Sun Rui let go as soon as Ji Ran spoke, his eyes filled with undisguised shock.
Qiu Muyang nearly choked on the water he was drinking after hearing Ji Ran’s words.
His sharp intuition told him that the top student’s attitude toward Xu Yan was completely different from how he treated the rest of them.
Xu Yan, however, didn’t find anything unusual about Ji Ran’s statement. He naturally took the milk tea and began drinking it.
Noticing the rare silence from Qiu Muyang and Sun Rui, he raised an eyebrow slightly and said, “What? Ji Ran bought this specifically for me. Got a problem?”
Qiu Muyang quickly replied, “No, no, not at all. Let’s eat, hurry up—I’m starving.”
The atmosphere at the table livened up again. By the end of the meal, Qiu Muyang even started teasing Ji Ran: “Top student, you treat Xu Yan so differently.”
“Don’t you think Xu Yan is good-looking too?”
Ji Ran: “…”
“Qiu Muyang, are you drunk?” Xu Yan asked, looking horrified. “You think I’m good-looking? You’re not into me, are you?”
Qiu Muyang shot back, “Xu Yan, you’re disgusting. I’m straight as an arrow—get lost.”
Xu Yan and Sun Rui continued joking at Qiu Muyang’s expense, completely missing the gloomy look in Ji Ran’s eyes.
Xu Yan thought that after this meal, Ji Ran would become closer to everyone. But things didn’t go as smoothly as he had hoped.
Lately, Xu Yan noticed that Ji Ran’s attitude toward him seemed to have reverted to how it was before.
“Ji Ran, how do you solve this problem?” Xu Yan nudged his physics workbook toward Ji Ran’s elbow, glancing at the calligraphy copybook Ji Ran was practicing with.
A regular script copybook.
“Huh? You’re practicing regular script? Since we’re in our second year of high school, you should try practicing semi-cursive—it’ll help you write faster,” Xu Yan kindly suggested.
“No need.”
Wow, so cold.
“The answer key for the physics workbook, separate booklet, page 12, has a detailed explanation.”
Oh, that was in response to the question Xu Yan had just asked.
Why, though? How did one meal manage to set his relationship with Ji Ran back?
Feeling a bit down, Xu Yan slowly slid the physics workbook back to his own desk and began rummaging through his desk drawer for the answer key.
“Ji Ran, I can’t find my answer key… Can I borrow yours?” Xu Yan asked proactively.
What he really wanted was Ji Ran’s handwritten problem-solving notes. He had used them a few times before and found them incredibly helpful for his thought process.
But to his surprise, Ji Ran handed over the actual answer booklet, even thoughtfully flipping to page 12 for him.
Xu Yan took the booklet, sighed, and shook his head. “Ji Ran, I don’t understand this explanation.”
“Could you teach me?”
Xu Yan felt like he had never spoken like this before—it was sticky and kind of gross. It was all Qiu Muyang’s fault; now he was starting to annoy Ji Ran too.
Ji Ran gently set down his pen and let out a soft sigh. Ever since that meal, he had begun to realize that his feelings for Xu Yan might be different from how Xu Yan felt about him.
Whenever he saw Xu Yan hanging out with his friends, he felt a strange, possessive urge to rush over and keep Xu Yan firmly by his side.
These past few days, he had been trying to figure out what this inexplicable emotion was, even avoiding Xu Yan a little.
“Is that okay?”
“Give it here,” Ji Ran finally conceded.
Seeing his plan succeed, Xu Yan’s eyes lit up instantly. His previously somewhat dejected expression vanished, replaced by a bright, smiling face with curved brows and eyes. “I knew you wouldn’t refuse to explain it to me.”
Ji Ran fell silent for a moment, then took Xu Yan’s physics problem and began to explain.
They sat very close together. Even though they were just going over a problem, they could still hear each other’s breathing.
Xu Yan sat up straight, listening intently and nodding along. But Ji Ran noticed the slightly tousled hair on Xu Yan’s forehead. He stopped speaking and instinctively reached out to touch a stray lock of Xu Yan’s hair.
So soft. Just as he had imagined.
“Huh?” Xu Yan immediately covered his hair, looking at Ji Ran in surprise. “Is there something on my hair? It’s not a bug, is it?”
Ji Ran shook his head and asked, “Are you afraid of bugs?”
Xu Yan made a disgusted expression and gestured with his hands. “Those soft, slimy things are the worst.”
