Lin Xing had been in a kind of split-personality emotional state for several days already, cycling between melancholy and self-abandonment. The symptoms were still not fully resolved by the time he returned to campus.
His melancholy came from the fact that he couldn’t stop compulsively opening the D-platform, checking Chi Tong’s profile, and occasionally opening their private messages to stare at the string of failed exclamation-mark messages and that irreversible, self-destructive final sentence.
After that, Lin Xing would immediately switch into self-abandonment mode.
So what if it was embarrassing? Who doesn’t embarrass themselves a few times in life? Especially in front of a stranger you’d never meet again, embarrassing yourself over the internet didn’t even count as much.
Exactly. I and Chi Tong are just strangers who will never meet again.
Right now I just have too much free time in my life. As long as I work hard and become more socially active, I’ll forget about this soon enough. One year, two years, three or four years later, this will just become a funny story I tell at gatherings.
Lin Xing mentally affirmed this, comforting and encouraging himself.
A voice suddenly came from behind him. “Huh? You follow Chi Tong too?”
They had just returned to campus, and their roommates were all busy with their own things.
Lin Xing reflexively covered his phone and turned back alertly. Luo Tengfei, who was passing by to get water, looked at him strangely. “What are you doing? I’m not a ghost.”
Lin Xing blurted nonsense. “What follow? I don’t follow him.”
He had only registered a D-account during the summer break and hadn’t shared it with his roommates. At first it was fine, but after that disastrous incident, Lin Xing wished he could bury this account forever, how could he dare tell his roommates about it?
Before, his WeChat nickname had also been “Seasonal Little Xingxing.” Even though he had only changed it during the holidays and his roommates had already saved his contact name, making it unlikely they’d notice the brief change, he still felt guilty and uneasy. At this point, he was terrified that one of his roommates might suddenly show a knowing, mysterious smile and say, “I know everything about you.”
Just thinking about it made him shiver.
Luo Tengfei, unaware of Lin Xing’s inner turmoil, simply pointed at the partially visible profile on his phone. “Isn’t it showing that you’re following him?”
Only then did Lin Xing look down and realize that Chi Tong’s page indeed showed that he was following him. He had unfollowed earlier, but later, possibly from repeatedly sneaking back out of guilt, he must have accidentally followed again at some point.
Luo Tengfei came back after getting water and saw Lin Xing still staring blankly at Chi Tong’s profile. He simply sat down beside him.
“Just following someone, so what? It’s not like you followed some illegal account.”
From his tone, he didn’t seem to know anything. If he did know about Lin Xing’s social death experience, he would probably already be laughing out loud.
Seeing how normal Luo Tengfei acted, Lin Xing was just starting to relax when Luo Tengfei added, “I follow him too.”
“You follow him too?” Lin Xing looked at his roommate in disbelief.
Because Luo Tengfei was an extremely straight, stereotypically straight guy, someone who didn’t seem like the type to follow male appearance influencers.
And just like that, the fragile string in Lin Xing’s mind tightened all over again.
“Yeah,” Luo Tengfei explained. “I think his video editing style is really distinctive, and his transitions and camera movement are pretty interesting too. It’s not surprising he got popular. I’ve been thinking about trying to make some videos myself this summer, but I just can’t capture that same vibe of his. Not sure if he’s got a team behind him or something.”
“Oh…” Lin Xing carefully observed Luo Tengfei’s expression and tentatively asked, “I heard some gossip about him before. Have you seen it?”
“Was it about some female influencer drama or something? I didn’t really pay attention. Oh right—” Luo Tengfei slung an arm around Lin Xing’s neck in a showy manner. “Your big bro’s treating the whole dorm to a meal today.”
He dropped the topic so easily that he probably really didn’t know about it at all.
And since he brought up the dinner treat, Lin Xing immediately brightened. “Huh? That good of a deal?”
Another roommate who had been gaming nearby laughed. “He got a girlfriend over summer break. Look at him, all smug and full of energy, he has to treat us. I barely ate lunch today just waiting for this dinner.”
Lin Xing had returned to school the day before, and classes officially started today. There were no lectures scheduled that first day, so everyone in the dorm was just gaming. During all that, no one mentioned Half Pool (Chi Tong), so the gossip clearly hadn’t spread widely yet.
Lin Xing quickly shifted from worry to relief and got up to pick clothes from his wardrobe for going out. He was always the most appearance-conscious in the dorm, though after two years he still hadn’t gotten into a relationship.
But the reason he wasn’t dating wasn’t something he could exactly explain to others, none of his roommates knew about his sexuality, and he preferred keeping it low-key.
Just then, a roommate who had finished gaming and stood up saw him picking clothes and laughed. “You know his girlfriend’s roommates are coming too, right? This is one of those ‘one person gets a girlfriend, the whole dorm gets a feast’ situations.”
