Squatting down, Tan Ze sliced open the delivery box to reveal five neatly stacked, individually wrapped boxes inside. Checking the depth of the shipping carton, he found another five waiting underneath.
He let out a silent sigh of relief—thankfully they were individually boxed. If Liang Xubai had laid eyes on them, there was a nine-out-of-ten chance he would’ve made fun of him again.
Pulling out the top five boxes, Tan Ze stacked them neatly, changed into his house slippers, carried them into his bedroom, and came back out for the remaining five.
Fate, however, was not on his side. On this trip out, the very top box slipped from the stack and crashed right down beside Liang Xubai’s feet.
Before he could stop him, the helpful Liang Xubai had already squatted down, flipped the box over, picked up the dress enclosed in its sealed plastic bag, glanced up at Tan Ze, and slowly re-closed the lid.
Supporting the box with one hand, Liang Xubai placed it back down securely for him. “Buying so many dresses this time?”
“It… wasn’t me who bought them!” Having learned his lesson this time, Tan Ze reflexively clamped a hand down firmly over the top of the box in denial.
Liang Xubai let out an amused “Oh?” and asked, “Then who bought them?”
“What kind of person would buy you dresses to wear?” Liang Xubai chuckled, effectively insulting himself. “A creep?”
“What business is it of yours? Takes a creep to know one,” Tan Ze frowned, snapping right back.
Though, admittedly, he did think Black Dog buying him ten of them was actually pretty creepy.
No matter what, though, it certainly wasn’t Liang Xubai’s place to judge.
Tan Ze carried the items back to his bedroom and didn’t come out again.
Back in his room, Tan Ze unpacked the dresses Black Dog had bought. They were all from the same brand and clearly not cheap; a simple touch of the fabric told him it was high quality, and each box even thoughtfully included matching accessories.
Nothing overly revealing, completely natural, and every single set looked genuinely good.
Tan Ze didn’t even want to calculate how much a whole bed’s worth of clothes cost—it probably wouldn’t be less than five figures. He was afraid the more he thought about it, the more class-resentful he’d become. Rich people really did just throw money at impractical things.
That said, a subtle part of his heart was still moved.
Who had ever spent money on him like this? Not even Tan Chengxuan.
The most generous people toward him were probably his grandparents. Back in middle school, when his pride and vanity were at their peak, they used their retirement money to buy him basketball shoes for his birthday. Their monthly pension was only a little over three thousand yuan, yet they took nearly a thousand of it to buy him a gift. That night, Tan Ze had hugged those basketball shoes and cried for hours.
He wondered if he should be hugging these clothes and crying right now, too.
Feeling somewhat conflicted, he opened his chat window with Black Dog and edited a moderately long message telling him that the package had arrived, that he was very happy and surprised by the extravagance, and that he would work hard on his streams, and so on.
Glancing back at the chat box that had remained silent ever since “Little liar,” Tan Ze carefully weighed his tone before typing out another message.
Tan Ze: [Can you come watch me today? Starry-eyes.jpg]
Tan Ze: [I’m sorry, Ge… I misunderstood. I don’t have much experience as a streamer, and I’ve heard from fellow streamers that some people buy for streamers really revealing clothes and demand they wear them on stream. That’s the only reason I turned it down—you can never be too careful! It was just my narrow-mindedness, Ge.]
Black Dog: [Am I a creep?]
Tan Ze: [No, no, no, I just misunderstood, I’m really sorry.]
Black Dog: [I’ll come tomorrow night. Busy tonight.]
Tan Ze: [Work stuff? I forgot to ask earlier, how old are you, Ge? You seem offline a lot, your life must be super busy.]
Black Dog: [Two years older than you.]
Tan Ze: [Ohh, are you in grad school? I noticed your IP address is in the same province as mine, is it pretty close to Jiang City? That must make shipping things to you super convenient with low postage.]
Black Dog: [Yeah, grad student.]
Tan Ze: [Ge, that’s amazing! But grad school really must be super busy and tiring. I’m about to go live stream now, see you tomorrow!]
Tan Ze: [Bunny heart.jpg]
Finally finishing his conversation with Black Dog, Tan Ze felt a profound sense of relief. Trying to maintain this level of high energy and high engagement while texting a guy was genuinely exhausting. Whenever he re-read the chat logs later, he’d often feel thoroughly disgusted with himself.
