After figuring it out, Wen Yuluo looked at the pinned WeChat chat and smiled with satisfaction.
He tapped on Qi You’s Moments, and as expected, there was nothing there.
Still, for someone like Qi You, having Moments would be the strange thing.
Wen Yuluo returned to the chat interface, eager to send another message. After pondering for a long time, he typed: [Senior, why is your WeChat nickname ‘Hmm’?]
The reply came back faster than he expected: [Picked it randomly.]
Wen Yuluo nodded behind his screen. Seeing ‘The other person is typing…’ appear above the remark, he waited for a moment.
[What about you? Why is it called Epiphyllum?]
Wen Yuluo was about to reply: “Because I like epiphyllums.”
Before he could hit send, ‘Hmm’ sent another message: [Is it because you like epiphyllums?]
Wen Yuluo raised an eyebrow, deleted the text in the input box, and re-edited: [How did the senior know??]
[Hmm: Guessed it.]
[Epiphyllum: That really is divine guesswork. You actually guessed it right.]
There was no reply from the other side for a long time, so Wen Yuluo typed again: [Has the senior reached the infirmary yet?]
[Hmm: Not yet.]
[Epiphyllum: Then the senior should stop playing on your phone and watch the road properly.]
Wen Yuluo turned off his phone screen and prepared to wash up. Just as he walked to the balcony and opened the door, his phone went ding-dong on the bed, and he immediately turned around to look.
[Hmm: Do you have to keep calling me senior?]
Hmm??
[Epiphyllum: Then what should I call you?]
Wen Yuluo’s fingers tapped back and forth on the desk, his eyes fixed straight on the chat box.
The wind from the balcony blew into the dormitory, carrying a chill with it. Guo Yun yelled loudly: “Who opened the balcony door?! It is freezing! I am not wearing clothes!”
The two roommates in the dormitory chimed in: “Yuluo.”
“Wen Yuluo!!” Guo Yun roared toward Wen Yuluo’s bed. “Go close the balcony door!”
Usually well-behaved and sensible, Wen Yuluo had red ears as he stared blankly at his phone.
[Hmm: You can call me by my name directly, or if you find that too distant, calling me older brother works too.]
Guo Yun could bear it no longer, grabbed a throw pillow, and tossed it at Wen Yuluo’s head.
“Ah!!”
Wen Yuluo turned around. “What are you doing?!”
Guo Yun: “Close the door!”
During the rehearsal the next day, Wen Yuluo notified everyone about the role swap. Since they had only rehearsed once anyway, swapping roles was not that big of an issue. After everyone acknowledged it, they went about their respective tasks.
“Yuluo,” Xie Xia called out from behind him.
Wen Yuluo asked: “What is wrong, monitor?”
Xie Xia asked: “Are you feeling better? I sent you a message yesterday, but you did not reply.”
Wen Yuluo rubbed the back of his head and let out an “oh”: “I am fine, do not worry. I saw the message, and I remembered all the blocking and pacing too. I did not reply because I forgot. Sorry about that, monitor.”
Xie Xia smiled and said: “As long as you are fine.”
He wanted to say something more, but when Wen Yuluo spotted Qi You and Lu Baihai arriving, he took steps and vanished from right in front of him.
Lu Baihai had gone to the hospital early in the morning to get a cast, and now he was walking with crutches, limping, but his movement was still reasonably agile.
People in the class tsked with concern and said: “Senior Lu, are you alright? To still come and rehearse the play in this state, your perseverance is truly admirable.”
Hearing the flattery, Lu Baihai straightened up. “Of course. I am fine, it is just missing a leg, but Qi You is going to have a harder time. I learned that set of sword techniques for the prince a week in advance. Since you do not know anything right now, do not ruin the final presentation.”
“Is that so?” Qi You raised an eyebrow, casually picked up the prop sword, stepped onto the stage with his long legs, and smoothly executed that set of sword techniques.
