X is Xu Yuanzhe?
Bro, is this even right?
Ji Wenyu couldn’t believe everything in front of him for a moment.
He started an online relationship, and the other party happened to be his former crush. Is this really right?!
Walking slowly from the shop entrance to the table where Xu Yuanzhe was standing, the young man looked at the young man before him, hesitating to speak: “You…”
“I am X.” As soon as Xu Yuanzhe spoke, he cut off his last shred of wishful thinking.
Well, there was no choice but to face reality.
The other person looked much calmer than him, seemingly having known for a long time that the person on the other side of the Qinghe chat interface was him.
After the shock, the emotion that followed was anger.
Xu Yuanzhe knew who he was and intentionally played him for a fool!
“When did you find out…”
As Ji Wenyu asked, his brain spun rapidly, starting to recall every little detail since getting to know X.
No wonder X ordered takeout for him last week, and Xu Yuanzhe happened to run into him and help bring the takeout up. When he sent a message earlier telling him he would be ten minutes late, was it also because he saw he hadn’t had time to blow-dry his hair yet? So that day when he had a fever, X remained indifferent because he knew he was sleeping in the dorm. During those days in Qingcheng, Xu Yuanzhe roughly knew about his family’s troubles, which explained why X didn’t ask a single extra question and acted so considerate and helpful. Every time he suggested adding each other on their regular messaging apps, the other person evaded the topic. It turned out to be because they were already friends. So even after they got together, X still used voice modulation effects on Qinghe.
These trivial details that he had ignored all along actually had reasons behind them.
So when did Xu Yuanzhe figure out who he was?
Was it because of that time he posted the clouds in the sky? Was it because he mentioned his thesis advisor and professional courses? Or was it because of something else?
“Sit down first.” Xu Yuanzhe took the lead in sitting down opposite him, pulled out his phone to scan the ordering code on the table, and then raised his gaze to look at him again: “Xiaoyu, let’s talk.”
Ji Wenyu wasn’t used to being called that by him. To be precise, he wasn’t used to Xu Yuanzhe calling him that.
Yet he still complied. The young man wore a stiff expression, sat down gloomily across the table, lowered his head, and remained silent.
The air fell silent for a moment, and the waiter quickly brought over the drinks Xu Yuanzhe had ordered.
Two cups of caramel chestnut oat soy milk, hot, served in mugs with smiley-face patterns outlined in caramel on top.
Only, Ji Wenyu truly couldn’t muster even a bit of a smile right now.
“Were you doing this on purpose?” The young man picked up a small spoon to stir the hot drink, mashing the pattern on top of the beverage into an absolute mess.
He simply couldn’t understand what kind of motive Xu Yuanzhe had in toying with him like this.
“No.” The young man spoke in a low voice.
He could feel the burning intensity of the other person’s gaze, but Ji Wenyu refused to raise his head.
Until that person let out a light sigh:
“Though I did know who you were right from the start.”
The young man abruptly raised his head, glaring at the young man across from him.
Xu Yuanzhe’s gaze did not dodge: “Qinghe was founded by me and a few friends.”
He, a senior student from the previous year in their department, Yan Qiong from Peking University, and Yan Qiong’s boyfriend, two years ago, the four of them started from scratch to establish Qinghe, a higher education application and communication app. Xu Yuanzhe and Yan Qiong had both grown up together in a military residential compound and were childhood friends. The other two founders were connections of Yan Qiong. The creation of Qinghe initially started as a chance idea sparked between Xu Yuanzhe and Yan Qiong. Yan Qiong’s network formed the founding team, while Xu Yuanzhe and the other two guys provided technical support. Yan Qiong handled operations and coordinated the relationship between the Beijing and Nanjing universities. Thus, Qinghe gradually evolved from an idea into a social interaction app that now covers a massive number of university students.
“I wrote a special piece of code in the back end to capture when you came online. From the very moment you started using Qinghe, I knew Little Fish was your account.” Xu Yuanzhe looked away with a guilty conscience, his voice lowering bit by bit.
“You specifically captured when I came online…” Ji Wenyu blinked lightly, as if suddenly realizing something.
“Yes.” Xu Yuanzhe also began stirring his own drink, his fingers gripping the small spoon exerting unnatural force due to tension.
No wonder X happened to notice his particular reply among numerous others; his follow-back wasn’t because X approved of his reply, and becoming study buddies wasn’t because of Wang Xinno’s application, even if the girl hadn’t helped him apply, Xu Yuanzhe probably would have found a way to team up with him anyway. All of X’s kindness and help were not accidental.
X, meaning Xu Yuanzhe, had been aiming for him from the very beginning.
“Why?” Vaguely guessing the answer, Ji Wenyu stared fixedly into Xu Yuanzhe’s eyes, wanting to catch any clues from the other person’s expression.
Unexpectedly, this time Xu Yuanzhe was open and straightforward.