Still, Black Dog seemed to eat it up.
That’s fine, then.
As long as it wasn’t a waste of effort.
Tan Ze streamed until nearly two in the morning before logging off. With a punishing schedule of classes the following day—including a notoriously strict major course—he didn’t dare stay up too late.
Waking up at 7:30 AM, Tan Ze rushed out the door and noticed one pair of shoes was missing from Liang Xubai’s shoe cabinet. What was this idling senior up to, heading out so early?
Ignoring it, Tan Ze hopped on a shared bike and pedaled to campus.
By the time he finished a full day of classes, he felt completely drained. Meeting up with Lei Miaomiao for a heavy, stress-relieving meal finally gave him a faint sense of returning to life.
“Let’s go shoot some pool for a couple of hours,” Lei Miaomiao nudged.
Prompted by the suggestion, Tan Ze half-heartedly let himself be dragged into a nearby billiard hall.
The pool hall was a bit hazy and rowdy. Billiard halls near universities always attracted a mixed crowd of every stripe, though compared to his hometown, it was at least somewhat orderly since it catered partly to college students.
The pool halls in small county towns were usually run by rough, brawny guys covered in tacky tattoos, chain-smoking packs of cigarettes amid the greasy aroma of instant noodles and cheap tobacco from the front desk—conditions harsh enough to make you feel like you’d just stepped into a triad den.
Tying his hair back, Tan Ze leaned over the table and cleanly banked a ball into the pocket. He stood up, chalked his cue tip, and took another shot, clearing away the majority of his solid-colored balls before handing the turn over to Lei Miaomiao.
Just as he stepped back with his cue, a familiar voice called out to him.
“Tan Ze!”
Turning his head, Tan Ze spotted Xia Xuan.
“Xia Xuan?” Tan Ze pulled his cue back slightly. “You play pool too?”
With bright eyes, Xia Xuan walked up quickly. “Just playing around with some friends. Is this your friend?”
Nudged by Tan Ze’s cue against his leg, Lei Miaomiao grunted, “Yeah, childhood friend.”
Privately, Xia Xuan had done his homework on Tan Ze, knowing he had a close friend studying traditional Chinese medicine named Lei Miaomiao. Meeting him in person today, he realized the guy’s actual vibe clashed wildly with such an adorably cutesy name.
Lei Miaomiao offered a casual greeting before returning his focus to his game.
Smiling softly, Xia Xuan said, “Tan-ge, I’m really sorry about last time—those guys didn’t watch you properly and let you get plastered with all those drinks… But how come you ended up living with Liang Xubai?”
“It’s a long story.” Hearing that name made Tan Ze’s face twitch slightly, wearing a clear expression of unwillingness to elaborate.
Xia Xuan probed gently, “So if you’re looking to rent, do you still want to room with me?”
“I’ll go check it out with you in a couple of days,” Tan Ze murmured thoughtfully. “See what the environment is like.”
“Awesome!”
Tan Ze waved a hand at him. It was his turn to shoot again after Lei Miaomiao called out to him. Speed-clearing the table and dropping the final black eight-ball to wrap up the match in a flash, Tan Ze turned back to find Xia Xuan still standing right where he was.
Staring just a little too long.
“Need anything else?” Tan Ze asked from across the table. Hearing this, Lei Miaomiao also glanced over at Xia Xuan.
Xia Xuan replied, “I’m throwing a birthday party next month, Department Head. Can you make it?”
Figuring something so minor didn’t warrant an in-person invite, Tan Ze pondered for two seconds before offering a polite smile. “If nothing urgent comes up, I’ll be there. Just text me the time and details later.”
Once Xia Xuan walked away, Lei Miaomiao reset the table and walked over with a curious look. “Tan Ze, why do I feel like something’s off about him?”
Silenced for two seconds, Tan Ze glared at Lei Miaomiao. “What’s off about him?”
“Just the way he looks at you—it feels super worshipful,” Lei Miaomiao searched for a description. “Wait… no, not quite worship. Adoration? Still doesn’t fit.”
Failing to find the right word, Lei Miaomiao looked intensely frustrated as he rubbed the back of his head, words failing him at the tip of his tongue.