His figure was tall and slender, and his appearance while holding the sword was radiant. As he moved, only the sound of the sword blades swishing remained in the air.
When the dance finished, Wen Yuluo took the lead in applauding.
Lu Baihai’s mouth dropped wide open: “When did you secretly learn that?”
Qi You said: “Watched the video once last night.”
“Once?”
“Yeah, once.”
Wen Yuluo watched attentively below the stage, and the light of admiration in his eyes was taken in entirely by Xie Xia.
Xie Xia’s gaze trembled slightly as he picked up the walkie-talkie: “Everyone, in position.”
The first scene did not feature the prince or princess. Qi You and Wen Yuluo were waiting backstage. Earlier, he had been so focused on watching Qi You wield the sword that he had not even noticed a bump raised on Qi You’s forehead, which was partially hidden by his bangs.
Wen Yuluo asked hurriedly: “Qi…”
He originally intended to call him Senior Qi, but after being reminded by the WeChat message Qi You sent last night, he felt he could not say it out of his mouth. The words reached his lips and he changed them: “Older brother, what happened to your forehead?”
Qi You’s pupils contracted. Hearing this childish “older brother,” he froze for a moment, then suddenly remembered it was he who had told Wen Yuluo to call him that.
“It is nothing,” he answered briefly.
In truth, it was because he was too focused on replying to his messages last night and walked straight into a streetlamp.
This kind of reply left no room to continue the conversation. Wen Yuluo let out an “oh” and shifted his attention back to the stage.
It took three minutes before Qi You realized he had been somewhat cold. Looking at the badge hanging on Wen Yuluo’s chest, he took the initiative to strike up a conversation: “Why did you want to play the princess?”
Because there were too many characters and they did not wear play costumes during rehearsals, everyone wore a badge on their chest with their corresponding role written on it.
On Wen Yuluo’s chest were simply the two characters for ‘princess’.
He obviously could not say it was because he did not want to see him kissing other girls, so he thought of stepping up himself.
“Actually, it is just because our class does not have any girls suitable for playing the princess.”
Qi You continued: “I heard that on the day you all cast roles, everyone was wearing the play costumes?”
Wen Yuluo nodded.
“A bit of a pity.”
“Ah? Pity what?”
The corner of Qi You’s lips curled up: “A pity I did not get to see you wearing a dress.”
Wen Yuluo’s heart felt like a lake that had been struck, sending ripples outward. He put on a calm facade and said: “On the day of the official performance, you will definitely see it.”
After waiting backstage for half the day, it finally reached the third scene. Once the curtain dropped, Qi You appeared on the stage, surrounded by vines blocking his path. He drew his sword with a sharp expression, timing his movements with absolute precision. In the blink of an eye, it was the final act, and the princess made her entrance.
Wen Yuluo lay on the prop bed, waiting for the prince to come save him. After closing his eyes, he could not see a thing; he could only hear Qi You’s footsteps drawing closer and closer to him, until he stopped right beside him.
Qi You looked down at Wen Yuluo’s lips and bent his upper body downward. In this scene, he was going to kiss the princess awake.
Just as everyone held their breath waiting for this kiss to land, Xie Xia shouted from off stage: “Alright, cut! Prepare for the next scene.”
Qi You swept a glacial gaze across the stage.
Xie Xia explained: “We need to save time. The kiss scene has no technical depth, so we do not need to rehearse it in such detail.”
The curtain pulled shut once more, and Wen Yuluo jumped off the bed to help the prop crew move it.
He breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Even if it was just camera angles, his heart could not take it.
There was still plenty of time, so they rehearsed several more scenes consecutively. Xie Xia barely shouted cut from beginning to end, but whenever it came to the kiss scene, he called it at the most perfectly timed moments, meaning Wen Yuluo basically could not take any advantage of Qi You at all.
Wen Yuluo felt a bit gloomy, little knowing that Qi You felt even gloomier.