Ji Ran nodded slightly, his thin lips parting as if to say something, but Xu Yan immediately cut him off. “Hurry up and explain the problem!”
With determined eyes and brimming enthusiasm, Xu Yan adopted a posture ready to battle the physics problem until dawn. He said to Ji Ran, “I’m definitely going to conquer this damn physics problem today.”
Ji Ran responded with a mix of silence and helplessness. “Alright.”
Ji Ran thought to himself, this would be the closest he ever came to hating physics. He had almost been able to figure out Xu Yan’s likes and dislikes.
Outside the window, the ground was covered with fallen ginkgo leaves. A few sparse leaves clung precariously to the branches, swaying and ready to fall. As the bleak autumn wind blew, the ginkgo leaves swirled into little whirlpools on the playground.
Xu Yan stared at the whirlpools, hugging the puffy lace cake dress he had rented for the arts festival, squatting on the ground in a daze.
He was about to wear women’s clothing. He would also have to wear a wavy wig and put on makeup. Why had he agreed to Qiu Muyang’s request back then? Hahaha, let the world just end.
But outwardly, he appeared extremely calm, so calm that he didn’t say a word.
“Yanzi… are you okay?” Qiu Muyang tiptoed over to Xu Yan’s side and patted his shoulder. He now felt that Xu Yan’s mental state wasn’t quite normal.
“Huh?” Xu Yan smiled. “I’m fine. I’m perfectly fine. It’s just a puffy lace dress, right? I’m fine. I’ve never been better.”
Qiu Muyang burst into laughter, agreeing. “I knew you wouldn’t mind at all, Yanzi. I thought you were getting all emo.”
“Exactly, it’s just cross-dressing. What’s the big deal? The world isn’t full of an audience just for you.”
Xu Yan: “…”
It made sense, but not much. He felt that this particular dress was entirely the result of Qiu Muyang’s own twisted sense of humor, deliberately chosen for that reason.
“Did you pick this dress?” Xu Yan asked through gritted teeth.
Qiu Muyang tilted his head, playing dumb. “Huh? What did you say?”
“Let’s go try on the clothes first to see if they fit.” Just as Xu Yan and Qiu Muyang were bickering, a clear, cool female voice suddenly chimed in.
Qiu Muyang, who had been acting silly just moments before, immediately straightened up. He smiled and scratched his head, replying, “Hehe, sure thing, Ning-jie.”
Shu Ning also smiled politely and nodded. “You take the boys to change. I’ll go check on the girls in our class.”
“Got it.”
Xu Yan reluctantly put on the dress. The moment he stepped out of the restroom stall, Ji Ran happened to finish changing and emerged from the adjacent stall.
Ji Ran was just a narrator for this arts festival, but he wore a clean, crisp white shirt paired with black trousers—simple yet formal.
Perhaps because it was a bit tight, the top button of his shirt wasn’t fully fastened, leaving the collar open just enough to reveal his collarbone. The half-rolled-up sleeves of his shirt also clearly outlined the faint lines of muscle on his arms.
Though still a teenager, Ji Ran’s figure at this moment carried a hint of maturity.
Xu Yan stared absentmindedly at Ji Ran’s arms, thinking, Ji Ran actually has muscles. I don’t.
Ji Ran tugged uncomfortably at his collar, his gaze resting calmly on Xu Yan.
The two of them fell into silence.
One was lost in thought, the other wasn’t fond of talking.
“Shall we go?” Ji Ran asked first.
“Huh? Oh, yeah, okay.” Xu Yan snapped back to reality and replied immediately, gathering up the fluffy, obstructive skirt of his dress in a rather unrestrained manner as he lowered his head and walked out.
Ji Ran followed behind Xu Yan, his lowered gaze catching sight of Xu Yan’s faintly flushed earlobes and neck.
Is he… shy?
“Ji Ran, do you think I look weird like this?”
“Actually, this isn’t the first time I’ve worn women’s clothing. When I was really young, my mom and the others forced me to wear it once.”
“I didn’t understand back then—I was just a kid—but I thought the design of girls’ dresses was quite pretty. So I half-heartedly agreed.”
“But my mom and all the relatives around me started laughing at me.”
“Ji Ran, do you think I look strange like this?”
Xu Yan clutched the fluffy skirt he had haphazardly bunched up in front of him, turning around with his head lowered, his face flushed red as he asked Ji Ran behind him.
