Xie Lan didn’t want to get angry, and he didn’t want to frighten her.
But her attitude made it hard for him to keep himself in check.
“Shengsheng, he’s a man.” His tone was fairly calm, but if she had looked closely, she would have seen his jaw clenched tight and the flush of anger spreading up the right side of his neck.
“He and Mengmeng were the first friends I made at school.”
“They were your friends before, but he lied to you. Do you still want to be friends with him?”
Jiang Wangsheng thought that if he had committed an unforgivable wrong, she naturally wouldn’t want to be his friend.
But right now, simply dressing as a woman didn’t seem quite so unforgivable.
When she didn’t answer, Xie Lan’s expression darkened.
“Baby, please…”
He deliberately lowered his head and buried it against her neck and shoulder, his voice taking on a pleading, almost coquettish note. He looked utterly pitiful.
“Besides, now that Shengsheng has me, shouldn’t she keep her distance from other men?”
Xie Lan deliberately put it another way.
If she couldn’t distance herself from him as a friend, then shouldn’t she keep her distance from him as a man?
Jiang Wangsheng fell for his argument.
Although she and Xie Lan were going to break up, they were still a couple for now.
She lowered her head and thought for a long while before nodding and saying softly, “I understand. I’ll keep my distance from him, but we’ll still be friends.”
Xie Lan wasn’t entirely satisfied with her answer, but it would do.
Shengsheng always kept her word.
The one he really had to watch out for was Lin Yun.
“Good. Thank you, Baby.” As he spoke, his lips slid from her shoulder toward her neck.
Jiang Wangsheng pushed him away in time. “I have class this afternoon. Could you take me back to school?”
With her hand pressed over his mouth, Xie Lan’s sharp brows drooped slightly. His eyes were pale, and the loose strands of hair over his forehead made him look rather docile.
He moved her hand aside and brushed his lips against the corner of her mouth before saying, “All right. I’ll take you there after lunch.”
When Jiang Wangsheng went to school that afternoon, she noticed a few more uncomfortable looks aimed her way.
She pressed her lips together and hurried along.
“Shengsheng!”
A woman in a camisole and daringly short shorts hurried over from a distance and affectionately linked arms with her.
She had striking features and stood a full 176 centimeters tall, the very picture of a campus goddess. She scooped Jiang Wangsheng up in her arms and lifted her right off the ground.
Jiang Wangsheng realized her feet weren’t touching the ground. Blushing, she stammered, “M-Mengmeng, put me down.”
“I’ve missed you so much. It’s been ages!” Zhuang Mengmeng set her down.
She had just returned from abroad. Before that, she’d gone with her team to Europe for a small mechanical engineering competition.
Zhuang Mengmeng patted her head, then suddenly leaned in close and whispered, “Babe, have you broken up with that sicko boyfriend yet?”
Jiang Wangsheng shook her head.
“Ugh, what a pain,” Zhuang Mengmeng grumbled.
She had met Xie Lan before, and she was sure he really cared about Shengsheng.
But there was just something… mysterious about him. His whole aura was too dark, and she was afraid Shengsheng would get hurt.
Zhuang Mengmeng asked her a bunch of other questions, and they chatted for a while. Only then did she notice people around them glancing their way, some openly and some when they thought no one was looking.
“Did I get even prettier while I was abroad?” Zhuang Mengmeng felt her face, then clicked her tongue.
At least they had good taste.
“Shengsheng, where’s Lin Yun? The three of us should go out for dinner tonight.”
Jiang Wangsheng wasn’t sure how to explain. After hesitating, she told Mengmeng straight out that Lin Yun was a man.
She also filled her in on what had happened the day before.
“What? I thought he was some aloof goddess! Turns out he’s a cross-dressing guy!”
Lin Yun had come to school that afternoon, dressed as a man.
His long hair was real, and because he had been wearing women’s clothes and his features were difficult to gender, they had mistaken him for a woman.
He wore a black T-shirt, his long hair tied back in a somewhat artfully messy style.
A diamond-shaped hoop hung from one ear. His naturally unshaped brows grew wild, giving him a bold look with a hint of madness.
Lin Yun had narrow, phoenix-shaped eyes, and his irises were an intense black.
“Shengsheng. Mengmeng.”
He walked toward them, a curve at the corner of his lips.
Jiang Wangsheng and Zhuang Mengmeng both stared at him, dumbfounded.
Zhuang Mengmeng slapped him hard on the chest and sucked in a breath. “You! Those are some impressive pecs!”
Lin Yun pressed a hand to the spot she’d hit, frowning slightly.
“Zhuang Mengmeng, a lady should show a little restraint.”
“You’ve got some nerve! Dressing as a woman, huh? Are you…” She suddenly remembered Shengsheng standing nearby.
When Lin Yun had dressed as a woman, he’d always stuck close to Shengsheng. Back then, she hadn’t thought anything of it. After all, that was how lovely and harmonious friendships between girls could be.
But now that she knew he was a man, and thought back to everything that had happened… Zhuang Mengmeng suddenly saw the light.
“You were trying to make a move on our Shengsheng, weren’t you?”
The two of them looked at her at the same time.
Jiang Wangsheng glanced from Zhuang Mengmeng to Lin Yun and awkwardly tugged at the corner of her mouth.
“Mengmeng, you’re overthinking it.”
Lin Yun stared at her profile, then quickly turned his gaze away.
He had only dressed as a woman because he’d lost a bet before starting university; cross-dressing had been his punishment.
But on the first day of school, he had bumped into Jiang Wangsheng as she hurried to register.
She was wearing a neat white shirt and trousers, her hair tied in a ponytail. She looked fresh and lively.
They accidentally collided. Jiang Wangsheng was petite, and if he hadn’t caught her around the waist, she would have fallen to the ground.
Lin Yun was about to apologize when she tilted her face up against his chest. Her delicate, fair face came into view, along with her bright eyes, full of wonder and clarity.
The girl’s voice was youthful and sweet. “Y-You’re really handsome.”
His heart was struck in an instant.
So even after his punishment was over, he kept dressing as a woman.
It wasn’t that he had never changed back into men’s clothes. But once, when they passed each other, Jiang Wangsheng hadn’t recognized him at all. Her gaze had been completely unfamiliar.
So Lin Yun kept wearing women’s clothes when he spent time with her.
Dressed as a woman, he could get closer to her. And every time, Shengsheng would sincerely praise him, telling him how pretty he looked that day.
“Lin Yun, you’re not dressing as a woman anymore?”
Lin Yun put his hands in his pockets. “No, I’m not.”
“Shengsheng, I’m sorry about yesterday. I caused you trouble.”
Lin Yun stood in front of her and lowered his head slightly, apologetic.
He had already deleted the post from the day before, but it had spread quickly, and plenty of people had still heard about it.
He was afraid it would cause her trouble and damage her reputation.
“It’s all right.” Jiang Wangsheng shook her head, then continued, “You did lie to us, but we just talked it over.” The girl glanced at Zhuang Mengmeng beside her, and then they said in unison, “We forgive you.”
Only then did Lin Yun raise his head. When he smiled, the little dimples in his cheeks made him look especially alluring.
“In that case, shall I treat you both to dinner tonight?”
“That’s exactly what I was waiting to hear!” Zhuang Mengmeng pulled Jiang Wangsheng toward the classroom building. They’d be late if they didn’t hurry.
Lin Yun watched them go, his gaze fixed on one of them as he smiled tenderly.
A trace of crimson, feverish intensity in his eyes gave off an unmistakable sense of danger.
Their conversation and the video were recorded, then sent to someone’s phone.