Tan Ze said expressionlessly: “His eyes are only that big, and yours are just that big too. Exactly why are you reading into it?”
“Maybe I’m imagining things, then. Oh right, you’re moving out of Liang Xubai’s place to room with this Xia Xuan guy? Didn’t you say you hated spending money unnecessarily?”
“Yeah, but I don’t want to live with Liang Xubai anymore.” Tan Ze’s tone dipped slightly, sounding rather heavy.
“Did he tick you off?”
Tan Ze: “Maybe. Your turn.”
…….
Tan Ze returned home rather late that night, worried he might miss his scheduled stream time. Bursting into the apartment, he was greeted right at the entryway by Liang Xubai, who looked like he was just heading for a shower.
Making too much noise, Tan Ze prompted Liang Xubai to glance back at him.
“Liang Xubai!” Tan Ze quickly called out to stop him. “Can you let me shower first?”
Raising an eyebrow, Liang Xubai checked the clock. “Why?”
“I’ve got stuff to do in a bit, and I need to wash my hair. Your hair is short, can’t you yield for once?” If Tan Ze didn’t wash up now, he’d have to do it after streaming, and gods knew what hour that would be.
Standing in place for a moment, Liang Xubai surprisingly agreed with unusual ease, stepping aside to make room. “Go ahead.”
In a frantic rush, Tan Ze bolted into the bathroom.
Tossing his clothes back onto the rack, Liang Xubai sat in the living room using his phone. The sound of running water blasted loudly from the bathroom; Tan Ze was clearly in a serious rush. Glancing through a few messages, he switched accounts and spotted the “See you tonight!” message Tan Ze had sent him earlier, tapping out a quick reply agreeing to it.
He tapped into Tan Ze’s Moments feed. Tan Ze kept his real life and his streaming life strictly separated by grouping his contacts. Liang Xubai’s main account could only see his real-life posts, while Black Dog could only see his streaming promotions.
Tan Ze wasn’t much for taking photos; he mostly posted selfies, and the angles weren’t particularly flattering—they relied entirely on carrying the look with a pretty face.
Scrolling down quite a bit, he reached a post from half a year ago where Tan Ze had playfully documented his journey of growing his hair out. The first photo showed him with short hair, and the second was a picture of himself during the awkward middle phase with a blunt bob.
He even had a blue hairpin clipped to his head, staring at the camera with a look of pure grievance.
The caption accompanying the photo read—“My stubborn old man insisted on taking this picture of me.”
Staring at it for a long moment, Liang Xubai pressed down to save the photo.
After waiting quite a while, the sound of water in the bathroom finally ceased. Standing up to grab a fresh change of clothes, he walked over to the bathroom door and waited for Tan Ze to emerge.
With a sharp click, the door swung open, releasing a wave of hot air thick with bath steam. The very first thing that registered in Liang Xubai’s vision was Tan Ze’s chest, flushed pink from the heat.
Above his belly button ran a deep, defined furrow, and beneath a narrow, lean waist, faint, engorged veins pulsed slightly against the skin as his abdomen rose and fell with each breath.
Tan Ze’s damp hair clung to his neck and chest, droplets of water rolling down along his muscle lines before disappearing into the bath towel wrapped snugly around his lower half.
Never expecting Liang Xubai to be standing right outside the door, Tan Ze instinctively took a step back—only for his foot to slip violently, sending his forehead crashing hard against Liang Xubai’s chest.
Liang Xubai reached out and steadied him. “Watch it.”
With his nose aching from the impact, Tan Ze shoved away the hand Liang Xubai had planted on his waist and snapped irritably, “Why on earth are you lurking right by the door? You scared the life out of me.”
Without waiting for a reply, Tan Ze brushed past him and dove straight into his bedroom, slamming the door shut.
Liang Xubai couldn’t deny that Tan Ze was in pretty good shape—he had the standard, solid build of a young man. Carrying him the other night, he’d thought the guy felt a bit too light, but seeing him clearly now, he realized it was actually just right.
His muscle distribution was even, with long, slender limbs.
There was also a very distinct mole right on his chest.
Liang Xubai raised the hand that still felt slightly damp, the smooth, delicate texture of Tan Ze’s skin somehow lingering between his palms.