Bai Shijin returned to his dorm, wanting to see what kind of trick Ye Qinfan was going to pull next.
Then he saw a large bag of snacks sitting on his desk.
Wearing an ingratiating, flattering smile, Ye Qinfan said, “Shijin, I bought all of these for you. Thank you so much for not telling Niannian what happened. From now on, I will treat you like my own brother, and this will just be a secret between the two of us!”
With a blank expression, Bai Shijin tossed the bag of snacks onto Ye Qinfan’s bed. “I don’t eat these things.”
Ye Qinfan quickly asked, “Then what do you like to eat? I’ll go buy it for you. How about I cover your breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a month?”
In a cold voice, Bai Shijin replied, “I didn’t tell Mu Nian for your sake. It’s because his heart cannot take any shock. You don’t need to try and suck up to me here.”
Ye Qinfan paused for a moment, sensing something off. “You are worried about another guy’s boyfriend’s heart? I’ve spent two years with you, and I never realized you were so kind-hearted.”
Bai Shijin shot back, “You told me about Mu Nian’s heart condition precisely because you were gambling that I’d be afraid of triggering a relapse and wouldn’t dare expose your disgusting deeds. What exactly are you doubting now?”
Ye Qinfan narrowed his eyes slightly. He had known he was gay ever since his secondary sexual characteristics began developing. Generally speaking, he could tell at a glance whether someone was gay or not, and during the two years of rooming with Bai Shijin, he had never noticed any obvious gay traits.
Thus, he concluded that Bai Shijin was straight.
Then why would Bai Shijin have designs on Mu Nian? He was simply overthinking it.
“Haha, I was just joking. Anyway, regardless of why you didn’t tell him, I’m grateful. I can’t live without Niannian. After getting beaten up by you, I’ve figured it out. Even if I get desperate in the future, I’ll never hook up with anyone else.”
Bai Shijin felt a wave of physical nausea. “You can’t live without Mu Nian? Ye Qinfan, the moment that thing between your legs started aiming at someone else, you lost the right to say those words. If you really loved him, how could you fail to control your own desires?”
Startled by Bai Shijin’s terrifying gaze, Ye Qinfan took a step backward.
Stepping forward to close the distance, Bai Shijin asked word by word, “Why on earth won’t you just break up with Mu Nian?”
With his breathing restricted, Ye Qinfan finally confessed, “A large part of the reason I refuse to break up with Mu Nian is because taking him out gives me face.”
With an ice-cold handsome face, Bai Shijin’s narrow black eyes were filled with utter confusion.
Face?
Ye Qinfan continued, “So many people like Niannian, and so many people pursued him. Out of all of them, Niannian looked at me and agreed to be with me.”
Before Ye Qinfan could finish, Bai Shijin understood. He sneered, “You treat Mu Nian as a tool for your own bragging rights?”
No wonder he posted such attentive updates on his Moments while showing zero actual care for Mu Nian in real life. It was all for other people to see, just to evoke their envy and jealousy.
“Stop twisting my words!” Ye Qinfan protested excitedly. “I really do love Mu Nian. I chased him for two years before I finally won him over. There’s no way I’m breaking up with him.”
Bai Shijin had completely seen through Ye Qinfan now.
If he couldn’t ruin this relationship, he wouldn’t be surnamed Bai.
Terrified of Bai Shijin, having personally witnessed the power of those fists, Ye Qinfan stammered to steady Bai Shijin’s mood. “Shijin, I know you have zero tolerance for moral flaws and are still stuck with those rigid, old-fashioned values where you think me sleeping with someone else is the ultimate sin. I won’t do it again, okay? You can supervise me.”
What he actually wanted to say was: What the fuck does me sleeping with someone else have to do with you? Why is this stone-faced freak trying to police me?
However, since Bai Shijin wasn’t afraid of jail time and his punches really hurt, Ye Qinfan decided it was better to play it safe.
Sure enough, once he softened his attitude, the look in Bai Shijin’s eyes grew a lot less terrifying.
Bai Shijin decided that starting today, he would drop hints to Mu Nian little by little, letting him gradually accept the fact that his boyfriend was an idiot.
Sitting back down at his desk, he racked his brain for a solution without success.
Wracking his brains further, Bai Shijin went online to find an image of a green hat and photoshopped it onto the little dog in his WeChat profile picture.
Noticing that Bai Shijin was ignoring him, Ye Qinfan began frantically practicing his runway walk for the afternoon casting call.
Hearing the loud, clomping thuds of whatever weird thing was going on behind him, Bai Shijin glanced over and saw Ye Qinfan stumbling through a clumsy, ridiculous line-step.
After watching in amusement for a moment, he turned his head back.
Then he opened his phone, feeling that just giving the dog a green hat wasn’t quite enough.
He posted a new update on WeChat, visible only to Mu Nian: a solid green background image.
Ten minutes later, Mu Nian liked the post and sent a private message: [What’s going on with your profile picture and Moments? No wonder you’ve been acting so abnormal today. Did you get cheated on?]
The plan was working! Mu Nian had already started paying attention.
Not Valley: [I have a friend whose boyfriend cheated on him, and I found out. I wanted to use this method to drop a hint.]
Passing Years: [Why drop hints? In a situation like this, you should just tell him directly.]
Not Valley: [It’s not that I don’t want to, but my friend has a “congenital heart disease” and cannot take any shocks. Otherwise, he might have a medical relapse.]
Passing Years: [Shocked.JPG]
Passing Years: [That’s so tragic. Not only does he have a heart condition, but his boyfriend cheated too?]
Not Valley: [Nodding.JPG]
Not Valley: [And his boyfriend is exceptionally good at putting up a facade. You’d never guess he’s a scumbag. Sigh, it really is true that you can know a person’s face but not their heart!]
Passing Years: [Agree.JPG]
Gazing at the ‘Agree’ sticker, Bai Shijin sighed silently. Don’t just agree, start paying attention to your own boyfriend!
While Ye Qinfan was still making a racket practicing his runway walk, driving Bai Shijin to distraction, he casually opened Mu Nian’s WeChat Moments and saw a new post from earlier that morning:
[Now Hiring: As Pictured]
Curious, Bai Shijin tapped to view the full image. It was a recruitment poster:
DEW Fashion Design is currently looking for a fitting and runway model.
Requirements:
Gender: Male
Age: 18–25 (requirements relaxed for experienced candidates)
Height: 185–189 cm
Well-proportioned facial features, superior physique, no bad habits, and willing to maintain close personal contact with the designer (male) for measurements and garment alterations.
Salary: Negotiable.
Qualified candidates, please head to Fucheng DEW Fashion Design Company to participate in the casting call. Contact @Assistant_Suyi Phone: 1xxxxxxxxxxx Address: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Among all those words, Bai Shijin’s eyes zeroed in entirely on one phrase: “willing to maintain close personal contact with the designer.”
How much money did he have to pay to get this job?
Bai Shijin suddenly remembered that Mu Nian had asked for his height before.
Could it be that he had been considering having him go to the casting call?
It looked like the guy behind him was practicing for this exact casting, but Bai Shijin would never let Ye Qinfan get his way.
That afternoon, without a word of greeting, Ye Qinfan left the dorm.
Bai Shijin took a shower, deliberately applying a bit extra body wash, cleaned himself up, and headed to the school cafeteria to cook the dish Mu Nian had eaten the most of that night, packing it up as he set off.