.”
Bai Yao didn’t have an appetite, but he sat down beside Qiu Ye and took a sip of the warm beef soup.
Now that he had calmed down, he began to regret losing his composure earlier.
He felt like a joke for crying so miserably in front of Qiu Ye, grabbing his hand to stop him from leaving, and even sleeping on his lap.
He had been a man for eighteen years—how could he be this weak?
The cold, aloof persona he used to maintain had completely shattered.
Bai Yao opened his mouth, offering a dry, quiet explanation.
“It was just… for a moment, I couldn’t hold it in.”
“Crying is fine. Vending your feelings is better than keeping everything bottled up, right?”
Qiu Ye laughed while shoveling a few bites of rice.
He knew Bai Yao cared about his image.
“It’s fine. You looked pretty cute when you were crying, like a little animal.”
“A little animal…”
Bai Yao didn’t particularly like that description.
He hesitated.
“Um… don’t tell anyone else.”
“Am I the kind of big-mouth who goes around gossiping?”
Bai Yao gave a soft response.
Lost in thought, he propped his chin on one hand and used a spoon to stir the beef soup into a whirlpool.
“You definitely won’t be able to sleep tonight. Want to pull an all-nighter at the internet cafe? We can come back to the guesthouse to sleep when we’re tired. Since we paid for the room for the day, we might as well use it.”
“Sure, I guess.”
Bai Yao did indeed want to find something to do to keep himself from overthinking and draining his mental energy.
Playing games all night was a good option.
As Qiu Ye ate, he used his peripheral vision to steal glances at the dazed Bai Yao.
When Bai Yao spaced out, his lips would part slightly and his eyes would go blank, making him look incredibly dazed and adorable.
“I have some good news.”
“Hmm? What?” Bai Yao snapped out of it.
“From now on, you can wear women’s clothes in the light of day!”
Qiu Ye teased Bai Yao with a straight face.
“Black Silk Stockings, White Stockings, gradient stockings, long skirts, short skirts, little hot pants—you can wear whatever you want!”
“I’m a guy, okay…?”
The second half of Bai Yao’s sentence was barely a whisper.
“At least at school, my classmates all think I’m a guy.”
He couldn’t even manage a confident rebuttal.
“So that means you don’t care about what happens outside?”
Qiu Ye tempted Bai Yao like a devil.
“How about this? Before we go to the internet cafe, let’s go to a women’s clothing store and try some things out?”
A flush of red crept onto Bai Yao’s face.
He shook his head weakly.
“Let’s… let’s just not.”
“I’ll buy them for you! You just have to wear them for me to see!”
“There’s no need, is there?”
He pursed his lips in distress, subconsciously leaning his body away to put some distance between himself and Qiu Ye.
“I’m already feeling down, and you’re just teasing me…”
Looking at him like this, Qiu Ye knew that Bai Yao’s attention was now entirely focused on the shame of cross-dressing.
This guy’s brain was like a single-threaded processor.
“Your cross-dressing is basically god-tier beauty, okay? I even see you in girls’ clothes in my dreams!”
“Really?”
Qiu Ye suddenly realized that Bai Yao was looking at him with a bit more wariness.
‘Crap! I accidentally let the truth slip out!’
“It was an exaggeration, a metaphor! Did you not pay attention in high school Chinese class?”