He hadn’t even realized he could chatter on and on about his childhood to Ji Ran. After finishing, he felt a bit embarrassed and immediately lowered his head again.
The rising heat in his cheeks was almost scorching him. In a moment of self-abandonment, he looked up and met Ji Ran’s intense gaze.
The autumn wind arrived just in time, cooling Xu Yan’s flushed cheeks while also softening the intensity in Ji Ran’s eyes.
“Not strange,” Ji Ran paused, “very cute.”
“Oh, that’s good then.”
Xu Yan nodded and turned to continue walking ahead, completely unaware that after saying this, a faint pink hue slowly spread across Ji Ran’s neck.
Back in the classroom, Xu Yan felt even more embarrassed.
Because he realized that everyone else who had tried on costumes for the play had already changed back into their school uniforms. Only he and Ji Ran had foolishly returned to the classroom still wearing theirs.
Ji Ran was fine, but Xu Yan was so embarrassed he could have exploded on the spot.
Qiu Muyang and Sun Rui stared at Xu Yan in his dress, their mouths agape. After hesitating for a while, Qiu Muyang managed to blurt out, “Holy crap.”
Sun Rui echoed, “Holy crap.”
“Hmm, it suits you,” Shu Ning, who had appeared beside Qiu Muyang at some point, commented as she looked at Xu Yan.
Seeming to sense Xu Yan’s embarrassment, Shu Ning smiled and said, “Xu Yan, this outfit really suits you. I was actually worried you might not be able to fit into it.”
“Xu Yan… you actually wore it back here, ha—” Some classmates in the class were about to laugh at Xu Yan, but Shu Ning shot them a fierce glare, silencing them. “It’s my rented outfit. I didn’t know if it would fit Xu Yan, so I asked him to try it on and show me. Got a problem?”
“No problem, no problem.”
“Can I change out of it now?” Xu Yan asked Shu Ning anxiously.
She knew Shuning had just been covering for him, so he naturally picked up the cue and pulled Ji Ran in front of him as a shield.
Who said life didn’t have that many spectators? Their entire class was his audience.
“Go on, go on.” As soon as Shuning finished speaking, Xu Yan grabbed Ji Ran and dashed straight toward the restroom.
The night of the Lilin No. 3 High School campus arts festival.
Since Class 2 of the second year’s performance was scheduled quite late, the group performing the play from Class 2 felt no pressure, leisurely changing into their costumes.
“Damn, the top student looks so handsome in this outfit and makeup,” Qiu Muyang couldn’t help but exclaim as he looked at Ji Ran, who had just finished getting his makeup done.
Ji Ran replied indifferently, “It’s alright.” He then turned to look at Xu Yan, who was getting his hair and makeup done, ignoring Qiu Muyang.
Ji Ran watched as Xu Yan put on a wig, had a layer of foundation applied by the makeup artist, and then a bunch of unfamiliar products were dabbed onto his face.
He frowned slightly, thinking the makeup artist’s touch was a bit heavy, and that Xu Yan looked just fine without makeup.
But the moment Xu Yan turned around after finishing his makeup, Ji Ran froze in place.
His gaze met Xu Yan’s, overlapped, and then drifted apart, only for a few tactless people to intrude into his line of sight.
“Yanzi, I knew I made the right choice letting you play this role!”
“Yeah, yeah, you look so good, no one would even guess you’re a guy dressed as a girl.”
“Yan’er, if you were a girl, I’d probably have a crush on you.”
Xu Yan awkwardly looked at the crowd swarming around him, wanting to shout, “Ji Ran, save me!”
But before he could say it, he saw Ji Ran, leaning against the doorway, turn and walk away.
Ji Ran… he seemed unhappy.
“Next, let’s welcome Class 2 of the second year with their play, Joyful Rain.”
The glaring stage lights suddenly flashed on, making it hard for Xu Yan to keep his eyes open.
Standing in the center of the stage, bathed in the spotlight above him, he instinctively glanced toward Ji Ran, who was holding a folder on the right side of the stage.
Ji Ran was backlit, he thought.
A cool, clear voice suddenly echoed through the auditorium of Lilin No. 3 High School. The massive curtain slowly drew open, completely obscuring Ji Ran until he vanished from sight.
Ji Ran was gone.
Xu Yan reached out to grab him but grasped only air. His body began to feel as light as a feather, plummeting rapidly until he hit the ground.
“Bang—”
He woke from the dream.