“‘Gets a feast’ sounds a bit ominous,” Lin Xing muttered.
“Meaning’s what matters,” the roommate said, walking into the bathroom shirtless to shower.
Amid the scraping of chairs, mirror-grabbing, and hair-drying noises in the dorm, just before they were about to head out, the door was suddenly pushed open.
Lin Xing happened to be idle and immediately got singled out by their counselor, who poked his head in. “Hey, Lin Xing, come help me get some stuff from the fourth floor of the department building.”
Lin Xing couldn’t find a reason to refuse and let out a hesitant “uh,” but the counselor had already rushed in and pulled him out. “Hurry up, help me out and I’ll count it as a merit for you.”
Helpless, Lin Xing grabbed his phone and followed the instructions toward the academic building.
The residential area and the department building were about a twenty-minute round trip. After going downstairs, he messaged his roommates to head out first without him, saying he’d meet them later.
Their school wasn’t too far from the city center, but still a forty-minute subway ride. The barbecue place they were going to only did on-site queue numbers, and arriving late would mess that up, so he didn’t want them waiting for him.
He figured he’d just show up later and join them directly at the table.
Lin Xing wore a light blue T-shirt and white shorts. Even though the semester had started, summer was still lingering. It was a little past five, sunlight wasn’t as harsh as noon, but the ground still radiated heat.
Lin Xing had black hair and fair skin. Even wearing such light-colored clothes, he didn’t look dull at all, instead, he carried a refreshing quality that matched summer perfectly. Walking along the campus path, he occasionally drew involuntary glances from others, as if the heat of the season stayed strangely far away from him.
“Teacher, I’ll head off now.” Lin Xing said goodbye to the department teacher, then also sent a message to his counselor confirming the task was completed.
The counselor replied with a thankful sticker.
By this point, his dorm group chat roommates had already gotten on the subway. Even though Lin Xing hurried to the nearest subway station outside campus, he still ended up arriving about ten minutes later than them.
By the time he reached the station, it was already past six.
There was still daylight in the sky, but dusk had already begun to creep in. No matter how intense the heat outside was, once he entered the shopping mall, the cool air conditioning made Lin Xing squint in comfort.
Aside from the occasional dissatisfaction in life, summer really was a lovely season.
The dorm group chat was lively at this moment.
【307】
“@Lin Xing, we’ve already queued inside. We’ll go in first and wait for you, run upstairs when you arrive.”
“This place is kind of maze-like. @Lin Xing, I’ll come down to pick you up later.”
“Lin Xing: I’m downstairs now. I’m about to take the elevator up. Just wait for me at the middle elevator exit, I know it’s on the fifth floor.”
“Luo Tengfei really picked a good place this time. Having a girlfriend really changes a person, he’s got taste.”
A few photos popped up in the chat, showing the storefront and interior taken by the other roommates.
While scrolling through the messages, Lin Xing stood in front of the elevator, occasionally glancing at the numbers rising from the basement floors. The elevator next to him had just carried up a group of people, leaving only a family of three beside him, clearly enough space for him to take the next one.
He quietly shifted his feet toward the center of the elevator doors, already looking forward to getting upstairs for barbecue.
The elevator display finally jumped to 1. After a brief pause, a “ding” sounded and the doors slid open in front of him.
There weren’t many people inside, only an elderly woman holding a five- or six-year-old boy, and a tall young man.
The tall man was leaning inside the elevator, head slightly lowered as he stared at the soft carpet on the floor, which had “Tuesday” written on it, as if lost in thought.
He had a tall, upright figure, and the moment the elevator doors opened, he naturally drew attention. Lin Xing was no exception.
The lines of the young man’s face were smooth yet distinctly defined, undeniably the kind of face that belonged to a total heartthrob. Under normal circumstances, Lin Xing would have stepped into the elevator immediately and casually stood next to such a handsome guy, silently enjoying the proximity.
But today, at this very moment, Lin Xing’s eyes widened in utter disbelief as he stared at that face.
What kind of face was it? It was the face he had repeatedly checked out of guilt while browsing videos, the face that sometimes, in the dead of night, he imagined pointing at him with righteous indignation and calling him a pervert, the face he would be too embarrassed to face if he had identified it correctly.
Half Pool???
Lin Xing froze in place, unable to take a step forward. The family of three standing behind him had already passed him and entered the elevator, then turned to look at him together with the others inside, confused as to whether he was getting in or not.
In the brief moment before the elevator doors nearly closed, Lin Xing instinctively reached out a hand to block them. “Ah—”
That small sound finally made the young man, who had been leaning inside without reacting, look up.
The moment their eyes met, Lin Xing immediately darted into the elevator and shrank into himself like a frightened chick, turning his back toward the gaze behind him as if he had just run into a debt collector he owed a million.
What… what is this???
Lin Xing looked miserable, feeling like he was dreaming.