“Because—” The young man met his eyes and took a deep breath, “Ji Wenyu, I like you. I’ve liked you since a very, very long time ago.”
Because he liked him, he wanted to take the initiative to get closer. Ji Wenyu opening Qinghe was the opportunity Xu Yuanzhe had been waiting for.
All coincidences were premeditated, and every accident was deliberately arranged.
Ji Wenyu had never imagined that the Xu Yuanzhe he had secretly crushed on all this time was actually secretly liking him back as well.
“I actually wanted to tell you who I was, but at first I didn’t dare say it, and later I didn’t know how to say it. I figured that once we met, you would naturally figure it out,” Xu Yuanzhe explained cautiously.
His heartbeat was violent, as if scrambling to respond to the other person’s affection. The smile at the corners of Ji Wenyu’s lips gradually became uncontrollable. He picked up his mug and took a sip of the drink inside; the sweetness of the soy milk trickled bit by bit into his mouth, echoing through his chest.
This truly was the biggest mix-up he had ever encountered in his life.
His online dating partner turned out to be his roommate, and after three days of online dating, they had already been roommates for two years.
Seeing him lower his head in silence, Xu Yuanzhe began to grow nervous: “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hide it from you on purpose.”
The young man abruptly raised his head: “Then before, when Huang Bin ran into you and the girl on a date in the library—”
Xu Yuanzhe flatly denied it: “What date? That time Yan Qiong came to find me to discuss official business, and I remember we were discussing Qinghe’s check-in event.”
It turned out to be with Yan Qiong, and everything made complete sense now. Ji Wenyu had a sudden flash of enlightenment.
Yet he still felt there was a logical flaw: “But you knew Huang Bin misunderstood, why didn’t you explain?”
With Xu Yuanzhe’s intelligence, he definitely could have seen through Huang Bin’s strange look toward him and Yan Qiong at a glance. Yet he deliberately left it unexplained, letting their entire dorm misunderstand.
An embarrassed expression flashed across the young man’s handsome face, and he coughed lightly twice: “I…”
Ji Wenyu waited for him to continue: “Hmm?”
Xu Yuanzhe: “I wanted to see your reaction.”
Roommates for two years, having played video games together and drank together, but even when drunk, Ji Wenyu had never mentioned his ideal type. Xu Yuanzhe didn’t share his crush with anyone else in the dorm because he didn’t talk much to begin with, and his crush happened to be his own roommate; he didn’t dare say it. But Ji Wenyu was usually talkative yet hadn’t revealed a single shred of a hint in this regard, so Xu Yuanzhe couldn’t gauge whether he already had someone he liked.
Not explaining it to Huang Bin on the spot back then was done in the hope of probing Ji Wenyu’s attitude from his reaction. Seeing Ji Wenyu lie in bed for three days, Xu Yuanzhe couldn’t help overthinking: could the other person be heartbroken from mistakenly thinking he was with someone else? Yet a few days later, Ji Wenyu was bouncing around again, didn’t come to question him, and treated him just like before, which made Xu Yuanzhe feel once more that he was overthinking it. Because he liked Ji Wenyu, he paid attention to every single move the other person made. Perhaps during those few days, Ji Wenyu simply didn’t want to get out of bed; he was afraid of making a fool of himself by reading too much into it. Living in the same dorm, if Ji Wenyu had zero interest in him yet found out about his feelings, wouldn’t the next two years become terribly awkward?
“Oh.” Ji Wenyu lowered his head again, using the small spoon to skim off the foam on top of the soy milk bit by bit. So the truth turned out to be like this, to think he had felt so miserable for Xu Yuanzhe back then.
“Are you angry?” The young man watched him nervously.
“No.” The young man shook his head, “But when you probed me before, I took it seriously. I thought you really were taken. I was very sad. Xu Yuanzhe, I was really very sad back then.”
“I’m sorry…” Xu Yuanzhe paused slightly, apologizing once more, “I’m sorry, Xiaoyu, it was my fault.”
“An apology needs sincerity, Xu Yuanzhe.” Looking back at the young man, Ji Wenyu had already composed his expression. “You have to make it up to me.”
Before he even asked how to make it up, the young man agreed readily: “Alright.”
Ji Wenyu asked, “Aren’t you going to ask how to make it up?”
Xu Yuanzhe’s dark eyes were filled with his reflection: “I’ll listen to you.”
“Then I punish you—” The young man rolled his eyes, his eyes and brows brimming with smiling warmth, “to court me all over again. I’ll give you one month.”
During the two years of secretly crushing on Xu Yuanzhe, he had never dared to dream that the other person liked him too. He never expected that fate would actually allow him such good fortune: the person he liked happened to like him back at the same time, and had been earnestly moving closer to him in his own way.
A fleeting look of surprise crossed the young man’s eyes, which was immediately submerged by a smile. He gazed intently at the young man with the pretty facial features in front of him and responded earnestly.
“Alright. Ji Wenyu, I like you. I’ll make you fall for me too.”